GIFT OF 
 MICHAEL RES 
 

 
TJSIVBBSXTY 
 
8ttitomttp of CamfiriOgr, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS INSCRIBED 
 
 AS A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT 
 AND GRATITUDE 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE present volume may be considered as one of the con- 
 sequences that have resulted from the Calculating- Engine, the 
 construction of which I have been so long superintending. 
 Having been induced, during the last ten years, to visit a con- 
 siderable number of workshops and factories, ootfi in England 
 and on the Continent, for the purpose of endeavouring to rcake 
 myself acquainted with the various resources of mechanical art, 
 I was insensibly led to apply to them those principles of gene- 
 ralization to which my other pursuits had naturally given rise. 
 The increased number of curious processes and interesting 
 facts which thus came under my attention, as well as of the 
 reflections which they suggested, induced me to believe that 
 the publication of some of them might be of use to persons 
 who propose to bestow their attention on those inquiries which 
 I have only incidentally considered. With this view it was my 
 intention to have delivered the present work in the form of a 
 course of lectures at Cambridge; an intention which I was 
 subsequently induced to alter. The substance of a consider- 
 able portion of it has, however, appeared among the preli- 
 minary chapters of the mechanical part of the Encyclopaedia 
 Metropolitana. 
 
 I have not attempted to offer a complete enumeration of all 
 the mechanical principles which regulate the application ot 
 machinery to arts and manufactures, but I have endeavoured 
 to present to the reader those which struck me as the most 
 important, either for understanding the actions of machines, or 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 for enabling the memory to classify and arrange the facts 
 connected with their employment. Still less have I attempted 
 to examine all the difficult questions of political economy which 
 are intimately connected with such inquiries. It was impos- 
 sible not to trace or to imagine, among the wide variety of facts 
 presented m me, some principles which seemed to pervade 
 many establishments; and having formed such conjectures, 
 the desire to refute or to verify them, gave an additional 
 interest to the pursuit. Several of the principles which I have 
 proposed, appear to me to have been unnoticed before. This 
 was particularly the case with respect to the explanation I 
 have given of the division of labour ; but further inquiry satis- 
 fied me that I had been anticipated by M. Gioja, and it is 
 probable that additional research would enable me to trace 
 most of the other principles, which I had thought original, to 
 previous writers, to whose merit I may perhaps be unjust, from 
 my want of acquaintance with the historical branch of the 
 subject. 
 
 The truth however of the principles I have stated, is of 
 much more importance than their origin ; and the utility of an 
 inquiry into them, and of establishing others more correct, if 
 these should be erroneous, can scarcely admit of a doubt. 
 
 The difficulty of understanding the processes of manufactures 
 has unfortunately been greatly overrated. To examine them 
 with the eye of a manufacturer, so as to be able to direct 
 others to repeat them, does undoubtedly require much skill 
 and previous acquaintance with the subject ; but merely to 
 apprehend their general principles and mutual relations, is 
 within the power of almost every person possessing a tolerable 
 education. 
 
 Those who possess rank in a manufacturing country, can 
 scarcely be excused if they are entirely ignorant of principles, 
 whose development has produced its greatness. The possessors 
 of wealth can scarcely be indifferent to processes which, nearly 
 
or remotely, have been the fertile source of their possessions. 
 Those who enjoy leisure can scarcely find a more interest- 
 ing and instructive pursuit than the examination of the work- 
 shops of their own country, which contain within them a rich 
 mine of knowledge, too generally neglected by the wealthier 
 classes. 
 
 It has been my endeavour, as much as possible, to avoid all 
 technical terms, and to describe, in concise language, the arts 
 I have had occasion to discuss. In touching on the more 
 abstract principles of political economy, after shortly stating 
 the reasons on which they are founded, I have endeavoured to 
 support them by facts and anecdotes; so that whilst young 
 persons might be amused and instructed by the illustrations, 
 those of more advanced judgment may find subject for medi- 
 tation in the general conclusions to which they point. I was 
 anxious to support the principles which I have advocated by 
 the observations of others, and in this respect I found myself 
 peculiarly fortunate. The Reports of Committees of the 
 House of Commons, upon various branches of commerce and 
 manufactures, and the evidence which they have at different 
 periods published on those subjects, teem with information of 
 the most important kind, rendered doubly valuable by the 
 circumstances under which it has been collected. From these 
 sources I have freely taken, and I have derived some addi- 
 tional confidence from the support they have afforded to my 
 views.* 
 
 CHARLES BABBAGE. 
 
 DORSET STREET, MANCHESTER SQUARE, 
 June 8, 1832. 
 
 * I am happy to avail myself of this occasion of expressing my obli- 
 gations to the Right Hon. Manners Sutton, the Speaker of the House of 
 Commons, to whom I am indebted for copies of a considerable collection 
 of those reports. 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 IN two months from the publication of the first edition of 
 this volume, three thousand copies were in the hands of the 
 public. Very little was spent in advertisements ; the book- 
 sellers, instead of aiding, impeded its sale ; * it formed no part 
 of any popular series, and yet the public, in a few weeks, pur- 
 chased the whole edition. Some small part of this success, 
 perhaps, was due to the popular exposition of those curious 
 processes which are carried on in our workshops, and to the 
 endeavour to take a short view of the general principles which 
 direct the manufactories of the country. But the chief reason 
 was the commanding attraction of the subject, and the 
 increasing desire to become acquainted with the pursuits and 
 interests of that portion of the people which has recently 
 acquired so large an accession of political influence. 
 
 A greater degree of attention than I had expected has been 
 excited by what I have stated in the first edition, respecting 
 the "Book-trade." Until I had commenced the chapter, "On 
 the Separate Cost of each Process of a Manufacture," I had 
 no intention of alluding to that subject : but the reader will 
 perceive that I have Jhroughout this volume, wherever I 
 could, employed as illustrations, objects of easy access to the 
 reader ; and, in accordance with that principle, I selected the 
 volume itself. When I arrived at the chapter, " On Combi- 
 nations of Masters against the Public," I was induced, for 
 the same reason, to expose a combination connected with 
 literature, which, in my opinion, is both morally and politically 
 wrong. I entered upon this inquiry without the slightest feeling 
 of hostility to that trade, nor have I any wish unfavourable to 
 
 * I had good evidence of this fact from various quarters ; and being 
 desirous of verifying it, I myself applied for a copy at the shop of a book 
 seller of respectability, who is probably not aware that he refused to 
 procure one even for its author. 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITIOJS. Vll 
 
 it; but I think a complete reform in its system would add to 
 its usefulness and respectability. As the subject of that chapter 
 has been much discussed, I have thought it right to take a view 
 of the various arguments which have been advanced, and to offer 
 my own opinion respecting their validity: and there I should 
 have left the subject, content to allow niy general character 
 to plead for me against insinuations respecting my motives ; 
 but as the remarks of some of my critics affect the character 
 of another person, I think it but just to state circumstances 
 which will clearly disprove them. 
 
 Mr. Fellowes, of Ludgate- street, who had previously been the 
 publisher of some other volumes for me, had undertaken the 
 publication of the first edition of the present work. A short time 
 previous to its completion, I thought it right to call his atten- 
 tion to the chapter in which the book-trade is discussed ; with 
 the view both of making him acquainted with what I had 
 stated, and also of availing myself of his knowledge in cor- 
 recting any accidental error as to the facts. Mr. Fellowes, 
 " differing from me entirely respecting the conclusions I had 
 "arrived at," then declined the publication of the volume. 
 If I had then chosen to apply to some of those other 
 booksellers, whose names appear in the Committee of 
 " The Trade," it is probable tha\ they also would have 
 declined the office of publishing for me ; and, had my object 
 been to make a case against the trade, such a course would 
 have assisted me. But I had no such feeling; and having 
 procured a complete copy of the whole work, I called with it on 
 Mr. Knight, of Pall Mall East, whom until that day I had never 
 seen, and with whom I had never previously had the slightest 
 communication. I left the book in Mr, Knight's hands, with a 
 request that, when he had read it, I might be informed whether 
 he would undertake the publication of it ; and this he consented 
 to do. Mr. Knight, therefore, is so far from being responsible 
 for a single opinion in the present volume, that he saw it 
 onlv. for a short time, a few days previous to its publication. ^ 
 
V1U PREFACE TO THE 
 
 It has been objected to me, that I have exposed too freely 
 the secrets of trade. The only real secrets of trade are industry, 
 integrity, and knowledge : to the possessors of these no expo- 
 sure can be injurious ; and they never fail to produce respect 
 and wealth. 
 
 The alterations in the present edition are so frequent, 
 that I found it impossible to comprise them in a supplement. 
 But the three new chapters, " On Money as a Medium of 
 Exchange;" " On a New System of Manufacturing;" and 
 "On the Effect of Machinery in reducing the Demand for 
 Labour ; " will shortly be printed separately, for the use of the 
 purchasers of the first edition. 
 
 "" I am inclined to attach some importance to the new system 
 ojjnanufacturing ; and venture to throw it out with the hope 
 of its receiving a full discussion amongst those who are most 
 interested in the subject I believe that some such system of 
 conducting manufactories would greatly increase the produc- 
 tive powers of any country adopting it ; and that our own pos- 
 sesses much greater facilities for its application than other 
 countries, in the greater intelligence and superior education of 
 the working classes. The system would naturally commence in 
 some large town, by the union of some of the most prudent and 
 active workmen ; and their example, if successful, would be 
 followed by others. The small capitalist would next join them, 
 and such factories would go on increasing until competition 
 compelled the large capitalist to adopt the same system ; and, 
 ultimately, the whole faculties of every man engaged in manu- 
 facture would be concentrated upon one object the art of pro- 
 ducing a good article at the lowest possible cost : whilst the 
 moral effect on that class of the population would be useful 
 in the highest degree, since it would render character of 
 far greater value to the workman than it is at present. 
 
 To one criticism which has been made, this volume is per- 
 fectly open. I have dismissed the important subject of the 
 Patent-laws in a few lines. The subject presents, in my opinion, 
 
SECOND EDITION. Ix 
 
 great difficulties, and I have been unwilling to write upon it, 
 because I do not see my way. I will only here advert to one 
 difficulty. What constitutes an invention ? Few simple me- 
 chanical contrivances are new; and most combinations may 
 be viewed as species, and classed under genera of more or less 
 generality; and may, in consequence, be pronounced old or 
 new, according to the mechanical knowledge of the person who 
 gives his opinion. 
 
 Some of my critics have amused their readers with the 
 wildness of the schemes I have occasionally thrown out ; and I 
 myself have sometimes smiled along with them. Perhaps it 
 were wiser for present reputation to offer nothing but pro- 
 foundly meditated plans, but I do not think knowledge will be 
 most advanced by that course ; such sparks may kindle the 
 energies of other minds more favourably circumstanced for 
 pursuing the inquiries. Thus I have now ventured to give some 
 speculations on the mode of blowing furnaces for smelting 
 iron ; and even supposing them to be visionary, it is of some 
 importance thus to call the attention of a large population, 
 engaged in one of our most extensive manufactures, to the 
 singular fact, that four-fifths of the steam power used to blow 
 their furnaces actually cools them. 
 
 I have collected, with some pains, the criticisms* on the first 
 edition of this work, and have availed myself of much informa- 
 tion which has been communicated to me by my friends, for the 
 improvement of the present volume. If I have succeeded in 
 expressing what I had to explain with perspicuity, I am aware 
 that much of this clearness is due to my friend, Dr. FITTON, to 
 whom both the present and the former edition are indebted 
 for such an examination and correction, as an author himself 
 has very rarely the power to bestow. 
 
 * Several of these have probably escaped me, and I shall feel indebted 
 to any one who will inform my publisher of any future remarks. 
 
 Nov. 22, 1832. 
 
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 THE alterations in this Third Edition are few, and the addi- 
 tions are not extensive. The only subject upon which it may 
 be necessary to ofler any remark, is one which has already, 
 perhaps, occupied a larger space than it deserves. 
 
 Shortly after the publication of the Second Edition, I re- 
 ceived an anonymous letter, containing a printed page, entitled 
 " REPLY TO MR. BABBAGE ;" and I was soon informed that 
 many of the most respectable houses in the book trade inserted 
 this paper in every copy of my work which they sold. 
 
 In the First Edition, I had censured, as I think deservedly, 
 a combination amongst the larger booksellers, to keep the 
 price of books above the level to which competition would 
 naturally reduce it ; and I pointed out the evil and oppres- 
 sion it produced. Of the numerous critics who noticed the 
 subject, scarcely one has attempted to defend the monopoly ; 
 and those who deny the truth of my conclusions, have not 
 impeached the accuracy of a single figure in the statements on 
 which they rest. I have extracted from that reply the fol- 
 lowing 
 
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 List of the Number of Copies of the First Edition, purchased by 
 a frw of the Trade on speculation." 
 
 Number really pur- 
 AS stated by the Booksellers. *Z3~ 
 
 " Messrs. Simpkin and Co. . . 460 " 100 
 
 " Messrs. Longman and Co. . . 450 " 50 
 
 " Messrs. Sherwood and Co. . . 350 " 50 
 
 " Messrs. Hamilton and Co. . . 50" 8 
 
 " Mr. James Duncan .... 125 " 25 
 
 " Messrs. Whittaker and Co. . . 300 " 50 
 
 " Messrs. Baldwin and Co. . . 75 " 25 
 
 " Mr. Effingham Wilson ... 6 " 6 
 
 " Mr. J. M. Richardson ... 25" 25 
 
 Messrs. J. and A. Arch ... 12" 6 
 
 *" Messrs. Parbury and Co. . . 12" 12 
 
 " Mr. Groombridge 25 " 6 
 
 *" Messrs. Rivington .... 12" 12 
 
 " Mr. W. Mason 50 " 25 
 
 " Mr. B. Fellowes 25" 25 
 
 Total .... 1977 425 
 
 The author of the Reply, although he has not actually stated 
 that these 1977 copies were " subscribed" has yet left the 
 public to make that inference, and has actually suggested it by 
 stating that this number of copies was "purchased on specula- 
 tion" a statement which would have been perfectly true if the 
 whole number had been purchased in the first instance, and at 
 once. On reading the paper, therefore, I wrote to my publisher 
 to obtain a copy of the "subscription" list, from which the 
 column annexed to the above extract has been taken. 
 
