34
THE INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM
the reaping of that industrial harvest which awaits the sagacious in every land. Contrast with this the vast amount of time, labour, money, and energy which have been wasted in vain attempts to discover by chance, or through glimpses of half-knowledge, the riches of unknown regions. Bags of iron pyrites have been sent home as gold-dust; lumps of red oxide of iron, as the cinnabar ore of quicksilver; pieces of flattened lead-shot, as grains of platina. Men have exchanged abroad heavy gold-dust for light diamonds, alas, too light! for they proved, on reaching home, to be quartz crystals; and single-witted knaves have felt so confident of the general ignorance, that sham nuggets, manufactured in Birmingham, have been sent out to the gold diggings, where they were scattered on Sunday mornings over exhausted mines about to be offered up for sale: entry immediate.
Let any one, indeed, take a map, and mark upon it all of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, which is still unexplored, and after reflecting upon the immensity of the area thus brought into view, ask himself how its material riches are to be ascertained, and he will not, I imagine, propose to leave them to be stumbled on by such chance visitors as may wander aimlessly and ignorantly through that region.
AND COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE.
35
I have spoken specially of distant lands, but he who does not know valuable objects at a distance, will as little recognize them at his own door; nor need I remind you that around and between the two chief cities of Scotland, lie beds of iron-ore, building-stone, and gas-fuels, besides other minerals whose existence and value have been fully recognized only within the memory of living men, and these in most cases not past their prime.
One great service, then, which an Industrial Museum may render to commercial enterprise, is the teaching of those about to be scattered over the world, how to recognize the important raw, working, and modifying materials of Industrial Art. Scotland has always, in virtue of being Caledonia stern and wild, kept her poets who could live on a little oatmeal, at home, and sent her hungry practical men abroad. At the present day, more than of old, from the bosom of almost every family, one or more sons are sent forth over land and sea. Surely, then, we should give them opportunity before they part from us, to make themselves familiar with the typical industrial materials of all countries, and after singing "Auld Lang Syne" for the last time with them, and before bidding them farewell, should place in their chests, beside the Bible and the volume of national
516
34
THE INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM
the reaping of that industrial harvest which awaits the Contrast with this the sagacious in every land. vast amount of time, labour, money, and energy which have been wasted in vain attempts to discover by chance, or through glimpses of half-knowledge, the riches of unknown regions. Bags of iron pyrites have been sent home as gold-dust; lumps of red oxide of iron, as the cinnabar ore of quicksilver; pieces of flattened lead-shot, as grains of platina. Men have exchanged abroad heavy gold-dust for light diamonds, alas, too light! for they proved, on reaching home, to be quartz crystals; and single- witted knaves have felt so confident of the general ignorance, that sham nuggets, manufactured in Bir- mingham, have been sent out to the gold diggings, where they were scattered on Sunday mornings over exhausted mines about to be offered up for sale: entry immediate.
Let any one, indeed, take a map, and mark upon it all of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, which is still unexplored, and after reflecting upon the immensity of the area thus brought into view, ask himself how its material riches are to be ascertained, and he will not, I imagine, propose to leave them to be stumbled on by such chance visitors as may wander aimlessly and ignorantly through that region.
AND COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE.
35
I have spoken specially of distant lands, but he who does not know valuable objects at a distance, will as little recognize them at his own door; nor need I remind you that around and between the two chief cities of Scotland, lie beds of iron-ore, building- stone, and gas-fuels, besides other minerals whose existence and value have been fully recognized only within the memory of living men, and these in most cases not past their prime.
One great service, then, which an Industrial Museum may render to commercial enterprize, is the teaching of those about to be scattered over the world, how to recognize the important raw, working, and morlifying materials of Industrial Art. Scotland
has always, in virtue of being Caledonia stern and wild, kept her poets who could live on a little oat- meal, at home, and sent her hungry practical men abroad. At the present day, more than of old, from the bosom of almost every family, one or more sons are sent forth over land and sea. Surely, theri, we should give them opportunity before they part from us, to make themselves familiar with the typical industrial materials of all countries, and after singing "Auld Lang Syne" for the last time with them, and before bidding them farewell, should place in their chests, beside the Bible and the volume of national
516
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