Category Archives: Biography

Charles Lyell’s Books

‘No. 1 Mem for Tours’ features ‘Author’s (CL’s) Copies of Papers’.

In his Scientific Notebook 1, dated March – April 1825, Charles Lyell lists things to take on his first geological tour, designed to gather the evidence for his first book. In the list, he notes ‘Author’s (C.Ls) copies of papers‘, and it’s delightful to see him describe himself in that role.

 

 

Felicity with Jeremy Upton, Director of Library & University Collections at Lyell exhibition opening.

Felicity MacKenzie came across Charles Lyell whilst completing her History degree at Bristol – and for a considerable part of that, consulted online versions of his books during lockdown conditions. Felicity has now completed her Masters degree at Cambridge, where again, she was able to focus on Lyell. She is currently applying for a PhD in order to be able to explore his life further. Here, she gives a thorough introduction to Lyell’s books, as well as current links to online versions. 

 

The books that Charles Lyell wrote played an important role in the way in which he honed and communicated his geological work. When considered alongside each other, they offer the opportunity to trace the threads that run across Lyell’s thought and practice, as well as to compare and contrast his interests and concerns at different times in his career.

A selection of different editions of Lyell’s Principles, held at the University Library.

Lyell’s first and most famous book was the Principles of Geology: Being an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of the Earth’s Surface, by Reference to Causes Now in Operation. Initially published in three volumes – volume I 1830, volume II 1832 and Volume III 1833, the Principles was reprinted in twelve editions over Lyell’s lifetime and sold over twenty-five thousand copies. As the name suggests, Lyell used the book to consolidate and promote the ‘principles’ by which he believed modern geological science should be conducted. The most central of these principles was Lyell’s insistence on the exclusive explanatory authority of the reliable, rationally trained human observer.

For Lyell, human witness and reason formed the only basis for truth. This led him to state his
famous case – that ‘the present is the key to the past’ based on the idea that the action of
geological causes in the present, fell within the remit of human observation, and so formed the only trustworthy basis for knowledge about the way in which such forces might have acted in the past.

Principles, 10th Edition, volume 2, 1868.

This kind of human reason-centred geology had particular political ramifications in the 1830s, when ideas about reason versus revelation – and the bearing of the Bible upon truth – had significant implications for the politics of church, state and education. Lyell was aware that his work could produce heated debate and touch realms beyond geology. As a result, he structured his rhetoric in the Principles carefully. In so doing, he produced a masterpiece in the tactful presentation of controversial ideas. The Principles burst onto the British intellectual scene and remained an important cultural work throughout the nineteenth century and beyond.

 

 

Lyell’s second book was the Elements of Geology (1838). This was published in seven editions
between 1838 and 1871; its name changing to the Manual of Elementary Geology with the third
edition. This book was a practical, ‘how-to’ supplement to much of the material already covered
in the Principles, and taught the practitioner what they needed to know for application in the
field.

Next, came Lyell’s American travelogues. Lyell was invited to give a series of lectures at the Lowell Institute in Boston in 1841. During this visit, Lyell not only lectured in Boston, Philadelphia and New York, but travelled extensively around the northern and southern states with his wife Mary, observing and collecting geological phenomena. On returning home, Lyell decided to write up his geological work alongside social and political commentary. This resulted in the Travels in America: With Geological Observations on the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia volume I and volume II in 1845.

Both volumes include terrific foldouts, necessary to accommodate the scale of the country and its geological features.

Illustrations were important to Lyell, and in his Travels he included a fantastic fold-out, necessary to accommodate the scale of Niagara

That same year, Lyell was invited to lecture again at the Lowell Institute, and factored in another nine-month stint of travelling. The results were published in his A Second Visit to the United States of North America volume I and volume II, in 1849. Once again, a significant portion of this work was dedicated to social and political commentary, which makes it an important insight into Lyell’s broader ideology. In particular, it sheds light on Lyell’s very problematic attitude to race and enslavement

Lyell’s final book was the Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, with remarks on theories of The Origin of Species by Variation (1863). This work focussed on the question of human antiquity and is famous for how many people Lyell upset with it. Charles Darwin was frustrated that Lyell did not take the opportunity – as a significant figure in the highest echelons of British science – to offer full support for an evolutionary account of human origins. Additionally, Lyell infuriated colleagues, such as Robert Owen, Hugh Falconer and John Lubbock, who accused him of plagiarising their own and others’ works.

