CHAPTER XIV 



OBJECTIONS AND REJOINDERS 



"^JO idea of any scope can begin its soar- 

 -*" ^ ing flight but straightway the cur- 

 mudgeons are after it, eager to break its 

 wings and to stamp the wounded thing un- 

 der foot. My discovery of the surgical me- 

 thods that give the Hunting Wasps their 

 preserved foodstuffs has undergone the com- 

 mon rule. Let theories be discussed, by all 

 means: the realm of the imagination is an 

 untilled domain, in which every one is free to 

 plant his own conceptions. But realities are 

 not open to discussion. It is a bad policy 

 to deny facts with no more authority than 

 one's wish to find them untrue. No one 

 that I know of has impugned by contrary 

 observations what I have so long been say- 

 ing about the anatomical instinct of the 

 Wasps that hunt their prey; instead, I am 

 met with arguments. Mercy on us! First 

 use your eyes and then you shall have leave 

 to argue! And, to persuade people to use 

 their eyes, I mean to reply, since we have 

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