Lyell’s book controversially questioned the biblical belief that unique catastrophes, such as Noah’s flood, shaped the Earth’s surface. Instead Lyell promoted uniformitarianism- the view that the Earth was shaped by the same gradual geological processes still in operation today.

The frontispiece of the Temple of Serapis in Italy illustrates the main point of the book. The temple columns, with their high water marks and evidence of marine encrustation, showed that sea levels had changed and so gradually over time that the monument was undisturbed.

As an author, friend and correspondent, Lyell had a strong influence on Charles Darwin’s scientific life. Darwin was given the first volume of ‘Principles of Geology’ before the HMS Beagle set sail on 27th December 1831. He picked up volumes 2 & 3 on the trip.