Prior to seeing him and meeting him, and hearing him speak, I had conjured up a picture of him in my mind, which actual contact with him proved to be an illusion. I had conceived of him […] as being tall, commanding, and as the advance notices of him, a sliver-tongued orator. I found him, however, to be the opposite of my mental picture; short, squat, unpretentious […].
But, as they have hitherto stood, a clergyman established in a competent living is not under the necessity of being so sharp, vigilant, and exacting.
The events of 1859 brought humans and geology together. The idea of deep time was not new. It had been conclusively demonstrated by the international efforts of many geologists culminating, for the British, in Charles Lyell's (1797–1875) Principles of Geology published in three volumes between 1830 and 1833—a book which accompanied Darwin on The Beagle.
'Americans always have such a lot of misdirected party spirit,' said Gosling. 'One came to a party I have two years ago and drank so much that he died soon after.'
