- I have already explained to you that what is out of the common is usually a guide rather than an obstacle. In solving a problem of this sort, the mail thing is to find a reason. That is a very useful thing, and a very easy one, but people do not practice it much. In the every-day affairs of life it is more useful to reason forwards, and so reasoning backwards is neglected. There is one in fifty who can readon analytically.
- I confess, - said I, - that I do not quite follow you.
- I hardly expected that you would. Let me see if I can make it clearer. Most people, if you describe a chain of events together in thei minds, and say from them what will happen. There are few people, however, who, if you told them a result, would be able to say what steps led up to such a result. That is what I mean when I talk of readoning backwards, or analytically.