Charles Lyell (1797-1875) - English naturalist, one of the founders of actualism in geology, foreign corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1871). in major works. "Foundations of Geology" (vols. 1-3, 1830-33), in contrast to the theory of catastrophes, developed the doctrine of a slow and continuous change in the earth's surface under the influence of constant geological factors. Adhered to the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin.

Actualism is a comparative historical method in geology, according to which, by studying modern geological processes, one can judge similar processes of the distant past. It is applied taking into account the course of the development of the Earth and the changing geological situation. As a scientific principle, actualism was put forward in the 1st floor. 19th century English geologist Charles Lyell.

When a new, startling truth is revealed, people first say, "That's not true," then, "That's contrary to religion," and finally, "That's the old truth.

Lyell Charles

The Catastrophe Theory (catastrophism) (from the Greek katastrophe - turn, coup) is a geological concept, according to which events periodically repeat in the history of the Earth that suddenly change the initially horizontal occurrence of rocks, the relief of the earth's surface and destroy all life. It was put forward in 1812 by the French scientist Georges Cuvier to explain the change in faunas and floras observed in geological strata. By the end of the 19th century, the theory of catastrophes had lost its significance.

Charles Lyell is born On November 14, 1797, in the county of Forfar, in Scotland, on his father's estate of Kinnordy, he was the first-born, in a large family, consisting of three sons and seven daughters, Charles grew up in a wealthy family in enviable conditions in material contentment, in an atmosphere of science and literature. His father, an inquisitive man and a great esthete, was familiar with many writers and scientists, was engaged in botany, not without success, Alighieri translated Dante. Soon after the birth of Charles, his father rented the Bartley Lodge estate in the New Forest, in southern England, where he moved with his whole family.

In the fourth year of his life, Charles Lyell learned to read, and at the age of eight he entered Dr. Davis's school in Ringwood. Lyell studied reading, writing, and grammar, and in his ninth year was transferred to Dr. Radcliffe's School in Salisbury, a fashionable school in those days, where the sons of local aces were taught Latin. After studying for two years at the Radcliffe School, Lyell was transferred to the school of Dr. Baley in Midhurst. This school was very different from the previous ones - it did not have such a family, home character.

The cruel morals of schoolchildren oppressed Charles, since at home he saw only kindness and caring, his character was meek and peaceful and did not have hefty fists. What he had to experience at Bluebeard Radcliffe's was a toy compared to the Spartan customs of the new school.

After parting with the school, Charles Lyell entered the University of Oxford. At the university, he did not aim at naturalists at all, but dreamed of a literary career, and for the sake of earning a living he chose the bar, deciding to study law at Oxford. But little by little, an instinctive love for nature begins to overwhelm him more and more, and in the end takes precedence over the artificially instilled love for the classics and literature. This happens outside of his consciousness, in spite of his efforts. He tries to focus his attention, his interests on Oxford science, and sees with surprise, even with chagrin, that this is not possible.

At Oxford, natural science played a very subordinate role, but was not completely abandoned. Among other things, lectures on geology were given here, and not by anyone, but by Buckland himself, the head of English geologists of that time. Buckland belonged to the old school of "disasters". In the history of the earth's crust, he distinguished two main periods before and after the flood. There is nothing in common between them - before the flood, some forces acted, after the flood - others. That was the past, and this is the present, and it is necessary to distinguish between these concepts in the strictest way.

Gradually, geology took a dominant place in his studies. Charles Lyell began to undertake whole trips with a geological purpose. So, in 1817, he visited the island of Staffa, where he examined Fingal's cave, famous among aesthetes for the songs of Ossian, among geologists - for wonderful basalt pillars, a very curious geological phenomenon. The next year he traveled with his father, mother and two sisters to France, Switzerland and Italy.

The five or six years following the completion of a course at Oxford may be considered Lyell's true academic years. There are few lucky people who managed to go through such a good school. Incessant trips around England and the mainland made it possible to verify and consolidate by one's own observation the information gleaned from books. C. Lyell also learned a lot from personal acquaintance with the most prominent geologists of Europe. Finally, the inspection of collections and museums served as a good addition to the material gleaned from books, in the field and in conversations with scientists.

In 1820, Charles Lyell's eye disease forced him to give up his legal studies for a while and go with his father to Rome.

In 1822, Lyell made a trip to Winchelsea- an area that is very interesting in geological terms, since here he could observe a vast expanse of land, relatively recently freed from under the sea

In 1823, Charles Lyell was elected secretary of the Geological Society, and his first completely independent geological research dates back to the same year. He undertook an excursion to Sussex and the Isle of Wight, where he studied the relations of certain strata, which had hitherto remained obscure. His observations - purely special, devoid of general significance - he reported to Mantel, who published them later in the Geology of the Isle of Wight.

The year 1824 was devoted to geological excursions in England with Constant Prevost and in Scotland with Buckland, and the following year, Lyell's first printed works appeared on the serpentine layers in Forfarshire and on freshwater marl: factual, descriptive works, the first experiments of a novice scientist.

Some time later, his article appeared in one of the magazines, in which he sets out his credo, the main idea of ​​his future work. But Charles Lyell did not yet appreciate all the difficulties of the work ahead of him. He thought his role would be mainly that of a compiler. He decided to write a textbook on geology, an ordinary compiling textbook, a brief summary of the materials accumulated in science, of course, differently illuminated than those of previous researchers. It turned out, however, that it was impossible to write a compilation, but something more could and should be done.

“I felt,” Ch. Lyell wrote, “that a subject in which you need to make so many reforms and alterations, in which you yourself acquire new ideas and develop new theories as you complete your task, in which you have to constantly refute and find arguments, - that such a subject should be developed in a book that has nothing to do with a textbook. It was necessary not to state ready-made truths to the students, but to conduct a dialogue with equals.”

In 1828, Lyell undertook with his friend Murchison a long geological excursion to France, Italy and Sicily. The main goal of this expedition was the closest acquaintance with the sediments of the Tertiary era. According to the available theory, there was a gap between the Tertiary and the modern era, a break. “The course of events has changed,” the old world perished, destroyed by some kind of catastrophe, and a new one was erected.

The earlier excursions of Charles Lyell made him doubt the validity of these conclusions; now he ventured to test his doubts by studying the Tertiary deposits all the way from France to Sicily. His research completely destroyed the old views. Comparing Tertiary fossils with modern ones, he concluded that they represent one inseparable whole: Tertiary precipitation, climate, population imperceptibly pass into modern ones. Nothing speaks in favor of huge general catastrophes breaking the chain of phenomena; on the contrary, everything points to a slow, continuous and uniform process of development.

It is clear what enormous significance these conclusions had for the theory of uniformitarianism. The catastrophists were losing their main pillar: proof of the existence of a sharp break between the present and the past.

The first volume of Lyell's Fundamental Principles of Geology was published in 1830, the second in 1832, and the third in 1833.

It is difficult to define in a few words the meaning of this book. It does not fit into a short formula, is not expressed in bright discoveries that could be counted on the fingers.

His whole book as a whole represents a discovery. In Charles Lyell's book, the activity of the modern forces of nature for the first time appeared in its true light. He showed that, firstly, the work of these "weak" agents actually leads to colossal results, continuing for an indefinite time, and, secondly, that it really continues for an indefinite time, imperceptibly merging with the past.

The first and second volumes of the "Basic Principles" are devoted to the study of modern forces. Let us list the main categories of phenomena that are treated here. Lyell proved that great fluctuations in climate can be due to changes in the contours of continents and seas, that such changes have actually taken place in the course of geological history and are consistent with the upheavals in climate that the same history testifies.

