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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78988 ***
+
+
+
+
+ LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 1471
+ Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius
+
+ How to Become
+ Mentally Superior
+
+ What Makes One Rise Above
+ the Average
+
+ Henry M. Le Chatelier
+
+ (Translated from the French by Ralph E. Oesper)
+
+ HALDEMAN-JULIUS PUBLICATIONS
+ GIRARD, KANSAS
+
+
+
+
+ Copyright, 1929,
+ Haldeman-Julius Company
+
+ PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+
+
+
+HOW TO BECOME MENTALLY SUPERIOR
+
+
+Every school gains renown not only through the scientific achievements
+of its professors, but also because of the industrial successes of its
+former students. Schools have been a potent factor in the development
+of an intellectual elite, the class responsible for the progress of
+civilization in any country. If Europe is superior to Africa, the
+sole cause lies in the possession of leaders. The blacks of savage
+countries may be good manual laborers, but they lack a select class to
+direct them, either as governing officials, as officers in warfare,
+as scholars, as engineers or as organizers of their industries. The
+formation of an intellectual superior class should be the dominant
+preoccupation of any country that expects to cut a figure in world
+affairs.
+
+The geologist, de Lapparent, in a didactic statement declared that
+every terrain is, of necessity, divided into three strata; the
+upper, the middle and the lower. The intellectuals likewise may be
+placed on three levels; the men of genius, whose fame and influence
+extend throughout the world for many centuries; the great men, whose
+renown, however great at a given time, is finally eclipsed by that
+of their successors, and lastly, the lower elite, who temporarily
+exert a useful influence within rather narrow boundaries, but never
+attain far-reaching notability. Each of these three categories of
+intellectual superiors renders about the same value of service to
+humanity; the men of genius are certainly the greatest benefactors, but
+they also occur most seldom. In algebraic terms, the product of the
+number in each class multiplied by each individual’s usefulness gives a
+constant.
+
+In a talk to the students of an American university Carnegie said:
+“I am speaking only to those of you who are ambitious to become
+millionaires; the others do not interest me.” The present speaker
+wishes to emphasize a parallel thought: “I am speaking only to those
+of you who have an ambition to raise yourselves above the average, and
+I believe this will include all of you.” It would surely be folly for
+anyone to deliberately set out to become a genius, because this goal
+can only be reached through exceptional qualities, but we all can and
+should strive to be numbered among the elite, to use this term in its
+proper sense. With the exception of certain afflicted individuals,
+fortunately not numerous, all of us from birth have the requisite
+qualities. The rest is dependent on will power and on the method of
+developing and applying our natural endowments.
+
+Let us examine together, using the experimental method, the conditions
+attendant upon the recruitment of the intellectual elite. For this
+purpose we need not distinguish the levels of attainment, for they do
+not differ in nature, but only in degree. We can then cite as examples
+great men with whose lives you are more familiar, and from these we
+may draw conclusions applicable to the formation of the ordinary elite.
+What qualities are essential and how may these be developed?
+
+
+
+
+ACTIVITY
+
+
+The most striking characteristic of great men is their zeal for
+work. None of them observed the eight-hour day, no matter what the
+field of their activities. We may cite as examples great statesmen,
+such as Napoleon or Louis XIV; great writers, such as Victor Hugo or
+Lamartine; great artists, such as Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci;
+great scientists, such as Lavoisier or Pasteur; great manufacturers,
+such as Bessemer or Siemens. In truth, they often employed the most
+varied ruses to protect their working periods from interruption.
+Napoleon assembled his ministerial council during the soirees at the
+Tuileries, leaving the reception of guests to the Empress Josephine.
+Buffon took refuge in his country house and there peacefully wrote his
+natural history. Descartes secreted himself in a little Dutch village
+when he desired to cultivate his philosophical meditations. The labor
+expended by celebrated men is sometimes greatly underestimated. Powers
+of extemporaneous speaking far beyond reality are often ascribed to
+great orators. As a matter of fact, the most successful of them write
+out their addresses in full before delivering them. Mistaken notions
+as to this have originated from false claims. Emile Zola pretended
+that his voluminous literary output required only three hours’ daily
+toil. Perhaps he did not actually keep the pen in his hand longer than
+that, but the final wording comprises only a small part of literary
+production.
+
+Francisque Sarcey, while discussing the art of lecturing, very
+judicially analyzed the importance of preliminary work. He said:
+
+“The title of a lecture should be chosen a month in advance of the
+delivery; then the subject matter should be considered for two weeks
+during every free moment, especially while strolling about. By
+degrees, new and interesting points of view will appear spontaneously;
+these should be classified either in the memory or jotted down
+systematically. During the third week, the material thus accumulated
+should be gone over mentally, the less important points rejected or
+suppressed, the others rearranged in their logical order and the
+connecting thoughts brought to light. At last, during the fourth week,
+the final wording is committed to paper and this requires no great
+effort.”
+
+Great men have not only labored much, but their efforts have been
+confined to a few specialties, thus increasing the intensity of their
+work. In hydrostatics a force is concentrated on a piston of small
+area in order to produce great pressures. Saint Claire Deville devoted
+half of his career to the study of dissociation. Berthelot worked
+fifteen years on organic synthesis, fifteen years on thermo-chemistry
+and fifteen years on agricultural chemistry. Many scientists owe
+their fame to studies made in a single field as instanced by Pasteur
+in microbiology, Fresnel with the theory of light, Ampere and the laws
+of electrodynamics. The same holds true in industrial applications and
+as examples we have Vicat and hydraulic cements or Fourneyron and the
+turbine.
+
+This concentration of effort cannot be recommended too highly to young
+investigators, for they frequently exhibit an opposite tendency and
+allow themselves to be enticed from one thing to another by topics
+which appeal to them. Only men of exceptional endowments, like Leonardo
+da Vinci or Lavoisier, can successfully distribute their efforts
+without paralyzing their creative powers. Some scholars carry this
+specialization of their endeavors to excess and pride themselves on
+the extent to which they disregard the obligations of daily life. Many
+stories in this vein are related of Ampere and of Henri Poincare. The
+following actual occurrence illustrates the same point. I was invited
+to dine with an illustrious foreigner and on arriving at the hotel
+I was told by my host that his wife was ill and consequently she
+could not dine with us. He said: “Under these conditions will you be
+kind enough to order the dinner, for since I have never studied this
+subject, I know nothing about such matters.”
+
+It is not sufficient to work hard, but is also essential to work
+efficiently, i. e., time must not be wasted on useless projects. A
+plan of attack should be formulated in advance of starting the actual
+work of writing, so that there need be no hesitation. Attempts to
+do two things at the same time are usually fruitless, and it should
+be matter of principle not to stop working until something definite
+has been achieved. Learn to persevere and do not hesitate to adhere
+to a decision made after proper reflection. It is this spirit of
+organization, this convergence of efforts that is so highly manifested
+by great political leaders such as Louvois, Napoleon, Cavour, Mussolini.
+
+Much gain may accrue by organizing the vague, spontaneous thoughts
+which the mind cannot suppress, even though they appear to have little
+value. We are always thinking about something, and this involuntary
+thought is much less fatiguing than mental effort consciously directed
+toward definite production. This preparatory reflection is sometimes
+erroneously regarded as being quite distinct from the real work, but
+this opinion is quite wrong, for preliminary thought is an essential
+forerunner of all creative achievement. In fact, it is just as
+indispensable as the final effort and the latter will certainly be
+of little avail if the way has not been properly prepared. If the
+mind could be trained not to think useless thoughts, the productive
+capacity would be enormously enhanced. When Newton was asked how he
+had discovered the laws of universal attraction, he replied: “By
+always thinking about them.” This may be the dominant reason for the
+superiority of great men, but we really know very little about this
+fugitive thinking, whose manifestations are not external. In fact,
+the originators of such mental processes are sometimes not conscious
+of their operation, or, as we say, we are here dealing with the
+subconscious. Henri Poincare claimed that he thought during sleep, and
+on waking would find at hand the solution of problems which had baffled
+him the day before. However, this is not a commendable practice, for it
+is opposed to the rest which each night’s sleep should bring.
+
+How may a zeal for work be developed? Is it a natural gift or is it a
+result of education? The greatest stimulant of activity is habit, which
+proverbially becomes second nature. After leading an active life, it is
+not possible to stop work without suffering. Idleness due to retirement
+rapidly kills many men who previously had enjoyed excellent health.
+After the habit of working is once formed, a man will work for the mere
+joy of working just as we walk for the pleasure of the exercise. It has
+become a necessity.
+
+However, this habit is not easily acquired. Temperament plays some
+part. Certain children, from birth on, exhibit more will power, have
+more acute faculties of attention, are more persevering, all of which
+are essential to the accomplishment of a protracted task. Yet these
+predispositions are, in general, developed only to a slight degree and
+play only a minor part in the differentiation of individuals. Other
+factors seem to be of greater importance.
+
+The example of the home and of companions exercises a preponderant
+influence. A child who all his life has seen an industrious father will
+merely through imitation be led to accept the law of the obligation to
+work. Pascal, Lavoisier, Pasteur were raised in families in which honor
+was paid to industry. Whether the latter is intellectual or manual
+matters little. Very few, or perhaps no great men, have come from the
+families of the idle rich.
+
+A second very potent factor is ambition, that is the desire to acquire
+riches or honors. Men not favored by the fortunes of birth sometimes
+struggle with extreme energy to make a place for themselves. A
+striking instance of the power of ambition is found in the career of
+Senator Leopold Goirand, who died recently. He published some essays
+on education which reveal curious points in his psychological makeup.
+At the age of fifteen, he conceived the dual ambition to become very
+rich and to attain a powerful political position. He succeeded in
+both endeavors. For twenty years he forced himself to be content with
+six hours of sleep each night in order to lengthen his working day.
