INDUSTRY ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS IN RESEARCH. 255 



that he had pure oxygen. It would, apparently, have been 

 painful to him to have experimented otherwise.' 1 



The possession, in a high degree, of the humble quali- 

 ties of industry, patience, and perseverance, is at least as 

 necessary in original research as in any other tedious and 

 difficult occupation. That the qualities of industry, per- 

 severance, and courage are not less essential than genius to 

 the success of a discoverer, is shown by the following in- 

 stances : ' John Hunter occupied a great deal of his time in 

 collecting definite facts respecting matters which, before 

 his day, were regarded as exceedingly trivial. Thus it was 

 supposed by many of his contemporaries that he was only 

 wasting his time and thought in studying so carefully as 

 he did the growth of a deer's horn. But Hunter was 

 impressed with the conviction that no accurate knowledge 

 of scientific facts is without its value. By the study 

 referred to, he learnt how arteries accommodate themselves 

 to circumstances, and enlarge as occasion requires ; and 

 the knowledge thus acquired emboldened him, in a case of 

 aneurism in a branch artery, to tie the main trunk where 

 no surgeon before him had dared to do it, and the life of 

 his patient was saved. Like many original men, he worked 

 for a long time as it were underground, digging and laying 

 foundations. He was a solitary and self-reliant genius, 

 holding on his course without the solace of sympathy or 

 approbation for but few of his contemporaries perceived 

 the ultimate object of his pursuits. But, like all true 

 workers, he did not fail in securing his best reward that 

 which depends less upon others than upon one's self that 

 approval of conscience, which in a right-minded man 

 invariably follows the honest and vigorous performance of 

 duty.' 



1 Life of Cavendish, G. Wilson, pp. 186, 188. Works of the 

 Cavendish Society. 