The activity of water as a geological agent was first elucidated by Charles Lyell in its present scope and significance. He established the concept of the destructive and creative work of rivers, sea currents, ebbs and flows; showed the enormous dimensions of these two parallel and correlative processes.

Studying the products of the activity of modern volcanoes and comparing them with ancient volcanic rocks, he showed that both of them are essentially homogeneous in nature and testify to the same process - local volcanic actions that took place with large interruptions over long periods. On the contrary, nowhere, neither in the most ancient nor in the new formations, are there signs of an action that surpasses modern phenomena in energy and speed.

Finally, Lyell studied the question of the role of organic agents in the history of the earth's crust no less completely and thoroughly. He debunked the previous opinion about breaks in the history of the organic world, accompanied by the destruction and emergence of entire faunas and floras, proving (for the Tertiary era) that with a more thorough study, we discover here, too, a gradual development, in harmony with the gradual transformation of the inorganic environment.

Climatic theory, the laws of action of water and volcanic agents, the origin of volcanoes, a sketch of a more correct theory of mountain building, the role of organisms in the history of the earth's crust and the connection between the development of the organic and inorganic world - these are the main points in Lyell's work.

On this foundation Charles Lyell built historical geology- an outline of the changes experienced by the earth's crust from ancient times to the present. Subsequently published as a separate work, this essay represents the first outline of historical geology as we study it today.

Personally, he owns the study of the tertiary system in this area. This was the first detailed study and division of a huge department in the history of our planet: the scheme established by Lyell (Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene) has survived to this day with changes only in details. Later, other researchers followed in the footsteps of Lyell - Sedgwick, Murchison, McCulloch and others - they did for the most ancient systems, secondary and primary, the same thing that he did for the tertiary.

Regardless of this, his study of the tertiary system was of great philosophical significance, showing that the "modern order of things" has been going on for God knows how long and has led to a complete transformation of the earth's surface in relation to its structure, climate, flora and fauna.

Lyell's book was a huge success. The first and second volumes went out in two editions before the third appeared, so that in 1834 a third edition of the entire work was required. In England, however, the views of Lyell were most rapidly spread and recognized. For young, novice scientists, his book was a real revelation.

“When I went on the Beagle,” said Darwin, “Professor Henslo, who, like all geologists of that era, believed in successive catastrophes, advised me to get and study the first volume of the Basic Principles, just published, but not in no way to accept his theories. How the opinions of geologists have changed! I am proud that the very first place where I made geological research, Santiago on the island of Cape Verde, convinced me of the infinite superiority of the views of Lyell in comparison with those that were defended until then by the geologists known to me.

In 1832, the scientist married Mary Horner, who had long been considered Lyell's bride - the daughter of Lyell's acquaintance, the famous scientist Leonard Horner. Miss Horner was well-read, knew foreign languages, studied geology and subsequently helped her husband in his research, identified fossils for him, and so on. She was a calm, reasonable woman, the same balanced nature as Lyell himself; they converged in character as well as possible and lived for forty years in perfect harmony. The publication of The Fundamentals was the most important event in Lyell's life. Until then, a little-known geologist, not quite well-behaved, although a "promising" student of Buckland, he immediately became the head of science. True, the founding fathers were indignant at such a violation of subordination, but they could not help but see that they were dealing with the head of the school.

In London, Charles Lyell was invited to lecture on geology at the King's College. He agreed - not quite willingly, however, because he was afraid that his professorship would interfere with independent research. Shortly after his marriage, Lyell abandoned his professorship to devote himself entirely and exclusively to independent research.

Lyell had long since said goodbye to the bar; now the last doubts about a career have disappeared. His entire life was devoted to science. She passed in geological excursions and in the processing of data collected during the excursions. Lyell traveled extensively in Europe and America: a good third of his life was spent "in the field," as geologists say. With the flourishing of the new geology, the fame of its founder also expanded, and with it came awards, honors, distinctions from scientific institutions and governments.

In 1834, Charles Lyell received from the Royal Society of London - the oldest and most famous of the learned societies in England - a gold medal for "The Fundamental Principles of Geology", and 24 years later it honored him with its highest award. In 1848 he was knighted, and from that moment on he became not just Charles Lyell, but "Sir" Charles Lyell; in 1864 he received the title of baronet. It seems that he treated these titles rather indifferently, at least in his letters these events are mentioned only in passing and without any enthusiasm, which, however, is felt when he talks about his scientific significance, which, apparently, was very important to him. very flattering.

In 1854 the University of Oxford made him an honorary Doctor of Laws, and in 1862 the Paris Academy, which had voted Lyell five years before as a heretic and wicked, changed its wrath and received the reformer of geology into its sanctuary as a corresponding member.

Around this time, his studies took a somewhat different direction, focusing on the new science of prehistoric man, barely emerging at that time, to which he devoted his last years. At the end of his life, Charles Lyell, who did not lose his ability to work, was carried away by a completely new question for geologists - about the appearance of man on Earth.

It has long been known that together with the bones of mammoths there were some strange, as if artificially beaten, pieces of flint. It has been suggested that these pieces of stone represent the stone axes of prehistoric people. But learned professors and members of academies laughed at these "ridiculous" assumptions. Several geologists, including Lyell, have taken notice of these finds.

Charles Lyell traveled to France, Germany, Italy in search of traces of Ancient Man and wrote the sensational book Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man about the results of his research.

Love for nature pushed Lyell on the path of a geologist, pride drove him along this path. Self-esteem generally played an important role in his life. In childhood, awards and distinctions forced him to cram Latin grammar; in adulthood, the thirst for fame strengthened and incited his natural inclination for natural science. But he did not have the vanity of small great people who need to be approached with a censer and signs of allegiance ... Equally, vanity never made him belittle other people's merits or be afraid of rivalry.

“Of all scientists,” says Darwin, “none can compare with Lyell in friendliness and benevolence. I have seen him many times and am inclined to like him greatly. You cannot imagine with what participation he reacted to my plans.

Charles Lyell died on February 22, 1875. at the age of seventy-eight. He was buried in Westminster Abbey with honors.

Charles Lyell. His life and scientific activity Engelgardt Mikhail Aleksandrovich

Chapter V Lyell's Mature Years

Chapter V Lyell's Mature Years

Lyell's life after the publication of The Fundamentals. - Excursion to the Pyrenees. - Lyell's professorship. - Rise of Sweden. - Trips to America. - Opinion on slavery. - Further excursions. – A brief outline of their results. - Public activities of Lyell. - His attitude to politics. - The struggle for the independence of science. Lyell's literary tastes. The society in which he moved. - Honors and awards .

The publication of The Fundamentals was the most important event in Lyell's life. Until then, a little-known geologist, not quite well-behaved, although a "promising" student of Buckland, he immediately became the head of science. True, the father commanders were indignant at such a violation of subordination, but they could not help but see that they were dealing with the head of the school.

In general, his book made a stunning impression, like all similar works that turn science in a new direction. It was known that he intended to come out in defense of uniformitarianism, but no one expected that a transformation of science would result from this. The idea itself was old and well-known: we named scientists who tried to apply it to the history of the Earth. But these attempts only seemed to reveal her impotence; so that the vast majority of geologists decided that there was nothing to be done about this tool. What Lyell did to him we have already seen.

He said goodbye to the bar a long time ago; now the last doubts about a career have disappeared. His entire life was devoted to science. All of it took place in geological excursions and in the processing of data collected during the excursions. Ungrateful material for a biographer! Life without adventure! Life without events, monotonous and prosaic, a chapter from a learned treatise! That is, there were adventures and events in this life: the discovery of some iguanadon, the establishment of a connection between two formations, and so on and so forth, but who, except for a specialist, can appreciate the deep and dramatic interest of such events?

