482 Final Statement of Mr, Swainson, 



unavoidably coupled with controversy, he will be doubly 

 cautious in becoming himself an antagonist. Mr. Vigors has 

 neither evinced this discretion, nor manifested this spirit. Had 

 he loved peace, he would not have printed (at whose expense?) 

 the well-known letter on the dichotomous system*, after it 

 had been published, in a softened tone, elsewhere. In all this, 

 however, there is nothing dishonourable. What I say is, that 

 it implies a want of judgment and a love of controversy. We 

 judge by acts, not by professions. You are told, indeed, that 

 I was the first to begin this system. This the asserter knows 

 to be false. The very first article of this description in his 

 journal is an attack upon me {Zoologicaljournal, vol.i. p. 253.); 

 the first I ever received. My answer was the first and the 

 last, until now, that I ever penned: it occupies four pages. 

 The controversial papers of Mr. Vigors, avowedly by himself, 

 fill exactly forty. {Zoological Journal, vol. iii. p. 92 — 123. 

 vol. V. p. 134—141.) 



So far for the main question. My connection with the 

 Zoological Society may be stated in a few words : — Mr. Vi- 

 gors, by personal importunity, got permission to write my 

 name on the paper sent round for its establishment. Sir 

 Stamford Raffles was then alive ; and Dr. Horsfield, I was 

 told, was to be secretary. Upon these names I relied for a 

 liberal set of measures. I soon, however, quitted London, 

 and never heard more of the Society until I received the 

 subjoined letter f, from what is mystically called " the finan- 

 cial department," in plain English, from Mr. Vigors. Sir 

 Stamford Raffles, in the interim, had died ; Dr. Horsfield 

 had retired ; and the whole concern had assumed the charac- 

 teristics of any thing but of a liberal scientific institution. 

 I consequently would not confirm my first intention, and 

 declined joining a society where science was not wanted. 



* It is somewhat singular that the library of the Linnean Society should 

 have been fixed upon as the deposit of this private reprint, whence the 

 copies were disseminated. 



f " Sir, Your name appearing on the list of members of the Zoological 

 Society for an early period, but no communication having been received 

 from you from the time at which it was entered, I am requested by the pre- 

 sident and council to enquire whether it is your intention to continue a 

 member. I am likewise instructed to inform you that, as you have not 

 availed yourself of the privileges of this society, you are liable to no 

 further demands, should you wish to remain a member, than the entrance 

 subscription, and the contribution for the present year. 



" I have the honour to be, &c. 

 " Zoological Society^ Bruton Streety " N. A. Vigors, Secretary^ 



April 14. 1828." 



" William SwainsoUy Esq.'* 



