el que se asemeja a los datos de las ciencias objetivas: se convierte en una observación; solo queda tratarlo mediante los métodos de las ciencias objetivas. Todo documento es valioso precisamente en la medida en que, mediante el estudio de su origen, ha sido reducido a una observación bien hecha.
II. Dos conclusiones se pueden extraer de lo que acabamos de decir:
- la extrema complejidad
- y la absoluta necesidad de la Crítica Histórica.
Compared with other students the historian is in a very disagreeable situation. It is not merely that he cannot, as the chemist does, observe his facts directly; it very rarely happens that the documents which he is obliged to use represent precise observations. He has at his disposal none of those systematic records of observations which, in the established sciences, can and do replace direct observation. He is in the situation of a chemist who should know a series of experiments only from the report of his laboratory-boy. The historian is compelled to turn to account rough and ready reports, such as no man of science would be content with. All the more necessary are the precautions to be taken in utilising these documents, the only materials of historical science. It is evidently most important to eliminate those which are worthless, and to ascertain the amount of correct observation represented by those which are left.
Aún más necesarias son también las precauciones