1 87 1.] Thoughts Suggested by Patent Rights. 515 



Herodotus had not done it ? No man has a right to say that 

 it ever would have been given ; we believe it would have 

 been lost as the history of most other times has been lost to 

 us, leaving only the scanty pickings of the scholar. Had 

 David not written the Psalms the deepest insight given to 

 us of the human heart would have been lost. Providence 

 does not send one man immediately to do the work of another 

 who has been neglected. If the world neglects its benefactors 

 it must suffer, and it does suffer. This is most assuredly 

 true of the great men, the prophets, the sages, the wise 

 rulers, the great poets and historians ; their wisdom lies 

 for ages unnoticed. The question arises, does the same 

 argument apply to science and to the arts ? It does, although 

 not with equal power. The reason of the inequality lies in 

 the line which science has drawn for enquiry, a good deal 

 of the road is already roughly made a-head of the part 

 where the side-lands are inhabited. But only roughly made, 

 and we frequently err by fancying that it is made at all, and 

 he who goes quite off the common track is often the most 

 successful. Had Faraday not lived we have no reason to 

 believe that our knowledge of magnetism would have been 

 where it is — we are almost certain it would not. Had Joule 

 not been born it is equally certain that our knowledge of 

 heat and force would have been in a very dim state. We 

 see no men that were inclined or able to take his exact 

 place. In the applications of science Davy knew the action 

 of light upon silver salts, and tried to make pictures, but 

 failed. It was not done till about thirty years afterwards, 

 and not well done on paper for fifty years. 



Even in those things demanded in daily life how slow is 

 thought, and how confined to a few ! Phosphorus is known 

 for two hundred years before we can make matches by 

 its help. Ether is known, we do not remember how long, 

 but very long before it can be used for preventing pain 

 in some of our greatest days of trial. Davy tried the inha- 

 lation of gases, and he, a man of genius, missed anaesthetics. 

 We have here the same great fact — it is individuals who are 

 remarkable, and few individuals. It is so in size, it is only 

 occasionally that one man is larger than his fellows. It is 

 so with the lower animals also, and one horse, or one cow, 

 bull, sheep, or swine, when thus advanced by nature, 

 becomes so much admired, that its race is soon carefully 

 spread over all the country, at least as much as time will 

 permit, — an artificial added to a natural selection. It is the 

 same with plants, and one rapidly spreads its progeny every- 

 where, advertised in all corners and sold by all florists. 



VOL. VIII. (O.S.) — VOL. I. (N.S.) 3 X 



