Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1891-09-24
tachment for comparison, spectral
and measurements, Photographic APP
paratus, prism and grating.
Invention.

II one were asked, says Lock and
Bell, to tell the reason why the pres
ent age, when compared with all past
ages, is so conspicuously an inventive
age, he might have difficulty in find
ing q reason that would be satisfac-
tory, even to his own Judgment.
Down to the beginning of the last
century men had invented but very
little. They had necessarily contrived
rnaKe DUdUs 50 Tar DICK IN unc- Trgvnv,--
airy ages that history could only find
place for beginning after men had
been taught to navigate the sea.
But then, the boat is only an evolu-
tion of the log floating on the water,
and it came into form by such easy
gradations through the raft that it is
hardly to be called an invention. So
with most of the household imple-
ments, and even of the tools Of me-
chanics that have long been in use.
They grew by such slow processes
from the crudest beginnings that no
man could be called their inventor.
AS we look back beyond the begin
ming of the last century, we discover
barely more than half-dozen new
devices that could justly be called in
ventions. The art Of printing is the
most conspicuous OF these few; but
even this invention was so simple
that one cannot help feeling that the
old monks who copied manuscripts
: sar centuries. must haze heep. -es-.sS.-
ated the art at much earlier date.
But the inventive activity Of the
present age is a source of continual
wonder, and it is difficult to explain
the impulse that leads to its indul-
gence. Much is attributed, and much,
doubtless, is due to the patent right
system; but this will not explain
everything. A few fortunes have
been made by inventors; but it is
VIGOROUSLY true that the authors of
new inventions rarely realize much
for their happy thoughts, and few
men would ever think of turning
their attention to invention as pro-
fession. Vastly the larger number of
inventions are the work of men who
have merely conceived good idea
and then proceeded to put it in me-
chanical form because their idea has
made them enthusiastic. In such
cases they may have been stimulated
somewhat by hope of pecuniary re-
ward; but it was not this hope that
gave the impulse to their labor.
NcrUner cifn IL DU JtrSUfy suru Unau
the intellectual activity of the cur
rent age is greater than that Of any
preceding period in the worlds his
tory. In some departments Of hui
man endeavor we are less active than
the men Of the renaissance period
and the years Immediately following
the renaissance. We are producing
no Shakspeares, Dantes, Tassos,
Millions, Michael Angeles, and
Raphaels at the present time, and
considering the models from which
those men were forced to draw their
instruction, they were so immeasur-
ably superior to their successors in
corresponding fields that no COMPARE
son is possible. Herschel, Calico,
and Newton, estimated according to
their opportunities, were greater than
the men of scientific research to-day.
The present generation has reached
its high ground more largely through
the labors Of past generations than
through its own endeavor, and we
cannot say that men have become
more inventive because their brains
are more active.
Is 1t not more reasonable to say
that invention, which is largely sci
ence applied, is a Characteristic Of the
highest civilization? 1t is the last
manifestation of human activity fol-
lowing afterNall the fine and indus
trial arts and literature have reached
their highest degree Of perfection.
Great writers, great painters and
great actors are all imitators. How
ever great they may be, they are only