 

Each of Lyell’s books had a different and important impact on the intellectual and cultural life of nineteenth-century Britain. Hugely successful, they chart a course over what was an amazing timeframe in both scientific findings and their popularisation.

Thank you Felicity for sharing your knowledge on Lyell’s books with us! Copies of Lyell’s books from the University’s collections, as well as Lyell’s own annotated copies, are featured in our current exhibition. We will be featuring Felicity’s comprehensive online book list, and more, in our forthcoming website.

Recommended further reading:

  • James A. Secord, ‘Introduction’, in Principles of Geology (London; New York: Penguin Books, 1997)
  • Martin J.S. Rudwick, Worlds before Adam: the reconstruction of geohistory in the age of reform, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008)
  • Martin J.S. Rudwick, ‘The Strategy of Lyell’s Principles of Geology’, ISIS, 61:1 (1970), 4-33
  • Roy Porter, ‘‘Charles Lyell and the Principles of the History of Geology’, The British Journal for the History of Science, 9:2 (1975), 91-103
  • Stuart A. Baldwin, ’Charles Lyell: A Brief Bibliography’, (Essex: Baldwin’s Scientific Books, 2013)
  • Robert H. Dott, Jr., ’Lyell in America: his lectures, field work and mutual influences 1841-1853’ Earth Sciences History, 15 (1996), 101-140
  • W. F. Bynum, Charles Lyell’s ‘Antiquity of Man’ and Its Critics, Journal of the History of Biology, Summer, 1984, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Summer, 1984), pp. 153-187

 

Hello from Pamela, new Strategic Projects Archivist

Strategic Projects Archivist, Pamela McIntyre started in mid January, and will be leading on the Charles Lyell Project. Pamela introduces herself, and shares her insight on the internationally significant Sir Charles Lyell archive.   

Hello! After training in a number of repositories across the UK I qualified as an Archivist from Liverpool University in 1995. My first professional post was a SHEFC-funded project to catalogue, preserve and promote the archives of Heriot-Watt University, and its then associated colleges – Edinburgh College of Art, Moray House and the Scottish College of Textiles. Since then, I’ve worked with local authority, private and business archives, and with fine art and museum collections. I have always really enjoyed the practical elements of archive work, and getting people involved, and consequently, I’ve diversified, working in the third sector with volunteers. My last post was Project Development Officer, Libraries. Museums & Galleries for South Ayrshire Council – some highlights of my time there include breaking the ‘Festival of Museums’ with a ‘Day o’ the Dames’ event (sorry, Museum Galleries Scotland!), hosting an amazing exhibition about the history of tattoos, and spending two days at Troon, Prestwick, Maidens and Girvan beaches in support of COP26. I’m thrilled to join Edinburgh University, getting back to my archival roots – and it’s safe to say, Charles Lyell and I are getting on great!

I’m so impressed with the work that’s been done so far. I want to thank the previous staff for all of their efforts.

I am new to Geology, and one of the ways I get to know collections is by searching for subjects I do know about – using family names or places I know. Lyell travelled extensively, and whilst this may well influence my forthcoming holiday plans – it was particularly reassuring to find and read about his trip to the Isle of Arran – a place I love.

From Hutton’s visit in 1787, many geologists have visited Arran. Robert Jameson published his account in 1798, followed by John Macculloch in 1819. Geologists from overseas also visited, and Lyell had studied von Dechen and Oeynhansen’s accounts of 1829. As Leonard Wilson notes in his book Charles Lyell: the Years to 1841:

With its granite mountains and numerous dikes of traprock intersecting and altering stratified sedimentary rocks, Arran was a veritable laboratory for Lyell’s study of hypogene rocks and for the confirmation of his metamorphic theory.

Charles and Mary Lyell stayed at Arran for the first two weeks of August 1836, a trip chronicled by Lyell in Notebooks 62 and 63. Notebook 62 is digitised, and available on the University of Edinburgh’s LUNA image website. From page 60, Lyell noted their plans – arriving in Glasgow, a meeting with Hooker, and stop offs at both the Hunterian and the Andersonian – then plans his trip around the island.

Notebook No.62 p.60 plans for travel round the island of Arran

He then began an analysis of the geology of the island, posing questions, and offering amazing drawings.The pages of the notebooks are packed with details, almost at a breath-taking pace.

Notebook No.62 p.62

 

Notebook No.62 p.63

Lyell immediately made connections with what he saw in Arran with Forfarshire, Fife and Antrim, whilst taking the details of experts and mineral sellers resident in Glasgow, and making another simple line drawing showing the skyline of Goatfell.

