Editing Philip Henry Gosse

{{Short description|English naturalist (1810-1888)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Philip Henry Gosse
|image             = PhilipHenryGosse,1855.jpg
|honorific_suffix  = [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]
|caption           = Gosse in 1855
|birth_date        = {{birth date|df=yes|1810|04|6}}
|birth_place       = [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], Worcestershire, England
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1888|08|23|1810|04|6}}
|death_place       = [[Torquay, Torbay]], England
|alma_mater        = 
|doctoral_advisor  = 
|doctoral_students = 
|known_for         = [[Marine biology]], [[aquarium]] pioneer, ''[[Omphalos]]'' ("last Thursdayism")
|author_abbrev_bot = 
|author_abbrev_zoo = '''Gosse'''
|influences        = 
|influenced        = 
|signature         =
|footnotes         = 
|ethnicity         = 
|field             = [[Natural history|Naturalist]]
|work_institutions = 
|prizes            = 
|spouses           = [[Emily Bowes]]; Eliza Brightwen
|children          = [[Edmund Gosse]]

}}
'''Philip Henry Gosse''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS}} ({{IPAc-en|g|ɒ|s}}; 6 April 1810 – 23 August 1888), known to his friends as Henry,<ref>John P. Hodges, "Mode of address of the nineteenth-century naturalist P.H. Gosse," ''[[Journal of Natural History|Annals of Natural History]]'' vol. 38, April 2011, 172-4</ref> was an English [[natural history|naturalist]] and populariser of natural science, prolific author,<ref>[[R. B. Freeman|Freeman, Richard B.]] and Douglas Wertheimer (1980), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mChBAAAAMAAJ&q=philip+henry+gosse:+a+bibliography&dq=philip+henry+gosse:+a+bibliography&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_6OKW9pGMAxX7rokEHSS0KjgQ6AF6BAgJEAM Philip Henry Gosse: A Bibliography].'' Folkestone, Kent: Dawson.</ref> "Father of the [[Aquarium]]",<ref>Wertheimer, Douglas (2024), ''[https://search.worldcat.org/title/1495001167?oclcNum=1495001167 Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography]'', Glasgow: Brethren Archivists and Historians Network, pp.194, 208-212.</ref> scientific illustrator, lecturer, entrepreneur, and  pioneer in the study of [[marine biology]] and [[ornithology]]. Gosse created and stocked the world's first public marine aquarium<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography'', page 198.</ref> at [[London Zoo]] in 1853, and coined the term "aquarium". His 1854 work ''The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea'' was the catalyst for the aquarium craze in mid-Victorian England.<ref name="Grier">Katherine C. Grier (2008) ''Pets in America: A History''. p. 53. University of North Carolina Press</ref> Over thirty years later, Gosse co-authored a three-volume work on [[Rotifer|Rotifera]] (microscopic aquatic animals) considered at the time "the most complete and exhaustive history of the Rotifera in any language", with drawings of "extreme minuteness, accuracy, and beauty".<ref>Quoted in Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography'', p.xix </ref> 

In addition, Gosse was one of the chief figures among [[Open Brethren|Brethren]] (British evangelical Christians frequently referred to by the misnomer "Plymouth Brethren"). For over half his life he advanced his religious outlook by lecturing, evangelising, teaching, preaching, and watching for the [[Second Coming|Second Advent]], as well as helping to spread the movement across the world.<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography'', page xvii</ref>

After his death in 1888, the popular image of Gosse was shaped by his son, [[Edmund Gosse|Edmund W. Gosse]], the poet and critic, in his 1890 ''Life of Philip Henry Gosse F.R.S.'' and most notably in his 1907 memoir, ''[[Father and Son (Gosse book)|Father and Son]]''. In the latter work, among other things Gosse was portrayed as an overbearing father of uncompromising religious views.<ref>Virginia Woolf, "Edmund Gosse", ''[[The Fortnightly Review|Fortnightly]]'' 135 (1931), 767, wrote of Gosse as a fundamentalist fanatic, a father with an "almost insane religious mania" who raised his son in "narrowness" and "ugliness" in a home devoid of "culture, beauty, urganity, graciousness".</ref> Edmund Gosse mythologized the reception given to Gosse’s  ''[[Omphalos (book)|Omphalos]]'' (1857), an attempt to reconcile the geological ages of [[uniformitarianism|uniformitarian geology]] with the biblical account of [[Genesis creation narrative|creation]]. Following new research, most aspects of Edmund Gosse's characterization of his father's life and career in [[Relationship between religion and science|religion and science]] have been challenged by Douglas Wertheimer in ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography'' (2024) and elsewhere,<ref name="nineteenthcenturyprose.org">Douglas Wertheimer, [https://nineteenthcenturyprose.org/volume-48-1-2-spring-fall-2021/ "A Son and His Father: Edmund Gosse's Comments and Portraits, 1875-1910,"] ''Nineteenth-Century Prose'' 48 (Spring/Fall 2021), 45-92 and Douglas Wertheimer, "The Truth About 1843, and Why It's Important: Gosse, Brethren, Jamaica and the Scorpion," [https://www.brethrenhistory.org/ ''Brethren Historical Review''] 18, 2022, 15-63.</ref> though the older view persists.

