440 THE APPLIED SCIENCES, 



her arms to the remotest regions of the globe. She peoples the 

 most distant shores with her colonies ; and gives birth to nations 

 affiliated to her by the ties of a common blood, a common lan- 

 guage, and a common interest. She diffuses in every quarter her 

 science and her arts, the gifts of civilisation, and the blessings 

 of religion. 



Let us take, as another example, the discovery and the appli- 

 cation of the power of steam. It was long known that water, in 

 passing into the state of vapour, acquired a great expansive force ; 

 yet it is little more than a century since this force has been applied, 

 as a moving power, in the mechanical arts. And yet what has 

 been the progress which civilisation has made, in that short inter- 

 val, by the aid of this agent ? " Survey the metropolis of England, 

 look through her towns ; visit her arsenals and her manufactories ; 

 explore the depths from which they are raising the riches of the 

 mine, and see the labours executed above the surface ; in fine, sail 

 along her rivers, her canals, and the seas which bathe her shores, 

 and you will discover on every side evidence of the benefits which 

 she owes to the inventor of the steam-engine." It is equally 

 available in operations requiring a great expenditure of power, 

 and in those where delicacy and perfection of workmanship are 

 the chief requisites. "The heaviest labours, such as the cutting 

 of wood and of stone, or the raising of water, are accomplished by 

 the same moving force which produces the most delicate pieces of 

 workmanship. The anchor is forged, and the counter stamped, 

 the metal is rolled out, and the bauble carved, by this all- 

 powerful and universal agent. And the same giant arms, which 

 twist the cable of the man-of-war, draw out the slender gold and 

 silver wire which form the lightest tissue."* 



But we shall better appreciate the value of this agent, if we 

 confine our attention for the moment to what it has accomplished 

 in one or two branches of the arts. 



In the year 1789, the first steam-engine was erected in Man- 

 chester. The manufacture of cotton goods, which before that 

 epoch depended, almost solely, on animal labour for its moving 

 power, received a new life. The various branches of the manu- 

 facture were brought together, to share the energy which the new 



* Speech made by Sir Humphry Davy, at the meeting held in 1824, for the purpose 

 of paying a tribute to the memory of "Watt. 



