Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-11-09
INVENTION AND DISCOVERY.
Vast Sea Of Distinction be'"''"
Two--Notabie Instances

A
Two--Notabie Instances :,
Two words which glibly enough ian
from the lips of the average man ~ I"
ooroless sort of indiscripination as II tney
we're synonymous. But there is vas'
gao 81 distinction between them. Liter
our thew are not so widely separated;
Init they have come to represent TWO 10
tallv different aspects of human acton'
To the writer's thinking, the terms nave
-. S,,..,tjv confused. Columbus hardy
1;s a. America, he invented it-that
il as to its cognizable existence. ne
studied, figured, applied the laws Us no
Lnew them. and determined that there
,n,,st he a continent there, ana ne
Nodded on till he proved the fact ana
red,,ced his invention to practice.
Newton discovered the law OF gravity
ono MIGHT saw. without either mental or
nbvsical effort. Watt invented the steam
a,o;pe and Stephenson invented the loco
motive. They felt and knew the goal was
ahead. but how to reach it was the ques-
tion which required invention OF the
highest order. Eli Whitney saw the
nainf,l and Iaborious methods OF clean
INC ont cotton and shredding 1t, lntu-
t;rely felt it could be done by machinery,
went to work and gave the world one OF
his great inventions, the cotton gln'
Howe,s great inspiration to place the eye
at the point of needle may be said 70
have been discovery. 1t unfoidea
nicture to his mind prophetic OF good TO
almost countless millions, but invention
bad to be invoked to give the picture life,
and the sewing machine, in all its beauty,
came slowly forth from the chrysalis OF
/ Howe's discovery. The irregular lathe
i and the modern harvester were lnven-
tions. their dim, indeiinable forms loomed
up in the mists of their inventors mlnas'
| they felt the impulse of improvement,
the value of the goal gained, and they
went to work and at last succeeded, ana
the wood carver and reaping hook lost
their usefulness to that extent
Thu electric telegraph was never DIS
covered; it was consistently invented.
| Countless devices and methods were de-
signed. tested, thrown away-to be after
wards revivified, many of them-new
appliances and systems laboriously
worked out, the midnight oil unspar-
ingly sacrificed, until at last perfected
and practical system and apparatus were
| given to the world.
1t is hard to say whether the dynamo
was invented or discovered, considering
its prototype, the magnetic machine. The
probabilities are it was an accidental dis
covcry. The arc light was discovery
pure and simple. Electric incandescence
was discovery, but the incandescen'
lamp in its commercial form stands fortl
as one of the most beautiful examples o.
man S inventive faculty. The courtles
experiments on material, the bulb, thu
seal, the standardizing, the pumps, ant
all the appliances that go to provide IL
with the beautifully glowing luminary
all are ineradicable proofs Of invention O
the very highest order. Midnight oil an
MONDAY sun, mornings vigor and even
ing's reposeful nominations, were a
called into requistion to complete tn
work. This is true invention.
The photograph was originally di:
covery, happy thought of Edison's, br
invention of high order was necessar
to produce the beautiful instrument {
the present day. 1t was like Howe
needle-the germ was there, but the ms
chine had to be devised to make it prat
ticable. The undulatory telephone was
discovery, brilliant one, but still di
! eovery. A happy thought supplied Il
/ missing link in an incomplete chain, an
a when the weld Of that link was accom-
plished the whole world was enchaine
, in admiration, the wonderful utility
the device was quickly recognized, an
, the discoverer reaped rich harves
q The pneumatic process of Bessemer W;
an invention of high grade and far reac
q ing importance, and the Siemens rege
o erative furnace has proved its equal
q merit as a methodical and logical inve
n ton beautifully carried out.
i The inventor sees his goal, and cons
n tently strives for it. He knows the obie
n is there, and he goes energetically aft
h it, sometimes straight to it, but often
|. is many times lost in the wilderness
:. deluded fancy. He sees a light ahea
e signs relief and darts after it, only
n find it will o'the-wisp. Undaunte
:, he starts again, only perhaps to me
/. other and worse misfortunes. But
n struggles on hopefully, and at !;
ar reaches the shrine of his alteration and
. for the time content.
lie The discoverer walks along calm
l. toward some goal, or lies on the roadsi
ID meditating, and happening to cast
ct idle eyes downward, sees a gem span
" ling at his feet, and he sometimes picks
up and adds it to the galaxy of t
ID worlds diadem, but he as often fails
a note the scintillations that betoken
Or preciousness, and spurns it back into t
a deeper dust, to lie unseen and unkno,
be perhaps for ages. Which of these t,
If promoters of the worlds welfare mer
a the highest praise, it is needless to as
H. Electrical Review.