Experience in science has already shown that it is by means of invention based upon new discoveries that the greatest utilities are obtained, rather than by the exercise of invention upon knowledge acquired long ago. The information obtained by research in former times has been largely exhausted for the purposes of invention by modern inventors, and what we very greatly require now is new knowledge. Experience in science also leads us to believe that the extent of possible discovery is as boundless as Nature, and that an immense amount of new knowledge may yet be discovered. Every discoverer of repute could supply a copious list of investigations yet to be made.
An infinite number of questions in pure science remain to be decided by means of research. Is Electricity decomposible like radiant heat or light?
Are the "elementary substances" really compound bodies? Are they all compounds of Hydrogen? Are they all decomposed by very high temperatures, as compound substances are "disassociated" by less elevated temperatures? Under what conditions is Fluorine isolated? Do gases transmit heat by conduction? Under what circumstances is Light converted into Electricity? and into Magnetism? What is the actual size of an atom of Hydrogen? Does Light (without heat) expand bodies? What is the actual molecular arrangement of the atoms of Hydrogen at 60 Fahrenheit? What is the cause of the absence of metalloids in the Sun? What are the properties of Fluorine? What is the vapour density of Cæsium? Under what circumstances is heat wholly converted into mechanical power? &c., &c. All these discoveries when made, will probably, sooner or later, be productive of practical benefits to mankind.
Nearly every manufacturer in this country is deriving, from scientific discoveries, advantages for which there has been little or no payment made to the discoverers. The makers of coal-tar-dyes, and dyers of wool and silk, are using Mitscherlich's discovery of nitro-benzine. Manufacturers of picric acid and "French purple" have enjoyed the fruits of the labours of Dr. Stenhouse. Makers of chlorate of potash and cyanide of potassium are profiting largely by the discoveries of Scheele, Gay-Lussac, and others. All the percussion cap makers
are indebted to Howard and Brugnatelli for fulminating silver. Railway-contractors, quarry-proprietors, and others, use nitro-glycerine discovered by Sobrero. Iron smelters are benefiting by the discovery of Bunsen, that 42 per cent. of the heat of the fuel was lost as combustible gases—these gases are now utilized. Telegraphists and electro-platers are also indebted to him for his voltaic battery. The producers of metallic magnesium owe the origin of their process to him as being the first to convert it into wire and make known its great light giving power. Multitudes of persons now use his well-known "Bunsen's burner" for heating, cooking, and other operations. The various telegraph companies, copper smelters, and makers of copper telegraph wire, are using Dr. Matthiessen's discovery of the influence of impurities on the electric conducting power of copper. Phosphorus-makers are reaping the reward of the labours of Gahn and Scheele. The makers of electro-plate and German silver are deriving profits from the labours of Faraday, who investigated electrolysis; of Gay Lussac, who discovered cyanogen; and of Cronstedt, who discovered nickel. Makers of Bessemer steel enjoy advantages derived from the spectrum discoveries of Kirchoff. Iron and copper smelters, metallurgists in general, dyers, calico printers, bleachers, brewers, makers of vinegar, red lead, varnishes, colours, soaps, green vitriol, phosphorus, oil-of-vitriol, and many others, are deriving benefit from the discoveries of Priestley and
Scheele. Physicians and their patients are receiving the reward of the labours of Soubeiran, Liebig, and Dumas, in the discovery of chloroform; of the researches of Fourcroy, Vauquelin, Pelletier, and others, in the discovery of quinine; and of many other chemists who discovered numerous remedial substances. By means of the discoveries of Oersted and others, embodied in the telegraph, manufacturers are enabled to anticipate the state of the markets and of the weather, and editors are enabled to obtain the earliest news.
Suppose that Gay Lussac, in 1815, had not discovered cyanide of potassium, and that it had never been discovered, it is highly probable that the manufacturing returns of Birmingham and Sheffield would be much less in amount at the present time than they are, simply because there is no other known substance with which the electro-plating of base metals with gold and silver can be satisfactorily effected. Or suppose that sal-ammoniac, chloride of zinc, or other soldering agents had not been discovered, the extensive and so-called "galvanizing" process could not have been effected, because without those substances the iron articles immersed in the melted zinc would not have received an adhesive metallic coating.
On the other hand, science has in various cases rendered obsolete some manufactures and superseded old customs, comforts and conveniences. We have ceased, or almost so, to use tinder-boxes, snuffers,
sulphur matches, rush-lights, tallow candles, sedan chairs, stage coaches, the ancient water-bucket and well, and even the comparatively modern pump; coal fires also are gradually being superseded by fires of gas, and articles formed of solid silver are now being replaced by those of electro-plate; canals have also to some extent been supplanted by railways. But in all these cases science has supplied us either with something better or more suited to our present wants.
The great pecuniary benefits arising from the applications of science are generally reaped in the first instance by the great manufacturers, agriculturists, merchants, and capitalists. Countless fortunes have been made by means of processes and manufactures based upon scientific discovery. The pecuniary benefits of calico printing, bleaching, dyeing; of the great manufactures of cotton, iron, pottery, beer, sugar, glass, spirits, vinegar, gutta-percha, india-rubber, gun cotton, the numerous metals, machinery, electro-plate, washing soda, German silver, brass, phosphorus, manures, the common acids, numerous chemicals, and a multitude of other substances and articles, have been extremely great. More than eighteen hundred million pounds of sulphuric acid alone are manufactured in Europe yearly. The pecuniary advantages of the use of the electric telegraph and railways to merchants, the gains of capitalists by monies invested in railways, telegraphs, steam-ships, cotton-mills, gas-works,