Part of Collection
University Archives and Manuscripts
Title
Notebook No.157
Creators/Contributors
Rights
Out of Copyright. Free use.
Collection
Papers of Sir Charles Lyell
Production Date
17 September 1848 - 4 December 1848
Shelfmark (Identifier)
Coll-203/A1/157
Catalogue Record
https://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/repositories/2/archival_objects/180315
Subjects
- Sea Serpents
- Angus, Scotland
Description
This black notebook contains a record of Charles Lyell’s observations, queries, and discussions whilst he is travelling around Scotland in late 1848. This notebook covers thoughts on key religious, political, educational, and geological topics of the time, covering issues in Kinnordy, Glen Isla (Angus), London, and America - New Orleans. This notebook primarily focuses on the geology of Angus, Scotland, with many sketches of the hills and topography of the area around Lyell’s Scottish home of Kinnordy. An especially nice drawing of the geology is on P.70 and includes a coloured/painted sketch unlike most of his other sketches. Lyell’s own index starts at p.44, with the majority of the pages beforehand covering his time in Scotland. Of particular significance is the conversations with a Mrs Euphemia Murray of Linrose p.34, who was a subject of 'Blythe Was She' by the poet Robert Burns; she gained the epithet of ‘The Flower of Strathmore’. This notebook also covers key individuals like Charles Bunbury (Friend of Lyell and Naturalist), Charles Wheatstone (Scientist (Electric Telegraph)), Joseph Cogswell (Editor and Librarian), John Wesley (Theologian), George Webb Dasent (Translator), Lord Edward Littleton Hatherton (Politian), and Andrew Bain (South African Geologist). Lyell is again highly interested in Sea-serpents in this notebook p.84, 85, 129, at one point naming them ‘Kraken’ (p.85). This notebook also covers the time of Lyell’s knighthood on the 19th September 1848; p.12 sees his arrival to Balmoral and notes on the geology and flora around the area.
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