There are three portraits of Gosse at the London [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]].<ref>https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp01836</ref>

==Early life==
Philip Henry Gosse was born in [[Worcester, England|Worcester]] in 1810, second of four children of Thomas Gosse (1765–1844), a mezzotint engraver and itinerant painter of miniature portraits, and Hannah (née Best), a lady's maid before her marriage. He spent his childhood mostly in [[Poole]], Dorset, where his aunt, Susan Bell, taught him to draw and introduced him to zoology. She had similarly taught her own son, [[Thomas Bell (zoologist)|Thomas Bell]], who was 18 years older and later became a great friend to Gosse.{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|pages=5-6}}<ref name="oxforddnb.com">{{cite ODNB |id=11114 |title=Gosse, Philip Henry (1810–1888) |first=L.R. |last=Croft}}</ref>

At 15, he began work as a clerk in the [[counting house]] of George Garland and Sons in [[Poole]]. In 1827 he sailed to [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] to serve as a clerk in the [[Carbonear]] premises of Slade, Elson and Co. There he became a dedicated, self-taught student of Newfoundland [[entomology]], "the first person systematically to investigate and to record the entomology" of the island.<ref>{{cite DCB |first=Douglas |last=Wertheimer |title=Gosse, Philip Henry |volume=11 |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/gosse_philip_henry_11E.html}}</ref> While living in Carbonear, he wrote and illustrated an "exquisite" volume, never published, the "Entomologia Terra Novae".<ref>{{harvp|Thwaite|2002|pages=54-55}}</ref> In 1832 Gosse experienced a [[religious conversion]] and, as he described it, "solemnly, deliberately and uprightly, took God for my God."<ref>Quoted in {{harvp|Thwaite|2002|p=50}}</ref>

In 1835 he left Newfoundland for [[Compton County, Quebec|Compton]], [[Lower Canada]] (Quebec), where he farmed unsuccessfully for three years. He originally tried to establish a [[Commune (intentional community)|commune]] with two of his religious friends. The experience deepened his love for natural history, and locals referred to him as "that crazy Englishman who goes about picking up bugs."{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|pages=58, 67}} During this time he became a member of the [[Natural History Society of Montreal]] and submitted specimens to its museum.<ref>
{{cite book|title=The Life of Philip Henry Gosse|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofphiliphenr00goss_0|author=Edmund Gosse|year=1890}}</ref>

In 1838 Gosse taught for eight months for Reuben Saffold, the owner of [[Belvoir (Saffold Plantation)|Belvoir]] [[plantations in the American South|plantation]], near [[Pleasant Hill, Dallas County, Alabama|Pleasant Hill, Alabama]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Letters from Alabama, (U.S.) chiefly relating to natural history |last=Gosse |first=Philip Henry |year=1993 |orig-year=1859 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa |isbn=0-585-32308-9|edition=Annotated |pages=7–21 }}</ref> In this period, planters often hired private tutors to teach their children. Gosse also studied the local flora and fauna, and drew illustrations of insects in a notebook titled ''Entomologia Alabamensis'', not published until 2010.<ref>Mullen, Gary R. and Taylor D. Littleton (2010) ''Philip Henry Gosse: Science and Art in ''Letters from Alabama'' and ''Entomologia Alabamensis''.'' Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8173-1708-9}}</ref> The cotton plantation was in the Black Belt of Alabama, and Saffold held numerous enslaved labourers. Gosse recorded his negative impressions of [[slavery]], later published as ''Letters from Alabama'' (1859).{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|page=87}}

==Young naturalist and lay preacher==
Returning to England in 1839, Gosse was hard pressed to make a living, subsisting on eightpence a day ("one herring eaten as slowly as possible, and a little bread").{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|page=100}} His fortunes began to improve when John Van Voorst, the leading publisher of naturalist writing, agreed, on the recommendation of Thomas Bell, to publish his ''Canadian Naturalist'' (1840).<ref>{{harvp|Thwaite|2002|p=102}}. In his son's telling, Gosse "broke down utterly into hysterical sob upon sob, while Mr. Van Voorst, murmuring, 'My dear young man! my dear young man!' hastened out to fetch wine and minister to wants which it was beyond the power of pride to conceal any longer." Edmund Gosse, ''Life of Philip Henry Gosse'' (1890), 157.</ref> The book, set as a conversation between a father and his son (a son Gosse did not yet have), was widely praised. It is now considered to demonstrate that Gosse "had a practical grasp of the importance of conservation, far ahead of his time."<ref name="oxforddnb.com"/>

Gosse opened a "Classical and Commercial School for Young Gentlemen" while keeping detailed records of his microscopic investigations of pond life, especially [[cyclopidae]] and [[rotifera]].{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|pages=109-110}} He also began to preach to the [[Methodist Church of Great Britain|Wesleyan Methodists]] and lead a Bible class. In 1842, he became so captivated by the doctrine of the [[Second Coming|Second Coming of Christ]] that he severed his connection with the Methodists and joined Brethren. These [[dissenters]] emphasized the Second Coming while rejecting liturgy and an ordained ministry—although they otherwise endorsed the traditional doctrines of Christianity as represented by the creeds of the Methodist and the Anglican Church.<ref>{{harvp|Thwaite|2002|p=114}}. Gosse "denied any connection with Plymouth" and sometimes called himself simply a member of the church of Christ.</ref>

