CHAPTER XXIV 



MACHINERY AND MANUFACTURE 



MACHINERY and processes of manufacture are often 

 considered as merely mechanical routine. Many of those 

 who are inspired by what has been called " the miracle of 

 spring," when Nature wakes to new life, or who find much 

 material for philosophic thought stirred by the fall of the once 

 fresh and verdant leaf and its subsequent decay, find no room 

 for philosophy or for poetic musings in the formalities of a 

 factory. 



True it is that Kipling could see farther than this. In 

 Mac Andrew's hymn the Scottish engineer describes in these 

 vivid verses how pinions, cranks and shafts rise and fall in 

 unison, working out in harmony the immutable decrees of fate. 



Nature is not shut out of doors when the factory is entered. 

 Here also the true shekinah may be found. Here, to the thought- 

 ful mind, is marvel upon marvel. Just as in the ancient 

 annals, when the prophet prayed that the eyes of his anxious 

 and timid servant might be opened and the servant saw that 

 he and his master were surrounded by a guard of horsemen 

 and chariots of fire, so if the eyes of the assistant in the factory 

 were enlightened he would see that he was face to face with 

 forces little comprehended. 



Let such an assistant consider a few a few only of the 

 facts in front of him. He casts a careless eye upon the iron 

 rubber washing-mill in front of him. He sees it. Why does 

 he see it? Because the particles of which it is composed vibrate 

 at not less than four hundred billion times a second. Did they 

 vibrate at a slower rate he could not see the mill. Did they 

 vibrate at a rate more than twice as fast the mill would again 

 be invisible. Here have been at once raised a legion of the 

 hows and whys which occupy the constant attention of the 

 greatest scientific minds of the century. 



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