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Page 13
_PAST AND PRESENT MEANS OF COMMUNICATION_.
We may, I think, commence by saying, "Lord, so teach us to number our
days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom," for, as David says,
"What is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou
visitest him? Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of Thy
hands, and hast put all things in subjection under his feet." The
difference of past and present means of communication are so great, that
it is no easy task to enter into a discussion on the subject; but it
leads one to gravely consider what is said in the 90th Psalm: "So teach
us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." To
address an association such as I have now the honour and pleasure of
doing, gives one a feeling of interest, as well as a feeling of
responsibility, for as I have been kindly asked to close the course of
lectures for this session, such an address is looked to in general with
expectation. Do not hope for too much from me; but I trust that, when I
have concluded, you will not be able to pay me the compliment an
old Highland woman did to her minister on seeing him after
church-service--"Ah, maister, this discoursing will never do, for I
wasna weel asleep till ye were done." Having said this by way of
introduction, I think it devolves upon me in some way first to explain
what is the meaning of the subject of Communication. It may be briefly
stated to be _a means to an end_--an intercourse or passage of either
the body from one place to another, or of the thoughts of one person to
another. And as I begin with the communication of the body, I cannot do
better than name some of the methods by which communication is carried
on, and shall commence with _Roads, Coaches, Railways, Canals_, and
_Steamers_. Then, for mind, I will take _Books, Printing, Letters,
Exhibitions_, and _Telegraphs_.
Our age has so advanced, that though Methuselah lived nearly one
thousand years, yet he in his age did not live as long as we do now.
See what science and art have done for us. We now do more in one day
than could be done in a month some very few years ago; and, as far as
travelling about the world is concerned, I can say that I have been from
John-o'-Groat's House to Brighton, thence into Hertfordshire, thence
back to London, from there to Edinburgh, thence to John-o'-Groat's, and
here I am before you, without fatigue, or a thought that I should not be
present in time. What has enabled us to do this but the determination of
man to communicate with his fellow-men, and his thirst for the knowledge
of what is doing in places where he, as an individual, could not be
present. When there were no roads, it was no easy matter to move about,
so the people remained at rest. But the Romans, a people who aspired to
conquer the world, were not a people to sleep and let things stand
still. They began the making of roads in Britain, and to them we owe the
first of our greatness. They saw, as every wise man now sees, that the
first thing to the improvement of land and property is easy
communication, and facilities for bringing the things needed for the
improvement of the land, and the means also of export for the produce.
The earliest roads were, as we may say, right on end; and the Roman
roads, as I hear, have borne the traffic of two thousand years. I hope I
may say that even a Roman road would not bear the traffic of a town like
Greenock for anything like that period of time, or I fear the commerce
of this populous and most thriving town would be in a bad way. The great
Telford and Macadam are the persons to be thanked for our beautiful
system of road-making, and no person can, I am sure, deny the utility of
their plans. As I said, roads are a means of communication for the body,
and also for the mind; and therefore, now that their advantages are
seen, we should strive to further their advance in all districts.
_Coaches_.--We come now to the means of communication on the roads for
the body, and also for the mind, as both must go together--viz., the
coach and the carriage or cart (for before the roads were made we had no
coaches). In the first place, these carts or carriages were rude and
heavy waggons, without springs or other comfort; but still they served
to convey the body, and the mind that went with it at last discovered,
by degrees, that conveyances could be constructed so as to cause less
wear and tear on animal life. The result of time and labour has been the
elegant constructions of the present day. The first hackney-coaches were
started in London, A.D. 1625, by a Captain Bailey. Another conveyance
for the body, the sedan-chair, was introduced first into England in
1584, and came into fashion in London in 1634. The late Sir John
Sinclair was called a fool because he said a mail-coach would come from
London to Thurso. I am glad to say that he _saw_ it, and it opened up a
communication for the body and mind that has worked wonders in the far
North. We now have a railway.
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