HHffifflHHB THE WORLD A WORKSHOP; OR, THE PHYSICAL RELATIONSHIP OF MAN TO THE EAIiTII. BY THOMAS EWBANK, AUTHOR OF "HYDRAULICS AND MECHANICS, NEW YORK: IX APPLETON AND COMPANY, 346 AND 348 BROADWAY. 1855. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, BY THOMAS EWBANK, lu the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. *^. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA WORKING MEN, THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS INSCRIBED, f titimims uf DIGNITY AND OMNIPOTENCE ENLIGHTENED LABOR. PREFACE. I AM not aware of a single sentiment in the following pages to which the most devout mind can justly except, nor of a thought that is not in harmony with the deepest tone of admiration for the works of God, and with the purest feelings of love and reverence for Him; yet so it is, that kindred subjects are seldom brought forward without awakening opposition in persons who imagine the Ark of Truth endangered by the enunciation of speculations and deductions in science not included in their creeds, and who, on such occasions, eagerly put forth their hands to uphold it as if it could be shaken or overthrown by error. Truth, or rather the knowledge of it, is progressive. In nature there can be no end to its disclosures, for nothing is concealed. Upon every object, from an insect to a world, is written the pur- pose for which it is made. We may not always read aright, and no wonder, since we live in the infancy of systematic inquiry, and therefore cannot anticipate the results of its maturity; but our errors will be corrected by our successors, and theirs by those who succeed them. That this mundane habitation was designed and literally fitted up for the cultivation and application of chemical and mechanical science as the basis of human development, will, I think, appear evident even from the imperfect examination here given it ; and that it is essentially the same with other worlds, according to the condition of matter in them, and the physical constitution of their inhabitants, is all but an inevitable conclusion. To those who deny them to be centres of reasoning and active populations it is useless to reply till they can show for what other purposes they were made, and how this little earth, a mere atom among them, became so VI PREFACE. strauge an exception. If we had had no knowledge of the existence of other orbs, it would have been unphilosophical to insist there were none besides our own ; but now that we know they crowd every region of space, it would be positive folly to contend that all are barren of life and intelligence, of science and arts, except the one given to us. It is preposterous to suppose the Divine Builder erects tenements for the purpose of keeping them empty. If they are not occupied, it is because they are not yet prepared to be so. It may be assumed that as soon as an orb is fitted for tenants they are put in possession of it; and then it is that another marvel is disclosed. Material natures require something to do as well as to reflect on ; this is indis- pensable to their being the purpose of it. Employment is, therefore, an element of existence, and hence, The industrial activities of the denizens of the universe ; involving, as they must, infinities of modes and processes, and multiplied infinities of applications and results. The means by which this diversity is brought out might, on a first thought, be deemed inscrutable and incomprehensible, yet, like the effects of gravitation or of any universal law, it is very simply evolved. It depends on the diverse conditions of matter and the circumstances under which it exists, and as these cannot possibly be the same in any two worlds, much less in any two systems, neither can the occupations of those employed on it. These are, therefore endless in numbers, because endless are the truths of which matter is the vehicle, and the applications of which it is capable. Let those who do not sympathize with the idea that occupants of worlds around us act on matter as we do in this one (which, it should be remembered, is an integral member and sample of them), look abroad, and see how the same general laws to which it is sub- ject govern others ; how some in its vicinity resemble it in vo!ume, density, duration of days and nights,