Charles Lyell rejected the theory of evolution for most of his life. Yet the remark of a contemporary that ΓÇ£Lyell was for others, as for me, the chief agent in smoothing the road for DarwinΓÇ¥ is probably accurate. Principally a geologist, Lyell was a uniformitarian. He saw that the geological processes that are active now are the same as those that have been active in the past, and showed that the earth was far older than the Bible seemed to indicate.
He also believed that the world was in a steady state, although not static, undergoing cycles as climates changed and continents moved. As these events happened, he believed, species went extinct and new ones were introduced. But while extinction ­ and the fossils that go with it ­ could be explained under this view, he was unable to account for the introduction of new species.
He presented his ideas to great acclaim in a three volume work called the Principles of Geology. Among its most avid readers was a young man who would soon complete the story: Charles Darwin.
