Charles Lyell, Historian of Time's Cycle - Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the Discovery of Geological Time - page 107

ings of uniformity, in the next section. For now, let me simply note that Lyell
derived much mileage from their creative confusion.)
Lyell presents a double defense for his inclusive concept of uniformity. He
unites the logical argument presented above with a historical justification
rooted in an idiosyncratic view of Western science. In LyelPs historical tale,
told in the Manichean tradition, forces of darkness are aligned to impede
progress. The small flame of truth finally begins to nicker and, through the
struggle of right- thinking men, eventually burns brighter to conquer
superstition and perfidy. The forces of darkness are those men who see the
past as different in form and cause; they make true science impossible and
proceed only by vain speculation. Uniformity is the source of light, and
progress in geology may be defined by its slow and steady growth in
popularity. "A sketch of the progress of geology is the history of a constant
and violent struggle between new opinions and ancient doctrines, sanctioned
by the implicit faith of many generations, and supposed to rest on scriptural
authority" (I, 30). 3
To grasp LyelPs impact, we must admit a factor only reluctantly considered
by scientists. Truth is supposed to prevail by force of logical argument and
wealth of documentation, not by strength of rhetoric. Yet we will never
comprehend the reasons for Lyell's triumph unless we acknowledge the role
of his verbal skills. Science self-selects for poor writing. The profession has
harbored several good writers, but very few great stylists. Charles Lyell was
a great writer, and much of his enormous success reflects his verbal skills—
not mere felicity in choice of words, but an uncanny ability to formulate and
develop arguments, and to find apt analogies and metaphors for their support.
The premier example of Lyell's persuasion by rhetoric 4 is the famous chapter
five on "causes which have retarded the progress of
3. Since I shall be quoting extensively from the three-volume first edition of Lyell's
Principles (if only to convey some sense of the power of his prose), I shall adopt the
convention of citing only the volume number and then the page. Volume I was
published in 1830, volume II in 1832, and volume III in 1833.
4. A term that I use, by the way, in the literal, not the pejorative, sense.