OF AGRICULTURE. 81 



of the world, we may feel sure that within a few 

 weeks the same problem will be solved, almost in 

 the same way, by several inventors of different 

 nationalities.* Continually we learn that the 

 same scientific discovery, or technical invention, 

 has been made within a few days' distance, in 

 countries a thousand miles apart ; as if there 

 were a kind of atmosphere which favours the 

 germination of a given idea at a given moment. 

 And such an atmosphere exists : steam, print 

 and the common stock of knowledge have 

 created it. 



Those who dream of monopolising technical 

 genius are therefore fifty years behind the 

 times. The world the wide, wide world is 

 now the true domain of knowledge ; and if each 

 nation displays some special capacities in some 

 special branch, the various capacities of different 

 nations compensate one another, and the ad- 

 vantages which could be derived from them 

 would be only temporary. The fine British 

 workmanship in mechanical arts, the American 

 boldness for gigantic enterprise, the French 

 systematic mind, and the German pedagogy, are 

 becoming international capacities. Sir William 

 Armstrong, in his works established in Italy 

 and Japan, has already communicated to Italians 



I leave these lines on purpose as they were written for 

 the first edition of this book. 



