question lies in the hands of the United
Kingdom and the United States jointly. In
this matter there rests upon these two Powers
no small responsibility. They, with their vast
range of inhabited territory, and their unity
of tongue, are masters of the world, which
will have to do as they do. When the
Britains and America are fused into one book
market; when it is recognized that letters,
which as to their material and their aim are
a high-soaring profession, as to their mere
remuneration are a trade; when artificial
fetters are relaxed, and printers, publishers, and
authors obtain the reward which well-regulated
commerce would afford them, then let
floors beware lest they crack, and walls lest
they bulge and burst, from the weight of
books they will have to carry and to confine.

It is plain, for one thing, that under the
new state of things specialism, in the future,
must more and more abound. But specialism
means subdivision of labor; and with
subdivision labor ought to be more completely,
more exactly, performed. Let us bow our
heads to the inevitable; the day of
encyclopaedic learning has gone by. It may perhaps
be said that that sun set with Leibnitz.
But as little learning is only dangerous when
it forgets that it is little, so specialism is