Many eminent men still living trace their success in life to his suggestions and assistance, without which several valuable lines of study and investigation might not have been entered on, at least at so early a period.

He would say to young men about him, "Take up a subject and pursue it well, and you cannot fail to succeed." And often he would throw out a new idea to a young friend, saying, "I make you a present of it; there is fortune in it, if you pursue it with energy." Energy of character has always a power to evoke energy in others.

It acts through sympathy, one of the most influential of human agencies.
The zealous energetic man unconsciously carries others along with him.
His example is contagious, and compels imitation.

He exercises a sort of electric power, which sends a thrill through every fibre--flows into the nature of those about him, and makes them give out sparks of fire.
Dr.Arnold's biographer, speaking of the power of this kind exercised by him over young men, says: "It was not so much an enthusiastic admiration for true genius, or learning, or eloquence, which stirred within them; it was a sympathetic thrill, caught from a spirit that was earnestly at work in the world--whose work was healthy, sustained, and constantly carried forward in the fear of God--a work that was founded on a deep sense of its duty and its value." [127] Such a power, exercised by men of genius, evokes courage, enthusiasm, and devotion.

It is this intense admiration for individuals--such as one cannot conceive entertained for a multitude--which has in all times produced heroes and martyrs.