ing in self-consciousness. The natural self-interest of the few whose good fortune it has been to rise to conscious intelligence operates exploitively within the vicious circle of social ignorance and unconsciousness. The supreme function of statesmanship is to work in harmony with the forces making for awareness. The genius of a society which devised the well-nigh omnipotent technical instruments is surely capable of devising a happier and more successful method of utilizing them. He who would not impede men but set them forward in that direction can do no more and must do no less than add his own strength to the forces which are substituting the power of intelligent self-consciousness for the servility of ignorance.

But according to the conception of class relationships prevailing in the eighteenth century, the existence of an ignorant multitude living at a subsistence level was natural and even desirable. This conception involved as a corollary a definition of public welfare which assumed that the happiness of the "lower orders" of society depended upon the virtues of industry and docility in degree not far removed from the state of domestic animals; their superior intelligence must be confined to their immediate tasks, and must be kept subservient to those who gave them opportunity to earn their subsistence.36

If we keep clearly in mind this definition of public welfare, we may properly say that the aim of the government, during the era of invention when the instruments of power in modern industrial life were being forged, was to control and utilize these instruments in the interest of the public. The modification of the patent system by the courts to require more definite specifications was for the purpose of enabling the public to utilize the invention at the end of the fourteen-year period of the patent. The rewarding of inventors by special grants was for the purpose of eliminating monopoly entirely by giving the

* See below, pp. 224, ff., 262, 263.

38

invention to the public at once. Those who favored private instead of governmental agencies for rewarding inventors believed that that method was best fitted to promote the public welfare. They desired to eliminate monopoly by giving inventions to the public as soon as devised, and to aid public progress by stimulating inventive activity.

Those who favored private as opposea to governmental rewards depended mainly on societies for patronizing experiment and granting premiums and medals. Such methods were used on a small scale by local commercial committees. The Manchester Commercial Committee was organized in 1774 partly for the purpose of opposing patents and of devising "some other mode of reward for ingenuity, so as to prevent the pernicious effects of patents.” Grants were made from time to time by this committee to various inventors; and committees in other places displayed similar interest. But "to prevent the pernicious effects of patents,” there seems to have been an increasing dependence on the work of societies organized for the specific purpose of promoting scientific 'and technical progress.37

By far the most important of these was the Society Instituted at London for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, founded in 1754, and commonly known as the Society of Arts.38 The early history of the Society of Arts coincided with the beginning of the mechanical revolution, and the relation of the society thereto was so important that a writer of the time attributed the technical progress being made largely to the founding of the society. Its organization, he said, inaugurated “one of the most remarkable epochs in the history of the arts.” 39 This was no doubt an exaggeration; but the work of the society, even when subjected to a view more rigorously critical, deserves a much more prominent place in the history of the time than has commonly been given it.

The founders of the London Society of Arts were not without precedent, for the Dublin Society, the pioneer in the field of the "useful arts,” dated from 1731. The Dublin organization was a semi-official body: it served as a board for the promotion of trade, manufactures, and agriculture; and though at first supported by private subscriptions, it soon secured parliamentary aid, the usual subsidy being £10,000. Its relation to invention was slight; only in its general purpose of promoting the arts of economic life did it serve as a precedent for the society founded at London in 1754.40

It appears that the plan of the London society was formulated in 1753 by William Shipley, who is variously described as an artist and as “an ingenious mechanic ... deriving no advantages from learning.” In any case he was recognized as the society's principal organizer, and was chosen as its first secretary. There is little of value

. to be derived from the details of organization; the significant facts are those concerned with the purposes and activities of the society. It will suffice, therefore, to say that the plan adoped was comprehensive and thorough, and that it was put into operation with vigor and suc

Many of the more prominent men of the time 'became members. The names of inventors and manufacturers occur side by side with the names of lords, gentry, and high officials. Richard Arkwright, Matthew Boulton, and Josiah Wedgwood and his sons were mem

cess.

10

Encyclopædia Britannica, 3d ed., XVII, 586, 587.

Young, Tour in Ireland, II, 131-133; Sheffield, Observations on Ireland, 204, 260; Annual Register, 1765, 157 (2d part).

bers, and Edmund Cartwright was at one time a candidate for the position of secretary.41

"Whereas, the riches, honor, strength and prosperity of a nation [runs the preamble of the original Plan] depend in a great measure on knowledge and improvement of useful arts, manufactures, etc., several of the nobility and gentry of this kingdom, being fully sensible that due encouragements and rewards are greatly conducive to excite a spirit of emulation and industry, have resolved to form themselves into a society. ... The intent and purpose of this society is to encourage ingenuity and industry by bestowing of premiums.” It is to be seen that the society was by no means confined to the encouragement of invention. The extensive nature of its activities is shown by the names of its committees. The organization was slightly modified from time to time, but according to the Rules of 1760, the work of the society, aside from such formal details as those connected with accounts and correspondence, was in the hands of six groups, each group concerned with rewards in a particular field. One group had charge of rewards in the field of “polite and liberal arts”; another, agriculture; another, manufactures; a fourth, mechanics; a fifth, chemistry, dyeing and mineralogy; and a final group had oversight of rewards for improvements of various kinds in connection with colonies and trade.

But mechanical interests were not confined to the committee on mechanics; the terms applied to the committees were arbitrary. Machinery for use in agriculture,

Plan of the Society (a circular, February 19, 1755, in Br. Mus., 1801.d.1(59)); Rules and Orders (frequently republished with alterations); Transactions, I, Introduction, and pp. 276-281, and lists of members in the various volumes, III, 124-128, IV, Frontispiece (Shipley's portrait), LV, Preface; Dossie, Memoirs of Agriculture, I, 28; Encyclopædia Britannica, 3d ed., XVII, 586, 587; Anderson, Historical Origin of Commerce, II, 407 (ed. 1764); [Strickland), Memoir of Edmund Cartwright, 162; Wood, History of the Royal Society of Arts, 1.

for instance, was under the jurisdiction of the committee on agriculture; and the other committees promoted the invention of improved implements and processes in their appropriate fields. Before the founding in 1768 of the Royal Academy of Arts, the Society of Arts paid much attention to the “polite and liberal arts”; but its interests even in this field were largely technical and practical. Designing, for instance, was recognized by the society as in need of improvement to enable English manufacturers to compete with the French, whose superiority in the arts on the border between the "fine" and the "useful” was generally acknowledged. The society was interested in improvements of various kinds, but it is to be distinguished from other institutions and given a position of unique historical importance primarily because of its work in promoting inventive activity. The scope and variety and far-reaching significance of its interests in this field of activity are revealed impressively by the long lists of the premiums and medals awarded, by the much longer lists of rewards offered, and by the numerous accounts of experiments inspired by it and printed in contemporaneous periodicals and in the society's own publications. Its policy was based upon the belief that "on the improvement of mechanical engines the advancement of the manufactures, and ultimately the arts and commerce of the kingdom, must in a very material manner depend.” The “noble enthusiasm” of the inventor was therefore stimulated and rewarded by the society, which prided itself upon being a “bank of generosity” which could be drawn upon for “the reward of merit as well as a mark of honor." 42

Nor was the claim an idle boast. The operations of