484 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



form sheet like that of paper, that he can cover si;ch slieet with signs 

 which can be made to express every passion or emotion of the human 

 heart, every conception of the mind, and every fact in nature ! Scarcely 

 less wonderful than the fact that he can do it at all is the fact that he 

 can make such a sheet of the size of the "Boston Herald" for two 

 cents. It would take a volume to record all the inventions which have 

 been made relating to the manufacture of paper alone to make such a 

 result possible, and another for the inventions relating to printing. 

 But the inventions relating to paper and printing would not of them- 

 selves enable " Boston Heralds " to be printed. The " Herald " is not 

 made and sold for the paper and ink of which it consists, but primarily 

 for the news it contains of what has taken place only the day before 

 all over the world. You will find in the " Herald," as you know, or 

 any other morning paper, day after day, the news of what took place 

 the day before, not in Boston or vicinity alone, or even in Massachu- 

 setts or New England, or in this country, but in Europe, Asia, and 

 Africa as well. 



Through the potency of modern inventions you may perhaps to- 

 morrow morning shudder over the horrors of a railway accident tak- 

 ing place at this moment thousands of miles away. Not till within a 

 short time, and only through the works of the inventor, did a railway 

 accident become possible. 



You may perhaps read that a palace of the Emperor of Russia has 

 been blown down with dynamite. Will you stop to think that dyna- 

 mite is a new invention, or that the telegraph which brings the news 

 was unknown fifty years ago ? 



The paper may tell you that Mr. Edison has perfected his electric 

 light and is at this moment illuminating many cities, and you will 

 speculate upon the efPect that the announcement will have upon gas- 

 stocks, but will it occur to you that neither gas-stocks nor gas was 

 known a hundred years ago, and that till within less than half that 

 period man had but little more control of electricity than he has now 

 of earthquakes ? 



Now, consider for a moment how this facility for transmitting 

 intelligence must affect society in one of its most important aspects. 

 A great calamity falls upon some distant city or community. If the 

 news of it reached us, as it would haA^e done a century ago, only after 

 the lapse of days, or weeks, or months, and if friendly help can be 

 given only after the lapse of a similar period, we may be touched with 

 pity, but there will arise but little sense of sympathy or generosity or 

 duty. 



But when the intelligence reaches us almost at the moment of the 

 occurrence of the event, and we are conscious that it lies in our power 

 to help, the sympathies of thousands are awakened, their generous 

 impulses are touched, and they recognize a moral obligation to bestow 

 needed help, because it can be made immediately available. The duty 