 After the day of publication, the demand for the " Economy 
 of Manufactures" was rapid and regular, until the whole edition 
 was exhausted. There can, therefore, be no pretence for 
 asserting that any copies, taken afterwards, were purchased 
 
Xll PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. 
 
 "on speculation," they were purchased because the public 
 demanded them. The two first houses on the list, for in- 
 stance, subscribed 150, and if they will publish the dates of 
 their orders, the world will be able to judge whether they 
 took the remaining 760 " on speculation." 
 
 I have put an asterisk against the names of five houses, 
 whose numbers taken " on speculation" are correctly stated. 
 
 It is right that I should add, that the delay which many 
 have experienced in procuring the volume, has arisen from 
 the unexpected rapidity of the sale of both Editions. I have 
 made such arrangements that no disappointment of this nature 
 is likely to arise again. 
 
 The main question, and the only important one to the public, 
 is the COMBINATION, and the Booksellers have yet advanced 
 nothing in its defence. The principles of " free trade," and 
 the importance of diffusing information at a cheap rate, are 
 now too well understood to render the result of that combina- 
 tion doubtful; and the wisest course in this, as in all such cases, 
 is timely concession to public opinion. I shall now dismiss 
 the subject, without fear that my motives for calling attention 
 to it can be misunderstood, and hoping that the facts which I 
 have elicited will advance the interests of knowledge. 
 
 DORSET STREET, MANCHESTER SQUARE, 
 February 11, 1833. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 STATEMENT OF THE OBJECT AND PLAN OF THE WORK. 
 
 [Pages 1, 2.] 
 
 CHAPTER I. ^ 
 
 SOURCES OF THE ADVANTAGES ARISING FROM MACHINERY 
 
 AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 [Page 320,] 
 
 England peculiarly a Manufacturing Country, 1. Its Manu- 
 factures spread throughout the World, 2. Proportions of 
 Agricultural Population in various Countries ;(its gradual 
 Increase in England/ 3. Sources of the advantages derived 
 
 from Machinery and Manufactures, 4. Additions to Human 
 
 Power. Experiment on Force to move a Block of Stone, 5. 
 
 Economy of Time. Gunpowder, 6. Convenience of 
 
 Speaking Tubes, 7. Diamond for cutting Glass ; its Hard- 
 ness, 8. Employment of Materials of little Value. Gold- 
 beaters' Skin ; horny Refuse ; old Tin Ware, 9. Of Tools, 
 
 10. To arrange Needles, 11. To place their Points in 
 one Direction, 12. Substitute for Hand; Nail making, 13. 
 
 Shoe-machinery ; Sash-lines, 14. Division of the Objects 
 
 of Machinery. To produce Power ; to transmit Force and 
 execute Work ; general Principles, 15. Wind; Water, 16. 
 Steam ; Force not created, 17. Economy of Time in various 
 Modes of dividing the Root of a Tree, 18. Chinese Mode of 
 conveying Cotton compared with European, 19. 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ACCUMULATING POWER. 
 
 [Page 2126.] 
 
 When the Work requires more Force than can be produced 
 in the time allowed for its Operation. Fiy-wheel, Rolling- 
 iron, 20. Anecdote of punching Plate-iron, 21. Pile- 
 engine, 22. Effects of the power of Gunpowder in expelling 
 different charges. Le Vaillant's experiment with water sub- 
 stituted for shot, 23. Phenomenon of Fulminating Powder, 
 24. Velocity o f a Wave passing through Deal, supposed 
 to be greater than through Tallow, 25. Existence of Mo- 
 mentary pressures of various force in the boiler of a steam- 
 engine, 25*. Reasoning on the Theory of Explosion, 26. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 REGULATING POWER. 
 [Page 2729.] 
 
 Governor of Steam-engine. Ditto moving in Water at Chatham, 
 27. Cataract for regulating Engines in Cornish Mines, 28. 
 Uniform supply of Fuel to Steam-engine. Consuming 
 Smoke, 29. Vane regulated by Resistance of Air. Striking 
 Clock, 30. Suggestions for the adaptation of a Vane or Fly to 
 an instrument for measuring the altitude of Mountains, 31. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 INCREASE AND DIMINUTION OF VELOCITY. 
 
 [Page 3037.] 
 
 Fatigue arising from Rapidity of muscular Exertion, contrasted 
 with its Magnitude, 32. Most advantageous Load for a 
 Porter, 33. Tags of Boot-laces, 34. Spinning by Hand and 
 by Wheel. Machines to wind Riband and Sewing Cotton, 
 35. Tilt-hammer driven down by a Spring, 36. Sithe- 
 making, 37. Safety of Velocity in Skating, 38. Applica 
 tion of sudden force to a flat-bottomed Boat to increase the 
 speed. Reaction of the W T ater, 39. Great Velocity of moving 
 bodies an impediment to the full effect of their weight, 40. 
 Essential importance of Rapidity in Mining Operations, 41. 
 Window glass, 42. Smoke-jack, 43. Telegraphs, 44. 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 EXTENDING THE TIME OF ACTION OF FORCES. 
 
 [Pages 38, 39.] 
 
 Watches and Clocks. Common Jack. Automatons, 45. 
 Jack useful for physical Experiments, also to agitate Che- 
 mical Solutions, and Polish Mineral Specimens, 46. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SAVING TIME IN NATURAL OPERATIONS. 
 
 [Page 4046.] 
 
 Tanning, 47. Impregnation of Timber with Tar, &c. Ac- 
 cident to Boat of a Whaling Ship, 48. Bleaching Linen, 49. 
 Evaporation of Water of Brine Springs, 50, 51. Deepening 
 of Rivers in America, 52. Ascending Rapids, 53. Position 
 of Church Clocks, 54. Defective arrangement of the Post- 
 Office Letter-Boxes. Proposition for the remedy, 55. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 EXERTING FORCES TOO GREAT FOR HUMAN POWER, AND EXE- 
 CUTING OPERATIONS TOO DELICATE FOR HUMAN TOUCH. 
 [Page 4753.] 
 
 Difficulty of making a large Number of Men act simultane- 
 ously. Statue of Peter the Great. Egyptian Drawing, 56. 
 Communication by Signals ; Clapper of the Capstan ; Rod 
 of Iron, 57. Rivets used when Red-hot, 58. Spinning 
 Cotton. Steam- boats, 59, 60. Damping Paper for Bank 
 Notes, 61. Separation of dense Particles by Fluid suspen- 
 sion, 62, 63. Application of Heat for removing the filaments 
 of Cotton in Muslin and Patent Net, 64. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 REGISTERING OPERATIONS. 
 
 [Page 5461.] 
 
 Pedometer. Counting Machines for Carriages. Steam-engine,- 
 65. Machine for measuring Calicoes, 66. Tell-tale, 67. 
 Instrument to measure Liquor drawn from Casks, 68. To 
 measure Liquor remaining in Casks, 69. Gas-meter, 70. 
 Water-meter, 71, 72. Machine for registering the Average of 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ACCUMULATING POWER. 
 [Page 2126.] 
 
 When the Work requires more Force than can be produced 
 in the time allowed for its Operation. FJy-wheel, Rolling- 
 iron, 20. Anecdote of punching Plate-iron, 21. Pile- 
 engine, 22. Effects of the power of Gunpowder in expelling 
 different charges. Le Vaillant's experiment with water sub- 
 stituted for shot, 23. Phenomenon of Fulminating Powder, 
 24. Velocity o f a Wave passing through Deal, supposed 
 to be greater than through Tallow, 25. Existence of Mo- 
 mentary pressures of various force in the boiler of a steam- 
 engine, 25*. Reasoning on the Theory of Explosion, 26. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 REGULATING POWER. 
 
 {Page 2729.] 
 
 Governor of Steam-engine. Ditto moving in Water at Chatham, 
 27. Cataract for regulating Engines in Cornish Mines, 28. 
 Uniform supply of Fuel to Steam-engine. Consuming 
 Smoke, 29. Vane regulated by Resistance of Air. Striking 
 Clock, 30. Suggestions for the adaptation of a Vane or Fly to 
 an instrument for measuring the altitude of Mountains, 31. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 INCREASE AND DIMINUTION OF VELOCITY. 
 
 {Page 3037.] 
 
 Fatigue arising from Rapidity of muscular Exertion, contrasted 
 with its Magnitude, 32. Most advantageous Load for a 
 Porter, 33. Tags of Boot-laces, 34. Spinning by Hand and 
 by Wheel. Machines to wind Riband and Sewing Cotton, 
 35. Tilt-hammer driven down by a Spring, 36. Sithe- 
 making, 37. Safety of Velocity in Skating, 38. Applica 
 tion of sudden force to a flat-bottomed Boat to increase the 
 speed. Reaction of the Water, 39. Great Velocity of moving 
 bodies an impediment to the full effect of their weight, 40. 
 Essential importance of Rapidity in Mining Operations, 41. 
 Window glass, 42. Smoke-jack, 43. Telegraphs, 44. 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 EXTENDING THE TIME OF ACTION OF FORCES. 
 
 [Pages 38, 39.] 
 
 Watches and Clocks. Common Jack. Automatons, 45. 
 Jack useful for physical Experiments, also to agitate Che- 
 mical Solutions, and Polish Mineral Specimens, 46. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SAVING TIME IN NATURAL OPERATIONS. 
 
 [Page 4046.] 
 
 Tanning, 47. Impregnation of Timber with Tar, &c. Ac- 
 cident to Boat of a Whaling Ship, 48. Bleaching Linen, 49. 
 Evaporation of Water of Brine Springs, 50, 51. Deepening 
 of Rivers in America, 52. Ascending Rapids, 53. Position 
 of Church Clocks, 54. Defective arrangement of the Post- 
 Office Letter-Boxes. Proposition for the remedy, 55. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 EXERTING FORCES TOO GREAT FOR HUMAN POWER, AND EXE- 
 CUTING OPERATIONS TOO DELICATE FOR HUMAN TOUCH. 
 [Page 4753.] 
 
 Difficulty of making a large Number of Men act simultane- 
 ously. Statue of Peter the Great. Egyptian Drawing, 56. 
 Communication by Signals ; Clapper of the Capstan ; Rod 
 of Iron, 57. Rivets used when Red-hot, 58. Spinning 
 Cotton. Steam-boats, 59, 60. Damping Paper for Bank 
 Notes, 61. Separation of dense Particles by Fluid suspen- 
 sion, 62, 63. Application of Heat for removing the filaments 
 of Cotton in Muslin and Patent Net, 64. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 REGISTERING OPERATIONS. 
 
 [Page 5461.] 
 
 Pedometer. Counting Machines for Carriages. Steam-engine, 
 65. Machine for measuring Calicoes, 66. Tell-tale, 67. 
 Instrument to measure Liquor drawn from Casks, 68. To 
 measure Liquor remaining in Casks, 69. Gas-meter, 70. 
 Water-meter, 71, 72. Machine for registering the Average of 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 fluctuating Forces. Barometer Clock, 73. Scapement move- 
 ment of Clocks and Watches. New Instrument to denote 
 the detents on the dial-plate of the Stop-watch, 74. Alarums, 
 Repeating Clocks and Watches, 75. Instrument to ascer- 
 tain the direction and intensity of an Earthquake in the 
 Night ; Occurrence at Odessa, 76. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ECONOMY OF MATERIALS EMPLOYED. 
 
 [Page 6265.] 
 
 Cutting Trees into Planks, 77. Printing-ink. Experi- 
 ment, 78. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 OF THE IDENTITY OF THE WORK WHEN IT IS OF THE SAME 
 KIND, AND OF ITS ACCURACY WHEN OF DIFFERENT KINDS. 
 
 [Page 6668.] 
 
 Top of a Box turned in Lathe, 79. Accuracy of Work exe- 
 cuted by Tools, 80. By Turning, 81. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 OF COPYING. 
 
 [Page 69113.] 
 
 Division of subject, 82. Of Printing from Cavities. Copper- 
 plate Printing, 84. Engraving on Steel, 85. Music Print- 
 ing, 86. Calico Printing from Cylinders, 87. Stencilling, 
 
 88. Printing Red Cotton Handkerchiefs, 89, 90. 
 
 Printing from Surface. Printing from Wooden Blocks, 92. 
 From movable Type, 93. From Stereotype, 94. Lettering 
 Books, 95. Calico Printing, 96. Oil-cloth Printing, 97. 
 Letter Copying, 98. Printing on China, 99. Lithographic 
 Printing, 100, 101. Reprinting old Works by Lithography, 
 102. Lithographic Printing in Colours, 103. Register Print- 
 ing, 104. Copying by Casting. Iron and Metals, 106. 
 
 Casts of Vegetable Productions in Bronze, 107 109. Casts 
 in Plaster, 110. Casting in Wax. Imitations of Plants; 
 
 of the Human Body, 111. Copying by Moulding. Bricks, 
 
 Tiles, Cornice of Church of St. Stefano, 113. Embossed 
 
CONTENTS. XVU 
 
 China, 114. Glass Seals, 115. Square Glass Bottles with 
 Names, 116. Wooden Snuff-boxes, 117. Horn Knife 
 Handles. Umbrella Handles, 118. Tobacco-pipe making, 
 120. Embossing on Calico; on Leather, 121, 122. Swag- 
 ing, 123. Engraving by Pressure on Steel. Bank Notes* 
 V Forgery, 124, 125. Gold and Silver Mouldings, 126. Orna- 
 
 \mental Papers, 127. Copying by Stamping. Coins and 
 
 Medals, 129. Military Ornaments, 130. Buttons and Nail 
 Hea^s, 131. Clichee, 132. Copying by Punching. Boiler- 
 plates^ 134. Tinned Iron, 135. Buhl- work, 136. Cards for 
 Guns, 137. Gilt Paper Ornaments, 138. Steel Chains 139. 
 
 Copying with Elongations. Wire Drawing, 141. Brass 
 
 Tube Drawing, 142 Leaden Pipes, 143. Iron Rolling, 144, 
 
 145. Vermicelli, 146. Copying with altered Dimensions. 
 
 Pentagraph, 147. Turning, 148. Rose Engine Turning, 
 149. Copying Dies by Lathes, 150. Shoe Lasts, 151. 
 Copying Busts, 152. Screw- cutting, 153. Printing from 
 Copper Plates with altered Dimensions, 154. Engraving 
 from Medals, 155 157. Veils made by Caterpillars. 
 Weight of various Fabrics, 158. Copying through six 
 Stages in Printing this volume, 159. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ON THE METHOD OF OBSERVING MANUFACTORIES. 
 
