54 THEORETICAL NONSENSE. 



the badly-imitated artificial minnow or gudgeon 

 from the real ones they constantly see and feed 

 upon, and will therefore seize by preference some- 

 thing concerning which their instinct can draw 

 no comparison. 



Before I conclude this chapter, I think it but 

 fair to the philosophers to give a summary of their 

 theory. It is the opinion of governments and of 

 other bodies of men, that it is dangerous to pub- 

 lish false theories. I do not think so. Falsehood 

 cannot stand against truth in the open day. It 

 may creep on in private, but its publication draws 

 after it its refutation, and the establishment of 

 true knowledge into the bargain. There is great 

 philosophy in 6 that mine enemy had written 

 a book ! ' A modern writer ( ( The Angler's 

 Souvenir ') says : c Most books on fly-fishing con- 

 tain long lists of flies, named after the particular 

 insect of which it is pretended they are an imita- 

 tion, but to which they bear so very distant a 

 .resemblance, that the most skilful entomologist 

 would be completely at fault in assigning the 

 species. Such lists, for the most part, only con- 

 fuse the beginner, and give him wrong ideas of 

 the rationale of the art, and are not of the least 

 use to the proficient. The greatest number of 

 trout, as is well known to every practical angler,* 



* This I pronounce one of the most barefaced misrepresenta- 

 tions ever uttered. 



