Of this we have had a portion above our brethren--good
measure, running over. Through this our island-mother has
stretched out her arms till they enriched the globe of the
earth....Britain, without her energy and enterprise, what would
she be in Europe?"--Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1870).
In one of the few records of Sir Isaac Newton's life which he
left for the benefit of others, the following comprehensive
thought occurs:
"It is certainly apparent that the inhabitants of this world are
of a short date, seeing that all arts, as letters, ships,
printing, the needle, &c., were discovered within the memory of
history."
If this were true in Newton's time, how much truer is it now.
Most of the inventions which are so greatly influencing, as well
as advancing, the civilization of the world at the present time,
have been discovered within the last hundred or hundred and fifty
years. We do not say that man has become so much wiser during
that period; for, though he has grown in Knowledge, the most
fruitful of all things were said by "the heirs of all the ages"
thousands of years ago.
But as regards Physical Science, the progress made during the
last hundred years has been very great. Its most recent triumphs
have been in connection with the discovery of electric power and
electric light. Perhaps the most important invention, however,
was that of the working steam engine, made by Watt only about a
hundred years ago.
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