Law Commons^™

The Gibbons V. Ogden Fetish, Fred'k H. Cooke

Michigan Law Review

It was, we believe, Huxley who once said something to the effect that, as soon as one becomes an authority in science, he becomes a nuisance. In many a field of human activity, we find illustrations of the influence of a great name in retarding the progress of thought. Cuvier and Agassiz furnish notable instances in the realm of natural science. For centuries the great authority of Galen operated to paralyze progress in medicine. Still better known are instances of supposedly infallible individuals, or organizations, or writings, in retarding progress in theology. The same influence has notoriously operated in jurisprudence. …