194 THE AFRICAN SUGAR CANE. 
Amongst ithe many, two articles, namely, glass and 
éron, suffice to furnish us with numerous familiar instances 
of lost processes rediscovered; and even of lost manufac- 
tures not yet restored to us, although sought after by 
many really practical men. Wemay, moreover, go beyond 
these remarks, and assert that there are some, if not many, 
arts and manufactures known and carried on by the 
Chinese, which certainly are not understood and prac- 
ticed by Europeans. : 
Not a few of their simple inventions and ingenious 
contrivances are either totally unknown to us, or if 
slightly mentioned by travelers rather more observant 
than others, their accounts have been so inaccurate and 
deficient in detail, that the principle and consequent value 
of these inventions have remained unappreciated and un- 
adopted. 
Who would be so hardy as to assert that much valu- 
able knowledge in various particular branches of art (of 
which we ourselves are ignorant) does not exist in the 
islands of Japan? I fancy that no reasonable man would 
venture upon such an assertion. All thisserves to teach 
us, that in bringing forward anything as a NEW DISs- 
COVERY of our own, we must not be disconcerted if, on 
careful examination, we find that we are, in reality, 
merely rediscovering, and giving to our own generation 
and country, in a practical form, that which has been 
known and attempted, if not actually used, in by-gone 
times; or perhaps by a far distant and scarcely known 
people of our own day. 
Itisa principle, however, most wisely recognized by the 
law of almost every civilized nation of the present age, that 
