In Omphalos, published in 1857, two years before the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, Gosse attempted to reconcile the paleontological record with creationist religious beliefs by arguing that the fossil record was not evidence of evolution, but an act of creation by God to make the world appear older than it actually is. This tautology parallels how Gosse chose to explain why Adam, who could have had no mother, had a navel: Though Adam would have had no need of a navel, God gave him one anyway to give him the appearance of having human ancestry. Following this argument, the title of Gosse's book, Omphalos, means "navel" in Greek.

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.