In 1843, Gosse gave up the school to write ''An Introduction to Zoology'' for the [[Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge]] (SPCK) and to draw some of the illustrations. Writing the work inspired him to further his interest in the flora and fauna of the seashore. He showed in his book that he was a creationist, which was typical of pre-Darwinian naturalists.{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|page=117}}

[[File:Philip Henry Gosse - British Sea-Anemone and Corals (Plate V).jpg|thumb|From Philip Henry Gosse, ''British Sea-Anemones and Corals'', 1860.]]
In October 1844 Gosse went on his own responsibility to [[Jamaica]], where he collected natural history specimens for sale.<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography'', page 125 and fn.141.</ref> Although Gosse worked hard during his eighteen months on the island, he later called this period his " 'holiday' in Jamaica."{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|page=121}} Gosse's study covered virtually all aspects of Jamaican natural history, and he left a record as "the Father of Jamaican [[Ornithology]]", the "Father of Jamaican [[Herpetology]]," and the Father of "many other aspects of Jamaican biology.".<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography'', page 149; Schwartz, Albert and Richard Thomas. 1975.'' A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles''. Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Pittsburgh. 216 pp.,</ref> Gosse lauded the work of [[Richard Hill (activist)|Richard Hill]], the island's first resident naturalist and ornithologist,<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography'', page 142</ref> and hired black youths as assistants, especially praising  Samuel Campbell.<ref>{{harvp|Thwaite|2002}}125, 129. Gosse's insatiable curiosity included trying to eat the birds. On one occasion, he literally ate crow and called the breast "well-based and juicy" but "dark, tough, and coarse grained." {{harvp|Thwaite|2002|p=136}}</ref><ref>Several birds collected by Campbell and Gosse in Jamaica are in the collection of [[World Museum]], [[National Museums Liverpool]].{{Cite web|title=Samuel Campbell and The Birds of Jamaica|url=https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/stories/samuel-campbell-and-birds-of-jamaica|access-date=4 October 2021|website=National Museums Liverpool|language=en}}</ref> For Christian companionship he enjoyed the company of a local Brethren community and their black converts, while remaining in touch with Brethren whom he had met in London.<ref>The previous universally adopted view, that Gosse was associated with Moravian Brethren in Jamaica (Edmund Gosse, ''Life of Philip Henry Gosse,'' p. 378fn.; Thwaite, p.136, and all others), is challenged by Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography'', page 126-133.</ref>

In the years following his return to London in 1846, Gosse published three works whose achievement remains unsurpassed:<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography'', page 149-152.</ref> ''Birds of Jamaica'' (1847), ''Illustrations of the Birds of Jamaica'' (1849), and ''A Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica'' (1851).<ref>The title-page of ''Birds of Jamaica'' and ''Naturalist's Sojourn'' states those works were "Assisted by Richard Hill," who was Jamaica's first resident naturalist and ornithologist: Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography'', pages 142-3, xxi fn.35, 573; Frank Cundall, "Richard Hill," ''[[The Journal of Negro History]]'', 5:1 (January 1920), 42.</ref>

==Popular nature writer==
Back in England, Gosse wrote books on religion-related and scientific subjects, including the first of his books on Bible lands, ''Monuments of Ancient Egypt'' (1847), as well as a ''History of the Jews''(1851), both written for the [[Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge]].<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' page 165.</ref> As his financial situation stabilized, Gosse courted [[Emily Bowes]], a forty-one-year-old member of the Brethren, who was both a strong personality and a gifted writer of evangelical [[Tract (literature)|tracts]]. They married in November 1848,<ref>They were married by Robert Howard (brother of [[John Eliot Howard]] and son of [[Luke Howard]]) at Brook Street Chapel, [[Tottenham]]. Edmund Gosse, ''Father and Son'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), 208.</ref> and their union was an extremely happy one.  As [[D. J. Taylor (writer)|D. J. Taylor]] has written, "the word 'uxorious' seems to have been minted to define" Gosse.<ref>[http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,799588,00.html Taylor book review] in ''[[The Guardian]]''.</ref> Gosse's only son was born on 21 September 1849. Gosse noted the event in his diary with the words, "E. delivered of a son. Received green swallow from Jamaica"—an amusing conjunction which Edmund later described as demonstrating only the order of events: the boy had arrived first.<ref>Edmund Gosse, ''Father and Son'' (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907), 6.</ref>

Gosse wrote a succession of books and articles on natural history, some of which were (in his own words) "[[potboiler|pot-boilers]]" for religious publications. (At the time, accounts of God's creation were considered appropriate Sabbath reading for children.){{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|p=166}}  As L. C. Croft has written, 
<blockquote>"Much of Gosse's success was due to the fact that he was essentially a field naturalist who was able to impart to his readers something of the thrill of studying living animals at first hand rather than the dead disjointed ones of the museum shelf. In addition to this he was a skilled scientific draughtsman who was able to illustrate his books himself."<ref name="oxforddnb.com"/></blockquote>

