"The inexpert,-they who can not claim sufficient acquaintance with a given subject to enable them to think freely ("free thinking" being altogether another matter),-find it sufficiently difficult to obtain an author's meaning, when they are really desirous of so doing, and devote some time and patience to the work in hand; it is impossible, often, to arrive at just conclusions otherwise. The liability to error is increased many fold when the subject is not merely not popular, but is, in fact, un-popular. It is a prevalent custom to "skim over" a volume, and then praise or condemn it, according to the reader's preconceived notion."