A scientific libel: John Lubbock's attack upon Sir Charles Lyell

Abstract

John Lubbock's charge that Sir Charles Lyell's discussion of Danish shell mounds in Antiquity of man (1863) was derived from Lubbock's 1861 article on the same subject was assumed by Lubbock's associates to have a basis in fact. In the preface to Pre-historic times (1865), Lubbock said that Lyell had made much use of his article without acknowledgement. The charge was untrue. In correcting proofs, Lyell had inadvertently used two sentences from Lubbock's article. The rest of his discussion was his own. The similarity between Lyell's and Lubbock's treatments of Danish archaeology resulted from their common use of Adolphe Morlot's 1860 article on the subject. Before publication, Morlot had sent proofs to Lyell for his use in writing Antiquity of man. After Morlot's article appeared. Lubbock used it extensively and followed it closely in writing his 1861 article. Although Lubbock continued to insist privately that Lyell had used his article, he did not admit his own copying from Morlot. Lubbock removed the reference to Lyell from his preface. For his part, Lyell altered the preface of Antiquity to describe how he had used Lubbock's article in revising proofs.