"You are pleased to compliment my paper on its _originality_. Any praise from you must ever be among the greatest gratifications to me, and to any honest labourer in the great field of Nature. But I had rather hear the views I have set forward be proved _not original_ than the contrary. It seems to me that the surest proof of the _truth_ of such conclusions as I have summed up at the end of my essay is the fact of their not being _original_ so far as _one_ person is concerned, and of their having become manifest to _more than one_ mind, either about the same time or successively, without communication. I believe laws discover themselves to individuals, and not that individuals discover laws. If a law have truth in it, many will see it about the same time." In this month also the Lyells removed from Hart Street to 11, Harley Street. The house where they had spent fourteen years very happily was not left without regret, but it had become too small. They had no children, but a rapidly increasing geological collection takes up almost as much room as (though it is much more silent than) a growing family. The removal of a geological collection is a laborious business; and, besides this, Lyell was preparing a new edition of the "Principles" and writing a book about his recent travels in America. Still, to judge from his letters, he found time for some pleasant social distractions; for his letters to the old home at Kinnordy contain more often than formerly interesting references to talks with such men as Macaulay, Milman, and Rogers, Lord Clarendon and Lord Lansdowne. The seventh edition of the "Principles," condensed into a bulky single volume, was published early in 1847, and in the following June Lyell attended the meeting of the British Association at Oxford, which appears to have been no less pleasant than successful, although "out of twenty-four Heads of Houses only four were at Oxford to receive the Association." On this occasion, he writes, he became better acquainted with "Ruskin, who was secretary of our Geological Section." The remainder of this summer was spent in Scotland, and the rest of the year, with most of the following one, was devoted to quiet work. Still, Lyell took an active part in a crisis through which, about this time, the Royal Society was passing. A number of the Fellows, including most of those eminent in science, were anxious to raise the standard for admission into the Society. For many years past the "three letters" had often signified little more than an indication of good means and social position, coupled with a certain interest in scientific pursuits. The reformers prevailed, after a long struggle "with a set of obstructives compared with whom Metternich was a progressive animal," and the present _status_ of the society is the result. Incidental remarks in Lyell's letters to his relations also