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EXPERI.IfENTifL LEGISLATION. 157
and gucm&d than ot,hem. NOW, every man who establishes a
shop or factory or SOCid institution of a novel kind is trying an
experiment. If he hits an unsupplied need of his fellow-mea tho
experiment mcceeds ; that is to my, it has something succeeding
or following it-namely, repetition by himself and otherrr.
The word tt success '' is a most h~ppy one, etymologically.
To have success is to have a future-a future of imitators.
It. is quite apparent that, all the grc:rt novelties of rcccnt
tiIIlcs have been worked out in this tentative mry. Horn, for
instance, has our vast and marvellous railway systcnl Lccn
cleveloped? Did it spring forth perfect from the mise forethought
of Parliament, as Mincrva, fully armed and equipped,
leaped from the head of Jupiter ? On tho contrary, did not
our mise landowners and practical men oppose railways to
the very utmost-until they discovcred what a mistake they
mere making? There is no great blamc to them. Wha,
indeed, could see in tho rude tram-line of Benjamin Outrnm
tho germ which mas to grow into the maze of lincs and points
and signals which we nom pass through without surpriso at
Clapharn Junction or at London Bridge? That most complex
organisation, a great railway station, is entirely a product of
frequent cxpcrimcut. Gradatinz-Step by Step-would be
no unapt motto for any great industrial success. In such
matters experiments are both intentional and unintentional.
Of the former the public hears little, except when they result
in some profitable patent. Tho preliminary trials are usually
performed in secret, for obvious reasons, and tho unsuccessful
ones are left undescribed, and are quickly forgotten. AR to
unintentional experiments, they arc too numerous. Every
railway accident which happens is an experiment revealing
Borne fault of design, some insufficiency in tho materials, some
contingency unprovided for. The accident is inquired into,
and then the engineers set to work to plan improvements
which shall prevent the like accident from happening in the
futore. If we had time to trace the histo7 of the steam
engine, of gas lighting, of electric telegraphs, of submarine
cables, of electric lighting, or of any other great improvement,
we shonld see, in like manner, t.hat the wisdom of Parliament
s