"We must not judge of the means," said Dupin, "by this shellof an examination. The Parisian police, so much extolled foracumen, are cunning, but no more. There is no method intheir proceedings, beyond the method of the moment. Theymake a vast parade of measures; but, not unfrequently, theseare so ill adapted to the objects proposed, as to put us in mindof Monsieur Jourdains calling for his robe-de-chambre——pourmieux entendre la musique. The results attained by them arenot infrequently surprising, but, for the most part, are broughtabout by simple diligence and activity. When these qualitiesare unavailing, their schemes fail. Vidocq, for example, was agood guesser, and a persevering man. But, without educatedthought, he erred continually by the very intensity of hisinvestigations. He impaired his vision by holding the objecttoo close. He might see, perhaps, one or two points withunusual clearness, but in so doing he, necessarily; lost sight ofthe matter as a whole. Thus there is such a thing as being tooprofound. Truth is not always in a well. In fact, as regards themore important knowledge, I do believe that she is invariablysuperficial. Tlae depth lies in the valleys where we seek her,and not upon the mountain-tops where she is found. Themodes and sources of this kind of error are well typified inthe contemplation of the heavenly bodies.
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