Suffering from headaches, perhaps the result of overwork, Gosse, with his family, began to spend more time away from London on the [[Devon]] coast.{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|pp=170-173}} Here along the sea shore, Gosse began serious experimentation with ways to sustain sea creatures so that they could be examined "without diving to gaze on them."  He constructed and stocked the first marine aquarium, and first public aquarium, in the world in 1853, in London.<ref>{{cite web |title=Philip Henry Gosse: the man who invented the fishtank |url=https://www.discoverwildlife.com/people/philip-henry-gosse-first-aquarium |website=Discover Wildlife |access-date=24 August 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Pioneering Fish House: A Look at the World's First Public Aquarium (1853) – Your Aquarium |url=https://youraquarium.co.uk/aquarium-blog/the-pioneering-fish-house-a-look-at-the-worlds-first-public-aquarium-1853 |access-date=24 August 2024 |date=20 March 2023}}</ref> Although there had been attempts to construct what had previously been called an "aquatic vivarium" (a name Gosse found "awkward and uncouth"), Gosse published ''The Aquarium'' in 1854 and set off a mid-Victorian craze for household [[aquarium]]s.<ref>{{harvp|Thwaite|2002|pages=177-187}}; www.ParlourAquariums.org.uk/</ref> The book was financially profitable for Gosse, and "the reviews were full of praise". Even in this work, Gosse used natural science to point to the necessity of salvation through the [[blood of Christ]].{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|p=181}} In 1856 Gosse was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]], which, because he had no university position or inherited wealth, gave him "a standing he otherwise lacked."{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|p=194}}

A few months before Gosse was honoured, his wife discovered that she had breast cancer. Rather than undergo surgery (a risky procedure in 1856), the Gosses decided to submit to the [[ointments]] of an American doctor, Jesse Weldon Fell, who if not a [[charlatan]], was certainly on the fringe of contemporary medical practice. After much suffering, Emily Gosse died on 9 February 1857.<ref>{{harvp|Thwaite|2002|pages=194-203}}. She was buried at [[Abney Park Cemetery]] in [[Stoke Newington]].</ref> She entrusted her husband with their son's salvation, and perhaps her death drove Gosse into his "strange severities and eccentric prohibitions."<ref>{{harvp|Thwaite|2002|p=201}} "It was his son's misfortune to have to face this formidable opponent, burning with the trust Emily had placed in him, a shepherd with one precious lamb to keep safe from the grievous, ravening wolves, the temptations of the world." (204)</ref>

==Prophetic and Religious Writer==
Prior to 1842, [[Christian eschatology|Christian eschatalogical]] systems were not a major concern to Gosse. He was familiar with works on unfulfilled prophecy, but had no particular position on the subject. In June of that year, he was given a copy of ''Dissertation on the Prophetic Scriptures'', by [[Matthew Habershon]], an [[Historic premillennialism|Historic premillenialist]].<ref> Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' p.107.</ref> The school of prophecy which Habershon represented interpreted past and contemporary events as having occurred, and were still occurring, as foretold in Scripture. This interpretative mode stood in distinction to the [[Futurism (Christianity)|Futurist]] school, which maintained that Scripture predictions had a future literal realization at [[Eschatology|end times]]. Gosse recalled being "so wholly absorbed" in reading Habershon’s book that he finished all 400 pages in one sitting. He henceforth  committed to a belief in historical premillennialism, which was then enjoying an unprecedented following among Christians.<ref> Wertheimer, ''[https://search.worldcat.org/title/1495001167 Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography],'' pp.29,102.</ref> Like others who shared that position, his outlook was influenced by the anticipation of numerous dates for the [[Second Coming|Second Advent]] between 1843 and 1881.<ref> Wertheimer, ''[https://search.worldcat.org/title/1495001167 Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography],'' pp.427-8, 434-5, 492, 538.</ref>

As a defender of Historicism, Gosse clashed throughout his life with advocates of Futurism.<ref> Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' pp.408-410, 415-6.</ref> His major publications on unfulfilled prophecy were critiques of Futurism – ''The Revelation: How is it to be interpreted?'' (1866) and an 1870 series of 24 articles in R.C. Morgan’s prominent weekly ''The Christian''.<ref> Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' pp.408-410, 431-433.</ref> Gosse also challenged [[John Nelson Darby|J. N. Darby]]’s [[Dispensationalism|dispensationalist]] hermeneutic.<ref> Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' pp.410-415.</ref> 

Among Gosse’s religious (and religion-related) writings were six books, eight pamphlets, 69 articles, and six evangelistic tracts.<ref>R. B. Freeman and D. Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Bibliography'', p.130.</ref> Gosse contributed to over three dozen serials, many of which were evangelical, including ''The Christian,'' ''[[Good Words]],'' ''Quarterly Journal of Prophecy'', ''The Rainbow,'' and ''The Weekly Visitor.''<ref>R. B. Freeman and D. Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Bibliography'', p.106-107.</ref> 
Between 1847 and 1852 Gosse published four books on bible lands.<ref>R. B. Freeman and D. Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Bibliography'', pp.28, 36-8, 42-45.</ref> ''Sacred Streams: the History of the Rivers Mentioned in Holy Scriptures'' (1850) was the most successful, with editions published in Britain until 1883, and the USA until about 1877.<ref>R. B. Freeman and D. Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Bibliography'', pp.36-38.</ref> He authored six evangelistic tracts between 1859 and 1861,<ref>R. B. Freeman and D. Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Bibliography'', p.99.</ref> collected in a volume with other tracts by his wife, Emily. That work obtained an aggregate sale of at least seven million.<ref>R. B. Freeman and D. Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Bibliography'', p.95; R. B. Freeman and Douglas Wertheimer, "Emily Gosse: A Bibliography", [https://www.brethrenhistory.org/ Brethren Historical Review] vol. 17, 2021, pp. 41-59.</ref>

