120 Progress and Civilisation. PT. m. 



date altogether too remote for us to trace its 

 origin ? 



It would be useless for the Compass to point the 

 right direction, or for Steam to propel her with 

 untiring speed, if the rudder did not enable the 

 steersman to govern her every movement, and to 

 render all this mighty machine subordinate to his 

 will. The rudder is a tolerably simple contrivance, 

 but it is not altogether an obvious one. Kudders do 

 not come by nature, or grow spontaneously out of 

 the sterns of ships. The first rudder was probably 

 hailed as a great invention, and might have im- 

 mortalised its author, had there been any means 

 of chronicling inventions. When did he live? 

 What nation did he belong to ? How long have 

 vessels been steered by rudders? None of these 

 questions can we answer. All that we know is that 

 the rudder has descended to us from remote ages, 

 and that it is now as necessary to the ' Warrior ' as 

 either the Compass or the Steam Engine. 



If we push our inquiries farther we shall be able 

 to discover the inventions of a yet higher antiquity, 

 forming a necessary part of the basis on which this 

 wonderful structure has been reared. Of what 

 material are the sides, and the armament, of the 



