THE OBSERVATIONAL METHOD
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to substitute for the scales and the yardstick his own
unverified observation. It is impossible to build up a
science of observation in any field except by getting away
from observation as such, and supplementing it with
scientific tests or measures like those which have been
already discussed.
But, even if observation were accurate and reliable,
it would still be under a great handicap. For example,
what a great change in the shape of a man’s head and the
height of his forehead is made by a hair cut. A man who,
to the observer, looks like a ferocious round-headed
simian one day, may become a mild-featured, sedentary,
long-headed bookkeeper the next—after a hair cut and
a shave. What a remarkable difference may be wrought
in the texture of the skin by a hot bath! How comparatively
easy it is to govern one’s appearance and to act the
part for which one is aspiring. The practical significance
of this contention is shown by the substitution of the
Bertillon finger-print method for the photographic method
of identifying individuals. The former is far the more
accurate.
Even if the three weaknesses outlined above did not
exist, there would still remain the following great difficulty.
The method which we have been discussing judges character
by analyzing and comparing the parts of an individual
with other parts of the same individual. Is the
head long in proportion to its width? Is it high in proportion
to its length? These and similar questions show how
the individual is compared with himself instead of with
other individuals. There is no standard of shapes and
sizes to which the observer can compare individuals and
"with reference to which he can form his conclusions. There
is nothing to correspond with the exact standards set by
