460 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



steeped in the water of a certain river. Returning from there, it 

 is spun into superfine yarns by the best machinery and in the 

 naturally adapted moist climate of Belfast. At that stage the 

 product is again sent back to Belgium, where it is woven into 

 gossamer-like cambrics, in low, damp cellars, and under condi- 

 tions that would not be agreeable to the north of Ireland artisan, 

 and the work of the Belgian hand-loom weaver must then be 

 carried back to be bleached under the dripping skies of the Green 

 Isle. England is, besides, herself the largest and readiest buyer 

 of all improved articles of necessity and luxury, from whatever 

 source arriving; and, while usually the first to open up new 

 markets, in none does she lay claim to any exclusive privilege. 



There is, indeed, ample room in the natural economy of pro- 

 duction for the services of all nations, and none need stand idle. 

 Co-operation, not hostility and jealousy, should be the watchword 

 of modern industrial enterprise. We ought, in the interest of pro- 

 ducer and consumer alike, to remove all fiscal shackles from our 

 trade and manufactures. European governments, hampered with 

 the expenses of an all-devouring militarism, may be unable to 

 abandon any source of revenue, however demoralizing in its inci- 

 dence or costly in its collection. They may also fear the effects 

 upon their own stability of even a temporary disturbance of ex- 

 isting employments. But neither of these objections can be of 

 any weight with a nation perplexed only with the disposal of its 

 surplus revenues, and whose reposing might need fear no foreign 

 attack. In the enormous extent of our partially developed terri- 

 torial resources, and no less in our wealth of inventiveness, now 

 but half utilized, there can be no scarcity of employment for 

 capital and labor, nor can we find any such profitable investment 

 for our hoarded millions as the release of our capitalists and 

 artisans, by just indemnities and pensions, from the demoralizing 

 servitude of state-supported industries. In the past we have 

 misdirected their energies and squandered their resources, and 

 we owe them some compensation. Let us all make a new start 

 by working in alliance with Nature, and no longer in ignorant 

 opposition to her. Let each industry freely settle where it may, 

 in our territory or out of it, and within the lifetime of many 

 already middle-aged we shall see progress in the wealth of our 

 country, and in the growth and contentment of our population, 

 far surpassing all our previous experience. 



A new view into the conditions and international relations of the remote past 

 is given by Dr. Lehmann, of Berlin, in a paper on " Ancient Metrology." His 

 showing that the Egyptian system of weights and measures, instead of being the 

 origin of that of Babylonia, presupposes the sexagesimal system of the latter, if con- 

 firmed, would indicate the existence of commercial intercourse between Babylonia 

 and Egypt at a time of which we have at present no contemporaneous records. 



