the discussion of the whole question comprehensively. On January 6 he
writes to Sir J. Hooker:--]

Some of these days I shall look up the ape question again and go over
the rest of the organisation in the same way. But in order to get a
thorough grip of the question I must examine into a good many points for
myself. The results, when they do come out, will, I foresee, astonish
the natives.

[Full of interest in this theme, he made it the subject of his popular
lectures in the spring of 1861.

Thus from February to May he lectured weekly to working men on "The
Relation of Man to the rest of the Animal Kingdom," and on March 22
writes to his wife:--]

My working men stick by me wonderfully, the house being fuller than ever
last night. By next Friday evening they will all be convinced that they
are monkeys...Said lecture, let me inform you, was very good. Lyell came
and was rather astonished at the magnitude and attentiveness of the
audience.

[These lectures to working men were published in the "Natural History
Review," as was a Friday evening discourse at the Royal Institution
(February 8) on "The Nature of the Earliest Stages of Development of
Animals."

Meanwhile the publication of these researches led to another pitched
battle, in which public interest was profoundly engaged. The controversy
which raged had some resemblance to a duel over a point of honour and