364 BRAIN WORK AND 



as much as mathematical and philosophical 

 speculations. Linnaeus became a botanist while 

 helping his father a practical gardener in his 

 daily work. In short, with our great geniuses 

 handicraft was no obstacle to abstract researches 

 it rather favoured them. On the other 

 hand, if the workers of old found but few 

 opportunities for mastering science, many of 

 them had, at least, their intelligences stimu- 

 lated by the very variety of work which was 

 performed in the then unspecialised work- 

 shops ; and some of them had the benefit of 

 familiar intercourse with men of science. Watt 

 and Rennie were friends with Professor Robin- 

 son ; Brindley, the road-maker, despite his 

 fourteenpence-a-day wages, enjoyed intercourse 

 with educated men, and thus developed his 

 remarkable engineering faculties ; the son of a 

 well-to-do family could " idle " at a wheel- 

 wright's shop, so as to become later on a 

 Smeaton or a Stephenson. 



We have changed all that. Under the pre- 

 text of division of labour, we have sharply 

 separated the brain worker from the manual 

 worker. The masses of the workmen do not 

 receive more scientific education than their 

 grandfathers did ; but they have been de- 

 prived of the education of even the small 

 workshop, while their boys and girls are driven 