+Each morning on arising he spent two hours acquiring general culture,
+the rest of the day was devoted to his business, and finally the
+evenings were passed in attendance on social affairs, for the latter
+are extremely useful in the prosecution of a career. Not until his
+physician warned him that he was no longer fit to continue this program
+did he consent to sleep eight hours nightly. Many similar examples may
+be cited.
+
+In Bessemer’s autobiography, which is a veritable romance, he tells of
+his superhuman efforts, as a young man, to earn enough money to marry.
+While Cavour was striving to create the Italian kingdom, he allowed
+himself only five hours’ sleep each night so that he might have time
+for the stupendous task whose realization had been the dream of his
+whole life. He took over the direction of four ministries at one time.
+
+A third stimulus, more noble than those already discussed, is the
+attraction inherent in the fruits of labor, i. e., the joy of knowledge
+and the pleasure of performance. The passion for knowledge or success
+in a chosen field often arouses men who by temperament or habit might
+have been inclined to loaf. A pertinent example is Mallard, one of the
+scientific glories of France. Like many others who graduated from the
+Ecole Polytechnique at the top of the class he seemed to be destined
+for a standardized, peaceful career in the governmental service. As
+engineer at Gueret and then as professor at Saint Etienne he divided
+his activity between long journeys and everyday affairs, attending to
+his ministrative duties and his teaching. At the age of forty he was
+appointed professor of mineralogy in the School of Mines in Paris and
+consequently because of his teaching duties he found himself obliged to
+study this science. He became deeply interested in one of its branches,
+crystallography, and for twenty years, until his death, all his efforts
+were concentrated in this field. He succeeded in working out original
+demonstrations of the laws of crystallography and he created a new
+chapter in this field, the theory of crystalline groupings.
+
+Many similar cases are found among scholars, for many of them are
+motivated chiefly by the joy of knowledge. On the other hand, examples
+of this disinterested activity are less frequent among industrialists.
+However, the pleasure of achievement, rather than the mere love of
+gain, has actuated the greatest of these. The optician Zeiss worked
+for the glory of his country, Germany, and his native city, Jena.
+The Danish brewer Jacobsen engaged in business only to gain the
+means of endowing the museums and laboratories of Copenhagen, which
+have become world famous. The American millionaire Carnegie while
+a young man spent his free time in libraries solely because of his
+desire to learn. He later devoted the major portion of his immense
+wealth to the development of public libraries and to the founding of
+an institute of scientific research. Henry Ford left the farm and
+worked in a locksmith’s establishment because of a desire to learn
+the use of tools, and even now he derives great pleasure from heading
+a well-organized industry. I knew two contractors who had taken part
+in the construction of the Suez Canal. They retired from business and
+took up agriculture. One engaged in stock-raising, the other developed
+a model farm. They devoted all their energies to the enterprises and
+ran them so that the receipts and expenses balanced, neither profit nor
+loss resulting. Their sole ambition was to do a good piece of work and
+to turn out products of superior quality.
+
+This joy in work may be developed by education and without difficulty.
+Success is assured if less attention is given to preparing for
+examinations and more stress laid on the intellectual molding of the
+children. From their earliest years they have a wide-awake curiosity,
+they continually ask why and how. Instead of eradicating this
+disposition, it should be cultivated. Science courses lend themselves
+wonderfully to this end. Emphasis should be placed on the linking
+together of facts, which is the essence of the scientific method,
+discarding the fastidious enumeration of isolated facts which so
+overburden the memories of pupils today. Any child can be interested in
+the consequences of Pascal’s laws of hydrostatics and made anxious to
+work diligently to understand them. A study of Archimedes’ principle,
+applied to floating bodies, of hydrometers, of water levels in
+connecting vessels, of atmospheric pressure--all these may be grouped
+around Pascal’s laws and thus made into an attractive ensemble. It
+is wrong to treat each of these topics as a separate chapter as many
+physics texts do, for then the intimate relationships disappear from
+view and likewise all attractiveness is lost.
+
+Manual exercises should be included in the secondary curriculum because
+the formation of ideas in young people is rendered more easy and
+pleasant by combining sight and touch. They love motion. For instance,
+when teaching hydrostatics, the pupils may be directed to cut cubes
+from various kinds of wood, to measure them, to weigh them and finally
+to determine the loss in weight when the cubes are immersed in water.
+An exercise of this kind makes the appreciation of Archimedes’
+principle pleasurable. In the same way, preliminary exercises in
+graphic plan-making lead to a much easier understanding of geometrical
+reasoning. Much less intellectual effort is required to comprehend the
+demonstration of a truth if actual experimentation has previously made
+the reality familiar.
+
+A final incentive to the ardor for work is good health. The thought
+of working or still more of getting to work, i. e., the wish to do
+something, involves, if not a true fatigue, at least a feeling of
+fatigue which leads many to shrink back. A good digestion and restful
+sleep make the thought of work much more agreeable. This does not imply
+that a strong will cannot overcome the weakness arising from poor
+health, for there are remarkable instances of such victories, but they
+are rather exceptional. Pascal subdued his infirmities, but the strain
+finally killed him. Health always is a great driving power, and the
+truth of the axiom, “_mens sana in corpore sano_,” cannot be debated.
+Physical culture should occupy an important place in the education of
+the young; it is indispensable in the formation of the intellectual
+elite of a nation. However, it must not be forgotten that muscular
+fatigue renders all mental labor impossible for the time being. The
+physical exercise should follow intellectual exertion, but should never
+precede. While in Holland, Descartes devoted his mornings to philosophy
+and cultivated his garden in the afternoons.
+
+
+
+
+IMAGINATION
+
+
+A useful member of society does not merely work hard and produce much
+for his own benefit; he should add to the common fund of knowledge.
+In other words, he must produce new ideas, discover scientific laws,
+devise new literary or artistic presentations, perfect methods of
+government; in short, he must play a creative role.
+
+What is the mechanism by which this progress is realized? Contrary to
+popular belief, our knowledge does not increase by leaps and bounds,
+but the development is regular and very slow. Each step forward, in
+the majority of cases, comes from the simple combination of facts
+previously known. It is only necessary to delve in the storehouse of
+knowledge and to bring new relations to light. This correlation is a
+fruit of the mental faculty, imagination, whose functioning is rather
+capricious. The solution of a problem may be sought unsuccessfully for
+a long time, and then suddenly it may flash into the mind at a time
+when the problem is no longer being consciously considered.
+
+The work of all great men shows the employment of imagination; it
+constitutes the beginning of all great discoveries. Pascal created
+hydrostatics by connecting the limitation of the height of a
+barometric column with the weight of the atmosphere; Newton discovered
+universal gravitation by comparing the movement of the planets with the
+fall of an apple; Pasteur founded microbiology by connecting the spread
+of disease with the life processes of microscopic organisms. Likewise,
+in the field of letters, we find writers dealing with ideas common to
+all humanity and sending them forth in new attire. La Fontaine gave
+life to Aesop’s fables by endowing the animals with speech; Corneille
+introduced a sense of duty magnified almost to heroism into the Spanish
+dramas. Artists sometimes slightly exaggerate certain features of
+their models to produce a more striking representation. Michelangelo
+accentuated the muscular development of heroic figures and Raphael the
+grace of women.
+
+The same is true in industry. Sir William Siemens applied the
+theoretical reasoning of Sadi-Carnot to the heating of hearths, and
+the regenerative furnace resulted. He invented neither thermo-dynamics
+nor industrial heating, but by uniting these two sets of facts, he
+brought about a great advance, which made possible the modern processes
+of making steel in open hearths and of glass in tank furnaces. All
+inventors possess this mental activity, sometimes to excess. It is
+interesting to read Bessemer’s autobiography from this point of view.
+We see his mind always in feverish agitation, trying each day to
+produce something new, usually without success.
+
+This first type of imagination is meditative. It acts slowly, and to
+a certain degree may be governed by the will. There is a second type,
+rather more delicate in nature, whose action is sudden and not preceded
+by reflection. It is this type which enables us to see at a glance all
+the correlations and distant consequences of a chance observation. The
+predisposing factors are impressionability and nervous sensibility.
+This quality varies greatly from individual to individual, certain
+minds respond to the slightest external suggestion, while others feel
+nothing, see nothing. In general, great scholars are characterized by
+a highly developed aptitude for sensing and using facts presented to
+them. The accidental observation that his determinations of the density
+of nitrogen were discordant led Lord Rayleigh to the discovery of
+argon. Other investigators had been faced with the same phenomenon, but
+were not markedly impressed. While attempting to fuse platinum, Saint
+Claire Deville was struck by the difference between the calculated
+temperature of the oxy-hydrogen flame and the observed melting point
+of platinum. This led him to suspect the dissociation of water vapor,
+while his collaborators, possessed of the same facts, thought nothing
+of them. Similarly, Bessemer was led to his process of producing steel
+in a converter by the fortuitous observation of the formation of
+malleable steel during an attempt to harden cast iron. Or better still,
+Auer von Welsbach discovered the incandescent mantle through a chance
+observation of the light emitted on calcination of precipitated thoria.
+Numerous analytical chemists had doubtless seen the same thing, but
+their attention was not arrested.
+
+Great artists viewing nature, great generals before a battle, great
+lawyers before a trial are sensible to instantaneous impressions which
+escape the notice of ordinary men. The two types of intellectual
+activity seem to be predominantly natural endowments. Some children
+have wide-awake minds, others are more dull and remain thus throughout
+life.
+
+This quality may, however, be developed by education, and more
+attention should be paid to this phase of education, than is usually
+the case. Exercises in writing composition, problems in geometry,
+afford excellent material from which to build up mental habits
+of using accumulated knowledge or of seeking new correlations of
+known facts. This type of training is doubtless the most useful
+function of secondary education. On the other hand, education cannot
+develop the second type of mental activity which is not dependent on
+reflection, but which functions instantly in some way not known to us.
+Nevertheless, there seems to be some possibility of perfecting this
+natural endowment by suitable laboratory exercises.
