Author: Axel Johan Josef Guinchard

Publisher:

Published: 2015-06-30

Total Pages: 772

ISBN-13: 9781330520949

Excerpt from Sweden Historical and Statistical Handbook The more investigation penetrates into questions respecting the conditions and possibilities of culture, so much the more does the connection between nature and culture manifest itself. Human knowledge and activity cannot, beyond a certain degree, overcome the difficulties placed in their way by nature. As culture advances, the distances between points on the earth's surface are of less importance, and as nations increasingly coalesce into one humanity, the irresistible divisions of labour among the various regions of the world emerge all the more clearly. Every region has its own special task in the economy of mankind, dictated by the natural resources which are to be found in it. In the presence of such a conception, and not least during the production of such a work as the present one, we are met by the question "What are, in an objective sense, the possibilities of Sweden, compared with those of other countries?" This enquiry shall receive a brief reply here, so far as is possible at the moment. The natural resource at the disposal of a nation consist partly of mineral wealth, partly of the production of mechanical power, as well as of vegetable and animal products, which are conditioned by physical features, soil, and climate; and partly, perhaps not least, of the innate power of the people itself, which ultimately has its roots in the character of the race and the reaction which nature and climate exercise upon it during the lapse of centuries. Sources of mechanical power. We commence with the sources of mechanical power, inasmuch as these have proved themselves, in the development of modern culture, to be of such pre-eminent importance for the utilizing of all other resources. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.