CHAPTER III

THOUGHTS, AND HOW TO GATHER THEM

"A thinking man is the worst enemy the Prince of Darkness can have."—Carlyle.

HAVING dealt with the nature and contents of the thinking faculty so far as these are concerned with our purpose, we now propose to consider thought-production. Of course there is a sense in which the gathering of thoughts needs no consideration; it is an unconscious operation of every human mind. Our aim is simply to point out those methods by the observance of which the willing learner may reap an abundant harvest of facts and ideas. We refer to observation, reflection, reading, social intercourse, and travel.

(1) The importance of observation as an avenue to the increase of knowledge, is Observation. made most clear when we study the mental

growth of a child. Perez has told us in a delightful book* how the infant comes to recognise the me and not-me, and Tennyson has put this psychology into music when he says The baby new to earth and sky

What time his tender palm is pressed

Against the circle of the breast,

Has never thought that "this is I."

But as he grows he gathers much,

And learns the use of I and me;
And finds I am not what I see,
And other than the things I touch.

As with children, so with older people; we enlarge our mental boundaries by observation. A great deal of course depends on natural capacity. There are men who are all "eyes"; nothing escapes them, and where others find things dull and monotonous, they find life throbbing with interest. Upon such expert observers there is always a premium. Take the In science. two divergent spheres of Science and Fiction. "A great science has in many cases risen from an accidental observation. Erasmus Bartholinus thus first discovered double refraction in Iceland spar; Galvani noticed the

* The First Three Years of Childhood. Caine's Scapegoat is worth a close study.

"Naomi" in Hall

twitching of a frog's leg; Oken was struck by the form of a vertebra . . . . and Malus accidentally examined light reflected from distant windows with a double refracting substance!"* Astronomy is largely an observational science, and that thrilling story which centres in the discovery of Neptune had its origin in the simple observation of an eccentricity in the motion of Uranus. Gravitation, Electricity in its many ramifications, Hypnotism and a host of discoveries in medicine are due to watching Nature in her methods of operation; and truly did Bacon say in his first aphorism, "Man the servant and interpreter of Nature can do and understand as much as he has observed concerning the order of Nature in outward things or in the mind; more he can neither know nor do."

The writer of Fiction owes much to observation-not the scientific use of the faculty, for there is many a man with a lynx- Observation eye for botanical similarities who is in fictionslow enough to observe the working of

writing.

forces which govern society. The author of

How to Write Fiction, says, "You may ask

when and where can you best observe human nature? The answer is at all times and under all circumstances. Watch the faces you meet in the street, until you come to know just what the character of a stranger is by your first glance at his face, figure, and general manner. Study the meaning of eyes, of voice, of gesture, as well as the meaning of the lines on the face. . . . Height, weight, colour, determine an almost infinite number of mental characteristics." The wouldbe thinker, therefore, if at all anxious about gathering materials, should be a trained The culture of observer. Excellency in most spheres observation. depends upon a tutored eye. But the question is: How may we become keen observers ?

Suggestions.

(a) Cultivate a healthy curiosity: We are bound to notice that which takes place on the surface of life; nature thrusts it upon us. But the most significant things unveil themselves to the seeing eye alone; and the seeing eye depends to some extent on the inquiring mind. Small-minded inquisitiveness is very properly to be avoided, but a healthy desire to

know is at the root of all excellence in observation.

(b) Classify your observations in writing: that is, the most important of them. As an exercise it will increase descriptive power, and correct the distortions which imagination, more or less, introduces into what we see and hear. If you would discover the spectres of the mind and annihilate them, write your thoughts.

(c) Study some branch of natural science. Perhaps Botany is the best. The habit of looking for specimens and of detecting likenesses and differences, has a tendency to exert itself in other fields than those of flowers, a fact not forgotten by those who have the best right to speak of its educational worth.*

(2) REFLECTION.-As a matter of fact reflection forms a large part of what is popularly known as observation. Venn has made What is resome very pertinent remarks on this head, flection? Here is an example. A stranger proposes to join a company of pedestrians. The leader of the party glances at him and noticing certain physical defects, says, within himself, "I can see plainly enough that he will not be fit for * Balfour, Manual of Botany. See Preface.