LETTER

LUIGI GARLASCHELLI'S theory that plaster madonnas appear to weep as a result of water seeping from interior cavities through scratches in the glaze surely cannot be true ("Science debunks miracle of weeping madonna", 9 July). If it was, the faithful would be making pilgrimages not only to madonnas weeping tears or blood, but also to salivating, drooling, dribbling madonnas, madonnas with sweaty armpits and madonnas with miraculously runny noses.

Peter Forster, London N4