Surrounded by honor, recognized as the head of the geologists of his fatherland, Lyell remained a private person all his life, avoiding 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 in Europe and North America, interrupting tours 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. Soon, on February 10, 1875, Lyell died and was solemnly buried in Westminster Abbey, next to his friend, the famous astronomer John Herschel.

Proceedings and views

The largest result of Lyell's scientific activity remains the Fundamentals, which he subsequently divided into two separate books: The Elements of Geology - the History of the Earth's Crust and The Basic Principles of Geology - the Activities of Modern Geological Agents (dynamic geology). The first work went through 8 editions during the life of the author, 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.

In his work "Fundamentals of Geology" in three volumes (1830-1833), 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.

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, should 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 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 signs, 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 fair, 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, long and fruitless war between the Neptunists and the vulcanists, which ended to the general 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.

, "one of the most eminent scientists of the 19th century."

Biography

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 War of Independence, he was secretary to the commander of the British Navy, John Byron, and treasurer of the flagship HMS Princess Royal. The position enabled him, after his retirement, to purchase 5,000 acres of land in Scotland, including Kinnordie House and Inverquarity Castle near Kirremuir. Scottish possessions were inherited by Charles's father. 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. Bakwell's Introduction to Geology in his father's library - this book later became Lyell's desktop book.

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 or 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 subsequently 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. 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. T. 2 / Per. from 6th ed. Ed. V. O. Kovalevsky. St. Petersburg: type. or T. A. E. Landau, 1878. , IV, 563 p.

Literature

• Ravikovich A. I. Charles Lyell. M.: Nauka, 1976. 200 p.
• Engelgardt M. A. Charles Lyell: His life and scientific work. St. Petersburg: comrade. Tot. benefit, 1893. 80 p. (Sir. Life of remarkable people. Biographical library of F. Pavlenkov)
• Lyell Charles, sir, 1st baronet (1797–1875) English geologist // Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences: Geology and mining sciences. M.: Nauka, 2014. Pp. 145-149.
• North F.J. Sir Charles Lyell: Interpreter of the Principles of Geology. London: A. Barker, 1965. 128 p.

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 fossils, he concluded that Tertiary rainfall, climate, and fauna are quietly transitioning 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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Biographical sketch of M. A. Engelhardt

With a portrait of Lyell, engraved in St. Petersburg by K. Adt

Chapter I. Childhood. Years of study

Lyell's father. – First impressions. - Love for nature. - School. - Entomology. - Gymnasium and its harmful influence. - Morals of schoolchildren. Fights. - Classicism. - Lyell's childhood memories .

Charles Lyell was born into a wealthy family and grew up in enviable conditions: in material contentment, in an atmosphere of science and literature. However, his road was not without potholes, as we will see below; but in general it was still a smooth, tortuous road. His father, an inquisitive man and a great esthete, took bread and salt with writers and scientists, studied botany, not without success, translated Dante and published several articles about the great Italian poet. Heaven and the fertility of the Anglo-Saxon race rewarded him with a numerous family, consisting of three sons and seven daughters. The first-born, Charles, the future geologist, was born on November 14, 1797 in the county of Forfar, in Scotland, on his father's estate of Kinnordy. Soon after, his father rented the Bartley Lodge estate in the New Forest, in southern England, where he moved with the whole family.

In the fourth year of his life, Lyell learned to read: this is his first memory; and on the eighth he entered the school of Dr. Davis in the city of Ringwood - "... a great event in the life of a boy! A completely new world and rather rough for one who was brought up in a hole and bliss!" (Lyell. Autobiography).

The first impressions of a child might excite a desire for abusive rather than scientific exploits. At that time, Europe seemed to be boiling in a cauldron; Napoleon approached the zenith of his glory, beat European monarchs, gave away and took away crowns, shuffled states, blinded European society with the brilliance of his victories, and let out such a dope that this whole era seems to us some kind of extravaganza - grandiose or meaningless, as on someone taste - but crackling, with strong effects, with piles of corpses and rivers of blood. In England, the invasion of the Gauls was expected, detachments of volunteers were formed; Lyell's father, inflamed with military fervor, left his herbariums and took command of the detachment stationed in Ringwood, to the delight of schoolchildren. The news of Nelson's victory at Trafalgar was celebrated with great pomp: fires were lit on the hills around Ringwood; the city was lit up with illumination; the people crowded the streets, singing "Reign Britannia!"; Volunteers, full of patriotism and vodka, set fire to the house of some inhabitant, mistaking it, probably for a French fortress - in a word, it was a lot of fun. “I remember that I took a lively part in the general joy on the occasion of the great victory, and in mourning over the death of Nelson (who received a mortal wound in the Battle of Trafalgar),” says Lyell in his autobiography.

