the Progresa ofUie Useful Arts, 323 



changes his condition ; to examine into their tendencies, whether 

 for or against the increase of human happiness ; and to glance 

 at the method of encouraging their development. 



Man is possessed of a highly muscular and pliable form, ca- 

 pable of enduring long continued and vigorous exertion; yet 

 the tenderness of his limbs prohibits the direct employment of his 

 powers. The animals are invariably supplied with instruments 

 fit for the various operations they have to perform. The bee has 

 the proboscis wherewith to reach the bottom of the nectary ; the 

 burrowing animals have claws for digging the earth, and the 

 beasts of prey for tearing their food. But man works entirely 

 by tools. Does he wish to throw the stone, he uses the sling ; 

 the spade enables him to dig the ground. The capability of 

 employing inanimate matter, of making it, as it were, a part of 

 himself, is almost peculiar to man ; only very faint traces of 

 that power are to be perceived among the animal tribes ; in 

 man it is completely developed ; for, on reflection, we will at 

 once perceive that almost every operation which we perform, is 

 done by the assistance of tools of one kind or another. When 

 we walk we protect our feet against the sharpnesses of the road, 

 and when we attempt to change the form of afty hard body, we 

 arm our hands with something harder still. 



It is then not merely possible for man to employ tools in his 

 operations ; it is indispensable. His hands are admirably formed 

 for the wielding of such tools ; while with them alone he could 

 neither dig the earth nor fashion the softest timber. Taken in 

 the most general sense then, the arts are eminently useful to 

 our race. Some of them are necessary to our very existence. 



Let us conceive man in his rudest stage, ignorant of every 

 latent power, and using only his own limbs. View him falling 

 before every attack of the lion, the tiger, or even of the wolf; 

 and then fancy that some fortunate individual hurls the stone to 

 crush his adversary. What rejoicings through the tribe ! with 

 what eagerness would they practise the new art ! what honours 

 would be heaped on its discoverer ! Suppose then, that chance 

 had revealed to them the nutritious qualities of some root ; and 

 that patiently they dug it with their fingers, till some one fa- 

 tigued, perhaps tortured, with continued exertion, seizes the flat 



