178 INDIA THE REPOSITORY OF VALUABLE AND PRECIOUS ORES. 
ton, silk, woollen, and linen. The con- 
struction of engines, mills, railways, carriages, 
ships, boats, docks, canals, bridges, fur- 
naces, boilers, gas machinery, looms, pres- 
ses, pumps, paddles, ploughs, water works, 
&c. will be illustrated by lithographic 
sketches, and an account given of the vari- 
ous important processes of dyeing, distilling, 
bleaching, brewing and tanning. While to 
the chemist and mechanic, we hope to be 
of essential service. We shall also do our ut- 
most to meet the wishes of the naturalist. 
The extravagant price of standard works in 
this department has been to discourage the 
naturalist in his interesting study. We 
trust we shall be able to glean from the 
numerous works which are publishing, and 
from papers in the transactions of learned 
societies all that is novel and valuable for 
this class of our readers. 
The question remaining to be consi- 
dered next is, what benefit will such 
intelligence afford to a country like this, 
containing 1,116,000 square miles equal 
in size to Great Britain, France, Spain, 
Portugal, Italy, Germany, Hungary, 
Poland, and Turkey, put together ; the 
number of people who inhabit it being compu- 
ted at 100,000,000 souls. When the riches of 
other countries have been ascertained and 
made known through the chemist and geologist, 
may we not reasonably expect that they will 
excite a spirit of enquiry and a desire for 
scientific education in the people here; 
and that they will soon learn that this is 
the largest empire in the world ; — the reposi- 
tory of the most valuable and precious ores ; 
— the greatest repository of diamonds hitherto 
discovered ; a country rich in spices, drugs, 
colours, silk, cotton, saltpetre, saffron, 
coffee, sugar, rice, &c. ; that its manufac- 
tures in silks, embroidery, and cottons have 
long since excited the admiration of Europe ; 
that its animal and vegetable produc- 
tions, its metals, minerals, and valuable 
natural productions are scarcely yet known ; 
and that science and the arts have yet to 
develope these internal resources which will 
ere long raise its character. Is it extravagant 
to hope under British rule that it will be.. 
come the greatest commercial nation in the 
world. The realization of these objects, 
however, depends materially upon the 
policy which the government of India may 
adopt in regard to its revenue. Whe- 
ther it endangers manufactures and 
population, or whether with the constant 
extension of boundary, it takes such measures 
to improve the soil, realize millions of acres 
which are now covered with forest, brush- 
wood, and stagnant waters, whether it facili- 
tates inland navigation, by deepening 
harbours, constructing docks, and encourag- 
ing ship building, the whole depends upon 
the adoption of a system of national polity 
by which the advantages to the government 
and the community may be reciprocal. 
It is during the times of peace that the 
great work of national improvement should 
go on, not as a matter of expediency, but of 
possitive necessity. If we desire to erect 
the fabric of our rule and future prosperity 
on a permanent basis, while we are giving 
encouragement to trace out the unexplored 
gifts of nature and bring into action the hid- 
den treasures of the land, we must conci- 
liate public regard by promoting the pros- 
perity of the people. A specific sum might 
justly be appropriated to objects of nation.^ 
al improvement, which, besides giving 
encouragement to ingenuity and merit and 
employment to the industrious, would pro- 
mote the circulation of the specie through- 
out the country ; increase the demand for 
various articles of inland manufacture and 
finally produce in their operation, an annual 
equivalent equal to the whole amount of the 
original outlay ; and most probably exceed it. 
We commence our department on Me- 
chanical arts for this month, with sugges- 
tions, on the navigation of the Atlantic 
by steam, our esteemed contemporary the 
Friend of India, has called the attention of 
his readers to the mode of building steam 
vessels for the river. Is his plan applicable 
to the build of the Huntsman on a smaller 
scale? We however, trust, the subject, will 
lead to further enquiries and supply the 
desideratum pointed out by the able 
Editor. 
