Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews

A collection of lively essays by Huxley, including his own review of On the Origin of Species.

Thomas Henry Huxley (Author)

9781108001564, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 July 2009

396 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.58 kg

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) became known as 'Darwin's bulldog' because of his forceful and energetic support for Darwin's theory, especially at the notorious British Association meeting in Oxford in 1860. In fact, Huxley had some reservations about aspects of the theory, especially the element of gradual, continuous progress, but in public he was unwavering in his allegiance, saying in a letter to Darwin 'As for your doctrines I am prepared to go to the Stake if requisite'. In his 1870 essay collection Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews, of which the title alone was designed to provoke controversy, he offers a variety of his writings, many of which were originally talks given to a range of audiences from learned societies to a working men's college, and including his own review of On the Origin of Species and a typically passionate response to two other reviews less favourable to Darwin.

Preparatory letter
1. On the advisableness of improving natural knowledge
2. Emancipation – black and white
3. A liberal education: and where to find it
4. Scientific education: notes of an after-dinner speech
5. On the educational value of the natural history sciences
6. On the study of zoology
7. On the physical basis of life
8. The scientific aspects of positivism
9. On a piece of chalk
10. Geological contemporaneity and persistent types of life
11. Geological reform
12. The origin of species
13. Criticisms on On the Origin of Species
14. On Descartes' 'Discourse touching the method of using one's reason rightly and of seeking scientific truth'.

Subject Areas: Evolution [PSAJ]