James Baquet

    While most of us know of Darwin, few can remember the name of one of his chief inspirations.

    The geologist Charles Lyell (1797-1875) was born 10 years before Darwin, but his career began long before Darwin’s. While Darwin’s great work “On the Origin of Species” was not published until 1859, Lyell’s “Principles of Geology” began to be published nearly three decades earlier.

    The work made popular an idea (first proposed by James Hutton a generation earlier) called “uniformitarianism.” It suggested that the same processes that had been operating since the world was created were still in effect, and that “the present is the key to the past.” In other words, the remains of ancient geological events could still be observed, and could be explained by watching the behavior of the planet today.

    The young naturalist Charles Darwin was very impressed by this idea. The phenomena he witnessed on his voyage were in perfect agreement with Lyell’s ideas, and the geological evolution of the planet itself was key in suggesting to Darwin the biological evolution of living things.

    Unfortunately, the second volume of Lyell’s “Principles” insisted that life had been created specially by God, and not through evolutionary processes. So, while Darwin’s work supported Lyell’s geological work, Darwin moved away from Lyell in matters of biology.

    Lyell was born in Scotland, the oldest of 10 children. His father was a lawyer who studied botany as a hobby. This inspired the young Charles. After study at Oxford, the son also became a lawyer, but eventually became a full-time geologist. He was so dedicated that he even spent his honeymoon on a geological tour of Switzerland and Italy!

    He later visited the United States and Canada, about which he wrote travel books that included geological details.

    Like many great men, Lyell is buried in Westminster Abbey. The highest peak in California’s Yosemite National Park is named after him, as well as several other mountains around the world, and even a crater on the moon.

    Vocabulary

    Which word above means:

    1. suggested; introduced an idea

    2. person who studies the structure of the earth

    3. the study of plants

    4. said something again and again, without changing one’s mind

    5. regarding living things

    6. saw (two words)

    7. the change of one thing into another

    8. events; things that happen

    9. journey; trip

    10. person who studies the relationship of living things