without producing any real influence on the course of biological
thought, so Hutton and Playfair adumbrated doctrines which only became
the basis of vivifying theory in the hands of Lyell. Alfred Russel
Wallace has very justly remarked that when Lyell wrote the "Principles
of Geology", "the doctrines of Hutton and Playfair, so much in advance
of their age, seemed to be utterly forgotten." ("Quarterly Review", Vol.
CXXVI. (1869), page 363.) In proof of this it is only necessary to
point to the works of the great masters of English geology, who preceded
Lyell, in which the works of Hutton and his followers are scarcely ever
mentioned. This is true even of the "Researches in Theoretical Geology"
and the other works of the sagacious De la Beche. (Of the strength
and persistence of the prejudice felt against Lyell's views by his
contemporaries, I had a striking illustration some little time after
Lyell's death. One of the old geologists who in the early years of the
century had done really good work in connection with the Geological
Society expressed a hope that I was not "one of those who had been
carried away by poor Lyell's fads." My surprise was indeed great when
further conversation showed me that the whole of the "Principles" were
included in the "fads"!) Darwin himself possessed a copy of Playfair's
"Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory", and occasionally quotes it;
but I have met with only one reference to Hutton, and that a somewhat
enigmatical one, in all Darwin's writings. In a letter to Lyell in 1841,
when his mind was much exercised concerning glacial questions, he says
"What a grand new feature all this ice work is in Geology! How old
Hutton would have stared!" ("M.L." II. page 149.)

As a consequence of the influences brought to bear on his mind during
his two years' residence in Edinburgh, Darwin, who had entered that
University with strong geological aspirations, left it and proceeded to
Cambridge with a pronounced distaste for the whole subject. The result
of this was that, during his career as an under-graduate, he neglected
all the opportunities for geological study. During that important period
of life, when he was between eighteen and twenty years of age, Darwin
spent his time in riding, shooting and beetle-hunting, pursuits which
were undoubtedly an admirable preparation for his future work as an
explorer; but in none of his letters of this period does he even mention
geology. He says, however, "I was