Johnson v. Forty-Second Street, Manhattanville & St. Nicholas Ave. R. Co., 33 F. 499, 501 (C.C.S.D.N.Y. 1888):

It would be as irrational to charge an author who has produced a sentence of surpassing power and beauty with plagiarism, because the words which he employes have long been found in the lexicon, as to over-throw a patent for a new and useful combination upon the ground that its separate elements are old. By an ingenious assembling of known appliances this inventor solved the problem the solution of which had been sought for in vain through a long series of years. Although the goal was frequently in sight, it had never been reached; always some necessary requisite to success was lacking. The practical disentanglement of the difficulty was left to Newman. He made that a success which before had been tentative and rudimentary.