ABSTRACT
The term “Industrial Revolution” has been much blown upon of late, but seems appropriate to Scotland, inasmuch as the life and work of the mass of the people was largely transformed within a generation or two. The censure directed by the authors of Capitalism and the Historians against writers who have held the revolution responsible for all the evils of contemporary society certainly does not apply to Scottish scholars, who have if anything been inclined to blacken unduly pre-industrial conditions. A more legitimate warning, emphasised by Clapham, is against the excessive emphasis on the textile, mining and metallurgical industries, which bore the brunt of the changes in technique and organisation; other industries, relatively little affected meantime directly by these changes, continued to flourish and expand, notably the building industry; but in view of their relative stability, little further need be said about them until we reach the Victorian age. Another particular correction of the traditional view is suggested by the Clows, who have demonstrated the important but hitherto neglected contribution of chemical as well as physical science, and that of the industries based upon it.
