156 TlMEHRI. 
comforts we enjoy. It is true that in remoter ages 
science was cultivated to an extent of which we can 
hardly judge by what has descended to later times, and 
that probably all science had its birth in bye gone ages. 
May we not say there is nothing new under the Sun ? 
Astronomy was known to the Chaldeans — Metallurgy to 
the Phoenicians — Chemistry to the Arabians ; and who can 
look at the Pyramids without acknowledging that their 
builders knew something of the art of construction of 
which we are ignorant ; and so through the long line 
of ages we meet here and there with traces of " lost arts" 
or come across the germs of what in our time has 
blossomed into more perfect and beneficent science. 
But we must, I think, agree that this 19th century 
which is rapidly drawing to its close, will be distinguished 
above those preceding it by the extraordinary progress 
which has been made in scientific knowledge and the 
application of that knowledge to furthering the pros- 
perity and happiness of the human race. The history of 
previous centuries contains, in comparison, little else 
than the record of wars and political or religious 
changes — and though it is not forgotten that prior to 
1800 were made the discoveries which immortalized the 
names Newton, Herschel, Franklin, Priestley and 
others, still, the advance of scientific knowledge was for 
years comparatively slow, and its practical results not 
immediately perceptible. 
Perhaps no result of practical science has contributed 
more to the improved condition of our times, and the 
marked difference between then and now, than the largely 
increased facilities of communication by land and 
water which we enjoy. Thanks to steam and 
