A Critical Examination of the Position of Mr. Darwin's Work, "On the Origin of Species," in Relation to the Complete Theory of the Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Nature

In a series of six public lectures delivered to a gathering of working‑class geologists, the speaker sets out to lay a clear factual foundation for any theory about the natural world. He stresses that his references to Darwin are limited to observable data, not to the author’s speculative leaps, and that the purpose is to assess how well the method behind “the Origin of Species” holds up to rigorous scrutiny.

He then divides the grand inquiry into two separate puzzles: how life first began, and how existing life changes over time. Emphasising that Darwin deliberately confined himself to the second problem, he defends this choice by likening it to the way Newton could explain planetary motion without solving the mystery of the sun’s creation. The lecture invites listeners to consider whether the reasoning and evidence Darwin presents are sound, while acknowledging the inevitable limits of human knowledge.