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Charles Darwin
Charles Lyell was a well-known Scottish geologist who was a friend and colleague of Darwin’s; his work helped inspire some of Darwin’s most enduring ideas. In the book, Lyell is frequently cited as an authority, perhaps in the hopes that some of Lyell’s prestige would help to bolster the standing of Darwin’s own new ideas. Though today Darwin is better known than Lyell, Lyell’s ideas about geology were revolutionary in their own way. More than perhaps any other scientist, Lyell is credited with helping to popularize the idea that geological changes to the earth happen very slowly over very long periods of time. In a way, Darwin’s theory of natural selection is simply an extension of Lyell’s theories to organisms, since Darwin too believed that changes in nature happened slowly over long periods of time.
Charles Lyell Quotes in The Origin of Species
The The Origin of Species quotes below are all either spoken by Charles Lyell or refer to Charles Lyell. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 10
Quotes
Independently of our not finding fossil remains of such infinitely numerous connecting links, it may be objected that time cannot have sufficed for so great an amount of organic change, all changes having been effected slowly. It is hardly possible for me to recall to the reader who is not a practical geologist, the facts leading the mind feebly to comprehend the lapse of time. He who can read Sir Charles Lyell’s grand work on the Principles of Geology, which the future historian will recognise as having produced a revolution in natural science, and yet does not admit how vast have been the past periods of time, may at once close this volume.
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Charles Lyell Quotes in The Origin of Species
The The Origin of Species quotes below are all either spoken by Charles Lyell or refer to Charles Lyell. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 10
Quotes
Independently of our not finding fossil remains of such infinitely numerous connecting links, it may be objected that time cannot have sufficed for so great an amount of organic change, all changes having been effected slowly. It is hardly possible for me to recall to the reader who is not a practical geologist, the facts leading the mind feebly to comprehend the lapse of time. He who can read Sir Charles Lyell’s grand work on the Principles of Geology, which the future historian will recognise as having produced a revolution in natural science, and yet does not admit how vast have been the past periods of time, may at once close this volume.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
