2io THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



trates the wilds of the far West, must have an Indian to guide him 

 through prairie and forest, for the red-man's perceptions of the phe- 

 nomena around him remain keen and almost intuitive. 



Modern arts vastly outnumber ancient ones, yet do not include 

 them all ; antiquity possessed many, either lost by neglect or by being 

 secret with individuals and perishing with them, or perhaps in the ex- 

 tirpation of small, highly-gifted communities by overwhelming bar- 

 barous hordes. 



The vast preponderance of mediocrity over exalted talent has al- 

 ways limited the influence of intellectual greatness, and at times even 

 perverted it to confirm the low standard of a community's intelligence 

 instead of raising it. A key in metaphor is always something unlock- 

 ing or unfolding the hidden this refers to but half the business of a 

 key it is also used to bind, lock up, and secrete. History furnishes 

 many examples of an unusual might of mind permitted, by the lack of 

 appreciation for its best work, not only to leave it undone, but induced 

 to acquire power by mystifying difficulties instead of resolving them, 

 and so to retard progress by an exertion of the very capacity that 

 might assist it. 



The individuals of a community rise pretty much together, and the 

 voice of circumstances is not so loudly " Be your best," as " Be fit." 

 The limit to the practical value of greatness becomes plain if we imag- 

 ine Kepler, while making a scientific journey, to be suddenly surround- 

 ed by hostile Sioux. We can believe that the world may not know 

 some of its greatest sons, for greatness is known only when allied with 

 the talents of publicity and the circumstances of appreciation. 



Truths and suggestions beyond the comprehension of hearers have 

 doubtless often been uttered in vain. Our guides in the path of 

 knowledge imist keep within easy distance if they are to be useful. 

 Huyghens, the great Dutch philosopher, clearly propounded the wave- 

 theory of light, but it remained unnoticed in his times, to be redis- 

 covered a century afterward, when the minds of scientific men had 

 been prepared to receive it. 



Then, again, the very intensity of appreciation bestowed upon 

 genius may be hurtful, in the diversion of men of some original power 

 from the development of themselves into the army of mere repeaters, 

 imitators, and quoters. Besides, when the leaders of thought and in- 

 vestigation have erred, as at times they inevitably must, the mistaken 

 opinion from the weight of a great name becomes a clog and a barrier. 

 Newton's emission-theory of light delayed the true explanation through 

 many weary years; and zoology is still suffering from the belief in 

 catastrophes entertained in the mighty brain of Cuvier. And, further, 

 physiologically, the antagonism of growth and reproduction has left 

 the chiefs of men either childless, as Kant, or continued in a puny 

 race, as Cromwell. Talent is hereditary, but genius scarcely. 



Progress is also thwarted by the sub-evolution of evil. In human 