 IPage 114^1 18.] 
 
 Skeleton, General Inquiries, 160. Skeleton for each Pro- 
 cess, 161. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 On the Domestic and Political Economy of Manufactures. 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 UN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAKING AND MANUFACTURING, 
 
 [Page 119 122.] 
 
 Economical Principle, 163. Difference between Making and 
 Manufacturing ; Expedition and profitable advantage of the 
 latter, 164. 
 
 b 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 OF MONEY AS A MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE. 
 [Page 123133.1 
 
 Introduction of Metals as Currency, 166. Base and Spurious 
 Coins, 167. Sub-division of Money; by decimals, 168, 169, 
 Property valued by the Standard of Currency, 170. Paper 
 Medium, 171. Banking-houses, 172. The Clearing-house, 
 173, 174. Economy of the Paper medium; Security of the 
 Metallic medium ; Depreciation of Coin ; Depreciation of 
 Paper, 176. Inconvenience in the deficiency of Supply, 
 177. Superabundance of Coin the reduction of a paper 
 issue, 178. Effects of reduction in the value of Money, 179. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ON THE INFLUENCE OF VERIFICATION ON PRICE. 
 [Page 134 146.] 
 
 Modification of general Principles, 181. Verification of 
 Sugar, Tea, Flour, 182. Doctoring Trefoil, and Clover, 
 183. Flax, 184. Difficulty of distinguishing "single press' 1 
 Lace, 185. Stockings, 186. Watches, 187. Measures of 
 articles of Linen Drapery, 188. Apothecaries and Drug- 
 gists, 189. Impossibility of verifying the Value of Plated 
 Ware, 190. Effect of Number of Proprietors on Price, 191. 
 Loss incurred in ascertaining the Legality of Price ; Con- 
 veyance of Parcels, 192. Verification by Name, 193. Ice. 
 Oil of Cajeput, 194. Stock Purchases, 195. Forestalling, 
 196. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ON THE INFLUENCE OF DURABILITY ON PRICE. 
 [Page 147151.] 
 
 Degree of Durability in Articles. Paper, Pens, Precious 
 Stones, 197. Tables, Chairs, 198. Looking-glasses, 199. 
 Copper, Gold, Iron, Lead, Silver, 200. 
 
CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ON PRICE, AS MEASURED BY MONEY. 
 {Page 152162.] 
 
 List of Prices of various Articles in 1818, 1824, 1828, 1830, 
 201. Another List, for 1812, 1832, 202. Advice about 
 such Lists, 203. Causes of Alteration of Money Price, 204. 
 Table of Elements of Alteration, 205. Price of Plate Glass 
 in London, Paris, and Berlin. Price of large Plates, 206. 
 Comparative Calculation, 207. Middle-men, 208. Middle- 
 men of Italy, 209. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 OF RAW MATERIALS. 
 {Page 163168.] 
 
 Nature of Raw Material, 210. Gold and Silver Leaf, 211. 
 Venetian Gold Chains, 212. Watch-spring, 213. Tables 
 of Price of Raw Material and Labour in various Manufac- 
 ture of France, 214. Price of Bar-iron in various Coun- 
 tries, 215. Price of Lead, 216. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. ^- 
 
 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 Causes of its Advantages, 217. Time required for learning 
 an Art, 218. Waste of Materials in learning, 219. Time 
 lost in changing Occupation ; change of Tools, 220, 221. 
 Skill acquired by frequent Repetition of the same Process. 
 Nail-making ; Signing Bank Notes, 222, 223. Contrivance 
 of Tools, 224. New Principle of the Advantage of the Divi- 
 sion of Labour, 225, 226. Pin-making, English, 228235. 
 Table of Cost of making English Pins, 236. Ditto French 
 Pins, 237, 238. American Pin-making Machine, 239. 
 Examination of its Merits,, 240 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ON THE DIVISION OF MENTAL LABOUR. 
 [Page 191202.] 
 
 Great French Tables of Logarithms, 241 246. On per- 
 forming Arithmetical Calculations by Machinery, 247. 
 Explanation of Mathematical Principle. Table of Square 
 Numbers with Differences, 248. Illustration by three 
 Clocks, 249. Distribution of Labour in Mines, 252. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 ON THE COST OF EACH SEPARATE PROCESS IN A MANU- 
 FACTURE. 
 [Pfl0re203 210.} 
 
 Comparative Value of Cotton of Java in various Stages of 
 Manufacture, 255. Statement of Expense of printing the 
 present Volume, 256. Observations on Statement, 257 
 259. Effect of Duty on Paper, 260. Charge for Adver- 
 tisements, 261, 262. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 ON THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF LARGE FACTORIES. 
 [Page 21 1224.} 
 
 Principle on which large Factories are established, 263. 
 Transport of Materials, 264. Machine for making Patent- 
 net working eight Hours a-day. Same Machine working 
 twenty- four Hours requires three Sets of Men. Porter to ad- 
 mit different Sets of Workmen. Workman to keep Machines 
 in Repair, 265. Application of Steam to Weaving, 266. 
 Lighting by Gas, 267. Accountant's Department, 268. 
 Effects of large Factories, 269. Economy of Raw Produce ; 
 exemplified in Horns, 270. Middle-men. Confidence in 
 Character, 271. Extent of Confidence, 272. Breach of Con- 
 fidence : Needles without Eyes, 273. Instance of Confidence, 
 274. Drawbacks, 275. Sending Agents to distant Countries. 
 Extract from the Report of the Committee of the House of 
 Commons relating to Factory System, 276. 
 
CONTENTS. XXI 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 ON THE POSITION OF LARGE FACTORIES. 
 
 [Page 225 230.] 
 
 In the Line of Cheap Modes of Conveyance ; Fuel, Water, 
 Power, 277. Mississippi, 278. Steam-boats on that 
 River, note. Accumulation of Factories establishes regular 
 Markets, 279. Removal of Factories, 280, 281. Facilities 
 for removing different Machines, 282. Important Sugges- 
 tions to Workmen on this Subject, 283. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 ON OVER-MANUFACTURING. 
 
 [Page 231241.] 
 
 Periodical. Effect where there are not large Establishments. 
 System of Compensation, 284. Effect on large Factories. 
 Two Remedies, 285. Diminished Production. Dimi- 
 nished Cost of Production, 286. Effects in driving Capital 
 to other Employments, 287. New mode of smelting Iron 
 to meet reduction of Profits ; Statement at the Clyde Iron- 
 Works, 288. Observations on the practicability of the New 
 Mode, objections stated, and conclusions drawn, 289 297. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 INQUIRIES PREVIOUS TO COMMENCING ANY MANUFACTORY. 
 [Page 242249.] 
 
 Expense of Tools and Machines Supply of Raw Material, 298, 
 299. Probable Demand. Dolls' Eyes, 300. Tolls on 
 Steam-carriages. Effect of Atmosphere, of Wheels, and of 
 Horses' Feet on Roads, 301. Draught of Carriages over 
 various kinds of Roads. Draught up various Inclinations 
 at six, eight, and ten Miles per Hour, 302. Time in which 
 Returns can be made ; Facility of introducing new Ar- 
 ticles, 303. Probable Opposition to new Manufacture, 304. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 ON A NEW SYSTEM OF- MANUFACTURING. 
 
 [Page 250259.] 
 
 Opposition of Workmen, 305. Participation in the Profits by 
 Workmen ; the Mines in Cornwall, Flintshire, Yorkshire 
 
XXli CONTENTS. 
 
 and Cumberland, 306, 307. Proposed new Plan of Remune- 
 ration ; Union of Small Capitals ; Division of Profit; Reward 
 for Improvements; Occupation in Slackness; Removal of 
 causes for Combination : Objections met as to Partnerships 
 and refractory Artisans ; Whaling Ships, 308 317. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 ON CONTRIVING MACHINERY. 
 
 [Page 260 267.] 
 
 Power of inventing Mechanical Contrivances not very rare. 
 Projects to prevent Forgery of Bank-notes, 318. Best 
 Combinations of Machinery rare. Drawings to be made 
 to determine all the Movements, 319. Experiments for 
 all the physical or chemical circumstances. Punching Letters 
 on Copper, 320. Causes of Failure in Machines, 321. Want 
 of Stiffness in Framing, 322. Experiment should be tried 
 with good Workmanship, 323. Same Experiment repeated 
 at distant Intervals, 324. Expense of new Machine, 326 
 Advice to Projectors, 327, 328. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 PROPER CIRCUMSTANCES FOR THE APPLICATION OF MA- 
 CHINERY. 
 [Page 268 282.] 
 
 When many things of the same kind are required, 329. Where 
 few things perfectly accurate are required, 330. Where 
 Economy of Time is required. Newspapers, 331. " The 
 Times," 332. " Chambers' Journal," 333. Conveyance of 
 Letters, 334. Steam- carriages, 337. Diving Vessel, 338. 
 Slide of Alpnach, 339. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 ON THE DURATION OF MACHINERY. 
 
 [Page 283292.] 
 
 Engines to produce Power last long, 340. Improvements in- 
 crease Production, 341 344. Age of Watches, 345. Ma- 
 chines let for Hire. Unexpected Effect of a Change in the 
 
CONTENTS. XX111 
 
 Rent of Stocking Frames, 346. Stamps, and Dies, and 
 Steam Power let out, 349. Suggestions on Steam and Air ; 
 practice at the Mint, 350. Cheaply manufactured articles 
 less durable, 352. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 ON COMBINATIONS AMONGST MASTERS OR WORKMEN AGAINST 
 EACH OTHER. 
 [Page 293 311.] 
 
 Rules in particular Factories, 353. Larger Societies, 359. 
 Objects of them, 360. Effects, 361. Gun Barrels, 362. 
 Fear of Combination causes Expense; Coal and Iron Works, 
 366. Cause of Removal of Factories, 368. The Truck System, 
 371. Payment of Wages in Goods, 375. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 ON COMBINATIONS OF MASTERS AGAINST THE PUBLIC, 
 
 [Page 312333.] 
 
 Instances, 376. Gas and Water Companies, 377. Coal-owners, 
 379. Booksellers, 380. Profits on the present Volume, 381. 
 Combination of Booksellers, 384 400. Remedy proposed, 
 401. Reviews, 402. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 ON THE EFFECT OF MACHINERY IN REDUCING THE DEMAND 
 FOR LABOUR. 
 [Page 334 341.] 
 
 Competition between Machine and Hand Labour, 404. Ma- 
 chines do not throw human labour out of employ ; Crushing 
 Mill in Cornwall ; the Stretcher ; weaving by Hand and 
 Power Loom, 407 412. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 ON THE EFFECT OF TAXES AND OF LEGAL RESTRICTIONS 
 UPON MANUFACTURES. 
 
 [Page 342 363.] 
 
 Taxes on Paper, on Windows, 414, 415. Excise Regula- 
 tions, 416, 417. Effects of Duties, 418. Insurance on 
 
XXIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Smuggling, 419. Effects of Mode of Taxation on Manu- 
 factures, 420 422. Bounties, 423. Effects of Removal 
 of a Monopoly in the Bobbin-net Trade, 425. Present State 
 of that Trade, 427429. Number and Distribution of 
 Machines, 430. Of Patents, 432. Expense, 433. Of 
 Copyright, 434. Of limited Partnerships, 435. Restric- 
 tions on Emigration, 436. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 ON THE EXPORTATION OF MACHINERY. 
 
 Reason for and against, 437. Competition between Manu- 
 facturer in poor and in rich Country, 439. Impossible to 
 prevent Exportation of all whilst that of any is permitted, 
 442. Makers of new Machines interested in supplying the 
 Home Market, 443. Foreign Orders charged higher, 444. 
 Comparison of internal Communications in England and 
 France, 451. Manchester Rail-Road, 452. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 ON THE FUTURE PROSPECTS OF MANUFACTURES, AS 
 
 CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE. 
 
 [Page 379392.] 
 
 Union of Theory and Practice, 453. Difficulties opposed to 
 Cultivation of Abstract Science, 454. Royal Society, 455. 
 British Association for the Promotion of Science, 456. 
 Effect of Public Opinion on Science, 458. Manufacturers 
 discovered Iodine and Brome, 460. Peruvian Bark, 461 
 Views of the Future, 463. Conclusion. 
 
ON THE ECONOMY 
 
 MANUFACTURES 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE object of the present volume is to point out j 
 the effects and the advantages which arise from the i 
 use of tools and machines , to endeavour to classify 
 their modes of action; and to trace both the causes ' 
 and the consequences of applying machinery to su- } 
 persede the skill and power of the human arm. 
 
 A view of the mechanical part of the subject will, 
 in the first instance, occupy our attention, and to 
 this the first section of the work will be devoted. 
 The first chapter of the section will contain some 
 remarks on the general sources from whence the 
 advantages of machinery are derived, and the suc- 
 ceeding nine chapters will contain a detailed exami- 
 nation of principles of a less general character. The 
 eleventh chapter contains numerous subdivisions, 
 and is important from the extensive classification 
 it affords of the arts in which copying is so largely 
 
 B 
 
2 ON THE ECONOMY 
 
 etoipjoyed. The .twelfth chapter, which completes the 
 first section, contains a few suggestions for the assist- 
 ance of those who propose visiting manufactories. 
 
 The second section^ after an introductory chapter 
 on the difference between making and manufacturing, 
 will contain, in the succeeding chapters, a discussion 
 of many of the questions which relate to the political 
 economy of the subject. It was found that the 
 domestic arrangement, or interior economy of fac- 
 tories, was so interwoven with the more general 
 questions, that it was deemed unadvisable to separate 
 the two subjects. The concluding chapter of this 
 section, and of the work itself, relates to the future 
 prospects of manufactures, as arising from the appli 
 cation of science. 
 
OF MANUFACTURES. 
 
