However, the true fame of Joggins dates from the visits in 1842 and 1852 by Charles Lyell, the founder of modern geology and author of "Principles of Geology". In his "Elements of Geology" (1871), Lyell called the Joggins exposure of Coal Age rocks and fossils "the finest example in the world". The fossil record at Joggins figures in Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species", and played a role in the 1860 Oxford evolution debate between Thomas Huxley and Bishop Wilberforce.