Henry Nevinson's Catfish
SIR,—I hesitate to correct the Spectator in general and Mr. Robert Waithman in particular, but surely the catfish story is primarily Henry W. Nevinson's, although Professor Toynbee doubtless used it. Mr. Nevinson's perfect essay, The Catfish, appeared in 1913 in Essays in Rebellion, and I do think he should have the full credit for it. Also Mr. Nevinson ends with caution ; "To be sure, it is just prissible to overdo the number of catfish in one tank. At present (if in 1913, how much more [alas!] in 1950) in this country, for instance, and, indeed, in the whole world,,there seem to be more catfish than cod, and the resulting liveliness is perhaps a little excessive."—Yours faithfully, MARGARET D. Boom.
3003 North Charles Street, Baltimore 18, Maryland.
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