Lyell traveled extensively in Europe and America: a good third of his life was "in field", as geologists say. But these excursions were made within civilized countries and do not represent a dramatic element: clashes with savages, with fierce animals, etc. The adventures and hardships that Lyell had to endure are of a more everyday nature: it happened to get wet in the rain; sit down in the mud on the road at the mercy of a broken wheel; spend the night in some shack on an empty stomach, without getting any eggs or milk for dinner, because the owners, due to poverty, do not keep any pets except fleas; I had to fight with customs officials or with the police, who pestered the traveler with incredulous: who? where? where? why? by whose permission?

In a life devoted to spiritual interests, events of an ideological nature are natural milestones, dividing it into certain periods. Thus, in the life of Lyell, we can distinguish the period of childhood, when for the first time an instinctive love for natural science awakened in him; school years, when the gymnasium turned him away from his true calling for a while; return to science, culminating in the publication of "Basic Principles"; the thirty years that followed, devoted to the processing of the new geology; the last years of his life, marked by an important turning point in his views and a new direction of his studies, since, without leaving geology, he became interested in the science of prehistoric man.

We have reached the edition of the Fundamental Principles; now we will give a cursory sketch of the epoch that followed them - the most active and fruitful in the life of Lyell.

Having printed the first volume of his book, he undertook a geological excursion to southern France and the Pyrenees, with a certain Captain Cook. Captain Cook was mainly interested in "knowledge of all kinds of places", Lyell studied the geological structure of the Pyrenees and extinct volcanoes in Catalonia. Both of them were tormented by the suspicious Spanish police, who did not want to believe that an officer of the English fleet and his mysterious companion traveled to collect stones and herbs (Captain Cook was engaged, among other things, in botany). Some Alcalde finally "guessed" that these strange people were emissaries of a secret society founded in London with the aim of spreading liberal principles in the monarchical states of Europe. "Guess" threatened our travelers with the most unforeseen adventures; fortunately, they stocked up on a security sheet from the governor, the wise alcalde, having fumed and declaring that “the governor does not have a decree for him, because he, the alcalde, receives orders from the king himself,” finally calmed down.

Returning from this excursion, Lyell went to Paris to talk with the scientists there, but, as we have already mentioned, they were too busy with the political catastrophe (the July Revolution) to think about geology.

In London, he was offered to lecture on geology at the King's College. He agreed - not quite willingly, however, because he was afraid that his professorship would interfere with independent research. At the same time, doubts arose about his orthodoxy: the clergy who had a voice in the appointment of professors found Lyell's teaching not quite pious, not quite in agreement with traditional cosmogony ... However, in the end, they condescended and announced that Lyell's strange doctrines are based on the study of facts , perhaps misunderstood, but do not stem from a hostile feeling towards revelation. So he became a professor and held that position for two years. It did not particularly interfere with his independent research: during this time he managed to make three geological excursions - to the Eifel volcanic region, between the Rhine and Moselle, to Switzerland and Tyrol; in addition, he processed and published the second and third volumes of "Basic Principles", which included the results of the mentioned excursions.

Among his acquaintances was the famous scientist, Leonard Horner. His daughter, Mary, had long been considered Lyell's bride, and in 1832 they were married. Miss Horner was very well read, knew foreign languages, studied geology and subsequently helped her husband in his research, identified fossils for him, and so on. She was a calm, reasonable woman, the same balanced nature as Lyell himself; they converged in character as well as possible and lived for forty years in perfect harmony.

Shortly thereafter, Lyell abandoned his professorship to devote himself entirely and exclusively to independent research. He was somewhat embarrassed by the money side of the issue, but he expected to receive income from his books.

“If I could be sure that my work would bring me a fair income,” he wrote to his wife, “I would feel free from any responsibility, burning my ships in relation to the Royal College. Do not think that I look at science from a materialistic point of view. But I would like to ensure that I have the opportunity to freely dispose of time to work for science and for fame, realizing at the same time that I do not forget about the interests of my family and get for it something more substantial than fame.

Having published the third and last volume of the "Basic Principles", he undertook a large geological excursion to Denmark, Sweden and Norway to resolve the issue of raising the mainland. Even in the last century, Celsius proved that the Scandinavian Peninsula was slowly and continuously moving out of the sea (Celsius attributed this phenomenon to the retreat of the ocean). Later, Leonhard von Buch confirmed Celsius' opinion. The marks made on the coastal rocks, on the upper tide line, in the course of time turn out to be above this line; cliffs, once hidden under water, protrude above its level; buildings built on the coast recede inland.

In the first edition of his book, Lyell expressed doubts about the accuracy of these data, and to finally resolve the issue, he went to Sweden himself. By checking the old indications and collecting many new ones (regarding sediments containing sea shells and rising high above sea level), he eliminated all doubts about the "great northern phenomenon", as this slow uplift of the Scandinavian Peninsula was called, and was even able to calculate its average value. (0.9-1.2 meters per year). The significance of this phenomenon for the theory of uniformitarianism is clear. No matter how slowly this uplift takes place, but if it continues for a thousand years, the current coast will be at a height of 4-5 fathoms above sea level, in a hundred thousand years - at a height of 400-500 fathoms, and so on. These slow ups and downs are seen at various points on the globe. The earth's crust never remains motionless; she is always agitated, rising in one place, falling in another. These movements are extremely slow, hardly observable, although their result far surpasses the most devastating earthquakes, the most grandiose eruptions, having convinced ourselves of the existence of such movements, we begin to understand how modern continents were formed. All of them consist mainly of sedimentary rocks, all formed under water, all were once the bottom of the sea. Wandering the plain, climbing the highest peaks, descending into the deepest gorges, we almost always and everywhere remain at the bottom of the ancient dry sea. How did this former bottom end up at such a height? Secular movements of the earth's crust, such as the one that is now taking place in the region that embraces the Scandinavian Peninsula and northern Russia, explain this transformation of the sea into land.

It is understandable that Lyell, having completed the publication of his book, wished to verify the existence of this phenomenon before any further research. “I see now,” he wrote to his wife from Stockholm, “that I was right when, while editing the latest edition of my book, I thought that I should not write anything else without knowing in advance the truth about the “great northern phenomenon.” You will see how important it is, how it will influence my opinions and how much it will advance the theory that sees in the action of modern causes the key to explaining geological phenomena.

During the following years he undertook a series of excursions to Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Normandy and Touraine. The fruit of these trips was a number of memoirs, which we will not enumerate and present in view of their specialty.

In 1841 he went to America, where he traveled for more than a year, and on his return set out the results of his trip in the book Travel to North America, which was published in 1845 in two volumes and several special articles and notes.

"Journey to North America" ​​cannot be called a popular book, although it is written in a clear, simple, sensible style, characteristic of English writers, and concerns not only geology, but also social life, political life, public education in North America. Scientifically, it represents an important contribution to the geology of the United States and a number of new illustrations of the uniformitarian system. With regard to political views, Lyell's Manilovian views on slavery are most striking in it. The planters, according to him, are nice and virtuous people, burdened and almost oppressed by slaves who need to be watered, fed, taught, treated, punished - in a word, nurtured in every possible way. If in this way the planters are pitiable, then the slaves can only be congratulated: they live like in Christ's bosom, they work little, they have a lot of fun; well-fed, shod, dressed - what else is needed for human well-being?

These strange - for such a free-thinking, humane person as Lyell - opinions deserve a more detailed analysis; we will talk about them in the next chapter.

On his return from America he toured England, Scotland and Ireland; in 1845 he again visited the United States, where he remained for about nine months. The fruit of this trip was a new book: Second Visit to the United States, 1849.

