44 rKOCEEUI^GS OF THE 



as a printer (p. 28), and that some of Lis manuscript shows the 

 signs of artificial treatment (p. 35) are in favour of the conclu- 

 sion that the fraud was perpetrated by him. 



14. The prohahle Motive of the Forgery. 



The consideration of motive seems to be almost a waste of 

 lime, but so maii)^ friends have raised the question " Why should 

 anyone have done such a thing?"' that I think it may be interest- 

 ing to atiempt a brief discussion. The most probable explanation 

 is, 1 think, as follows : — 



G. W. Sleeper was a man who loved to lecture and to take every 

 opportunity of publicly expressing his views. He was probably 

 far more wounded by ridicule and neglect than by any violent 

 attack. The following reminiscence by an old resident of Provi- 

 dence was kindly sent to me by Dr. Putnam : — 



I kne%Ar George W. Sleeper by sight, but was not acquainted with liim. 

 He kept a lea store as stated. He advertised a lecture about the year 18(i0, 

 the subject being ' Education and its Ofi'sjiring, Civilization.' He may have 

 ])ut tbis in pampbiet (orni, but I do not remember of seeing it. There was a 

 tendency to ridicule his literary aspirations and he was hardly taken seriously. 

 Excepting in that early time I do not renieniber of ever hearing of him, and 

 I do not know that he remained in Providence. 



Sleeper's intense belief in himself would only have been 

 strengtliened by opposition, and still more by his failure to 

 command serious attention. He probably quite honestly believed 

 that the vague ideas Mliich occurred to him were of momentous 

 importance in the history of science, and that when he had put 

 the results of his reading in his own words he was announcing 

 original discoveries. Then, as the years went by, such ideas as 

 natiu"al selection, the origin of man, the continuity of the germ- 

 plasm, the germ-theor}' of disease, resistance, the mosquito and the 

 house-fly as carriers, sprang into existence and instantly became 

 centres of intense interest. In each of these successive dis- 

 coveries and many others, Sleeper's self-centred egotism would 

 recognize the natural outcome of thoughts received so very dif- 

 ferently or not received at ail when he had spoken them. One 

 thus self-deceived as to the importance of his own ideas would 

 certainly honestly believe that he had been, and was still, the 

 victim of bitter injustice, and he might defend the falsification of 

 evidence on the ground that only in this way could justice be done 

 not only to himself, but to the history of thought. He would 

 argue '' All these vaunted discoveries are the simple and easy 

 development of original thoughts which I announced half a century 

 ago, and it is only fair and right that they should bear the date 

 of their conception as well as that of their birth." 



The above attempt- to analyse the psychological situation 

 assumes that the forgeries were committed by Gr. W. Sleeper 

 himself ; but the same explanation may be offered if we suppose 

 that they were committed by another who knew his feelings and 

 shared his delusion that he was the victim of injustice. 



