The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1868-04-25
From the American Artimn
The Useful Results OF Accident.

Chief among the causes that prevent the
realization OF human hopes and the full
fruiti0n sought to be derived from human
effort, are those that belong to tha so-called
chapter OF accidents" Hnl which consist
IN the sudden Interposition OF events against
which ordinary foresight cannot guard and
there car be no doubt that the discovery OF
many scleotitic truths, ~ well as the solu.
tion OF numerous mechanical problems, has
oeen prevented BY adventitious circum-
stances wholly anlooked for by the expert
menter, aud not In the ordinary course OF
events, TO be expected Per contra, acci-
dent has sometimes proved the stepping
stone to success and not the leart interest
ing items in the history of industrial "A
well as abstract science are those in which
some incident, trivial in itself, has consti
tuted the turning point in the evolution Of
an important principle.
As an illustration Of what We have said.
we may cite circumstances the direct result
Of which was the invention Of the vulcan
lzing process whereby indis-rubber is fitted
Tor the numoerless purposes TO which its use
Is now essential. After long years OF effort
and disappointment, Charles Goodyear stood
apparently as Tar as ever from the attain
ment OF bis object, until one day, while IN
earnest conversation regarding proposed
lnSetlon, ne emphasized an assertion by
hlnging away at random a piece Of rubber
combined with pulp phur that he held in bis
hand. The fragment falling upon the stove,
was subjected to higher heat than that 10
which be lad ever ventured designedly to
subject the material and when il was re-
covered il was found to possess the qualities
for which he had sought so long cold did
not harden and heat did not soften the
water proof and elastic mas. And thus
spIang forth the germ Of an invention that
has built up new branch OF manufacturing
industry, gwen employment 10 thousands Of
operatives, and added in mJriad forms to
the cOnveDiences Of life.
A similar apt example may be found in
another, and in some respects a more ex-
allied branch Of practical science for all
the varied applications II electro galvanism
may he said to have resulted from he con
tat of the dissected frog in the hands Of
GelVani and the metallic plates, which thus
brought to the notice Of observers that
hitherto unknown force. Additional in
stances might be multiplied Gd ia6nitun,
10 which the agency OF apparently trivial
vJlutIonizing whole branches of manufae
tures, and introduced new elements in the
industrial interests Of the world, to say
nothing Of those cases which-like that Of
the falling apple which opened to the mind
OF Newton the secret Of gravitation, or the
vibrating lamp which told to Calico the
forces that control the swinging Of the pen
dulum-have developed the hidden and
occult laws Of the highest branches of nat
ural philosophy.
Yet when we amuse or instruct ourselves.
as the case may be, in thus rejecting upon
the r. ID that has often resulted from acci-
dent, we can only find that but one moral
may be deduced therefrom. Had not Good
year toiled and persevered through poverty
and disappointment, while his hair whitened
and his brow wrinkled with care, un.ll bis
brain had been trained to seize and consider
every item that related 70 the end be sought
to accomplish, the clue to success, il il had
come at all, might have passed unheeded
Had not Galvani made his search into the
arcana OF science labor OF love, the twitch-
ing Of the muscles Of the dead frog would
have proved no index Of the hitherto un-
known force, and the hint would have been
lost to him. For unnumbered centuries
apples had fallen from burjened branches,
but throughout ihsm all no one had dreamed
that the lines in which they fell pointed to
the centre of the earth, until the philosopher
with mind trained BY constant exercise g.
reflect and consider, deduced from that tri-
fng incident the laws that control the move
ments Of worlds through space. So, for
ages multitudes had knelt in the grand
cathedral Of Pisa while the lamps swayed
and swung at Jye their heads, 5ut of all VINO
worshipped th ere none who knew the mighty
secret held in each vibrstion till the stu
dent, alert with boarded thought, bad seized
the grand ids and thus in all the expert
ence Of men Se may find that, while acci-
dent may furnish opportunities ami the
possibilities Of grand results, yet they are
Only developed to usefulness and value by
labor and study and reflection, and they
prove the truth Of the old heather saying,
that ~the gods help those who help tt a.
selves"