490 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



for his own country ; and we do not doubt that in times of 

 peace, when ideas of patriotism were not so much to the fore, 

 this valuable discovery would have quietly slipped away across 

 the seas after so many of its fellows. Of course much has been 

 done lately by the English nation in the way of reform, yet the 

 old habit of saying no to the new idea, just because it is easier 

 to say no and avoid immediate trouble, still remains. The 

 nation is to-day shrieking for economy, economy of money ; 

 but there is an economy of thought that is equally valuable and 

 just as equally far-reaching. The lazy " no " results in loss of 

 trade ; then comes the awakening to that fact, the laborious 

 investigation of the reason for its disappearance, and the still 

 more laborious efforts for its reinstatement. Could there be 

 greater waste of thought and time and money ? True economy 

 lies in the alertness of thought that perceives at once the value 

 of any new idea when it is first presented. 



