668 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



There is no sign that the work of the inventor is near its end, and 

 those who believe, as I do, that he has been the chief agent in the 

 progress of the world, have no reason to doubt that the world will be 

 still more deeply indebted to him as the centuries go by. 



There are now in force in this country more than two hundred and 

 fifty thousand patents for inventions, the fruits to a very large extent 

 of the mental labor of those who are called the laboring-men of the 

 country. Aside from the direct value of these inventions in promot- 

 ing the comfort and increasing the wealth of the country, there is 

 another factor to be considered, having the most vital relation to the 

 industries of the country and its powers of production. This large 

 number of inventions implies a high degree of intelligence and men- 

 tal activity in the great body of the people. It indicates trained 

 habits of observation and trained powers of applying the knowledge 

 which has been acquired. It shows an ability to turn to account the 

 forces of Nature and train them to the service of man, such as has been 

 possessed by the laborers of no other country. It suggests as perti- 

 nent and most important, the inquiry whether any other country is so 

 well equipped for competition in production as our own ; whether in 

 any other country the laboring-man is as efficient and his labor there- 

 fore as cheap as in our own ; whether he does not exhibit the seeming 

 paradox of receiving more for his labor than in any other country, and 

 at the same time doing more for what he receives — giving more for 

 what he receives, and receiving more for what he gives. 



COLOKADO AS A WINTEK SANITAEIUM. 



By SAMUEL A. FISK, M. D. 



WITHIN the past year the civilized world has been shocked and 

 saddened by the knowledge of the great devastation wrought 

 by the cholera in Spain ; and every precaution, in the way of sanitary 

 measures and quarantine regulations, that modern science could sug- 

 gest, was taken to prevent its spreading into other countries. The 

 public scanned the columns of the daily press, eager for information 

 with regard to the advance of this fearful disease, and read with 

 bated breath as they learned that it numbered its victims by the tens 

 of thousands. 



If it was a matter of such deep and universal concern that in Spain 

 101,000 souls gave up their lives to this fell destroyer, should it not 

 also be a matter of some interest to our own people that, within the bor- 

 ders of these United States, over 91,500 persons die each year of pul- 

 monary consumption ? * — that twelve out of every hundred deaths are 

 caused by a disease which, though slow in its progress, is as sure in its 



results as cholera itself ? 



* Census, 18S0. 



