RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30130, 14 May 1963, Page 18

RANDOM REMINDER

HABIT

One of the strange things wchih distinguishes man from the other animals is his reluctance to learn. Lesser creatures discover that fire, water and stealing the family roast can be dangerous and these are lessons wchih are seldom lost on them. But man keeps on making the same mistakes. If a schoolboy spells correspondent with an a in it, it is ten Nashes to a Nordmeyer that he will keep on doing it for the rest of his life.

If a man is introduced to a Mr Smart, he will very likely call him Hart, and keeping calling him Hart, no matter how often the error is nointed out to him. Wchih is very annoying for Mr Hart. It happens every day. A boy who catches a trout only slightly under size will keep on fishing at the same place in the Estuary for years, even when the tide is out. Dogmatics in man makes an interesting study. There are men who follow a particular route

from bus stop to office each day, under the firm impression that it is the shortest way. If a team of expert surveyors. wchih may be a contradiction in terms, set out to prove them and succeeded, they would simply *ay they didn’t believe it, and that, for them, carries much more weight than any fancy measurements. In his obstinancy the average man regards anv attempt to change his ways as offensive and unnecessary—a mild form of wtich hunt.