Genre:

Regular Feature, Essay

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Endeavour, Creativity, Discovery, Methodology, Education, Periodicals

    Begins this account of the life of Rowland Hill and his introduction of penny postage by insisting that 'People who don't think have a vague notion that the great discoveries of science and the improvements which add to our comfort and happiness are as much due to happy thoughts as to anything else. Now all the men who have done great work in the world, and who have made their names famous, began to think for themselves early in life. Mr. Hill did—Faraday did—Stephenson, Rennie, Smeaton [...] worked their way to fame' and 'had to think hard'. Adds that 'One of the great objects of the boy's own is to make the boys of Great Britain think'. Proceeds to the life of Hill which emphasises his early talent for arithmetic and model-building.