As the interesting discussion of Krugman's assertion about pre-1936 economic thought has reverted to a discussion of Mises and axiomatic analysis, I have stuck with some rereading of pre-1936 thought that I have been doing and came across this description by Joseph Dorfman of Henry Carter Adams' view " . . . of the 'astronomical method' of investigation in the social sciences. He [Adams] described this method as building a system of thought on the assumption that a certain line is staight, and then taking a 'squint to see how crooked it is.'" [This is from Dorfman's Introductory Essay to Adams _Two Essays on the Relation of the State to Industrial Action and Economics and Jurisprudence_.] I post this in the hopes that it may cause others to smile as I did and with some hope that more attention can be given to the fine practice of squinting at departures from axiomatic models. Anne Mayhew