" Indeed, in the words
of Sir John Herschel, "it can hardly be pressed forcibly enough on the
attention of the student of Nature, that there is scarcely any natural
phenomenon which can be fully and completely explained in all its
circumstances, without a union of several, perhaps of all, the sciences."
The most important secrets of Nature are often hidden away in unexpected
places. Many valuable substances have been discovered in the refuse of
manufactories; and it was a happy thought of Glauber to examine what
everybody else threw away. There is perhaps no nation the future happiness
and prosperity of which depend more on science than our own. Our
population is over 35,000,000, and is rapidly increasing. Even at present
it is far larger than our acreage can support. Few people whose business
does not lie in the study of statistics realize that we have to pay
foreign countries no less than L140,000,000 a year for food. This, of
course, we purchase mainly by manufactured articles. We hear now a great
deal about depression of trade, and foreign, especially American,
competition, which, let me observe, will be much keener a few years hence,
when the United States have paid off their debt, and consequently reduced
taxation.
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