526 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



be able to act -upon tlie influences on which, that march depends 

 and by which it is regulated. 



The objective of the social sciences is to neglect no factor of 

 life. It is only by a ponderous and progressive labor that can be 

 realized that amelioration of the social conditions which can never 

 be attained by a sudden leap, but which we can see in fact pre- 

 paring and asserting itself by a gradual and continuous evolution. 



The evolution of mechanics, of which the strongest, most 

 adroit, and most expeditious workman is electricity, is daily re- 

 ducing the muscular labor of man. By virtue of the principle of 

 the conservation of energy, the diminution of muscular labor is of 

 advantage to intellectual labor, in quantity as well as in intensity. 

 Attention becomes more jirofound, intelligence more quick, judg- 

 ment more sure. The danger of the workman of modern times 

 becoming brutalized is, without any doubt, greatly diminished. 

 The workman has become more polite, more reflective, and more 

 human, and is advancing further every day toward the conquest 

 of the more considerable place in society which he merits. Not 

 only the quantity of intellectual labor has been advanced by the 

 technical applications which science has made possible ; we have 

 a right to ask also if its quality has not gained still more. 



The telegraph and the telephone have made all the world more 

 expeditious, more attentive, more ready in its judgments, and 

 more prompt in its decisions. Recollect the perplexity into which, 

 thirty years ago, a letter demanding prompt advice or immediate 

 assistance would put us. Knowing that we had time, that we 

 should have to wait several hours before sending an answer or 

 beginning a journey, we gave ourselves up to doubts ; and, when 

 doubt possesses itself of a man, his judgment is often obscured and 

 his will paralyzed. Now that we have to leap the ditch, to think 

 on the instant, and turn our good- will at once into action, thought 

 takes wings, and our decision is resolute and bold. 



In this way Volta and Galvani have become powerful edu- 

 cators. By their scientific discoveries they are teaching our sons 

 to think readily, to will firmly, and to express themselves briefly, 

 in a manner precise and conformed to their thought. A rapid 

 physical means of communication triumphs over torpor of the in- 

 telligence, indecision of character, and prolixity in speech. Fur- 

 ther, this electric pile has become the mother of the postal-card, 

 another mistress of simple and pertinent words. The later gen- 

 erations know so well how to use these instruments that to some 

 the postal-card is already too large. In a very few lines they can 

 assure friends of continued affection and produce the illusion that 

 one is for an instant enjoying their presence, feeling their caresses, 

 and experiencing the stimulation of their spirit. Economy of 

 time leaves leisure to write short letters, for which there was not 



