104 CHARLES DARWIN. 



the Theory of Natural Selection." The titles of the 

 remaining eight chapters are unchanged. 



The first part of the title of the first edition — 

 " On the Origin of Species " — becomes •'* The Origin 

 of Species " in the last edition, and is still further 

 shortened to " Origin of Species " on the outside 

 of the volume. 



The form of the earlier editions was admirably 

 suited for the purpose of attracting, and — so far as was 

 possible with so difficult a subject — convincing, a 

 large number of readers. When the subject was new 

 and strange, the more numerous details of the last 

 edition, and the smaller print which became necessary, 

 would have acted as a hindrance to the complete 

 success of the work. Authors and publishers are 

 sometimes apt to forget that the form of a book 

 has a great deal to do with the absorption of the 

 ideas contained in it, especially when the argument 

 is from the nature of the case difficult to follow, and 

 the subject a new one, Francis Darwin in the " Life 

 and Letters " justly condemns the unattractive form 

 of the sixth edition of the work. 



