are now reprinted. A father is supposed to be discoursing
to his two sons, and to be describing to them how they may develop the faculties which find their outcome in invention. These conversa- tions contain, it is almost needless to say, much interesting matter. There are anecdotes of what has been done in this direction, of Sir Josiah Mason, for instance, who made a huge fortune out of improvements of the steel-pen. At thirty he had scarcely a sovereign which he could call his own; at sixty he gave A360,000 to endow an orphanage and the college at Birmingham which bears his name. Narratives of past achievements naturally give sug- gestions for new ones. That any one can be taught the inventive faculty can hardly be affirmed; that it may be brought out when lormant is likely enough. And it is not by genius, but by ordinary ability, that the common business of the world, whether in this or in any other matters, is transacted.
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