12/15 Of course there are exceptions--like Professor Henry of Princeton, the inventor of Mr.Morse's system of telegraphy--but these exceptions are few. It is not overstatement to say that the imagination-stunning material development of this century, the only century worth living in since time itself was invented, is the creation of men not college-bred. We think we see what these inventors have done: no, we see only the visible vast frontage of their work; behind it is their far vaster work, and it is invisible to the careless glance. They have reconstructed this nation-- made it over, that is--and metaphorically speaking, have multiplied its numbers almost beyond the power of figures to express. |