==''Omphalos''==
The often-repeated narrative about the events leading up to the publication of ''Omphalos,'' the analysis of the work, and the response to it, all based upon the writings of Edmund Gosse, are as follows: In the months following Emily's death, Gosse worked with remarkable diligence on a book that he may have viewed as the most important of his career. Although a failure both financially and intellectually, it is the book by which he is best remembered.<ref>John Rendle-Short, ''[https://search.worldcat.org/title/38924666 Green Eye of the Storm]'' (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1998), 20-21; {{harvp|Thwaite|2002|p=209.}}</ref> Gosse believed that he had discovered a theory that might neatly resolve the seeming contradiction in the [[Age of the Earth|age of the earth]] between the evidence of God's Word and the evidence of His creation as expounded by such contemporary geologists as [[Charles Lyell]].{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|pp=209, 212}} In 1857, two years before the publication of [[Charles Darwin]]'s ''[[Origin of Species]]'', Gosse published ''[[Omphalos (book)|Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot]]'' and thereby created what has been called the [[Omphalos hypothesis]].

In what [[Stephen Jay Gould]] has called "gloriously purple prose",<ref>Stephen Jay Gould, ''The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History'' (New York: W. W. Norton, 1987), 103.</ref> Gosse argued that if one assumed creation ''[[ex nihilo]]'', there would necessarily be traces of previous existence that had never actually occurred. ''"Omphalos"'' is Greek for "''[[navel]]''", and Gosse argued that the first man, [[Adam (Bible)|Adam]], did not require a navel because he was never born; nevertheless he must have had one, as do all complete human beings, just as God must have created trees with rings that they never grew.<ref>{{harvp|Thwaite|2002|p=216}}. Gosse called these apparent records of non-occurring events "prochronic", meaning "before time".</ref> Thus, Gosse argued that the [[fossil record]]—even [[coprolites]]—might also be evidence of life that had never actually existed but that may have been instantly formed by God at the moment of creation.<ref>Rendle-Short, 34-35.</ref>

The general response was "as the ''[[Westminster Review]]'' put it, that Gosse's theory was 'too monstrous for belief.'" Even his friend, the novelist [[Charles Kingsley]], wrote that he had read "no other book which so staggered and puzzled" him, that he could not believe that God had "written on the rocks one enormous and superfluous lie for all mankind."{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|pp=222-223}} Journalists later sniggered that God had apparently hidden fossils in the rocks to tempt geologists to infidelity.<ref>Rendle-Short, 37.</ref>

''Omphalos'' sold poorly and was eventually rebound with a new title, ''Creation'', "in case the obscure one had had an effect on sales." The problem was not with the title. In 1869 most of the edition was sold as waste paper.<ref>{{harvp|Thwaite|2002|p=223.}} Because of the destruction of this edition, the book "is now extremely scarce and valuable."</ref>

Notwithstanding the universal repetition of Edmund Gosse's claims over the years, Douglas Wertheimer has argued that it is possible to dispense “with the myths surrounding ''Omphalos,'' its goal and reception.” Specifically, he challenges the prevailing explanation for the timing of the book; the subject of the book; its reception; and Gosse's goal in writing it.<ref> Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' pages 295-320.</ref>

==Opposition to Gosse==
In his study of the [[Royal Society]] of London in the second half of the nineteenth century, Andrew John Harrison argued that for well over a dozen years after 1870, Victorian Britain’s premier scientific body was controlled by scientists determined to promote [[Darwinism]] and [[Metaphysical naturalism|agnostic naturalism]].<ref>A. J. Harrison (1988), ''[https://oro.open.ac.uk/57044/1/DX087475.pdf Scientific Naturalists and the government of the Royal Society 1850-1900].''</ref>  According to Douglas Wertheimer, among those boycotted were the British neurologist [[Henry Charlton Bastian|H.C. Bastian]], the Canadian geologist [[John William Dawson|J.W. Dawson]], and Gosse.<ref> Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' pages 358-365.</ref> 

Andrew John Harrison asserts that, in Gosse’s situation, the snub came the year after  the publication of ''Omphalos'', when Gosse submitted a paper for publication to the Royal Society.<ref>A. J. Harrison (1988), ''Scientific Naturalists and the government of the Royal Society,'' p.181 and chapter IV.</ref> Douglas Wertheimer provides evidence that it was continued in 1881 (when Gosse submitted research to the Royal Society on [[Lepidoptera genitalia|Lepidoptera]]), and again during the period 1886-89 (when he co-published on Rotifera).<ref> Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' pages 545-61, 570-581.</ref>

==Later career==
According to Edmund Gosse, his father's career was destroyed by his "strange act of wilfulness" in publishing ''Omphalos''; Edmund claimed his father had "closed the doors upon himself forever."<ref>Edmund Gosse, ''Father and Son'' Michael Newton, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2004), 63. "My Father, although half suffocated by the emotion of being lifted, as it were, on the great biological wave, never dreamed of letting go his clutch of the ancient tradition, but hung there, strained and buffeted.  It is extraordinary that he—an 'honest hodman of science,' as Huxley once called him—should not have been content to allow others, whose horizons were wider than his could be, to pursue those purely intellectual surveys for which he had no species of aptitude.  As a collector of facts and marshaller of observations, he had not a rival in that age; his very absence of imagination aided him in this work.  But he was more an attorney than a philosopher, and he lacked that sublime humility which is the crown of genius." (71)</ref> Douglas Wertheimer argues that this claim is disconnected from the facts: Gosse published five natural history books in the four years after ''Omphalos'', three of which were incontrovertible contributions to science.<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' pages 305-7.</ref>