By page 66 he is making significant notes entitled ‘Elements’, culminating in what appears to be the proposed structure of chapters for his book.

Wilson adds to the context of that trip; Mary met Lyon Playfair on the boat across – Andrew Ramsey later joined the party. Playfair accompanied Mary on the beach collecting shells, whilst Ramsey and Lyell geologised. At the end of their trip to Arran, the Lyells returned to Kinnordy until the 28th September. Wilson notes:

It was a long rest and summer vacation – a complete break from London, foreign travel and scientific meetings. During the preceding four years Lyell had worked through three editions of the Principles, three tours on the continent, one long trip through Sweden, and all the duties and demands of the foreign secretaryship and presidency of the Geological Society. Mary had acted in part as his secretary and assistant. She wrote many of his letters, helped to catalogue shells, and protected him from visitors. She had accompanied him on his excursions on the continent often under extremely primitive conditions; she had been abandoned in hotel rooms while Charles was off geologizing; she was often lonely. The vacation was for her too a chance to revitalise. When they arrived back at 16 Hart Street Lyell wrote to his father “Everyone is quite struck with the improvement in Mary’s health & appearance’.

I know Mary Horner Lyell as the daughter of Leonard Horner, who by setting up the Edinburgh School of Art in 1821 laid the foundations for Heriot-Watt College. It’s a small world. I am looking forward to being reacquainted with Mary, whose intelligent support to her husband is evidenced in the Lyell Collection by copious correspondence from when they first met.

Mary Elizabeth (née Horner), Lady Lyell
by Horatio Nelson King
albumen carte-de-visite, 1860s
NPG x46569
© National Portrait Gallery, London

I have not come across any mention of Ailsa Craig! However, I have found a reference to Kilmarnock, a topic for a future blog! Familiarisation – to some extent – achieved, it’s now time to decide priorities, to create projects, to engage with people, and to continue the aims of opening up the Lyell collection to all.

Discoveries in the Charles Lyell Collection

“[Charles Lyell’s] cultivated mind and classical taste, his keen interest in the world of politics and in the social progress and education of his country, and the many opportunities he enjoyed of friendly intercourse with the most leading characters of his age, make the letters abound in lively anecdotes and pictures of society, constantly interspersed with his enthusiastic devotion to Natural History.” -Katherine Lyell, Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, Bart, 1881

To mark 7 months working with the Lyell collection, I’d like to share some discoveries I’ve made while cataloguing these amazing notebooks, and researching Lyell’s published works. Lyell today is known for his great discoveries of the Earth, and the elevation and establishment of the science. Here, we see Lyell’s other interests.

Discoveries:

  1. Charles Lyell was deeply interested in the role of universities and education in society. He writes in his notebooks extensively about the religious requirements at Oxford and Cambridge, to which he objected. In  Notebook 4 he  makes  this  list:

An image of a notebook page written in pencil or light pen in which Charles Lyell writes his thoughts on University education. Transcript: What is the portion of those who ought to have a Univ[ersit]y Ed[ucatio]n in England. Who really have one? 1. Learn number Att[ourn]ys & their cle-rks. Barristers not Oxf[or]d or any Univ[ersit]y men - Dissenter who an barrister, attournies, or spe-cial pleaders &c [etc] 2. Engineers, Architects, Surveyors 3. Physician dissenters how many Surgeon d[itt]o. Discipline was intended. ought not those below 16 to be required to go to church.

Notebook No 4, p. 106, one instance of Lyell’s notes on Universities and education.

Transcription: “What is the portion of those who ought to have a Univ[ersit]y Ed[ucatio]n in England. Who really have one? 1. Learn number Att[ourn]ys & their cle-rks. Barristers not Oxf[or]d or any Univ[ersit]y men – Dissenters who an barrister, attournies, or spe-cial pleaders &c [etc] 2. Engineers, Architects, Surveyors 3. Physician dissenters how many Surgeon d[itt]o. Discipline was intended. ought not those below 16, to be required to go to church.”

 

2. Dante’s Inferno was a constant reference in Lyell’s notebooks, though it’s not clear yet for what purpose, other than the geologist’s keen interest. In the midst of notes on other subjects, Lyell often makes brief abbreviated citations of the parts and lines of Dante. These must have been important to him, because he regularly references these citations in his table of contents. His father being a Dante scholar, this is intriguing for further research to understand how Dante’s poetry influenced Lyell’s understanding of the earth.

