Invention

of their ancient cities have brought to light many inscriptions which, being deciphered and translated, give us clear k

es clear to us that much-if not most-of that progress could not have been made without the aid of writing. One cannot conceiv

d in devising and arranging means for preserving the writings in an enduring form. In Babylonia, this was done by making the writing on soft tablets of clay about an inch in thickness, that were afterwards baked to hardness. In the case of records of unusual importance, the precautio

ing the records that writing made. The act of writing would have been useful, even if no means had been invented for preserving the things written; even if the things written had perished in a day. But the importance of the invention of writing was increased ten thousand fold by the invention of the means for preserving the things written; because wi

imize the importance of either invention, or the credit due to the inventors. It simply divides the credit of each invention among several men, instead of giving it all to one. It is a notable fact, however, that,

that only one man, as a rule, makes a certain invention, or writes a certain book, or composes a certain musical piece, or does any other inventional work, seems to spring naturally from the original fact that an invention begins with a picture made by imagination on a mind. Now a picture so made is an individual picture in an individual mind. If

ibute some constructive work, and make the dim picture into a reality; so that the complete invention resulting will be the joint product of two men. It seems to be a fact, ho

f making them useful or commercially successful. At the present day, there are few inventions indeed, which even after having been complete

*

es were built in which they were kept, as books are kept in our libraries at the present day. When the expedition of the University of Pennsylvania made its excavations near

ot t

und

Don

ird;

wit

he r

F

St

x; t

r i

Sun

rain;

k tu

v

igns, Showing Thei

e of wedge-shaped characters. From the shape of the characters the adjective cuneiform has been applied to the writing, the word coming

e proverb that "necessity is the mother of invention." From the fact that their ships sailed the waters of the Persian Gulf, and had need of means to locate their positions and determine their courses from port to port, and from the fact easily noted by their navigators that

entity as a bow and arrow or a telephone. Furthermore, it does not seem unreasonable to suppose that, before any of the principles of astronomy were laid down, before anyone even attempted to lay them down, before anyone even attempted to ascertain the laws that seemed to govern the movements of the heavenly bodies, the idea must have occurred to someone that those heavenly bodies were all moving in obedience to some law; and a more or less confused and yet real image must have been made upon his min

in which those various parts would move according to laws induced tentatively from the actual motions of certain heavenly bodies. If it were afterwards found that all positions of each part, predicted in advance by applying the laws tentatively induced,

tations of the sun, moon and other heavenly bodies, that move according to law

and being like that of the inventor in conceiving a picture of an earthly machine; and his second act being also like that of the invento

is complete until the third act has been performed

e," "invent a religion," etc., are in almost daily use; and it may seem unnecessary to some persons, therefore, to discuss it at such length. B

escape the conclusion that, no matter what may be the literally correct meaning of the word, the mental acts performed by the originators of the science of astronomy were like the mental acts performed by the inventors of mechanical appliances, and exerted a similar influence on history. That is, he believes that the men who brought into being the science of astronomy and

nce, theory, religion or formulated school of thought, the author begs permission so to use it, in indicating th

the art of navigation could not exist, no ships could cross the ocean from one port to another, except by accident, and the lands that are separated by the ocean would still rest in complete ignorance

practically constructive intellects of the Babylonians naturally led them to invent the sun-dial

th this system, the Babylonians divided the Zodiac into twelve equal parts or "signs"; divided the year into nearly equal months, that corresponded approximately to the length of a lunar

al system, the invention of which is attributed by some to the Arabs; but the duodecimal divisions o

important that we cannot imagine civilization without it and the decimal system, possibly its offspring. The influence of

ever know. If any knowledge on this subject is ever given to the world, it will be knowledge of names only-only names. Yet some human beings, forgotten now and probabl

distance, space, weight and volume were lifted out of the realm of the vague and formless into the realm of the definite and actual, was an achievement that almost suggests that noted in the first chapter of Genesis, in

n to discuss them. Its intention is merely to study the influence that inventions and inventors had. Whether the name of an inventor was John Smith or Archimedes, whether he lived in the year 1000 or 1100, or which one of two rival claimants should be credited with the honor of any invention, is often an interesting question; but it is not one that is esp

like the New York Times, made out of clay tablets an inch in thickness, and sold on the streets by newsboys. Clearly the invention of papyrus was one so important that we cannot declare any invention as more important, except on the basis that (other factors being equal) the earlier an i

an Egyp

laborate design, filling them with multitudes of objects of many kinds, decorating the walls with paintings, sculptures and inscriptions, and placing important manuscripts in the coffins with the mummies or embalmed bodies. The sepulchres of the kings were, of course, the largest and most elaborate of all; and of these sepulchres t

virtually impossible now to know. The probability seems to be that they could not have been produced without the promptings of the inventor, but that the progress was a

h inventing them, we do not know; but that some men were the original inventors the probabilities seem to intimate. For thes

amids o

decision to do it, that follows a mental process not very different from that invented b

thing which it is d

es in the way of

s available for

oy the facilities to overcome the di

y cases, however, the mission stands out as a clear picture in the mind. Such a case would be one in which an enemy were making a direct attack; for the mission would be simply to repel it. Another case would be one in which the mission was stated by the

suddenly saw a phantom picture in which all the lines and figures appeared grouped in a few classes, and arranged in conformity to a few fixed rules. The mis

f the conceiver. He was virtually a passive receiver. His labor came afterwards, when he

have invented a system or a science of medicine. They did, however, invent a system of cha

ed the mind. It is interesting to note that modern systems tend t

titutes a religion. An interesting fact is the wide difference between the beliefs of the two peoples, in view of the similarity of many of the other features of their civilizations. The beliefs of neither can be called highly spir

mmurabi; but whether he was the real inventor or not, we have no means of knowing. We do know, however, that the first code

y gauge; but we may assert with confidence that modern civilization would not have been possible without codes of