 \ V 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 SOURCES OF THE ADVANTAGES ARISING FROM 
 MACHINERY AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 (1.) THERE exists, perhaps, no single circumstance 
 which distinguishes our country more remarkably from 
 all others, than the vast extent and perfection to which 
 we have carried the contrivance of tools and machines 
 for forming those conveniences of which so large a 
 quantity is consumed by almost every class of the 
 community. The amount of patient thought, of re- 
 peated experiment, of happy exertion of genius, by 
 which our manufactures have been created and carried 
 10 their present excellence, is scarcely to be imagined. 
 If we look around the rooms we inhabit, or through 
 those storehouses of every convenience, of every 
 luxury that man can desire, which deck the crowded 
 streets of our larger cities, we shall find in the history 
 of each article, of every fabric, a series of failures 
 which have gradually led the way to excellence; 
 and we shall notice, in the art of making even the 
 most insignificant of them, processes calculated to 
 excite our admiration by their simplicity, or to rivet 
 our attention by their unlooked-for results. 
 
 (2.) The accumulation of skill and science which 
 has been directed to diminish the difficulty of producing 
 B 2 
 
4 ADVANTAGES 
 
 manufactured goods, has not been be leficial to that 
 country alone in which it is concentrated ; distant 
 kingdoms have participated in its ad vantages. The 
 luxurious natives of the East,* and the ruder inha- 
 bitants of the African desert are alike indebted to 
 our looms. The produce of our factories has pre- 
 ceded even our most enterprising travellers. "j" The 
 cotton of India is conveyed by British ships round 
 half our planet, to be woven by British skill in the 
 factories of Lancashire : it is again set in motion by 
 British capital ; and, transported to the very plains 
 whereon it grew, is repurchased by the lords of the 
 soil which gave it birth, at a cheaper price than that 
 at which their coarser machinery enables them to 
 manufacture it themselves. J 
 
 (3.) The large proportion of the population of this 
 country, who are engaged in manufactures, appears 
 from the following table deduced from a statement 
 in an Essay on the Distribution of Wealth, by the 
 Rev. R. Jones. 
 
 * "The Bandana handkerchiefs manufactured at Glasgow 
 " have long superseded the genuine ones, and are now con- 
 " sumed in large quantities both by the natives and Chinese." 
 Crawfurd's Indian Archipelago, vol. iii. p. 505. 
 
 f Captain Clapperton, when on a visit at the court of the Sul- 
 tan Bello, states, that " provisions were regularly sent me from 
 " the sultan's table on pewter dishes with the London stamp ; 
 " and I even had a piece of meat served up on a white wash- 
 " hand basin of English manufacture." Clapperton's Journey, 
 p. 88. 
 
 J At Calicut, in the East Indies (whence the cotton cloth 
 called calico derives its name), the price of labour is one-seventh 
 of that in England, yet the market is supplied from British 
 looms. 
 
OF MACHINERY. 
 
 For every Hundred Per sons employed in Agriculture, there are, 
 
 Agriculturists. Non-agriculturists. 
 
 In Bengal 100 
 
 In Italy 100 
 
 In France 100 
 
 In England 100 
 
 25 
 31 
 
 50 
 200 
 
 The fact that the proportion of n on -agricultural 
 to agricultural persons is continually increasing, 
 appears both from the Report of the Committee 
 of the House of Commons upon Manufacturers' 
 Employment, July, 1830, and from the still later 
 evidence of the last census; from which document 
 the annexed table of the increase of population in 
 our great manufacturing towns, has been deduced. 
 
 INCREASE OF POPULATION PER CENT. 
 
 
 1801 
 
 1811 
 
 1821 
 
 TOTAL 
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 1801 
 
 
 1811. 
 
 1821. 
 
 1831. 
 
 to 1831. 
 
 Manchester .... 
 
 22 
 
 40 
 
 47 
 
 151 
 
 
 30 
 
 46 
 
 38 
 
 161 
 
 Liverpool * .... 
 
 26 
 
 31 
 
 44 
 
 138 
 
 Nottingham .... 
 
 19 
 
 18 
 
 25 
 
 75 
 
 Birmingham .... 
 
 16 
 
 24 
 
 33 
 
 90 
 
 Great Britain . . . 
 
 14-2 
 
 15-7 
 
 15-5 
 
 52-5 
 
 Thus, in three periods of ten years, during each 
 of which the general population of the country has 
 
 * Liverpool, though not itself a manufacturing town, has 
 been placed in this list, from its connexion with Manchester 
 of which it is the port. 
 
6 ADVANTAGES 
 
 increased about 15 per cent., or about 52 per cent, 
 upon the whole period of thirty years, the popu- 
 lation of these towns has, on the average, increased 
 132 per cent. After this statement, there requires 
 no further argument to demonstrate the vast im- 
 portance to the well-being of this country, of making 
 the interests of its manufacturers well understood 
 and attended to. 
 
 (4.) The advantages which are derived from ma- 
 chinery and manufactures seem to arise principally 
 from three sources : The addition which they make to 
 .human power. The economy they produce of human 
 \\time. The conversion of substances apparently com- 
 1 mon and worthless into valuable products. 
 
 (5.) Of additions to human power. With respect 
 to the first of these causes, the forces derived from 
 wind, from water, and from steam, present themselves 
 to the mind of every one ; these are, in fact, addi- 
 tions to human power, and will be considered in a 
 future page : there are, however, other sources of 
 its increase, by which the animal force of the in- 
 dividual is itself made to act with far greater than 
 its unassisted power ; and to these we shall at pre- 
 sent confine our observations. 
 
 The construction of palaces, of temples, and of 
 tombs, seems to have occupied the earliest attention 
 of nations just entering on the career of civilization ; 
 and the enormous blocks of stone moved from their 
 native repositories to minister to the grandeur or 
 piety of the builders, have remained to excite the 
 astonishment of their posterity, long after the pur- 
 poses of many of these records, as well as the names 
 of their founders, have been forgotten. The different 
 
OF MACHINER 
 
 degrees of force necessary to move these ponderous 
 masses, will have varied according to the mechanical 
 knowledge of the people employed in their transport ; 
 and that the extent of power required for this pur- 
 pose is widely different under different circumstances, 
 will appear from the following experiment, which 
 is related by M. Rondelet, Sur L'Art de Batir. A 
 block of squared stone was taken for the subject of 
 experiment ; Ibs. 
 
 1. Weight of stone 1080 
 
 2. In order to drag this stone along the floor of 
 
 the quarry, roughly chiselled, it required a 
 
 force equal to . . 758 
 
 3. The same stone dragged over a floor of 
 
 planks required 652 
 
 4. The same stone placed on a platform of 
 
 wood, and dragged over a floor of planks, 
 required 606 
 
 5. After soaping the two surfaces of wood 
 
 which slid over each other, it required . . 182 
 
 6. The same stone was now placed upon rollers 
 
 of three inches diameter, when it required 
 to put it in motion along the floor of the 
 quarry 34 
 
 7. To drag it by these rollers over a wooden 
 
 floor 28 
 
 8. When the stone was mounted on a wooden 
 
 platform, and the same rollers placed be- 
 tween that and a plank floor, it required 22 
 
 1'rom this experiment it results, that the force 
 necessary to move a stone along 
 
 Part of Its weight. 
 
 The roughly-chiselled floor of its quarry is 
 nearly 
 
 Along a wooden floor -| 
 
8 ADVANTAGES 
 
 Part of its weight 
 
 By wood upon wood $ 
 
 If the wooden surfaces are soaped .... j 
 With rollers on the floor of the quarry ... ^ 
 
 On rollers on wood ^ 
 
 On rollers between wood J5 
 
 y At each increase of knowledge, as well as on the 
 V contrivance of every new tool, human labour becomes 
 abridged. The man who contrived rollers, invented 
 a tool by which his power was quintupled. The 
 workman who first suggested the - employment of 
 soap or grease, was immediately enabled to move, 
 without exerting a greater effort, more than three 
 times the weight he could before.* 
 
 (6.) The economy of human time is the next advan- 
 tage of machinery in manufactures. So extensive 
 and important is this effect, that we might, if we were 
 inclined to generalize, embrace almost all the ad- 
 vantages under this single head : but the elucida- 
 tion of principles of less extent will contribute more 
 readily to a knowledge of the subject ; and, as 
 numerou's 'examples will be presented to the reader in 
 the ensuing pages, we shall restrict our illustrations 
 upon this point. 
 
 $ As an example of the economy of time, the use of 
 gunpowder in blasting rocks may be noticed. Several 
 pounds of powder may be purchased for a sum 
 
 * So sensible are the effects of grease in diminishing fric- 
 tion, that the drivers of sledges in Amsterdam, on which heavy 
 goods are transported, carry in their hand a rope soaked in 
 tallow, which they throw down from time to time before the 
 sledge, in order that, by passing over the rope, it may become 
 greased. 
 
OF MACHINERY. 9 
 
 acquired by a few days' labour : yet when this is 
 employed for the purpose alluded to, effects are fre- 
 quently produced which could not, even with the best 
 tools, be accomplished by other means in less than 
 many months. 
 
 The dimensions of one of the blocks of limestone 
 extracted from the quarries worked for the formation 
 of the breakwater at Plymouth, were 26 J ft. long, 
 13 ft. wide, and 16 ft. deep. This mass, containing above 
 4800 cubic feet, and weighing about 400 tons, was 
 blasted three times. Two charges of 501bs. each were 
 successively exploded in a hole 13 feet deep, the 
 bore being 3 inches at top and 2 inches at bottom : 
 lOOlbs. of powder were afterwards exploded in the 
 rent formed by those operations. Each pound of gun- 
 powder separated from the rock two tons of matter, or 
 nearly 4500 times its own weight. The expense 
 of the powder was 61., or nearly 7%d. per Ib. : the 
 boring occupied two men during a day and a half, 
 and cost about 95. ; and the value of the produce was, 
 at that time, about 45 L 
 
 (7.) The simple contrivance of tin tubes for speak- 
 ing through, communicating between different apart- 
 ments, by which the directions of the superintendant 
 are instantly conveyed to the remotest parts of an 
 establishment, produces a considerable economy of-fi 
 time. It is employed in the shops and manufactories 
 in London, and might with advantage be used in 
 domestic establishments, particularly in large houses, 
 in conveying orders from the nursery to the kitchen, 
 or from the house to the stable. Its convenience 
 arises not merely from saving the servant or work- 
 man useless journeys to receive directions, but from 
 
10 ADVANTAGES 
 
 relieving the master himself from that indisposition 
 to give trouble, which frequently induces him to 
 forego a trifling want, when he knows that his atten- 
 dant must mount several flights of stairs to ascertain 
 his wishes, and, after descending, must mount again 
 to supply them. The distance to which such a mode 
 of communication can he extended, does not appear 
 to have been ascertained, and would be an interesting 
 subject for inquiry. Admitting it to be possible 
 between London and Liverpool, about seventeen 
 minutes would elapse before the words spoken at 
 one end would reach the other extremity of the pipe. 
 (8.) The art of using the diamond for cutting glass 
 has undergone, within a few years, a very important 
 improvement. A glazier's apprentice, when using a 
 diamond set in a conical ferrule, as was always the 
 practice about twenty years since, found great diffi- 
 culty in acquiring the art of using it with certainty ; 
 and, at the end of a seven years' apprenticeship, many 
 were found but indifferently skilled in its employ- 
 ment. This arose from the difficulty of finding the 
 precise angle at which the diamond cuts, and of 
 guiding it along the glass at the proper inclination 
 when that angle is found. Almost the whole of the 
 time consumed and of the glass destroyed in acquir- 
 ing the art of cutting glass, may now be saved by 
 the use of an improved tool. The gem is set in a 
 small piece of squared brass with its edge nearly 
 parallel to one side of the square. A person skilled 
 in its use now files away the brass on one side until, 
 by trial, he finds that the diamond will make a clean 
 cut, when guided by keeping this edge pressed against 
 a ruler. The diamond and its mounting are now 
 
OF MACHINERY. 11 
 
 attached to a stick like a pencil, by means of a swivel 
 allowing a small angular motion. Thus, even the be- 
 ginner at once applies the cutting edge at the proper 
 angle, by pressing the side of the brass against a ruler ; 
 and even though the part he holds in his hand should 
 deviate a little from the required angle, it communi- 
 cates no irregularity to the position of the diamond, 
 which rarely fails to do its office when thus employed. 
 
 The relative hardness of the diamond, in different 
 directions, is a singular fact. An experienced work- 
 man, on whose judgment I can rely, informed me that 
 he has seen a diamond ground with diamond powder 
 on a cast-iron mill for three hours without its being 
 at all worn, but that, on changing its direction with 
 respect to the grinding surface, the same edge was 
 ground away. 
 
 (9.) Employment of materials of little value. The 
 skins used by the goldbeater are produced from the 
 offal of animals. The hoofs of horses and cattle, and^\r 
 other homy refuse, are employed in the production 
 of the prussiate of potash, that beautiful, yellow, 
 crystallized salt, which is exhibited in the shops of 
 some of our chemists. The worn-out saucepans and 
 tin ware of our kitchens, when beyond the reach of 
 the tinker's art, are not utterly worthless. We 
 sometimes meet carts loaded with old tin kettles and 
 worn-out iron coal-skuttles traversing our streets. 
 These have not yet completed their useful course ; 
 the less corroded parts are cut into strips, punched 
 with small holes, and varnished with a coarse black 
 varnish for the use of the trunk-maker, who protects 
 the edges and angles of his boxes with them ; the re- 
 mainder are conveyed to the manufacturing chemists 
 
12 ADVANTAGES 
 
 in the outskirts of the town, who employ them in 
 combination with pyroligneous acid, in making a 
 black die for the use of calico printers. 
 " (10.) Of Tools. The difference between a Tool and 
 a Machine is not capable of very precise distinction ; 
 nor is it necessary, in a popular explanation of those 
 terms, to limit very strictly their acceptation. A tool 
 is usually more simple than a machine ; it is generally 
 used with the hand, whilst a machine is frequently 
 moved by animal or steam power. The simpler ma- 
 chines are often merely one or more tools placed in a 
 ^frame, and acted on by a moving power. In point- 
 ing out the advantages of tools f we shall commence 
 with some of the simplest. 
 
