Right, but this was written in 1863, and Origin of the Species had just come out in 1859. (And there were various other evolutionary theories before then.) Li

Right, but this was written in 1863, and Origin of the Species had just come out in 1859. (And there were various other evolutionary theories before then.) Like I said, it's just a guess, but the question of the age of the universe would have been very fresh at the time.