^(). 4.] NKWKK FEKLIN(J FOR NATURE. 9 



VanderbiltAs " North Star, " in lS,");i, — the millionaire's lux- 

 ury. Crystal Palace, London, in 1851, began the long and 

 increasing series of worlds fairs, — "all nations crowding 

 to us," as Carlyle testily growled, " with their so-called 

 industry or ostentatious frothery." 



But to-day, going about the world has become so common 

 that we no lonoer remark it. The " i>lobe-trotter " has only 

 his i)leasure for his pains, and a brief paragraph in the local 

 journal of his town, saying that he has returned after a safe 

 journe3\ Fifty years ago it would have been an event 

 worthy of being telegraphed to Canton and St. Petersburg, 

 if there had been any telegraphs over which to send it. "We 

 are in constant comnuuiication with everything that happens 

 anj^where on the face of the earth ; and here in America, by 

 the clock, have news of important Asian or European doings 

 several hours before they are reported to have occurred. 

 Missionaries no longer bid their friends at home an eternal 

 farewell when they leave for remote lands, and for a small 

 fee may reach them at any time with tidings of life or death. 

 More than that, the dark or unfamiliar continents have been 

 opened up, and many of their ways changed. American 

 machinery for cultivation of the land, and approved sorts of 

 seeds, have gone to all nations ; and their produce, of which 

 our fathers never heard, is on our breakfast tables. A busi- 

 ness house which has no export or import account is un- 

 noticed beyond its own neighborhood ; and the larger houses 

 have correspondents and shippers in every civilized country, 

 and }iromoters in the others. The foreigner is among us in 

 such numbers that we do not stop to notice him, and the 

 American is seen on every world road. 



Such changes, of which these are only the slightest inti- 

 mations, would be impossible without changing also our 

 Avhole vieAv of the world, and giving us a ver}^ different 

 feeling for it. And this is what has occurred. There is far 

 less uncertainty and myster}^ about it. It is better known, 

 superficially, — its features, resources, varieties. Its people 

 have grown more familiar, and their habits of life, disposi- 

 tions and possibilities have been better studied. Their 

 increasin<>; accessibilitv has made them seem more like neigh- 



