It has oftentimes been asserted that those exposed to severe labor in the open atmosphere, were the least subject to sickness. This has recently been proven a fallacy by Mr. Finlaison, Actuary of the National Debt Office in London. Of persons engaged at heavy labor in out-door exposure, the per centage of sickness in the year is 28.05. Of those engaged at heavy labor in-doors, such as blacksmiths, etc., the per centage of sickness is 26.54-not much difference to be sure-but of those engaged at light occupations in-doors and out, the per centage of sickness is only 20.80-21.58. For every three cases of sickness in those engaged at light labor, there are four cases among those whose lot is heavy labor. The mortality, however, is greatest among those engaged in light toil, and in-door labor is less favorable to longevity than laboring in the open atmosphere. It is established clearly, however, Mr. Finlaison says, "that the quantum of sickness annually falling to the lot of man, is in direct proportion to demands on his muscular power." How true this makes the assertion, "Every inventor who abridges labor and relieves man from the drudgery of severe toil, is a benefactor of his race." Man is relieved from drudgery by the iron sinews of the machine, and his own are left to move more lightly and free in pursuing avocations demanding less physical but more mental and noble exertion.

INFLUENCES OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE DIRECTION OF LABOR AND CAPITAL.-MANUFACTURE OF SODA-ASH.-CONNECTION OF SOAP AND CIVILIZATION.-ASTRONOMY.CHRONOMETER.-MARINER'S COMPASS.-SCIENTIFIC TRAVELERS.--NEW MATERIALS OF MANUFACTURES.-INDIA RUBBER-GUTTA-PERCHA.-PALM-OIL.-GEOLOGY.INVENTIONS THAT DIMINISH RISK.-SCIENCE RAISING UP NEW EMPLOYMENTS.

ELECTRICITY.-GALVANISM.-SUN-LIGHT.-MENTAL

LABORERS.-ENLIGHTENED

PUBLIC SENTIMENT.

LORD BACON, the great master of practical wisdom, has said that "the effort to extend the dominion of man over nature is the most healthy and most noble of all ambitions." "The empire of man," he adds, "over material things has for its only foundation the sciences and the arts."* A great *We have taken this sentence as a motto which may point to the general scope of this volume.

deal of the knowledge which constitutes this dominion has been the property of society, handed down from the earliest ages. No one can tell, for instance, how the art of leavening bread was introduced among mankind; and yet this process, now so familiar to all, contributes as much, if not more, than any other art to the wholesome and agreeable preparation of our food. of chemistry, and, like that of chemistry have been the man from time immemorial. ever, science has applied its discoveries to the perfection of the arts; and in proportion as capital has been at hand to encourage science, has the progress of the application been certain and rapid. The old Alchemists, or hunters after the philosopher's stone, sought to create capital by their discoveries. They could not make gold, but they discovered certain principles which have done as much for the creation of utility in a few hundred years as the rude manual labor of all mankind during the same period. Let it not be supposed that we wish to depreciate manual labor. We only wish to show that labor is incomparably more prolific when directed by science. Mahomet Bey, the ruler of Tunis, was dethroned by his subjects. He had the reputation of possessing the philosopher's stone, or the art of turning common metals into gold. The Dey of Algiers restored him to his throne upon condition that the secret should be communicated to him. Mahomet, with great pomp and solemnity, sent the Dey of Algiers a plow. This was so far well. He intimated that to compel production by labor is to make a nation rich. But had he been able to transmit some of the science which now controls and guides the operations of the plow-the chemical knowledge which teaches the proper application of manures to soils-the rotation of crops introduced by

Leavening bread is a branch process, many other processes common property of civilized Within a few centuries, how

INFLUENCE OF KNOWLEDGE.

371

the turnip-husbandry, which renders it unnecessary that the ground should ever be idle-he would have gone further toward communicating the real philosopher's stone.

The indirect influence, too, of a general advance in knowledge upon the particular advance of any branch of labor, is undeniable; for the inquiring spirit of an age spreads itself on all sides, and improvement is carried into the most obscure recesses, the darkest chinks and corners of a nation. It has been wisely and beautifully said, "We can not reasonably expect that a piece of woolen cloth will be brought to perfection in a nation which is ignorant of astronomy, or where ethics are neglected."* The positive influence of science in the direction of labor is chiefly exhibited in the operations of mechanics and chemistry applied to the arts, in the shape of machines for saving materials and labor, and of processes for attaining the same economy.

We have described the effects of some of these manifold inventions in the improvement of the condition both of producers and consumers. But there are many particulars in which knowledge has labored, and is still laboring, for the advance of the physical and moral condition of us all, which may have escaped attention; because these labors. operate remotely and indirectly, though not without the highest ultimate certainty and efficiency, in aiding the great business of production. These are the influences of science upon labor, not so direct as the mechanical skill which has contrived the steam-engine, or so indirect as the operation of ethics upon the manufacture of a piece of woolen cloth; but which confer a certain and in some instances enormous benefit upon production, by the operation of causes which, upon a superficial view, appear to be only matters of laborious but unprofitable speculation. If

* Hume's Essays.

we succeed in pointing out the extent and importance of those aids which production derives from the labors of men who have not been ordinarily classed among "working men," but who have been truly the hardest and most profitable workers which society has ever possessed, we shall show what an intimate union subsists among those classes of society who appear the most separated, and that these men really labor with all others most effectually in the advancement of the great interests of mankind.

"No limit," says Professor Forbes, "can be set to the importance, even in a purely productive and material point of view, of mere thought. The labor of the savant, or speculative thinker, is as much a part of production, in the very narrowest sense, as that of the inventor of a practical art; many such inventions having been the direct consequences of theoretic discoveries, and every extension of the knowledge of the powers of nature being fruitful of applications to the purposes of outward life."

A most striking illustration of this is shown in the history and results of the discovery of the process for manufacturing soda from common salt. This process was first devised by Le Blanc, a French chemist, about the close of the last century. It remained for a long time unnoticed, or was regarded as simply a curious chemical result, interesting merely in a scientific point of view. It was not, indeed, until 1820 that any successful trial was made with it in England.

But the reader will ask, what was used before this process was adopted? It is well known that the two great chemical productions, soap and glass, which at present employ and keep in circulation an enormous capital, depend on the use of soda as an alkaline principle. Previous to 1820, nearly all the soda of commerce was obtained from the ashes of sea-weeds, which sold in the market under the