Excerpts from Notebook No. 4 (1827), where Lyell cites Dante.

3. Lyell wasn’t the only naturalist in his family, his sisters and father were keen on insect collecting and naming. In those days, much of the flora and fauna of Scotland had no official name, and therefore budding lepidopterists “discovered” and named the insects they caught. We hope to describe illuminating family letters like this in the newly acquired papers of Lyell.

Letter to Marianne from Charles Lyell concerning the Lyell sisters’ prowess and interest in identifying insects

4. Lyell’s eyesight is known for being poor and limiting his abilities all his life, but the reason why is now contested. Most biographies cite that his eyesight worsened while studying the law by candlelight, but in a letter to Murchison in preparation for their Grand Tour to France and Italy, Lyell writes that his eye injury was caused by the long days in the Tuscan sun on holiday with his family. On that Grand Tour, to appease his father, Lyell brought with him a clerk named Hall to aid him in his work and treatment of his eyes – though no detail of the treatment has yet been found.

Excerpt from a letter to Murchison, April 29, 1828, explaining his father’s wishes for Lyell to bring his clerk with him, to make up for his troubles with his eyes.

 

References:

Lyell, C. (2010). Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, Bart (Cambridge Library Collection – Earth Science) (K. Lyell, Ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511719691

Bailey, E., 1962. Charles Lyell, F.R.S., (1797-1875). Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd.

Charles Lyell Notebook No. 4, digitised here: https://images.is.ed.ac.uk/luna/servlet/s/cennww

 

New Post: Project Archivist (Climate Change)

courtesy of Jasmine Keuter

My name is Elise Ramsay, and I am delighted to introduce myself as the University of Edinburgh’s new Project Archivist on Climate Change. My remit includes cataloguing the Lyell notebooks, and scoping other collections the University holds related to Charles Lyell, climate change, and Earth Science. Even in my short time working with the collection, it is apparent that there is an incredible wealth of research opportunity in these notebooks, not only concerning the environment and climate change, but also women’s contribution to science, 19th century social dynamics, international relations between scientists, and 19th century methods of travel, to name but a few.

about me:

I am an Archivist, trained at the University of Glasgow’s Information Management and Preservation course, and with experience in a variety of academic institutions, recently St. George’s School for Girls, and as a volunteer cataloguing on other projects at the Centre for Research and Collections (CRC). In my undergraduate studies, I read French and History, but was very interested by environmental and earth sciences, so in working on this collection, I can employ my understanding of French (Lyell often drafts letters to French colleagues in his notebooks), and continue to learn about Earth Science so as to create detailed metadata.

why climate change?

The University of Edinburgh has committed to become zero carbon by 2040. In line with this, the CRC is committed to improve access to Earth Science collections, and create opportunities for ground-breaking research about the climate, species biodiversity, and more. The Lyell collection particularly captures many of these initiatives.

progress so far…

For a collection of this size, a set methodology is key to completing the project, and ensuring that all items are catalogued equally.  Therefore, I dedicated the first few weeks to reading biographies of Lyell, highlighting important people, organisations, and places (known archivally as authorities), and created a process for cataloguing. To ensure that each notebook isn’t damaged in the process of cataloguing, I limited the time each notebook is open to 15 minutes. In those 15 minutes, I take note of the following information:

  • How many pages? How many folios? (Imagine you’re taking a picture of each page with text; how many pictures?This number tells us how full the notebook is, and allows us to estimate the effort needed to digitise)
  • Authorities
  • Subjects (the goal of this is to be as detailed as possible; specimen terms are especially important to make note of so researchers can access material based on their specialisation; for example, volcanoes and volcanic activity; strata; lithification; silicification; opal; coal)
  • Illustrations, and page numbers
  • Index, page numbers

All of these elements are then created in Archive Space, and included in the catalogue entry.

character of the collection

In reading the notebooks, I have relied on the support of Dr. Gillian McCay to provide specialised knowledge and identify key areas which will be important to researchers. This means learning about geological theories and concepts, and often opposing ideas from scientists of the time. It is clear that the network Lyell operated in featured intense, driven personalities, all motivated to prove their theories about the Earth’s origins and activity. This therefore informs the way I will catalogue this collection to prioritise authorities and give context to Lyell’s contemporaries.

more to come…

Watch this space for details about the collection, discoveries, photos, and updates on the project!