+
+
+
+
+JUDGMENT
+
+
+The combining of imagination and work, i. e., intellectual activity
+joined to bodily activity, does not entirely suffice for the making
+of a great man. Excellent examples are inventors, who almost without
+exception are possessed of active minds and an equal ardor for
+work, and yet few of them become great. In fact, many of them have
+difficulty in making both ends meet, and they remain mediocrities. The
+two qualities can only be used efficiently if joined with a third;
+namely, common sense. This latter, if developed to its highest degree,
+becomes what Pascal has called the sense of finesse. Bodily and mental
+activity are certainly powerful instruments, but like all aids they
+must be used judiciously. Common sense should guide the choice of
+problems to be studied.
+
+One of the most potent reasons for the success of great men is that
+they were wise enough to apply their efforts to worth-while problems.
+Why will the names of Lavoisier, Sadi-Carnot, Ampere, Fresnel, Saint
+Claire Deville, Berthelot always be famous? It is because of the
+greatness of the topics they studied. The results of their discoveries
+in chemistry, thermo-dynamics, electrodynamics, physical optics,
+chemical mechanics, organic synthesis have echoed again and again, and
+the reverberations are daily multiplied.
+
+Many years ago Taine said that the systematic study of the dominant
+features of his subject was the essential characteristic of the
+work of a true artist. The same holds true in all realms of human
+activity. There are dominant phenomena whose influence is felt under
+most manifold circumstances. A knowledge of these favoring factors is
+of inestimable value to the human race, and their discoveries merit
+suitable recognition on the part of their fellowmen.
+
+A second form of judgment is “critical sense,” indispensable to
+both scholars and to those directing industries. This gift makes
+possible the detection of errors in measurements or leads to a
+premonition against erroneous interpretations of observations. It
+is often lacking in inventors, who are prone to persist in their
+notions despite self-evident failures. Lesser intellectual lights
+also cannot bring themselves to abandon favorite hypotheses which are
+not in agreement with the facts; they seek refuge in new additional
+hypotheses and cling fast to the original notion. Ditte, a pupil of
+Saint Claire Deville, furnished a striking example of this type of
+mental gymnastics. While trying to extend the law of fixed dissociation
+tensions to the decomposition of solutions of mercuric sulphate, he
+found that the concentration of the liquid with respect to sulphuric
+acid increased with increasing concentration of mercuric sulphate.
+Instead of abandoning his hypothesis, which was obviously inaccurate,
+he introduced a second, which today appears absurd, but for a time
+it enjoyed a certain credence among chemists. He postulated that
+the dissolved mercuric sulphate was present in two forms, part as
+neutral salt and part as basic salt, dissolved in, but not combined
+with, sulphuric acid. He calculated the proportion of the basic salt
+supposedly thus dissolved which would leave a constant concentration
+of sulphuric acid in solution, and he viewed the results of this
+arbitrary calculation as experimental verification of his hypothesis.
+This species of error is constantly perpetrated nowadays by those
+who speculate as to the constitution of matter. Savants who, like
+Lavoisier, Claud Bernard, Pasteur, combine an ever-watchful imagination
+with a critical sense severe enough to lead them to discard hypotheses
+found contrary to fact are extremely rare.
+
+Finally, there is a still more refined form of common sense, namely,
+the sense of subtle discrimination which enables us to guide our minds
+directly into domains of thought which are not perfectly obvious. It
+is often asserted that hypotheses are free to all, an investigator
+may postulate what he pleases, provided he finally subjects his
+notions to precise, experimental test. However, it is distinctly
+worth-while not to set up too many inexact hypotheses, for time should
+be economized to the end that production may be increased. A certain
+instinctive discernment is necessary to set one rapidly on the best
+line of procedure. Rules for this cannot be laid down; it is a matter
+of feeling and not of reason. The remarkable productivity of Pasteur
+was doubtless due to his ability, from the very first, to thoroughly
+organize his researches. Sometimes this ability is ascribed to chance,
+but this is not correct, for we see here the fruit of a very shrewd
+form of common sense. Saint Claire Deville’s thought that there might
+be a possible analogy between the phenomena of decomposition and those
+of vaporization was an intuition of genius; it led him to the discovery
+of chemical equilibrium, which he termed dissociation, and a new
+science, chemical mechanics, has been erected on this idea.
+
+Good common sense is often a gift of nature, but the more delicate
+sense of subtle discrimination is principally a result of education.
+It is very rarely observed among the children of the lower grades; it
+is a product of classical education, and, above all, it springs from
+that which is taught in the home. The English declare that thirty-six
+years of education are necessary to make a gentleman, twelve for the
+grandfather, twelve for the father and twelve for the son. The same
+holds true for this sense of finesse. Pascal, Lavoisier, scholars of
+the first rank, came from families of long-standing culture, and their
+successes were due in large measure to the prolonged efforts of their
+ancestors.
+
+The study of classics and humanities aids in developing this trait.
+Literary or historical criticism requires a constant evaluation of
+opposing points of view to determine the part played by each in
+domains not amenable to exact measurement. On the other hand, the
+study of science develops the geometrical viewpoint, i. e., the use of
+syllogism, which is utterly useless when comparing phenomena possessing
+no common measure or such as are based on mere probabilities. The
+exclusive use of rigorous reasoning and an absolute faith in his
+conclusions are sometimes very dangerous to a savant. They hinder him
+from taking account of the real value of the hypotheses which he has
+made and from recognizing the possible errors in his experiments. These
+modes of thought are not less hazardous to the industrialist to whom
+they may impart an unwarranted confidence in the predictions as to the
+advantages of a new business venture or of a new method of manufacture.
+
+
+
+
+DOCUMENTATION
+
+
+Many of the essentials for laying claim to a right to be numbered
+among the intellectual elite have been discussed above, but not all.
+Suppose that a savage has had from birth all the qualities which we
+have just reviewed, but that he is entirely ignorant of the progress of
+the science and industry of the civilized world. It would be extremely
+difficult for him to advance our knowledge, for he knows nothing about
+such matters. He can accomplish feats which to him seem extraordinarily
+difficult, such as, cutting flint or extracting iron from ores, just as
+his ancestors did. To us, however, he would seem ignorant and no one
+would dream of classing him as a great man.
+
+No one can make innovations or improve our knowledge unless he is
+cognizant of actual conditions. There are several reasons why this is
+so. In the first place, one can obviously improve only those things
+which he really knows. A frequent cause of the failure of inventors
+is that they knowingly venture into unfamiliar fields. Bessemer, the
+son of a metallurgist, advanced the science of metallurgy, but made
+a miserable failure when he attempted to build a large telescope and
+also when he tried to construct a boat designed to prevent seasickness,
+because he knew little or nothing about the theory of optical
+instruments or of mechanical principles.
+
+While serving on a commission appointed to investigate fire damp, I met
+a physician, intelligent, possessed of a good practice, but obsessed by
+the demon of invention. Much affected by an explosion in which several
+hundred miners had been killed, he thought it would be a good thing
+to send a current of air through the mine to sweep out the explosive
+gases and thus obviate such disasters. He disclosed his plan to an
+official in the Department of Public Works, and the latter warmly
+congratulated him on his initiative. This unfortunate encouragement
+led him to abandon his practice for a year and he devoted himself to
+the construction of a ventilating system. We were obliged to inform
+him that every coal mine in the world is ventilated. Furthermore,
+twenty kilometers from his home he could have seen in action immense
+installations which closely resembled the blowing apparatus which he
+had worked out, and this device differed but slightly from the bellows
+used for several thousands of years by savages for melting metals.
+
+A second reason for being well acquainted with the field arises from
+the fact that all creative advances, all discoveries are, for the
+most part, the result of combining facts already known. The progress
+achieved by a single individual is, in general, extremely little, but
+among these short steps forward, one perhaps, like the last drop which
+causes the vessel to overflow, may make an invention realizable or it
+may alter the orientation of our scientific ideas.
+
+Pasteur did not invent the communication of diseases, for this
+was known to all physicians, nor did he discover the existence of
+living microscopic organisms, which had been studied from the time
+of Spallanzani. He merely compared these two sets of phenomena and
+recognized their relations one to the other. Had he not known the
+facts, he could not have made the discovery. Likewise, Lavoisier did
+not invent the balance; it had often been used before. Every alchemist
+who extracted metals from ores had checked the efficiency of his
+procedures by weighing. On the other hand, all the physicists knew
+that gases had weight. Lavoisier simply had to combine these facts to
+recognize that the increase in weight of metals when calcined in the
+air was due to the absorption of a gas, oxygen. The time was ripe for
+this discovery, and Lavoisier had only to pluck the ripened fruit.
+
+The same holds true in industry. The open hearth process of making
+steel resulted from a combination of Reaumur’s century-old work on
+the refining of cast iron and Siemens’ new method of heating. In his
+invention of the incandescent gas mantle, von Welsbach started with
+Clamond’s magnesia “basket” and perfected this device by substituting
+thoria for the magnesia. This linkage of known facts is so common
+that no industrial invention is so novel that the lawyers cannot find
+authorities for prior claims. For the same reason, the defamers of
+great scholars, great writers and great painters find great pleasure in
+accusing them of plagiarism. Fontaine has been reproached with having
+copied from Aesop, and Corneille is accused of servile imitation of
+Guillen de Castro.
+
+If the popular saying, “There is nothing new under the sun,” is surely
+not strictly true, nevertheless it is quite accurate to state that
+progress due to any one man is comparatively small. Humanity moves
+forward at a slow pace, but the thousand-fold accumulation of short
+steps forward has altered the face of the world. This progressive
+revolution has only been possible because men have had a thorough
+knowledge of the accomplishments of their predecessors.
