88 OBSERVATIONS ON THE DIFFUSION OF 



would be produced of a better quality and in greater abundance than 

 they are at present. 



Again, the diffusion of present knowledge may be expected to lead 

 to new discoveries. By this means the number of philosophical 

 inquiries is increased ; for although the desire for knowledge may 

 at first be small, yet it soon increases, and finds no such gratification 

 as in the discovery of new truths. Some persons, however, have a 

 natural aptness to invent ; and were they not made acquainted with 

 what is already known, they would be continually directing their 

 thoughts and efforts into channels which had been previously ex- 

 plored. It is by no means uncommon to witness the display of very 

 great ingenuity and talent on the part of a mechanic, in the inven- 

 tion of a process or a piece of machinery which has already been 

 some time at work in a distant part of the country. Such a misdi- 

 rection of talent and industry would be prevented by the diffusion 

 of scientific knowledge. But, perhaps, its greatest value consists in 

 its preparation of the working classes for becoming discoverers. To 

 use the language employed in the preliminary treatise of the Libra- 

 ry of Useful Knowledge, " It gives every man a chance, according 

 to his natural talents, of becoming an improver in the art he works 

 at, and even a discoverer in the sciences connected with it. He is 

 daily handling the tools and materials with which new experiments 

 are to be made, and daily witnessing the operations of Nature, whe- 

 ther in the motion and pressure of bodies, or in their chemical action 

 on each other. All opportunities of making experiments must be 

 unimproved, all appearances must pass unnoticed, if he has no know- 

 ledge of principles ; but with this knowledge he is more likely than 

 any other person to strike out something new which may be useful 

 in art or curious and interesting in science. Very few discoveries 

 have been made by chance or by ignorant persons ; much fewer than 

 is generally supposed." The writer, after adducing proofs of this, 

 and referring to discoveries made by persons of competent know- 

 ledge who were in search of them, adds, " In so far as chance has 

 any thing to do with discovery, surely it is worth the while of those 

 who are constantly working in particular employments to obtain the 

 knowledge required, because their chances are greater than other 

 people's of so applying that knowledge as to hit upon new and useful 

 ideas ; they are always in the way of perceiving what is wanting, or 

 what is amiss in the old methods, and they have a better chance of 

 making the improvements. In a word, to use a common expression, 

 they are in the way of good luck, and if they possess the requisite 

 information, they can take advantage of it when it comes to them." 



