CHAPTER XV.

OF MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL CHANGES IN THE FORM

OF MATTER.

§ 1. To transport the sticks of wood by means of which our colonist might, in some degree, shelter himself from the wind and the rain, required the exertion of brute force alone; but before he could succeed in converting any of them into a bow, it was requisite that he should make himself acquainted with those properties of matter known as elasticity and tenacity. For the effectuation of changes of form there was needed, therefore, a knowledge of the qualities of the things that were to be converted; whereas, for effecting changes of place, he needed only to know their number, magnitude, or weight; and, as a necessary consequence, the work of conversion, more concrete and special, followed, in the order of development, the more abstract one of transportation.

Few things are yielded by the earth in the precise form in which they are required for serving the purposes of man. He may eat apples, oranges, dates, or figs, as they come from the tree; but the potato requires to be cooked, the grain to be crushed, and the flour to be baked, before they can be made available for his nourishment. He may wrap the skin around his shoulders; but before he can convert the wool into a garment fitted to preserve him from the winter's cold, he must make himself familiar with the properties by which it is distinguished. The foliage may at times shield him from the sun, but to enable him to obtain proper shelter from the weather, he must learn to fell the tree and convert it into logs, or planks. To do these things requires knowledge, with every step in the acquisition of which, he obtains increased control over the natural forces provided for his use while with each, is more and more developed the utility of the

corn, the wool, and the timber, with constant decline in the value of the food, the clothing, and the shelter he requires—and as constant increase of wealth.

Of all the beautiful and wonderful provisions of nature, there is probably none more beautiful than that which may be here observed. The necessity for changing the form of animal and vegetable products before they can become fitted for man's consumption, constitutes an obstacle requiring to be surmounted; and one that does not exist in relation to birds, beasts, or fishes, to all of which food is furnished in the precise form in which it is required. So, too, with clothing, all of which is supplied to other animals by nature; whereas, man is obliged to change the form of the flax, the silk, and the wool, before they can be made to serve his purposes; and here it is that we find the great stimulus to activity of mind-leading to the development of individuality, and fitting him for association with his fellow-men. Had food and clothing been supplied to him in abundance, and in the form in which they were required, his faculties would everywhere have remained as inert and useless as are now those of the people of tropical countries, whole families of whom are supplied with the former by a single breadfruit-tree; while the latter is superseded by a constant summer's sun. Nature giving these unasked, there exists but little inducement for the exercise of those faculties by which man is distinguished from the brute, which remain, therefore, undeveloped; and, as a necessary consequence, the power and the habit of association are there found least developed. Man was placed here to obtain command over nature; and, to that end, he was endowed with faculties capable of action, but requiring to be stimulated into activity by the necessity for overcoming the forces by which he is surrounded-forces, whose powers of resistance are always in the direct ratio of their capability of aiding him in his further efforts, whenever they have been brought entirely under his control. The rich soils of the earth are capable of yielding large returns to labor, but being destructive of life and health- he dare not attempt to occupy them. Therefore it is, that he is seen commencing his labors. where the soil is poorest and there it is, that he is earliest seen combining with his neighbors for the acquisition of further power; as in the rocky Attica; the almost ice-bound Norway and Ice

land; the elevated Bohemia; the mountainous Savoy; and the granitic New England; in all of which we see the habit of association to have existed to an extent elsewhere unknown.

§ 2. Before, however, Crusoe could make a bow, he needed to have some species of cutting instrument; and that, as we know, he obtained in the form of a piece of flint, or other hard stone, whose edge he had sharpened by means of friction. Look where we may, among even the most savage tribes, we find them obtaining command of certain natural forces and doing so by help of instruments the fabrication of which requires some acquaintance with the properties of matter. With knowledge comes power, and with the growth of power over nature they obtain a constantly increasing supply of food and clothing, in return for constantly diminishing muscular effort.

