Mr. Conan Doyle's Poems
Mr. Conan Doyle's Poems is a letter written by A. W. Thomas published in The Daily Chronicle on 16 june 1898.
The Boycotted Book
The Editor of the Daily Chronicle.
Sir, — The amusing lines quoted in your review today, "A Parable," describing the discussion among the mites as to the origin of the cheese, is Mr. Conan Doyle's versification of a passage in his "Stark Munro Letters":—
"The little cheese mites held debate as to who made the cheese. Some thought that they had no data to go upon, and some that it had come together by a solidification of vapor, or by the centrifugal attraction of atoms. A few surmised that the platter might have something to do with it; but the wisest of them could not deduce the existence of a cow."
A variation of the idea occurs in the same work:—
"I have my own views about Nature's methods, though I feel it is rather like a beetle giving his opinions upon the Milky Way." — I am, sir, yours obediently.
- A. W. THOMAS.
- Manchester, June 14.
