BOGUS INITIALS
Sm,—Mr. Abigail's defence of the use or misuse of F.Z.S. and F.R.G.S. is singularly unconvincing. An F.R.S. is not necessarily a great scien- tist, but he is certainly one who has devoted great labour to his profession. An M.A. may be slightly bogus, but anyhow it can only be earned by years of work involved in obtaining the necessary pre- liminary of a B.A. On the other hand, anyone with a few guineas to spare and with no knowledge of zoology or geography can be an F.Z.S. or an F.R.G.S. I was myself an F.R.G.S. for some years, but resigned in disgust at the ludicrous way in which many Fellows paraded the initials in the hope that it would delude the uninitiated into the belief that they were explorers of some eminence. I hope Janus will continue to ridicule
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