The Adamites

Abstract

I SHOULD not have noticed the letter of “M.A.I.,” which appeared in the last number of NATURE, with reference to my paper on “The Adamites,” were it not that my silence might be interpreted as an acknowledgment of the justice of the remarks of the anonymous writer. If I had been silent, however, I trust your readers would have had more sense than to accept the dictum of a writer, anonymous or otherwise, who thinks to negative the conclusions of a paper, written at least in a truly scientific spirit, by such nonsense as the reference to Paddy and Taffy. One looks for reasoning in the criticisms which appear in such a journal as NATURE, and not for a misleading statement of an opponent's position, supported by reference to general conclusions and the use of weak satire. When “M.A.I.” condescends to advance an argument, I shall be happy to consider it; and if it should be unanswerable, I shall not hesitate to admit it to be so. Doubtless I ought to feel thankful for the tenderness with which he has trodden on my toes, but I have scant regard for mere courtesy where questions of science are at stake; and in the interests of truth I would rather that the errors of my “unlucky paper” should be openly exposed, than that I should be “damned with faint praise.”