st cases
singularly small, the inscriptions being still visible, though deprived
of their sharpness; even the sandy detritus carried along by the
streams, being buoyed up by the water, had not been able in half a
century to wear away a thickness of half-an-inch of the hard rock. The
most singular result we noticed was, that the leaden small shot fired by
sportsmen, in the Highland tracts, whence these streams flowed, had
collected in great numbers in hollows formed by the young geologist's
inscriptions.

By his father's request, Lyell after leaving Oxford studied for the bar,
but there is no doubt that his main interest was in geological study. He
had made the acquaintance of Dr Mantell, and carried on a number of
researches in the south of England either alone or with that
geologist[38]. Four years after joining the Geological Society, in which
he was a constant worker, he became one of the secretaries. This was in
1823 when he was only 26 years of age. His frequent visits to Paris and
to various parts of the continent enabled him to exchange ideas with
many foreign naturalists, and it is clear from his correspondence that
at this early period he had abandoned the Catastrophic doctrines of his
teachers and friends.

Let us now consider the outside influences which were at work on Lyell's
mind in these early days. In the year 1818, the eminent palaeontologist
Blumenbach induced the University of Gottingen to offer a prize for an
essay on '_The investigation of the changes that have taken place in the
earth's surface conformation since historic times, and the applications
which can be made of such knowledge in investigating earth revolutions
beyond the domain of history._' A young German, Von Hoff, won the prize
by a most able book, displaying great erudition, entitled _The History
of those Natural Changes in the Earth's Surface, which are proved by
Tradition_. The first volume of this work appeared in 1822, and treated
of the results produced on the land by the action of the sea; the second
volume, published in 1824, dealt with the effects of volcanoes and
earthquakes. Von Hoff's learned work was confined to the collection of
data from classical and other early authors bearing on these subjects,
and to reasonings based on these records; for, unfortunately, he did not
possess the means necessary for travelling and making observations in
the districts described by him. Lyell acknowledges the great assistance
afforded to