Louis Figuier (1819-94) was destined to remain in academia until disagreements with fellow scholars led him to abandon this path and instead pursue 'the idea that scientific knowledge, which until then had been almost exclusively the property of the learned, should be put within the reach of the reading public'. Published in 1863, La Terre avant le deluge became a classic of popular science and introduced palaeontology to a wider readership; that this English translation appeared only two years later is an indication of its impact. Figuier wrote that his aim was 'to trace the progressive...