The Portsmouth inquirer. [volume] (Portsmouth, O. [Ohio]) 1849-1855, 1851-04-07
The Progress of man.

nj. Slerrest IN course Of lectures ON
comp aratlve anthropology, delivered in Paris,
mas tn fown Out some interesting views on
the re lations OF different branches of the
human race with each other. A cotemnoya-
ry of tn professor has published a SUMMARY
of the lectures, Showing the important in
luence which the extension of RAILWAYS will
have,upo n the interesting subject which they
we inten ded to illustrate.
TIE EFFECTS OF STEAM.
Hitherto the different groups Of mankind,
seattle red over the-suriace of the earth, have
lived isolated, kept a,oof by government and
politi calinstitutions, or brought together on
ly by war. It would seem that nature her
self, by the intervention of mountain ran
ges, rivers and oceans, wished to preserve the
Distinguishing characteristics between the
races, until the highest type should have
been developed. 1t is believed in certain
quarters that this condition is accomplished;
nations seek to become acquainted with each
other; neither the political institutions es-
tablished by ignorance, nor physical obsta-
cles, exist in the same strength as formerly,
to divide them The author of railways lit
lie thought that he had found the lever,
looked for in vain by Archimides. wherewith
to move the world
1t is scarcely fifteen years since the various
governments of Europe begant to turn their
attention TO railways; some have as yet done
no more than construct sections of Lines.
nervous ccntcre as it were, from which life is
to be transmitted to every province. Ina
few years the North Sea will be united to
the the Mediterranean by line, which, COM
menclng at Edinburgh, touches Newcastle,
York, London, Dover, and, Recommending
at Boulogne, on the other side of the channel,
stretches away to Paris from Paris to Lyons,
from Lyons to Avignon, from Avignon to
Marseilles. Another line, of which portions
are already constructed, commencing at Ham
burgh, and terminating at Trieste, links the
German Ocean to the Atlantic. In other
directions, the Baltic and Black seas are
brought into communication with the Eng
lish Channel-the whole forming quadTi-
e lateral web-work of iron, including within
4 its limits nearly all that is valuable in mod
g ern civilization, and to which Russia Spain,
d and Turkey In Europe will at no distant day
e attach themselves. Steam will now COM
plete what priting began. Ina moral point
of view, the long lines of iron are so many
conductors by which the thought of one ma
u tion will be communicated to another
> Traversing the whole extent Of Europe, they
= must produce complete modification Of
u customhouse law, and lead to real 'holy
alliance" between mercantile communities.
y The great work begun by Gottenburg will
: now find its essential element of completion
Il in the rapid circulation of men and IDEAS
Il Books are nothing in themselves, they exist
only for those who read them. A material
II power is required for their penetration
d among the gloomy and remote populations
1t which have for ages intrenched themselves
d, spllenly behind their physical barriers. This
!. power exists in steam and railways-the true
!. auxiliaries of printing. How greatly will
m the Intellectual aspect OF the continent be
ID changed, when all the capital cities are EN-.
,f brac'd within the scope of railways! In
which respect steam appears to be as much
the bond of union between the different sec
a. tions of the human race, as between distan.
u u ces.-American chronological Journal.