Carpenter's mind there seems to be some
sort of contrast or difference in kind between the knowledge which is
derived from observation of facts and scientific knowledge)--"frequently
arrive at a true conclusion upon this point without being able to assign
reasons for their opinions."
"Exactly the same may be said in regard to the mineral structure of a
mining district; the course of a metallic vein being often correctly
indicated by the shrewd guess of an _observant_ workman, when _the
scientific reasoning_ of the mining engineer altogether fails."
Precisely. Here we have exactly the kind of thing we are in search of:
the man who has observed and observed till the facts are so thoroughly in
his head that through familiarity he has lost sight both of them and of
the processes whereby he deduced his conclusions from them--is apparently
not considered scientific, though he knows how to solve the problem
before him; the mining engineer, on the other hand, who reasons
scientifically--that is to say, with a knowledge of his own knowledge--is
found not to know, and to fail in discovering the mineral.
"It is an experience we are continually encountering in other walks of
life," continues Dr. Carpenter, "that particular persons are guided--some
apparently by an original and others by _an acquired intuition_--to
conclusions for which they can give no adequate reason, but which
subsequent events prove to have been correct.
Pages:
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103