solid peaks above his
clouds of inaudible mutter. The interrupter bowed, smiled, stroked his
beard, and relapsed into his chair. Waldron, very flushed and warlike,
continued his observations. Now and then, as he made an assertion, he
shot a venomous glance at his opponent, who seemed to be slumbering
deeply, with the same broad, happy smile upon his face.

At last the lecture came to an end--I am inclined to think that it was
a premature one, as the peroration was hurried and disconnected. The
thread of the argument had been rudely broken, and the audience was
restless and expectant. Waldron sat down, and, after a chirrup from
the chairman, Professor Challenger rose and advanced to the edge of the
platform. In the interests of my paper I took down his speech verbatim.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he began, amid a sustained interruption from
the back. "I beg pardon--Ladies, Gentlemen, and Children--I must
apologize, I had inadvertently omitted a considerable section of this
audience" (tumult, during which the Professor stood with one hand
raised and his enormous head nodding sympathetically, as if he were
bestowing a pontifical blessing upon the crowd), "I have been selected
to move a vote of thanks to Mr. Waldron for the very picturesque and
imaginative address to which we have just listened. There are points
in it with which I disagree, and it has been my duty to indicate them
as they arose, but, none the less, Mr. Waldron has accomplished his
object well, that object being to give a simple and interesting account
of what he conceives to have been the history of our planet. Popular
lectures are the easiest to listen to, but Mr. Waldron" (here he beamed
and blinked at the lecturer) "will excuse me when I say that they are
necessarily both superficial and misleading, since they have to be
graded to the comprehension of an ignorant audience." (Ironical
cheering.) "Popular lecturers are in their nature parasitic." (Angry
gesture of protest from Mr. Waldron.) "They exploit for fame or cash
the work which has been done by their indigent and unknown brethren.
One smallest new fact obtained in the laboratory, one brick built into
the temple of science, far outweighs any second-hand exposition which
passes an idle hour, but can leave no useful result behind it. I put
forward this obvious reflection, not out of any desire to disparage Mr.
Waldron in particular, but that you may not lose your sense of
proportion and m