In this last, an
engineer stood at the foot of the great mountain and asked
himself how he could tunnel it for nations to pass through. He
saw a small stream dashing down the mountainside and at once
found his desired "how," for he made that stream work big drills
by compressed air, till the everlasting rocks themselves had to
give in.
But man is an infinite creator--by which we mean that his
creative capacity is limitless and inexhaustible. No sooner does
he create one thing than he turns to create another thing totally
different from it. A locomotive thundering past with a long train
has no resemblance to a telegraph line, nor that, in turn, to a
great printing press. Man coolly sets at defiance the most
fundamental laws of physical science.
Thus, a heavy load of passengers, sitting in no less heavy cars,
if put on a smooth inclined plane must slide down faster and
faster to the bottom, or Vulcan would be confounded. But man
strings a thin wire overhead, which would snap instantly if the
load gave it one pull; but something which, some "how," man
causes to pass along that wire, makes the trolley with its live
freight go uphill faster than a horse can run.
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