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The Ethics of Invention. 
[December, 
may be good or evil. The inventor, or would-be inventor, 
is therefore in duty bound not to overlook this question: — 
Will my invention, in its general and preponderating tenden- 
cies, be good or evil ? Let us take a few instances. There 
is the Gillwell drying-machine, for securing the hay- and 
corn-crops in unfavourable seasons, as described in the 
October number of this Journal ; there is the invention of 
Thomas and Gilchrist in the iron manufacture ; the Le Blanc 
process for alkali-making ; the various inventions for ob- 
taining valuable products from coal-tar ; there is the Nesbit 
process for rendering it impossible to tamper with cheques 
after filling up ; and numbers of others which, whilst they 
increase the wealth and the resources of mankind, and give 
remunerative employment to multitudes of persons, do not 
put any new weapons into the hands of persons at war with 
society, whether such be criminal individuals, criminal asso- 
ciations, or criminal races. In all such matters there is no 
reason for the conscientious inventor to desist from experi- 
menting in any particular direction, or to suppress results at 
which he has arrived. On the contrary, such inventors, 
whatever emoluments they may secure individually, confer 
far greater benefits upon their fellow-men, and may justly 
be regarded as having deserved well of the world. But 
there are other inventions, well known and important, where 
the benefits accruing are not without a serious counterpoise. 
As an instance of this kind let us take the lucifer match. 
Has not every rhetorical extoller of the present and con- 
temner of the past pointed his moral and adorned his tale 
with these fizzing and somewhat evil- smelling emblems of 
progress ? Nor am I about to call in question their fairly 
recognised advantages. There are conceivable cases where 
the life of a useful member of the community may hinge 
on the power of instantly procuring a light. But per contra. 
No one can deny that the “ lucifer ” has greatly smoothed 
the paths of crime. The rick-burner or other incendiary 
need not, as in the olden time, equip himself with flint and 
steel and tinder-box, and stand hammering away in a cold 
winter’s night till he can secure the wherewithal for setting 
light to stack or barn. A simple box of matches saves him 
all this time, trouble, and risk of detection. The burglar 
need scarcely encumber himself with the proverbial dark 
lantern. Nor is this all : the match-manufadlure, as hitherto 
carried on, undermines the health of no small number of 
people, and certainly withdraws a serious quantity of phos- 
phorus from its legitimate duties as phosphoric acid in our 
fields and gardens. jSo that, in fine, though the good 