It is here, as everywhere, that the first step, while the most difficult, yields the smallest return. Beginning with the shell, man passes to the flint; thence to the knife of copper, bronze, iron, and steel; and finally to the circular saw with every step acquiring power for making a next and greater one. The spindle and the loom must, in their day, have been very wonderful inventions—so much so, that they sufficed the world for ages. In time, however, came the spinning-jenny; and now the force of steam was substituted for that of the human hand, with vast increase of product. That, nevertheless, was but the first among the steps in that direction-steam having, since then, been made not only to weave the cloth, but to give to it every variety of color, and of figure. From year to year, we witness new improvements, any one of which exceeds in importance the whole of those for which we are indebted to the thousand years preceding the opening of the eighteenth century. The cloth now returned to the labors of half a dozen women is more in quantity than, a century since, could have been obtained in return to those of a hundred men. But fifty years since, every piece of bar-iron required, for its production, the constantly intermitted force of men working with hammers in their hands, and obliged, at every blow, to raise the instrument, with enormous waste of power. Arriving, however, at the knowledge that iron could be rolled, and by aid of steam, man acquired the command of a great natural force, by means of

which his labors were rendered more continuous and effective, while greatly diminished in their demands upon his powers. Iron, becoming more easily acquired, facilitated the acquisition of increased supplies of coal and iron ore, and they in their turn did the same by machinery of every kind, from the little instruments employed in making pins and needles, to the great steamengine that drains the mine, or drives the mill.

The

Power to direct the forces of nature constitutes wealth. greater the wealth, the smaller is the proportion of the labors of man required for effecting chemical or mechanical changes in the forms of matter, and the larger is the proportion thereof that may be given to the accomplishment of those vital changes by means of which there is obtained an increase in the quantity of things susceptible of being converted. The mill, by help of which water, wind, or steam is made to do the work that before required the hand-converting the grain into flour-diminished the quantity of human effort required for effecting changes in the form of food, and greatly increased that which might be given to the work of adding to the quantity of grain requiring to be ground. So, too, the spinning-jenny, and the power-loom, by diminishing the labor required for effecting changes in the form of wool, set free a large amount of labor that might be given to augmenting the supply of wool. So, too, must it be, in all and every case in which the powers of nature are brought to aid the labors of man in the work of converting the things yielded by our great mother earth the proportion of his labor that may be given to augmenting the quantity of raw materials, tending, with every such accession of power, steadily to increase.

The smaller the quantity of labor required for the work of conversion, the larger is that which may be given to the preparation. of the great machine to which we are indebted for both food and wool; and the greater must be the ability to subject to cultivation the richer soils thence obtaining the increased supplies of food required for enabling men to live in close connection with each other, combining their efforts for obtaining further triumphs. The more they can combine, the more rapid is the development of individuality, and the greater the power for further progress.

§ 3. The facility of conversion growing with the growth of the

power of association, each step in the progress of society is attended with increased facilities for the maintenance of commerce. Wool and corn become converted into cloth; and iron ore, coal, cloth, and corn reappear in the form of bars of iron, which, in their turr, are combined with additional food, to reappear in the shape of knives; and thus are the products of the earth condensed in form. with constant diminution in the quantity of labor required for effecting changes in the place of matter and here we have a further increase in the proportion of the labor of society that may be given to the augmentation of the supply of commodities required for the support and comfort of man. The steam-engines now in use in Great Britain, are estimated as being capable of doing the work of six hundred millions of men; and, as these are chiefly employed in the work of condensing corn and wool into cloth — corn, coal, and ore into iron-and iron into machinery—their effect should be found in a constantly increasing ability to devote both time and mind to the development of the powers of the great machine to which we are indebted for the food, the wool, the coal, and the ore.

The planing-machines of this country, driven by steam, have been stated as being no less than thirty thousand in number each doing the work of sixty men; or, in the whole, that of eighteen hundred thousand men. Here is great economy of human effort, but to this must yet be added the economy of labor resulting from the transportation of finished, as compared with unfinished, products-the two combining to set free a vast amount of physical and mental effort, susceptible of being applied to increasing the quantity of lumber to be sawed or planed; of coal and ore to be converted into iron; or of wheat requiring to be ground; each and every of which operations tends to the development of the powers of the earth, and to fitting it for better serving the purposes of man.

§ 4. With every approach towards increased facility in the work of conversion near at home, there is witnessed a wonderful increase in the economy of human effort resulting from increased economy of the gifts of nature. The poor savage of the West spends days and nights roaming over the prairies in search of food, and is yet obliged to waste the larger portion of the products of the