This is IOPNA's 2nd article of 6 in our 'Missing Link' series:
We dusted off some 19thCentury history and found a British theologian cum naturalist named Charles Darwin is being honoured to this day for publishing his racist title 'Origin of Species…’, 28 years after first opening a book titled ‘Principles of Geology’, written by a lawyer whose hobby was geology, namely -
We dusted off some 19thCentury history and found a British theologian cum naturalist named Charles Darwin is being honoured to this day for publishing his racist title 'Origin of Species…’, 28 years after first opening a book titled ‘Principles of Geology’, written by a lawyer whose hobby was geology, namely -
Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875)…
as a student at Oxford University, attended imaginative lectures by Reverend William Buckland, an amateur geologist, then abandoned his legal career to also pursue this hobby of geology.
‘Principles of Geology’ first published in 1830 is unashamedly based on assumptions and philosophy in order to ‘free the science from Moses’. It led to meteoric recognition and honour for Lyell, with professional appointments, international lecture tours, a knighthood in 1848 - and a baronetcy in 1864!
Through reading philosopher John Playfair, Lyell had learnt of James Hutton and his book, ‘Theory of the Earth’ (1788), which also assumed that geological processes in the past are the same as what is happening today, all it took was millions of years: subsequently relied on by Darwin who needed ‘millions of years’ for his theory in ‘Origin of Species…’.
Lyell was horrified to find his notion of ‘millions of years’ was being linked with theories of evolution from naturalists like Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829), by young guns like Alfred Wallace, Charles Darwin and Thomas Huxley, but finally it came down to…….. ‘if you can’t beat ’em – join ‘em!’
Acknowledgement:
James A. Secord, introduction to ‘Principles of Geology’, Penguin Books, 1997
Tell me…back in 1830 were the continents covered with sea water?….were mountains being uplifted and folded?...or were land animals being turned into fossils by sudden catastrophe?
Notice the common thread of theological lectures at university.
NEXT: ‘Which father?’
What did Lyell learn from Rev. Buckland and from James Hutton? Click on:
http://hotspuds.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/which-father.html
Hats off to you Sir Charles!
ReplyDeleteDespite having poor eyesight you launched into your hobby of geology, exploring the world, writing popular books, joining the international speaker circuit, then earning for yourself a knighthood and then a baronetcy. Whenever a flaw became obvious in your theories you simply wrote another best-seller!
Even Queen Victoria was captivated by your audacity...but did you really know what you were talking about?