These patriotic feelings did not leave a deep mark on the soul of the child, finding a counterbalance in other impressions. From early childhood, he fell in love with nature - an unconscious, instinctive love that made him a naturalist and determined his career long before he himself realized his aspirations. He spent summers in the countryside, in the meadows with mowers, or in the park that surrounded the estate. “There were many beautiful old oaks here, which the owner of the estate sometimes cut down for sale, for which I was always angry with him, because I knew all the trees, large and small, and was very upset if any was missing. Each group and each individual tree received a special name from me. One was called "Ringwood", another - "Salisbury", the third - "London" or "Paris" and so on. I gave the names of flowers to individual trees; so, one was called "Geranium". Little by little, these names were adopted by other members of the family.

School work was going fairly well, though not brilliantly. At Ringwood, Lyell studied reading, writing, and grammar, and in his ninth year was transferred to Dr. Radcliffe's School in Salisbury, a fashionable school where the sons of local aces studied Latin. Dr. Radcliffe was a good Latinist, a strict but fair teacher, and had the misfortune of losing four wives one after another, for which he received the nickname "Bluebeard" from his irreverent pupils. Lyell had a vivid memory of his cane walking up and down the backs of schoolchildren when Bluebeard caught them by surprise during a fight. He retained many other similar memories from this period: about the ruler of a French teacher, from which it got mainly to the fingers, but also to the backs of schoolchildren; about pillow fights in the dormitory; about tricks perpetrated on unloved teachers, and so on and so forth, but we will leave aside these anxieties and joys of school life, because, differing in details and form, they are essentially the same in all countries and among all peoples, representing only separate episodes of the great epic - the war of schoolchildren with teachers, which has not yet found its Homer.

Dr. Radcliffe's school was in the center of a fairly large city, while the former was located on the outskirts of a small, out-of-the-way town. Instead of a vast meadow and a river in which one could bathe, there was a narrow, walled yard attached to the school; they took them for walks three times a week, in pairs, along the stuffy and dusty streets. “This school felt like a prison compared to the old school, especially to me, accustomed to the free life in the New Forest,” recalls Lyell.

Latin grammar was decidedly not to Lyell's taste, and during the two years he spent in Salisbury, he studied rather poorly, especially since no measures were used in Dr. Radcliffe's school that could excite competition, and Lyell, in his own mind, only pride could force learning. “I always felt miserable when I had to sit back,” he says, “and at the same time I was disgusted with work and could not take it up without compulsion.”

The characterization, as we will now see, is not entirely fair. The lively, inquisitive nature of the boy was languishing in inaction, but school wisdom represented too dry, unattractive food. When, in the tenth year of his life, he was taken from school to the village due to illness, a wide field opened up for his curiosity, in which he acted without any prodding and encouragement. He became addicted to collecting insects and identified them from an atlas that ended up in his father's library. This occupation, familiar to most children, but usually having the character of pampering and fun, turned into a real passion for him and played a much more beneficial role in his education than Latin grammar and Bluebeard's cane. It developed in him observation, memory, the habit of comparing and classifying, which is so important for the naturalist in general and for the geologist in particular. At the age of two or three, he became a true naturalist, without suspecting it himself. “I knew little about development, even less about the internal structure of insects, but I learned to distinguish by external signs several hundred species often very small, and still (in 1832) I remember almost everything, so that I could select English butterflies and moths from a foreign collection. Having no allowances, I gave some of the groups my own names and subsequently became convinced that my classification corresponds to natural orders and families.”

He collected caterpillars and pupae and followed their metamorphoses, got acquainted little by little with the life of insects, made sure that each species appears at a certain time; some only once, others twice a year, others during the day, others in the evening or at various hours of the night. In particular, he was interested in the manners and lifestyle of aquatic insects. “I sat,” he says, “for whole mornings on the bank of the pond, observing the strange habits of aquatic insects, feeding them flies and, if I could, catching them. I made sure that every pool was inhabited by water beetles of various shapes and sizes, and with the greatest interest I followed their rapid movements, threw them flies and butterflies, and watched them rise for prey, some dropping it at the approach of others. I caught long, spider-like insects moving quickly through the water; floats describing the figure 8 in the water, smoothies floating on their backs, and others, and kept them in a basin of water in my bedroom, to the great chagrin of the maids - especially if the water was not clean.