Sentence:  Harris was not, however, as we have already said, to walk the course, for the <WSD>lateralists</WSD> and attractists, took the field against him, and for a while divided the opinions of those interested in the matter. The lateral-explosionists were demolished by Messrs. Faraday and Wheatstone, who distinctly disavowed any knowledge of a side discharge which was not a diversion or division of the primary current, where the conductor was not of sufficient capacity of conduction, and that liabilities to such diversion would decrease in proportion to the goodness of the conductor: but the attactists contemned the whole race of lightning conductors stock-and-fluke, although their efficacy might be considered to have been established beyond all doubt by the experience of eighty years, and the unanimous opinions of the scientific in all countries. . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  One who favors a lateral approach or explanation over one that involves a different direction.