Nevertheless, the Académie didn't succeed in the above purpose, since human ears (even the ears of the most skilled people) basically can't go beyond a certain level of precision without a proper device. The failure led the Académie to jump to the conclusion that distinguishing between fractions of the diatonic scale was simply impossible, and alternative methods, based on science and mathematics, weren't taken into account. Cagnazzi compared the Académie to the fox in Phaedrus 's fable, who said that the grapes were unripe since he couldn't reach it.