The inquiring mind uses all its senses to obtain some new idea, and
to apply it to some useful purpose; it is this spirit of research
that has led to all the great results in Art and in the mechanical
and chemical sciences, which we now enjoy and admire; but it is only
by very slow degrees, and by great perseverance, that such results
are obtained, although the accumulation of a few years makes an
enormous aggregate. Look back a generation or two--where was then
the steam engine, where the tall stalks which indicate the sites of
complicated and ingenious manufactures? the blacksmith then worked
at his anvil, and wrought out with his hands what he required in
iron; but what is now done with this treasure of the mine? behold
the Leviathan and the Britannia Bridge,--count their thousands of
tons of plate iron rolled out by machinery, and think of the work
of their removal, the millions of rivets to fix them together, the
elevation of the one, and the launching of the other. Could this be
done without that machinery which has become gradually perfected by
thought and perseverance? Visit the iron works and see the powerful
“steam hammer” moulding into form a mass of red-hot iron, many tons
in weight; see the powerful and beautiful contrivances for rolling
into plates, drawing into bars and wire, or cutting up this stubborn
metal, and call it stubborn no more! See the powerful “locomotive”
carrying along the trams hundreds of tons of goods at a rate that
can hardly be equalled by the bird that flies through the air on
its light pinions; and the huge steam ships which cut their rapid
way across the seas, holding in contempt those very winds upon
which alone the mariner used to depend! See with what rapidity and
accuracy almost every kind of “textile” material is produced by the
steam-worked loom, and remember that these have all arisen, with
hundreds more, from small beginnings, and step by step.
Nor does the mechanical genius bound the works of civilisation.
From studying the various properties of the elements of nature, and
the results of their combination in various proportions and under
various conditions, the chemist arrives, not only at their uses
and applications, but obtains results before quite unthought of!
Instance the electric telegraph, and think how it conveys one’s
thoughts half round the globe before you can express an exclamation
of surprise that such things can be! See also the wonderful results
of the photographic art, copying the most elaborate picture,
machine, or portrait, in a few seconds, and see the results of
electro-deposition, which by an invisible agent, coats with pure
gold or silver any article subjected to its action, or produces in a
mould the article itself of the most elaborate form or pattern, and
in solid metal, extracted by this all-powerful agent from liquids
which the uninformed would never believe could contain any metal at
all. Think of the beautiful colours of our carpets, draperies, silks,
&c.--the chemist has devised the dyes with which they are stained;
and in our chemical factories, what tons of vitriol, soda, bleaching
powder, and scores of other chemical agents are daily produced. All
this is the result of study and perseverance. Neither have the Fine
Arts been behind in contributing to civilisation, as may be seen in
the structure and decoration of our houses, churches, and public
buildings; in our glass and pottery ware; paper hangings, and other
artistic designs; in engraving and the copious illustration of our
books, saving a long and tedious description, and often presenting to
the eye forms that words could not express. And now let us consider
one by one the “materials” and processes from which all these results
arise.