EEASON AND PREDISPOSITION 135 



public opinion, of culture, of books. The French- 

 man sees through one medium, the German through 

 another, the Englishman through another, the Amer- 

 ican another. The Northern races see things differ- 

 ently from the Southern races, the Celt from the 

 Saxon, women from men, youth from age. The 

 impressionable, imaginative man cannot be expected 

 to give the same report of what he sees as the 

 heavy, phlegmatic man. We believe according to 

 our capacity for belief. Scientific considerations 

 have no weight with some minds ; theological con- 

 siderations have little weight with others. I tried 

 a long time the other day to convince a man that the 

 earth was round and turned round. But I could 

 not. He knew better. Equally in vain did I once 

 try to convince a farmer that the pump did not such 

 or draw the water, as he supposed, but that the 

 weight of the outside air did it all. In higher 

 and in less demonstrable matters it is usually 

 equally futile to try to change people's opinions or 

 convictions, at least by a direct attack upon them. 

 Appeal to a man's reason, or to his argumentative 

 faculties, and you have started a game at which two 

 can play. The indirect method is .better ; aim to 

 beget in him a state of mind, or a way of look- 

 ing at things, that is incompatible with the belief 

 you seek to remove. This is undermining his 

 opinion. 



Outside of mathematics and the exact sciences, 

 what we call reason is a very uncertain matter. In 

 the region of exact demonstration all minds capable 



