26 THE NEW AKT OF BREEDING FISH 



the process discovered by them is an economical fact 

 of the highest importance. Simple fishermen are 

 not thus treated, who have nothing but their industiy 

 to depend on for their livelihood, and no circle of 

 acquaintance beyond their humble position in the 

 social scale. But in the breasts of these two men 

 existed instinctively the love of humanity, that fruit- 

 ful sentiment which gives birth to great ideas and 

 facts, the product of the heart and not of education. 



In the presence of such results the envy of sa- 

 vants soon developed itself, and ere long some were 

 found contesting with the inventors the claim to 

 their discovery. Five or six learned writers were 

 cited, who, in as many memoirs in different lan- 

 guages, produced in the course of a hundred years, 

 had shown that there existed some vague notion as 

 to the practicability of artificial fecundation. And 

 on this basis our two fishermen were accused of pla- 

 giarising the original idea — they who in their process 

 had never studied any other than the book of nature. 



We are greatly astonished at the injustice of 

 these learned men, whose position should have 

 prevented them from such acts. It is well known 

 that learning does not invent : that is the province 

 of genius. The most beautiful ideas are not due to 

 science ; they are hatched from privileged brains, 

 where they spontaneously appear, without regard to 

 the knowledge of their possessor. Study does not 

 conduct to ideas, it only leads to consequences. 



In the present case it seems to us, that, so far 



