PURPOSE-WILL OF AN INVENTOR

The world rolls on him, and unless he is one
of the unbeatable men, he is crushed.

No new idea is ever accepted at once. No
matter how true it is, no matter how useful,
no matter how important, it will be received
with scorn and opposition if it has the mis-
fortune to be new.
There are generally four stages in the process
of accepting a new idea :

(1) “It is a lie.”

(2) ‘It is dangerous.”

(3) ‘It is no use, anyway.”

(4) “ Of course I believe it. There is
nothing new about it. I always have believed
it.
People dislike new things, perhaps, because
anything new is an offence against their
knowledge and self-esteem. It is something
they do not understand. Consequently, they
are opposed to it. It is an amazing fact that
even the simplest new improvements are
almost always opposed at first. They have to
fight their way.

Even bath-tubs were opposed for years.
The first bath-tub that was put in use, so far
as I know, was used in the city of Cincinnati,
in 1842. This was at once attacked by doctors.

D 49