Chapter XV The Power of the Trained Hand
The Legend of Adam and the Stick with which he subdued the Animals. — The Stick is the Symbol of Power, and only the Hand can wield it. — The Hand imprisons Steam and Electricity, and keeps them at hard Labor. — The Destitution of England Two Hundred and Fifty Years ago: a Pen Picture. — The Transformation wrought by the Hand: a Pen Picture. — It is due, not to Men who make Laws, but to Men who make Things. — The Scientist and the Inventor are the World’s Benefactors. — A Parallel between the Right Honorable William E. Gladstone and Sir Henry Bessemer. — Mr. Gladstone a Man of Ideas, Mr. Bessemer a Man of Deeds. — The Value of the latter’s Inventions. — Mr. Gladstone represents the Old Education, Mr. Bessemer the New.157
CHAPTER XVI.
THE INVENTORS, CIVIL ENGINEERS, AND MECHANICS OF ENGLAND, AND ENGLISH PROGRESS.
A Trade is better than a Profession. — The Railway, Telegraph, and Steamship are more Potent than the Lawyer, Doctor, and Priest. — Book-makers writing the Lives of the Inventors of last Century. — The Workshop to be the Scene of the Greatest Triumphs of Man. — The Civil Engineers of England the Heroes of English Progress. — The Life of James Brindley, the Canal-maker; his Struggles and Poverty. — The Roll of Honor. — Mr. Gladstone’s Significant Admission that English Triumphs in Science and Art were won without Government Aid. — Disregarding the Common-sense of the Savage, Legislators have chosen to learn of Plato, who declared that “The Useful Arts are Degrading.” — How Improvements in the Arts have been met by Ignorant Opposition. — The Power wielded by the Mechanic.170