CHAPTER II. 



INTRODUCTION. 



It may be stated as a general principle that while Art seeks to 

 produce certain effects, Science is principally concerned with 

 investigating the causes of these effects. 



Thus, independently of the intrinsic importance of the art 

 selected for illustration, there always seems room for a corre- 

 sponding science, collecting and classifying the records of the 

 past so that the future operations of the art may be more 

 effective. 



The administration of arsenals and other workshops is in great 

 measure an art, and depends upon the application to a great 

 variety of cases of certain principles, which, taken together, make 

 up what may be called the science of administration. 



These principles need not be formulated, nor even recognized 

 as such, and they vary with the conditions which call them forth ; 

 so that while their essence may be the same, the special rules of 

 conduct derived from them may, in various circumstances, be 

 widely different. Yet, for each set of conditions their character 

 is the same, and in all they constitute what is known as our 

 experience. 



Some men have the gift of so arranging their experience that 

 it is always ready with an answer to whatever question new con- 

 ditions may propose. But such men are rare and are seldom 

 found in subordinate positions. In any case their knowledge 

 goes with them when they depart, instead of remaining, as it 

 should, and in great measure might do, as one of the most 

 valuable earnings of the business in which it was acquired. 



For this purpose it should be formulated, if a way were found, 

 so that its record might be plain to whoever had the right to 

 read it. 



