18 
Magazine  of  the-  School  of  Agriculture. 
type  and  character,  and  there  was  little  scope 
for  the  exercise  of  invention,  which  is  an 
offspring  of  science.  There  was,  nevertheless, 
one  redeeming  feature  of  that  contracted  sys- 
tem. There  being  so  little  scope  for  variety  or 
novelty,  the  only  means  of  attaining  distinction 
in  the  crafts  was  by  excellence  of  workman- 
ship. It  followed  therefore  that  when  a better 
system  came  into  use  there  were  highly  skilled 
workmen  to  give  it  effect.  Having  answered 
the  second  inquirer,  and  shown  how  slowly  arts 
and  manufactures  progressed  under  the  ancient 
regimes,  let  us  contrast  the  modern  practices 
with  those  just  sketched. 
Science  is  now  pursued  by  reversing  the 
former  principle.  Instead  of  starting  with  an 
imaginary  idea,  and  trying  to  find  a solid  basis 
for  it,  the  modern  scientist  begins  upon  a solid 
foundation  of  demonstrable  truth.  On  this  he 
builds  upwards,  and  is  careful  to  admit  no  stone 
into  his  structure  until  it  has  been  fully  proved 
and  tested.  Every  step  of  his  progress  there- 
fore is  assured,  and  the  principles  he  establishes 
may  be  safely  relied  upon  and  applied  to  prac- 
tical use.  The  science  of  modern  times  is 
therefore  available  for  the  arts  and  manufactures, 
or,  in  other  words,  it  affords  scope  for  useful 
application,  which  is  the  function  of  technical 
teaching. 
There  is  scarcely  any  remnant  in  the  present 
day  of  the  secrecy  that  characterised  the  trades 
and  manufactures  of  times  past.  At  Whitworth’s 
famous  works,  there  is  a member  of  the  staff 
whose  special  duty  it  is  to  escort  the  numer- 
ous and  distinguished  parties  who  visit  the 
works,  and  to  explain  to  them  the  refined  pro- 
cesses there  carried  on.  When  last  in  London, 
in  1887,  I noticed  several  shops  where,  instead 
of  an  array  of  attractive  wares  in  the  great 
plate  glass  fronts,  there  were  rows  of  work- 
men at  their  work  showing  how  boots  and 
shoes  are  made,  or  how  sewing  and  embroidery 
was  done  by  machines  worked  by  women. 
The  difference  between  ancient  and  modern 
practice  will  best  be  understood,  however,  by 
some  illustrations.  For  instance,  the  manufacture 
of  sugar  has  been  known  and  carried  on  for 
ages.  The  process  is  very  simple,  consisting 
merely  in  evaporating  the  surplus  water  out  of 
the  juices  of  sugarcanes  and  other  saccharine 
plants.  It  was  boiled  until  the  surplus  water 
was  evaporated,  and  only  the  sugar  was  left. 
In  this  process,  however,  considerable  loss  occurred 
from  the  formation  of  part  of  the  juice  into  mo- 
lasses of  little  value.  Experience  had  shown  that 
this  result  was  caused  by  excess  of  heat,  and 
therefore  extreme  care  and  skill  had  to  be  used 
not  to  subject  the  liquor  to  more  heat  than  was 
necessary.  Still,  despite  all  precautions,  loss 
was  unavoidable.  The  science  of  evaporation 
suggested  the  boiling  of  the  juice  in  a vacuum, 
which  would  require  a much  lower  temperature. 
The  inventor  of  this  method  constructed  a pan 
from  which  the  air  could  be  extracted,  and 
succeeded  so  well,  that  the  vacuum  pan,  us  it 
was  called,  was  brought  into  general  requisition, 
and  the  patentee  is  said  to  have  realised  £300,000 
sterling  by  his  invention ; that  is,  tor  applying 
the  scientific  principle  of  evaporation  to  sugar 
boiling. 
