Posted above my workbench, and elsewhere on this website, as it has become my mantra....and not just for microscopy:
"A quotation from a 1743 book by Henry Baker, "The Microscope Made Easy, " provides a fitting admonition for all inclusionists involved in the many problems of phase (and artifact) identification in fluid inclusions (Dr. Edwin Roedder, 1992):
"Beware of determining and declaring your Opinion suddenly on any Object; for Imagination often gets the Start of Judgement, and makes People believe they see Things, which better Observations will convince them could not possibly be seen: therefore assert nothing till after repeated Experiments and Examinations in all Lights and in all Positions.
When you employ the Microscope, shake off all Prejudice, nor harbour any favorite Opinion; for, if you do, 'tis not unlikely Fancy will betray you into Error, and make you think you see what you would wish to see.
Remember that Truth alone is the Matter you are in search after; and if you have been mistaken, let not Vanity seduce you to persist in your Mistake."
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