Judgment by Hypothesis

PROF. J. B. S. HALDANE (see NATURE, Sept. 4, p. 428), in comparing my attitude towards Prof. E. A. Milne's cosmology with that of Lysenko towards the Russian geneticists, draws an analogy which seems to me little short of fantastic. According to NATURE of August 21, Lysenko treats Darwin's words as dogmas by which to judge and condemn, without examination, the work of modern experimenters. I accused Prof. Milne of imitating the practice of the Aristotelians who treated Aristotle's words as dogmas by which to judge and condemn, without examination, the work of their contemporary experimenters. If there is any analogy to be drawn, it is surely between Lysenko and the Aristotelians (ancient or modern).