Science in Public Affairs 



people, for the most part, eat and wear and use 

 the sort of things common to most others of 

 their class ; and even where they exercise some 

 individual taste, as in the preparation of food, the 

 cut of dress, or the make of furniture, the art or 

 individual skill demanded is confined to the last 

 stages of production, and is grafted on to a foun- 

 dation of routine processes executed ever more 

 and more by machinery. 



An ever-growing proportion of the articles in 

 common use among civilised nations are therefore 

 made by industries which in their main branches 

 have been thoroughly mechanised and standard- 

 ised, that is to say, converted into applied sciences. 

 To all these great departments of routine industry, 

 the physical sciences, especially mechanics, physics, 

 and chemistry, have introduced machinery, motor 

 power, and modes of treating materials which are 

 all based upon the measured control of natural 

 energy. 



If we confine industry to the trades concerned 

 with making and moving material goods, science 

 has made the greatest advance in the manufactur- 

 ing processes which supply the prime necessaries 

 and conveniences, or construct the machinery sub- 

 sidiary to these processes the milling, textile, and 

 metal trades, and in the main transport trades by 

 land and water which carry these materials and 

 products. Here are the best standardised and 

 graded materials, the largest and most regular 

 markets. As we rise to higher elements in the 

 ordinary standard of comfort, ascending to the 



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