Just as ''Omphalos'' was appearing in 1857, Gosse, his son and their cook moved permanently from London to [[St Marychurch]], Devon.<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' pages 286.</ref> (Gosse refused to use the "St" and even gave his address as [[Torquay]] so as not to have anything to do with the "so-called [[Church of England]]".){{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|pp=221, 228}}  He soon became the pastor and overseer of the Brethren meeting. It was first held in a loft over a stable but shortly, under Gosse's preaching and peacemaking, in finer quarters—which he perhaps financed himself.{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|pp=229-235, 249}} His son said that his father "soon lost confidence in the Plymouth Brethren also, and for the last thirty years of his life he was really unconnected with any Christian body whatsoever."{{sfn|Gosse|1890|p=330}} In fact Gosse was aligned for over 45 years with Brethren.<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' page 338-9 and 338 fn.39.</ref>

During this period, Gosse made a special study of [[sea anemone]]s ([[Actiniae]]) and in 1860 published ''Actinologia Britannica''. Reviewers especially praised the colour lithographs made from Gosse's watercolours. The ''Literary Gazette'' said that Gosse now stood "alone and unrivalled in the extremely difficult art of drawing objects of zoology so as to satisfy the requirements of science" as well as providing "vivid aesthetic impressions".<ref>Quoted in {{harvp|Thwaite|2002|pp=240-241}}</ref>

In 1860 Gosse married Eliza Brightwen (1813–1900), apparently of [[Quaker]] background but already familiar with Brethren ways,<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' pages 368-370.</ref> who shared Gosse's intense interest in both natural history and the well-being of his son.<ref name="oxforddnb.com"/>{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|pp=248-251, 253}} Gosse's second marriage was as happy as his first. In 1881 he wrote that Eliza was "a true yoke-fellow, in love, in spirit and in service."<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' page 605.</ref>

By this time Gosse was "very comfortably off" with the earnings from his books and dividends from his investments. In 1864 Eliza received a substantial legacy that allowed Gosse to retire from his career as a professional writer and live in "congenial obscurity".{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|pp=258-259, 262}} The Gosses lived simply, invested some of their income and gave more away to charity, especially to foreign [[missionary|missionaries]], including ones sent to the "Popish, priest-ridden Irish".{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|pp=260-261}}

To Gosse's disappointment, his son turned his back on his Brethren upbringing—though not as early or as dramatically as Edmund portrayed the break in ''Father and Son''.<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' pages 489 fns.49-50, 600 fn.417.</ref> But Gosse sponsored the publication of Edmund's early poetry, which gave the younger man entrée to new friends of literary importance, and the two men "came out of the years of conflict with their relationship wary but intact."{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|pp=278, 282, 287}} Henry and Eliza welcomed Edmund's wife to the family and enjoyed visits with their three grandchildren.<ref>{{harvp|Thwaite|2002|pp=304-308}} When Edmund married without introducing his fiancée to his parents, neither Henry nor Eliza asked if she were "saved". (285) One of the grandchildren was Philip Henry George Gosse (1879-1959). He became a naturalist and wrote ''Memoirs of a Camp Follower'' (1934), a memoir of his experiences in the [[Royal Army Medical Corps]] during the [[World War I|Great War]] in France and Belgium, 1915–1917, and in India, 1917–1918.</ref>

[[File:Philip Henry Gosse & Edmund Gosse (1857).jpg|thumb|Philip Henry Gosse and his son [[Edmund Gosse]], 1857. Frontispiece of ''[[Father and Son (Gosse book)|Father and Son]]''.]]
Meanwhile, the ever active Gosse had taken up the study of [[orchids]] and exchanged a number of letters on the subject with [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]], though he never published on this subject himself.{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|p=260}}  His penultimate enthusiasm was with the [[Lepidoptera genitalia|genitalia of butterflies]], about which he published a paper in the ''Transactions of the [[Linnean Society]]''<ref>{{harvp|Thwaite|2002|p=316}} entitled, "On the clasping organs ancillary to generation in certain groups of [[Lepidoptera]]."</ref> Gosse hoped, in studying these two areas, to scientifically challenge, if not disprove, overthrown Darwin's theory.<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' pages 374-377, 546-7, 556.</ref> In the last years of his life he collaborated with the microscopist [[Charles Thomas Hudson]] on a landmark, classic three-volume monograph on Rotifera, containing illustrations by both authors. The work, however, was boycotted by Britain's community of scientific naturalists.<ref>Wertheimer, ''Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography,'' pages 578-581.</ref>

According to Eliza Gosse, her husband's final illness may have been caused by his becoming chilled while trying to adjust his telescope at an open window on a winter night.{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|p=320}} Gosse had prayed over the years that he might not taste death but meet Christ in the air at his Second Coming, and he was allegedly bitterly disappointed when he realized that he would die like everyone else.<ref>{{harvp|Thwaite|2002|pp=320, 323}}. He was buried in Torquay, and his grave was inscribed with a quotation from [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] 22.20 "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."</ref> There are at least five other accounts of aspects of Gosse's death, which differ in detail.<ref>Wertheimer, Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography, page 600 fn.417.</ref>

