ON THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. 



the retreats of solitude afford to the contempla 

 tive mind ; and, when not engaged in festive 

 associations, are apt to sink into a species of list- 

 lessriess and ennui. They stalk about from 

 one place to another without any definite ob 

 ject in view look at every thing around with a 

 kind of unconscious gaze are glad to indulge 

 in trifling talk and gossip with every one they 

 meet and, feeling how little enjoyment they de 

 rive from their own reflections, not unfequently 

 slide into habits of sensuality and intemperance. 

 From what we have stated on this topic, it 

 evidently appears that the pursuits of science 

 are fitted to yield a positive gratification to every 

 rational mind. It presents to view, processes, 

 combinations, metamorphoses, motions, and ob 

 jects of various descriptions calculated to arrest 

 the attention and to astonish the mind, far more 

 than all the romances and tales of wonder that 

 were ever invented by the human imagination. 

 When the pleasures arising from such studies 

 are rendered accessible to all, human happiness 

 will be nearly on a level, and the different ranks 

 of mankind will enjoy it nearly in an equal de 

 gree. As true enjoyment depends chiefly on 

 the state of the mind, and the train of thought, 

 that passes through it, it follows, that when a 

 man prosecutes a rational train of thought, 

 and finds a pleasure in the contemplation of in 

 tellectual objects, his happiness is less dependent 

 on mere sensitive enjoyments, and a smaller 

 portion of external comforts will be productive 

 of enjoyment, than in the case of those whose 

 chief pleasure consists in sensual gratifications. 

 When intellectual pursuits, therefore, shall oc 

 cupy the chief attention of mankind, we may in 

 dulge the hope, that those restless and insatiable 

 desires which avarice and ambition never cease 

 to create, will seldom torment the soul, and that 

 a noble generosity of mind in relation to riches 

 will distinguish persons of every rank, and be 

 the means of producing enjoyment wherever its 

 influence extends. 



SECTION V. 



ON THE PRACTICAL INFLUENCE OF SCIEN 

 TIFIC KNOWLEDGE, AND ITS TEiNDENCY TO 

 PROMOTE THE EXTERNAL COMFORTS OF 

 GENERAL SOCIETY. 



IN the preceding section I have considered the 

 beneficial tendency of knowledge and the plea 

 sures it affords, chiefly in reference to the un 

 derstanding and the affections. In the present 

 section I shall consider it more particularly, in 

 regard to its practictil effects on the active em 

 ployments an-- 1 the externa comforts of the 



middling ?..id lower orders of the community 



Eveiy art, being founded on scientific principles, 



and directed in its operations by the experi 

 mental deductions of philosophy, it follows, that 

 a knowledge of the principles of science must be 

 conducive to a skilful practice of the arts, and 

 must have a tendency to direct the genius of the 

 artist to carry them to their highest pitch of im 

 provement. In illustrating this topic, I shall 

 endeavour to show that an acquaintance with 

 science would render mechanics, manufacturers, 

 and labourers more expert and skilful in their 

 different departments would pave the way for 

 future discoveries and improvements and that 

 the knowledge and spirit which produced such 

 improvements would promote the external com 

 forts of mankind. 



I. A knowledge of the principles of science 

 would render manufacturers, mechanics, and 

 common labourers of all descriptions more skilful 

 in their respective professions and employments. 

 In the arts of dyeing and calico-printing. 

 every process is conducted on the principles of 

 chymistry. Not a colour can be imparted but 

 in consequence of the affinity which subsists 

 between the cloth and the dye, or the dye and 

 the mordant employed as a bond of union be 

 tween them ; and the colours will be liable to 

 vary, unless the artist take into account the 

 changes which take place in them by the absorp 

 tion of oxygen ; a knowledge of which and of 

 the different degrees of oxidizemenl. which the 

 several dyes undergo, requires a considerable 

 portion of chymical skill; and such knowledge 

 is absolutely necessary to epable either the 

 dyer or the calico printer to produce in all cases 

 permanent colours of the shade he intends. To 

 chymistry, too, they must be indebted for the 

 knowledge they may acquire of the nature of the 

 articles they use in their several processes 

 for the artificial production of their most valua 

 ble mordants and for some of their most beau 

 tiful and brilliant colours. As an evidence of 

 this, it is sufficient to state, that, to produce 

 such colours as an olive ground and yellow 

 figures, a scarlet pattern on a black ground, or a 

 brown ground with orange figures, formerly 

 required a period of many weeks ; but by means 

 of chymical preparations the whole of this work 

 may now be done in a few days, and patterns 

 more delicate than ever produced, with a degree 

 of certainty of which former manufacturers could 

 have no idea; and all this is effected by dyeing 

 the cloth a self-colour in the first instance, and 

 afterwards merely printing the pattern with a 

 chymical preparation, which discharges a part 

 of the original dye, and leaves a new colour in 

 its stead. 



The art of bleaching has likewise received so 

 many important improvements from chymical sci 

 ence, that no one is now capable of conducting its 

 processes to advantage who is ignorant of the 

 scientific principles on whir* * ie present prac 

 tice of that art is founded. Till abo&amp;gt; I *ke close 



