Abstract
I AM surprised to find that the Duke of Argyll prefers a charge of plagiarism against me in 1874 (NATURE, vol. ix. p. 381), said to have been committed by me in a lecture delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in 1867. As his Grace was present at the lecture in question, and lodged no complaint in writing or otherwise, it appears to me that the charge, if not unfounded and out of place, is at least out of time. As I am not conscious of having perpetrated the plagiarism attributed to me, I wish to apprise your readers that the lecture referred to is published in extenso in the Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, under date March 22, 1867, and may be consulted by all interested in the present discussion. That I had no wish to appropriate from his Grace, but was, on the contrary, desirous of giving him due credit for what he had done, will, I hope, be evident from the following quotation:—“In order to utilise the air as a means of transit, the body in motion, whether it moves in virtue of the life it possesses or because of a force superadded, must be heavier than it. If it were otherwise, if it were rescued from the operation of gravity on the one hand, and bereft of independent movement on the other, it must float about uncontrolled and uncontrollable, as happens in the ordinary gas balloon. The difference here insisted upon was, I have learned since writing the above, likewise pointed out by his Grace the Duke of Argyll, in his very able and eloquent article in Good Words, entitled the ‘Reign of Law.’ … This article, I am glad to find, has been reprinted in a separate form with numerous illustrations, and should be read by all interested in the subject of aëronautics.” (“On the various Modes of Flight in Relation to Aëronautics;” Proceedings Royal Institution of Great Britain, March 22, 1867.)
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PETTIGREW, J. Animal Locomotion. Nature 9, 422 (1874). https://doi.org/10.1038/009422a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/009422a0
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