This was followed by a series of excursions to Germany, America, the Canary Islands, Saxony, Bohemia, Tyrol, Italy and Sicily, which brought a lot of material on the most diverse problems of historical and physical geology. Thus passed year after year in tireless and unceasing work. About 60 special memoirs, articles, notes, 9 editions of the "Basic Principles", 5 editions of the "Elements" of geology, and 4 impressive volumes of travels in North America - these are the scientific results of this period of Lyell's life.

From this mass of studies, observations, discoveries, large and small, we note two memoirs about the slow rise of Scandinavia, finally resolved this important issue; research on Mississippi Delta, for the formation of which it took, according to Lyell's calculations, at least 100,000 years - and over retreat Niagara, continuing, according to his calculation, about 35,000 years. Calculations of this kind constitute the singularity and strength of Lyell. They are of great importance, revealing before us in the present light the so-called "modern" era, its almost infinite antiquity, energy and modes of action of its agents - and giving a certain standard for judging former geological processes. He made similar calculations on volcanoes, trying to determine the time required for the formation of a volcanic cone, from the layers of lava and ash deposited during the historical era. A series of studies on this subject ended in 1859 with an important memoir "On the hardening of lava and on volcanoes", who finally approved in science the "theory of accumulation", which Lyell and his predecessor on this issue, Paulet Scrope, stood for. According to this theory, the volcano is a heap of lava, ash and cinders, accumulated little by little through countless eruptions, while the opposite "uplift theory" explained the origin of volcanoes by swelling of the earth's crust under the pressure of a fiery-liquid mass.

Further, we find in this mass of works a lot of research on historical geology, devoted to the Silurian, Carboniferous, Tertiary and other systems in various countries of Europe and America. Regardless of their significance for geological classification, they represent many observations of transitions from one formation to another, fill in many gaps between different epochs, and often throw light on the processes of sedimentation in ancient epochs. In this last respect, Lyell's observations are particularly interesting. During his studies, he always paid attention to the details of the structure of ancient layers. It is precisely these details - fine, thin layers, imprints of raindrops, traces of water ripples, and similar signs - that often make it possible to restore to the smallest detail the conditions for the formation of sediment deposited millions of years ago, and testify to the identity of the ancient and new order of things.

All these studies were constantly processed into a single whole, put in connection with the discoveries of other geologists and published in the "Basic Principles" in the form of a coherent system.

The nature and direction of these works were determined by the first edition of the Beginnings. They represent a further development of the principles established therein. Among them there are large studies, such as the memoir on the solidification of lava mentioned above, there are also small ones, such as the works “On the impressions of rain in the layers of the Carboniferous era”, but there is not a single one. random. This is not a heap of materials brought together by an industrious worker, but a slender building erected by a skillful architect. But the foundations of this building were laid by him in 1830-1833. A number of issues, which he touched upon in the first edition of his book, he continued to develop throughout his life. Those categories of phenomena that he illuminated then occupied him later. Among his later works there is not a single one that would call to life new department Sciences. True, even those that he created in the first edition of the Principia were enough to absorb all human activity.

Wanting to concentrate his energies on his beloved science, Lyell eschewed social and pedagogical activities as far as possible, but he could not always turn away from them.

Various institutions invited him to lecture; thus, in 1833, 1849, 1850 he gave several public lectures at the London Royal Institute, in 1841 and 1851 in Boston. The Geological Society twice elected him president, and he did not consider himself entitled to refuse this position, although the troubles associated with it were not to his heart.

“Accept no official scientific position,” he writes to Darwin (1836), “if you can avoid it; and do not tell anyone that I have given you such advice, otherwise they will attack me as a preacher of anti-patriotic principles. I fought off the misfortune of being chairman while I could... I often ask myself whether the time spent by learned societies on various "affaires administratives" is rewarded by the usefulness they bring. Imagine Herschel not on the Cap, but in the Royal Society as president! But he barely escaped this appointment, and I, a sinful man, voted for him! In general, work as I did, exclusively for yourself and for science, without chasing the honor and boredom of official positions. There will always be many hunters in these places who otherwise would not work.

On the same subject he wrote to Herschel:

“In general, I really regret the time that I have to spend on these reports (annual reports on the activities of the Geological Society) and on official duties. There are people who like these duties, but I don’t like them, because they take a lot of time and break thoughts ... My friends are angry with me when I congratulate them, as friends of science, on the fact that we failed to elect you President of the Royal society ... Now, at least, your time is not spent on appointing officials, writing commendable speeches, presiding over councils and the like, which a person of ordinary abilities can do.

Sometimes he had to fulfill official orders from the government: for example, in 1844 he investigated with Faraday the causes of an explosion in the Gaswell coal mines; in 1851 he participated in the commission for the arrangement of the exhibition in Hyde Park; in 1853 he traveled as a commissioner to the international exhibition in New York.

They offered him more important places and positions, but here he resolutely reared up and fought back with his hands and feet: he did not even want to accept the deputy title, despising the enviable right to attribute the letters “M.R.” to his surname. (Member of Parliament, Member of Parliament), which, in fact, exhausts the activities of many deputies. He did not want to betray science, and therefore shied away from politics. "Thank God, we don't seem to have to deal with politics!" - he exclaims in one letter ... "If you want to live long and earn a lot ... most of all avoid political fuss" ... "I have long ceased to engage in public affairs; we, who have set ourselves the task of developing science, do not need to get confused in them.

Be that as it may, it was necessary to get mixed up in public affairs, although rarely. In these cases, Lyell was guided by the principles of broad freethinking and, as they say, "highly held the banner of science", trying to free it from any extraneous influences. So, he fought against the Anglican Church, which at that time was very squinting at "secular" science, not wanting to recognize its right to free research. Science should serve as a commentary on the Bible, the theologians of the time thought.

In England the clergy exercised great influence; educational institutions, from universities to rural schools, were under his authority; secular teachers were subordinate to the church. Lyell was a determined opponent of this system.

“The influence of the Anglican Church in substituting a real public education for an apparent one can lead to despair,” he writes to Ticknor. “Even the most liberal members of our clergy say that the working classes will be unhappy if they get an education. On this basis, they try to limit public education to simple literacy and pay school teachers three hundred rubles a year - a salary that their servants, who live on everything ready, would not be satisfied with. It would be good if the people or the laity would take this matter into their own hands, as you (in America); I just don't hope so."

“No, I won’t have to live to see the time when in England there will be a class of secular teachers, just as wealthy, just as independent, just as placed in society as the clergy! .. The people want education, so here it is (the clergy) and replaces it with an apparent one, and in this manner avoids what he fears more than a sharp knife, that is, that the people will become able to think and reason.

He expressed these views publicly as well; not so harsh language, true, but with sufficient frankness. Thus, in his American journey, he devoted a whole chapter to the English universities, pointing out the subordinate position of science and the harmful consequences of this system. He said the same thing at conventions of the British Association, and at every opportunity when it came to education.

In the same way, he sought to free science from noble patrons. In the old days, when science was in the fold, its representatives, willy-nilly, had to huddle around rich and noble patrons. The astronomer made horoscopes for some sovereign person, the alchemist looked for the philosopher's stone for her, the doctor made up elixirs to maintain her health, and so on. Later, when science acquired an independent position, the pursuit of high patrons became superfluous, but was preserved due to "experience", expressed in the desire of learned societies and institutions to elect the brightest, most illustrious, most excellent patrons, presidents and honorary members ... Lyell rebelled against this custom, finding its incompatible with the dignity of science. So, in 1848, he wrote to his sister about one of the meetings of the Council of the Royal Society: representing that part of our aristocracy that cares most about science, no one has ever placed a single message in the journal of the society, with the exception of Lord Broom - and even then thirty-three years before he was elected to the peerage ... I said that I highly respect the talents of our peers, but these talents further emphasize their disregard for science ... "

The desire to evade social activity does not mean in this case a narrow specialization or indifference to the development of mankind. Lyell was by no means one of those scientists who are deaf and blind to everything except their specialty. On the contrary, he was a man with broad interests, with aesthetic inclinations, who inherited from his father a love of poetry, music, painting ... He did not want work in the sphere of social activity, finding that the area which he had dissociated himself from was wide enough to absorb all his powers. But that didn't stop him track behind what happened in other areas.

