220 



DISCOVEHY 



Correspondence 



To the Editor of Discoviikv 

 Sir. 



In the review of Bibliotheca Cheniico-Mathcmatica 

 in the July issue of Discovery, A. S. R., referring to a 

 book by Sir Kenclm Digby, writes : " Digby was an 

 interesting type who first described his ' powder of sym- 

 pathy ' in a lecture which was supposed to have been 

 delivered at Montpellicr in 1658 . . . quite clearly Digby 

 was an impostor." I have been unable to trace the actual 

 origin of this powder, which, though usually associated 

 with Digby's name, does not appear to have been his 

 discovery. For a book published in 165 1 — The History of 

 Generation, to which is joined a discourse of the Cure of 

 Wounds by Sympathy, by Nathaniel Highmore, the cele- 

 brated anatomist and scholar of Trinity College, Oxford — 

 gives a complete account not only of the preparation and 

 application of the powder to the " cruentated cloth," but 

 also of the scientific theory, which was believed by High- 

 more to account for its undoubtedly beneficial action — 

 the theory of " atomes." Mention is there made of 

 Digby's use of the powder, but it is referred to as " that 

 powder known chiefly by the name of Sir Gilbert Talbot's 

 Powder." It would seem, therefore, that Digby was no 

 iiUpostor, but rather the dupe of the scientific theories of 

 his time. 



Yours faithfully, 



E. Prideaux. 

 Psychological Laboratory, Cambridge. 

 July 6, 1 92 1. 



Sir, 



To the Editor of Disco\'ery 



The promise made in the first number of Discovery 

 — that the articles would be written by contributors who 

 could speak with authority in their own branch of know- 

 ledge — has been so amply fulfilled that it seems the more 

 desirable to call attention to such a departure from that 

 excellent rule as is displayed in Mr. O. G. S. Crawford's 

 article on " Past and Present " in the July number (vol. ii, 

 p. 182). No man, of course, can be an expert on the whole 

 of the past, or the whole of the present ; but your readers 

 may fairly expect that the writer of an article with such 

 a title will be speaking with authority upon the subjects 

 from which he thinks fit to draw his examples. In the 

 passage on page 183 relating to the transfer of land, Mr. 

 Crawford makes (either expressly or by necessary implica- 

 tion) the following statements. 



1. That the method of transferring land has persisted 

 almost unchanged since a.d. 700. 



2. That the Ordnance Maps were prepared for the 

 express purpose of simplifying the procedure of trans- 

 ferring land. 



3. That the lawyers, or a section of them, refuse to use 

 the Ordnance Maps for this purpose. 



4. That, in their own interests, they smother the busi- 



ness of transferring land under an unintelligible ritual of 

 expensive jargon. 



5. That the documents by which land is transferred at 

 the present day arc unintelligible and contain jargon. 



6. That at one time it was necessary to have Norman 

 blood to be a landlord. 



Perhaps you will allow me to add a brief statement of 

 the true facts in each case : 



1. The method of transferring land has been radically 

 changed at least three times since Anglo-Saxon times. 



2. The Ordnance Maps were originally prepared on the 

 i-inch scale, for military purposes. In 1841 the 6-inch 



■ scale was adopted in order to facilitate the construction 

 of railways in particular and other public works in general, 

 and the ascertainment of boundaries (Hansard, 3rd ser., 

 vol. Ivi, p. 529). Even this scale was found too small in 

 populous districts, and the larger scales were accordingly 

 approved by Parliament in 1855 (ibid., vol. cxxxi, p. 201 ; 

 vol. c.xxxix, p. 1319). Years afterwards, appeals were 

 made to the Government to expedite the survey, in the 

 interests of land transfer ; but the Treasury were hard- 

 hearted. 



3. The Ordnance Maps, being more accurate and on a 

 more convenient scale than the old Tithe Maps, are 

 extremely useful in connection with the transfer of land, 

 and are used in ninetj^-nine cases out of a hundred. But 

 their use could not have, and has not had, the effect of 

 altering the procedure ; it has merely reduced the length 

 of the documents to some extent. 



4. For nearly forty years it has been practicable for 

 solicitors, without neglecting their clients' interests, to 

 make the transfers of land short and simple in ordinary 

 cases, and for nearly thirty-nine years it has been in the 

 solicitors' own interest to make them short and simple in 

 all cases, with very rare exceptions. Being paid a fixed 

 fee (varying with the amount of the purchase money), 

 a solicitor is merelj' wasting his own time, paper and ink 

 if he inserts anything unnecessary'. 



5. Every word in a modern transfer of land is readily 

 intelligible by any person of ordinarj- mentality who has 

 had a liberal education. There is now before Parliament 

 a Bill, drafted and promoted by lawyers, which removes 

 the necessity of any technical words whatever, and is 

 intended to make the whole process absolutely fool-proof. 



6. Anglo-Saxons had become landlords before the 

 Conqueror's death (Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. iv, 

 p. 25). 



It may be permissible to refer the seeker after elementary 

 knowledge to Pollock's Land Laws for a clear outline of 

 the law relating to land and for a candid account of its 

 defects ; and to Digby's History of the Law of Real Pro- 

 perty for accurate historical information. 

 Yours faithfully, 



Norman C. Akmitage 

 (M.A. Cantab.; Barrisier-at-law). 

 1 1 Old Square, 



Lincoln's Inn, W.C.2. 

 July 14, 1921. 



