II, — ^THE RISE OF SCIENCE IN INDUSTRY 



not discover the theory of gravitation. He had been at work on the 

 problem for years, and had no doubt invented theory after theory to 

 which he found it impossible to fit his facts. Then he constructed the 

 theory to which all facts corresponded, and thus invented it by deduc- 

 tive reasoning. Of course the old story of the apple dropping from a 

 tree, and Newton's jumping up with a species of 'Eureka,' I reject 

 absolutely. 



"It is too much the fashion to attribute all inventions to accident, 

 and a great deal of nonsense is talked on that score. 



"In my own case but few, and those the least important, of my in- 

 ventions owed anything to accident. Most of them have been hammered 

 out after long and patient labor, and are the result of countless ex- 

 periments, all directed toward attaining some well-defined object. All 

 mechanical improvements may safely be said to be inventions and not 

 discoveries. The sewing-machine was an invention. So were the steam- 

 engine and the typewriter. Speaking of this latter, did I ever tell you 

 that I made the first twelve t\^pewriters, at my old factory in Railroad 

 Avenue, Newark? This was in 1869 or 1870; and I myself had worked at 

 a machine of similar character, but never found time to develop it 

 fully." . . . 



Not long ago I asked Mr. Edison which of his inventions had caused 

 him the greatest amount of study, and required the most elaborate 

 experiments. 



He replied, promptly: "The electric light. For, although I was never 

 myself discouraged, or inclined to be hopeless of success, I cannot say 

 the same for all of my associates. And yet, through all those years of 

 experimenting and research, I never once made a discovery. All my 

 work was deductive, and the results I achieved were those of invention 

 pure and simple. I would construct a theor\^ and work on its lines until 

 I found it was untenable. Then it would be discarded at once, and an- 

 other theory evolved. This was the only possible way for me to work 

 out the problem, for the conditions under which the incandescent elec- 

 tric light exists are peculiar and unsatisfactory for close investigation. 

 Just consider this: we have an almost infinitesimal filament heated to a 

 degree which it is difficult for us to comprehend, and it is in a vacuum, 

 under conditions of which we are wholly ignorant. You cannot use your 

 eyes to help you in the investigation, and you really know nothing of 

 what is going on in that tiny bulb. I speak without exaggeration when 

 I sav that I have constructed three thoiisajid different theories in connec- 

 tion with the electric light, each one of them reasonable and apparently 

 likely to be true. Yet only in two cases did my experiments prove the 

 truth of my theory. My chief difficulty, as perhaps you know, was in 

 constructing the carbon filament, the incandescence of which is the 

 source of the light. Every quarter of the globe was ransacked by my 

 agents, and all sorts of the queerest of materials were used, until finally 

 the shred of bamboo now utilized by us was settled upon. Even now," 

 Mr. Edison continued, "I am still at work nearly every day on the lamp, 

 and quite lately I have devised a method of supplying sufficient current 

 to fifteen lamps with one horse-power. Formerly ten lamps per horse- 

 power was the extreme limit." . . . 



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