Notebook No.153, 19 July 1847 - 6 September 1847

This notebook contains Charles Lyell’s notes from 19 July 1847 to 18 September 1847 [the stated end date is inferred from the start date of the following notebook]. There is an abstract of a ‘Times Sept. 6. 1847’ article and a discussion in response to a letter from Charles Darwin dated 8 September 1847. Lyell is home in Kinnordy with no excursions or visited locales being explicitly recorded during this time. The approximate first third of the daily entries are focused on the management of the Kinnordy Estate and associated farms, the remaining two thirds are musings about ‘Americana’, religious and political commentary and geological references, reflecting observations from his recent visit to the United States. As such, this notebook is a good example of the work occupying Lyell when not travelling, and represents the first time Kinnordy estate affairs are referenced and recorded in the notebooks in detail. There are numerous memorandum lists, crossed or partially crossed, throughout the notebook. The Index stops at page 81, and subsequent notebook entries not included on pages 82-114 represent a random assortment, some in response to memorandum items and some related to the printing of his books, rather than a daily journal record. These pages may have been written non-chronologically and either concurrently or subsequently to the indexed portion of the notebook. Notes are in ink and pencil. The index is located in the back of the notebook on pages 117-119.

The following table of contents is Lyell's own words, copied from Lyell's own "Index", found at the end of the notebook. When known, Lyell's abbreviations and contractions have been expanded using brackets [ ]. Abbreviations in standard use, such as two letter abbreviations for United States place names, have not been expanded. 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 "do"; The inclusion of [sic] indicates the misspelling of a word is deliberate and taken from the notebook. The notebook entries not included in the Index have been summarized with section headings used by Lyell featured in quotation marks [“ ”] At times Lyell has included dates (inner left margin) within the Index and these have been inserted at the beginning of the appropriate section.

