HENRY Louis - Ph. GILBERT - Edouard van BENEDEN - Journal de Liège - Académie Royal des Sciences de Belgique :
Reference : 40872
"2. Louvain, private edition (University ?), 17 Octobre 1870, in-8°, 16 pp + 12 pp , sewn, green coloured blind paper wrapper (wrapper damaged with loss of paper, no text loss, interior fine). Loosely inserted is a 12 pp lithographed copy of the original letter as sent to the Journal de Liège. Professor Edouard van Beneden (Liège University) read a paper at the Royal Acadamy about his voyage to Brazil and the Rio de la Plata. At a certain point, in talking about orcas and whales, he referred to the the biblical story of Jonah and the whale as a ''fable''. This blasphemous incident, which appeared in print without the consent of the learned catholic professors , gave rise to their vehement protest by means of this letter; printed and lithographed and with an explanation."