Cyclopedia of Telephony & Telegraphy Vol. 1 - A General Reference Work on Telephony, etc. etc. by Robert Millikan;Samuel McMeen;George Patterson;Kempster Miller;Charles Thom
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page 30 of 497 (06%)
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knowledge of what takes place, particularly as to amount, those
working in the art have been able to do as well as they have. When an exact knowledge of quantity is easily obtainable, very striking advances may be looked for. The student of these phases of physical science and industrial art will do well to combine three processes: study of the words of others; personal experimentation; and digestive thought. The last mentioned is the process of profoundest value. On it finally depends mastery. It is not of so much importance how soon the concept shall finally be gained as _that it is gained_. A statement by another may seem lifeless and inert and the meaning of an observation may be obscure. Digestive thought is the only assimilative process. The whole art of telephony hangs on taking thought of things. Judge R.F. Taylor of Indiana said of Professor Bell, "It has been said that no man by taking thought may add a cubit to his stature, yet here is a man who, by taking thought, has added not cubits but miles to the lengths of men's tongues and ears." In observations of many students, it is found that the notion of each must pass through a certain period of incubation before his private and personal knowledge of Ohm's law is hatched. Once hatched, however, it is his. By just such a process must come each principal addition to his stock of concepts. The periods may vary and practice in the uses of the mind may train it in alertness in its work. If time is required, time should be given, the object always being to keep thinking or re-reading or re-trying until the thought is wholly encompassed and possessed. |
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