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285 



some sense official, and to remain a Vice-President, or even a 

 member of the F.B.C., without lepudiating, is equivalent to 

 endorsing them, and under these circumstances — unless I wish 

 to engage in a lengthy controversy — the only alternative is to 

 divest myself of any responsibility for what I disapprove, and 

 terminate my connection with the Foreign Bird Club. 



R. H. Cl,ARKK. 



[On receipt of above resignations, I at once urged the writers to recon- 

 sider same, and to enter a protest or point out in the pages o{ Bird Notes any 

 teaching or views which they considered erroneous. The resignations were 

 sent in for November issue, but they acceded to my request to hold them 

 over till the following number. I failed to accomplish anything further, and 

 nothing remained for me but to refer the matter to the Council. The 

 correspondence passed round left the Council no alternative but to accept 

 the resignations. There was a general expression of deep regret at this 

 necessity and also of appreciation of tlie valuable services they had 

 rendered to the Club. There was a further general expression of regret that 

 they had not protested against, or pointed out in Bird Notes the " erroneous 

 teaching " of which Mr Clarke complains, for Dr. Creswell refused to 

 give any reasons, and asked to be excused from any further commun- 

 ications referring- to same. — Ed.] 



Sir, — I am much surprised at Mr. R.. H. Clarke's resig- 

 nation, and extremely sorry that it should lie caused by a note 

 of mine in reply to a correspondent. 



All who know Mr Clarke recognise his worth as an original 

 observer and a scientific worker; none more than myself. But 

 I venture to think that even the most acknowledged authority 

 on pathological subjects should not take hasty action merely 

 because some one has the tenieritj' to not fully accept his 

 results as final. There is no finality in Science, and even the 

 most careful research may not reach perfection. 



Whilst I quite recognise Mr. Clarke's work on "Bird 

 Plague " as being perhaps the most thorough and up-to-date of 

 any direct experiments, I may surely be excused for having 

 opinions of my own. 



Mr. Clarke complains that lie has "recently seen in the 

 postniorlein reports in Bird Notes, statements relating to Septic 

 Fever, which I consider to be entirely erroneous and mis- 

 leading." He considers that without repudiating these errors- 



