
Page 4 January 1980 No. 258 NEW YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES 
LETTER TO THE EDITOR 
December 4, 1979 
I must take exception to the opinion expressed by my good 
friend, Karl Jacobson, in his article, ON FIELD OBSERVATIONS 
BY AMATEUR COLLECTORS OF SHELLS, in last month's issue of 
the NOTES (No. 257). 
The premise that amateur shell collectors are obliged to 
submit their field observations (or any observations) to 
scientists before publication is untenable. Some of the 
most profound break-throughs in scientific thought have 
been expounded by amateurs. Scientists are earthly beings, 
possessed of all the frailties of mortal men: prejudice, 
pride, narrow-mindedness and bound and limited by their 
environments. Had Copernicus followed Karl's advice, the 
Sun and all the heavenly orbs might still be revolving 
around the Earth! Contemplate upon what would have happened 
had the monk, Gregor Mendel, submitted his paper on genetics 
to his superiors. We need not concern ourselves with 
whether or not Darwin consulted the scientific community 
before publishing. We had Alfred Wallace ready to carry 
the banner for the free expression of thought. 
Let us not take that giant step back to the Dark Ages when 
all new ideas had to be submitted to the Supreme Authority - 
the Church. Let us remember that scientists have no 
monopoly on intellect and that unlettered men, too, are 
capable of thought and the ability to reason. Let us 
suffer a thousand inconsequential Ppublishings of mis- 
information as the price we must pay for the chance that 
the next (thousand and one) might contribute to our search 
for the truth. Let the author publish at his peril! 
Archie L. Jones 
4370 SW 14 Street 
Miami, Florida 33134 
