Most Popular Books by Charles Lyell

"The Student''s Elements of Geology" by Charles Lyell is a seminal work that serves as a foundational guide to the principles of geology. Lyell, a pioneering Scottish geologist, presents a comprehensive overview of the Earth''s geological processes and history. This educational masterpiece covers topics such as rock formations, fossil evidence, and the forces shaping the Earth''s surface over time. Lyell''s meticulous observations and scientific methodology laid the groundwork for modern geology, influencing the understanding of gradual geological change and the concept of uniformitarianism. "The Student''s Elements of Geology" is not just a textbook; it is a timeless resource that continues to be relevant for students, educators, and geology enthusiasts, offering a comprehensive exploration of the Earth''s dynamic geological evolution. With its clear explanations and rich illustrations, Lyell''s work remains an enduring classic in the study of Earth sciences.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Illustrated with more than five hundred woodcuts Includes index Held in the former Law library.

Mr. Lyell''s first journeys through North America. Particular note is taken of geology, but in general Mr. Lyell considers the American character, the institutions of the cities and towns, and the like. His travels span from New England to the Mid-West. vol. 1of 2

In the preliminary chapters of "The Principles of Geology," in the first and subsequent editions, I have considered the question, how far the changes of the earth''s crust in past times confirm or invalidate the popular hypothesis of a gradual improvement in the habitable condition of the planet, accompanied by a contemporaneous development and progression in organic life. It had long been a favourite theory, that in the earlier ages to which we can carry back our geological researches, the earth was shaken by more frequent and terrible earthquakes than now, and that there was no certainty nor stability in the order of the natural world. A few sea-weeds and zoophytes, or plants and animals of the simplest organization, were alone capable of existing in a state of things so unfixed and unstable. But in proportion as the conditions of existence improved, and great convulsions and catastrophes became rarer and more partial, flowering plants were added to the cryptogamic class, and by the introduction of more and more perfect species, a varied and complex flora was at last established. In like manner, in the animal kingdom, the zoophyte, the brachiopod, the cephalopod, the fish, the reptile, the bird, and the warm-blooded quadruped made their entrance into the earth, one after the other, until finally, after the close of the tertiary period, came the quadrumanous mammalia, most nearly resembling man in outward form and internal structure, and followed soon afterwards, if not accompanied at first, by the human race itself. The objections which, in 1830, I urged against this doctrine, in so far as relates to the passage of the earth from a chaotic to a more settled condition, have since been embraced by a large and steadily increasing school of geologists; and in reference to the animate world, it will be seen, on comparing the present state of our knowledge with that which we possessed twenty years ago, how fully I was justified in declaring the insufficiency of the data on which such bold generalizations, respecting progressive development, were based. Speaking of the absence, from the tertiary formations, of fossil Quadrumana, I observed, in 1830, that "we had no right to expect to have detected any remains of tribes which live in trees, until we knew more of those quadrupeds which frequent marshes, rivers, and the borders of lakes, such being usually first met with in a fossil state." I also added, "if we are led to infer, from the presence of crocodiles and turtles in the London clay, and from the cocoa-nuts and spices found in the isle of Sheppey, that at the period when our older tertiary strata were formed, the climate was hot enough for the Quadrumana, we nevertheless could not hope to discover any of their skeletons, until we had made considerable progress in ascertaining what were the contemporary Pachydermata; and not one of these has been discovered as yet in any strata of this epoch in England."

Reprint of the original, first published in 1867.