Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Address Delivered Before the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, at the Close of Their Eighteenth Exhibition of American Manufactures
N o department of useful improvement can be expected to prosper without public encouragement. The tardy progress of unassisted indi vidual industry and skill, however well directed and unwearied, can with difficulty withstand surrounding rivalship, even when it has been fortunate enough to force itself into neighbouring notice and to excite limited and occasional reward. Of all the branches of mechanic art, there is scarcely one, some of whose developments have not sprung from comparative obscurity. Practical workings among elemental matter, by hands that do the humblest offices of preparation, suggest facilities which could scarcely occur to the theorist, however intelligent. The eye beholding a finished performance, well adjusted in all its parts, sees nothing of the painful and prolonged exertions, the minute and almost insensible degrees by which the result has been attained. Yet these are rich sources of combination and analysis, and combination and analysis are the only additions which genius and experience can con tribute to the voluntary and liberal productions which are scattered abroad by nature with a generous hand.
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