Chapter 9

THE HIGHER FORMS OF INVENTION.

Is a psychology of great inventors possible? Pathological and physiological theories of genius.--General characters of great inventors. Precocity: chronological order of the development of the creative power. Psychological reasons for this order. Why the creator commences by imitating.--Necessity or fatalism of vocation.--The representative character of great creators. Discussion as to the origin of this character--is it in the individual or in the environment?--Mechanism of creation. Two principal processes--complete, abridged. Their three phases; their resemblances and differences.--The role of chance in invention: it supposes the meeting of two factors--one internal, the other external.--Chance is an occasion for, not an agent of, creation. 140