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MANY INVENTIONS 19

engineering secretary to his chief, Captain Moorson, and
went to live in the little village of Powick, about three
miles out of Worcester. He enjoyed his work, and
had the new experience of establishing relations with
a number of children, with whom he soon became a
favourite. Long afterwards, in his declining years he
found much gratification in making friends with
children, and referred to it quaintly as " a vicarious
phase of the philoprogenitive instinct." It was at
Powick that Spencer first began to have a conscience
about his very defective spelling (his morals had
always been sans reproche) and to take an interest in
style. It was at Powick, too, in a physical and
social environment that suited him, that Spencer
invented his " Velocimeter," a little instrument for
showing by inspection the velocity of an engine, and
two or three other devices. He had inherited his
father's constructive imagination, and his father's
discipline had increased it. The father wrote on July
3rd, 1840, " I am glad you find your inventive powers
are beginning to develop themselves. Indulge a
grateful feeling for it. Recollect, also, the never-
ceasing pains taken with you on that point in early
life." And the son remarks gratefully that this
conveys a lesson to educators ; the inherited endow-
ment is much, but the fostering of it is also much.
" Culture of the humdrum sort, given by those who
ordinarily pass for teachers, would have left the
faculty undeveloped." On the whole, however,
Spencer attached most importance to the hereditary
endowment, for he goes on to say that Edison,
" probably the most remarkable inventor who ever
lived," was a self-trained man, and that Sir Benjamin



	MANY INVENTIONS 19 engineering secretary to his chief, Captain Moorson, and went to live in the little village of Powick, about three miles out of Worcester. He enjoyed his work, and had the new experience of establishing relations with a number of children, with whom he soon became a favourite. Long afterwards, in his declining years he found much gratification in making friends with children, and referred to it quaintly as " a vicarious phase of the philoprogenitive instinct." It was at Powick that Spencer first began to have a conscience about his very defective spelling (his morals had always been sans reproche) and to take an interest in style. It was at Powick, too, in a physical and social environment that suited him, that Spencer invented his " Velocimeter," a little instrument for showing by inspection the velocity of an engine, and two or three other devices. He had inherited his father's constructive imagination, and his father's discipline had increased it. The father wrote on July 3rd, 1840, " I am glad you find your inventive powers are beginning to develop themselves. Indulge a grateful feeling for it. Recollect, also, the never- ceasing pains taken with you on that point in early life." And the son remarks gratefully that this conveys a lesson to educators ; the inherited endow- ment is much, but the fostering of it is also much. " Culture of the humdrum sort, given by those who ordinarily pass for teachers, would have left the faculty undeveloped." On the whole, however, Spencer attached most importance to the hereditary endowment, for he goes on to say that Edison, " probably the most remarkable inventor who ever lived," was a self-trained man, and that Sir Benjamin