ABSTRACT
WE know that the Romans had the genius of imitation even if they were lacking in that of invention. Montesquieu has shewn that they never hesitated to appropriate the advances made by other peoples—even those vanquished by Rome. In the industrial order of things they received a kind of perpetual initiation by borrowing from all the communities with whom they came into contact through either war or commerce such manufacturing processes as seemed most efficient and expeditious.
