Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-10-11
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
rEcHNIcAL EDUcArroN.

Tee vaiwt 81 seie~ee In us Application 20
me Useful raspssss % Late.
Ala recent meeting OF the British
Association for the Advancement OF
Science, Sir Lyon PLAyrAiR. the pre-
siasnt, delivered an address in which
occurs the following. 1t Is, 10 our
judgment. most admirable, and &c trust
will set to thinking some large-hearted
man or men. blessed with much OF th's
worlds goods, in the direction OF the
Foundation Of school Of technology Of
Richmond. 1t wonld be monument
that would never perish;
In the popular mind the value OF
science is measured by its applications
10 the useful purposes Of life. The
rapid development Of industry in mod
trn days depends on the applications OF
scientific knowledge, while its slower
e,ow,h in former times was due to ex-
peiiments being made by trial aud error
in order TO crafty the needs OF man.
Then an experiment was less o ques-
tioning OF nature than an exercise on the
mind Of the experimentalist, for true
questioning Of nature only arises when
intellectual conceptions OF the causes oil
phenomena attach themselves to ascer-
tanned facts as well as 10 their natural
Environments. When the question:
ing o. nature by intelligent expert
ment has raised n system OF science,
then those men who desire to apply 1t
TO industrial inventions proceed by the
same methods to make rapid progress
in She arts. They also must have
means TO compel nature to reveal her
secrets. Kneas succeeded in his great
enterprise by plucking golden branch
from the tree Of science. IL is by car
rying such golden branch from the
tree Of science that inventors are able
10 advance the arts. When we exam
inc the order Of progress in the arts
even before they are iliumlned by SCI
encc. their improvements seem TO be the
resultants Of three conditions l. The
substitution Of natural forces for brute
animal power, as when Hercules usedthe
waters Of the Alpheus TO cleanse the
Augean stables; or when hamchadal
of Eastern Asia, who has been three
wears following out canoe, finds that
be can do it in few hours by fire. 2.
The economy Of time, as when CAL
ondering machine produces the same
gloss TO miles of calico that an African
savage gives to a few inches by rubbing
it with the shell Of snail or the
economy Of production, as when steel
pens, sold when first introduced at one
shilling apiece, are now sold at penny
per dozen; or when steel rails, lately
costing e45 per ton, can now be sold at
IS. 3. Methods Of utilizing waste pro-
ducts, or Of endowing them with pro-
perties which render them of increased
value to industry, as when waste scrap
iron and the gals on the oak are con
yeI,ed into ink or the bad y-smelling
waste of gas-works is transformed into
fragrant essences, brilliant dyes, aud
ferlilizing manure; OF when the Gillette
matter Of animals or old bones is
changed into luci(er matches. All three
results are often combined when a sim
gle end is obtained at all events econ
omy Of time and production invariably
follows when natural forces substitute
brute animal force. In industrial pro-
gress the sweat of the brow is lessened
10y the conceptions of the brain. How
exultant is the old Greek poet,
Antipaier, when women are relieved
of the drudgery Of turning the
giindstones for the daily supply of
corn Woman you have hitherto had
to grind corn. let your arms rest for
the future. 1t is no longer for you
that the birds announce by their songs
the dawn of The morning. Ceres has
ordered the water-nymphs to move the
heavy millstones and perform your
labor" Penelope had twelve slaves
TO grind corn for her small household.
During the most prosperous time of
Athens it was estimated that there
were twenty slaves to each free citizen.
Slaves are mere machines, and ma
chimes neither invent nor discover.
The bondmen Of the Jews, the helots
OF Sparta, the captive slaves of Rome,
the seIfs Of Europe, and unedu-
Gated laborers of the presept day,
who are the slaves Of ignv5nce, have
added nothing to human progress. But
as natural forces substitute aud become
cheaper than slave labor, liberty fol-
lows advancing civilization. Machines
require educated superintendent. One
shoe-factory in Boston by its machines
does the work of 10000 shoemakers in
Paris, who have still to go through the
weary dradgery of mechanical labor.
The steam-power Of the world during
the last twenty years has risen from
100000 to 1900, 600 horsepower,
or l52 per cent. The coal, which has
hitherto been the chief source of power.
probably represents the product OF
live or six million years during
which the sun shone upon the
plants Of the carboniferous period, aud
stored Np its energy'in this convenient
form. But we are using this conserved
force wasteiully and proiigally; and
although horsepower in steam-engines
has so largely increased since 1864, two
men only now produce what three men
did at that date. Ii is only three hun
bred years since we became manufac-
turing country. According to Profess
sor Dewar, in less than two hundred
years moro the coal Of this country will
be wholly exhausted, and in half that
time will be difficult to procure. oui
not very distant descendants will
have to face the problem, Whai
will be the condition of England with
out coaly The answer to that question
depends upon. the intellectual develop
ment Of the nation at that tune. The
value Of the intellectual factor of pro
duction Is continually increasing, Will,
the values Of raw material aud fuel ar,
iessening factors. ltmay be that whel
the dreaded time Of exhausted fuel ha
arrived its importation from other coal
fields, such as those Of New Soutl
Wales, will be so easy aud cheap tina
the increased technical education Of GU
operatives may largely oyerbalance tn
disadvantages OF increased cost in fuel
But this supposes that future govern
msnts In England will have more en-