A classic of 19th century thought and of the young science of Geology. The work was an enormous influence on Darwin, who took volume I on the Beagle and received the second volume whilst in South America. He later wrote to a friend “I always feel as if my books came half out of Lyell’s brain”.
“...Lyell probably accomplished more in the advancement of geological knowledge than any other one man. The world wide influence of his treatises and textbooks definitely established the principles of uniformitarianism” (Mather and Mason).