to hear that the general expression on the faces of Londoners of all
ranks varies from the sad to the morose; and that their general mien is
one of haste and gloomy preoccupation. Such a staring fact is paramount
in sociological evidence. And the observer of it would be justified in
summoning Heaven, the legislature, the county council, the churches, and
the ruling classes, and saying to them: "Glance at these faces, and
don't boast too much about what you have accomplished. The climate and
the industrial system have so far triumphed over you all."




VI


When we come to the observing of the individual--to which all human
observing does finally come if there is any right reason in it--the
aforesaid general considerations ought to be ever present in the
hinterland of the consciousness, aiding and influencing, perhaps
vaguely, perhaps almost imperceptibly, the formation of judgments. If
they do nothing else, they will at any rate accustom the observer to the
highly important idea of the correlation of all phenomena. Especially in
England a haphazard particularity is the chief vitiating element in the
operations of the mind.

In estimating the individual we are apt not only to forget his
environment, but--really strange!--to ignore much of the evidence
visible in the individual himself. The inexperienced and ardent
observer, will, for example, be astonishingly blind to everything in an
individual except his face. Telling himself that the face must be the