284 HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE vn 



he fancied had taken place, had been received by men of scienca 

 " with a grudging silence as far as public discussion is concerned " 

 p. 301). 



The truth is that, as every one acquainted with the literature 

 of the subject was well aware, the views supposed to have 

 effected this overthrow had been fully and publicly discussed by 

 Dana in the United States ; by Geikie, Green, and Prestwich 

 in this country ; by Lapparent in France ; and by Credner in 

 Germany. 



(2) The Duke of Argyll says " that no serious reply has ever 

 been attempted " (p. 305). 



The truth is that the highest living authority on the subject, 

 Professor Dana, published a most weighty reply, two years 

 before the Duke of Argyll committed himself to this statement. 



(3) The Duke of Argyll uses the preceding products of de- 

 fective knowledge, multiplied by excessive imagination, to 

 illustrate the manner in which "certain accepted opinions" 

 established "a sort of Reign of Terror in their own behalf" 

 (p. 307). 



The truth is that no plea, except that of total ignorance of 

 the literature of the subject, can excuse the errors cited, and 

 that the " Reign of Terror " is a purely subjective phenomenon. 



(4) The letter in "Nature " for the 17th of November, 1887, to 

 which I am referred, contains neither substantiation, nor 

 retractation, of statements 1 and 2. Nevertheless, it repeats 

 number 3. The Duke of Argyll says of his article that it "has 

 done what I intended it to do. It has called wide attention to 

 the influence of mere authority in establishing erroneous theories 

 and in retarding the progress of scientific truth." 



(5) The Duke of Argyll illustrates the influence of his 

 fictitious " Reign of Terror " by the statement that Mr. John 

 Murray "was strongly advised against the publication of his 

 views in derogation of Darwin's long-accepted theory of the 

 coral islands, and was actually induced to delay it for two 

 years " (p. 307). And in "Nature " for the 17th November, 1887, 

 the Duke of Argyll states that he has seen a letter from Sir 

 Wyville Thomson in which he "urged and almost insisted that 

 Mr. Murray should withdraw the reading of his papers on the 



