13 



observer. But no such associations, nor anything like 

 them, were known to antiquity. In all that vast body 

 of writings, called Ancient History and Literature, there 

 cannot be found, I believe, a single trace of such an insti- 

 tution. 



The next cause assigned by Hoskyns can be best 

 stated in his own words, whose brevity and point cannot 

 be improved. He says : 



"But even under the pressure of increasing numbers, 

 advancing intelligence, and the utmost comparative uni- 

 formity of soil and climate, another retarding influence 

 clogs the wheels of agricultural progress : namely, the 

 length of time needed for experiment. A main cause of 

 the brisk advancement and general spirit of improve- 

 ment observed in other arts and manufactures is to be 

 found in the rapidity with which, in their case, effects 

 follow their causes. The advantage of a simpler or 

 more compendious process is at once seen in result ; and 

 the invention is speedily applied by others who are in- 

 terested in its adoption ; but such could hardly be hoped 

 for in the case of an art where each question that we ask 

 of nature takes a year or more for its solution ; and up- 

 on which no ordinary degree of exact memory, patience 

 and cooperation for experiment, are required, even to 

 put them in such a manner as to render the replies ser- 

 viceable or conclusive." ***** 



" Yet, thoiiirh exalted powers of perception, supported 

 ny indefatigable zeal and labor, have enabled individual 

 minds to overthrow and reconstruct the received opin- 

 ions of mankind in particular departments of human 

 knowledge, this could only happen where the results 

 achieved by intuitive genius or great inventive powers 

 could at once make apparent and attest their own truth 

 and accuracy. A Newton, a Hervey, a Columbus, a AVatt, 

 a Davy or a Bacon, might each revolutionize, in the span 

 of a single life, the opinions of mankind, upon the great 

 subjects of their respective inspiration ; but it was scarce- 

 ly within the compass of a single mind to achieve dis- 

 coveries of corresponding magnitude, in an art whose 

 experiments reach over periods which exhaust human 

 life for their solution, and refer to the whole catalogue 

 of the sciences for the principles on which they depend." 



