Principles of Geology, being an attempt to explain the former changes of the Earth's surface, by reference to causes now in operation, is a book by the Scottish geologist Charles Lyell. Published in three volumes in 1830–33, it established Lyell's credentials as an important geological theorist and popularised the doctrine of uniformitarianism (first suggested by James Hutton). The central argument in Principles was that "the present is the key t...
more
Principles of Geology, being an attempt to explain the former changes of the Earth's surface, by reference to causes now in operation, is a book by the Scottish geologist Charles Lyell. Published in three volumes in 1830–33, it established Lyell's credentials as an important geological theorist and popularised the doctrine of uniformitarianism (first suggested by James Hutton). The central argument in Principles was that "the present is the key to the past": that geological remains from the distant past can, and should, be explained by reference to geological processes now in operation and thus directly observable. Lyell's interpretation of geologic change as the steady accumulation of minute changes over enormously long spans of time was also a central theme in the Principles, and a powerful influence on the young Charles Darwin, who was given Volume 1 of the first edition by Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle, just before they set out on the voyage of the Beagle. On their first...
less
