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. 



