4 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



inventive genius we owe the development that has taken place within 

 the last century in all the luxuries, the comforts, even the bare neces- 

 sities of our daily existence, would, in their day, and while struggling 

 for success, have been spoken of as schemers, even in respect of those 

 very inventions of which we are now enjoying the fruits. But I feel 

 I need not labor this point further at a meeting of the Mechanical Sec- 

 tion of the British Association, an association established for the ad- 

 vancement of science. I know I shall be accused of decrying the prac- 

 tical man and of upholding the " schemers." I say most emphatically 

 that I do not decry the practical man ; I plead guilty to the charge of 

 decrying the miscalled practical man, and I glory in my guilt, while I 

 readily accept that which I consider the. praise of upholding "schem- 

 ers," and I do so for this simple reason, that, if there were no schemers, 

 there would be no improvement. I think it becomes a scientific body 

 like the British Association to laud the generous effort of the unsuc- 

 cessful inventor, rather than to encourage the cold selfisnness of the 

 man who stands by and sees others endeavor to raise the structure of 

 improvement without lending a hand to help, and even sneers at the 

 builders, but, when the structure is fully raised and solidly established, 

 claims to come in to inhabit, and, being in, probably essays, cuckoo- 

 like, to oust the builders and to take possession for his own benefit. 







DEVELOPMENT EN" DEESS. 



By GEOEGE H. DAE WIN. 



THE development of dress presents' a strong analogy to that of 

 organisms, as explained by the modern theories of evolution ; and 

 in this article I propose to illustrate some of the features which they 

 have in common. We shall see that the truth expressed by the prov- 

 erb, " Natura non facit saltum," is applicable in the one case as in the 

 other; the law of progress holds good in dress, and forms blend into 

 one another with almost complete continuity. In both cases a form 

 yields to a succeeding form, which is better adapted to the then sur- 

 rounding conditions ; thus, when it ceased to be requisite that men in 

 active life should be ready to ride at any moment, and when riding 

 had for some time ceased to be the ordinary method of travelling, 

 knee-breeches and boots yielded to trousers. The " Ulster coat," now 

 so much in vogue, is evidently largely fostered by railway-travelling, 

 and could hardly have flourished in the last century, when men either 

 rode or travelled in coaches, where there was no spare room for any 

 very bulky garment. 



A new invention bears a kind of analogy to a new variation in 



