The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1908-02-11

10 deeds which, the poet tells us, are the
real measure of mans existence. Take
away from twentieth century civilization
what Thomas A, Edison has done, and
there is left a gap that would affect
almost every man. woman. and child in
the United States. So unusual in per-
sonal appearance and manner, so eX-
traordinary in habits of life and methods
Of work, so defiant Of what most men
regard as the laws of health. Thomas A
Edison is as different from other men
tn the things of the everyday world as he
has proven himself to be above them in
his mastery of the subtitle fluid that is as
efficient in driving a railroad train as i'll
is in lighting a house.
And yet Edison does not think IL comes
from genius. He recently told a friend
that it was about per cent genius and
IS per cent hard work that made him sue
cessfuI. and in that statement he gave
testimony TO the truth of the declara-
ton OF the philosopher that genius is
bUt another word for an eternal capacity
for taking pains. Il never leave a theory
until / have either proven its correctness
or demonstrated its error" said he upon
one occasion 81 must either solve a
problem or prove that there is no solu-
ton TO it."
hundred instances of this unfailinG
capacity for taking pains might be men
toned. One is the case Of his phono-
graph records The ones he first made
We're not quite satisfactory. He sent his
agents to the remotest corners of the
world to look for a suitable substance.
Wax after wax was tried; hardening
process after hardening process was eX-
perimented with At last some one, after
the FIVE years of fruitless search, sug-
gested soap. Finally he found a soap,
too hard to wash bat a soap all the same
and this he uses for his records. Another
instance showing the thoroughness of the
man was his work in developing the in
candescent light. He constructed 5000
theories with reference 10 this subject
and worked each one out 10 its logical
conclusion, only two of which proved to
be correct But it was these two that
carve to the world the incandescent light
In the invention Of this light he was
brought face to face with the same diff
Guilty that he had met with in his phono-
graph record He wanted a fiber that
would make the proper sort of a fila
mcnt. He tried thread, he tried paper
and each gave good results. He tried
this fiber and that. all Of which did their
duty more or less acceptably. But none of
them gave as bright a light as he wanted.
One day he happened TO notice a palm
leaf fan hanging on the wall. He took
fiber from that and used it. Imagine his
qualification when ne beheld a light which
Appropriated his idea OF how bright 1t
should be. Then he had his idea. He
would Tansack tho world for bamboo fiber
and get the one that served the best. For
in bamboo fiber he found the substance he
was looking for
II is said that when one visits the Edi-
son laboratories to-day he will find
series of cabinets containing every known
substance in the world. No newspaper Of
flee ever had more elaborate fling sys-
tom for reference than has Mr.. Edison i'm
his substance cabinets HeFe you may
see one labeled sharks teeth and YOU
are forced TO wonder what use on earth
they could ever be to the inventor. There
one may see pigeon hole labeled mar
mot skin and the layman cannot con-
ceive what use Mr.. Edison could ever
have for that. But he is "A man that
never took anything for granted. and,
consequently, whenever bone is a sub
t'''Aa''-la
critics for which he is looking, his Xperi-
ments would not be complete unless he
tried the shark teeth and when animal
skin is likely 10 furnish the substance he
wants. the question of which is the best
would be an open one to him until he had
tried every skin there is.
cir. Edison works differently from any
other inventor He first solves the ques-
ton as to whether or not the thing he
has in mind will be valuable i'm itself and
profitable 20 him He calls this a sort of
intuition, an inve ntor's sixth sense. After
he has decided that it viii be useful and
profitable he settles down to hard work
No memorable fate ever pursued a man
more relentlessly or more persistenuy
than Mr.. Edison pursues a solution of the
question he has UDpeTmost in his mind
He VIII work often for thirty-six hours
at a stretch. and go for a week at "A time
without removing his clothes to go TO bed
50 filled with determination is his soul to
surmount the difficulties that beset his
inventive pathway, and to overcome the
obstacles that lie between him and sue
cess.
With bulldog tenacity he buckles down
10 HIS tdSh anu newer Says Ulr. II Is
this spirit. which he regards as an Unborn
trait rather than an requirement for
which he deserves credit. that has given
10 the world his greatest inventions. He
works i'm a way that no other inventor
ever worked; il is a sort of volcanic in
tellectual chaos from which he finally
evolves order, He says that tne trouble
with most inventors is that when they
reach that stage where a thing looks TO
be impossible they stop, but that as a
matter of fact there is the place where
their real work ought to begin; that it
is easy TO follow the known rules and the
known principles. but that it is i'm the
realm of the uuknOWn-the apparently
impossible-that success lies He works
on the inductive and deductive methods
there is no haphazard work with him.
Mr.. Edison now has not far from
thousand patents to his credit at the
Patent Office. He has spent more than
10000 in fees TO the government. and
possibly more in foreign countries. for
every Edison invention is protected
wherever patent laws obtain. He has
spent a kings ransom in defending his
inventions from infTinE-TS. The royalties
that would have been due on one in
fTingement on a certain patent of his
would have amounted to more than Tnree
million dollars so that it will readily
appear that it is necessary for him to
defend his patents.
The first invention Of Mr.. Edison was q
machine TO record the votes of Con
gress. This was not adopted. He became
practical after that and says that the
bump Of practicsbility is a sort of intel
lectual appendix with him. Mr.. Edison