126 
THE DUAL LICHEN HYPOTHESIS. 
such opponents either dangerous, on the one hand, or worthy foes 
for personal combat on the other. 
Whether that hypothesis be true or false which he originated, we 
have, at least, the honour of having produced in England the 
greatest master of the art of expounding and constructing an 
hypothesis which any country has produced. Had the Schwende- 
nerians studied carefully the “ Origin of Species,” they would have 
less signally failed. His sternest opponents credit Darwin with 
the production of a marvellous work of art in the elaboration of his 
hypothesis. Their best friends are silent in their commendations of 
Schwendener and Co. 
As to the assertion that the hypothesis is now generally received 
and adopted, come from what quarter it may, must be accepted for 
what it is worth ; even if endorsed by the “ Nineteenth Century ” it 
will certainly be forgotten in the twentieth. Such an hypothesis 
cannot practically be accepted whilst it is rejected by the Licheno- 
logists and Mycologists. It must resolve itself into a question of 
classification, and so long as the best classificatory books are written 
by the best men, Lichens will continue to be Lichens, and Fungi 
much the same as they are. 
The discontented lawyer may desire to extend his sphere of 
operations for the benefit of the community, and elaborate some 
theory of his own that “ Measles ” is only incipient “ Gout,” or 
“ small-pox,” a degenerate perspiration, to be corrected by copious 
draughts of cold water. Still, it would avail nothing to the medical 
man if all the scientific journals in London were to declare it a 
marvellous discovery in science. The physician would have his own 
opinion in the midst of the chaos, even of the capacity of the man of 
law to decide for the man of physic, and whether, as Carlyle 
expresses it : “ Oceans of horse-hair, continents of parchment, and 
learned sergeant eloquence, were it continued till the learned 
tongue wore itself small in the indefatigable learned mouth,” could 
not make measles gout. 
So is it with this hypothesis, which has been constructed to set 
right the wrong-headed Cryptogamists, it may get a little false 
popularity from those who know no better. But, as for my friends, 
they may rest assured that when I have shuffled off this mortal coil 
they will be able to say, with confidence, that amidst all my follies 
and crimes, I was never the advocate of the theories of Table- 
turning, Tichborne, or Schwendener. 
M. C. Cooke.* 
Fries’s Icones. — We omitted to state in our last that the 
publication of this work has been resumed, since the death of the 
venerable Elias Fries, under the editorship of his sons. 
* Communicated to the “ Quekett Microscopical Club,” March 28, 1879 ; 
in reply to recent advocates of the Theory. 
