CLOSE OBSERVATION. 311 



and opening in the morning-, or to any of the other 

 composite, which are popularly called by the same 

 name. 



We must bear in mind that, though the present 

 momentary view is necessary to the obtaining of 

 knowledge, it is not useful knowledge taken merely 

 in itself. Observations bear nearly the same rela- 

 tion to knowledge that acorns have to oaks, they 

 are the seeds of knowledge, and we can no more 

 have the tree of knowledge without first having the 

 seed than we can any tree of the forest ; but in the 

 one case, as well as the other, the seed must grow 

 before we can have the tree. A man who continued 

 merely gathering acorns all his life would not be 

 any more in possession of an oak than a man who 

 never saw an acorn ; and just so a man who kept all his 

 life looking at mere appearances would have no more 

 knowledge than a man destitute of all the organs, 

 or all the means of observation. 



But if a man observed an acorn growing it would 

 be quite a different matter. If he noticed the place 

 and the circumstances under which it began to grow 

 and continued its growth, he would have no more to 

 do than to place another similar acorn in circum- 

 stances exactly similar, in order to make sure of 

 obtaining another tree. 



Even then, the perfection and certainty of the 

 success would bear wholly on the similarity, both 

 of the object and the circumstances ; and therefore 

 it is in that that the value of observation consists. 

 In all natural occurrences there is, to our perception, 

 a little play the circumstances may be a little dif- 

 ferent, and yet we may observe no difference in the 

 result, let us scrutinize it as we may. But that is 

 owing to the limit of our observation being always 

 within the limit of nature, so that when the differ- 

 ence of the circumstances (all of them being known) 

 eludes our observation, so does the difference of the 

 result. 