Leafing through his book, you are surprised not only by the author's enormous and versatile erudition, but also by his literary education. We do not know whether there is still a scholarly treatise in which such a place would be given to poetry. A rare chapter goes without a quote: Lyell quotes from Virgil, Ovid, Lucretius, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, Dante, and so on. In his youth, he himself tried to "rattling on an inspired lyre"; one such rattling we find in his letters is a poem dedicated to the island of Staffa, not so much poetic as geological, in which he spreads with great pathos about the volcanic forces that gave birth to the basalt pillars of Fingal's cave. Then he tried to write about geology in prose; it turned out much better, and he said goodbye to the muse. However, he retained his love for poetry. Lyell's youth coincided with a great event in English and world literature: Byron appeared. But the frenzied muse of the great poet seems to have frightened the calm and reasonable geologist a little: at least, Byron is hardly mentioned in his letters, although poetry and literature in general are discussed quite often. Apparently, he preferred the peace-loving poetry of Wordsworth, Gray and others, who sang roses, dreams, tears, nightingales and other things that are supposed to be sung by the rules of pure art. He also loved the novels and ballads of Walter Scott, whom he knew personally, and admired the works of Madame Stahl.

“Tell your mother,” he writes to his fiancée, “that in case she feels sad, I advise you to read the chapter from Mrs. Stahl on the benefits of studying in such a mood. This is from the essay “On the Influence of Passions on the Happiness of Nations and Individuals” - one of the most brilliant works of our century ... This is the creation of a soul that was overwhelmed by almost all passions, which strongly felt and therefore found eloquent expression for its feelings; its rules and instructions often do not fit with everyday life and are inaccessible to vulgar souls; but it is a splendid work... In my opinion, she represents an exceptional phenomenon and almost equals the greatest people of her era. Her imagination was lively and poetic, but tempered by reason; she had a philosophical mind. If she wrote poetry in the same way as prose, she would prove that the best ability of the human soul is inherent not only in men, but also in women, who, however, already possess many virtues that are inaccessible to our sex.

In addition to fine literature, Lyell was interested in painting, and arts in general, and in his incessant wanderings around Europe did not miss the opportunity to get acquainted with wonderful works of painting, sculpture, architecture, etc. In his letters we find reviews of Giotto's frescoes, paintings by Raphael, statues and buildings - revealing, if not a connoisseur, then at least an amateur. He also followed the outstanding works of historical literature, read Macaulay, Prescott, Motley, Ticknor, Buckle and others. In a word, he lived a full spiritual life, enviable in relation to the richness and variety of impressions, revolving, moreover, in the company of outstanding representatives of science and literature. In this regard, he was lucky from a young age: his father was familiar with many writers and scientists, whom his son also met. His closest friends were: the geologists Murchison, Mantel and others; J. Hooker, one of the best botanists of our century; Darwin; Mrs. Somerville, famous for her work in physical geography; Ticknor, an American historian, author of a very famous history of Spanish literature, whom Lyell met during his trip to the United States and subsequently corresponded constantly; J. Herschel, famous astronomer, and others. Traveling around the mainland, he became acquainted with the luminaries of European science: Cuvier, Humboldt, Arago, Laplace, Berzelius; later Bunsen, Liebig, Haeckel, Dubois-Reymond - this is the society in which he moved. It was where to get smart, even if you didn’t have enough of your own.

As Lyell's fame grew and he became an adornment of the fatherland, the powers that be began to honor him with their attention. Among his later acquaintances we meet Robert Peel; the Danish prince Christian, patron and lover of the sciences in general, and geology in particular; some German princess, very intelligent, according to Lyell, talking about Darwinism, and the like. With these persons he met mainly at dinner parties and evenings, so there was no particularly close relationship here. However, one of them, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who did not reign, but was in the position of the husband of the queen, saw Lyell quite often and, apparently, sympathized with him. At least Lyell speaks of him with sincere feeling.

With the flourishing of the new geology, the fame of its founder also expanded, and with it came awards, honors, distinctions from scientific institutions and governments.

In 1834, Lyell received from the Royal Society of London - the oldest and most famous of the learned societies in England - a gold medal for "Fundamental principles of geology", and 24 years later it honored him with its highest award - the Copley medal. In 1848 he was knighted (“knight”) and from that moment on he became not just Charles Lyell, but “Sir” Charles Lyell; in 1864 he received the title of baronet. He seems to have taken these titles rather indifferently; at least, in his letters these events are mentioned only in passing and without any enthusiasm, which, however, is felt when he speaks of his scientific significance, the consciousness of which, apparently, was very, very flattering to him.

In 1854 the University of Oxford made him an honorary Doctor of Laws, and in 1862 the Paris Academy, which had voted Lyell five years before as a heretic and wicked, changed its wrath and received the reformer of geology into its sanctuary as a corresponding member.

Around this time, his studies took a somewhat different direction, focusing on the new science of prehistoric man, barely emerging at that time, to which he devoted his last years. But before we talk about this, let's dwell on his character and mental makeup.

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Charles Lyell (Lyell) (eng. Sir Charles Lyell; November 14, 1797 - February 22, 1875) - the founder of modern geology.

He came from a wealthy family, whose fortune was provided by his grandfather. He, having entered the royal fleet as a sailor, managed to become treasurer on large ships. In 1778, during the American Revolutionary War, he was secretary to the commander of the British Navy, John Byron, and treasurer of the flagship HMS Princess Royal. The position allowed him, after his retirement, to acquire 5,000 acres of land in Scotland, including the Kinnordie house and Inverquarity Castle near Kirremyur. Charles's father inherited the Scottish possessions. He married Frances Smith.

Charles was their first child, born at the Kinnordy family estate in Forfairshire (now in Angus). A year later, the family moved to their home in the south of England, in Hampshire. In the fourth year, Charles learned to read, and in the eighth he entered school. While spending his summers in the countryside, he developed a passion for collecting insects, identifying them from an atlas stolen from some library, which contributed to the development of the habit of observation and classification in him. In 1816, nineteen-year-old Charles accidentally discovered R. Bakewell's "Introduction to Geology" in his father's library - this book later became Lyell's desktop book.

Entering Oxford University, he studied the classics, but did not leave the natural sciences. At the lectures of William Bockland, he became more familiar with geology and made friends with many prominent naturalists. A trip in 1818 to France, Italy and Switzerland, during which he diligently got acquainted with the collections in museums and observed such grandiose natural phenomena as glaciers and volcanoes, significantly expanded his scientific horizons. Nevertheless, having received a bachelor's degree in 1819, he moved to London, where he took up special legal sciences. For several more years, Lyell did not leave the legal profession, making annual geological excursions in England and Scotland, and trips abroad.

In 1825, his first printed works appeared, devoted to the description of the latest geological formations in some areas of England and Scotland. Lyell draws attention to the sad state of geology - Cuvier's catastrophe hypothesis led to the conclusion that the study of modern geological movements cannot be of any help in reconstructing the history of the Earth in bygone times, and in order to explain the observed facts, completely arbitrary and fantastic assumptions had to be resorted to. Diligently engaged in the study of recent and modern geological deposits, Lyell soon came to the conclusion that Cuvier's view of the difference between the size of geological activity in past epochs and in the present does not correspond to reality.

