“We, the geologists [emphasis added], are at fault”: Kelvin 1891–94, vol. 2, p. 304.

“always felt that this hypothesis”: Kelvin gave his presidential address entitled “On the Origin of Life” at Edinburgh in August 1871. Kelvin 1891–94, vol. 2, p. 132.

“profoundly convinced that the argument”: Kelvin 1891–94, vol. 2, p. 132.

started to pay serious attention to Kelvin’s: Burchfield 1990 (especially chapters 3 and 4) provides a comprehensive discussion of Kelvin’s influence and impact.

He is perhaps best known for his legendary: The event took place during the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, which held its thirtieth annual conference from June 27 to July 4, 1860. The main event on June 30 was a rather long lecture by historian of science John William Draper. Estimates of the attendance (in the Evening Star) put it somewhere between four hundred and seven hundred (issue of July 2). Bishop Wilberforce’s comments following the lecture apparently lasted for about a half hour. He concluded that “Mr. Darwin’s conclusions were an hypothesis, raised most unphilosophically to the dignity of a causal theory” (as reported on July 7 in the Athenaeum). The most thorough analysis of the details of the event is in Jensen 1988. See also Lucas 1979.