The inquiring mind uses all its senses to obtain some new idea, and to apply it to some useful purpose; it is this spirit of research that has led to all the great results in Art and in the mechanical and chemical sciences, which we now enjoy and admire; but it is only by very slow degrees, and by great perseverance, that such results are obtained, although the accumulation of a few years makes an enormous aggregate. Look back a generation or two—where was then the steam engine, where the tall stalks which indicate the sites of complicated and ingenious manufactures? the blacksmith then worked at his anvil, and wrought out with his hands what he required in iron; but what is now done with this treasure of the mine? behold the Leviathan and the Britannia Bridge,—count their thousands of tons of plate iron rolled out by machinery, and think of the work of their removal, the millions of rivets to fix them together, the elevation of the one, and the launching of the other. Could this be done without that machinery which has become gradually perfected by thought and perseverance? Visit the iron works and see the powerful “steam hammer” moulding into form a mass of red-hot iron, many tons in weight; see the powerful and beautiful contrivances for rolling into plates, drawing into bars and wire, or cutting up this stubborn metal, and call it stubborn no more! See the powerful “locomotive” carrying along the trams hundreds of tons of goods at a rate that can hardly be equalled by the bird that flies through the air on its light pinions; and the huge steam ships which cut their rapid way across the seas, holding in contempt those very winds upon which alone the mariner used to depend! See with what rapidity and accuracy almost every kind of “textile” material is produced by the steam-worked loom, and remember that these have all arisen, with hundreds more, from small beginnings, and step by step.

Nor does the mechanical genius bound the works of civilisation. From studying the various properties of the elements of nature, and the results of their combination in various proportions and under various conditions, the chemist arrives, not only at their uses and applications, but obtains results before quite unthought of! Instance the electric telegraph, and think how it conveys one’s thoughts half round the globe before you can express an exclamation of surprise that such things can be! See also the wonderful results of the photographic art, copying the most elaborate picture, machine, or portrait, in a few seconds, and see the results of electro-deposition, which by an invisible agent, coats with pure gold or silver any article subjected to its action, or produces in a mould the article itself of the most elaborate form or pattern, and in solid metal, extracted by this all-powerful agent from liquids which the uninformed would never believe could contain any metal at all. Think of the beautiful colours of our carpets, draperies, silks, &c.—the chemist has devised the dyes with which they are stained; and in our chemical factories, what tons of vitriol, soda, bleaching powder, and scores of other chemical agents are daily produced. All this is the result of study and perseverance. Neither have the Fine Arts been behind in contributing to civilisation, as may be seen in the structure and decoration of our houses, churches, and public buildings; in our glass and pottery ware; paper hangings, and other artistic designs; in engraving and the copious illustration of our books, saving a long and tedious description, and often presenting to the eye forms that words could not express. And now let us consider one by one the “materials” and processes from which all these results arise.