FALSE INTERPRETATION. 



that the actual arrangement was that shown 

 in B, since in that position alone could a wind 

 from the left send the sails round clockwise, 

 if they were set in the regulation way. 



But the local miller, knowing that these 

 particular sails were built against the rule, so 

 as to go anti-clockwise as seen by a spectator 

 with his back to the wind, would know from 

 a glance at the scene suggested in A, that the 

 only actual arrangement possible, with a wind 

 somewhere from the left, was that shown 

 at C. 



Thus two witnesses each, as far as could 

 be judged, a competent man might honestly 

 give opposite evidence as to a scene which 

 they had witnessed at the same time from 

 much the same point : one testifying that the 

 sails were in front of the mill, the other that 

 they were behind it. 



With unskilled observers it would be a 

 matter of what we call chance whether in the 

 view A they first saw the arrangement B or C. 

 But whichever arrangement was first realised, 

 it would get such a hold on the imagination 

 that for most persons it would be impossible 

 afterwards to realise the other. First impres- 

 sions would give the same conviction as tech- 

 nical knowledge, and from such persons also 

 we could easily get honest yet absolutely con- 

 flicting evidence. 



A somewhat similar case is that of a small 



235 



