III. 



FINAL DEDUCTIONS.* 



27. Our Progress, whether in the direction of indus- 

 trial improvement or of intellectual growth, depend, 

 the first mainly, the second largely, upon the extent 

 and the success of man's utilization of the four great 

 natural forces, or energies," as the man of science 

 calls them : heat, light, electricity, mechanical or dyna- 

 mic power. Civilization is based upon their application 

 to the purposes of humanity in the world of matter; 

 intellectual and even moral progress is advanced by 

 that steady march of improvement which, in modern 

 times especially, has so constantly promoted the ma- 

 terial welfare of the world, and has thus given leisure 

 for that employment of the mind in higher work which 

 is the essential prerequisite to either intellectual or 

 moral elevation. 



The greatest of all our problems to-day is thus that 

 of making this utilization of the forces of nature more 

 general, more efficient, and more fruitful. Could the 

 engineer, to whom all this work is intrusted, find a way 

 of producing steam-power at a fraction its present 

 cost ; could he transform heat energy directly and 

 without waste into dynamic ; could he find a method 

 of evolution of Hght without that enormous loss now 



* From The Forum, Sept. 1892 : " The Great Problems of Science/' 

 by R. H. Thurston. 



84 