+
+A third reason for being well versed is that accomplishment of anything
+new demands a knowledge of the technique of the field, and this has to
+be learned. If Bessemer had not been a founder in his youth he would
+never have invented his process of making steel. A thorough knowledge
+of analytical chemistry is essential to the making of chemical
+discoveries; success in literature is only possible to one who really
+knows his own language; a painter must know how to draw. This assertion
+may appear to be a step backward. Too many artists try to paint,
+knowing neither drawing nor manipulation of colors; too many scientists
+have no interest in methods involving actual measurements, but they are
+content to construct their science with pencil and paper only. These
+varieties of modern painting and science are very fruitful for their
+devotees. However, who dares to assert that the cubists and similar
+faddists will some day be classed as great painters or that much of
+our present-day theories of the constitution of matter will be highly
+regarded fifty years from now. In comparison, the men who discovered
+new laws in chemistry, electricity, optics, etc., will be just as
+honored thousands of years hence, as Pythagoras, Ptolemy and Archimedes
+now are.
+
+This knowledge of the field, essential to any worker who hopes to
+advance human welfare, may be acquired through instruction furnished by
+schools of all grades, from the highest to the lowest, or it may be a
+result of observation of the facts, i. e., a fruit of the direct study
+of the surroundings in which we live.
+
+No one is born with a knowledge of the outer world; this must be
+acquired solely from experience and toil. Certain natural endowments,
+memory in particular, favor the acquisition of this necessary
+knowledge. Many great men have had remarkable memories, Berthelot and
+President Poincare are outstanding instances. The former knew the
+titles of more than a thousand of his papers and the volume numbers of
+the Annales de Chimie in which they were published. It is said that
+Poincare needed only to write a speech once to know it by heart. He
+amazed his audience at the Sorbonne by his delivery of a eulogy of the
+scientific achievements of Berthelot. He spoke more than an hour and a
+quarter, using no notes or memoranda, and yet with such precision that
+any one might have thought him an exceptionally well-informed chemist.
+
+The sense of observation is no less valuable; it is essential to the
+completion of the fragmentary knowledge acquired by the memory during
+the years of schooling. As we go through life, we are confronted by
+a multiplicity of facts which demand our attention and efforts. They
+are so numerous that we cannot expect to learn them from books, and,
+furthermore, many of them are not common knowledge and consequently
+cannot be found in courses of instruction. Our knowledge of the world
+is constantly augmented by the labor of every one of us, but the
+contributions are extremely unequal varying with aptitude and training.
+In military instruction, observation is taught by assignments in
+scouting. The pupil is sent to a given point and on his return he is
+questioned as to what he saw. Usually, he has seen nothing. He is sent
+back and told what to look for; the undulations of the ground, the kind
+of vegetation, isolated trees, hedgerows, roads, houses, the contour of
+the horizon, and little by little the pupil improves.
+
+High-school exercises in science should be largely planned to develop
+observational powers. Actual handling of apparatus and materials lends
+itself excellently to this end. A student is told to heat a material,
+say iodine, in a test tube, or to dissolve a substance, mercuric
+sulphate, for instance, in water, and then asked to describe all that
+he has seen. After he has completed his report, the instructor should
+point out all that actually can be observed in the experiment.
+
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+To sum up, we find that the formation of an intellectual elite entails
+the union of four qualities--industry, imagination, judgment, training.
+Unfortunately, these qualities are, in a certain degree, contradictory
+among themselves. The toiler, bound to his task like an ox to a cart,
+often forgets to pause and meditate; his intellectual activity slows
+down. The dreamer, the inventor lets himself be guided by his fancies
+and often lacks common sense. Finally, the abuse of book learning and
+memory tends to paralyze all the intellectual faculties.
+
+It is extremely difficult to produce a perfect balancing of these
+diverse faculties. This fact alone is sufficient to explain the
+infrequency of great men and, _a fortiori_, of men of genius. It
+is useless to suppose, as many do, that men of genius owe their
+accomplishments solely to exceptional natural endowments which raise
+them above the common level. They have qualities which taken singly are
+not extraordinary, but it is the occurrence of all these qualities in a
+single mind that is rare.
+
+Most men do not like to work. The suburbs of Paris are filled with
+small houses inhabited by renters, who perhaps in the beginning
+worked hard, but only in the hope of soon being able to stop working.
+Unfortunately, this feeling is all too general in the Latin countries.
+In 1918, during the Armistice, a party of American engineers who had
+served as officers were taken for a boat ride down the Seine from Paris
+to Rouen to see the bridges, locks, etc. To them, the most striking
+sight was the number of fishermen lining the banks of the river. They
+could not believe that there were so many Frenchmen content to spend
+their days watching a cork float on the water, thinking nothing, doing
+nothing.
+
+Intellectual industry is not much more common than bodily industry.
+One needs only to scan the interminable lists of candidates for petty
+government positions which require little if any, mental exertion. The
+holders of such offices are content to repeat each day exactly what was
+done the day before. This apathy is apparent from childhood on. How
+many college students have a horror of real effort? They are satisfied
+to learn assigned lessons by rote, and never do more than the required
+amount. Indeed, they often do not try to understand what they learn.
+
+Common sense is perhaps rarer still. In proof of this, consider the
+results of popular elections. The voters work painfully to make their
+livings and then cast their ballots for the worst wasters of the
+public wealth. Industrial conflicts lead to mutual ruination; efforts
+to squeeze the consumer, who is the goose that produces the golden
+eggs, bear witness to this same stupidity. Each side devotes itself
+to efforts to bring about a redistribution of wealth, each hoping
+to get the bigger share. Neither party comprehends the real problem,
+which should be its sole interest, i. e., they should both strive for
+increased production, which would benefit the world at large.
+
+Finally, the question of learning what has been done and the matter
+of instruction and training is still in a precarious condition. The
+number of illiterates is still very large. Schools are often more
+concerned with politics and large enrollments than with the pupils.
+Unfortunately, this is one of the habitual wastes of democracies. In
+the higher schools, students obtain cheapened degrees, and higher
+culture is regarded with more and more contempt. The fetish of equality
+means a leveling on a lower plane.
+
+Admitting what has been said, let us make a calculation. Suppose one
+man in ten has a love of industry; one in ten a certain intellectual
+activity; one in ten common sense; one in ten has been well taught. The
+probability that these four qualities will be found in one individual
+will be equal to the fraction 1 over 10 raised to the 4th power, or 1
+over 10,000, meaning one in ten thousand--i. e., one in ten thousand
+may be expected to belong to the intellectual elite. This is not
+many. The production of a great man requires the union of these same
+qualities, but each in full bloom. If each quality, developed to this
+high degree, occurs in one man in a hundred, the probability of their
+being thus present in a single individual is one in a hundred million.
+Consequently, we can explain why men of genius are so rare, without
+seeking the reason in the realms of wonder.
+
+It is a very noble task to aid in the creation of an intellectual
+aristocracy. The prosperity and lasting glory of any country, all its
+future welfare, depend on the success of these efforts. Above all,
+this is a work of education, and no effort should be spared to realize
+this common good. The family should set a good example to the younger
+children and inculcate a taste for toil; the secondary school must
+develop imagination and common sense; and finally the colleges and
+universities must impart training.
+
+However, an intellectual elite is not the only thing required to make
+a great nation. There must also be a moral elite, a great class which
+knows respect for the rights of others, a class to whom the Golden Rule
+is law, and last but not least, this class also respects and demands
+respect for real liberty. I do not wish to discuss this last point in
+detail, for it lies outside my province, and especially because we have
+a right to expect that the educated classes will have both a highly
+developed sense of duty and a profound appreciation of independence. It
+is their duty and privilege to set a noble example to others.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s Note:
+
+- Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
+
+- Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
+
+- Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.
+
+- Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following
+changes:
+
+  Page 15: “by which this prog ress” to “by which this progress”
+  Page 23: “new method of manufactutre” to “new method of manufacture”
+  Page 24: “his plan to an offical” to “his plan to an official”
+  Page 25: “The same Holds true” to “The same holds true”
+  Page 25: “of cast iron and Siemen’s” to “of cast iron and Siemens’”
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78988 ***
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+      How to Become Mentally Superior | Project Gutenberg
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78988 ***</div>
+
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp45" style="max-width: 100.0em;" id="cover">
+  <img alt="" class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" id="img_images_cover.jpg">
+</figure>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p>
+
+<p class="ph2">LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 1471</p>
+<p class="ph3">Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius</p>
+
+<h1>How to Become
+Mentally Superior</h1>
+
+<p class="ph2">What Makes One Rise Above
+the Average</p>
+
+<p class="ph2">Henry M. Le Chatelier</p>
+
+<p class="ph3">(Translated from the French by Ralph E. Oesper)</p>
+<br><br>
+<p class="ph3">HALDEMAN-JULIUS PUBLICATIONS</p>
+<p class="ph3">GIRARD, KANSAS</p>
+<br><br>
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span></p>
+
+<p class="ph4">Copyright, 1929,</p>
+<p class="ph4">Haldeman-Julius Company</p>
+<br><br>
+<p class="ph4">PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p>
+
+  <p class="halftitle">HOW TO BECOME MENTALLY SUPERIOR</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Every school gains renown not only through
+the scientific achievements of its professors,
+but also because of the industrial successes of
+its former students. Schools have been a potent
+factor in the development of an intellectual
+elite, the class responsible for the progress
+of civilization in any country. If Europe
+is superior to Africa, the sole cause lies in the
+possession of leaders. The blacks of savage
+countries may be good manual laborers, but
+they lack a select class to direct them, either
+as governing officials, as officers in warfare,
+as scholars, as engineers or as organizers of
+their industries. The formation of an intellectual
+superior class should be the dominant preoccupation
+of any country that expects to cut a
+figure in world affairs.</p>
+
+<p>The geologist, de Lapparent, in a didactic
+statement declared that every terrain is, of
+necessity, divided into three strata; the upper,
+the middle and the lower. The intellectuals
+likewise may be placed on three levels; the
+men of genius, whose fame and influence extend
+throughout the world for many centuries;
+the great men, whose renown, however great at
+a given time, is finally eclipsed by that of their
+successors, and lastly, the lower elite, who
+temporarily exert a useful influence within
+rather narrow boundaries, but never attain
+far-reaching notability. Each of these three
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span>categories of intellectual superiors renders
+about the same value of service to humanity;
+the men of genius are certainly the greatest
+benefactors, but they also occur most seldom.
