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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



OUT op the: beaten track 



I was walking along the road one day 

 in my country place in Nova Scotia, 

 when the idea occurred to leave the 

 beaten track and dive into the woods. 

 Well, I had not gone 50 feet before I 

 came upon a gully, and down at the bot- 

 tom was a beautiful little stream. I never 

 knew of it before. 



Of course, I was not satisfied with the 

 mere discovery, but went down into the 

 gully and explored it right and left. I 

 followed it up to its source. I followed 

 it downward for half a mile, through a 

 beautiful moss-grown valley, until at last 

 the little streamlet discharged into a pond, 

 and away in the distance I could see a 

 sea beach with the open water beyond. 



Now, just think of that! Here was a 

 beautiful gorge, half a mile long, right on 

 my own place, and coming at one point 

 within 50 feet of a well-trodden road, and 

 I never knew of its existence before. We 

 are all too much inclined, I think, to walk 

 through life with our eyes shut. There 

 are things all round us and right at our 

 very feet that we have never seen, be- 

 cause we have never really looked. 



Don't keep forever on the public road, 

 going only where others have gone and 

 following one after the other like a flock 

 of sheep. Leave the beaten track occa- 

 sionally and dive into the woods. Every 

 time you do so you will be certain to find 

 something that you have never seen be- 

 fore. Of course it will be a little thing, 

 but do not ignore it. Follow it up, ex- 

 plore all round it ; one discovery will lead 

 to another, and before you know it you 

 will have something worth thinking about 

 to occupy your mind. All really big dis- 

 coveries are the results of thought. 



THE BEGINNINGS OE INVENTION 



I dare say you have all heard of that 

 celebrated painter who would never allow 

 any one to mix his colors for him. He 

 always insisted on doing that himself, and 

 at last one of his students, whose curi- 

 osity had been aroused, said: "Professor, 

 what do you mix your colors with?" 

 "With brains, sir," said the professor. 

 Now, that is what we have to do with 

 our observations. 



I think I left you with your head under 

 water listening to the clicking of two 

 stones. Now, let us see whether we can- 

 not use our brains to get you out of so 

 awkward a predicament. We will then 

 have entered the realm of invention, as 

 distinct from discovery. 



Why should we not simply put the ear 

 to the water instead of submerging the 

 whole head? 



Why should we not ring a bell under 

 water instead of clicking stones together 

 to make a noise. An ordinary dinner 

 bell would do. Empty it of air and ring 

 it under water, and the sound can be 

 heard by a submerged ear at a great dis- 

 tance away. 



It is a little awkward, however, to keep 

 the ear continuously submerged on ac- 

 count of the movements of the surface 

 water. Every now and then a little wave 

 will slap you in the face, and you are apt 

 to choke if you are caught unprepared. 



Why would it not be better to transmit 

 the sound vibrations from the water to 

 the ear through some intervening mech- 

 anism, and thus obviate the necessity of 

 submerging the ear at all ? 



I have tried submerged hearing tubes 

 of various kinds and planks of wood par- 

 tially submerged, with the ear applied to 

 the part out of water. 



If you put your ear to the bottom of a 

 boat — inside, of course, not outside — you 

 can hear a bell at a distance quite readily. 

 It still is a little awkward, however, to 

 get your ear against the planks of the 

 boat ; but brains will help you out. Just 

 fix a telephone transmitter to the planks 

 of the boat, and you can sit at ease with 

 the telephone receiver at your ear. 



You may even put the telephone trans- 

 mitter overboard. It then becomes a sub- 

 merged ear and will listen for you under 

 water. 



EISHING WITH TELEPHONES 



I have often thought I should like to 

 go on the banks of Newfoundland and 

 fish with a telephone. If you were to 

 send the transmitter down among the 

 codfish with the bait, perhaps you would 

 find something there to hear. I have 

 never tried it. I will leave that to you. 



We now have numbers of steamers 



