359 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Invention 



of iron there is meager evidence that either 

 of these areas possessed other than the most 

 trivial carvings in hard material. Their 

 best results were in soft wood and slate, by 

 means of beaver-tooth or shark's- tooth 

 knives. The curved knife serves to confirm 

 the opinion that as soon as any process or 

 device came within the scope of a people's 

 intelligence they have mastered it and 

 brought it to a climax, from which time 

 on new ideas and new inventions replaced 

 the old. MASON The Man's Knife among 

 the North American Indians (Report of 

 U. 8. National Museum for 1897, p. 742). 



1752. INVENTION AND DISCOVERY 



The Discoverer Rarely an Inventor. By a 

 discovery in science is understood the de- 

 velopment of a knowledge of the existence 

 of some principle in Nature not before 

 known or but partially understood, while 

 the term invention indicates the application 

 of this knowledge, either simply or in com- 

 bination with other knowledge, to some use- 

 ful purpose in the arts. For example, Frank- 

 lin discovered the principle of electrical in- 

 duction, or the action at a distance of a 

 charged body on a conductor, and on this 

 founded his invention of the lightning-rod. 

 It sometimes happens that the peculiar 

 characteristics of mind and training neces- 

 sary to the successful prosecution of these 

 two branches of labor are found combined 

 in the same individual. Of a happy combi- 

 nation of this kind James Watt affords a 

 striking example, the like of which will be- 

 come more common in proportion as the 

 means of intellectual improvement afforde.d 

 to workmen are extended. Generally, how- 

 ever, the two faculties exist in the greatest 

 degree of development in separate individu- 

 als. The successful investigation of a new 

 principle in science generally requires much 

 previous study and preparation and a logical 

 training, which few men, however vigorous 

 may be their native intellect, can dispense 

 with, and to acquire which the oppor- 

 tunities of the workmen are inadequate. On 

 the other hand, the successful introduction 

 to common use of an invention requires a 

 contest with the world from which the sen- 

 sitive student of abstract science shrinks 

 with repugnance. I consider these remarks 

 of some importance, because in this country, 

 where there is so great a demand for im- 

 mediate practical results, the value of labor 

 in the line of abstract science is not prop- 

 erly appreciated or encouraged. HENRY Im- 

 provement of the Mechanical Arts (Scientific 

 Writings, vol. i, p. 319). (Sm. Inst., 1886.) 



1753. INVENTION A NECESSITY 

 FOR PRIMITIVE WOMAN To feed the 

 flock under her immediate care woman had 

 to become an inventor, and it is in this 

 activity of her mind that she is specially 

 interesting here. The hen scratches for her 

 chicks all day long, because Nature has 

 fastened her hoes and rakes and cutting 

 apparatus upon her body. But here stands 



a creature on the edge of time who had to 

 create the implements of such industry. It 

 is true that all the ages and all experiences 

 and examples of the zoological world were 

 around her. So had they been around other 

 creatures. But the power to associate new 

 ideas constantly and independently was to 

 be for the nrst time her peculiar endowment 

 as a bringer of food. MASON Woman's Share 

 in Primitive Culture, ch. 2, p. 14. (A., 

 1894.) 



1 754. INVENTION DRIVING TO IN- 

 VENTION Scattered Workers Crowded To- 

 gether Time and Cost of Collection Fatal 

 The Factory System Becomes a Necessity. 

 Towards the middle of the eighteenth 

 century the greatest difficulty was experi- 

 enced by weavers and spinners in England 

 in maintaining their position in the mar- 

 kets of the world. It is curious how each 

 new mechanical invention gave rise to the 

 necessities out of which the next arose. The 

 invention of the fly-shuttle in weaving, so 

 early as 1733, seems to have given the first 

 impulse to all that followed. By means of 

 this invention the power of weaving over- 

 took the power of spinning. An adequate 

 supply of yarn could not be procured under 

 the ancient methods of that most ancient 

 industry. New conditions gave rise to new 

 motives, and new motives called into play 

 the latent energies of mind. The time and 

 the cost of collecting the products of so 

 many scattered laborers enhanced unduly 

 the cost of manufacture, and even when the 

 remuneration was reduced to the lowest point 

 compatible with existence that cost was still 

 too high. Something was imperatively re- 

 quired to economize the work of human 

 hands some more elaborate contrivance to 

 make that work go further than before. And 

 so Hargreaves's invention arose, not before 

 the time. And when his spinning-jenny had 

 been invented, a still more elaborate and 

 powerful combination of mechanical ad- 

 justments was soon perfected in the hands 

 of Arkwright. When the spinning-frame 

 was invented, and when Crompton's farther 

 invention of the mule-jenny speedily fol- 

 lowed, the new order of things had been 

 fairly inaugurated. The great change had 

 come, and the survivance of the ancient 

 domestic industries of so many centuries 

 was no longer possible. ARGYLL Reign of 

 Law, ch. 7, p. 206. (Burt.) 



1755. INVENTION GIVES INCREAS- 

 ING POWER Great Results from Small Be- 

 ginning Magnetic Induction. The story of 

 the discovery of magnetic induction by Fara- 

 day and Henry is most instructive, for it 

 shows how an apparently slight and unim- 

 portant manifestation of energy can be ex- 

 alted by proper means into a tremendous 

 one. Faraday remarked, after detailing his 

 experiments on magnetic induction: "The 

 various experiments of this section prove, I 

 think, most completely the production of 

 electricity from ordinary magnetism. That 



