(some) old beliefs are proverbially obstinate and
virulent in their opposition to newer and truer
theories which are destined to eject and replace
them. To sum up, even in our own day, chemistry
rests on a less sound basis than either physics, which
had the advantage of originating as late as the 17th
century, or astronomy, which dates from the time
when the Chaldean shepherd had sufficiently provided
for his daily wants to find leisure for gazing
into the starry Heavens."

The observations of a still earlier commentator are of
the same general nature. He says:

"In the first ages of Christianity, when the
fathers of the Church, the Jews, and the Heathen
philosophers were so warmly engaged in controversy,
there is reason to believe that pious frauds
were not uncommon: and that when one party suspected
forgeries, instead of an attempt at confutation,
which might have been difficult, they had
recourse perhaps to a countermine: and either invented
altogether, or eked out some obscure traditional
scraps by the embellishments of fancy.
When we consider, amongst many literary impositions
of later times, that Psalmanazar's history of
Formosa was, even in this enlightened age and
country (England, about 1735), considered by our
most learned men as unquestionably authentic, till
the confession of the author discovered the secret,