The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1891-09-23
Invention.


ent age, when compared with all past
ages, is so conspicuously an inventive
age, he might have difficulty in find
ing 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
great deal. They had learned to
make boats so far back in the legend
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 nipple
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 a 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
for centuries must have been exceed
ingly stupid or they would have Gre
ated the art at much earlier date.
But the inventive activity of the
present age is 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 a 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
Neither can it be justly said that
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 it not more reasonable to say
that invention, which is largely sci
ence applied, is Characteristic Of the
highest civilization? 1t is the last
manifestation of human activity fol-
lowing after all 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
doing what men have done before,
and they think themselves most hap
by when they can trace some sort of
resemblance between their own works
and the works of their eXemplars.
But the inventor comes nearer to the
production Of something absolutely
original than the worker in any other
field Of intellectual activity, and we
take it that the search after the new
is pursuit most congenial to the
most advanced society Men have
got tired Of learning. Some Of them
tire too early in life, but we are all
growing tired Of accomplished facts