The Method by Which the Causes of the Present and Past Conditions of Organic Nature Are to Be Discovered; the Origination of Living Beings / Lecture III. (of VI.), "Lectures to Working Men", at the Museum of Practical Geology, 1863, on Darwin's Work: "Origin of Species"

The speaker argues that the origin and development of living beings belong to normal scientific investigation and rejects the view that vital phenomena are exempt from natural explanation. He explains that the same inductive method—careful observation, classification, and comparison—applies to morphology, development, and distribution of organisms. He addresses both sincere and ill-intentioned objections, rebukes misused appeals to Baconian philosophy, and emphasizes that scientific reasoning extends ordinary mental processes and rests on empirical facts. The overall claim is that inquiry into the causes of organic phenomena should proceed without arbitrary limits.