ts known to all, with the view of implanting these
facts in the mind of the machine designer.

Some designers have done excellent work with no thought of
psychological problems. But in this more strenuous age it seems
best to take advantage of every aid to the desired end.

The intricacy of mechanism has reached such a state that new
designers are almost overwhelmed with the mere thought of trying
to comprehend the existing machines. But with the advance of the
world of machinery, there has been a better comprehension of the
working of the "thinking machine", and we must take advantage of
this knowledge in order to win out. It is particularly needful now
to study its most efficient use. We are getting to the point where
mental energy saving methods should be used.

It is not necessary to go beyond the bounds of orthodox science
for schemes for getting the best results from a given mind. We
have known for centuries that men tend to habits of thought as
well as action,--that thought habits are like ruts, and these are
encountered wherever the mind travels, and these ruts bring the
mind back to a certain central group or community of groups of
ideas.

Establishing Useful Ruts.

The real secret of success is in establishing ruts of a useful
kind, ruts with switches that may be operated by the mind at will,
or that work automatically when the mind would otherwise wander.

Since even fleeting thoughts are germs of acts, it takes no great
effort or self-torture if we will but understand the processes and
smoke out the undesirable germs, and allow and encourage the
growth of the preferred groups of thoughts. This may be called a
lazy man's way of doing things, but it is the way to conserve the
mental and physical energy, and it gets results.

In saying that the problems of the work in hand should come
automatically and agreeably into the mind when there is a lull in
the impressions being made by other things, it is not the
intention to convey the meaning that one must have no other
interests.

The mind gets its clearest view by the scheme already mentioned
for creating interest, viz., by repeatedly bringing it back to the
subject whenever it is found wandering.

The best view for invention is that which reveals the most natural
way for accomplishing the purpose for which the machine is wanted.
It should not be born of precedent. It should not follow the lines
thought out by other designers.

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