==''Father and Son''==
After his father's death, Edmund Gosse published a typical Victorian biography, ''The Life of Philip Henry Gosse'' (1890). After reading it, the writer [[George Moore (novelist)|George Moore]] suggested to Edmund that it contained "the germ of a great book." Edmund Gosse revised his material and first published his notable memoir anonymously as ''[[Father and Son (Gosse book)|Father and Son]]'' in 1907. It has never gone out of print.<ref>Edmund Gosse, ''Father and Son'', Michael Newton, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2004), xxix; {{harvp|Thwaite|2002|p=xvi}}</ref> The reaction of readers to Henry's personality and character, as represented in ''Father and Son'', has included phrases such as "scientific crackpot", "bible-soaked romantic", "a stern and repressive father", and a "pulpit-thumping Puritan throwback to the seventeenth century".<ref>Rendle-Short, 45.</ref>

A modern editor of ''Father and Son'' has rejected this portrait of Philip Henry Gosse, on the grounds that his own "writings reveal a genuinely sweet character."<ref>Edmund Gosse, ''Father and Son'' Michael Newton, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2004), xvii.</ref> [[Ann Thwaite]], the biographer of both Gosses, has established just how inaccurate Edmund's recollections of his childhood were. [[Henry James]] remarked that Edmund Gosse had "a genius for inaccuracy".{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|p=xvi}} Although Edmund went out of his way to declare that the story of ''Father and Son'' was "scrupulously true," Thwaite cites a dozen occasions on which either Edmund's "memory betray[ed] him (he admitted it was 'like a colander')", or he "changed things deliberately to make a better story."{{sfnp|Thwaite|2002|pp=xvi–xvii}} Thwaite argues that Edmund could only preserve his self-respect, in comparison to his father's superior abilities, by demolishing the latter's character.<ref>"Review: The other side of a Victorian monster",  ''[[The Sunday Times]]'', 13 October 2002.</ref> Nearly a century after Gosse's death, a study based on his published remarks and writings about his father concluded that in varying degrees, they are "riddled with error, distortion, contradictions, unwarranted claims, misrepresentation, abuse of the written record, and unfamiliarity with the subject."<ref name="nineteenthcenturyprose.org"/>

==In popular culture==
[[Dennis Potter]] adapted ''Father and Son'' as the television play ''[[Where Adam Stood]]'', first broadcast on [[BBC One]] in 1976. Gosse was played by [[Alan Badel]].

''Father and Son'' was also adapted for [[BBC Radio 4]] in 2005 by [[Nick Warburton]]. [[Roger Allam]] played Gosse and [[Derek Jacobi]] played Edmund.

Ann Lingard's novel ''Seaside Pleasures'' (2014) explores the relationship between Gosse and his wife Emily from the point of view of a female student in his shore-class.

== Commemoration ==
In 2021, a [[blue plaque]] was placed at [[Poole United Reformed Church]] where Gosse worshipped as a young boy. In November 2022, a sea-life mural dedicated to Gosse was unveiled in [[Poole Town Centre]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-11-18 |title=Poole: Sea-life mural celebrates aquarium creator |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-dorset-63673271 |access-date=2022-11-18}}</ref>

==Works==

* [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_b0NKAAAAYAAJ <!-- quote=philip gosse. --> ''The Canadian Naturalist: A Series of Conversations on the Natural History of Lower Canada''] (1840).
* ''An Introduction to Zoology'' (1844).
* [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_lyUIAQAAIAAJ ''The Ocean''] (1844), edition of 1874 under the title ''The Wonders of the Great Deep; or, the Physical, Animal, Geological and Vegetable Curiosities of the Ocean''.
* [https://archive.org/details/birdsjamaicabei00brehgoog ''The Birds of Jamaica''] (1847)
* [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_u2AZAAAAYAAJ ''The Monuments of Ancient Egypt''], and Their Relation to the Word of God (1847).
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=IyUEAAAAQAAJ ''Natural History. Mammalia''] (1848).
* [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_F1IEAAAAQAAJ ''Popular British Ornithology'']; Containing a Familiar and Technical Description of the Birds of the British Isles (1849).
* ''Illustrations of the Birds of Jamaica'' (1849).
* ''Natural History. Birds'' (1849).
* [https://archive.org/details/sacredstreamsan00gossgoog ''Sacred streams: The Ancient and Modern History of the Rivers of the Bible''] (1850).
* [https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryr00gossgoog ''Natural History. Reptiles''] (1850).
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=pzsXAAAAYAAJ ''A Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica''] (1851).
* [https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryfi00goss ''Natural History. Fishes''] (1851).
* [https://archive.org/details/historyjewsfrom00gossgoog ''The History of the Jews''], from the Christian Era to the Dawn of the Reformation (1851).
* ''A Text-book of Zoology for Schools'' (1851).
* ''Assyria: Her Manners and Customs, Arts and Aims. Restored from the Monuments'' (1852).
* ''A Naturalist's Rambles on the Devonshire Coast'' (1853).
* [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_lgDbAAAAMAAJ <!-- quote=philip gosse. --> ''The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea''] (1854).
* [https://archive.org/details/naturalhistorym00gossgoog ''Natural History. Mollusca''] (1854).
* [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_nwM_AAAAYAAJ ''A Handbook to the Marine Aquarium'']: Containing Instructions for Constructing, Stocking and Maintaining a Tank, and for Collecting Plants and Animals (1855).
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=WGQZAAAAYAAJ&dq=philip%20gosse&pg=PR1 ''Manual of Marine Zoology for the British Isles''] (1855–1856).
* [https://archive.org/details/tenbyaseasideho00gossgoog ''Tenby'']: A Seaside Holiday (1856).
* ''A Memorial of the Last Days on Earth of Emily Gosse'' (1857)
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=984BKlfucm8C ''Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot''] (1857, modern editions 1998 and 2003.
* [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_S0hKAAAAYAAJ ''Life in its Lower, Intermediate, and Higher Forms; or, Manifestations of the Divine Wisdom in the Natural History of Animals''] (1857).
* [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_oDlJAAAAYAAJ ''Actinologia Britannica: A History of the British Sea-Anemones and Corals'']. (1858–60).
* [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_p1gZAAAAYAAJ ''Evenings at the Microscope: or, Researches Among the Minute Organs and Forms of Animal Life''] (1859).
* [https://archive.org/details/lettersfromalab00gossgoog ''Letters from Alabama, Chiefly Relating to Natural History''] (1859).
* [https://archive.org/details/romancenaturalh00gossgoog ''The Romance of Natural History''] (1860–61).
* [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Wgk_AAAAYAAJ ''A Year at the Shore''] (1865).
* [https://archive.org/details/landsea00goss/page/n3/mode/2up''Land and Sea''] (1865)
* ''The Revelation. How is it to be interpreted ?'' (1866).
* [https://archive.org/details/imperialbibledi00fairgoog ''Imperial Bible-Dictionary''] (104 articles) (1866)
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=lUyv0wItCu0C ''The Mysteries of God'']: A Series of Expositions of Holy Scripture (1884).

