64 FIRESIDE SCIENCE. 



amazed to find that, seventeen centuries since, the 

 same forms of tools and implements were in the 

 hands of husbandmen and workers in wood, iron, 

 and stone. There is a limit to human skill as well 

 as to human thought, and the same culture and 

 ingenuity will reach about the same ends in any 

 and every age. The ancient Grecians and Romans 

 attained the limit of perfection in several depart- 

 ments of art ; we have reached the same end in a 

 much larger number. And it is reasonable to infer 

 that, if our civilization was destroyed, and ages of 

 barbarism should intervene before a new one arose, 

 the ground which inventors, artists, and men of 

 science have gone over in this age would once 

 more be travelled ; and if the same degree of civ- 

 ilization was attained, the same mechanical inven- 

 tions and arts would again be reproduced. 



Let us examine a few of the different branches 

 or departments of the mechanical or industrial arts 

 as practised by the ancient Romans, with the view 

 of ascertaining if they possessed any processes not 

 known to us, or if they excelled us in the products 

 of their skill. It is alleged by some popular writers 

 and lecturers that in the art of glass-making they 

 were greatly our superiors. In proof of this they 

 quote largely from the gossiping Pliny, and present 

 his statements regarding the production of speci- 

 mens so perfect and beautiful they could not be 



