more on the value of polymathy

The 18^th century author of the first modern encyclopedia, Ephraim Chambers, thought that polymathy itself looked for the connections between otherwise unrelated subjects, writing, “Where numbers of things are thrown precariously together, we sometimes discover relations among them, which we should never have thought of looking for.” That is the essence of the value of polymathy. The polymath can make these connections and discover the relationships between completely different ideas and concepts not by reading about them, but because they are thrown precariously together in his or her mind.