No one should be angry, or, still less, despondent; but simply
imagine that the world has already abandoned the error in question,
and now only requires time and experience to recognize of its own
accord that which a clear vision detected at the first glance.
When the facts themselves are eloquent of a truth, there is no need to
rush to its aid with words: for time will give it a thousand tongues.
How long it may be before they speak, will of course depend upon the
difficulty of the subject and the plausibility of the error; but come
they will, and often it would be of no avail to try to anticipate
them. In the worst cases it will happen with theories as it happens
with affairs in practical life; where sham and deception, emboldened
by success, advance to greater and greater lengths, until discovery is
made almost inevitable. It is just so with theories; through the blind
confidence of the blockheads who broach them, their absurdity reaches
such a pitch that at last it is obvious even to the dullest eye. We
may thus say to such people: _the wilder your statements, the better_.
There is also some comfort to be found in reflecting upon all the
whims and crotchets which had their day and have now utterly vanished.
In style, in grammar, in spelling, there are false notions of this
sort which last only three or four years.
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