The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-12-08

eSt, IHost uselul anu poWeIlul cHSiHo' 'i"'
the genius Of man has ever created. Yet the
development of the art OF printing has been
comparatively slow one; and it is only
within brief period that it has been applied
to the newspaper. But what result has
been achieved by that application! The
Tatler has grown into the Times in England,
and the dyspeptic weekly of revolutionary
days is replaced by the quintuple HERALD OF
our own time From the printers block has
grown the rough wood cut, the copper plate,
followed by the steel engraving, the litho-
graphic, photo-lithographic and photo-en-
craving processes that enable us to produce
in few hours fac-similes to any scale OF the
most deliberately lined drawing. By the
aid Of the camera we can reduce the proper
tons of the elephant to those of mouse
without distorting line. and enlarge those
of microscopic animalcule to the scale of a
mammoth without disturbing the apparent
relations OF the most minute parts. Nearly
seventy years ago strong-limbed youth
ferried travellers to Staten Island, where
they took the old post road leading
through Elizabeth and New Brunswick
to Philadelphia Recently an old man
died worth many millions. He owned rail
roads over which passengers were sometimes
carried mt the rate of mile per minute The
long and weary journey to Philadelphia or
Albany had become matter of two or three
hours. Yet. the strong-lmbed youth and
the old millionaire were one and the same
person, and the altered conditions of life
serve but to illustrate the growth Of things
within lifetime. Now what do we look
forward to as the mode of travel OF the iu-
ture? Will electricity be the motive power,
or shall men, like the tabled genii, ride on
the wings OF the storm III balloons? Ouf
Spanish-American friends have an answer
for such questions which is indefinite
enough ''Qu;en saJe p they ask when they do
not know what to say.
Equally astonishing is the increase in the
facilities Tor communicating with distant
places. The mail rider was succeeded by
the coach, the railroad train and steam
boat. But people had been dream
ing Of realization Of the old Jesuit's
prophecy, uttered in the fifteenth century,
that in time people could communicate
their thoughts to great distances by means
of cords or wires stretched from place to
place. wire was laid to Washington and
needles whose movements were arranged
to indicate the letters of the alphabet were
operated by the electrical impulse SO that
men communicated their thoughts and cx-
pressed their desires over two hundred and
forty miles. Invention followed invention
until we find many messages going over one
wire at the same time. Can anything excel
this? Is it possible that distance is to be
wholly conquered? The bottom of the
Atlantic has been made the bed on which
are stretched mighty cables. Wires network
continents Calcutta and San Francisco
are brought within an hours communica-
ton. Pshaw. this is nothing We talk
now with as much ease through five hum
bred miles Of wire as across a parlor The
next discovery may be one that will enable
us to see things hundreds Of miles away,
some curious teleoptc apparatus operated
by the electric wire that will at once bring
men visibly face to face while they converse
through the telephone. Distance is no
But surely Time, the destroyer, will re-
main supreme. Nothing Of human FASH
Joining will survive his assaults. Even the
mountains bow their crumbling heads be-
fore him and the great rivers hide them
selves in his presence. There is nothing
so enduring as time. The heeting sounds
of the song, of merry music, Of signs and
laughter-these are the contrasts in endur-
ance to time. They are heard and are dead
forever. That might be said before Edison
discovered the phonograph. Now sounds
are fixed for all time in enduring metal.
They are heard, and sleep TO awake again
in a succession of utterances whose same
ness proves that the chords or words held
chained in that metallic prison have be-
come immortal in their alliance with the
i'm perishable. Darkness, first assailed with
the pine torch. was followed up by
the rude grease lamp, the candle of
tallow, sperm oil and wax. Finally coal
gas was discovered by the indefatigable
searchcrs, and light shone on many parts Of
the realm of darkness. Gas was regarded
as the light Of the future 1t has come in a
year or two to he regarded as an old
fashioned light Of the past What will re-
place it? We cannot preserve sunlight as
we do sound for future use. We do not
want it. The earth, the air, all matter is
the reservoir OF our light, and we will draw
on it as we desire. The mysterious essence
Of force and action, electricity, is our pris-
oner.
In ancient days disturbances and clash
ings of terrestrial forces were regarded as the
struggles of contending gods, and helpless
man stood awe-struck by the warfare which
threatened him momcntarily with destruc-
ton. How bravely we have got over all that
now. Our stately steamers plough the do
main OF Neptune with a contemptuous dis