The Untold Story of Those Thomson Plates (follow up)

All good journalists know that their stories should be written in such a way that, in the event of a space shortage, they can be cut from the bottom and will still make sense. For me, a former journalist, old habits die hard. Thus, when the RNJ computer went on the blink recently and lopped off the last four (typewritten) pages of my letter 'The origins of the illustrations in Thomson's report of 1891' (RNJ 8:49-51), the hassled editor apparently didn't even notice the difference. I take this as a compliment. Even so, to amplify several points that were meant to be amplified and to enable me take up a comment made in an editorial note, I would like to summarize what was left out.