'Hutton for the purpose of getting his continents above water, or manufacturing a chain of Alps or Andes, did not disdain to call in something more than common volcanic eruptions which we read of in newspapers from time to time. He was content to have a period of paroxysmal action--an extraordinary convulsion in the bowels of the earth--an epoch of general destruction and violence, to usher in one of restoration and life. Mr Lyell throws away all such crutches, he walks alone in the path of his speculations; he requires no paroxysms, no extraordinary periods; he is content to take burning mountains as he finds them; and, with the assistance of the stock of volcanoes and earthquakes now on hand, he undertakes to transform the earth from any one of its geological conditions to any other. He requires time, no doubt; he must not be hurried in his proceedings. But, if we will allow him a free stage in the wide circuit of eternity, he will ask no other favour; he will fight his undaunted way through formations, transition and flötz--through oceanic and lacustrine deposits; and does not despair of carrying us triumphantly from the dark and venerable schist of Skiddaw, to the alternating tertiaries of the Isle of Wight, or even to the more recent shell-beds of the Sicilian coasts, whose antiquity is but, as it were, of yester-myriad of years[41].' Never, surely, did words written in a tone of banter constitute such real and effective praise! But though it is certain that Lyell did not _derive_ his evolutionary views from Hutton, yet when he came to write his historical introduction to the _Principles_, he was greatly impressed by the proofs of genius shown by the great Scotch philosopher, and equally by the brilliant exposition of those views by Playfair in his _Illustrations_. To the former he gave unstinted praise for the breadth and originality of his views, and to the latter for the eloquence of his writings--adopting quotations chosen from these last, indeed, as mottoes for his own work.