306 Clear Skies and Cloudy. 



standing before the world an unfinished monu- 

 ment to erudition. 



An amusing feature of this matter is the 

 question of veracity. Now, I speak soberly 

 when I say that the most recklessly inexact 

 man I ever met is a geologist. He no more 

 considers facts that jostle his theories than he 

 does the ground upon which he treads. To be 

 sure, few people read geological essays, and 

 surely none of his will find their way to text- 

 books, so little mischief is done. Lackeys of 

 government bureaus too often, to make sure of 

 their salaries, are forced to keep their mouths 

 shut or to lie ! Now, any amateur, be he ever 

 so careful, may prove to be mistaken. He may 

 see one thing and believe it to be another ; but 

 the professional is treading on very thin ice 

 when he flatly contradicts the amateur's state- 

 ment ; particularly when there is no impossi- 

 bility entering into the case. Fight the ama- 

 teur's statement as improbable by all means, 

 but it is a dangerous thing to flatly contra- 

 dict it, dangerous, because when the amateur 

 proves that he is correct these same profes- 

 sionals invariably decline to take back their 