+In algebraic terms, the product of the number
+in each class multiplied by each individual’s
+usefulness gives a constant.</p>
+
+<p>In a talk to the students of an American university
+Carnegie said: “I am speaking only
+to those of you who are ambitious to become
+millionaires; the others do not interest me.”
+The present speaker wishes to emphasize a
+parallel thought: “I am speaking only to those
+of you who have an ambition to raise yourselves
+above the average, and I believe this
+will include all of you.” It would surely be
+folly for anyone to deliberately set out to become
+a genius, because this goal can only be
+reached through exceptional qualities, but we
+all can and should strive to be numbered
+among the elite, to use this term in its proper
+sense. With the exception of certain afflicted
+individuals, fortunately not numerous, all of
+us from birth have the requisite qualities. The
+rest is dependent on will power and on the
+method of developing and applying our natural
+endowments.</p>
+
+<p>Let us examine together, using the experimental
+method, the conditions attendant upon
+the recruitment of the intellectual elite. For
+this purpose we need not distinguish the levels
+of attainment, for they do not differ in nature,
+but only in degree. We can then cite as examples
+great men with whose lives you are
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span>more familiar, and from these we may draw
+conclusions applicable to the formation of the
+ordinary elite. What qualities are essential
+and how may these be developed?</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ACTIVITY">
+    ACTIVITY
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>The most striking characteristic of great men
+is their zeal for work. None of them observed
+the eight-hour day, no matter what the field of
+their activities. We may cite as examples
+great statesmen, such as Napoleon or Louis
+XIV; great writers, such as Victor Hugo or
+Lamartine; great artists, such as Michelangelo
+or Leonardo da Vinci; great scientists, such as
+Lavoisier or Pasteur; great manufacturers,
+such as Bessemer or Siemens. In truth, they
+often employed the most varied ruses to protect
+their working periods from interruption.
+Napoleon assembled his ministerial council
+during the soirees at the Tuileries, leaving the
+reception of guests to the Empress Josephine.
+Buffon took refuge in his country house and
+there peacefully wrote his natural history.
+Descartes secreted himself in a little Dutch
+village when he desired to cultivate his philosophical
+meditations. The labor expended by
+celebrated men is sometimes greatly underestimated.
+Powers of extemporaneous speaking
+far beyond reality are often ascribed to
+great orators. As a matter of fact, the most
+successful of them write out their addresses in
+full before delivering them. Mistaken notions
+as to this have originated from false claims.
+Emile Zola pretended that his voluminous literary
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>output required only three hours’ daily
+toil. Perhaps he did not actually keep the pen
+in his hand longer than that, but the final
+wording comprises only a small part of literary
+production.</p>
+
+<p>Francisque Sarcey, while discussing the art
+of lecturing, very judicially analyzed the importance
+of preliminary work. He said:</p>
+
+<p>“The title of a lecture should be chosen a
+month in advance of the delivery; then the
+subject matter should be considered for two
+weeks during every free moment, especially
+while strolling about. By degrees, new and interesting
+points of view will appear spontaneously;
+these should be classified either in the
+memory or jotted down systematically. During
+the third week, the material thus accumulated
+should be gone over mentally, the less important
+points rejected or suppressed, the others
+rearranged in their logical order and the
+connecting thoughts brought to light. At last,
+during the fourth week, the final wording is
+committed to paper and this requires no great
+effort.”</p>
+
+<p>Great men have not only labored much, but
+their efforts have been confined to a few specialties,
+thus increasing the intensity of their
+work. In hydrostatics a force is concentrated
+on a piston of small area in order to produce
+great pressures. Saint Claire Deville devoted
+half of his career to the study of dissociation.
+Berthelot worked fifteen years on organic synthesis,
+fifteen years on thermo-chemistry and
+fifteen years on agricultural chemistry. Many
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>scientists owe their fame to studies made in a
+single field as instanced by Pasteur in microbiology,
+Fresnel with the theory of light, Ampere
+and the laws of electrodynamics. The
+same holds true in industrial applications and
+as examples we have Vicat and hydraulic cements
+or Fourneyron and the turbine.</p>
+
+<p>This concentration of effort cannot be recommended
+too highly to young investigators,
+for they frequently exhibit an opposite tendency
+and allow themselves to be enticed from
+one thing to another by topics which appeal to
+them. Only men of exceptional endowments,
+like Leonardo da Vinci or Lavoisier, can successfully
+distribute their efforts without paralyzing
+their creative powers. Some scholars
+carry this specialization of their endeavors to
+excess and pride themselves on the extent to
+which they disregard the obligations of daily
+life. Many stories in this vein are related of
+Ampere and of Henri Poincare. The following
+actual occurrence illustrates the same point.
+I was invited to dine with an illustrious foreigner
+and on arriving at the hotel I was told
+by my host that his wife was ill and consequently
+she could not dine with us. He said:
+“Under these conditions will you be kind
+enough to order the dinner, for since I have
+never studied this subject, I know nothing
+about such matters.”</p>
+
+<p>It is not sufficient to work hard, but is also
+essential to work efficiently, i. e., time must
+not be wasted on useless projects. A plan of
+attack should be formulated in advance of
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span>starting the actual work of writing, so that
+there need be no hesitation. Attempts to do
+two things at the same time are usually fruitless,
+and it should be matter of principle not
+to stop working until something definite has
+been achieved. Learn to persevere and do not
+hesitate to adhere to a decision made after
+proper reflection. It is this spirit of organization,
+this convergence of efforts that is so
+highly manifested by great political leaders
+such as Louvois, Napoleon, Cavour, Mussolini.</p>
+
+<p>Much gain may accrue by organizing the
+vague, spontaneous thoughts which the mind
+cannot suppress, even though they appear to
+have little value. We are always thinking
+about something, and this involuntary thought
+is much less fatiguing than mental effort consciously
+directed toward definite production.
+This preparatory reflection is sometimes erroneously
+regarded as being quite distinct from
+the real work, but this opinion is quite wrong,
+for preliminary thought is an essential forerunner
+of all creative achievement. In fact, it
+is just as indispensable as the final effort and
+the latter will certainly be of little avail if the
+way has not been properly prepared. If the
+mind could be trained not to think useless
+thoughts, the productive capacity would be
+enormously enhanced. When Newton was
+asked how he had discovered the laws of universal
+attraction, he replied: “By always
+thinking about them.” This may be the dominant
+reason for the superiority of great men,
+but we really know very little about this fugitive
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>thinking, whose manifestations are not external.
+In fact, the originators of such mental
+processes are sometimes not conscious of their
+operation, or, as we say, we are here dealing
+with the subconscious. Henri Poincare claimed
+that he thought during sleep, and on waking
+would find at hand the solution of problems
+which had baffled him the day before. However,
+this is not a commendable practice, for it
+is opposed to the rest which each night’s sleep
+should bring.</p>
+
+<p>How may a zeal for work be developed? Is
+it a natural gift or is it a result of education?
+The greatest stimulant of activity is habit,
+which proverbially becomes second nature.
+After leading an active life, it is not possible
+to stop work without suffering. Idleness due
+to retirement rapidly kills many men who previously
+had enjoyed excellent health. After
+the habit of working is once formed, a man
+will work for the mere joy of working just as
+we walk for the pleasure of the exercise. It
+has become a necessity.</p>
+
+<p>However, this habit is not easily acquired.
+Temperament plays some part. Certain children,
+from birth on, exhibit more will power,
+have more acute faculties of attention, are more
+persevering, all of which are essential to the
+accomplishment of a protracted task. Yet these
+predispositions are, in general, developed only
+to a slight degree and play only a minor part
+in the differentiation of individuals. Other factors
+seem to be of greater importance.</p>
+
+<p>The example of the home and of companions
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span>exercises a preponderant influence. A child
+who all his life has seen an industrious father
+will merely through imitation be led to accept
+the law of the obligation to work. Pascal, Lavoisier,
+Pasteur were raised in families in
+which honor was paid to industry. Whether
+the latter is intellectual or manual matters
+little. Very few, or perhaps no great men, have
+come from the families of the idle rich.</p>
+
+<p>A second very potent factor is ambition, that
+is the desire to acquire riches or honors. Men
+not favored by the fortunes of birth sometimes
+struggle with extreme energy to make a place
+for themselves. A striking instance of the power
+of ambition is found in the career of Senator
+Leopold Goirand, who died recently. He
+published some essays on education which reveal
+curious points in his psychological makeup.
+At the age of fifteen, he conceived the dual
+ambition to become very rich and to attain a
+powerful political position. He succeeded in
+both endeavors. For twenty years he forced
+himself to be content with six hours of sleep
+each night in order to lengthen his working
+day. Each morning on arising he spent two
+hours acquiring general culture, the rest of the
+day was devoted to his business, and finally
+the evenings were passed in attendance on social
+affairs, for the latter are extremely useful
+in the prosecution of a career. Not until his
+physician warned him that he was no longer
+fit to continue this program did he consent to
+sleep eight hours nightly. Many similar examples
+may be cited.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span></p>
+
+<p>In Bessemer’s autobiography, which is a veritable
+romance, he tells of his superhuman efforts,
+as a young man, to earn enough money
+to marry. While Cavour was striving to create
+the Italian kingdom, he allowed himself only
+five hours’ sleep each night so that he might
+have time for the stupendous task whose realization
+had been the dream of his whole life.
