HASTY OBSERVATION 253 



Every one has observed how, after he has made 

 the acquaintance of a new word, that word is perpet- 

 ually turning up in his reading, as if it had suddenly 

 become the fashion. When you have a thing in 

 mind, it is not long till you have it in hand. Tor- 

 rey and Drummond, the botanists, were one day 

 walking in the woods near West Point. "I have 

 never yet found so and so," said Drummond, nam- 

 ing a rare kind of moss. "Find it anywhere," said 

 Torrey, and stooped and picked it up at their feet. 

 Thoreau could pick up arrow-heads with the same 

 ease. Many people have the same quick eye for a 

 four-leafed clover. I may say of myself without 

 vanity, that I see birds with like ease. It is no 

 effort, I cannot help it. Either my eye or my ear 

 is on duty quite unbeknown to me. When I visit 

 my friends, I leave a trail of birds behind me, as 

 old Amphion left a plantation of trees wherever he 

 sat down and played. 



The scientific habit of mind leads a man to take 

 into account all possible sources of error in such ob- 

 servations. The senses are all so easily deceived. 

 People of undoubted veracity tell you of the strange 

 things they have known to rain down, or of some 

 strange bird or beast they have seen. But if you 

 question them closely, you are pretty sure to rind 

 some flaw in the observation, or some link of evi- 

 dence wanting. We are so apt to jump to conclu- 

 sions; we take one or two steps in following up the 

 evidence, and then leap to the result that seems to be 

 indicated. If you find a trout in the milk, you may 



