4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



duction, " was dup, to a great extent, to tlie yet imperfect devel- 

 opment of the art of practical mechanics " ; and that mechani- 

 cal skill will ultimately effect "a return to the system (now 

 almost extinct) of independent, self-sustaining domiciliary 

 labor " by the introduction of cheap, compact, easily set up and 

 operated labor-saving machinery into the smaller workshops 

 and the homes of the workingmen. Should the difficulties now 

 attendant upon the transmission of electricity from points where 

 it can be cheaply generated, and its safe and effective subdivis- 

 ion and distribution as a motive force, be overcome (as it is not 

 improbable they ultimately will be), thus doing away with the 

 necessity of multiplying expensive and cumbersome machinery 

 — steam-engines, boilers, dams, reservoirs, and water-wheels — 

 for the local generation and application of mechanical power, 

 there can be no doubt that most radical changes in the use of 

 power for manufacturing purposes will speedily follow, and that 

 the anticipations of Dr. Siemens, as to the change in the rela- 

 tions of machinery to its operatives, may at no distant day be 

 realized. 



The third cause which has especially operated in recent years 

 to occasion discontent on the part of labor has been undoubtedly 

 tlie increase in intelligence or general information on the part of 

 the masses in all civilized countries. 



The best definition, or rather statement, of the essential differ- 

 ence between a man and an animal that has ever been given is, 

 that a man has progressive wants, and an animal has not. Un- 

 der the guidance of what is termed instinct, the animal wants 

 the same habitat and quantity and quality of food as its progeni- 

 tors, and nothing more. And the more nearly man approaches 

 in condition to the animal, the more limited is the sphere of his 

 wants, and the greater his contentment. A greater supply of 

 blubber and skins to the Esquimaux, more " pulque " to the na- 

 tive Mexican, to the West Indian negro a constant supply of 

 yams and plantains without labor, and the ability to buy five 

 salt herring for the same price that he has now to give for three, 

 would, in each case, temporarily fill the cup of individual happi- 

 ness nearly to repletion. And, among civilized men, the content- 

 ment and also sluggishness of those neighborhoods in which the 

 population come little in contact with the outer world and 

 have little of diversity of employment open to them, are pro- 

 verbial. Now the wonderful material progress which has been 

 made within the last quarter of a century has probably done 

 more to overcome the inertia, and quicken the energy of the 

 masses, than all that has been hitherto achieved in this direction 

 in all preceding centuries. The railroad, the steamship, and the 

 telegraph have broken down the barriers of space and time that 