+He took over the direction of four ministries
+at one time.</p>
+
+<p>A third stimulus, more noble than those already
+discussed, is the attraction inherent in
+the fruits of labor, i. e., the joy of knowledge
+and the pleasure of performance. The passion
+for knowledge or success in a chosen field often
+arouses men who by temperament or habit
+might have been inclined to loaf. A pertinent
+example is Mallard, one of the scientific glories
+of France. Like many others who graduated
+from the Ecole Polytechnique at the top of the
+class he seemed to be destined for a standardized,
+peaceful career in the governmental service.
+As engineer at Gueret and then as professor
+at Saint Etienne he divided his activity between
+long journeys and everyday affairs, attending
+to his ministrative duties and his teaching.
+At the age of forty he was appointed professor
+of mineralogy in the School of Mines in
+Paris and consequently because of his teaching
+duties he found himself obliged to study
+this science. He became deeply interested in
+one of its branches, crystallography, and for
+twenty years, until his death, all his efforts
+were concentrated in this field. He succeeded
+in working out original demonstrations of the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>laws of crystallography and he created a new
+chapter in this field, the theory of crystalline
+groupings.</p>
+
+<p>Many similar cases are found among scholars,
+for many of them are motivated chiefly by the
+joy of knowledge. On the other hand, examples
+of this disinterested activity are less frequent
+among industrialists. However, the pleasure of
+achievement, rather than the mere love of gain,
+has actuated the greatest of these. The optician
+Zeiss worked for the glory of his country,
+Germany, and his native city, Jena. The Danish
+brewer Jacobsen engaged in business only
+to gain the means of endowing the museums
+and laboratories of Copenhagen, which have
+become world famous. The American millionaire
+Carnegie while a young man spent his free
+time in libraries solely because of his desire to
+learn. He later devoted the major portion of
+his immense wealth to the development of public
+libraries and to the founding of an institute
+of scientific research. Henry Ford left the
+farm and worked in a locksmith’s establishment
+because of a desire to learn the use of
+tools, and even now he derives great pleasure
+from heading a well-organized industry. I knew
+two contractors who had taken part in the construction
+of the Suez Canal. They retired from
+business and took up agriculture. One engaged
+in stock-raising, the other developed a model
+farm. They devoted all their energies to the
+enterprises and ran them so that the receipts
+and expenses balanced, neither profit nor loss
+resulting. Their sole ambition was to do a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>good piece of work and to turn out products of
+superior quality.</p>
+
+<p>This joy in work may be developed by education
+and without difficulty. Success is assured
+if less attention is given to preparing for examinations
+and more stress laid on the intellectual
+molding of the children. From their
+earliest years they have a wide-awake curiosity,
+they continually ask why and how. Instead
+of eradicating this disposition, it should
+be cultivated. Science courses lend themselves
+wonderfully to this end. Emphasis should be
+placed on the linking together of facts, which
+is the essence of the scientific method, discarding
+the fastidious enumeration of isolated facts
+which so overburden the memories of pupils
+today. Any child can be interested in the consequences
+of Pascal’s laws of hydrostatics and
+made anxious to work diligently to understand
+them. A study of Archimedes’ principle, applied
+to floating bodies, of hydrometers, of
+water levels in connecting vessels, of atmospheric
+pressure—all these may be grouped
+around Pascal’s laws and thus made into an
+attractive ensemble. It is wrong to treat each
+of these topics as a separate chapter as many
+physics texts do, for then the intimate relationships
+disappear from view and likewise all attractiveness
+is lost.</p>
+
+<p>Manual exercises should be included in the
+secondary curriculum because the formation of
+ideas in young people is rendered more easy
+and pleasant by combining sight and touch.
+They love motion. For instance, when teaching
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span>hydrostatics, the pupils may be directed to cut
+cubes from various kinds of wood, to measure
+them, to weigh them and finally to determine
+the loss in weight when the cubes are immersed
+in water. An exercise of this kind makes the
+appreciation of Archimedes’ principle pleasurable.
+In the same way, preliminary exercises
+in graphic plan-making lead to a much easier
+understanding of geometrical reasoning. Much
+less intellectual effort is required to comprehend
+the demonstration of a truth if actual experimentation
+has previously made the reality
+familiar.</p>
+
+<p>A final incentive to the ardor for work is
+good health. The thought of working or still
+more of getting to work, i. e., the wish to do
+something, involves, if not a true fatigue, at
+least a feeling of fatigue which leads many to
+shrink back. A good digestion and restful
+sleep make the thought of work much more
+agreeable. This does not imply that a strong
+will cannot overcome the weakness arising from
+poor health, for there are remarkable instances
+of such victories, but they are rather exceptional.
+Pascal subdued his infirmities, but the
+strain finally killed him. Health always is a
+great driving power, and the truth of the
+axiom, “<i>mens sana in corpore sano</i>,” cannot be
+debated. Physical culture should occupy an
+important place in the education of the young;
+it is indispensable in the formation of the intellectual
+elite of a nation. However, it must
+not be forgotten that muscular fatigue renders
+all mental labor impossible for the time being.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>The physical exercise should follow intellectual
+exertion, but should never precede. While in
+Holland, Descartes devoted his mornings to
+philosophy and cultivated his garden in the
+afternoons.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="IMAGINATION">
+    IMAGINATION
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>A useful member of society does not merely
+work hard and produce much for his own benefit;
+he should add to the common fund of
+knowledge. In other words, he must produce
+new ideas, discover scientific laws, devise new
+literary or artistic presentations, perfect methods
+of government; in short, he must play a
+creative role.</p>
+
+<p>What is the mechanism by which this <ins title="Original has 'prog ress'" id="progress">progress</ins>
+is realized? Contrary to popular belief,
+our knowledge does not increase by leaps and
+bounds, but the development is regular and
+very slow. Each step forward, in the majority
+of cases, comes from the simple combination of
+facts previously known. It is only necessary
+to delve in the storehouse of knowledge and to
+bring new relations to light. This correlation
+is a fruit of the mental faculty, imagination,
+whose functioning is rather capricious. The
+solution of a problem may be sought unsuccessfully
+for a long time, and then suddenly it may
+flash into the mind at a time when the problem
+is no longer being consciously considered.</p>
+
+<p>The work of all great men shows the employment
+of imagination; it constitutes the
+beginning of all great discoveries. Pascal created
+hydrostatics by connecting the limitation
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>of the height of a barometric column with the
+weight of the atmosphere; Newton discovered
+universal gravitation by comparing the movement
+of the planets with the fall of an apple;
+Pasteur founded microbiology by connecting
+the spread of disease with the life processes of
+microscopic organisms. Likewise, in the field
+of letters, we find writers dealing with ideas
+common to all humanity and sending them
+forth in new attire. La Fontaine gave life to
+Aesop’s fables by endowing the animals with
+speech; Corneille introduced a sense of duty
+magnified almost to heroism into the Spanish
+dramas. Artists sometimes slightly exaggerate
+certain features of their models to produce a
+more striking representation. Michelangelo
+accentuated the muscular development of heroic
+figures and Raphael the grace of women.</p>
+
+<p>The same is true in industry. Sir William
+Siemens applied the theoretical reasoning of
+Sadi-Carnot to the heating of hearths, and the
+regenerative furnace resulted. He invented
+neither thermo-dynamics nor industrial heating,
+but by uniting these two sets of facts, he
+brought about a great advance, which made
+possible the modern processes of making steel
+in open hearths and of glass in tank furnaces.
+All inventors possess this mental activity,
+sometimes to excess. It is interesting to read
+Bessemer’s autobiography from this point of
+view. We see his mind always in feverish agitation,
+trying each day to produce something
+new, usually without success.</p>
+
+<p>This first type of imagination is meditative.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>It acts slowly, and to a certain degree may be
+governed by the will. There is a second type,
+rather more delicate in nature, whose action is
+sudden and not preceded by reflection. It is
+this type which enables us to see at a glance
+all the correlations and distant consequences of
+a chance observation. The predisposing factors
+are impressionability and nervous sensibility.
+This quality varies greatly from individual to
+individual, certain minds respond to the slightest
+external suggestion, while others feel nothing,
+see nothing. In general, great scholars are
+characterized by a highly developed aptitude
+for sensing and using facts presented to them.
+The accidental observation that his determinations
+of the density of nitrogen were discordant
+led Lord Rayleigh to the discovery of argon.
+Other investigators had been faced with the
+same phenomenon, but were not markedly impressed.
+While attempting to fuse platinum,
+Saint Claire Deville was struck by the difference
+between the calculated temperature of the
+oxy-hydrogen flame and the observed melting
+point of platinum. This led him to suspect the
+dissociation of water vapor, while his collaborators,
+possessed of the same facts, thought nothing
+of them. Similarly, Bessemer was led to
+his process of producing steel in a converter
+by the fortuitous observation of the formation
+of malleable steel during an attempt to harden
+cast iron. Or better still, Auer von Welsbach
+discovered the incandescent mantle through a
+chance observation of the light emitted on calcination
+of precipitated thoria. Numerous analytical
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span>chemists had doubtless seen the same
+thing, but their attention was not arrested.</p>
+
+<p>Great artists viewing nature, great generals
+before a battle, great lawyers before a trial are
+sensible to instantaneous impressions which
+escape the notice of ordinary men. The two
+types of intellectual activity seem to be predominantly
+natural endowments. Some children
+have wide-awake minds, others are more
+dull and remain thus throughout life.</p>
+
+<p>This quality may, however, be developed by
+education, and more attention should be paid to
+this phase of education, than is usually the
+case. Exercises in writing composition, problems
+in geometry, afford excellent material
+from which to build up mental habits of using
+accumulated knowledge or of seeking new correlations
+of known facts. This type of training
+is doubtless the most useful function of
+secondary education. On the other hand, education
+cannot develop the second type of mental
+activity which is not dependent on reflection,
+but which functions instantly in some way
+not known to us. Nevertheless, there seems to
+be some possibility of perfecting this natural
+endowment by suitable laboratory exercises.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="JUDGMENT">
+    JUDGMENT
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>The combining of imagination and work, i. e.,
+intellectual activity joined to bodily activity,
+does not entirely suffice for the making of a
+great man. Excellent examples are inventors,
+who almost without exception are possessed of
+active minds and an equal ardor for work, and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>yet few of them become great. In fact, many
+of them have difficulty in making both ends
+meet, and they remain mediocrities. The two
+qualities can only be used efficiently if joined
+with a third; namely, common sense. This latter,
+if developed to its highest degree, becomes
+what Pascal has called the sense of finesse.