A young little-known scientist, in the eyes of most an amateur, was not afraid to enter into a fight with the greatest authorities of his time. Only after several years of hard work, in 1830-33, did Lyell's classic work, Principles of Geology, appear (in editions), which constituted an era in science. In this work, with the help of tremendous erudition, an accurate presentation of the facts and a brilliantly witty explanation of them, he irrevocably proved that “from ancient times to the present day, no other causes have acted, except for those that are now acting, that their action has always manifested itself with the same the energy which they manifest now" and that, consequently, the study of modern phenomena can provide a reliable key to the analysis of more ancient geological monuments.

Lyell's application of a new method to the study and classification of Tertiary deposits gave such brilliant results that the enormous scientific significance of the method was put beyond doubt. Lyell's bold ideas initially aroused fierce attacks from the most authoritative representatives of the old views, but already in the 1840s in England, and by the beginning of the 1860s. all over the world, the old geological theories have receded into the realm of history. In the 1st edition of the Fundamentals, a solid foundation was laid for a new geology, but much remained to be done, and Lyell's entire scientific activity, which ended only with his death, was devoted to presenting the history of the Earth on new principles.

Surrounded by honor, recognized as the head of the geologists of his country, Lyell remains a private person all his life, evades any official position, with great reluctance and for a short time even accepts the title of President of the Geological Society of London, not wanting to take time from his scientific studies. Lyell spent almost a third of his life traveling around Europe and North America, interrupting excursions only to process the collected material. During his scientific career, he published over sixty scientific articles and notes, covering many aspects of geology, including four voluminous volumes of travels in North America.

In the 1860s the scientist's health began to noticeably weaken, but excursions and travels continued as usual. In 1875 his wife died, who had been his constant assistant in his scientific works for 40 years; Shaken by her death, the half-blind old man sought solace in his beloved science. At the age of seventy-seven, a few months before his death, he undertook a journey to study the ancient and new igneous rocks of his homeland, Forfairshare. In the last letter, written shortly before his death, discussing this trip, Lyell once again points out the identity of ancient and new volcanic formations, confirming the views that he devoted his life to developing. He soon died and was solemnly buried in Westminster Abbey, next to his friend, the famous astronomer John Herschel.

In 1848 he was promoted to the knights (Sir), in 1864 - to the baronets (1st Baronet).

In 1935, the International Astronomical Union named a crater on the visible side of the Moon after Lyell.

Proceedings and views

The largest result of Lyell's scientific activity remains the "Fundamentals of Geology" (The full title of the book in literal translation (according to A. I. Ravikovich): "Principles of Geology, which is an attempt to explain past changes in the Earth's surface by correlation with the causes that are currently acting") in three volumes ( 1830-1833). In England, these books were published 11 times during the life of the author and were constantly supplemented, the 12th edition was posthumous. The 9th (pre-Darwinian) edition, which appeared in 1866, was translated into Russian.

In 1836 they were divided into two separate books: "Elements of Geology - History of the Earth's Crust" and "Basic Principles of Geology - Activities of Modern Geological Agents" (dynamic geology). The first work withstood 6 editions (until 1865). The 6th edition was translated into Russian 2 times under the title "Guide to Geology" (1866, 1878), and the second - 11 editions, each of which represents a thorough revision of the previous one on the basis of new observations, and the most important of these observations were personally verified by Lyell. These books reflected two of Lyell's favorite theories - actualism and uniformitarianism (the principle of the uniformity of natural forces in time)

In his work Fundamentals of Geology, Lyell developed the doctrine of the slow and continuous change of the earth's surface under the influence of constant geological factors. He transferred the normative principles of biology to geology, building here a theoretical concept that later influenced biology. In other words, he transferred (reduced) the principles of the highest form to the knowledge of the lower forms. However, the Earth for Lyell does not develop in a certain direction, it just changes in a random, incoherent way. Moreover, change is for him only gradual quantitative changes, without a jump, without breaks in gradualness, without qualitative changes.

To what extent Lyell closely followed new phenomena in science, shows his attitude towards Darwinism and the question of prehistoric man. Recognizing the great importance of Darwin's views, Lyell, together with Hooker, persuaded him to publish his famous work, The Origin of Species. Recognizing the solidity of his arguments, despite his 60 years, Lyell fully, although not without doubts and hesitations, joined the teachings of Darwin, abandoning many of the views that guided him throughout his scientific career.

In the same way, Lyell was 60 years old when he met the remains of an “antediluvian” man discovered in the Somme Valley by Boucher de Perth (later he would be called a Neanderthal). Despite the fact that these discoveries were met with general distrust, Lyell, having convinced himself on the spot of their authenticity, not only supported Boucher de Pert with his authority, but, becoming interested in the question of ancient man in general, traveled all over Western Europe that were interesting in this respect. The result was Lyell's last major work, The Antiquity of Man, which is a compilation of all the accumulated fragmentary data on prehistoric man, brilliantly illuminated and re-verified. Lyell's work attracted the attention of scientists and gave impetus to further research in this direction, thanks to which a branch of science later arose - prehistoric archeology.

Translations into Russian

• Lyell Ch. The foundations of geology or the changes that once took place with the earth and with its inhabitants / Per. from the 5th ed.: In 2 vols. M.: type. E. Barfknecht and Co., 1859: T. 1. 96 p.; T. 2., pp. 96-177.
• Lyell Ch. Geological proofs of the antiquity of man, with some remarks on theories of the origin of species / Per. from 3 eng. ed. IN. Kovalevsky. St. Petersburg: type. IS HE. Bakst, 1864. XII, 512 p.
• Lyell Ch. The main principles of geology or the latest changes in the earth and its inhabitants / Per. from English. A. Min: In 2 t. M .: ed. A. Glazunova, 1866. T. 2. 462 p.
• Lyell Ch. Guide to geology, or Ancient changes in the earth and its inhabitants, according to geological monuments / Per. N. A. Golovkinsky. From the 6th English. ed., 1865, sign. add.: In 2 vols.: Vol. 1. 1st half. St. Petersburg: type. N. Tiblena and Co. (N. Neklyudova), 1866. , II, 496, VI p.; T. 2. St. Petersburg: type. or T. A. E. Landau, 1878. , IV, 281 p.
• Lyell Ch. Guide to Geology Vol. 1 (Ancient changes in the earth and its inhabitants, according to the evidence of geological monuments). Per. N. A. Golovkinsky, 1867.
• Lyell Ch. Guide to geology. T. 2 / Per. from 6th ed. Ed. V. O. Kovalevsky. St. Petersburg: type. or T. A. E. Landau, 1878. , IV, 563 p.

One hundred great scientific discoveries

Dmitry Samin

Secrets of the universe

Basic principles of geology

The fact that the Earth has its own history has been recognized since time immemorial: the cosmogony of the Hindus, Egyptians, Jews, Greeks paint more or less grandiose pictures of the past life of our planet. They already contain in fabulous form two basic theories, two antitheses, which then developed over many centuries, until one of them triumphed over its rival.

The main idea of ​​​​Indian cosmogony - the alternation of periods of destruction that destroyed the earthly shell and its population, with periods of rest and creation - expressed in the hymns of the Veda, is repeated in the works of Cuvier, Elie de Beaumont, d "Orbigny and others. However, this idea is not only " experienced "; it developed and expanded with the accumulation of geological knowledge. The theories that dominated the appearance of Lyell in the scientific field are only variations on this ancient theme.

