ions". In this paper he
boldly attacked the tenets of the Catastrophists. It is evident that
Darwin at this time, taking advantage of the temporary improvement in
his health, was throwing himself into the breach of Uniformitarianism
with the greatest ardour. Lyell wrote to Sedgwick on April 21st, 1837,
"Darwin is a glorious addition to any society of geologists, and is
working hard and making way, both in his book and in our discussions."
("The Life and Letters of the Reverend Adam Sedgwick", Vol. I. page 484,
Cambridge, 1890.)

We have unfortunately few records of the animated debates which took
place at this time between the old and new schools of geologists. I have
often heard Lyell tell how Lockhart would bring down a party of friends
from the Athenaeum Club to Somerset House on Geological nights, not, as
he carefully explained, that "he cared for geology, but because he liked
to while the fellows fight." But it fortunately happens that a few days
after this last of Darwin's great field-days, at the Geological Society,
Lyell, in a friendly letter to his father-in-law, Leonard Horner, wrote
a very lively account of the proceedings while his impressions were
still fresh; and this gives us an excellent idea of the character of
these discussions.

Neither Sedgwick nor Buckland were present on this occasion, but we can
imagine how they would have chastised their two "erring pupils"--more
in sorrow than in anger--had they been there. Greenough, too, was
absent--possibly unwilling to countenance even by his presence such
outrageous doctrines.

Darwin, after describing the great earthquakes which he had experienced
in South America, and the evidence of their connection with volcanic
outbursts, proceeded to show that earthquakes originated in fractures,
gradually formed in the earth's crust, and were accompanied by movements
of the land on either side of the fracture. In conclusion he boldly
advanced the view "that continental elevations, and the action of
volcanoes, are phenomena now in progress, caused by some great but slow
change in the interior of the earth; and, therefore, that it might
be anticipated, that the formation of mountain chains is likewise in
progress: and at a rate which may be judged of by either actions, but
most clearly by the growth of volcanoes." ("Proc. Geol. Soc." Vol. II.
pages 654-60.)

Lyell's account ("Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell,
Bart.", edited by his sister-in-law, Mrs