IMAGINATION 403also possible to mix certain chemical ingredients in such proportions
that all the ingredients oj the combination take on an entirely d!fferent nature, as
in the case of H 2 0, which is a mixture of two parts hydrogen and one
part oxygen, creating water.
Chemistry is not the only field in which a combination of physical
materials can be so assembled that each takes on a greater value, or the
result is a product entirely foreign in nature to that of its component parts.
The man who blew up those useless hills of dirt and stone and moved
the surplus from where it was not needed, to the low land where it was
needed, gave that dirt and stone a value that it did not have before.
A ton of iron is worth little. Add to it carbon, silicon, manganese,
sulfur, and phosphorus, in the right proportions, and you have trans-
formed it into steel, which is of much greater value. Add still other
substances, in the right proportion, including some skilled labor, and
that same ton of steel is transformed into watch springs worth a small
fortune. But in all these transformation processes the one ingredient
that is worth most is the one that has no material form-Imagination!
Here lie great piles of loose brick, lumber, nails, and glass. In its
present form it is worse than useless for it is a nuisance and an eyesore.
But mix it with the architect's Imagination and add some skilled labor
and it becomes a beautiful mansion worth a king's ransom.
On one of the great highways between New York and Philadelphia
stood an old ramshackle, timeworn barn worth less than fifty dollars.
With the aid of a little lumber and some cement, plus Imagination, this
old barn has been turned into a beautiful automobile supply station
that earns a small fortune for the man who provided the Imagination.
Across the street from my office is a little print shop that earns
coffee and rolls for its owner and his helper, but no more. Less than
a dozen blocks away stands one of the most modern printing plants
in the world, whose owner spends most of his time traveling and has
far more wealth than he will ever use. Twenty-two years ago those two
printers were in business together.