Rumours of its death 1

In his review of Thomas Docherty's The English Question or Academic Freedoms (Books, 20 March), Roy Harris says comparative philology was a moribund subject by the first half of the 20th century. I did it at university a bit later than that. It wasn't moribund then and nor was I! There are currently people with the title of professor of comparative philology at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Is Harris suggesting they are in charge of a subject that has rotted in the grave, or did he just forget to say it has revived?

Michael Bulley, Chalon-sur-Saone, France.