"It is ecclesiastical proscription for an opinion which must be settled by scientific evidence." Twenty-four hours later Dr.Winchell was informed that his chair had been abolished, and its duties, with its salary, added to those of a colleague; the public were given to understand that the reasons were purely economic; the banished scholar was heaped with official compliments, evidently in hope that he would keep silence.
Such was not Dr.Winchell's view.

In a frank letter to the leading journal of the university town he stated the whole matter.

The intolerance-hating press of the country, religious and secular, did not hold its peace.

In vain the authorities of the university waited for the storm to blow over.

It was evident, at last, that a defence must be made, and a local organ of the sect, which under the editorship of a fellow-professor had always treated Dr.Winchell's views with the luminous inaccuracy which usually characterizes a professor's ideas of a rival's teachings, assumed the task.