Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1832-11-06
from tho Liverpool Tines
w TIE TRIUMPHS OF CIENCE AND Alp

Whether the carcatures which represent a steam en-.
gine as flying like a balloon through the air, shall ever be-
come anything more than a caricature may be doubted:
but such have been the achievements of science and arl
WITHIN The last three quarters of a century, that il is real
y dimcuIi TO bX any limits TO their future conquests. To
Justify us IN pronouncing anything impossible in machines,
1t ought. to be in opposition to some law of nature, and not
merely requiring an immense extent or difficult appHca-
ton OF power. And so marvellous have been the inven-
tons and discoveries in every branch of science. and in all
the arts, since the beginning of the last reign, that, if thew
aad been predicted in the year 1850, most men would
have thought the prophecy deserved to rank with the Ara
ban story OF the erection of Aladdin's palace in a single
night.
When the pack horse with his bell was the only means
oil conveying merchandise through the land, and when
the carrier conducted his string of horses along tracks al.
ways made to pass over the summit of the very highest
mis-, the vision OF a modern mai-coach gIancine through
our valleys, on roads nearly as smooth and level as a
bowling green, and conveying goods and passengers af the
rate oil III or ~ miles an hour, would have been regarded
as Tie work OF some supernatural beings, not clopeed with
The encumbrancc Of mortal clay. A man who should then
have imagined that a distance of four hundred miles could
have been performed in forty hours without difficulty or
uanger' would have been thought worthy of a place
amongst the philosophers OF Laputa.
a spinner at his wheel, twisting and twiriiRg the live
IOhg Gay TO make some paltry hanks of yarn. would have
gazcd at the interior of a modern spinning min-vybere
thousands of spindles are whirled with Incredible veiocitv
moved by no power visible TO Inc spectator. with a suner
sihouS conviction that the whole was the work of unbIes-
sod powers. To tell bin that The force which moved The
mighty apparatus OF The factory was earthly, yet that il
was neither The force OF men or horses, neither the
suSng'h oil a torrent nor The piping winds of heaven, but
nothing more or less than the steam OF boiling water, would
Ohly nave excited his Indignation at the holiness of The
imposiure which IL was attempted to palm upon him
10 show to one Of those disorderly persons who return
from taverns after the hour Of curlew and who of old were
wont TO groPe through the Egyptian darkness of our streets
70 lheir own houses, the s%Plendidly Illuminated streets of
London or Liverpool, he would be blinded with liobt and
fancy himself IN the hall of Pandcmonium, lit IN div snh-
We magic, win blazing cresspts Of uaphta and aspialfns
" ne could understand that these brilliant STARS of Ggbt
projected from an invisible vapor, which circulated for
miles under The streets, lac would be only the more perGrci.
" convinced that he had gone premaiurcly into Tie lower
world.
Since the invention ofprintng, the power Of man 10 dis.
semIndie knowledge, has been increased almost bevond
calculation. Even within The last thirty years a p,o,I.
gious augmentation has taken place in this power-BcC,ro
the improvement Of Earl Stanhope, from 3 10 400 sbco,s
might be printed per hour at the press; the steam press
when now works the Times newspaper, prints four thou
sand sheets per hour, or more than a sheet per second
I may be easily proved, that 10 write by hand the NUN.
br OF newspapers circulated by the Times, daily. yyoulJ
require a million and q bali scri5cs; yet, they are printed
WIN case by about two dozen men. Such IS the effect Of
q skIluI division Of labor, that a debate Of eight or ten
hours duration IN the House Of Commons, may be frIIv
ana ably reported, printed, and published so as to be-
re'o ~ London, within three or four hours after its Ter.
minauon, and sixty miles distance from he metropolis. be-
their beds. ~"
~ navigation, az in printing, invention ~slumbered for
centuries and then suddenly awoke in the gondrou,