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Untitled Article
r err it may reach the veqje of civilized existence , and push'forth in jguest of new glories and new' spoils . The correctness of this general statement we deem so obvidtis ; that we do not feel it incumbent on us to go into any detailed
proof , or illustration of it ; but prefer , as of infinitely more ifcotnent , the inquiry , Does genius , on the whole , suffer by the delay we speak of ? - The right answer to this question will at once appear , if we Consider a little what genius is , what are the conditions on which its development depends , and what provision does modern civilization aflbrd for the fulfilment of those conditions .
Genius , by which term we conceive is ordinarily designated the creative or inventive faculty of mind , has two great leading spheres of operation . Its immediate business , indeed , is at all times one and the same ; the formation of new combinations of the mind ' s existing stock of ideas . The distinction , however , we would now draw is this : —That in the one class of operations , genius
rests in this novel arrangement of its wealth , as an end ^ which We think is the case with poetry and the fine arts ; in the other , It resorts to it merely as a means , having , for its ultimate aim , the making some direct and visible acquisition . Scientific dis ^ covery and mechanic invention appear to come under this head .
Now , in whichever of these lights we view genius , its develops ment will plainly depend on two circumstances . First , on the extent and fructifying power of the materials on which it is td work ; and next , on the liveliness and vigour of its own inherent energies . Each of these we will take in its order .
With reference to the first point , we are strongly of opinibri that the materials put at the disposal of genius in our times are multiplied and elevated above those furnished to it in any previous age of the world , to an extent that sets enumeration at defiance * We begin with scientific genius .
It would seem , indeed , at first sight , that the repeated inroads made on the domains of ignorance by former generations of men have narrowed the sphere of modern exertion . At least , to hold that they have enlarged it , sounds something like a paradox . Nevertheless , we are persuaded that this seeming paradox is , for practical purposes , the sober and literal truth . We think that every successive incursion of mind on the inane of the Unknown
bpens a new and distinct avenue for its farther progress . As the fcircle widens , new radii are eternally shooting forth ( our mathematical readers must not be too strict with us ) , and taking a visibly distinct and divided direction . Knowledge is essentially , unchangeably prolific . One truth generates—we will not say one other , but—many others . That tree which now shelters nations was once a single , leafless , fruitless stick . The thought of antiquity dissipated itself in loose and barren speculation on the ro x&Xov >
Untitled Article
thW Onrthe Development of Gkniit * .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1832, page 560, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1818/page/56/
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