premise: Men , trees , automobiles , houses , and so on - objects continually confronted in everyday life - had each its characteristic blot appearance and became easily recognizable , at the very beginning of tracing , by an <mask> as to what each was .
hypothesis: the proper context for <mask> here should be the reasoning involved in drawing a conclusion or making a logical judgment on the basis of circumstantial evidence and prior conclusions rather than on the basis of direct observation