Letter to Dr. Thornton from Mr. Arthur Aikin. 39 



for bleaching wool, I found none better than that of ex- 

 posing it on the grass, to the dew and the sun, after being 

 well scoured with weak soapy water : the yellow spots, 

 however, observed in that of the flanks are not entirely de- 

 stroyed ; their intensity only decreases. 



VII. Letter to Dr, Thornton from Mr. Arthur Aikin, 



sir, 



x ou have very satisfactorily shown that the author of the 

 critique upon your "New Illustration of the Sexual System 

 of Linnaeus," in the Annual Review, is but slenderly ac-r 

 quainted with the science of astronomy : you would also 

 have been perfectly justified in drawing the same conclusion 

 with regard to the editor, who, if he had been aware of it, 

 would not have permitted so grievous an error as that which 

 you have exposed, to pass uncorrected. 



I am sorry to find, however, that your otherwise laudable 

 zeal ill your own vindication has betrayed you into an un- 

 generous and unjust allusion to Dr. Rees's Cyclopaedia. If 

 you have any authority for believing that I am concerned 

 in that respectable publication, you must know that the 

 only departments in which I have engaged to furnish arti- 

 cles are those of chemistry and mineralogy, sciences which 

 have no more connexion with astronomy than astronomy 

 has with botany. 



I have the honour to be, yours, &c. 



Arthur Aikin, 



Broad-street, Buildings, 



June 1, 1804.. , 



VIII. Letter to the Editor of the Philosophical Magazine, 

 ly the Author of the Review of Dr. Thornton's Must 

 tration of the Sexual System of Linnceus, given in the 

 Annual Review. 



v SIR ' 



X ou are perfectly right in your persuasion that the editor 

 of the Annual Review did not write the criticism on Dr. 

 Thornton's great national work, and that he is not respon- 

 sible for its mistakes and demerits. The author of that ar- 

 ticle has long since learnt that no real honour is lost by the 

 ready acknowledgment of, an error. He is thankful even 



C4 tO 



