1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



525 



ANTI-PROGRESSION. 



One of the most curious pages in the world's 

 history, is that which records the treatment expe- 

 rienced by the men to whom the race is indebted 

 for most of the progress it has made in the arts of 

 Hfe. To be the discoverer of a new truth, or the 

 inventor of a new machine or implement, has fre- 

 quently been deemed a sufficient offence to place a 

 man beyond the pale of the common courtesies of 

 life ; and in proportion to the importance of the 

 invention or discovery, has been the degree of 

 chastisement inflicted upon the offender. Happy 

 if he escaped with no more serious annoyance than 

 the sneers, the ridicule, or the incredulous pity of 

 mankind. Many have fared worse than this. To 

 be in advance of the age, is a crime that the world 

 is slow to overlook. 



The telescope and microscope were once stigma^ 

 tized as "atheistical inventions, which perverted our 

 organ of sight, and made everythuig appear in a 

 false light." The establishment of the Hoyal So 

 ciety in England was opposed because it was as- 

 serted that "experimental philosophy was subver 

 sive of the Christian faith ;" and this prejudice 

 against learning has not died out, even in our day 

 Less than fifty years ago, there was an anti-vacci 

 nation society in England, which denounced Jen 

 ner's discovery as "the cruel, despotic tyranny of 

 forcing cow-pox misery on the innocent babes of 

 the poor — a gross violation of religion, morality, 

 law, and humanity." Learned men gravely print 

 ed statements that vaccinated children became "ox- 

 faced," and that abscesses broke out to "indicate 

 sprouting horns," that the countenances were grad 

 ually "transmuted into the visage of a cow, the voice 

 into the bellowing of bulls" — that the character 

 underwent "strange mutations, from quadrupedan 

 sympathy." The influence of religion was called 

 in to strengthen the prejudices of ignorance, and 

 the operation was denounced from the pulpit as 

 "diabolical," as a "tempting of God's providence, 

 and therefore a heinous crime ;" and its abettors 

 were charged with sorcery and atheism. 



When coal was first introduced into use as fuel 

 in Great Britain, the prejudice against it was so 

 strong that the Commons petitioned to the Crown 

 to prohibit the "noxious" fuel. A royal proclama 

 tion having failed to abate the growing nuisance, a 

 commission was issued to ascertain who burnt the 

 coal within the city and its neighborhood, and to 

 punish them by fine for the first offence, and by 

 demolition of their furnaces if they persisted in 

 transgression. A law was at length passed, mak- 

 ing it a capital offence to burn coal within the city 

 of London, and only permitting it to be used in 

 the forges in the vicinity. It took three centuries 

 entirely to efface this prejudice. What would 

 England be, now, without its inexhaustible coal 

 fields ? 



The project of uniting the Atlantic and Pacific 

 oceans by a canal through the isthmus of Panama^ 

 has been much discussed in our day. Many ob- 

 jections to this scheme have been brought up ; but 

 the argument of the priest who wrote upon this 

 very undertaking in 1588, would not probably oc- 

 cur to our modern capitalists and men of enter- 

 prise. "Human power," he reasoned, "should not 

 be allowed to cut through the strong and impene- 

 trable bounds which God has put between the two 

 oceans, of mountains and of iron rocks which can 

 stand the fury of the raging seas. And, if it were 

 possible, it would appear to me very just, that we 

 should fear the vengeance of Heaven, for attempt- 

 ing to improve that which the Creator, in his al- 

 mighty will and providence, has ordained from the 

 creation of the world." 



When the arrangement of fans was first intro- 

 duced to assist in Avinnowing corn from the chaff 

 by producing artificial currents of air, it was argued 

 that "winds were raised by God alone, and it was 

 irreligious in man to attempt to raise wind for 

 himself, and by eflbrts of his own." One Scottish 

 clergyman actually refused the holy communion to 

 those of his parishioners who thus irreverently 

 raised the "Devil's wind." When forks were first 

 introduced into England, some preachers de- 

 nounced their use "as an insult on Providence not 

 to touch our meat with our fingers." In those 

 times, many worthy people had great scruples 

 about the emancipation of the negroes, because 

 they were the descendants of Ham, on whom the 

 curse of perpetual slavery had been pronounced. 

 Many others pleaded against the measure for the 

 emancipation of the Jews, that the bill was a din^ct 

 attempt to controvert the will and word of God, 

 and to revoke his sentence upon the chosen but 

 rebellious people. This reminds us of the disin- 

 terested piety of some of our Southern brethren, 

 who make chattels of men, because they think this 

 is God's way of benefiting Africa. 



The introduction of cotton in England was re- 

 garded as a dire calamity, and led to riot and 

 bloodshed. Whenever distress fell upon the la- 

 boring population, it was the fashion, not more 

 than a century ago, to attribute it to cotton. The 

 ruin of the country, and the irretrievable misery of 

 "millions yet unborn," were predicted over and over 

 again, from the spinning and weaving of this arti- 

 cle, the manufacture of which now sustains one- 

 sixth of the population of England, and gives com- 

 fort to every nation under the sun. 



When spinning jennies and power looms were 

 first introduced into England, nothing would do 

 with the outraged and insulted spinsters and weav- 

 ers, but pulling down the factories and breaking 

 the machines. It was thought that there was an 

 end to labor, and nothing was left to the poor but 

 to starve. But now, although there is more work 



