Here is an example of a vivacite in our censor. 'With regard to ghosts
and spirits among the Melanesians, our authorities, whether missionaries,
traders, or writers on ethnology, are troubled by no difficulties' (i.
207). Yet on this very page Mr. Max Muller has been citing the
'difficulties' which _do_ 'trouble' a 'missionary,' Dr. Codrington. And,
for my own part, when I want information about Melanesian beliefs, it is
to Dr. Codrington's work that I go. {103} The doctor, himself a
missionary, ex hypothesi 'untroubled by difficulties,' has just been
quoted by Mr. Max Muller, and by myself, as a witness to the difficulties
which trouble himself and us. What can Mr. Max Muller possibly mean? Am
I wrong? Was Dr. Codrington _not_ a missionary? At all events, he is
the authority on Melanesia, a 'high' authority (i. 206).