Guessing at Half and Multiplying by Two 339 



everything is easily seen to disagree with the crude 

 general impression to which the speaker appeals, 

 and almost everything is accordingly set down as 

 a " concession." And as the audience go out after 

 the lecture, they doubtless ask one another, in 

 amazed whispers, how it is that sensible men who 

 make so many " concessions " can find it in their 

 hearts to maintain the doctrine of evolution at all ! 



Sometimes Mr. Cook goes even farther than 

 this, and, in the very act of quoting an author's de- 

 clared opinions, expressly refuses to give him credit 

 for them. Thus he has the hardihood to say: 

 " Even Herbert Spencer, who would be very glad 

 to prove the opposite, 1 says, in his Biology, ' The 

 proximate chemical principles or chemical units 

 albumen, fibrine, gelatine, or the hypothetical pro- 

 teine substance cannot possess the property of 

 forming the endlessly varied structures of animal 

 forms.' ' : Mr. Cook here lays claim to a knowledge 

 of his author's innermost thoughts and wishes 

 which is quite remarkable. For a fit parallel one 

 would have to cite the instance of the German who 

 flogged his son for profanity, though the boy had 

 not opened his mouth. " You dinks tarnn," ex- 

 claimed the irate father, " and I vips you for dat ! " 



As there are some writers whom Mr. Cook 



1 The italicizing- is, of course, mine, both here and below. 