1847
Index. 153.
July 19th.
p. 1-6 Kinnordy. farms letting Glaswell
p. 1-6 - [Kinnordy] factorage etc. with Blackadder
p. 8-14 - [Kinnordy] Estimate of burdens with Rob[ert]. Lyall at O[ld]. Montrose
p. 15-23 Kinnordy estate affairs, conversations
p. 24-36 With Christopher Kerr. Mortgages & investment of money.
p. 37-38 Glaswell drainage of estimate & letting of.
p. 39 Management of Kinnordy & sources of income & retrenchment
p. 40 Planting per acre cost of as estimated by Young, Kinnordy
p. 42 Feuduties, Wilkie Br. Bailly Kerry
p. 44 School house Gash, hillock silt
July 29th
p. 45-54 Conversation with R[obert]. Lyall at Kinnordy on affairs of the estate
p. 55 United States Episcopal Church extracts from Caswell’s [sic Caswall’s]
p. 55 - [United States] Anxious benches, ibid
p. 55 - [United States] Mormons - ibid
p. 56 Prayer book of American Episcopal Ch[urch]. Alterations in
p. 57 Puseyism in U.S. why natural
p. 57 - [Puseyism] American Church, Episcopal why favored by English Puseyists
p. 57 Stipends of Episcopal clergy. U.S.
p. 58 Memoranda
p. 58 Sea-sickness, so also Palankeen
p. 59 Fedaralists [sic Federalists] & Slaves compared
p. 59 – both disfranchised & cheerful
p. 60 – Ostracism of the rich
p. 60 Memoranda
p. 61 Liberality to Clergy in U.S.
p. 60 & 62 Glaswell farm, increased rent. estimated by Wilkie
p. 62 Negro houses - neat as Scotch
[p. 63] Memoranda.
Aug[ust.] 16th
p. 64 Aurora borealis seen by Sir James Ross plays over ice
[p. 64] Iceberg turning over ibid
p. 64 Memoranda 65, - 67-
p. 67 An intellectual sermon “a snare”
p. 69 marks on rocks in Prosen R[iver].
p. 69 Berberis vulgaris.
[The 2 notes above are on p. 68 in the notebook.]
p. 69 Lycopodium dendroideum, White Mount[ains].
p. 69 Politeness to women & delicacy of conversat[ion]. in U.S.
p. 70 Letter of C[harles]. L[yell]. to Ticknor abstract.
p. 71 School Kirriemuir - persons exam[ined].
p. 71 Cincinnati German Newspapers
p. 72 Deciduous beach of Antarctic region 3 inch
p. 73 Cherokees
p. 73 Agassiz money for lecture Boston
p. 73 Forshey on sediment in Mississippi.
p. 74 Coppery colour of Moon in ecclipse [sic eclipse].
p. 74 Grooved rock in Sir J[ames]. Ross
p. 75 No land scarcely seen by him
p. 76 Protestant Principles Defence of
p. 76 - [Protestant Principles] Reformation & Tractarians
p. 76 - [Protestant Principles] Private judgement
p. 78 - [Protestant Principles] Church of England tolerant
p. 78 - [Protestant Principles] 50 thousand Protestant Popes –
p. 78 - [Protestant Principles] Geology & Philology
p. 80 - [Protestant Principles] Plenary & verbal inspiration
p. 80 - [Protestant Principles] Anglican Ch[urch]. peculiarity of that it seizes on Univ[ersities]. & Schools
[p. 82] Cosmogony the more advanced the State of Science the more it [‘is’ interlined] retarded by sacred chapters
[Pages 82, 84, 86, 88-108, 110, 112-114 – handwritten notes, not included in the ‘Index’.]
p. 82-88 “Geology amp; Scripture”
p. 88 Stigmaria - Hooker satisfied root of a Sigillaria
p. 88 “Carbonif[erous] flora”
p. 89 Mem[oranda], items 1-2 [vertically crossed]
p. 89 James K. Polk - initial in public use, few know Knox
p. 89 Boston - detained in Custom House when arrived - news [vertically crossed]
p. 90 “Scepticism in U.S.”
p. 90 H.D. Rogers says Dr Gould attributed failure at Harvard to imputations being a sceptic
p. 90 Agassiz thought inspired great application Zool[ogy] Botany Geol[ogy]
p. 91 Animal matter quantity in Mastodon’s bones imply length of glacial period in America?
p. 91 Letter Silliman Oct. 4 1845.
p. 91 Life preservers in cotton boats - Health in the Mississippi Delta
p. 92 List of named persons (papers and parcels(?) sent to?)
p. 93 Mem[orandum] from p. 67
p. 93 Costs - parcel sent, gas (downstairs)
p. 94 Mem[orandum] from p. 93
p. 94 [John] Murray - book copies (American Travels, Elements, Principles)
p. 94 3 ships of Columbus first voyage held 120 persons
p. 95 Mem[orandum], items 1-9
p. 95 Calculation, number of manuscript pages
p. 96 “Channing” Sunday schools - Catechisms
p. 96 Manuscript - number lines on page, letters in line
p. 97, 104 “Dona parentis”
p. 98 Wenham Lake Ice - Sir F. Head
p. 98 Calculations - cost per mile travel [crossed], manuscript pages
p. 99-100 ‘Times Sept. 6. 1847’ - abstract, American State debts
p. 100 Sir G. Ross voyage to southern sea
p. 101 Hugh Miller
p. 101 Post office - stamps, deliveries
p. 101 ‘M.S. Travels (2nd) U.S.’ - number of pages per day Sept. 8-20
p. 102 Mem[orandum] - Darwin fish frozen in ice [also no. 7 on p. 103]
p. 102 Normal school at Edinburgh
p. 103 Mem[orandum], items 1-7 [vertically crossed, partial]
p. 104 Mem[orandum], items 1-3 [vertically crossed]
p. 105 Letters, various correspondents and notes
p. 105 Granite State - New Hampshire
p. 106-107 “Americana”, “The Union”
p. 107 Mem[orandum], items 1-7 [vertically crossed]
p. 108 Lepidodendron - Hooker, Rob[ert] Brown
p. 108 Hind found new planet Iris, named by Bishop
p. 108-112 Glen Roy Rob[ert] Chambers
p. 113-114 “Ice-barrier theory Glen Roy”