Sr. VIATEUR'S LECTIO
CoLLEGE JouRNAL.
ERTA PRODE T , YAIUA DELECTAT. Seneca.
BOURBONNAISGROVE.ILL. FRIDAY. Dec. 211883.
VOL. I. ORI
TI~~\LI TY .
No. 17
1fby originalitr i· mcantthe unfolcting of omething positively new in art. cience. method, production etc., One of the commonest complnints of present day rheo it i~ b:ud to believe in it existence either now or critie<> is the want of ori<Tinality in writers and peakers. Poet · are cb:JTged with repeating vei e which baye at ~ny time since the power of thought firat began to been recited su b~t:antiall~- a thousand time · before. exert it elf. ::\o one nation or people, independently Philn;;ophel and bistorinn~. n oYelist~ :1nd e~:3ayi ts. of others. can claim to haYe originated. anr thoughts preachers anrl lecturer:, :ue included in the ~ame indcs for the benefit or act \an cement of mankind . Or the people·, antiquity, the PhU'necians can most of c nrlemnation. plausibly lay claim to this honor. They were the first :u·~n~- contend that not onl.Y is originali ty very rare,n wn mehllnrgists, they possessecl a deep knowledge of nlmo, "" r<ue as ho.1e-t:v in politicians,-lmt, that it i~ nearly. if not entirel.Y. imp0~,ible. If an e1rnest r eader n:n·igation and commerce, and they introduced. letters becomc.g rlceply intcre-ted in a »ork full of Ji·esh and into Europe. As to actual origi nality-it is denied that they whole~nmc lhonght. onf' which imbues him »ith strange po:,-es::.ed such a thing: they drank deeply from the ~en' 1tion~ :mel new incenti ,-e.~. ::-orne critic ~traightway ,pring-;. of the enrlier aw:l more orient:tl nn tions, and, hold' it up hefore the puhlic anclshow~ lhat e very icl.eil , rtuickly nosimilating and dige ting their borrowed kno"~>l :1n d ('' rry thought conyeye<l. is cleriYect from some cclge. they, a~ the grc1t central pow·er between the East 1: nner n1:rhnr "~>ho liYcct in times gone h.L Th'· mnltrr nf whiC'h works are compo.~erl, they say nncl \1-e~t. played a most notnble part. Yet with ali this i' quite limited nml c·1~ily exhan~ted. Thr numbf'r of they were not productrs of thought. The Arabians. hurnnn I;H:nltil'- :wrl pn-,ion• np<•n wbieh the,... chnnces likewiBc were tbe teachers :1nct expounders of science can he run i-. ti10Y daim. rtnite ~mnll: Rnrl tl'ic manner hetw·een nncicnt Greece and modern Europe, bnt they in whi<'h the.\· c:~ n he treatrrl. anct the number of wayi' gn ve to the world nothing it h11d not po sesaed or in whil'h tlwy c:~n he vi ewecl, may he co unted on n thought of preYiously. :\early all modern inventions dce·Hlc. Lon'. hatrP rl. je'llou<y. anger. pridc. re,·enge, han ber n shown to hnvc hact existence in the germ, if genero-ity. anuice. are the to11ch-stone• nn which all not in full perfection. centuries ago. Di~raeli a•~erts lbat the ancient Romnns were acpoet;; and pro~e writer~ depend. and theEe p1~~ions have e,·er bern th s:1me from th(' beginning to the present quainted. wilh the secret of monble types. De Quincy insists that printing ''a" long known to the ancients, time. In Jf om~>r. Yirgil. Plantns nnrl Terence, we have an hnt marle no nflyance through want of paper. Gunepitomf' of :J!I men ::m rl women under the suo: anrl. there p owder, wn~ nBcd as a pyrotechnic plaything long i• nothing new in tlwm e'l:c€'pt the manner of clre-s and l•cfore it wns 11lilizect as an instrument of destruction. i'ome scientists hold that the n.nc ients must have the cut of the h:1ir rmd »hi~kers. E>en inYention. the critk argnc•. produ ce' nothing nel\·. They a c knnwlcclg~ scanned the he:1 vens with telescopes else they could that mn<ll'rn mind~ h,1 \-€' rchahilitnterl :mel remocteled not hnvc posse~•ed the knowledge of n;:.tronomy they nncient iden,Rnd invention•. but thllt they have in reality are accrerliterl with. Alex:1 nder'• copy of the Ilind enclo-ecl in a nut hell, orhrin:1terl nothing new. Franklin. the.Y clnim. stole the thunrlcr. nmlnl~o the lightning. of wme one el:<e: and conld ,..carcely haYe heen written withont a micro~cope; w arc ns'<nr tl for a ccrt:1inty tha for ~tea m we are an rl tbc gem through "hich "ere virwecl contending in<leht rl not tr> Fulton. \\'att. the .J[arqnis of \Yorce.s- glarlintors con l(l b:1ve been nothing hula plain opera glass. ter or Bla~co de (=: :uony. hu to ~ome countryman. and '· The mnllcnhility of gla". th e change nnct stability of perh·1p• cnntempornr.v. of (onfuf'iu~. In a word, in colnrs. nml n th•nt•'lnd ancl llllC nth •r things, we are litcrnturc. th art 11nd ~deuc es, there is nothing of a .•urccl. must be turner! up anew by us." Phntncrrn phy. which the pre:;ent century claim as its which it ca.n be truly '"ict "thi is new:·· Is this true, h0wen•r' In order o s and understanrl clearly lPt own invention beyond nil pnwf'r of di spute. was described 11y a Freucl.Jmnn in 171i0 with even greater us under~ anrl wb[lt ''originalit.(' i.