But that conception rested undeveloped in the minds of only a few men. Had it not been for Columbus, or some man like him, it would have remained undeveloped and borne no fruit. The Savior in his parable tells us of the sower who went forth to sow, and tells us also that most of the grain fell on stony ground. So it is with most of the opportunities that are offered to us every day; and so it is even with most of the visions that are placed before our minds. But the Savior tells us also of other grains that fell on good ground and bore abundant fruit. Such are the conceptions that the great inventors have embodied; such was the conception that fell on the good ground of the mind of Christopher Columbus. The conception that came to him was not of the possibility that someone could sail west and eventually reach India, but of preparing a suitable expedition himself and actually sailing west and reaching India. The conception must have been wonderfully powerful and clear, for it dominated all his life thereafter. But he could not make others see the vision that he saw. For many years he went from place to place, trying to get the means wherewith to prepare his expedition. He made only a few converts, but he did make a few. Some of these exerted their influence on Queen Isabella of Spain. She, together with her husband Ferdinand, then supplied the money and other necessaries for the expedition. The invention of the gun was followed by the invention of printing in 1434, and this by the discovery of America in 1492. These three epochal occurrences started the new civilization with a tremendous impetus. This impetus was immediately reinforced by the voyage of the Portuguese Admiral, Vasco da Gama, around the Cape of Good Hope to India in 1497-1498, and the circumnavigation of the globe by Ferdinand Magellan in 1519-1522. The immediate practical influence of da Gama's feat was almost to kill the commerce of the cities of Italy and Alexandria with India by way of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and to transfer the center of the sea-commerce of the world to the west coast of Europe, especially Portugal. Near the west coast it has rested ever since; though but little of it stayed long with Portugal. While Magellan's voyage was not quite so important as the discovery of America, it was not immeasurably less so; for it set at rest forever the most important question in geography,--was the earth round or not? The voyage of Columbus had not answered it, because he returned by the same route as that by which he went. But Magellan started in a southwesterly course, and one of his ships again reached home, coming from the east. The Victoria had circumnavigated the globe! Only eighteen men and one ship returned. The other ships and the other men had perished. Magellan himself had been buried in the Philippines.