The  smelting  of  iron  is  another  process  of  such 
antiquity  that  no  one  knows  how  or  when  it 
was  discovered.  For  this  purpose,  no  fuel 
would  supply  sufficient  heat  by  ordinary  com- 
bustion ; but  every  housewife  knows  that  fire 
may  be  quickened  by  blowing,  though  not  every 
one  knows  the  reason  why.  Iron  has  for  ages 
been  smelted  in  furnaces  in  which  the  temper- 
ature is  raised  by  hard  blowing.  A foreman 
in  the  works  of  the  famous  ironmasters,  Bairds 
of  Glasgow,  perceived  that  as  the  object  of  the 
blast  employed  was  to  increase  the  heat,  and 
knowing  that  hot  air  would  be  equally  effective 
for  that  purpose  as  cold  air,  and  that  the  cold 
blast  must  tend  to  defeat  its  object,  he  tried 
a hot  blast,  and  the  result  was  most  successful 
in  economising  fuel  and  saving  time.  The  hot 
blast  was  speedily  adopted,  not  only  by  Messrs. 
Baird,  but  also  by  other  neighbouring  iron- 
masters. As  this  invention  was  made  by  their 
foreman,  Messrs.  Baird  declined  to  pay  royalty 
to  the  patentee,  and  their  neighbours  fol- 
lowed their  example.  Mr.  Neilson,  however,  sued 
the  outsiders  first,  and  obtained  £80,000  com- 
pensation from  them.  He  then  proceeded  against 
his  employers,  and  they  were  cast  in  damages 
of  £100,000,  a million  of  rupees!  A cheque  was 
handed  in  Court  by  Mr.  Baird  to  a friend  of 
mine,  who  was  Mr.  Neilson's  counsel  in  the 
case,  for  £106,000  on  Mastermau’s  Bank.  The 
£6,000  was  for  costs  in  the  case.  £180,000  is 
a large  reward  for  knowing  how  to  blow  the 
fire! 
The  history  of  the  manufacture  of  steel  affords 
another  good  illustration  of  the  application 
of  scientific  principles  to  an  ancient  process. 
Steel  was  known  long  ages  ago,  but,  until  quite 
recently,  it  could  only  be  produced  in  small 
quantities,  and  at  considerable  cost.  Its  use 
was  confined  therefore  to  the  manufacture  of 
small  articles,  such  as  knives,  instruments  for 
surgical  and  other  scientific  purposes,  and  such 
like  objects.  Probably  the  largest  articles  for 
which  it  was  employed  were  cutlasses  and 
swords.  The  actual  nature  and  constituents  of 
steel  were  not  understood  until  they  were 
ascertained  by  recent  scientific  research.  When 
these  were  known,  Mr.  Bessemer  conceived  a 
new  method  of  making  steel  upon  a large  scale, 
and  after  many  experiments,  he  at  length  suc- 
ceeded, at  first  somewhat  imperfectly,  but  the 
new  process,  when  further  developed  by  him- 
self and  Siemens,  the  manufacture  of  steel, 
was  effected  in  large  quantities.  Steel,  in  con- 
sequence, came  into  use  for  rails  for  railways, 
cannons,  and  even  for  building  steam  vessels. 
It  is  said  that  Mr.  Bessemer  has  received  over 
a million  sterling,  or  ten  millions  of  rupees 
by  royalties  for  his  invention.  Such  are  the  re- 
sults of  applying  scientific  principles  to  the 
improvement  of  old  processes. 
An  accurate  knowledge  of  the  nature  and 
properties  of  steam  has  also  led  to  great  re- 
sults. For  example,  when  I came  out  to  Ceylon 
in  1846,  1 made  the  voyage  from  Southampton 
to  Galle  by  P.  & O.  steamers  in  36  days,  during 
83  of  which  we  were  under  steam,  and  We 
were  3 days  in  crossing  through  Egypt,  as 
there  was  no  Suez  Canal  then.  On  that  voyage, 
which  was  made  in  the  largest  and  finest 
steamers  then  in  existence,  they  consumed  over 
60  tons  of  coal  a day.  In  1887,  when  ,1  made 
t.lie  same  voyage,  also  in  a first-class  steamer, — 
we  made  the  distance  in  25  days,  including 
