MEN INHERIT UNEQ UALL Y 8 1 



to their skill in manipulating it ; the inventions of Book i 

 the past only according to their skill in reproducing Cha P ter s. 

 and using them. 



The extraordinary confusion of thought in- socialists say 

 volved in Mr. Spencer's position is focalised in an ^^S^"* 

 argument constantly employed by socialists that j^ come com - 

 " inventions once made, become common property" 

 Except the earliest and simplest of them, they no 

 more become common property than the count- 

 less facts and figures buried in Parliamentary Blue- 

 Books become the property of every new member 

 of Parliament, or than encyclopaedic knowledge 

 becomes the property of every one who happens to 

 inherit an edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica ; 

 or than the power of deciphering the hieroglyphics 

 which are preserved in the British Museum 

 becomes the property of every cabman who drives 

 his vehicle along Great Russell Street. It is 

 perfectly true that the discovery of each new 

 portion of knowledge enables men to acquire it who 

 never might have discovered it for themselves ; but This is abso- 

 as the acquisition of the details of knowledge 

 becomes facilitated, the number of details to be 

 acquired increases at the same time ; and the 

 increased ease of acquiring each v is accompanied by 

 an increased difficulty in acquiring all, or even in 

 assimilating those which are practically connected 

 with one another. A mechanic, for instance, could 

 with ten minutes' attention comprehend the principle 

 involved in a cantilever bridge, but to design and 

 construct a bridge such as that which now spans the 



6 



