The Loch Ness monster

Dear Dr Duax

It was with some disappointment that I read your recent editorial (IUCr Newsletter, Vol. 4(2) p3 1996) in which you appeared to suggest that the Loch Ness monster was a myth. As many of my fellow Scots can verify, Nessie (as she is affectionately known) has been sighted many times over the last 1300 years (the first documemed account of a sighting was in 565AD), and although I admit that many of these sightings have tended to coincide with closing time at the local pubs, there can really be little doubt as to her existence. As you obviously hold considerable reservations about this, despite the overwhelming proof to the contrary, perhaps I can invite you, and any other unbelievers, to visit Loch Ness while attending the 1999 IUCr Congress in Glasgow. You never know what you might be lucky enough to see.

Finally, I would like to point out that Nessie lives in Loch Ness. Any non-Scottish colleagues planning to attend the 1999 Congress should be aware that in Scotland "Loch" is NEVER pronounced "Lock"; rather, the correct sound should be somewhat similar to clearing one's throat. Any embarrassment one may feel about attempting to make this sound is negligible compared to that experienced by pronouncing it "Lock".