At JUSt time t ing s in London, four  to take placeton. tton, of course, but good ne cleared to ree ton’s fear of embarrassment.

    ton s a man of t insig conversation, a delig rival o understanding terious slo sunately, it  doanyone could begin to understand.  audiblesig entirely innocent of rorical accompliss.” Nearly every line ation to slumber. errations , discussing . . . something:

    t is composed of terials, not of te predecessor of t, but of t,  land  beneaterof the ocean.

    Yet almost singlee brilliantly, ed transformed our understanding of tton o a prosperousScottis of material comfort t alloellectual betterment. udiedmedicine, but found it not to urned instead to farming, ate in Bers. Edinburgt time er of intellectual vigor, and ton luxuriated in its enricies.

    y called ter Club,  Joseping sparks asBenjamin Franklin and James att.

    In tradition of tton took an interest in nearly everytometaped experiments igated metoured salt mines, speculated on ty, collectedfossils, and propounded tion of air, and tion,among muc icular interest was geology.

    Among tions t attracted interest in t fanatically inquisitive age ime—namely, aintops.  t tion fell into tunists,  everytyplaces, could be explained by rising and falling sea levels. t mountains,ures self, and were cersloshem during periods of global flooding.

    Opposing tonists,  volcanoes and earts, continually c but clearly ooonists also raised aions about  in flood. If t at times t