DETAIL AND IMAGINATION

Edison has repeatedly maintained that his success is principally the result of perseverance, and he declares that genius is "one-tenth inspiration and nineteenths perspiration." This view seems to be logical, but at the same time in direct contradiction to the theory that President Lowell has so often expounded. The latter declares that the world needs men who have the imagination to find new problems, and emphatically not the kind of men who can automatically solve any problem that is presented to them.

In substance one man says that perservance is a quality to be cultivated, and that wanderlust is merely a name for discontent and laziness; the other infers that too much detail is fatal to growth, and that the practice of doing unhabitual things is necessary for development. What is the solution of the riddle?

First of all, detail is merely a means to an end, and not an end in itself. It is the instrument which, properly adjusted, enables us to see and realize our dreams; but if the focus is destroyed or if the glass becomes indistinct through improper manipulation, the image fades, and only a confused blur is distinguishable. Use the instrument properly and it will aid you invaluably, abuse it, and it will blind you hopelessly.