Charles Lyell and Modern Geology. Bonney Thomas George
are called upon to say in each case, 'Which is now most probable, my ignorance of all possible effects of existing causes,' or that 'the beginning' is the cause of this puzzling phenomenon?"
In other parts of the letter he refers to his theory of the dependence of the climate of a region upon the geography, not only upon its latitude, but also upon the distribution of land and sea, and that of the coincidence of time between zoological and geographical changes in the past, as the most novel parts of the book; stating also that he has been careful to refer to all authors from whom he has borrowed, and that to Scrope himself he is under more obligation, so far as he knows, than to any other geologist. The concluding words also are interesting: —
"I conceived the idea five or six years ago, that if ever the Mosaic geology could be set down without giving offence, it would be in an historical sketch, and you must abstract mine in order to have as little to say as possible yourself. Let them feel it, and point the moral."
The last-named difficulty, to which Lyell refers in another part of this letter, was undoubtedly one of the most formidable "rocks ahead" in the path of his new book. Up to that time the progress of geology had been most seriously impeded by the supposed necessity of making its results harmonise with the Mosaic cosmogony. It was assumed as an axiom that the opening chapters of Genesis were to be understood in the strict literal sense of the words, and that to admit the possibility of misconceptions or mistakes in matters wholly beyond the cognisance of the writers, was a denial of the inspiration of Scripture, and was rank blasphemy. A large number of persons – among whom are the great mass of amateur theologians, together with some experts – are always very prone to assume the meaning of certain fundamental terms to be exactly that which they desire, and then to proceed deductively to a conclusion as if their questionable postulates were axiomatic truths. They further assume, very commonly, that the possession of theological knowledge – scanty and superficial though it may be – enables them to dispense with any study of science, and to pronounce authoritatively on the value of evidence which they are incapable of weighing, and of conclusions which they are too ignorant to test. Being thus, in their own opinion, infallible, a freedom of expression is, for them, more than permissible, which, in most other matters, would be generally held to transgress the limits of courtesy and to trespass on those of vituperation. Lyell had perceived that little real progress could be made till geologists were free to look facts in the face and to follow their guidance to whatever conclusions these might lead, irrespective of supposed consequences; or that, in other words, questions of science must be settled by inductive reasoning from accurate observations, and not by an appeal to the opinions of the men of olden time, however great might be the sanctity of their characters or the honour due to their memories. Wisely, however, he determined to prefer an indirect to a direct method of attack, and to avoid, so far as was possible, giving needlessly any cause of offence by abruptness of statement or by intemperance of language.
In deluges, the favourite resort of every "catastrophic" geologist, Lyell had long lost faith, and he laughs in one of his letters at the idea of a French geologist, that a sudden upheaval of South America may have been the cause of the Noachian flood. To the breaks in the succession of strata, a fact upon which the catastrophists much relied, he attached comparatively little value, insisting on their more or less local character. In the records of the rocks he finds no trace of a clean sweep of living creatures or of anything like a general clearance of the earth's surface, and no corroboration of the Mosaic cosmogony. He is bent on interpreting the work of Nature in the past by the work of Nature in the present, and not by the writings of the Fathers, or even by the words of Scripture itself.
