THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE 

 IN THE LAST HALF- CENTURY 



The most obvious and the most dis- Recent 

 tinctive features of the History of Civili- trial 

 sation, during the last fifty years, is the progrc 

 wonderful increase of industrial produc- 

 tion by the application of machinery, the 

 improvement of old technical processes 

 and the invention of new ones, accompa- 

 nied by an even more remarkable devel- 

 opment of old and new means of locomo- 

 tion and intercommunication. By this 

 rapid and vast multiplication of the com- 

 modities and conveniences of existence, 

 the general standard of comfort has been 

 raised ; the ravages of pestilence and fam- 

 ine have been checked; and the natural 

 obstacles, which time and space offer to 



