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The number of inventions of high utility to humanity is so great that it is difficult to decide which is the most . How can we choose between printing, the steam - engine, the aeroplane antiseptic surgery, chloroform, and the various inventions connected with electricity, as the telegraph, the telephone, wireless telegraphy and electric light? If we judge an invention's utility by the extent of the changes has brought about in men's thoughts and social life, perhaps the steam - engine and the printing - press stand first. The - press has most profoundly influenced men, but the social revolution caused by the steam engine has been more dramatic and can more easily described.
The steam engine has made the world smaller. It has contracted space and shortened time. By rail and steamship, can now reach different parts of the world by journeys of hours instead of days and days instead of months.
This means travel has become so easy, quick and comparatively cheap that people of all nations, who were formerly confined to their native countries, now diffused all over the globe. The world has got know itself better; national isolation has been broken down; and men of nations are beginning to feel they all belong to one great family, the human race.
The wonderful improvement and extension of the of communications have led to an enormous increase in trade and commerce, which brings the products of all lands to everybody's door.
Above all, the steam brought about the industrial revolution, which resulted in civilisation characteristic of the 19th and 20th centuries. Applied to , it made possible the rapid production in enormous quantities of all kinds of useful articles at low prices, which brought things which were luxuries within reach of even the poor. Moreover, it produced the factory system, which meant the gathering together of thousands of men in one business and under one control in place of the former small business. This again produced the great modern towns, their conveniences and their grave social problems.