THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 45 



opponent classes by widening recognition of some of 

 the better aspects of democracy, searched for improve- 

 ment in education, social conditions, and mutual under- 

 standing. These processes of recuperation may well 

 rest upon some fundamental natural process which is 

 as yet beyond definition ; but to them science contri- 

 buted more than its quota of practical impulse. It 

 provided (for instance) the use of steam, and all that 

 follows from that : this achievement would generally 

 be chosen if it be fair to choose as its greatest 

 in this connexion. It befell at the right moment, 

 showing the country how to make use (albeit an 

 extravagant use) of its chief natural wealth, coal. 



Fairbairn in his presidential address, 1861, claimed 

 that ' engineering science ' had ' pre-eminently 

 advanced the power, the wealth, and the com- 

 forts of mankind/ Bramwell (1888) placed this 

 aspect of applied science on an even higher plane : 

 ' Whether it be in the erection of the lighthouse on 

 the lonely rock at sea ; whether it be in the crossing 

 of rivers or seas, or arms of seas, by bridges or by 

 tunnels ; whether it be the cleansing of our towns 

 from that which is foul ; whether it be the supply 

 of pure water to every dwelling, or the distribution 

 of light or of motive power ; or whether it be in the 

 production of the mighty ocean steamer, or in the 

 spanning of valleys, the piercing of mountains, and 

 affording the firm, secure road for the express train ; 

 or whether it be the encircling of the world with 

 telegraphs the work of the civil engineer is not of 

 the earth earthy, is not mechanical to the exclusion 

 of science, is not unintellectual ; but is of a most 

 beneficent nature, is consistent with true poetic 

 feeling, and is worthy of the highest order of intellect. ' 