But the opposite idea - the idea of ​​slow development - is also old. Ovid expounds in his Metamorphoses the views of Pythagoras, borrowed by the latter, in turn, from the Indian sages - views according to which nothing disappears or is created in the world in general and on Earth in particular, but everything changes and turns into a continuous process of development.

The history of geology is the history of attempts to put these ideas into scientific form, that is, to connect them with real phenomena instead of fictional ones.

The brilliant Leonardo de Vinci did not recognize cataclysms that push and destroy continents, raise mountains, and destroy flora and fauna in the blink of an eye. The slow but relentless activity of water, atmosphere, wind leads, in the end, to the transformation of the earth's surface. “Coasts grow, moving into the sea, reefs and headlands are destroyed, inland seas dry up and turn into rivers.” Rocks with the remains of plants and animals were once deposited in water, the activity of which, according to Leonardo, must be considered the main geological factor. He rejects the flood, which allegedly brought the shells to the tops of the mountains at a time when the sea covered them for ten cubits, "as the one who measured it says", and laughs at "another sect of the ignorant", in the opinion of which these shells were formed by the action of the stars. . In his views, the principle of uniformitarianism was quite scientifically formulated, with the help of which the edifice of modern geology was erected much later.

But these views did not and could not have any influence on Leonardo's contemporaries.

This whole long period, covering almost three centuries (XVI-XVIII), can be called the preparatory period of geology. It has been proven that the materials that make up the earth's crust are not mixed in disorder, but are arranged in more or less uniform layers or layers; fossils constantly accompany known strata; these layers vary in antiquity and can be classified according to their age.

From these truths they finally passed to general geological theories. In the eighteenth century, two as many as the Neptunian and the Volcanic, or the theories of Werner and Hutton, appear.

Werner, based solely on mineralogical features, gave a general classification of rocks, dividing them into primary, transitional and secondary. With the exception of primary, all other rocks - not excluding granites and basalts - were deposited one after another from the primitive ocean, a chaotic liquid - "tepayit" - containing in solution the entire future thickness of the earth's crust. They were deposited, of course, in the form of horizontal layers, but over time they were agitated, distorted, broken, uplifted, overturned due to various reasons - mainly failures in underground voids formed between different layers even during their deposition from the primary chaotic fluid. Thus the earth's surface assumed its present configuration, with its irregularities, seas and continents, mountains and valleys.

Werner's theory represents the first attempt to put into scientific form the ancient idea of ​​catastrophism. It draws a sharp line between the past and the present of our planet.

In turn, uniformitarianism found its defender in the person of the Scot Hutton, whose theory was called plutonic, or volcanic, since he recognized underground fire as one of the most important geological figures.

The rocks that make up the modern earth's crust were not deposited from the primary chaotic fluid and did not immediately deposit, Hetton taught, they represent the result of numerous successive processes. There were continents that were destroyed by the action of waters; the products of this destruction were deposited on the bottom of the oceans; again heaved up in the form of continents by the action of underground fire and again collapsed and eroded ... Modern strata of layered rocks - from the most ancient to the latest - are not at all primary sediment: all these are derivatives, later formations, the results of repeated swelling and destruction of the earth's crust. The forces that acted at the same time continue to act today, there is no difference between the past and the present; in the history of the world there is no beginning, no end in sight; the present is only a moment in the infinite and homogeneous process of the development of the universe.

Among the participants in the formation of the earth's crust, an enormous role was played, according to Hutton, by volcanic forces. He proved the fiery origin of granite and suggested that many of the sedimentary water rocks subsequently changed under the influence of heat (the so-called metamorphic rocks). These are two important acquisitions that science owes to the Scottish scientist.

As a general theory, his teaching was not much superior to Werner's - for nothing that proceeded from a completely opposite principle. Hutton's basic idea - the unity of the past and present forces of nature - is completely justified, but expressed in such a general form, it did not explain the phenomena occurring in reality.

The theories of Hutton and Werner incited a bitter, protracted and fruitless war between the Neptunists and the volcanists, which ended to everyone's satisfaction after the most stubborn fighters of both camps had to agree that the earth's crust has gone through, so to speak, both fire and water, and that it consists from fiery (granite, basalt, etc.), water (sandstones, limestones, etc.) and metamorphic (crystalline schists) rocks.

More and more, the need for a general theory that would connect the accumulated materials with a universal scheme, giving at the same time an answer to private, specific, definite questions that arose upon closer acquaintance with the facts, was felt more and more strongly. This theory was created by the English scientist Lyell.

Charles Lyell (1797-1875) was born in Forfar, Scotland, on his father's estate of Kinnordy.

In the fourth year of his life, Lyell learned to read, and in the eighth he entered the school of Dr. Davis in the city of Ringwood. In his ninth year he was transferred to Dr. Radcliffe's School in Salisbury, a fashionable school where the sons of local influential people were taught Latin. After two years at Radcliffe School, Lyell was transferred to Dr. Bailey's School in Midhurst. This school was very different from the previous ones - it did not have such a family, home character.

After parting with the school, Lyell entered the University of Oxford. Little by little, geology took the dominant place in his studies. He began to undertake whole trips with a geological purpose. So, in 1817, he visited the island of Staffa, where he examined Fingal's cave, famous among aesthetes for the songs of Ossian, among geologists - for wonderful basalt pillars, a very curious geological phenomenon. The next year he traveled with his father, mother and two sisters to France, Switzerland and Italy.

Five or six years after completing his course at Oxford, Lyell constantly traveled around England and the mainland, having the opportunity to verify and consolidate by his own observation the information gleaned from books. Lyell learned a lot in personal communication with the most prominent geologists in Europe. Finally, the inspection of collections and museums served as a good addition to the material gleaned from books, in the field and in conversations with scientists.

In 1822, Lyell made a trip to Winchelsea, a place of great geological interest, since here he could observe a vast expanse of land, relatively recently freed from under the sea.

In 1823 he undertook an excursion to Sussex and the Isle of Wight, where he studied the relations of certain strata, which had hitherto remained obscure. Lyell dedicates the next year to geological excursions in England.

Pretty soon, his article appeared in one of the magazines, in which he sets out his credo, the main idea of ​​his future work.

But Lyell had not yet appreciated all the difficulties of the work ahead of him. He thought that his role would be limited mainly to that of a compiler. He decided to write a textbook on geology, an ordinary compiling textbook, a brief summary of the materials accumulated in science, of course, differently illuminated than those of previous researchers. It turned out, however, that it was impossible to write a compilation, but something more could and should be done.

In 1828, he undertook with his friend Murchison a long geological excursion to France, Italy and Sicily.

The main goal of this expedition was the closest acquaintance with the sediments of the Tertiary era. According to the existing theory, there was a gap between the Tertiary and the modern era, a break. “The course of events has changed,” the old world perished, destroyed by some kind of catastrophe, and a new one was erected.

Lyell's earlier excursions made him doubt the validity of these conclusions; now he ventured to test his doubts by studying the Tertiary deposits all the way from France to Sicily.

His research completely destroyed the old views. Comparing Tertiary fossils with modern ones, he concluded that they represent one inseparable whole: Tertiary precipitation, climate, population imperceptibly pass into modern ones. Nothing speaks in favor of huge general catastrophes breaking the chain of phenomena; on the contrary, everything points to a slow, continuous and uniform process of development.

It is clear what enormous significance these conclusions had for the theory of uniformitarianism. The catastrophists were losing their main support: the existence of a sharp break between the present and the past.

The first volume of Lyell's Fundamental Principles of Geology was published in 1830, the second in 1832, and the third in 1833.

