SCIENCE IN "BONDAGE" 79 



So that such acknowledgments of assistance 

 have come to be almost what the lawyers call 

 " common form." What they really amount to 

 is a proclamation on the part of the author that 

 he has done his best to ensure that his book is 

 free from mistakes. Now the imprimatur really 

 amounts to the same thing, for it is, of course, 

 confined to books or parts of books where theology 

 or philosophy trenching upon theology is con- 

 cerned. Thus a book may deal largely, perhaps 

 mainly, with scientific points, yet necessarily in- 

 clude allusions to theological dogmas. The im- 

 primatur to such a book would relate solely and 

 entirely to the theological parts, just as the advice 

 of an architectural authority on a point connected 

 with that subject in a work in which it was men- 

 tioned only in an incidental manner, would refer 

 to that point, and to nothing else. Perhaps it 

 should be added, that no author is obliged to 

 obtain an imprimatur any more than he is com- 

 pelled to seek advice on any other point in con- 

 nection with his book. " Nihil Obstat" says the 

 skilled referee : " I see no reason to suppose that 

 there is anything in all this which contravenes 

 theological principles." To which the authority 

 appealed to adds " imprimatur : " " Then by 

 all means let it be printed." The procedure is 

 no doubt somewhat more stately and formal than 

 the modern system of acknowledgments, yet in 

 actual practice there is but little to differentiate 

 the two methods of ensuring, so far as is possible, 

 that the work is free from mistakes. That neither 

 the assistance of friends nor the imprimatur of 



