every intelligent person who ponders these pages will see at a glance that this would be an excellent subject upon which to write a volumethe running to and fro and the increase of knowledge since the steam-engine has made its appearance. There has been more running to and fro and a greater increase of knowledge since the steam-engine has been discovered or invented than there was in all human history before.
If ever there was a time when darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people, it was at the time when Copernicus was born. That was indeed the dark age; and the Church had then had its own way for a thousand years. But it was impossible for knowledge to increase until the true system of mechanics had been discovered; and when, after years of careful study upon this subject, Copernicus said that the earth was not the centre, for no machine could run that way, then the dignitaries of the Church became alarmed.
Now, as long as they maintained that the earth was the centre of the universe, and that