 (11.) To arrange twenty thousand needles thrown 
 promiscuously into a box, mixed and entangled in 
 every possible direction, in such a form that they 
 shall be all parallel to each other, would, at first 
 sight, appear a most tedious occupation ; in fact, if 
 each needle were to be separated individually, many 
 hours must be consumed in the process. Yet this is 
 an operation which must be performed many times in 
 the manufacture of needles ; and it is accomplished 
 in a few minutes by a very simple tool; nothing more 
 being requisite than a small flat tray of sheet iron, 
 slightly concave at the bottom. In this the needles 
 are placed, and shaken in a peculiar manner, by 
 throwing them up a very little, and giving at the 
 same time a slight longitudinal motion to the tray. 
 The shape of the needles assists their arrangement ; 
 for if two needles cross each other, (unless, which is 
 exceedingly improbable, they happen to be precisely 
 balanced,) they will, when they faD on the bottom of 
 
OF MACHINERY. 13 
 
 the tray, tend to place themselves side by side, and 
 the hollow form of the tray assists this disposition. 
 As they have no projection in any part to impede 
 this tendency, or to entangle each other, they are, by 
 continually shaking, arranged lengthwise, in three or 
 four minutes. The direction of the shake is now 
 changed, the needles are but little thrown up, but 
 the tray is shaken endways ; the result of which is, 
 that in a minute or two the needles which were pre- 
 viously arranged endways become heaped up in a 
 wall, with their ends against the extremity of the 
 tray. They are then removed, by hundreds at a 
 time, with a broad iron spatula, on which they are I 
 retained by the fore-finger of the left hand. As this,' 
 parallel arrangement of the needles must be repeated 
 many times, if a cheap and expeditious method had 
 not been devised, the expense of the manufacture 
 would have been considerably enhanced. 
 
 (12.) Another process in the art of making needles 
 furnishes an example of one of the simplest contri- 
 vances which can come under the denomination of a 
 tool. After the needles have been arranged in the 
 manner just described, it is necessary to separate 
 them into two parcels, in order that their points may 
 be all in one direction. This is usually done by 
 women and children. The needles are placed side- 
 ways in a heap, on a table, in front of each operator, 
 just as they are arranged by the process above de- 
 scribed. From five to ten are rolled towards this 
 person with the forefinger of the left hand ; this 
 separates them a very small space from each other, 
 and each in its turn is pushed lengthwise to the right 
 or to the left, according to the direction of the point. 
 
14 ADVANTAGES 
 
 This is the usual process, and in it every needle 
 passes individually under the linger of the operator. 
 A small alteration expedites the process considerably : 
 the child puts on the forefinger of its right hand a 
 small cloth cap or finger-stall, and rolling out of the 
 heap from six to twelve needles, he keeps them down 
 by the forefinger of the left hand, whilst he presses 
 the forefinger of the right hand gently against their 
 ends : those which have the points towards the right 
 hand stick into the finger-stall ; and the child, re- 
 moving the finger of the left hand, slightly raises the 
 needles sticking into the cloth, and then pushes them 
 towards the left side. Those needles which had their 
 eyes on the right hand do not stick into the finger 
 cover, and are pushed to the heap on the right side 
 before the repetition of this process. By means of 
 this simple contrivance each movement of the finger, 
 from one side to the other, carries five or six needles 
 to their proper heap ; whereas, in the former method, 
 frequently only one was moved, and rarely more 
 than two or three were transported at one movement 
 to their place. 
 
 (13.) Various operations occur in the arts in which 
 the assistance of an additional hand would be a great 
 convenience to the workman, and in these cases tools 
 or machines of the simplest structure come to our 
 aid : vices of different forms, in which the material to 
 be wrought is firmly grasped by screws, are of this 
 kind, and are used in almost every workshop ; but a 
 more striking example may be found in the trade of 
 the nail-maker. 
 
 Some kinds of nails, such as those used for defend- 
 ing the soles of coarse shoes, called hobnails, require 
 
OF MACHINERY. 15 
 
 a particular form of the head, which is made by the 
 stroke of a die. The workman holds one end of the 
 rod of iron out of which he forms the nails in his left 
 hand ; with his right hand he hammers the red hot 
 end of it into a point, and cutting the proper length 
 almost off, bends it nearly at a right angle. He puts 
 this into a hole in a small stake-iron immediately 
 under a hammer which is connected with a treadle, 
 and has a die sunk in its surface corresponding to the 
 intended form of the head ; and having given one 
 part of the form to the head with the small hammer 
 in his hand, he moves the treadle with his foot, dis- 
 engages the other hammer, and completes the figure 
 of the head ; the returning stroke produced by the 
 movement of the treadle striking the finished nail 
 out of the hole in which it was retained. Without 
 this substitution of his foot for another hand, the 
 workman would, probably, be obliged to heat the 
 nails twice over. 
 
 (14.) Another, though fortunately a less general 
 substitution of tools for human hands, is used to 
 assist the labour of those who are deprived by nature, 
 or by accident, of some of their limbs. Those who 
 have had an opportunity of examining the beautiful 
 contrivances for the manufacture of shoes by ma- 
 chinery, which we owe to the fertile invention of Mr. 
 Brunei, must have noticed many instances in which 
 the workmen were enabled to execute their task with 
 precision, although labouring under the disadvantages 
 of the loss of an arm or leg. A similar instance 
 occurs at Liverpool, in the Institution for the Blind, 
 where a machine is used by those afflicted with blind- 
 ness, for weaving sash-lines ; it is said to have been 
 
16 ADVANTAGES 
 
 the invention of a person suffering under that calamity. 
 Other examples might be mentioned of contrivances 
 for the use, the amusement, or the instruction of the 
 wealthier classes, who labour under the same natural 
 disadvantages. These triumphs of skill and ingenuity 
 . deserve a double portion of our admiration when 
 applied to mitigate the severity of natural or acci- 
 dental misfortune ; when they supply the rich with 
 occupation and knowledge ; when they relieve the 
 poor from the additional evils of poverty and want. 
 
 (15.) Division of the objects of machinery. There 
 exists a natural, although, in point of number, a very 
 unequal division amongst machines : they may be 
 classed as ; 1st. Those which are employed to produce 
 power ; and as, 2dly. Those which are intended merely 
 to transmit force and execute work. The first of these 
 divisions is of great importance, and is very limited 
 in the variety of its species, although some of those 
 species consist of numerous individuals. 
 
 Of that class of mechanical agents by which motion 
 is transmitted, the lever, the pulley, the wedge, and 
 many others, it has been demonstrated, that no 
 power is gained by their use, however combined. 
 Whatever force is applied at one point can only be 
 exerted at some other , diminished by friction and other 
 incidental causes ; and it has been further proved, that 
 whatever is gained in the rapidity of execution is com- 
 pensated by the necessity of exerting additional force. 
 These two principles, long since placed beyond the 
 reach of doubt, cannot be too constantly borne in 
 mind. But in limiting our attempts to things which 
 are possible, we are still, as we hope to shew, pos- 
 sessed of a field of inexhaustible research, and of 
 
OF MACHINERY. 17 
 
 advantages derived from mechanical skill, which have 
 but just begun to exercise their influence on our arts, 
 and may be pursued without limit, contributing to 
 the improvement, the wealth, and the happiness of 
 our race. 
 
 (16.) Of those machines by which we produce 
 power, it may be observed, that although they are to 
 us immense acquisitions, yet in regard to two of 
 the sources of this power, the force of wind and of 
 water, we merely make use of bodies in a state of 
 motion by nature ; we change the directions of their 
 movement in order to render them subservient to 
 our purposes, but we neither add to nor diminish 
 the quantity of motion in existence. When we ex- 
 pose the sails of a windmill obliquely to the gale, 
 we check the velocity of a small portion of the at- 
 mosphere, and convert its own rectilinear motion 
 into one of rotation in the sails ; we thus change the 
 direction of force, but we create no power. The 
 same may be observed with regard to the sails of a 
 vessel ; the quantity of motion given by them is pre- 
 cisely the same as that which is destroyed in the 
 atmosphere. If we avail ourselves of a descending 
 stream to turn a water-wheel, we are appropriating a 
 power which nature may appear, at first sight, to be 
 uselessly and irrecoverably wasting, but which, upon 
 due examination, we shall find she is ever regaining 
 by other processes. The fluid which is falling from 
 a higher to a lower level, carries with it the velocity 
 due to its revolution with the earth at a greater dis- 
 tance from its centre. It will therefore accelerate, 
 although to an almost infinitesimal extent, the earth's 
 daily rotation. The sum of all these increments of 
 c 
 
18 ADVANTAGES 
 
 velocity, arising from the descent of all the falling 
 waters on the earth's surface, would in time become 
 perceptible, did not nature, by the process of evapo- 
 ration, convey the waters back to their sources ; and 
 thus again, by removing matter to a greater distance 
 from the centre, destroy the velocity generated by 
 its previous approach. 
 
 (17.) The force of vapour is another fertile source 
 of moving power ; but even in this case it cannot be 
 maintained that power is created. Water is con- 
 verted into elastic vapour by the combustion of fuel. 
 The chemical changes which thus take place are con- 
 stantly increasing the atmosphere by large quantities of 
 carbonic acid and other gases noxious to animal life. 
 The means by which nature decomposes these ele- 
 ments, or reconverts them into a solid form, are not 
 sufficiently known : but if the end could be accom- 
 plished by mechanical force, it is almost certain that 
 the power necessary to produce it would at least 
 equal that which was generated by the original com- 
 bustion. Man, therefore, does not create power; but, 
 availing himself of his knowledge of nature's myste- 
 ries, he applies his talents to diverting a small and 
 limited portion of her energies to his own wants : 
 and, whether he employs the regulated action of 
 steam, or the more rapid and tremendous effects of 
 gunpowder, he is only producing on a small scale 
 compositions and decompositions which nature is in- 
 cessantly at work in reversing, for the restoration of 
 that equilibrium which we cannot doubt is constantly 
 maintained throughout even the remotest limits of 
 our system. The operations of man participate in 
 the character of their author ; they are diminutive, bin 
 
OF MACHINERY. 19 
 
 energetic during the short period of their existence : 
 whilst those of nature, acting over vast spaces, and 
 unlimited by time, are ever pursuing their silent and 
 resistless career. 
 
 (18.) In stating the broad principle, that all 
 combinations of mechanical art can only augment the 
 force communicated to the machine at the expense of 
 the time employed in producing the effect, it might, 
 perhaps, be imagined, that the assistance derived from 
 such contrivances is small. This is, however, by no 
 means the case : since the almost unlimited variety 
 they afford, enables us to exert to the greatest advan- 
 tage whatever force we employ. There is, it is true, 
 a limit beyond which it is impossible to reduce the 
 power necessary to produce any given effect, but it 
 very seldom happens that the methods first employed 
 at all approach that limit. In dividing the knotted root 
 of a tree for fuel, how very different will be the time 
 consumed, according to the nature of the tool made 
 use of! The hatchet, or the adze, will divide it into 
 small parts, but will consume a large portion of the 
 workman's time. The saw will answer the same 
 purpose more quickly and more effectually. This, 
 in its turn, is superseded by the wedge, which rends 
 it in a still shorter time. If the circumstances are 
 favourable, and the workman skilful, the time and 
 expense may be still further reduced by the use of a 
 small quantity of gunpowder exploded in holes judi- 
 ciously placed in the block. 
 
 (19.) When a mass of matter is to be removed 
 a certain force must be expended ; and upon the 
 proper economy of this force the price of transport 
 will depend. A country must, however, have reached 
 
20 ADVANTAGES OF MACHINERY. 
 
 a high degree of civilization before it will have 
 approached the limit of this economy. The cotton of 
 Java is conveyed in junks to the coast of China; 
 but from the seed not being previously separated, 
 three quarters of the weight thus carried is not 
 cotton. This might, perhaps, be justified in Java by 
 the want of machinery to separate the seed, or by the 
 relative cost of the operation in the two countries. 
 But the cotton itself, as packed by the Chinese, oc- 
 cupies three times the bulk of an equal quantity ship- 
 ped by Europeans for their own markets. Thus 
 the freight of a given quantity of cotton costs the 
 Chinese nearly twelve times the price to which, by 
 a proper attention to mechanical methods, it might 
 be reduced.* 
 
 Craufurd's Indian A 
 
ACCUMULATING POWER. 21 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 ACCUMULATING POWER. 
 
 (20.) WHENEVER the work to be done requires 
 more force for its execution than can be generated in 
 the time necessary for its completion, recourse must 
 be had to some mechanical method of preserving and 
 condensing a part of the power exerted previously to 
 the commencement of the process. This is most 
 frequently accomplished by a fly-wheel, which is in 
 fact nothing more than a wheel having a very heavy 
 rim, so that the greater part of its weight is near the 
 circumference. It requires great power applied for 
 some time to put this into rapid motion ; but when 
 moving with considerable velocity, the effects are ex- 
 ceedingly powerful, if its force be concentrated upon a 
 small object. In some of the iron works where the 
 power of the steam-engine is a little too small for the 
 rollers which it drives, it is usual to set the engine at 
 work a short time before the red-hot iron is ready 
 to be removed from the furnace to the rollers, and to 
 allow it to work with great rapidity until the fly has 
 acquired a velocity rather alarming to those unused 
 to such establishments. On passing the softened 
 mass of iron through the first groove, the engine 
 receives a great and very perceptible check ; and its 
 speed is diminished at the next and at each succeed- 
 ing passage, until the iron bar is reduced to such a 
 size that the ordinary power of the engine is suf- 
 ficient to roll it. 
 
22 ACCUMULATING POWER. 
 
 (21.) The powerful effect of a large fly-wheel when 
 its force can be concentrated on a point, was curiously 
 illustrated at one of the largest of our manufactories. 
 The proprietor was shewing to a friend the method 
 of punching holes in iron plates for the boilers of 
 steam-engines. He held in his hand a piece of 
 sheet-iron three-eighths of an inch thick, which he 
 placed under the punch. Observing, after several 
 holes had been made, that the punch made its 
 perforations more and more slowly, he called to the 
 engine-man to know what made the engine work so 
 sluggishly, when it was found that the fly-wheel and 
 punching apparatus had been detached from the 
 steam-engine just at the commencement of his ex- 
 periment. 
 
 (22.) Another mode of accumulating power arises 
 from lifting a weight and then allowing it to fall. A 
 man, even with a heavy hammer, might strike repeated 
 blows upon the head of a pile without producing any 
 effect. But if he raises a much heavier hammer to a 
 much greater height, its fall, though far less frequently 
 repeated, will produce the desired effect. 
 
