234 



Physical Sciences. 



lost. The knowledge and improvement of any practical science or 

 useful art originating in any nation becomes the projDerty of the world 

 before a single year has passed. In former times, such knowledge was 

 too often like the single standard of measure kept in the House of 

 Parliament, which, when destroyed by fire, not even the mathematics 

 of the whole kingdom could replace. These arts and sciences now in 

 their wonderful distribution, are like the new standard with its exact 

 copies distributed throughout the kingdom. Xo conceivable catas- 

 trophe could destroy them all. 



And the rapidity of improvement corresponds with the means of 

 communication. The same experiment may be now tried in a hundred 

 places at the same time — the results be compared and conclusions 

 reached in a single year, that once required the life- time of a generation. 



All that renders life desirable in knowledge or product maybe trans- 

 mitted from one portion of the globe to any other, equalizing the 

 conveniences and luxuries of life. And poor and unfortunate in the 

 last degree must be the man who cannot transport himself and house- 

 hold gods to any portion of the earth that offers new attractions for 

 him. 



Science has made the globe very small — a journey of but a few 

 weeks at most, and of but a few hours for thought — but it widens the 

 area of the globe for the spread of civilization. With its new appli- 

 ances, man defies the rigors of a northern zone and lives in comfort 

 where, without its aid, life would be impossible or reduced to the rude 

 form of savage existence. Much of that zone of the earth where are 

 now gathered large cities with the most wealth and refinement, the 

 greatest means of enjoyment, the best conditions for the improvement 

 of the human race, without the fruits of science would have remained 

 a wilderness inhabited by savage or half-civilized tribes, or by a sparse 

 population, wringing the bare necessities of life from a scanty soil. 



It is science quickening art, perfecting its processes and rendering 

 them certain, that provides support for the dense population which 

 the most rapid growth and highest scale of civilization demands. 

 Without science, dense population becomes a mere struggle for exist- 

 ence; but with the products of science, we may welcome compact 

 population as the condition of the highest enjoyment for all. 



If there is a possible overstocking of the earth for some gloomy 

 Mai thus to dream about — predicting wars and famines — it must take 

 place in that uncertain future when the coal shall be exhausted or the 

 sun be dim for want of fuel. For untold ages to come, we know that 

 science as it now is will increase the enjoyments and improvement of 

 men as population becomes more dense; and with the possible advance- 

 ment in science, we dare not assign a limit to the means which 