+Bodily and mental activity are certainly powerful
+instruments, but like all aids they must
+be used judiciously. Common sense should
+guide the choice of problems to be studied.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most potent reasons for the success
+of great men is that they were wise enough
+to apply their efforts to worth-while problems.
+Why will the names of Lavoisier, Sadi-Carnot,
+Ampere, Fresnel, Saint Claire Deville, Berthelot
+always be famous? It is because of the
+greatness of the topics they studied. The results
+of their discoveries in chemistry, thermo-dynamics,
+electrodynamics, physical optics,
+chemical mechanics, organic synthesis have
+echoed again and again, and the reverberations
+are daily multiplied.</p>
+
+<p>Many years ago Taine said that the systematic
+study of the dominant features of his
+subject was the essential characteristic of the
+work of a true artist. The same holds true in
+all realms of human activity. There are dominant
+phenomena whose influence is felt under
+most manifold circumstances. A knowledge of
+these favoring factors is of inestimable value
+to the human race, and their discoveries merit
+suitable recognition on the part of their fellowmen.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span></p>
+
+<p>A second form of judgment is “critical sense,”
+indispensable to both scholars and to those directing
+industries. This gift makes possible
+the detection of errors in measurements or
+leads to a premonition against erroneous interpretations
+of observations. It is often lacking
+in inventors, who are prone to persist in their
+notions despite self-evident failures. Lesser intellectual
+lights also cannot bring themselves
+to abandon favorite hypotheses which are not
+in agreement with the facts; they seek refuge
+in new additional hypotheses and cling fast to
+the original notion. Ditte, a pupil of Saint
+Claire Deville, furnished a striking example of
+this type of mental gymnastics. While trying
+to extend the law of fixed dissociation tensions
+to the decomposition of solutions of mercuric
+sulphate, he found that the concentration of
+the liquid with respect to sulphuric acid increased
+with increasing concentration of mercuric
+sulphate. Instead of abandoning his hypothesis,
+which was obviously inaccurate, he
+introduced a second, which today appears absurd,
+but for a time it enjoyed a certain credence
+among chemists. He postulated that the
+dissolved mercuric sulphate was present in two
+forms, part as neutral salt and part as basic
+salt, dissolved in, but not combined with, sulphuric
+acid. He calculated the proportion of
+the basic salt supposedly thus dissolved which
+would leave a constant concentration of sulphuric
+acid in solution, and he viewed the results
+of this arbitrary calculation as experimental
+verification of his hypothesis. This
+species of error is constantly perpetrated nowadays
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span>by those who speculate as to the constitution
+of matter. Savants who, like Lavoisier,
+Claud Bernard, Pasteur, combine an ever-watchful
+imagination with a critical sense severe
+enough to lead them to discard hypotheses
+found contrary to fact are extremely rare.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, there is a still more refined form of
+common sense, namely, the sense of subtle discrimination
+which enables us to guide our
+minds directly into domains of thought which
+are not perfectly obvious. It is often asserted
+that hypotheses are free to all, an investigator
+may postulate what he pleases, provided he
+finally subjects his notions to precise, experimental
+test. However, it is distinctly worth-while
+not to set up too many inexact hypotheses,
+for time should be economized to the end
+that production may be increased. A certain
+instinctive discernment is necessary to set one
+rapidly on the best line of procedure. Rules
+for this cannot be laid down; it is a matter of
+feeling and not of reason. The remarkable productivity
+of Pasteur was doubtless due to his
+ability, from the very first, to thoroughly organize
+his researches. Sometimes this ability
+is ascribed to chance, but this is not correct,
+for we see here the fruit of a very shrewd form
+of common sense. Saint Claire Deville’s
+thought that there might be a possible analogy
+between the phenomena of decomposition and
+those of vaporization was an intuition of
+genius; it led him to the discovery of chemical
+equilibrium, which he termed dissociation, and
+a new science, chemical mechanics, has been
+erected on this idea.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span></p>
+
+<p>Good common sense is often a gift of nature,
+but the more delicate sense of subtle discrimination
+is principally a result of education. It
+is very rarely observed among the children of
+the lower grades; it is a product of classical
+education, and, above all, it springs from that
+which is taught in the home. The English declare
+that thirty-six years of education are
+necessary to make a gentleman, twelve for the
+grandfather, twelve for the father and twelve
+for the son. The same holds true for this sense
+of finesse. Pascal, Lavoisier, scholars of the
+first rank, came from families of long-standing
+culture, and their successes were due in
+large measure to the prolonged efforts of their
+ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>The study of classics and humanities aids in
+developing this trait. Literary or historical
+criticism requires a constant evaluation of opposing
+points of view to determine the part
+played by each in domains not amenable to
+exact measurement. On the other hand, the
+study of science develops the geometrical viewpoint,
+i. e., the use of syllogism, which is utterly
+useless when comparing phenomena possessing
+no common measure or such as are based
+on mere probabilities. The exclusive use of
+rigorous reasoning and an absolute faith in his
+conclusions are sometimes very dangerous to a
+savant. They hinder him from taking account
+of the real value of the hypotheses which he
+has made and from recognizing the possible errors
+in his experiments. These modes of
+thought are not less hazardous to the industrialist
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span>to whom they may impart an unwarranted
+confidence in the predictions as to the
+advantages of a new business venture or of a
+new method of <ins title="Original has 'manufactutre'" id="manufacture">manufacture</ins>.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="DOCUMENTATION">
+    DOCUMENTATION
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>Many of the essentials for laying claim to a
+right to be numbered among the intellectual
+elite have been discussed above, but not all.
+Suppose that a savage has had from birth all
+the qualities which we have just reviewed, but
+that he is entirely ignorant of the progress of
+the science and industry of the civilized world.
+It would be extremely difficult for him to advance
+our knowledge, for he knows nothing
+about such matters. He can accomplish feats
+which to him seem extraordinarily difficult,
+such as, cutting flint or extracting iron from
+ores, just as his ancestors did. To us, however,
+he would seem ignorant and no one would
+dream of classing him as a great man.</p>
+
+<p>No one can make innovations or improve our
+knowledge unless he is cognizant of actual conditions.
+There are several reasons why this is
+so. In the first place, one can obviously improve
+only those things which he really knows.
+A frequent cause of the failure of inventors is
+that they knowingly venture into unfamiliar
+fields. Bessemer, the son of a metallurgist, advanced
+the science of metallurgy, but made a
+miserable failure when he attempted to build
+a large telescope and also when he tried to construct
+a boat designed to prevent seasickness,
+because he knew little or nothing about the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span>theory of optical instruments or of mechanical
+principles.</p>
+
+<p>While serving on a commission appointed to
+investigate fire damp, I met a physician, intelligent,
+possessed of a good practice, but obsessed
+by the demon of invention. Much affected
+by an explosion in which several hundred
+miners had been killed, he thought it
+would be a good thing to send a current of air
+through the mine to sweep out the explosive
+gases and thus obviate such disasters. He disclosed
+his plan to an <ins title="Original has 'offical'" id="official">official</ins> in the Department
+of Public Works, and the latter warmly congratulated
+him on his initiative. This unfortunate
+encouragement led him to abandon his
+practice for a year and he devoted himself to
+the construction of a ventilating system. We
+were obliged to inform him that every coal
+mine in the world is ventilated. Furthermore,
+twenty kilometers from his home he could have
+seen in action immense installations which
+closely resembled the blowing apparatus which
+he had worked out, and this device differed
+but slightly from the bellows used for several
+thousands of years by savages for melting
+metals.</p>
+
+<p>A second reason for being well acquainted
+with the field arises from the fact that all
+creative advances, all discoveries are, for the
+most part, the result of combining facts already
+known. The progress achieved by a single
+individual is, in general, extremely little,
+but among these short steps forward, one perhaps,
+like the last drop which causes the vessel
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>to overflow, may make an invention realizable
+or it may alter the orientation of our scientific
+ideas.</p>
+
+<p>Pasteur did not invent the communication
+of diseases, for this was known to all physicians,
+nor did he discover the existence of living
+microscopic organisms, which had been
+studied from the time of Spallanzani. He merely
+compared these two sets of phenomena and
+recognized their relations one to the other.
+Had he not known the facts, he could not have
+made the discovery. Likewise, Lavoisier did
+not invent the balance; it had often been used
+before. Every alchemist who extracted metals
+from ores had checked the efficiency of his
+procedures by weighing. On the other hand,
+all the physicists knew that gases had weight.