 When a small blow is given to a large mass of 
 matter, as to a pile, the imperfect elasticity of the 
 material causes a small loss of momentum in the 
 transmission of the motion from each particle to the 
 succeeding one ; and, therefore, it may happen that 
 the whole force communicated shall be destroyed 
 before it reaches the opposite extremity. 
 
 (23.) The power accumulated within a small space 
 by gunpowder is well known ; and, though not strictly 
 an illustration of the subject discussed in this chapter, 
 some of its effects, under peculiar circumstances, are 
 
ACCUMULATING POWER. 23 
 
 so singular, that an attempt to explain them may 
 perhaps be excused. If a gun is loaded with ball 
 it will not kick so much as when loaded with small 
 shot; and amongst different kinds of shot, that 
 which is the smallest, causes the greatest recoil against 
 the shoulder. A gun loaded with a quantity of sand, 
 equal in weight to a charge of snipe-shot, kicks still 
 more. If, in loading, a space is left between the 
 wadding and the charge, the gun either recoils vio- 
 lently, or bursts. If the muzzle of a gun has acci- 
 dentally been stuck into the ground, so as to be 
 stopped up with clay, or even with snow, or if it 
 be fired with its muzzle plunged into water, the almost 
 certain result is that it bursts. 
 
 The ultimate cause of these apparently inconsistent 
 effects is, that every force requires Time to produce 
 its effect ; and if the time requisite for the elastic 
 vapour within to force out the sides of the barrel, is 
 less than that in which the condensation of the air 
 near the wadding is conveyed in sufficient force to 
 drive the impediment from the muzzle, then the barrel 
 must burst. It sometimes happens that these two 
 forces are so nearly balanced that the barrel only 
 swells; the obstacle giving way before the gun is 
 actually burst. 
 
 The correctness of this explanation will appear by 
 tracing step by step the circumstances which arise 
 on discharging a gun loaded with powder confined 
 by a cylindrical piece of wadding, and having its 
 muzzle filled with clay, or some other substance 
 having a moderate degree of resistance. In this 
 case the first effect of the explosion is to produce an 
 enormous Dressure on every thing confining it, and 
 
24 ACCUMULATING POWER. 
 
 to advance the wadding through a very small space. 
 Here let us consider it as at rest for a moment, and 
 examine its condition. The portion of air in im- 
 mediate contact with the wadding is condensed ; 
 and if the wadding were to remain at rest, the air 
 throughout the tube would soon acquire a uniform 
 density. But this would require a small interval of 
 time; for the condensation next the wadding would 
 travel with the velocity of sound to the other end, 
 from whence, being reflected back, a series of waves 
 would be generated, which, aided by the friction of 
 the tube, would ultimately destroy the motion. 
 
 But until the first wave reaches the impediment at 
 the muzzle, the air can exert no pressure against it. 
 Now if the velocity communicated to the wadding is 
 very much greater than that of sound, the condensa- 
 tion oi the air immediately in advance of it may be very 
 great before the resistance transmitted to the muzzle 
 is at all considerable ; in which case the mutual re- 
 pulsion of the particles of air so compressed, will offer 
 an absolute barrier to the advance of the wadding.* 
 
 If this explanation be correct, the additional recoil, 
 when a gun is loaded with small shot or sand, 
 may arise in some measure from the condensation 
 of the air contained between their particles ; but 
 chiefly from the velocity communicated by the ex- 
 plosion to those particles of the substances in imme- 
 diate contact with the powder being greater than 
 that with which a wave can be transmitted through 
 them. It also affords a reason for the success of 
 a method of blasting rocks by filling the upper part 
 of the hole above the powder with sand, instead of 
 * See Poisson's remarks, Ecole Polytec. Cahier xxi. p. 191. 
 
THE 
 
 //TT ATT - 
 ACCUMULATING 
 
 clay rammed hard. That the destruction of 
 gun barrel does not arise from the property .possessed 
 by fluids, and in some measure also by sand and 
 small shot, of pressing equally in all directions, and 
 thus exerting a force against a ]arge portion of the 
 interior surface, seems to be proved by a circum- 
 stance mentioned by Le Vaillant and other travel- 
 lers, that, for the purpose of taking birds without 
 injuring their plumage, they filled the barrel of their 
 fowling pieces with water, instead of loading them 
 with a charge of shot. 
 
 (24.) The same reasoning explains a curious 
 phenomenon which occurs in firing a still more 
 powerfully explosive substance. If we put a small 
 quantity of fulminating silver upon the face of an 
 anvil, and strike it slightly with a hamme** it ex- 
 plodes ; but instead of breaking either the hammer or 
 the anvil, it is found that that part of the face of each 
 in contact with the fulminating silver is damaged. 
 In this case the velocity communicated by the elastic 
 matter disengaged may be greater than the velocity 
 of a wave traversing steel ; so that the particles at 
 the surface are driven by the explosion so near to 
 those next adjacent, that when the compelling force 
 is removed, the repulsion of the particles within the 
 mass drives back those nearer to the surface, with 
 such force, that they pass beyond the limits of attrac- 
 tion, and are separated in the shape of powder. 
 
 (25.) The success of the experiment of firing^ 
 tallow candle through a deal board, would be ex- 
 plained in the same manner, by supposing the velo- 
 city of a wave propagated through deal to be greater 
 than that of a wave passing through tallow. 
 
20 ACCUMULATING POWER 
 
 (25.*) The boiler of a steam engine sometimes bursts 
 even during the escape of steam through the safety- 
 valve. If the water in the boiler is thrown upon any 
 part which happens to be red hot, the steam formed in 
 the immediate neighbourhood of that part expands with 
 greater velocity than that with which a wave can be 
 transmitted through the less heated steam; conse- 
 quently one particle is urged against the next, and an 
 almost invincible obstacle is formed, in the same man- 
 ner as described in the case of the discharge of a gun. 
 If the safety valve is closed, it may retain the pressure 
 thus created for a short time, and even when it is open 
 the escape may not be sufficiently rapid to remove all 
 impediment; there may therefore exist momentarily 
 within the boiler pressures of various force, varying 
 from that which can just lift the safety-valve up to 
 that which is sufficient, if exerted during an extremely 
 small space of time, to tear open the boiler itself. 
 
 (26.) This reasoning ought, however, to be ad- 
 mitted with caution ; and perhaps some inducement 
 to examine it carefully may be presented by tracing 
 it to extreme cases. It would seem, but this is not a 
 necessary consequence, that a gun might be made so 
 long, that it would burst although no obstacle filled 
 up its muzzle. It should also follow that if, after 
 the gun is charged, the air were extracted from the 
 barrel, though the muzzle be then left closed, the 
 gun ought not to burst. It would also seem to 
 follow from the principle of the explanation, that a 
 body might be projected in air, or other elastic re- 
 sisting medium, with such force that, after advancing 
 a very short space, it should return in the same direc- 
 tion in which it was projected. 
 
REGULATING POWER. 2? 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 REGULATING POWER. 
 
 (27.) UNIFORMITY and steadiness in the rate at 
 which machinery works, are essential both for its 
 effect and its duration. The first illustration which 
 presents itself is that beautiful contrivance, the 
 governor of the steam-engine ; which must imme- 
 diately occur to all who are familiar with that admi- 
 rable machine. Wherever the increased speed of the 
 engine would lead to injurious or dangerous con- 
 sequences, this is applied; and it is equally the 
 regulator of the water-wheel which drives a spinning- 
 jenny, or of the wind-mills which drain our fens. In 
 the dock-yard at Chatham, the descending motion 
 of a large platform, on which timber is raised, is 
 regulated by a governor ; but as the weight is very 
 considerable, the velocity of this governor is still 
 further checked by causing its motion to take place 
 in water. 
 
 (28.) Another very beautiful contrivance for regu- 
 lating the number of strokes made by a steam-engine, 
 is used in Cornwall: it is called the Cataract, and 
 depends on the time required to fill a vessel plunged 
 in water, the opening of the valve through which the 
 fluid is admitted being adjustable at the will of the 
 engine man. 
 
 (29.) The regularity of the supply of fuel to the 
 fire under the boilers of steam-engines is another mode 
 
28 REGULATING POWER. 
 
 of contributing to the uniformity of their rate, and 
 also economizes the consumption of coal. Several 
 patents have been taken out for methods of regu- 
 lating this supply : the general principle being to 
 make the engine supply the fire with small quantities 
 of fuel at regular intervals by means of a hopper, and 
 to make it diminish this supply when the engine 
 works too quickly. One of the incidental advantages 
 of this plan is, that by throwing on a very small 
 quantity of coal at a time, the smoke is almost en- 
 tirely consumed. The dampers of ashpits and chim- 
 neys are also, in some cases, connected with machines 
 in order to regulate their speed. 
 
 (30.) Another contrivance for regulating the effect 
 of machinery consists in a vane or fly, of little 
 weight, but presenting a large surface. This revolves 
 rapidly, and soon acquires a uniform rate, which it 
 cannot greatly exceed, because any addition to its 
 velocity produces a much greater addition to the 
 resistance it meets with from the air. The interval 
 between the strokes on the bell of a clock is regu- 
 lated in this way, and the fly is so contrived, that 
 the interval may be altered by presenting the arms 
 of it more or less obliquely to the direction in which 
 they move. This kind of fly, or vane, is generally 
 used in the smaller kinds of mechanism, and, unlike 
 the heavy fly, it is a destroyer instead of a preserver 
 of force. It is the regulator used in musical boxes, 
 and in almost all mechanical toys. 
 
 (31.) This action of a fly, or vane, suggests the 
 principle of an instrument for measuring the altitude 
 of mountains, which perhaps deserves a trial, since. 
 if it succeed only tolerably, it will form a much more 
 
REGULATING POWER. 29 
 
 portable instrument than the barometer. It is well 
 known that the barometer indicates the weight of a 
 column of the atmosphere above it, whose base is 
 equal to the bore of the tube. It is also known that 
 the density of the air adjacent to the instrument will 
 depend both on the weight of air above it, and on the 
 heat of the air at that place. If, therefore, we can mea- 
 sure the density of the air, and its temperature, the 
 height of a column of mercury which it would sup- 
 port in the barometer can be found by calculation. 
 Now the thermometer gives information respecting the 
 temperature of the air immediately ; and its density 
 might be ascertained by means of a watch and a small 
 instrument, in which the number of turns made by a 
 vane moved by a constant force, should be registered. 
 The less dense the air in which the vane revolves, 
 the greater will be the number of its revolutions in 
 a given time : and tables could be formed from expe- 
 riments in partially exhausted vessels, aided by 
 calculation, from which, if the temperature of the air, 
 and the number of revolutions of the vane are given, 
 the corresponding height of the barometer might be 
 found.* 
 
 * To persons who may be inclined to experiment upon 
 this or any other instrument, T would beg to suggest the 
 perusal of the section " On the Art of Observing," Obser- 
 vations on the Decline of Science in England y y. 170. Fellowes, 
 1828. 
 
30 INCREASE AND DIMINUTION 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 INCREASE AND DIMINUTION OF VELOCITY. 
 
 (32.) THE fatigue produced on the muscles of the 
 human frame does not altogether depend on the 
 actual force employed in each effort, but partly 
 on the frequency with which it is exerted. The 
 exertion necessary to accomplish every operation 
 consists of two parts : one of these is the expendi- 
 ture of force which is necessary to drive the tool 
 or instrument ; and the other is the effort required 
 for the motion of some limb of the animal producing 
 the action. In driving a nail into a piece of wood, 
 one of these is lifting the hammer, and propelling its 
 head against the nail ; the other is, raising the arm 
 itself, and moving it in order to use the hammer. 
 If the weight of the hammer is considerable, the 
 former part will cause the greatest portion of the 
 exertion. If the hammer is light, the exertion of 
 raising the arm will produce the greatest part of the 
 fatigue. It does therefore happen, that operations 
 requiring very trifling force, if frequently repeated, 
 will tire more effectually than more laborious work. 
 There is also a degree of rapidity beyond which the 
 action of the muscles cannot be pressed. 
 
 (33.) The most advantageous load for a porter 
 who carries wood up stairs on his shoulders, has been 
 investigated by M. Coulomb ; but he found from 
 
OF VELOCITY. 31 
 
 experiment that a man walking up stairs without any 
 load, and raising his burden by means of his own 
 weight in descending, could do as much work in one 
 day, as four men employed in the ordinary way with 
 the most favourable load. 
 
 - (34.) The proportion between the velocity with 
 which men or animals move, and the weights they 
 carry, is a matter of considerable importance, parti- 
 cularly in military affairs. It is also of great im- 
 portance for the economy of labour, to adjust the 
 weight of that part of the animal's body which is 
 moved, the weight of the tool it urges, and the fre- 
 quency of repetition of these efforts, so as to produce 
 the greatest effect. An instance of the saving of time 
 by making the same motion of the arm execute two 
 operations instead of one, occurs in the simple art of 
 making the tags of boot-laces : these tags are formed 
 out of very thin, tinned, sheet-iron, and were for- 
 merly cut out of long strips of that material into 
 pieces of such a breadth that when bent round they 
 just enclosed the lace. Two pieces of steel have 
 recently been fixed to the side of the shears, by which 
 each piece of tinned-iron as soon as it is cut is bent 
 into a semi-cylindrical form. The additional power 
 required for this operation is almost imperceptible ; 
 and it is executed by the same motion of the arm 
 which produces the cut. The work is usually per- 
 formed by women and children ; and with the im- 
 proved tool more than three times the quantity of 
 tags is produced 'in a given time.* 
 
 (35.) Whenever the work is itself light, it becomes 
 necessary, in order to economize time, to increase the 
 * See Transactions of the Society of Arts, 1826. 
 
32 INCREASE AND DIMINUTION 
 
 velocity. Twisting the fibres of wool by the fingers 
 would be a most tedious operation : in the common 
 spinning-wheel the velocity of the foot is moderate, 
 but by a very simple contrivance that of the thread 
 is most rapid. A piece of cat-gut passing round a 
 large wheel, and then round a small spindle, effects 
 this change. This contrivance is common to a mul- 
 titude of machines, some of them very simple. In 
 large shops for the retail of ribands, it is necessary at 
 short intervals to " take stock," that is, to measure 
 and re- wind every piece of riband, an operation which, 
 even with this mode of shortening it, is sufficiently 
 tiresome, but without it would be almost impossible 
 from its expense. The small balls of sewing-cotton, 
 so cheap and so beautifully wound, are formed by 
 a machine on the same principle, and but a few steps 
 more complicated. 
 
