Columbus discovered America; Edison invented the phonograph, the
incandescent light, and many other things. If Columbus had not
discovered America, some other voyager would have. If Harvey had not
discovered the circulation of the blood, some one else would have. The
wonder is that it was not discovered ages before. So far as I know, no
one has yet discovered the function of the spleen, but doubtless in
time some one will. It is only comparatively recently that the
functions of other ductless glands have been discovered. What did we
know about the thyroid gland a half-century ago? All the new
discoveries in the heavens waited upon the new astronomic methods, and
the end is not yet. Many things in nature are still like an unexplored
land. New remedies for the ills of the human body doubtless remain to
be found. In the mechanical world probably no new principle remains to
be discovered. "Keely" frauds have had their day. In the chemical
world, the list of primary elements will probably not be added to,
though new combinations of these elements may be almost endless. In
the biological world, new species of insects, birds, and mammals
doubtless remain to be discovered. Our knowledge of the natural
history of the globe is far from being complete.
But in regard to inventions the case is different. I find myself
speculating on such a question as this: If Edison had never been born,
should we ever have had the phonograph, or the incandescent light? If
Graham Bell had died in infancy, should we ever have had the
telephone? Or without Marconi should we have had the wireless, or
without Morse, the telegraph? Or, to go back still farther, without
Franklin should we ever have known the identity of lightning and
electricity? Who taught us how to control electricity and make it do
our work? One of the questions of Job was, "Canst thou send
lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?" Yes, we
can. "We are ready to do your bidding," they seem to say, "to run your
errands, to carry your burdens, to grind your grist, to light your
houses, to destroy your enemies."
The new inventions that the future holds for us wait upon the new man.
The discovery of radium--what a secret that was! But in all
probability had not Curie and his wife discovered it, some other
investigator would.
Shall we ever learn how to use the atomic energy that is locked up in
matter? Or how to use the uniform temperature of the globe? Or the
secret of the glow-worm and firefly--light without heat?
The laws of the conservation of energy and of the correlation of
forces were discoveries. The art of aviation was both an invention and
a discovery. The soaring hawks and eagles we have always been familiar
with; the Wright brothers invented the machine that could do the
trick.
"Necessity is the mother of invention." As our wants increase, new
devices to meet them appear. How the diving-bell answered a real need!
The motor-car also, and the flying-machine. The sewing-machine is a
great time-saver; the little hooks in our shoes in place of eyelets
are great time-savers; pins, and friction matches, and rubber
overshoes, and scores on scores of other inventions answer to real
needs. Necessity did not call the phonograph into being, nor the
incandescent light, but the high explosives, dynamite and T. N. T.
(trinitrotoluol) met real wants.
The Great War with its submarines stimulated inventors to devise
weapons to cope with them. Always as man's hand and eyes and ears have
needed reënforcing or extending, his wit has come to his rescue. In
fact, his progress has been contingent upon this very fact. His
necessities and his power of invention react upon one another; the
more he invents, the more he wants, and the more he wants, the more he
invents.