84 SALMON FISHING 



There is some reason for fearing that, in common 

 with many a new theory, the doctrine we are con- 

 sidering is pushed to an unwarrantable extreme. 

 The habit of exclusive opinionativeness is entertain- 

 ingly observable in connection with subjects of wide 

 variety. It is that of a class of persons who on 

 every occasion like to feel themselves, in virtue 

 of peculiar insight, other than the commonalty. 

 "Alcohol is a poison!" vows Sir Frederick Somebody; 

 whereupon all precisians know, with pride of the 

 seclusive spirit, that Mahommedan liquors are the 

 only fit drink for those who are not by long heredity 

 inured to stronger potions. "The race is degene- 

 rate ! " shouts Sir Somebody Else ; and, instantly, 

 to perceive the race degenerate becomes a modish 

 mark of knowledge. "People forget that society is 

 a living and growing organism," says The Times, 

 impatiently; and thereupon the intellectuals go 

 about pessimistically scorning the populace for not 

 knowing that they are something other than them- 

 selves. The comparatively new theory about the 

 salmon seems to belong to the class of opinions of 

 which these dogmas are contemporary examples. 

 It is novel. It is not a theory such as an ordinary 

 person would arrive at by himself. To adopt it is 

 to be enlightened, notable, detached from the de- 

 plorable ignorance of the times ; if to be disillusioned 

 also, it is bracing mentally and morally, as giving 

 one something to endure in behalf of Science strug- 

 gling against the errors of the age. To push it to an 

 extreme is to allow the foible to run the usual course. 



