Response to "Take This Fish and Look at It," by Samuel Scudder

The essay, 'Take This Fish and Look at It," by Samuel Scudder, is about a young man studying to be a scientist. When he meets with his professor for the first time and talks with him about his desired field of study (to study insects), he presents him with an unusual, yet daunting, task. The student had to study a fish. It seemed easy to him at first, however the professor expected him to see a lot more in the fish than that which was first visible. I think that the professor was trying to teach him a valuable lesson that goes deeper than what the eye can see. Observation is not always with your eyes.

In the beginning, the student was told to tell the professor what he observed about the fish. After a few minutes the professor came back into the room. He asked what the student had initially observed. The student answered back to him regarding its structure and body parts. The professor said, try looking deeper. Each time the student saw the professor, he would tell him all the new things he had observed, and each time the professor would say "That's good, but there's something else."

Finally, the student became confused as to what else there was to be seen of this dead fish. He decided to draw it on a sheet of paper. To this, the professor was delighted. He said something along the lines of, "Art is one of your best pairs of eyes." After this, the professor took the fish away from him and made him study without actually observing the object. After a few days, he came up with observations he hadn't when he actually had the fish in front of him. The professor proved a point to him that day. What i gathered from the article is that observations are to be made after looking at the objects. The thought process is obviously involved and infused with making and recording observations. After all, your eyes can't think, but they can give you the necessary information required to produce a thought about something you see.