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Notebook No.64, 8 April 1837- June 1837

 Item — Box: Lyell-temp-box 3
Identifier: Coll-203/A1/64

Scope and Contents

Of dark green leather, this notebook contains Charles Lyell's thoughts and observations while on a trip to Copenhagen with his wife Mary Lyell. On the front cover is written "London - Copenhagen April to June 1837 A". In the inside cover Lyell's address is written; "Mr C Lyell 16 Hart Street Bloomsbury Square". Contents include lists of queries and views held by specific individuals, observations in prose, and sketch illustrations. The notebook is written in red and black ink and pencil.

The following table of contents is Lyell's own words, copied from Lyell's own "Index", found at the beginning and end of the notebook, transcribed from digital surrogates using the platform Transkribus. When known, Lyell's abbreviations and contractions have been expanded using brackets []. When writing is unclear, and transcription is not possible, this is denoted using [...]. Quotation marks are Lyell's own notation for ditto, as is the abbreviation "d'o". The inclusion of [sic] indicates the misspelling of a word is deliberate and taken from the notebook.
Lyell's Own Index

p. 1-5, Philips and Williamson’s lists of Oolite fossils
p. 6, 8, 16, 20, 22, 36, Queries, Darwin
p. 6, 9, 15, 16, 20, 23, 25, 31, 33, 37, 39 Mem[orand]a
p. 14, Princ[iples] of Geol. + Elements, time taken by from their begin’g
p. 17, N'o. of pages wh. May be in Elements out of P[rinciples]
p. 19, Beck, D.r Mem’a for
p. 34, Christiania; altered rocks
p. 34, Nautilus Danicus
p. 35, Baltic, subsidence of a hill on shores of
p. 36, 55, 68, 70, 83, 99, 101, 104, Queries for [Beck, Dr.]
p. 38, [Address] Virlet
p. 40, 43 Electrometer
p. 46, Heligoland
p. 48, Schulau
p. 50, Holstein, flat table-land
p. 52, Copenhagen – currents, ice, +c
p. 54, [Address] Beck, Dr.
p. 56, [Queries for Beck] on Sicilian fossils
p. 56, Paris d[itt]o
p. 57, [Queries] Age of Foxoe; [Queries] on distinction of species [Queries] Mio of Touraine
p. 58, Cypraa
p. 60, Aspergillum
p. 61, 69 [Queries] on species
p. 62, Queries on Geneva in Deshayes’s Tables
p. 62, Septaria
p. 62, Teredo
p. 62, 64, 71, Fistulana
p. 64, 71, [Deshayes] on Fistulana gigantea
p. 68, Deshayes, Queries for, His identifications
p. 68, Gastrochona
p.72-92, Pholas
p.72-92, Solen
p. 76, [Deshayes] on Solen vagina
p. 81, [Queries] On principles of identification
p. 86, [Deshayes] on S. strigilatus
p. 95, Cytherea
p. 96, [Deshayes] on Cith[...]a mitidula
p. 102, [Deshayes] On Isocardia cor
p. 102, 103, 105, Arca
p. 102, [Address] Pingel
p. 103, [Deshayes] On Area Magellanica + A. Helbingie
p. 103, Ehrenberg
p. 107, Modiola
p. 107, [Deshayes] On Modiola discrepans
p. 113, 114 Insects, number of species of Curculio + Ichneumon
p. 113, Curculio, No. of species
p. 114, [Queries] on Dog and Wolf
p. 114, Ichneumon, d’o Addresses

Dates

  • Creation: 8 April 1837- June 1837

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Historical Context

This notebook was kept by Lyell during his travels with Mrs. Lyell to Denmark and Norway, where they focused on contact zones between sedimentary rocks and large intrusive bodies of granite and syentie, as well as dykes and sills. They visited geological locations around the capital Christiania (now Oslo), with the professor of geology at the University of Christiania Baltazar M. Keilhau as guide. Many of Lyell’s theories about metamorphic and plutonic rocks were confirmed from his observations, and these confirmations were included in Elements of Geology , published the following year, in 1838. This was nearing the end of his two year presidency of the Geological Society, and during a tempestuous time for the science, when theories about evolution of the species were particularly divisive. In correspondence with Whewell in March of 1837 about the possibilities of the origination of new species, Lyell wrote why he left this topic to inference in Principles of Geology; “"If I had stated... the possibility of the introduction or origination of fresh species being a natural, in contradistinction to a miraculous process, I should have raised a host of prejudices against me, which are unfortunately opposed at every step to any philosopher who attempts to address the public on these mysterious subjects.” (Lyell to William Whewell, 7 March 1837. In Lyell K. 1881. The life and letters of Sir Charles Lyell. 2 vols, London. vol. 2 p. 5)

Extent

116 folios

58 Leaves

1 volume

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