Let me quote to you a passage from an essay urging the institution of
schools of physical science for artisans, which says all I wish to
say and more:
"The discoveries of Voltaic electricity, electromagnetism, and
magnetic electricity, by Volta, OErsted, and Faraday, led to the
invention of electric telegraphy by Wheatstone and others, and to the
great manufactures of telegraph cables and telegraph wire, and of the
materials required for them. The value of the cargo of the Great
Eastern alone in the recent Bombay telegraph expedition was
calculated at three millions of pounds sterling. It also led to the
employment of thousands of operators to transmit the telegraphic
messages, and to a great increase of our commerce in nearly all its
branches by the more rapid means of communication. The discovery of
Voltaic electricity further led to the invention of electro-plating,
and to the employment of a large number of persons in that business.
The numerous experimental researches on specific heat, latent heat,
the tension of vapours, the properties of water, the mechanical
effect of heat, etc., resulted in the development of steam-engines,
and railways, and the almost endless employments depending upon their
construction and use. About a quarter of a million of persons are
employed on railways alone in Great Britain.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25