APPENDIX. [199] 



Bye Laws of the Society, has all the authority of the Secretary during 

 his absence, and is equally uncontrolled in the exercise of his duties ; and, 

 secondly, because it was not possible that he could have given the express 

 order in the particular case before us, as he could not have anticipated the 

 exact nature of Mr. Swainson's application. I have myself to add a third 

 reason, more powerful than either of the above, for it is a matter of fact, 

 not of presumption : it is, because / did not give such orders, and, conse- 

 quently, that Mr. Bennett never asserted that I did. The real fact is, that 

 Mr. Bennett, finding Mr. Swainson at work on some Sumatran birds 

 (common or uncommon he knew not, for he had not studied the subject 

 at the time), mentioned the fact to Mr. Swainson, that this very Sumatran 

 collection was about to be described by the Secretary, and he suggested 

 whether it might not be more delicate to postpone any inspection of them 

 during his absence. 



But the best reply is from the same source as the preceding, — from Mr. 

 Swainson's own words. I proceed to quote them. They are from the 

 same explanatory letter from which I before made extracts. 



" Now to the main point. Mr. S. has asserted the refusal he received 

 from the Council was illiberal. He thinks so still. Let us look to the 

 simple facts. Here are two naturalists, Mr. Swainson and Dr. Richardson, 

 engaged upon a national work. To Dr. Richardson every facility is given. 

 But so soon as Mr. Swainson goes to the Society's Museum, on the strength 

 of their general promise of assistance, and takes out his book to pencil 

 a few notes upon two or three Indian birds long ago described, he is politely 

 told by the Vice- Secretary that such proceedings cannot be allowed with- 

 out a special order. An official application, therefore, for unrestrained 

 permission was asked. After an interval of nearly a month, a polite refusal 

 was given, with a voluntary offer from the Secretary, stating his wish of 

 giving Mr. S. * every information ' in his power. So far Mr. S. has 

 reason to thank Mr. Vigors personally." 



Let your readers, now. Sir, compare these two discordant represent- 

 ations of the same circumstances by the same hand, and at the same 

 time compare both with the third version of the same occurrence, which 

 appeared in the commencement of the attack in No. XVIH. of your 

 Magazine (Vol. IV. p. 97.) ; and I will ask him, whether a charge ever was 

 brought forward against a public institution more paltry in its nature, more 

 unfounded in fact and unsupported by testimony, or one which has more 

 effectually broken down under the unskilful management of him who 

 undertook to handle it ? 



11. " In this way has been manifested that ' spirit of disinterestedness and liberality,' which, a* 

 Mr. Vigors says, ' renders him a marked man.' " 



I quote the above passage merely to point out an instance of Mr. 

 Swainson's dishonesty in quotation. Any reader would suppose that 

 T had made use of the words quoted above, and in the sense which the 

 juxtaposition of the two clauses of the sentence would infer. And yet. 

 Sir, such is not the fact. I simply stated (Vol. IV. p. 335.) that " the 

 attempt to introduce into science a spirit of disinterestedness and liberality 

 could not fail to excite a hostile feeling on the part of those whose con- 

 nection with science was based on selfish and sordid considerations ; " and 

 after the interval of a page, having declared that " the attempt to impart 

 a higher tone, and a purer spirit, into natural science, is a crime not to be 

 pardoned," I added, " the reformer becomes a marked man." Can any 

 subterfuge be more despicable than that of thus distorting one's words and 

 meaning ; or arty cause more debased than one which has recourse to 

 such flagrant dishonesty ? 



But Mr. Swainson is as great an adept in shifting his own grounds as in 

 misrepresenting his adversary's words. I met his charge against myself, of 



