o us--the national vis--this it is which made the old
Angle-land a glorious heritage. 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. The most
recent application of this form of energy has been in the propulsion of
ships, which has already produced so great an effect upon commerce,
navigation, and the spread of population over the world.

Equally important has been the influence of the Railway--now the
principal means of communication in all civilized countries. This
invention has started into full life within our own time. The
locomotive engine had for some years been employed in the haulage of
coals; but it was not until the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway in 1830, that the importance of the invention came to be
acknowledged. The locomotive railway has since been everywhere adopted
throughout Europe. In America, Canada, and the Colonies, it has opened
up the boundless resources of the soil, bringing the country nearer to
the towns, and the towns to the country. It has enhanced the celerity
of time, and imparted a new series