They did much for the advancement of science, and even in our day the inventions they schemed and carried out are looked on with admiration. Considering the age of darkness in which they were invented, and the means at their disposal, their works certainly were deserving of much credit. But there is one thing that they deserve censure for in our eyes, and that is the pains, trouble and stupidities they went into to destroy nature. This was not so confirmed in your day, but about a hundred years later the face of the earth was thoroughly disfigured, the ocean was begrimed with clouds of smoke, steamers were steaming in all directions, and the land was covered with railroads. Factories of all kinds were dotted over the earth, smoke and dirt was everywhere. The consumption of fuel was wasteful to a degree. The coal fields were exhausted, and all the oil bearing strata were pumped dry. Your engineers never thought of the people that were to come after them, they only thought of the present, leaving to providence the future supplies for unborn