+Lavoisier simply had to combine these facts
+to recognize that the increase in weight of metals
+when calcined in the air was due to the absorption
+of a gas, oxygen. The time was ripe
+for this discovery, and Lavoisier had only to
+pluck the ripened fruit.</p>
+
+<p>The same <ins title="Original has 'Holds'" id="holds">holds</ins> true in industry. The open
+hearth process of making steel resulted from a
+combination of Reaumur’s century-old work on
+the refining of cast iron and <ins title="Original has 'Siemen’s" id="Siemens">Siemens’</ins> new
+method of heating. In his invention of the incandescent
+gas mantle, von Welsbach started
+with Clamond’s magnesia “basket” and perfected
+this device by substituting thoria for the
+magnesia. This linkage of known facts is so
+common that no industrial invention is so
+novel that the lawyers cannot find authorities
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span>for prior claims. For the same reason, the defamers
+of great scholars, great writers and
+great painters find great pleasure in accusing
+them of plagiarism. Fontaine has been reproached
+with having copied from Aesop, and
+Corneille is accused of servile imitation of
+Guillen de Castro.</p>
+
+<p>If the popular saying, “There is nothing new
+under the sun,” is surely not strictly true, nevertheless
+it is quite accurate to state that progress
+due to any one man is comparatively
+small. Humanity moves forward at a slow
+pace, but the thousand-fold accumulation of
+short steps forward has altered the face of the
+world. This progressive revolution has only
+been possible because men have had a thorough
+knowledge of the accomplishments of their
+predecessors.</p>
+
+<p>A third reason for being well versed is that
+accomplishment of anything new demands a
+knowledge of the technique of the field, and
+this has to be learned. If Bessemer had not
+been a founder in his youth he would never
+have invented his process of making steel. A
+thorough knowledge of analytical chemistry
+is essential to the making of chemical discoveries;
+success in literature is only possible to
+one who really knows his own language; a
+painter must know how to draw. This assertion
+may appear to be a step backward. Too
+many artists try to paint, knowing neither
+drawing nor manipulation of colors; too many
+scientists have no interest in methods involving
+actual measurements, but they are content
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span>to construct their science with pencil and paper
+only. These varieties of modern painting and
+science are very fruitful for their devotees.
+However, who dares to assert that the cubists
+and similar faddists will some day be classed
+as great painters or that much of our present-day
+theories of the constitution of matter will
+be highly regarded fifty years from now. In
+comparison, the men who discovered new laws
+in chemistry, electricity, optics, etc., will be
+just as honored thousands of years hence, as
+Pythagoras, Ptolemy and Archimedes now are.</p>
+
+<p>This knowledge of the field, essential to any
+worker who hopes to advance human welfare,
+may be acquired through instruction furnished
+by schools of all grades, from the highest to
+the lowest, or it may be a result of observation
+of the facts, i. e., a fruit of the direct study of
+the surroundings in which we live.</p>
+
+<p>No one is born with a knowledge of the outer
+world; this must be acquired solely from experience
+and toil. Certain natural endowments,
+memory in particular, favor the acquisition of
+this necessary knowledge. Many great men
+have had remarkable memories, Berthelot and
+President Poincare are outstanding instances.
+The former knew the titles of more than a thousand
+of his papers and the volume numbers of
+the Annales de Chimie in which they were published.
+It is said that Poincare needed only to
+write a speech once to know it by heart. He
+amazed his audience at the Sorbonne by his
+delivery of a eulogy of the scientific achievements
+of Berthelot. He spoke more than an
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>hour and a quarter, using no notes or memoranda,
+and yet with such precision that any one
+might have thought him an exceptionally well-informed
+chemist.</p>
+
+<p>The sense of observation is no less valuable;
+it is essential to the completion of the fragmentary
+knowledge acquired by the memory
+during the years of schooling. As we go
+through life, we are confronted by a multiplicity
+of facts which demand our attention and
+efforts. They are so numerous that we cannot
+expect to learn them from books, and, furthermore,
+many of them are not common knowledge
+and consequently cannot be found in courses
+of instruction. Our knowledge of the world is
+constantly augmented by the labor of every
+one of us, but the contributions are extremely
+unequal varying with aptitude and training.
+In military instruction, observation is taught
+by assignments in scouting. The pupil is sent
+to a given point and on his return he is questioned
+as to what he saw. Usually, he has seen
+nothing. He is sent back and told what to look
+for; the undulations of the ground, the kind of
+vegetation, isolated trees, hedgerows, roads,
+houses, the contour of the horizon, and little by
+little the pupil improves.</p>
+
+<p>High-school exercises in science should be
+largely planned to develop observational powers.
+Actual handling of apparatus and materials
+lends itself excellently to this end. A
+student is told to heat a material, say iodine,
+in a test tube, or to dissolve a substance, mercuric
+sulphate, for instance, in water, and then
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>asked to describe all that he has seen. After
+he has completed his report, the instructor
+should point out all that actually can be observed
+in the experiment.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CONCLUSION">
+    CONCLUSION
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>To sum up, we find that the formation of an
+intellectual elite entails the union of four qualities—industry,
+imagination, judgment, training.
+Unfortunately, these qualities are, in a
+certain degree, contradictory among themselves.
+The toiler, bound to his task like an ox to a
+cart, often forgets to pause and meditate; his
+intellectual activity slows down. The dreamer,
+the inventor lets himself be guided by his fancies
+and often lacks common sense. Finally,
+the abuse of book learning and memory tends
+to paralyze all the intellectual faculties.</p>
+
+<p>It is extremely difficult to produce a perfect
+balancing of these diverse faculties. This fact
+alone is sufficient to explain the infrequency
+of great men and, <i>a fortiori</i>, of men of genius.
+It is useless to suppose, as many do, that men
+of genius owe their accomplishments solely to
+exceptional natural endowments which raise
+them above the common level. They have qualities
+which taken singly are not extraordinary,
+but it is the occurrence of all these qualities
+in a single mind that is rare.</p>
+
+<p>Most men do not like to work. The suburbs
+of Paris are filled with small houses inhabited
+by renters, who perhaps in the beginning
+worked hard, but only in the hope of soon being
+able to stop working. Unfortunately, this
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span>feeling is all too general in the Latin countries.
+In 1918, during the Armistice, a party of American
+engineers who had served as officers were
+taken for a boat ride down the Seine from
+Paris to Rouen to see the bridges, locks, etc.
+To them, the most striking sight was the number
+of fishermen lining the banks of the river.
+They could not believe that there were so many
+Frenchmen content to spend their days watching
+a cork float on the water, thinking nothing,
+doing nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Intellectual industry is not much more common
+than bodily industry. One needs only to
+scan the interminable lists of candidates for
+petty government positions which require
+little if any, mental exertion. The holders
+of such offices are content to repeat each day
+exactly what was done the day before. This
+apathy is apparent from childhood on. How
+many college students have a horror of real
+effort? They are satisfied to learn assigned
+lessons by rote, and never do more than the
+required amount. Indeed, they often do not
+try to understand what they learn.</p>
+
+<p>Common sense is perhaps rarer still. In
+proof of this, consider the results of popular
+elections. The voters work painfully to make
+their livings and then cast their ballots for
+the worst wasters of the public wealth. Industrial
+conflicts lead to mutual ruination;
+efforts to squeeze the consumer, who is the
+goose that produces the golden eggs, bear witness
+to this same stupidity. Each side devotes
+itself to efforts to bring about a redistribution
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span>of wealth, each hoping to get the
+bigger share. Neither party comprehends the
+real problem, which should be its sole interest,
+i. e., they should both strive for increased production,
+which would benefit the world at large.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, the question of learning what has
+been done and the matter of instruction and
+training is still in a precarious condition. The
+number of illiterates is still very large. Schools
+are often more concerned with politics and large
+enrollments than with the pupils. Unfortunately,
+this is one of the habitual wastes of
+democracies. In the higher schools, students
+obtain cheapened degrees, and higher culture
+is regarded with more and more contempt.
+The fetish of equality means a leveling on a
+lower plane.</p>
+
+<p>Admitting what has been said, let us make a
+calculation. Suppose one man in ten has a
+love of industry; one in ten a certain intellectual
+activity; one in ten common sense; one
+in ten has been well taught. The probability
+that these four qualities will be found in one
+individual will be equal to the fraction 1 over
+10 raised to the 4th power, or 1 over 10,000,
+meaning one in ten thousand—i. e., one in ten
+thousand may be expected to belong to the
+intellectual elite. This is not many. The production
+of a great man requires the union of
+these same qualities, but each in full bloom.
+If each quality, developed to this high degree,
+occurs in one man in a hundred, the probability
+of their being thus present in a single individual
+is one in a hundred million. Consequently,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span>we can explain why men of genius are so rare,
+without seeking the reason in the realms of
+wonder.</p>
+
+<p>It is a very noble task to aid in the creation
+of an intellectual aristocracy. The prosperity
+and lasting glory of any country, all its future
+welfare, depend on the success of these efforts.
+Above all, this is a work of education, and no
+effort should be spared to realize this common
+good. The family should set a good example
+to the younger children and inculcate a taste
+for toil; the secondary school must develop
+imagination and common sense; and finally the
+colleges and universities must impart training.</p>
+
+<p>However, an intellectual elite is not the only
+thing required to make a great nation. There
+must also be a moral elite, a great class which
+knows respect for the rights of others, a class
+to whom the Golden Rule is law, and last but
+not least, this class also respects and demands
+respect for real liberty. I do not wish to discuss
+this last point in detail, for it lies outside
+my province, and especially because we have a
+right to expect that the educated classes will
+have both a highly developed sense of duty
+and a profound appreciation of independence.
+It is their duty and privilege to set a noble
+example to others.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<div class="tnote">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_note">
+Transcriber’s Note:
+</h2>
+
+<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p>
+
+<p>Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.</p>
+
+<p>Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following changes:</p>
+
+<table class="autotable">
+
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#progress">15</a>: “by which this prog ress”</td>
+<td class="tdl">to</td>
+<td class="tdl">“by which this progress”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#manufacture">23</a>: “new method of manufactutre”</td>
+<td class="tdl">to</td>
+<td class="tdl">“new method of manufacture”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#official">24</a>: “his plan to an offical”</td>
+<td class="tdl">to</td>
+<td class="tdl">“his plan to an official”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#holds">25</a>: “The same Holds true”</td>
+<td class="tdl">to</td>
+<td class="tdl">“The same holds true”</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Siemens">25</a>: “of cast iron and Siemen’s”</td>
+<td class="tdl">to</td>
+<td class="tdl">“of cast iron and Siemens’”</td>
+</tr>
+
+</tbody></table>
+</div></div>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78988 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+[Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook [#78988](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78988)