1250 B. C., when a subject city, Assur, in the north, threw off its allegiance and formed an independent state, Assyria. The decline of Babylonia continued until the fall of Assyria and the destruction of Nineveh, its c

but it was never glorious in statesmanship,

, of course, than the syllabic or alphabetical; but its invention was a performance, nevertheless, of the utmost brilliancy and importance, viewed from the light of what the world was then. There is little doubt also that the Chinese were the original inventors of the ma

, invented in India. These religions may seem to us very crude and commonplace and earthy; but we should not shut our eyes to the fact

grew older. At the present day, her name stands almost as

essential features of an invention. For if we realize that during all the times that had gone by, conquered peoples had remained simply conquered peoples, paying tribute but not forming parts of the conquering state, we can see that the idea of actually incorporating them into the state, thereby increasing the population of the state by the number of people incorporated, and making the state stronger in that proportion, we can hardly fail to realize that the conception of doing this was

cess and that of conception,

onquerors Sargon II and Sennacherib were kings. The splendor of the empire afterwards was conspicuous but not long lived; for after unifying the great nations of the Orient under Assyrian rule, and carrying on wars marked with the utmost of cruelty and oppression, they finally entered on a rapid decline in morals, and consequently in national prosperity and streng

seemingly novel weapons and armor which the ancient Assyrians possessed and used were invented by themselves, and not by the Egyptians or the Babylonians; but the mere facts that the A

soldiers wore defensive armor consisting of helmets, corslets made of skin or some woven stuff on which plates of metal were sewn, and sometimes coats of steel mail; with leggings to protect the legs. They carried shields, and wer

also that a great deal of inventiveness and constructiveness must have been employed, and must have been skilfully directed;-for it is a very long road-a very long road indeed-from the bow and arro

el, and when and whe

appears on the stage, without any preliminary announcement, and without any k

se; and it is also true that a revolving disc is a kind of wheel. But a disc revolving on a stationary spindle is in its intent and use a very different implement from a

mes seen in nature that look a little like revolving discs; for instance, swirls of dust or water. In fact, almost anything put in rotation looks like one, if the rotation is rapid enough; for instance, the sling that a primeval slinger revolved around his head. But what

continually. From this point to the mental conception of a roller that would not be left behind, but would be secured to the thing dragged by a round shaft on which it revolved, there was probably a single mental jump. Someone saw such a contrivance with his mental eye. It looked

ves (or our neighbors) how history could possibly have been even

the balista. The catapult was used for hurling stones, balls, etc.; the balista for shooting arrows with greater

Prisoners Alive. (

d cruel should not be denied; but, on the principle that any kind of government is better than no government, it cannot reasonably be supposed that the central and efficient administration of As

darkness of anarchy, or the confusion of petty wars. In the endeavor to preserve order over widely separated and barbarous peoples, when means of transportation and communication were inadequate, stern measures seem always to have been required. That they have often been to

ished, and the great cities which grew up, and the system of provinces which they instituted, formed a pattern for similar work by later nations; while the civilization which they spread throughout

ns which the Assyrians inv

istory bordered the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Two important peoples dwelt in Syria, the Hebrews and the Ph?nicians. Both belonged to the Semitic ra

d of judgment after death for the deeds done in this life were not entirely new, but the conception of a holy and beneficent Deity was new; and it was so inspiring and stimulating a conception that it lifte

itted by some; but the author respectfully asks attention to the sense in which he uses the

al devices helped it materially, does not seem hard to realize. For in both cases the race was transported away from savagery and toward high civili

ry; for it embraced merely a little strip of land hardly longer than a hundred and twenty miles from north to south, or wider on the average than twelve mi

sible exception of the Egyptians) the Ph?nicians were more identified with early navigation by sailing vessels and by vessels pulled by oars than any other people. It is even known that Ph?nician vessels were navigating the Eastern Mediterranean, both under sails and under oars,

e products of eastern civilization were taken westward to Greece and other countries, while tin and other raw material were brought east from Spain and even Britain; and that it had later fruit in gr

and mechanical knowledge of today, and imagine also the absence of nearly all the present acquaintance with the laws of weather, flotation, resistance to propulsion, metacentric height, etc., he may realize what a feat was the invention of the sailing ship and even of the ship pulled with oars and steered with a

ibly the Ph?nicians were not the sole and original inventors of the alphabet, and that they may have merely improved upon a system invented by, say, the Cretans; and again it may be helpful to point out that the important fact is not the personality of the inventors but the birth of the invention, and the

tions of lasting usefulness to mankind, and yet not hold a position of power or splendor in th

t gave to the world of that day the best government it had ever known, contr

inage. The coins first issued by the Lydians were of electrum, an alloy of g

the flute, the first real musical instrument, is supposed

*

t important inventions for the betterment of mankind had been already made. These inventions were not only mechanical appliances and such arts as spinning, weaving, pottery making, etc., that were intended

ind as the invention of writing, or of the bow and arrow, or the wheel-or almost any of the inventions we have noted. Not only are they not so important,-they were not so novel, they did not constitute steps so long, they did not mark such epochs, and probably resulted from less brilliant pictures on the mind. Can anyone think that the telephone was as novel or as important as the wheel? Can anyone suppose that the stea

igh. But dare anyone assert that the wonderful conceptions that have come unbidden to the minds of the great inventors were not, in their degree, also inspirations from On High? Whence did they come? That they came there can be no doubt. Whence did they come? Our religion teache

*

that the word is used continually to mean a mental act by which something heretofo

; expressing almost exactly what the present author is trying to e

he Christian Religion as an invention,