to be specific it takes place during 1855 in the crystal palace of london. Any and all facts would be appreciated!
OK, I don't know whether this is a computer game, or a board game, or what, but either way you're going to need to know about what the printed word looked like back then. Time for me to tell give you a quick history of typography!
OK, so take a look at this text from 1825. Pay particular attention to the body text (i.e. not the headline). Look at the letter o, and notice that the line of symmetry is precisely vertical. This is an important feature of typefaces of that time; before the late 18th century, most typefaces had o's where the line was symmetry was at a slight diagonal. This illustrates what I mean. Jenson is very old-school—it's in imitation of some of the first typefaces ever made aside from German blackletter. Bembo is slightly more modern, and is representative of many common typefaces between the 15th and 18th centuries. Baskerville is mid-18th century.
Another point of comparison between those three fonts is the level of contrast between the thick strokes and the thin strokes. This is more apparent in the headline of the article I posted, and even more apparent in this flyer from 1831. This is another hallmark of many 19th-century typefaces.
Also, the stereotypical 19th-century "Use ALL the fonts!" poster style was in use. They are fun to design, but a word of caution. Look closely at the fonts, and you'll notice that they're all simply repeated, rather than every line being completely unique. Look closely at the purposes of each font and determine what each one is used for. The ones that are "shouting" the most are the most distinctive. The ones with other information are a little more subdued. Here is another for inspiration.
As far as fonts to use, Clarendon is a good bet, as it was designed in England in the 1840s. Cheltenham and Century are late 19th century but they wouldn't look out of place in my opinion. I think Scotch Roman also looks nice. Bodoni was very popular in Europe in the 19th century, but it always has a Continental flair to me, so I'd stick with something good and English. PLEASE NO TIMES NEW ROMAN. It's from the 1930s!
Head over to /r/typography one of these days if you want more feedback!
Louis Pasteur didn't perform the experiment that put the final nail in the coffin of theories of spontaneous generation until 1859. So its a period where it was a scientifically debated question whether (at least micro-)organisms were spontaneously generated.
The actual significance of the fossil record was very much debated. In 1857, Phillipe Gosse published a book in which he seriously proposed that the fossil record had been divinely created to create the appearance of a older Earth than it actually was (Omphalos). This was derived on a discussion of whether Adam was created with a navel or not (Gosse argued he did).
