Charles Lyell (1797-1895) put forward the theory of a "tranquil flood" claiming that the flood waters gently rose over the earth rather than in a cataclysmic way. He began to erode belief in the Biblical Flood among geologists. Lyell didn't outright disagree with scripture. Rather he chipped away at it laying the ground work that his those who followed in his footsteps would trod into open rebellion against the Word of God.
He built on the uniformitarianism theory which had started with James Hutton. Lyell became both an ally and a friend of Darwin & his theory of evolution.
And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: Daniel 11:40
If one takes the King of the North to be spiritual Babylon (apostate churches) and the King of the South to be spiritual Egypt (secualr world), then one could make the case that the rise of men like Marx, Freud, Lyell & Darwin in this time frame was predicted. Why? Because it was the time of the end (after 1844) that this King of the South would start to "push" back.......just a thought