GENIUS AND TALENT. 311 



detail, accompanied by constant trial of innumer- 

 able models and constant alteration of joints or 

 fittings, could ever have finally produced that 

 magnificent practical result of the completed 

 engine. Take, again, the art of discovery. Does 

 anybody for a moment suppose that Newton 

 really worked out his whole splendid theory of 

 gravitation within half an hour of tlie accidental 

 second when he happened to see that too cele- 

 brated apple fall from the apple-tree? So far is 

 this from being truly the case that he actually 

 waited for thirteen years before publishing the 

 first outline of his theory, in order to obtain 

 better information about the moon's weight than 

 any existing at the time when he began his 

 memorable researches. Take, once more, the art 

 of war. Does anybody imagine that Csesar and 

 Napoleon overran all iLurope with their gigantic 

 armies by mere force of innate cleverness, without 

 paying any attention whatsoever to the enormous 

 difficulties of the undertaking? Why, Ca3sar 

 himself shows us in his Commentaries that lie 

 looked with the interest of a commissariat clerk 

 at the pettiest details of breakfast and dinner for 

 his hungry soldiers ; while Napoleon's eye never 

 allowed the smallest matter of discipline or tactics 

 to escape it even in the midst of the severest 

 engagement. It is just the same in everything 

 else. No man, we believe, ever achieves a 



