To A. B. Buckley   23 February 1875

Down Beckenham

Feb. 23. 1875

My dear Miss Buckley

I am grieved to hear of the death of my old and kind friend, though I knew that it could not be long delayed, and that it was a happy thing that his life should not have been prolonged, as I suppose that his mind would inevitably have suffered. I am glad that Lady Lyell has been saved this terrible blow.1 His death makes me think of the time when I first saw him, and how full of sympathy and interest he was about what I could tell him of Coral reefs and South America.2 I think that this sympathy with the work of every other naturalist was one of the finest features of his character. How completely he revolutionised Geology; for I can remember something of pre-Lyellian days.3

I never forget that almost every thing which I have done in science I owe to the study of his great works. Well he has had a grand and happy career, and no one ever worked with truer zeal in a noble cause. It seems strange to me, that I shall never again sit with him and Lady Lyell at their breakfast.— I am very much obliged to you for having so kindly written to me.4

Pray give our kindest remembrances to Miss Lyell,5 and I hope that she has not suffered much in health from fatigue and anxiety.

Believe me, my dear Miss Buckley, | Yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin

Copy

1
Charles Lyell died on 22 February 1875; his wife, Mary Elizabeth Lyell, had died in 1873 (ODNB; see Correspondence vol 21, letter from E. A. Darwin to Emma Darwin, 24 April [1873]).
2
CD first met Lyell on 29 October 1836 in London, having just returned from the Beagle voyage (see Correspondence vol. 1, letter to J. S. Henslow, [30–1 October 1836]). Lyell encouraged him to work on the geology of South America and commented on his paper ‘Elevation on the coast of Chili’ before it was read before the Geological Society of London (see Correspondence vol. 1, letter from Charles Lyell, 26 December 1836). Lyell was enthusiastic about CD’s theories on the formation of coral reefs (see Correspondence vol. 2, letter from Charles Lyell, 13 February 1837). For more on CD’s early contact with Lyell, see J. Browne 1995, pp. 348–54.
3
CD refers to Lyell’s belief in gradual change in geology, a view that came to be known as uniformitarianism. For more on Lyell’s impact on geology in the nineteenth century, see J. A. Secord 1997.
4
Buckley’s letter has not been found.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9868,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9868