Abstract
IN the 1913 presidential address to the Linnean Society, noticed in NATURE for January 22, 1914, Prof. Poulton gave an account of an American booklet by G. W. Sleeper, dated 1849. The work, if genuine, was an extraordinary anticipation of many modern conclusions on evolution and the germ theory of disease. The booklet itself had been sent, early in 1913, to the late Dr. A. R. Wallace by a Mr. B. R. Miller, who stated that he had bought it at a second-hand book store in 1891 or 1892. Prof. Poulton had also heard of the existence of three other copies in the possession of the author's son, Mr. J. F. Sleeper. It was pointed out in last year's address that the work was not registered, as stated; that the word “agnostic,” introduced by Huxley in 1869, was used in its pages; and that there was no reference to it in an undoubtedly genuine but commonplace pamphlet published by the author in 1860. Nevertheless, the get-up of the booklet appeared to be so genuine and the style so convincing that many critical authorities were by no means convinced that it was a forgery.
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A Forged “Anticipation” of Modern Scientific Ideas . Nature 93, 563–564 (1914). https://doi.org/10.1038/093563a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/093563a0