10 NOVEMBER 1967, Page 31

Why all this fuss about libraries?

Sir: Mr Burgess (3 November) and J. Caesar would not be alone in their book burners' club. The philosopher Hume once wrote: 'Science, then, must limit itself strictly to mathematics and direct ex- periment; it cannot trust to unverified deduction from "laws." When we run through libraries persuaded of these principles what havoc must we make! If we take in our hands any volume of school metaphysics, for instance, let us ask, "Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number?" No. "Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact or existence?" No. "Commit it then to the flames for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion." '

I. Rowland-Jones

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