PROF. FORBES ON ''HARNESSING NIAGARA:' 199 



to call for notice at this moment is a paper by Prof. Forbes, 

 which appeared in the September Blackwood's, entitled Har- 

 nessing Niagara. 



It is doubtful if any American magazine would have pub- 

 lished that article, even had it contained fewer references to the 

 shortcomings of the United States. It seems to us, however, that 

 it would have been much better for it to have appeared in this 

 country than in Great Britain, because of the freer criticism it 

 would here have had, and because America's faults would then 

 have been told where it might be hoped that, coming from so 

 authoritative a source, certain valuable reforms would result. 



A large portion of the article is devoted to a description of 

 Forbes's own unusual endowments and capabilities, natural and 

 acquired, which, it would appear, fitted him for the position of 

 consulting electrical engineer to the Cataract Construction Com- 

 pany, not less than for the suppression of the American railway 

 conductor.* A perusal of the article brings to one's mind the 

 couplet by a famous English librettist : 



" He was the bravest man in France ; 

 He said so, and he ought to know." 



Having noted the title of the paper, we are astonished at the 

 space that is devoted to yjlacing the demerits of this country in 

 relief against the author's excellences, especially in so short an 

 article. To quote certain instances, he says: "There are two 

 great mistakes commonly made as to Americans : one is, that 

 they are original inventors ; the other is, that they are humor- 

 ous. Neither of these propositions is true." The chief argument 

 he advances against our possession of humor is that " their 

 periodical literature is filled with so-called wit, but it smells 

 strongly of the midnight oil." This is most sadly true, but, if 

 one on this side of the water may judge, how much more so is it 

 with British publications of alleged humorousness ! The pro- 

 fesssor admits, however, that in the matter of humor there are 

 some most brilliant exceptions in America. May we not ask 

 whether Great Britain, for instance, can produce exceptions in 

 this line to vie with the United States ? 



In support of his theory that the inventive faculty is lacking 

 in the New World, he states that Americans are competent 

 merely to design, not invent, and, by implication, informs us that 

 his own talents in the inventive line are the real article, and that 



* He informs us that on a New York Central train he created disorder in the ranks of 

 six (?) conductors ("the most insolent class of men in the country"), who filled the 

 smoking room to the exclusion of himself. The subsequent verdict of one of the con- 

 ductors is stated to have been that there were no flies {sic) on Prof. Forbes. 



