4 APPLICATION AND UTILI TY OF THE 



to change its position from time to time, according to the di- 

 rection and force of the wind ; and at length became perfected 

 the system of masts and sails, the sails so constructed and 

 suspended as to be inclined, at any desired angle, to the axis 

 of the vessel and the course of the wind, and to expose to 

 the impact of the wind any required amount of surface, whether 

 great or small, which now constitutes the rigging of large 

 vessels. We will here pause awhile in the career of improve- 

 ment, to notice what had thus been effected in the progress of 

 Civilization, agreeably to the definition with which we com- 

 menced. 



The space occupied by the waters of the globe was practi- 

 cally reduced to insignificance by the means of traversing it 

 thus afforded : the interruptions and sources of danger aris- 

 ing from the tides and from currents in the water, were over- 

 come ; and the force of the winds, originally, and during a 

 considerable advance in navigation, frequently an impedi- 

 ment, as well as an occasion of shipwreck, converted into 

 the most swift and certain means of progress from one quarter 

 of the globe to another. To dwell on the immense effect of 

 this perfection in the arts of Ship-building and Navigation, on 

 every other department of civilized life, is needless : it is too 

 well known to require detail: the liberty as well as the worldly 

 and the moral prosperity of the British nation have been 

 essentially dependent upon it, among other causes ; and the 

 same means have enabled us to extend our power, and in 

 some degree, we may hope, the true moral sources of that 

 power, to so immense a colonial population. 



But one great desideratum in navigation still remained : 

 the direction of the winds and the tides being often opposite 

 to that in which it was necessary or desirable to proceed, and 

 it being, in many cases, equally impossible to evade or to over- 

 come the force of the winds, great delay and hindrance were 

 often the result, and the impediment of " contrary winds" was 

 for a time insuperable. 



The means, however, of overcoming this obstacle, to a great 

 extent, were soon at hand. The knowledge of the metals and 

 their uses, especially of iron ; that of mineral fuel, and that of 

 the properties of the vapours into which liquids are converted 

 by heat, particularly of those of steam, or the vapour of water, 

 had during the period of these advances in the nautical art, 

 occupied much of the attention of mankind. By the just use 

 and direction of this knowledge, was obtained, at length, an 

 immense regulated power, capable of any desired mechanical 

 application, and possessing, virtually, some of the attributes 

 of intelligence, in consequence of its consisting, in fact, ofiri- 



