Knowledge Necessary.
Success in discovery and invention, as in the case of a Newton or a Watt, depends not only upon rare natural faculty, but upon knowledge. Dr. Pye-Smith, of London, an eminent physician, says:—“Some would have us believe that erudition is a clog upon genius. This question has often been discussed, and it has even been maintained that he is most likely to search out the secrets of nature who comes fresh to the task with faculties unexhausted by prolonged reading, and his judgment uninfluenced by the discoveries of others. This, however, is surely a delusion. Harvey could not have discovered the circulation of the blood had he not been taught all that had been previously learned of anatomy. True, no progress can be made by the mere assimilation of previous knowledge. There must be an intelligent curiosity, an observant eye, and intellectual insight. Few things are more deplorable than to see talent and industry employed in fruitless researches, partly rediscovering what is already fully known, or stubbornly toiling along a road which has long ago been found to lead no whither. We must then instruct our students to the utmost of our power. Whether they will add to knowledge we cannot tell, but at least they shall not hinder its growth by their ignorance. The strong intellect will absorb and digest all that we put before it, and will be all the better fitted for independent research. The less powerful will at least be kept from false discoveries and will form, what genius itself requires, a competent and appreciative audience.”
American inventors echo the dictum of the English physician. Says Mr. Octave Chanute:—“It has taken many men to bring any great invention to perfection, the last successful man adding little to what was previously known. As a rule the basis of his success lies in a thorough acquaintance with what has been done before him, and his setting about his work in a thoroughly scientific way.” Professor W. A. Anthony observes:—“If the army of would-be inventors would enter the field with a full knowledge of what science has already done, the conquest of new territory would be rapidly accomplished.” To the same effect speaks Mr. Leicester Allen:—“While rarely there appears a man so highly endowed by nature with originating faculty that we call his talent genius, it will be found in the last analysis that his inventive power lies, not in some vague, mysterious intuition, but in a logical mind that can draw correct inferences from established premises; in an analytical mind that enables him to reason from correct data, discovering those which are false; in natural and cultivated perceptive faculties that enable him to determine the effect of a given set of conditions, and through exercise of which he is able to place clearly before his mental vision the exact statement or proposition which defines the thing to be accomplished; in the ability to concentrate his attention upon the problem in hand to the exclusion of everything else, for the time being, and a perseverance that will not be denied—that failure cannot wear out.”