It would be to little purpose that man had been liberally furnished with valuable materials, if they were not also improved, by his industry and skill, into the means of ministering to his wants and comforts. Behold the untutored savage, earning with great effort a subsistence from the wild game of the forest, which is, moreover, so precarious that he sometimes perishes from want, spending his life, when not engaged in hunting or war, in a torpor both of body and mind. Compare him now with the civilized man, surrounded by the benefits of a well-ordered household, adding to the gratifications of his physical nature the pleasures of reading, of music, of conversation, and the numberless enjoyments of civilized life. All these advantages he owes to the exertions of his own industry and skill, and to the industry and skill of those who had preceded him, or who now co-operate with him.

He has rendered the mineral, the animal, and the vegetable world subservient to his various purposes. One species of mineral earth, he, by dint of great labor, converts into iron, which is again transformed into tools and instruments of various forms and dimensions, from an anchor or steam-engine to the balance-spring of a watch, or a cambric needle. He uses gold and silver for one set of purposes, and the baser metals of copper, tin, lead, and zinc for others. He multiplies the utility of the precious metals by converting them into leaves of extreme thinness, and has coined them into money, by which he saves himself infinite labor in exchanging that which he can spare for that which he wants. He draws from the bowels of the earth fuel to keep him warm, and to support the fires required by the operations of his ingenuity and art; salt, also, to preserve his meat, and render his food at once palatable and wholesome; and numerous other minerals, useful as medicines or for manufactures.

From the animal world he derives materials both for his food and his clothing. From one portion he obtains furs, from another wool, which, by a long train of ingenious processes, he converts into clothing at once soft, light, and warm. From a worm his indefatigable industry has obtained the materials of a yet more brilliant and ornamental apparel; and to all these he imparts dyes that rival the hues of the rainbow. The skins of some animals he converts into leather, of different descriptions, and adapted to various uses; and from the bristles of the hog, the filthiest of all animals, he fabricates twenty kinds of brushes to serve the purposes of cleanliness in his person and dwelling. The largest terrestrial animal furnishes him with ivory for one set of uses, and the largest marine animal with whalebone for another set. He uses the camel and the horse, as well as the elephant, for transportation, and to assist his operations both in peace and war. The dog is his willing slave, to aid him in killing other animals that are either noxious or serve for food. He does not confine his powers to the land; he descends to the rivers and sea, and drains from them in unexhaustible abundance food equally palatable and nutritious.

He has, by the art of navigation, gradually improved by numberless ingenious inventions, encountered and overcome the dangers of the ocean, has visited regions placed at the farthest extremities of the earth, and has, finally, circumnavigated the globe itself. He has, by these means, transmitted to one region the arts of life discovered in another, so that each one has profited by the improvements of the rest.

The vegetable world also offers a boundless field for the exercise of human industry. From this source he obtains the largest supply of his food, which is derived from the seeds of one tribe of plants, the leaves of another, and the roots of a third. From the juices of several plants he obtains what, of all sweets, is the most grateful to the human palate; from others, wine and beer, tea, coffee, and chocolate, to cheer and nourish his nervous system. Of the trees of the forest he constructs houses, ships, carriages, household furniture, and utensils in endless variety. From one plant he obtains the materials for light clothing at a less expense than from any other source. From vegetables he derives dyes of every hue, and medicines for the cure or mitigation of every disease. By means of ingenious mill machinery, he makes running water, or the stream, pulverize one set of vegetables into flour, spin another into thread, and then weave it into cloth, press out the oil from the olive, cider from the apple, separate cotton from its seed, and convert trees into planks. He transforms flax and hemp into lines and ropes, as well as cloth; and in a considerable portion of the fabrics of human art, mineral, animal, and vegetable substances have been combined to produce them. Thus a ship, a coach, a piano, and a book are the joint result of all three; and even a pair of boots has commonly the same threefold origin.

As, in civilized society, human labor and skill are principally employed either in producing the raw materials, or in giving to those materials new forms, suited to the uses of man, or in transporting either those materials or manufactures from place to place, all industrious employments have been divided into 1. Those of agriculture, mining, and fishing; 2. Those of manufactures, and 3. Those of commerce; which we will now successively notice.