CORRESPONDENCE.

Colonist, Volume XXIV, Issue 7110, 7 September 1891, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Colonist. Sib, — The sumptuous feast I lately provided for the disputations Mr Flowerday, consisting ehi&fly cf his own words, was too unpalatable for his eating. His peremptory i refusal to partake thereof compelled me, hi 3 acknowledged paternal adviser, to lift; him ole*n out of the tub of Diogenee, where he h^d betaken himself and was aping the cynic, and to place him gently between the powerful horns of an nnralenticg dilemma with a dish of Lie own vooablea, where he 13 to remain till he haß oonßumed them faithfully. In that position, J find, hia chief amagsmentß consist

in raising ehotita 61 " Bwdlaagh foe ever," and blowing babbles of verbosity. Bat his ohagrin every time he touched hia diahweg bo great, that I determined to administer ths following salad to enoourags him a little. —When he was sadly worsted in his recent controversy, be made the startling, bat con. venient disoovery that anonymous letters were sot worth speeding hia time upon; bn& immediately afterwards ntilised one against the Trafalgar Park. Hia inoonsiatenoy here ib more glaringly inexcusable when it is observed that the names of the condemned anonymous writers were not necessary for the verification of their statements, while the name of the writer of the letter he pins his faith to was absolutely indispensable for that purpose, and as a guarantee against fraud, Aad what is more, the pseudonymous •' Collector " so captivated hia senses as to appear to multiply himself before our credulous philosopher's eyes until he beoame "the people of Wellington and elsewhere." The" matter is only a small one, but a straw will show the direction of the wind. Mr P. is unfortunately the victim of his absurdities, and is at the mercy of prejudices that carry him hither anl thither. Even his own rules of criticism do not bind him, and as a result there is no uniformity, consistency, or trustworthiness in his work. His idea of being a critical and desirable instructor is a sorry infatuation. He can twist a fact or explain it away to suit his purpose. His knowledge of argument is very limited, for in the first words of his letter he tells us " The facts of science are capable of demonstration." The simple child that thought himself capable of possessing the moon was just as reasonable. " Demonstration is possible only in the science of mathematios, or of numbers, or of arguments based immediately on intuitions, or necessary truths." Professor Jevons says, " The whole cogenoy of inductive reasoning, as applied to science, rests on probability. The truth or untruth of a natural law, when carefully investigated, resolves i'self into a high or low degree of probability." Sir Edmund Beckett sayg some men "are, on the one hand, constantly proclaiming that nothing ought to be believed which cannot be proved ' positively,' as they call it, or by evidence of our senses ; while, on the other, the very thing they worship, viz., science, or theories about natural causes and effects, are never proved positively, but only by inferences and probabilities." Even as to the law of gravity he says, "All that can be said of the well known law of gravity is that it is show to be immeasurably more probable than any other explanation of the motions of the univert-e." Disraeli's apothegm " It is much easier to be critical than to be correct," is thrown away on Mr Flowerday, who is a failwfe as a critio and very incorrect. He would, however, be useful to Dr Canaris, who might extract from him, with very little trouble, scores of incongrous notions, ideas, and principles, and turn them loose next moment to devour each other like Duncan's horses. Bat what need of more ? It is batter to tarn away fro-u oar miuty cynical would-be critic, and from the subjeotive arguments, erratic subterfuges, sophisms, quibbles and ureconoilable statements he would not need for the support of a truer and more B' able position, and whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever thiuga are just, whatsoever thicg* are pure, whatsoever thing 3 aie lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praue, to think on these things. Yours, &0., Deteotoe. P.?.- Since writing the above I have learned that it is not improbable that MrF's. recent quotations on Bradlaugh were taken from an aaooymoua twopenny tract, and have read a letter of hi 3 which by maintaining strongly that the " lord " of Lake xvi existed only in the mind of Christ, implies an acknowiedf ement of the truth of the reoord, fSr this acknowledgment I thank him moat heartily. Westporty September 2nd.