The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-19
INvEnrIoN AND DISCOVERY.
A Vast Sea of Distinction Between this
Two-NotabIe Instances.

from the lips of the average man in
careless sort of differentiation as If they
were synonymous. But there Is vast
sea Of distinction between them. Liter
ally, they are not 50 widely separated;
but they have come TO represent two to-
tally different aspects % human action.
To tfe writer's thinking. the terms haze
been greatly confused. Columbus hardly
discovered America. he invented it-that
il. rs to its cognizablc existence. 1o
studied, figured. applied the laws as he
knew them, and determined that there
must he continent there, and he
plodded on till he proved tho fact, and
reduced his invention to practice.
Newton discovered the law OF gravity,
one might saw, without either mental or
physical effort. Watt invented the steam
engine and Stephenson invented the loco
motive. They felt and knew the goal was
ahead. but how to reach it was the ques-
ton which required invention of tie
highest order. Eli Whitney saw the
painful and laborious methods of clean
ing out cotton and shredding it, intui-
lively felt it could be done by machinery,
went to work and gave the world one of
his great inventions, the cotton gin.
Howe's great inspiration to place the eye
az the point Of needle may be said TO
have been a discovery. Ii unfolded a
picture to his mind prophetic of good to
almost countless millions, but invention
had TO be invoked to give the picture life.
and the sewing machine, in all its beauty.
came slowly forth from the chrysalis of
Uowe's discovery. The irregular lathe
and the modern harvester were inven-
tons; their dim, indefinable forms doomed
up in the mists of their inventors minds,
they felt the impulse Of improvement,
the value Of the goal gained, and they
went to work and at last succeeded, and
the wood carver and reaping hook lost
their usefulness 10 that extent.
Tie electric telegraph was never dis
covered, it was consistently invented.
Countless devices and methods were de-
signed. tested. thrown away-to be after
wards reviviiied, many Of them-ncw
appliances and systems hborlousiy
worked out, the midnight oil unspar-
inglv sacrificed. until at last perfected
and practical system and apparatus were
given 10 the world.
1t is hard to say whether the dynamo
was invented or discovered. considering
its prototype. the magnetic machine. The
prohablitie- arc il was an accidental dis
covcry. The arc light was discovery
pure and simple. Electric incandescence
was q discovery, but the incandescent
lamp I'm it, commercial form stands forth
as one of the mo- beautiful examples of
mans inventive faculty. The countless
experiments on material, the bulb, the
seal. the standardizing the pumps. and
all the appliances that go 70 provide rs
with the beautifully glowing mminary,
all are ineradicabic proofs Of invention Of
the very highest order. Midnight olland
MONDAY sun. mornings yigor and even
ing repo.cful EXAMINATIONS, were all
called into requisition to complete the
work This is true invention.
The phonograph was originally dis
covery a happy thought Of Edison's, bat
invention Of high order was necessary
10 produce the beautiful instrument Of
The present dav. Il was like Howc's
necdle-the germ was there, but the ma
chine had TO Ne devised % make it prac-
ticablc. Tho undula;ory telephone was a
discovery. brilliant one. but still dis
eovery \ happy thought supplied the
missing link i'm an incomplete chain, and
when the weld Of that link was accom-
plished the whole world was unclaimed
in admiration. the wonderful utility Of
the device was quickly recognized, and
the discovcrcr rcaped rich harvest.
The pneumatic process Of Bessemcr was
an invention Of high grade and fan reach
ING importance, and the Siemens regen-
erative furnace has proved it, equal in
merit rs q methodical and logical inven-
ton beautifully carried out.
The inventor sees his goal. and consis
tentlv strives for It, lie knows the object
is there, and be goes energetically after
it, sometimes straight to 1t, but oftener
is many times lost ia the wilderness Of
deluded fancy. He sees q hight ahead.
signs relief and darts after ii, only TO
find il a will O. the-wisp. Undaunted,
he starts again. only perhaps TO meet
other and worse misforuncs But he
struggles on hopefully, and at last
reaches the shrine Of his alteration and is
for the time content.
The discovercr walks along calmly
toward some goal, or lies on the roadside
medtating. and happening to cast his
idle eyes downward, sees gem spark
ling at his feet, and ne sometimes picks it
up and adds it to the galaxy OF the
worlds diadem but he as often fails to
note the scintillations that betoken its
prcciousness, and spurns it back into the
deeper dust. 10 lie unseen ard unknown
perhaps for ages. Which Of these two
promoters Of the world welfare merits
the highest praise, it is needless to ask.
Electrical Review.