The Indianapolis journal., 1892-05-01
THE FAME OF COLUMBUS.
His Great Voyage the Outcome Of Several
Inventions.

His Great Voyage the Outcome of Several
Inventions.
Emilio CASTELAR,, in May Century.
/ attribute the historical good fortune of
this portentous hero to his martyrdOm; or,
in other words 20 the virtue and efficacy
involved in the nature OF suffering. That
persistent struggle OF the dlscoverer with
superstition. prior to his wonderful sue
cess. and that other struggle. after his
wonderful success. with his own errors and
with ingratitude, enciroled his brow with @
crown OF thorns. of which every barb that
pierced his temples while he lived became
at his death shining ray of glory. At the
foot of every altar lies o sacrIfice.
The fabulous aspects Of his career became
almost incredible. BeholdinR how Colum-
bus stored his mind with all the gathered
knowledge of his day: how be urged before
univ ersities and learned men the indispons-
able adoption of his plans. based In part on
his personal conlectnres and In part on his
experience and his researches: how. in all
that time of steadfast preparation, he
stakcd his hopes upon mngDates. arch.
bishops, monks and potent queens and
kings; how learning and calculation en-
as intuition and genius. many pi-
Ous souls professed TO discover therein
revelations such as God made Of old TO his
prophets. and proposed to the church his
canOniZation. / attribute such exceptional
treatment of Columbus to the fact that
discoveries and discoverers exert a o po-
tent 1nfiuence upon the imagination; and
yet they hold lesser place in popular his
tory than statesmen or warriors. How
much more important would it be in our
day to know who invented the fiour-mill
than to know who won the battle of Ar
bella! The fact is that. comparing the
volumes devoted to statecraft and to war
with those treating of labor and industry.
the incredible disproportion. i can
understand why this should have been
SO in ages when manual toll was coneid-
cred degrading and when trade, relegated
to the common sort. who were politically
bebarred from coping with the patrician
classes, was despised. But even In our day.
transcendently the age of labor and Of IN
dustry. while the names of great COM
manders are horne On the world wide
wings of fame. those of discoverers fall
with the utmost eaee into ungrateful OBJ
livioD. For one Galvani, one Franklin,
one Daguerre, one Edison, who has spread
his renown among all classes. and stamped
On invention forever with his name. what
vast number of aforementioned or un-
known glories.
The peoples Of the future will not be 90
upgrateful The first years OF this century
will grow in universal remem brance, not
whose godlike renown thousand poems
sing. but rather because of another and
better title 70 glory-the voltaic pile. i'm
prIsoninR the all-ditfused electric tluid.
and by its chemicals and metals enRender-
Ing currents and forces as though IL were q
microcosmIc universe. an epitome of the
alchemy whereby tho great powers of
nature produce and maintain life.
Without the sstrolabe. invented by the
Arab schools Of COrdova and Serine
for the study of the heavens; without
the science of algebra. so greatly facilitat-
ing the labor of calculation; without the
mariners compass, which axes q sure point
to guide the bark lost IN the iniinitude of
ha inn
which, within q short half century after
its invention, had already become a potent
auxiliary TO the development of the hu-
man intellect. the discovery of the new
world-itself the logical result of slow
but sure evolution, wrought ont In sue
cessive stages like ell great human achieve
ments. and not by sudden chance-could
never have taken place.