 (36.) In turning from the smaller instruments 
 in frequent use to the larger and more important 
 machines, the economy arising from the increase of 
 velocity becomes more striking. In converting cast 
 into wrought iron, a mass of metal, of about a hun- 
 dred weight, is heated almost to white heat, and 
 placed under a heavy hammer moved by water or 
 hteam power. This is raised by a projection on a 
 revolving axis ; and if the hammer derived its mo- 
 mentum only from the space through which it fell, 
 it would require a considerably greater time to give 
 a blow. But as it is important that the softened 
 mass of red-hot iron should receive as many blows 
 as possible before it cools, the form of the cam or 
 projection on the axis is such, that the hammer, in- 
 steaJ of being lifted to a small height, is thrown up 
 
OF VELOCITY. 33 
 
 with a jerk, and almost the instant after it stiikes 
 against a large beam, which acts as a powerful spring, 
 and drives it down on the iron with such velocity 
 that by these means about double the number of 
 strokes can be made in a given time. In the smaller 
 tilt-hammers, this is carried still further : by striking 
 the tail of the tilt-hammer forcibly against a small 
 steel anvil, it rebounds with such velocity, that from 
 three to five hundred strokes are made in a minute. 
 In the manufacture of anchors, an art in which a 
 similar contrivance is of still greater importance, it 
 has only been recently applied. 
 
 (37.) In the manufacture of scythes, the length of 
 the blade renders it necessary that the workman 
 should move readily, so as to bring every part of it 
 on the anvil in quick succession. This is effected by 
 placing him in a seat suspended by ropes from the 
 ceiling : so that he is enabled, with little bodily exer- 
 tion, to vary his distance, by pressing his feet against 
 the block which supports the anvil, or against the 
 floor. 
 
 (38.) An increase of velocity is sometimes neces- 
 sary to render operations possible : thus a person 
 may skate with great rapidity over ice which would 
 not support his weight if he moved over it more 
 slowly. This arises from the fact, that time is requi- 
 site for producing the fracture of the ice : as soon 
 as the weight of the skater begins to act on any point, 
 the jce, supported by the water, bends slowly under 
 him ; but if the skater's velocity is considerable, 
 he has passed off from the spot which was loaded 
 before the bending has reached the point which 
 would cause the ice to break. 
 
34 INCREASE AND DIMINUTION 
 
 (39.) An effect not very different from this might 
 take place if very great velocity were communi- 
 cated to boats. Let us suppose a flat-bottomed 
 boat, whose bow forms an inclined plane with the 
 bottom, at rest in still-water. If we imagine some 
 very great force suddenly to propel this boat, the 
 inclination of the plane at the fore-part would 
 cause it to rise in the water ; and if the force were 
 excessive, it might even rise out of the water, and 
 advance, by a series of leaps, like a piece of slate 
 or an oyster shell, thrown as a " duck and drake " 
 
 If the force were not sufficient to pull the boat out 
 of the water, but were just enough to bring its bot- 
 tom to the surface, it would be carried along with a 
 kind of gliding motion with great rapidity ; for at 
 every point of its course it would require a certain 
 time before it could sink to its usual draft of water ; 
 but before that time had elapsed, it would have 
 advanced to another point, and consequently have 
 been raised by the reaction of the water on the 
 inclined plane at its fore-part. 
 
 (40.) The same fact, that bodies moving with 
 great velocity have not time to exert the full effect 
 of their weight, seems to explain a circumstance 
 which appears to be very unaccountable. It some- 
 times happens that when foot-passengers are knocked 
 down by carriages, the wheels pass over them with 
 scarcely any injury, though, if the weight of the 
 carriage had rested on their body, even for a^few 
 seconds, it would have crushed them to death. If 
 the view above taken is correct, the injury in such 
 circumstances will chiefly happen to that part of 
 the body which is struck by the advancing wheel. 
 
OF VELOCITY. 35 
 
 (41.) An operation in which rapidity is of essen- 
 tial importance is in bringing the produce of mines 
 up to the surface. The shafts through which the 
 produce is raised are sunk at a very great expense, 
 and it is, of course, desirable to sink as few of them 
 as possible. The matter to be extracted is therefore 
 raised by steam-engines with considerable velocity ; 
 and without this many of our mines could not be 
 worked with profit. 
 
 (42.) The effect of great velocity in modifying the 
 form of a cohesive substance is beautifully shown in 
 the process for making window-glass, termed "flash- 
 ing" which is one of the most striking operations in 
 our domestic arts. A workman having dipped his 
 iron tube into the glass pot, and loaded it with several 
 pounds of the melted "metal" blows out a large 
 globe, which is connected with his rod by a short 
 thick hollow neck. Another workman now fixes to 
 the globe immediately opposite to its neck, an iron 
 rod, the extremity of which has been dipped in the 
 melted glass ; and when this is firmly attached, a 
 few drops of water separate the neck of the globe 
 from the iron tube. The rod with the globe attached 
 to it is now held at the mouth of a glowing furnace : 
 and by turning the rod the globe is made to revolve 
 slowly, so as to be uniformly exposed to the heat : 
 the first effect of this softening is to make the glass 
 contract upon itself and to enlarge the opening of the 
 neck. As the softening proceeds, the globe is turned 
 more quickly on its axis, and when very soft and 
 almost incandescent, it is removed from the fire, and 
 the velocity of rotation being still continually in- 
 creased, the opening enlarges from the effect of the 
 
 D2 
 
36 INCREASE AND DIMINUTION 
 
 centrifugal force, at first gradually, until at last the 
 mouth suddenly expands or "flashes" out into one 
 large circular sheet of red-hot glass. The neck of 
 the original globe, which is to become the outer part 
 of the sheet, is left thick to admit of this expansion, 
 and forms the edge of the circular plate of glass, 
 which is called a " Table" The centre presents the 
 appearance of a thick boss or prominence, called the 
 "Bull's-eye" at the part by which it was attached to 
 the iron rod. 
 
 (43.) The most frequent reason for employing 
 contrivances for diminishing velocity, arises from the 
 necessity of overcoming great resistances with small 
 power. Systems of pulleys, the crane, and many 
 other illustrations, might also be adduced here as 
 examples ; but they belong more appropriately to 
 some of the other causes which we have assigned for 
 the advantages of machinery. The common smoke- 
 jack is an instrument in which the velocity commu- 
 nicated is too great for the purpose required, and it is 
 transmitted through wheels which reduce it to a more 
 moderate rate. 
 
 (44.) Telegraphs are machines for conveying 
 information over extensive lines with great rapidity. 
 They have generally been established for the purposes 
 of transmitting information during war, but the in- 
 creasing wants of man will probably soon render 
 them subservient to more peaceful objects. 
 
 A few years since the telegraph conveyed to 
 Paris information of the discovery of a comet, by M. 
 Gambart, at Marseilles : the message arrived during a 
 sitting of the French Board of Longitude, and was 
 sent in a note from the Minister of the Interior 
 
OF VELOCITY. ' 37 
 
 to iLaplace^ the President, who received it whilst 
 the writer of these lines was sitting by his side. The 
 object in this instance was, to give the earliest pub- 
 licity to the fact, and to assure to M. Gambart the 
 title of its first discoverer. 
 
 At Liverpool a system of signals is established 
 for the purposes of commerce, so that each merchant 
 can communicate with his own vessel long before she 
 arrives in the port. 
 
38 EXTENDING THE TIME 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 EXTENDING THE TIME OF ACTION OF FORCES. 
 
 (45.) THIS is one of the most common and most 
 useful of the employments of machinery. The half 
 minute which we daily devote to the winding-up of 
 our watches is an exertion of labour almost insen- 
 sible ; yet, by the aid of a few wheels, its effect is 
 spread over the whole twenty-four hours. In our 
 clocks, this extension of the time of action of the 
 original force impressed is carried still further; the 
 better kind usually require winding up once in eight 
 days, and some are occasionally made to continue in 
 action during a month, or even a year. Another 
 familiar illustration may be noticed in our domestic 
 furniture : the common jack by which our meat is 
 roasted, is a contrivance to enable the cook in a few 
 minutes to exert a force which the machine retails 
 out during the succeeding hour in turning the loaded 
 spit ; thus enabling her to bestow her undivided 
 attention on the other important duties of her voca- 
 tion. A great number of automatons and mechanical 
 toys moved by springs, may be classed under this 
 division. 
 
 (46.) A small moving power, in the shape of a 
 jack or a spring with a train of wheels, is often of great 
 convenience to the experimental philosopher, and has 
 been used with advantage in magnetic and electric 
 
OF ACTION OF FORCES. 39 
 
 experiments where the rotation of a disk of metal or 
 other body is necessary, thus allowing to the inquirer 
 the unimpeded use of both his hands. A vane con- 
 nected by a train of wheels, and set in motion by a 
 heavy weight, has also, on some occasions, been em- 
 ployed in chemical processes, to keep a solution in a 
 state of agitation. Another object to which a similar 
 apparatus may be applied, is the polishing of small 
 specimens of minerals for optical experiments. 
 
40 SAVING TIME IN 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 SAVING TIME IN NATURAL OPERATIONS. 
 
 (47.) THE process of tanning will furnish us with 
 a striking illustration of the power of machinery in 
 accelerating certain processes in which natural opera- 
 tions have a principal effect. The object of this art 
 is to combine a certain principle called tanning with 
 every particle of the skin to be tanned. This, in the 
 ordinary process, is accomplished by allowing the 
 skins to soak in pits containing a solution of tanning 
 matter : they remain in the pits six, twelve, or eighteen 
 months ; and in some instances, (if the hides are very 
 thick,) they are exposed to the operation for two 
 years, or even during a longer period. This length 
 of time is apparently required in order to allow the 
 tanning matter to penetrate into the interior of a 
 thick hide. The improved process consists in 
 placing the hides with the solution of tan in close 
 vessels, and then exhausting the air. The effect is 
 to withdraw any air which may be contained in the 
 pores of the hides, and to aid capillary attraction by 
 the pressure of the atmosphere in forcing the tan into 
 the interior of the skins. The effect of the additional 
 force thus brought into action can be equal only to 
 one atmosphere, but a further improvement has been 
 made : the vessel containing the hides is, after ex- 
 haustion, filled up with a solution of tan ; a small 
 additional quantity is then injected with a forcing- 
 
NATURAL OPERATIONS. 41 
 
 pump. By these means any degree of pressure may 
 be given which the containing vessel is capable of 
 supporting ; and it has been found that, by employ- 
 ing such a method, the thickest hides may be tanned 
 in six weeks or two months. 
 
 (48.) The same process of injection might be ap- 
 plied to impregnate timber with tar, or any other 
 substance capable of preserving it from decay ; and 
 if it were not too expensive, the deal floors of houses 
 might thus be impregnated with alumine or other 
 substances, which would render them much less 
 liable to be accidentally set on fire. In some cases 
 it might be useful to impregnate woods with resins, 
 varnish, or oil ; and wood saturated with oil might, in 
 some instances, be usefully employed in machinery 
 for giving a constant, but very minute supply of that 
 fluid to iron or steel, against which it is worked, 
 Some idea of the quantity of matter which can be 
 injected into wood by great pressure, may be formed, 
 from considering the fact stated by Mr. Scoresby, re- 
 specting an accident which occurred to a boat of one of 
 our whaling-ships. The harpoon having been struck 
 into the fish, the whale in this instance, dived 
 directly down, and carried the boat along with him. 
 On returning to the surface the animal was killed, 
 but the boat, instead of rising, was found suspended 
 beneath the whale by the rope of the harpoon ; and 
 on drawing it up, every part of the wood was found 
 to be so completely saturated with water as to sink 
 immediately to the bottom. 
 
 (49.) The operation of bleaching linen in the open 
 air is one for which considerable time is necessary ; 
 and although it does not require much labour, yet, 
 from the risk of damage and of robbery from long 
 
42 SAVING TIME IN 
 
 exposure, a mode of shortening the process was 
 highly desirable. The method now practised, al- 
 though not mechanical, is such a remarkable instance 
 of the application of science to the practical purposes 
 of manufactures, that in mentioning the advantages 
 derived from shortening natural operations, it would 
 have been scarcely pardonable to have omitted all 
 allusion to the beautiful application of chlorine, in 
 combination with lime, to the art of bleaching. 
 
 (50.) Another instance more strictly mechanical 
 occurs in some countries where fuel is expensive, 
 and the heat of the sun is not sufficient to evaporate 
 the water from brine springs. The water is first 
 pumped up to a reservoir, and then allowed to fall 
 in small streams through faggots. Thus it becomes 
 divided ; and, presenting a large surface, evaporation 
 is facilitated, and the brine which is collected in the 
 vessels below the faggots is stronger than that which 
 was pumped up. After thus getting rid of a large 
 part of the water, the remaining portion is driven off 
 by boiling. The success of this process depends on 
 the condition of the atmosphere with respect to 
 moisture. If the air, at the time the brine falls 
 through the faggots, holds in solution as much 
 moisture as it can contain in an invisible state, no more 
 can be absorbed from the salt water, and the labour 
 expended in pumping is entirely wasted. The state 
 of the air, as to dryness, is therefore an important 
 consideration in fixing the time when this operation 
 is to be performed ; and an attentive examination of 
 its state, by means of the hygrometer, might be pro- 
 ductive of some economy of labour. 
 
 (51.) In some countries, where wood is scarce, the 
 evaporation of salt water is carried on by a large 
 
NATURAL OPERATIONS. 43 
 
 collection of ropes which are stretched perpendicularly. 
 In passing down the ropes, the water deposits the 
 sulphate of lime which it held in solution, and 
 gradually incrusts them, so that in the course of 
 twenty years, when they are nearly rotten, they are 
 still sustained by the surrounding incrustation, thus 
 presenting the appearance of a vast collection of 
 small columns. 
 
