8&amp;lt;2 



ON THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. 



practical operations, as he is constantly in the 

 way of perceiving what is useless, defective, or 

 in any way amiss in the common methods of 

 procedure. To use a common expression, &quot; he 

 is in the way of good luck, and if he possesses 

 the requisite information, he can take the ad 

 vantage of it when it comes to him.&quot; And 

 should he be so fortunate as to hit on a new in 

 vention, he will probably enjoy not merely the 

 honour which is attached to a new discovery, but 

 also the pecuniary advantages which generally 

 result from it. 



We have, therefore, every reason to hope, 

 that, were scientific knowledge universally dif 

 fused among the working classes, every depart 

 ment of the useful arts would proceed with a 

 rapid progress to perfection, and new arts and 

 inventions, hitherto unknown, be introduced on 

 the theatre of the world, to increase the enjoy 

 ments of domestic society, and to embellish the 

 face of nature. No possible limits can be as 

 signed to the powers of genius, to the resources 

 of science, to the improvement of machinery, to 

 the aids to be derived from chymical researches, 

 and to the skill and industry of mechanics and 

 labourers when guided by the light which scien 

 tific discoveries have diffused around them. 

 Almost every new discovery in nature lays the 

 foundation of a new art ; and since the recent 

 discoveries of chymistry lead to the conviction, 

 that the properties and powers of material sub 

 stances are only beginning to be discovered the 

 resources of art must, in some measure, keep 

 pace with our knowledge of the powers of na 

 ture. It is by seizing on these powers, and 

 employing them in subserviency to his designs, 

 that man has been enabled to perform operations 

 which the whole united force of mere animal 

 strength could never have accomplished. Steam, 

 galvanism, the atmospheric pressure, oxygen, 

 hydrogen, and other natural agents, formerly 

 unnoticed or unknown, have been called into 

 action by the genius of science ; and, in the 

 form of steam-boats and carriages, Voltaic bat 

 teries, gasometers and air-balloons, have gene 

 rated forces, effected decompositions, diffused 

 the most brilliant illuminations, and produced a 

 celerity of motion both on sea and land which 

 have astonished even the philosophical world, 

 and which former generations would have been 

 disposed to ascribe to the agencies of infernal 

 demons. And who shall dare to set boundaries 

 to the range of scientific discovery or to say, 

 that principles and powers of a still more won 

 derful and energetic nature, shall not be disco 

 vered in the system of nature, calculated to 

 perform achievements still more striking and 

 magnificent? Much has, of late years, been 

 performed by the application and combination 

 of chymical and mechanical powers, but much 

 more, we may confidently expect, will be 

 achieved in generations yet to come, when the 



physical universe shall be more extensively e 

 plored, and the gates of the temple of knowledge 

 thrown open to all. Future Watts, Davys ami 

 Arkwrights will doubtless arise, with minds still 

 more brilliantly illuminated with the lights of 

 science, and the splendid inventions of the pre 

 sent age be far surpassed in the &quot; future miracles 

 of mechanic power,&quot; which will distinguish the 

 ages which are yet to come. But, in order to 

 this &quot; wished for consummation,&quot; it is indispen 

 sably requisite that the mass of mankind be 

 aroused from their slumbers, that knowledge be 

 universally diffused, and that the light of science 

 shed its influence on men of everv nation, of 

 every profession, and of every rank. And if, 

 through apathy or avarice, or indulgence in sen 

 sual propensities, we refuse to lend our helping 

 hand to this object, now that a spirit of inquiry 

 has gone abroad in the world society may yeJ 

 relapse into the darkness which enveloped the 

 human mind during the middle ages, and the 

 noble inventions of the past and present a&amp;lt;. r e, 

 like the stately monuments of Grecian and Ro 

 man art, be lost amidst the mists of ignorance, 

 or blended with the ruins of empires. 



III. The knowledge and mental activity con 

 nected with the improvement of the arts, would 

 promote the external comforts of mankind, par 

 ticularly of the lower orders of society. 



Since the period when the arts began to be 

 improved, and a spirit of inquiry after knowledge 

 was excited among the middling and lower or 

 ders, many comforts and conveniencies have 

 been introduced, and a new lustre appears on the 

 face of general society. In many places the as 

 pect of thi country has been entirely changed ; 

 the low thatched cottage of the farmer has arisen 

 into a stately mansion, the noisome dunghill 

 which stood within two yards of his door, has 

 been thrown into a spacious court at a distance 

 from his dwelling, and his offices display a neat 

 ness and elegance which seem to vie with those 

 of the proprietor of the soil. The gloomy pa 

 rish church with its narrow aisle and tottering 

 belfrey, has been transformed into a noble light 

 some edifice, and adorned with a stately spire 

 towering above all surrounding objects ; and the 

 village school, within whose narrow walls a hun 

 dred little urchins were crowded, like sheep in a 

 fold, has now expanded into a spacious hall. 

 Narrow dirty paths have been improved, roads 

 formed on spacious plans, canals and railways 

 constructed, streets enlarged, waste lands cul 

 tivated, marshes drained, and the interior of 

 houses decorated and rendered more comfortable 

 and commodious. In districts where nothjng 

 formerly appeared but a dreary waste, prin% 

 fields have been established, cotton mills, foun- 

 deries, and other manufactories erected, villages 

 reared, and the noise of machinery, the tolling 

 of bells, the sound of hammers, the buzz of reels, 



