304 [Assembly 



cotton for me; in the West India Islands they are preparing my su- 

 gar and my coffee; in Italy they are feeding the silk worms for me; 

 in Saxony they are shearing the sheep to make me clothing; at 

 home, powerful steam engines are spinning and weaving for me. 

 Although ray patrimony is small, I have post coaches running day and 

 night on all the roads to carry my corespondence. I have roads, and 

 canals and bridges to bear the coal for my winter fire; nay, I have 

 protecting fleets and armies around my happy country to secure my 

 enjoyment and repose. Then I have editors and printers w'ho daily 

 send me an account of what is going on throughout the world, and 

 in a corner of my house I have books! the miracle of all my pos- 

 sessions, more wonderful than the wishing cap of the Arabian Tales; 

 for they transport me instantly not only to all places, but to all times! 

 By my books, I can conjure up before me to vivid existence all the 

 great and good men of antiquity. I can make them act over again 

 all their exploits. The orators declaim for me; the historians recite; 

 the poets sing; and from the equator to the pole, or from the begin- 

 ning of time until now, by means of my books, I can be where I 

 please." 



So wonderful an improvement in the social condition of mankind, 

 is chiefly due to the discoveries made in physical science within 

 the last half century. During that period, new roads have been 

 laid out, (to use a homely illustration,) from various points to the 

 temple of knowledge, traversing fields of science hitherto neglected 

 or unknown. Various branches of natural philosophy, almost the 

 entire systems of chemistry, mineralogy and geology, and the aft 

 of civil engineering, are amongst the triumphs achieved by the hu- 

 man mind within the recollection of many persons now on the stage 

 of active life. The nations of antiquity excelled in the cultivation 

 of the fine arts, and in works of taste and imagination. The beau- 

 tiful remains of Grecian architecture are still regarded as the most 

 desirable models of public edifices, and the productions of Grecian 

 statuaries have never been surpassed. But in all that relates to a 

 knowledge of the laws of nature, the wisest of their philosophers 

 had less accurate notions than can be acquired by the merest child 

 at the present day. Hence their progress in the useful arts was 

 limited, and in comparison with the present age, the most cultivated 

 nations of antiquity were in these respects but little removed from a 

 state of barbarism. 



The merit of having first made known the true method of inves- 

 tigating natural phenomena, and thus giving an impulse to the study 



