Omaha daily bee., 1914-12-31
All Hope of the Future
is in the Imagination

I Arnold would say, which ARE thrown
out at an idea" They express their mean
ms IN a general, and often in a variable.
| or uncertain, manner This uncertainty,
or Indebtedness, Of language Il the
cause OF nino-tenths " all disputes and
arguments.
| As "a" and "B" probably undSrstand
| them, Imagination means tho representa-
! tion IN the mind of an end or object
which Is not at tho time being attain
able. OF not actually existing, while in
Ecntion signifies tho contrivance OF ways
or means to attain that end or object
or 10 bring II into actual being
Taking tho worlds IN this sense, &c
seems evident that imagination Is tho
master faculty. or the directing force,
while invention is its servant. following
out it's suggestions and depending upon
Il for guidance
Prof. John Tyndall. whose books are
moro Fascinating, and infinitely more
useful than any novels, says: Scientific
education ought TO teach us to sec the
invisible as well as the visible in nature;
to picture with the eye of the mind those
operations which entirely elude thu eye
OF the body
This picturing with the eye Of the mind
OF which Tyndall speaSs Is imagination
and because he posse ssed the scientific
imagination I'm n very high degree he
was extraordinarily successful both as
an experimonter and as an expositor In
science Yet he was not an inventor In
the sense In which MIR. Edison IL.
But the latter would undoubtedly put
the imagination on as lofty pedestal
as Tyndall did. Our great wizard OF In
vention" must feel that, at every step In
his career, he has been sustained and
, guided by the power OF the Imagination.
II In the only human faculty that can
look into tho future, and without a look
ahead there can be no advance. But the
imagination is not merely far-slghted
pioneer; the inventor who is allurod by
it's pictures and strives after them feels
| it's hand holding his at every step.
Go into library and read the story
of Edison's invention OF the incandescent
electric lamp. or the photograph. or the
kaleidoscope. and you will see that the
driving force for his mind was always
the imagination. or in other words, the
power TO picture clearly the end OF OBJ
ject to be attained. At each advance the
Imagination went ahead and selected tho
place for the next nail; then the in
venting. or contrlving. power drove the
nail home.
To show the supreme importance OF
the Imagination in leading the way to
invention let us take n specific instance,
such as the microscope. In continuing
that wonderful instrument; tho basis Of
all motion picture apparatus, the inventor
probably got his first suggestion from
tho old ohilds toy in which a series OF
rude pictures of running horse were
made to blend into moving Wow by
causing them 20 pass in swift succession
before tho eye. Then came the recollec-
| ton OF instantaneous photography, and
the imagination pictured. in an instant.
what would be the result OF similarly
| combining a series of Photographic views
OF a real moving object. Then the Inn
agination. by It's power OF combining
ideas. struck out the scheme OF the
kaleidoscope, and showed how II could
be made After that the contriving
| faculty invention, set to work, and by
means OF careful experiments produced
the actual instrument
So Marconi and the other inventors OF
wireless telegraph apparatus began by
brooding with their imaginations upon
the possibilities involved in combining
the far-extendIng Hertz electric waves
with the old system Of telegraphic
'Snals.