Some time in the month of June the last sheet of the "Principles" must have been sent to press; for on the 25th of that month Lyell writes from Havre on his way to Bordeaux, through part of Normandy, Brittany, and La Vendée. This journey took him, as he says, "through some of the finest countries and most detestable roads he ever saw." On this occasion he was accompanied by a Captain Cooke, a commander in the Royal Navy; a man well informed, acquainted with Spain (the end of their journey), a botanist, and not wholly ignorant of geology – in short, an excellent companion, whose only fault was being "a little too fond of lagging a day for rest," even in places where nothing is to be done. Writing from Bordeaux to a sister, Lyell expresses a hope that at Bagnères de Luchon he may hear whether his book is out.35 Two passages in his letter are not without a more general interest. One repeats a remark made to him by D'Aubuisson, whom he describes as "a great gun of the old Wernerian school, who … thinks the interest of the subject greatly destroyed by our new innovation, especially our having almost cut mineralogy and turned it into a zoological science."36 D'Aubuisson also said, "We Catholic geologists flatter ourselves that we have kept clear of the mixing of things sacred and profane, but the three great Protestants, De Luc, Cuvier, and Buckland, have not done so; have they done good to science or to religion? No, but some say they have to themselves by it." The other remark is interesting in its reference to French politics, seeing that it is dated on the 9th of July, 1830. It runs thus37: —
"The quiet and perfect order and calmness that reigned at Bourbon, Vendée, and Bordeaux and Toulouse during the heat of the elections, afford a noble example to us – never were people in a greater state of excitement on political grounds than the French at this moment, yet never in our country towns were Assizes conducted with more seriousness and quiet. There is no occasion to make the rabble drunk. All the voters of the little colleges are of the rank of shopkeepers at least, those of the highest are gentlemen – only 20,000 of them out of the 30 millions of French. They are too many for such jobbing as in a Scotch county, and too independent and rich to have the feelings of a mob."
Yet at the end of this month came the "three days of July"; "perfect order and calmness" were at an end; Charles X. abdicated the throne, and the Bourbons again became exiles from France.
From Toulouse Lyell and his companion journeyed by the banks of the Ariège to the picturesque old town of Foix, and from this place to Ax, a watering-place on one of the tributaries to that river, in the heart of the Pyrenees. His keen eye notes at once the difference between the scenery of this chain and that of the Alps. Apart from the different character of the vegetation – the more luxuriant flora, the extensive forests of beech and oak at elevations where in Switzerland only the pines and larches would flourish – the valleys are narrower, the mountains more precipitous – the scenery, in short, is more like that around Interlaken or in the valley of Lauterbrunnen, without the lakes of the one or the grand background of snowy peaks in the other. In the Pyrenees the inferior height and the more southern position of the chain diminishes the snowfields and curtails the glaciers, so that the torrents run with purer waters, like they do in the Alps about the birthplace of the Po.
In order to acquire a clear idea of the structure of the Pyrenees the travellers crossed from Ax to the southern side of the watershed, though they still remained on French territory; for here, in the neighbourhood of Andorre, the frontier cuts off the heads of one or two valleys which geographically form part of Spain. Into this country they had purposed to descend, but the obstacles interposed by the reactionary jealousy of local Dogberries and the possible risks from political complications were so great, that they judged it wiser to abandon the attempt. So the travellers separated for a time, Captain Cooke, who feared the heat of the lower country, going eastwards through the curious little mountain republic of Andorre to Luchon; while Lyell, who seems to have been proof against the sun, recrossed the watershed into the valley of the Tet and descended it to Perpignan. Information obtained in this town encouraged him to go direct to Barcelona, where the Captain-General, the Conde D'Espagne, a distinguished soldier and diplomatist, gave him a courteous reception, and did everything in his power to smooth the way for a visit to Olot, a region of extinct volcanoes, which had been one of the chief ends of Lyell's journey. The expedition was successful; he did not fall among thieves, and was only annoyed by the tedious formalities and petty impertinences of the local functionaries of northern Spain; and he returned to France by a pass on the eastern side of the Canigou. He was not a little astonished, as might be expected from the remarks already quoted, when he found on arriving in that country that the reign of the Bourbons and the priests was over, the tricolor flag was hoisted on all the churches, and the royalist
When he left the publisher had not decided whether it should be issued at once or kept back till October.
D'Aubuisson, as time has shown, foresaw a real danger. The neglect of, if not contempt for, mineralogy, which became conspicuous between the years 1840 and 1870, or thereabouts, seriously impeded the progress of geology, at any rate in England.
Life, Letters, and Journals, vol. i. p. 276.