Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
For decades there was speculation about the authorship of Vestiges. The 12th edition of 1884, revealed that the author was Robert Chambers, a Scottish journalist. He had written the book in St Andrews between 1841 and 1844 while recovering from illness. Initially, Chambers had proposed the title The Natural History of Creation, but he was persuaded to revise the title in deference to the Scottish geologist James Hutton. Hutton had remarked of the timeless aspect of geology: "no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end".