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1.]   ANTECEDENTS.   7

scientific men ; probably they have been accustomed to concentrate their attention upon a few notabilities, and to ignore their colleagues. It must, however, be recollected that all biographies, even of the greatest men, reveal numerous associates and competitors whose merit and influence were far greater than had been suspected by the outside world. Great discoveries have often been made simultaneously by workers ignorant of each other's labours. This shows that they had derived their inspiration from a common but hidden source, as no mere chance would account for simultaneous discovery. In illustration of this view it will suffice to mention a few of the great discoveries in this generation. That of photography is most intimately associated with the names of Niepce, Daguerre and Talbot, who were successful in 1839 along different lines of research, but Thomas Wedgewood was a photographer in 1802, though he could not fix his pictures. As to the origin of species, Wallace is well known to have had an independent share in its discovery, side by side with the far more comprehensive investiga-