BIRKENHEAD’S BOOK

Hokitika Guardian, 13 May 1930, Page 2

BIRKENHEAD’S BOOK

>f 'f i. 1 ' , .iHiiO ■ ;/.(■ i.! J n-.-d :,!r -PROFESSOR HALDANES'' 1 /" l‘EiNPostJßte./ 1 ; ; - [United Press Association-—By Electric .—Copy right. ] . LONDON, May 10. * A curious and intriguing position has- arisen ! out' of‘Professor .T. B. jSvHaldarib’s' criticism of Lord Biriienhehd’s' 1 book,’ '“The World in 2080,’h a refebende' tb ' whieli'‘was cabled' on April : 13th. Professor : HaldaHe, writing iii “The'Week-end Review,” says: “When, I read-' this book, a'Stran/ge feeling 1 began to oppress'' me I .'; Certain phrases were oddly'familiar; ' ‘Whbre had I seen them 'before? ’ Finally,! I solved the mystery. They were my own!” • ; Professor Haldane sets out in a halfcolumn measure certain parallel expressions from Lord Birkenhead’s book, and from his own work, entitled “Daedalus” or “Possible Worlds,” of which the following is typical. Lord Birkenhead says: “They are miirute. bodies, so small that if a hen’s egg were magnified to the size of a world, one of the genes would lie on a fair-sized writing desk.” Lord Haldane’s book says: “If we magnified ‘a hen’s egg to the size of the world, we could still get the-game, into a room or even on a small iable.”

After giving several similar instances side by side, Professor Haldane adds; “The resemblance is more striking when I add some excerpts front essays that are supposed to have ibeen written by undergraduates, one in 1930 and the other in 1928. Altogether T have counted forty-four coincidences in the two documents, though I dare say my list is incomplete.” Professor Haldane concludes with a semi-jesting reference to psychic control, adding: “Between the psychical-ly-inspired passages, there are portions —in one case not less than 23 pages—which appear original. Whether those original passages are worth the book’s price, namely 12s 6d, I will not attempt to decide.” When Lord Birkenhead’s attention was drawn to Professor Haldane’s criticism, he replied that he had nothing to say at the moment, but he proposed to reply in due course.