332 ON THE PLACE OF FISH IN 



connection, astonishment might be followed by a 

 desire for information on the subject. 



The intention of this part of the book is to set 

 out information for those in whom such a desire arises, 



How can and to do so in a simple way. But at the outset there 



simply ex- & is felt this difficulty : What may be considered a 



plained? simple way? 



The saying has been often repeated, that if there is 

 anything you have to explain, and fail in trying to 

 explain it to the first man you come across in the 

 street, you must regard yourself as not a clear or 

 good exponent. This does not, however, point out 

 that, unless you know beforehand something about 

 the stock of knowledge possessed by the man you 

 meet, there may be some time taken up in finding out 

 whether he understands what you mean by the words 



Difficulties of you are using. Many difficulties in explanations 



explanations 



often arise arise from a want of mutual understanding about 



from a want 



of mutual words used. 



understand- ,-, , 111 " i 



ing about the For example, a man may be able to explain m a 



wav tllat wou ld be quite intelligible to most of his 

 companions the series of events that led to his book 

 on the Derby coming out so differently from what he 

 had confidently expected. But if he endeavoured to 

 relate his disappointments to the first man he met in 

 the street he might find it requisite to give him an 

 explanation of terms he was using, though they are 

 often to be seen in columns of sporting news in the 

 daily press. He might by degrees even find that 

 he would have to go so far as to point out that the 

 % meaning of horses starting at 5 to 2, 3 to 2, or 7 to 

 2, has nothing to do with the meaning railway porters 

 would expect passengers to understand by the same 



