ABSTRACT
When, on a lecture tour of America in the 1880s, Mathew Arnold took issue with T .H. Huxley's views on literature and science, he referred to his antagonist as 'an excellent writer and the very prince of debaters' .1 Yet, despite the courteous tone, even this relatively early debate on the topic of the two cultures was characterised by an underlying sense of conflict. Indeed, an atmosphere of profound disharmony is a notable aspect of almost all discussions about the relationship between literature and science.
