I could not help laughing
the ease with which he explained his process
deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I remarked, "the thing always appears
me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though
each successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours."
"Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down
an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up
the hall to this room."
"Frequently."
"How often?"
"Well, some hundreds
times."
"Then how many are there?"
"How many? I don't know."
"Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are interested
these little problems, and since you are good enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you may be interested
this." He threw over a sheet of thick, pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open
the table. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud."
An excerpt from "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