It is difficult to define in a few words the meaning of this book. It does not fit into a short formula, is not expressed in bright discoveries. His whole book as a whole represents a discovery. In Lyell's book, the activity of the modern forces of nature for the first time appeared in its true light. He showed that, firstly, the work of these "weak" agents actually leads to colossal results, continuing for an indefinite time, and, secondly, that it really continues for an indefinite time, imperceptibly merging with the past. The first and second volumes of the "Basic Principles" are devoted to the study of modern forces.

The theory of metamorphism, the germ of which we find in Hutton, was developed by Lyell and brought into connection with his general system. Among the rocks that make up the earth's crust, a prominent role is played by strata of crystalline schists, which show signs of fiery (crystalline stratification) and water (layering) work. According to Lyell's theory, “the age of each metamorphic formation is twofold: first we must figure out the period when it appeared as a water sediment in the form of silt, sand, marl or limestone, and then determine the time when it received a crystalline structure.

According to this definition, one and the same layer can be very ancient in relation to the time of its sedimentation and new in relation to the period in which it acquired a metamorphic character. And in this case, there is no need to ascribe to the previously acting forces a special energy, unlike the example of the present calm era. Sedimentary rocks from ancient times and now have changed and are changing under the influence of plutonic agents of the same intensity. But ancient deposits have been exposed to these agents longer, and therefore have changed more. At first glance, these strong changes seem to be the result of equally strong causes; however, a detailed study reveals in them only the result of a large number of actions, such as the present ones.

Finally, Lyell studied the question of the role of organic agents in the history of the earth's crust no less completely and thoroughly. He destroyed the previous opinion about interruptions in the history of the organic world - about the destruction and emergence of entire faunas and floras - proving (for the Tertiary era) that with a more careful study we discover here, too, a gradual development, in harmony with the gradual transformation of the inorganic environment.

Lyell's system marked the beginning of geology as a rigorous inductive science. His method was accepted because of its inner necessity. Physical geology, which he placed on solid ground, continued to develop with astonishing rapidity. The deeper and more thoroughly modern phenomena were studied, the brighter the history of the earth's crust was covered, which, of course, spurred researchers on. In France and Germany, the old theories were still held together more or less artificially by the influence of academic scientists, but along with them a new trend was developing. In the 1950s and 1960s, the theory of uniformitarianism gained dominance everywhere.

Geology has come a long way since the first edition of the Basic Principles. But one thing can be said: science has rushed along the path blazed by Lyell.

Charles Lyell was born in Scotland at the end of the 18th century, in 1797. His grandfather was a very wealthy man who had come out of the bottom. Having started his service in the Navy as a simple sailor, he made a remarkable career in the economic part and during the years of the US War of Independence was with the commander of the British Navy as treasurer of the flagship. As "gentlemen who owe everything to themselves" often do, he sought to give his son the deepest and most refined education.

Charles was born on the Scottish estate of Kinnordy, bought by his grandfather, in an environment that was very, very conducive to personal growth. Botany and poetry of the Italian Renaissance were subjects of Lyell's passion, and he approached the education of his son very seriously. Lyell Jr. learned to read at the age of four, changed several private schools as a child, and then entered Oxford. It should be noted that with all the glory of this educational institution, many note that the best place for a naturalist was Cambridge, before Oxford, those who were attracted by the humanities and political careers aspired there. But young Lyell at that time had not yet decided on his vocation. He was just about to study law, and besides, he dreamed of literary fame. However, gradually the young man became interested in geology, which was read to Oxford students by Professor Buckland, an adherent of the catastrophe school founded by Cuvier.

In 1817, Lyell happened to visit an amazing place on one of the Hebrides - the famous Fingal's Cave. It is a grotto carved into the rock by the sea surf and has unique acoustics. But the most remarkable thing is the hexagonal basalt pillars up to 20 m high that decorate the cave. These formations look man-made, but in reality they are of natural origin. The cave made an indelible impression on the young man and, perhaps, it was then that he finally gave his heart to geology.

Lyell published his first scientific work in 1823. It was devoted to the peculiarities of the geological structure of the Isle of Wight. A few more descriptive works followed, in which, at first glance, there was nothing particularly outstanding. Modest, albeit necessary work of an ordinary army of naturalists. After some time, the young scientist had the idea to write a geology textbook. It was conceived by no means as an outstanding contribution to science, but as a useful compilation of authorities for beginners. But while working on the book, Lyell was surprised to realize that there was nothing to compile in general. His contemporary knowledge of geology is rather unsystematic, does not fit well into a single scientific discipline, and most importantly, in some places is in conflict with his own observations.

"I felt, - wrote C. Lyell,- that a subject in which so many reforms and alterations must be made, in which you yourself acquire new ideas and develop new theories as you complete your task, in which you have to constantly refute and find arguments - that such a subject should be developed in a book that does not have nothing to do with the textbook. It was necessary not to state ready-made truths to the students, but to conduct a dialogue with equals.”

In 1828, an expedition to the Mediterranean forced Lyell to confirm his doubts that between modern formations and formations of the Tertiary period there was such an impassable line, caused by a one-time catastrophe. Comparing Tertiary fossils with modern ones, he concluded that Tertiary rainfall, climate, and fauna are quietly moving into modern ones. He did not find evidence in favor of huge general catastrophes breaking the chain of phenomena; on the contrary, everything points to a slow, continuous and uniform process of development.

In 1830, the first volume of Lyell's basic work, The Basic Principles of Geology, was published. The second and third volumes appeared in 1832 and 1833. respectively. A more extended title of this work is "Principles of Geology, which is an attempt to explain past changes in the surface of the Earth by correlation with causes now operating." The main idea is that "from ancient times to the present day, no other causes have acted than those that now act, that their action has always manifested itself with the same energy that they manifest now" and that, therefore, the study of modern phenomena can give a reliable key to the analysis of more ancient geological monuments. This theory is called actualism.

Lyell showed how significant the role of the so-called weak agents as rock-forming factors can be. He showed the significance of the impact of water, both destructive and creative, the importance of climate change, as well as the possible dependence of climate on changes in the configuration of continents. He dwelled in detail on the action of biogenic factors, conducted a comparative analysis of the products of ancient and modern volcanism, and created the theory of mountain building.

One of the most important conclusions from his work was the changed idea of ​​the absolute age of geological layers. After all, if thick sedimentary strata are the product of the influence of weak agents, then how much time is required for their accumulation? Therefore, life on Earth has existed for much longer than previously thought.

At first, Lyell's work was received with great skepticism, but also with great interest. Even before the third volume saw the light of day, the previous two editions were completely sold out. In total, "Fundamentals of Geology" was reprinted 11 times only during the life of the author. At first, this interest was rather scandalous. There is an interesting testimony to this not from anyone, but from Charles Darwin himself:

“When I went on the Beagle,” he recalled, “Professor Henslo, who, like all geologists of that era, believed in successive catastrophes, advised me to get and study the first volume of the Basic Principles, just published, but not in under no circumstances accept his theories.

But all subsequent studies of Lyell (and he lived a long life and spent a significant part of it on geological expeditions) laid down like bricks in the theory published in the 30s. So already in the 40s he was overtaken by universal recognition. In 1848 he was knighted, in 1864 he received the title of baronet for scientific services.

Lyell not only sketched out an outline of the general history of the earth, which formed the basis of modern geology, but also conducted a much more thorough study of the specifically Tertiary period. The scheme established by him (Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene) has survived to this day with changes only in details. In the last years of his life, he was very interested in the theme of prehistoric man. One of his scientific works of the late period is called "Geological evidence of the antiquity of man." But besides his own direct contribution to the development of this scientific direction, he also made an indirect contribution. It is impossible to overestimate the influence of Charles Lyell on the formation of the scientific views of Charles Darwin. After his death in 1875, Lyell was honored with burial in Westminster Abbey.

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