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last=Gosse|first=Edmund|author-link=Edmund Gosse|title=Naturalist of the Sea Shore, The Life of Philip Henry Gosse|url=https://archive.org/details/naturalistofseas00gossuoft|year=1890|publisher=William Heinemann|location=London}}
*[[Edmund Gosse|Gosse, Edmund]], [https://archive.org/details/fatherson00gossiala ''Father and Son''] (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907); Oxford World Classics edition, 2004.
* {{cite book |last=Wertheimer|first=Douglas|title=Philip Henry Gosse: A Biography|url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/1495001167?oclcNum=1495001167|year=2024|publisher=Brethren Archivists and Historians Network|isbn=978-1739128326}}
*[[R. B. Freeman|Freeman, R.B.]] and Douglas Wertheimer (1980), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mChBAAAAMAAJ&q=philip+henry+gosse+a+bibliography Philip Henry Gosse: A Bibliography]''. Folkestone, Kent: Dawson.
* [[R. B. Freeman|Freeman, R. B.]] and Douglas Wertheimer, “Emily Gosse: A Bibliography,” [http://brethrenhistory.org/home.htm Brethren Historical Review 17], 2021, 25-78. [[Issn|ISSN]] [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/230161566 1755-9383].
* Boyd, Robert (2004), [https://books.google.com/books?id=dsO2AAAACAAJ ''Emily Gosse: A Life of Faith and Works : the Story of Her Life and Witness with Her Published Poems and Samples of Her Prose Writings'', Olivet Books]. {{ISBN|0-9548283-0-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Thwaite|first=Ann|author-link=Ann Thwaite |title=Glimpses of the Wonderful: The Life of Philip Henry Gosse, 1810-1888|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Txl0QgAACAAJ&pg=PP1|year=2002|publisher=Faber & Faber|isbn=9781739128326}}
*Croft, L.R. (2004), "Gosse, Philip Henry (1810–1888)," [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11114 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography].
*Wertheimer, Douglas (1982), "Gosse, Philip Henry," [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=5550 Dictionary of Canadian Biography].
*Rendle-Short, John (1998), ''Green Eye of the Storm'' (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust).
*[[Jorge Luis Borges|Borges, Jorge Luis]], "The Creation and P. H. Gosse," in ''Other Inquisitions'' (trans. Ruth Simms) (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1964).
*[[Stephen Jay Gould|Gould, Stephen Jay]] (1987), "Adam's Navel," in ''The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History'' (New York: W. W. Norton).
*[[Bernd Brunner|Brunner, Bernd]] (2011), ''The Ocean at Home: An Illustrated History of the Aquarium'' (trans. Ashley Marc Slapp). (London: Reaktion Books).
*Wotton, Roger (2012), ''Walking with Gosse: Natural History, Creation and Religious Conflicts'' (Southampton: Clio Publishing).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*"Philip Henry Gosse," in Tom Taylor and Michael Taylor, ''Aves: A Survey of the Literature of Neotropical Ornithology'', Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Libraries, 2011.

==External links==
*{{wikisource author-inline}}
*{{wikispecies-inline}}
*{{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=36052| name=Philip Henry Gosse}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Philip Henry Gosse}}
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05w9dxn Anemone: Natural Histories. BBC Radio 4]
* [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/creator/3531#/titles Works by Philip Henry Gosse] at [[Biodiversity Heritage Library]]

{{Aquarium |state=collapsed}}
{{Natural history}}
{{Authority control}}

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