LECTURES TO WORKING-MEN 69 



entitled, " On our Knowledge of the Causes of the 

 Phenomena of Organic Nature," delivered at the end of 

 1862, was perhaps the most widely appreciated effort of 

 the year. They were taken down in shorthand by one 

 of the auditory, and published with Huxley's permission, 

 but he himself had nothing to do with preparing them 

 for the press. Notwithstanding this, they had a wide 

 vogue in this and other countries, and are included in 

 vol. ii. of the Collected Essays (p. 303). 



Huxley seems to have been rather surprised by the 

 wide demand for these lectures when they appeared in 

 print, for in a letter to Darwin (dated December 2, 

 1862), he says : — 



" I have no interest in them, and do not desire or intend 

 that they should be widely circulated. . . . There is really 

 nothing new in them nor anything worth your attention, but if 

 in glancing over them at any time you should see anything to 

 object to, I should like to know" (Life, i, p. 206). 



And again to Hooker (January, 1863) : — 



" I never imagined the lectures as delivered would be worth 

 bringing out at all. . . ." (Life, i, p. 207). 



There can be no question, however, as to the general 

 appreciation of Huxley's popular presentment of Dar- 

 winism, from the working-men who made up the audience 

 up to Darwin himself, who wrote (December 18, 

 1862):— 



" I have read Nos. IV. and V. They are simply perfect. 

 They ought to be largely advertised ; but it is very good of 

 me to say so, for I threw down No. IV. with this reflection, 

 ' What is the good of my writing a thundering big book, when 

 everything is in this green little book so despicable for its size ? ' 

 In the name of all that is good and bad I may as well shut up 

 shop altogether" (Life, i, p. 207). 