 (52.) Amongst natural operations perpetually al- 
 tering the surface of our globe, there are some which 
 it would be advantageous to accelerate. The wearing 
 down of the rocks which impede the rapids of na- 
 vigable rivers, is one of this class. A very beautiful 
 process for accomplishing this object has been em- 
 ployed in America. A boat is placed at the bottom 
 of the rapid, and kept in its position by a long rope 
 which is firmly fixed on the bank of the river near 
 the top. An axis, having a wheel similar to the paddle- 
 wheel of a steam-boat fixed at each end of it, is placed 
 across the boat ; so that the two wheels and their 
 connecting axis shall revolve rapidly, being driven 
 by the force of the passing current. Let us now 
 imagine several beams of wood shod with pointed 
 iron fixed at the ends of strong levers, projecting 
 beyond the bow of the boat, as in the annexed repre- 
 sentation. 
 
4:4 SAVING TIME IN 
 
 If these levers are at liberty to move up and down, 
 and if one or more projecting pieces, called cams, 
 are fixed on the axis opposite to the end of each 
 lever, the action of the stream upon the wheels will 
 keep up a perpetual succession of blows. The sharp- 
 pointed shoe striking upon the rock at the bottom, 
 will continually detach small pieces, which the stream 
 will immediately carry off. Thus, by the mere action 
 of the river itself, a constant and most effectual sys- 
 tem of pounding the rock at its bottom is established. 
 A single workman may, by the aid of a rudder, direct 
 the boat to any required part of the stream ; and when 
 it is necessary to move up the rapid, as the channel 
 is cut, he can easily cause the boat to advance by 
 means of a capstan. 
 
 (53.) When the object of the machinery just de- 
 scribed has been accomplished, and the channel is 
 sufficiently deep, a slight alteration converts the 
 apparatus to another purpose almost equally advan- 
 tageous. The stampers and the projecting pieces on 
 the axis are removed, and a barrel of wood or metal, 
 surrounding part of the axis, and capable, at pleasure, 
 of being connected with, or disconnected from the 
 axis itself, is substituted. The rope which hitherto 
 fastened the boat, is now fixed to this barrel ; and 
 if the barrel is loose upon the axis, the paddle- 
 wheel makes the axis only revolve, and the boat 
 remains in its place : but the moment the axis is 
 attached to its surrounding barrel, this begins to turn, 
 and winding up the rope, the boat is gradually 
 drawn up against the stream ; and may be employed 
 as a kind of tug-boat for vessels which have occasion 
 to ascend the rapid. When the tug-boat reaches the 
 
NATURAL OPERATIONS. 45 
 
 summit the barrel is released from the axis, and 
 friction being applied to moderate its velocity, the 
 boat is allowed to descend. 
 
 (54.) Clocks occupy a very high place amongst 
 instruments by means of which human time is econo- 
 mized : and their multiplication in conspicuous places 
 in large towns is attended with many advantages. 
 Their position, nevertheless, in London, is often very 
 ill chosen ; and the usual place, half-way up on a high 
 steeple, in the midst of narrow streets, in a crowded 
 city, is very unfavourable, unless the church happen 
 to stand out from the houses which form the street. 
 The most eligible situation for a clock is, that it 
 should project considerably into the street at some 
 elevation, with a dial-plate on each side, like that 
 which belonged to the old church of St. Dunstan, 
 in Fleet-street, so that passengers in both directions 
 would have then* attention directed to the hour. 
 
 (55.) A similar remark applies, with much greater 
 force, to the present defective mode of informing 
 the public of the position of the receiving houses 
 for the twopenny and general post. In the lowest 
 corner of the window of some attractive shop is found 
 a small slit, with a brass plate indicating its impor- 
 tant office so obscurely, that it seems to be an object 
 rather to prevent its being conspicuous. No striking 
 sign assists the anxious inquirer, who, as the mo- 
 ments rapidly pass which precede the hour of closing, 
 torments the passenger with his inquiries for the 
 nearest post-office. He reaches it, perhaps, just as it 
 is closed ; and must then either hasten to a distant 
 part of the town in order to procure the admission 
 of his letters, or give up the idea of forwarding 
 
46 SAVING TIME IN NATURAL OPERATIONS. 
 
 them by that post; and thus, if they are foreign 
 letters, he may lose, perhaps, a week or a fortnight 
 by waiting for the next packet. 
 
 The inconvenience in this and in some other cases, 
 is of perpetual and every-day occurrence ; and though, 
 in the greater part of the individual cases, it may 
 be of trifling moment, the sum of all these produces 
 an amount, which it is always worthy of the govern- 
 ment of a large and active population to attend 
 to. The remedy is simple and obvious : it would 
 only be necessary, at each letter-box, to have a light 
 frame of iron projecting from the house over the pave- 
 ment, and carrying the letters G. P., or T. P., or 
 any other distinctive sign. All private signs are at 
 present very properly prohibited from projecting 
 into the street: the passenger, therefore, would at 
 once know where to direct his attention, in order to 
 discover a post-office; and those letter-boxes which 
 occurred in the great thoroughfares could not fail to 
 be generally known. 
 
FORCES TOOgjiBAjP-frR T.QO. DELICATE. 47 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 EXERTING FORCES TOO GREAT FOR HUMAN POWER, 
 AND EXECUTING OPERATIONS TOO DELICATE FOR 
 HUMAN TOUCH. 
 
 (56.) IT requires some skill and a considerable 
 apparatus to enable many men to exert their whole 
 force at a given point ; and when this number amounts 
 to hundreds or to thousands, additional difficulties 
 present themselves. If ten thousand men were 
 hired to act simultaneously, it would be exceed- 
 ingly difficult to discover whether each exerted his 
 whole force, and consequently, to be assured that 
 each man did the duty for which he was paid. And 
 if still larger bodies of men or animals were neces- 
 sary, not only would the difficulty of directing. them 
 become greater, but the expense would increase from 
 the necessity of transporting food for their subsist- 
 ence. 
 
 The difficulty of enabling a large number of men 
 to exert their force at the same instant of time has 
 been almost obviated by the use of sound. The 
 whistle of the boatswain performs this service on 
 board ships ; and in removing, by manual force, 
 the vast mass of granite, weighing above 1400 tons, 
 on which the equestrian figure of Peter the Great is 
 placed at St. Petersburgh, a drummer was always 
 
4S FORCES TOO GREAT 
 
 stationed on its summit to give the signal for the 
 united efforts of the workmen. 
 
 An ancient Egyptian drawing was discovered a 
 few years since, by Champollion, in which a multi- 
 tude of men appeared harnessed to a huge block of 
 stone, on the top of which stood a single individual 
 with his hands raised above his head, apparently in 
 the act of clapping them, for the purpose of insuring 
 the exertion of their combined force at the same 
 moment of time. 
 
 (57.) In mines, it is sometimes necessary to raise 
 or lower great weights by capstans requiring the 
 force of more than one hundred men. These work 
 upon the surface ; but the directions must be com- 
 municated from below, perhaps from the depth of two 
 hundred fathoms. This communication, however, is 
 accomplished with ease and certainty by signals : the 
 usual apparatus is a kind of clapper placed on the 
 surface close to the capstan, so that every man may 
 hear, and put in motion from below by a rope passing 
 up the shaft. 
 
 At Wheal Friendship mine in Cornwall, a different 
 contrivance is employed : there is in that mine an 
 inclined plane, passing underground about two-thirds 
 of a mile in length. Signals are communicated by a 
 continuous rod of metal, which being struck below, 
 the blow is distinctly heard on the surface. 
 
 (58.) In all our larger manufactories numerous 
 instances occur of the application of the power of 
 steam to overcome resistances which it would require 
 far greater expense to surmount by means of animal 
 labour. The twisting of the largest cables, the roll- 
 ing, hammering, and cutting large masses of iron, 
 
OR TOO DELICATE. 49 
 
 the draining of our mines, all require enormous 
 exertions of physical force continued for consider- 
 able periods of time. Other means are had recourse 
 to when the force required is great, and the space 
 through which it is to act is small. The hydraulic 
 press of Bramah can, by the exertion of one man, 
 produce a pressure of 1,500 atmospheres; and with 
 such an instrument a hollow cylinder of wrought iron 
 three inches thick has been burst. In rivetting 
 together the iron plates, out of which steam-engine 
 boilers are made, it is necessary to produce as close a 
 joint as possible. This is accomplished by using the 
 rivets red-hot : while they are in that state the two 
 plates of iron are rivetted together, and the contrac- 
 tion which the rivet undergoes in cooling draws them 
 together with a force which is only limited by the te- 
 nacity of the metal of which the rivet itself is made. 
 
 (59.) It is not alone in the greater operations of 
 the engineer or the manufacturer, that those vast 
 powers which man has called into action, in availing 
 himself of the agency of steam, are fully developed. 
 Wherever the individual operation demanding little 
 force for its own performance is to be multiplied in 
 almost endless repetition, commensurate power is 
 required. It is the same " giant arm" which twists 
 " the largest cable," that spins from the cotton plant 
 an " almost gossamer thread." Obedient to the hand 
 which called into action its resistless powers, it 
 contends with the ocean and the storm, and rides 
 triumphant through dangers and difficulties unat- 
 tempted by the older modes of navigation. ^It is the 
 same engine that, in its more regulated action, w r eaves 
 the canvass it may one day supersede ; or, with 
 
 
 
50 I'ORCES TOO GREAT 
 
 almost fairy fingers, entwines the meshes of the most 
 delicate fabric that adorns the female form.* 
 
 (60.) The Fifth Report of the Select Committee of 
 the House of Commons on the Holyhead Roads fur- 
 nishes ample proof of the great superiority of steam 
 vessels. The following extracts are taken from the 
 evidence of Captain Rogers, the commander of one 
 of the packets : 
 
 " Quest. Are you not perfectly satisfied, from the ex- 
 " perience you have had, that the steam vessel you com- 
 " mand is capable of performing what no sailing vessel 
 " can do ? 
 
 "Am. Yes. 
 
 " Quest. During your passage from Gravesend to the 
 " Downs, could any square-rigged vessel, from a first-rate 
 " down to a sloop of war, have performed the voyage you 
 " did in the time you did it in the steam boat ? 
 
 " Am. No ; it was impossible. In the Downs we passed 
 " several Indiamen, and 150 sail there that could not move 
 "down the channel; and at the back of Dungeness we 
 "passed 120 more. 
 
 " Quest. At the time you performed that voyage, with 
 " the weather you have described, from the Downs to 
 " Milford, if that weather had continued twelve months, 
 " would any square-rigged vessel have performed it? 
 
 " Am. They would have been a long time about it ; pro- 
 " bably, would have been weeks instead of days. A sailing 
 " vessel would not have beat up to Milford, as we did, in 
 " twelve months." 
 
 * The importance and diversified applications of the steam- 
 engine were most ably enforced in the speeches made at a 
 public meeting, held (June 1824) for the purpose of proposing 
 the erection of a monument to the memory of James Watt ; 
 these were subsequently printed. 
 
t)R TOO DELICATE. 51 
 
 {61.) The process of printing on the silver paper, 
 which is necessary for bank-notes, is attended with 
 some inconvenience, from the necessity of damping 
 the paper previously to taking the impression. It 
 was difficult to do this uniformly ; and in the old pro- 
 cess of dipping a parcel of several sheets together into 
 a vessel of water, the outside sheets becoming much 
 more wet than the others, were very apt to be torn. 
 A method has been adopted at the Bank of Ireland 
 which obviates this inconvenience. The whole quan- 
 tity of paper to be damped is placed rn a close vessel 
 from which the air is exhausted; water is then 
 admitted, and every leaf is completely wetted ; the 
 paper is then removed to a press, and all the super- 
 fluous moisture is squeezed out, 
 
 (62.) The operation of pulverizing solid sub- 
 stances and of separating the powders of various 
 degrees of fineness, is common in the arts : and as 
 the best graduated sifting fails in effecting this separa- 
 tion with sufficient delicacy, recourse is had to sus- 
 pension in a fluid medium. The substance when 
 reduced by grinding to the finest powder is agitated 
 in water, which is then drawn off: the coarsest portion 
 of the suspended matter first subsides, and that 
 which requires the longest time to fall down is the 
 finest. In this manner even emery powder, a sub- 
 stance of great density, is separated into the various 
 degrees of fineness which are required. Flints, after 
 being burned and ground, are suspended in water, in 
 order to mix them intimately with clay, which is alse 
 suspended in the same fluid, for the formation of 
 porcelain. The water is then in part evaporated bj" 
 heat, and the plastic compound, out of which oui 
 
 E 2 
 
52 FORCES TOO GREAT 
 
 most beautiful porcelain is formed, remains. It is 
 a curious fact, and one which requires further exami- 
 nation than it has yet received, that, if this mixture 
 be suffered to remain long at rest before it is worked 
 up, it becomes useless ; for it is then found that the 
 silex, which at first was uniformly mixed, becomes 
 aggregated together in small lumps. This parallel 
 to the formation of flints in the chalk strata deserves 
 attention.* 
 
 (63.) The slowness with which powders subside, 
 depends partly on the specific gravity of the sub- 
 stance, and partly on the magnitude of the particles 
 themselves. Bodies, in falling through a resisting 
 medium, after a certain time acquire a uniform 
 velocity, which is called their terminal velocity, with 
 which they continue to descend : when the particles 
 are very small, and the medium dense, as water, this 
 terminal velocity is soon arrived at. Some of the 
 finer powders even of emery require several hours to 
 subside through a few feet of water, and the mud 
 pumped up into our cisterns by some of the water 
 companies is suspended during a still longer time. 
 These facts furnish us with some idea of the great 
 extent over which deposits of river mud may be 
 spread; for if the mud of any river whose waters 
 enter the Gulph stream, sink through one foot in 
 an hour, it might be carried by that stream 1500 
 miles before it had sunk to the depth of 600 or 
 700 feet. 
 
 * Some observations on this subject, by Dr. Fitton, occur 
 in the appendix to Captain King's Survey of the Coast of 
 Australia, vol. ii. p. 397. London, 1826. 
 
OR TOO DELICATE. 53 
 
 (64.) A number of small filaments of cotton pro- 
 ,ct from even the best spun thread, and when this 
 thread is woven into muslin they injure its appear- 
 ance. To cut these off separately is quite impos- 
 sible, but they are easily removed by passing the 
 muslin rapidly over a cylinder of iron kept at a dull 
 red heat : the time during which each portion of the 
 muslin is in contact with the red-hot iron is too short 
 to heat it to the burning point ; but the filaments 
 being much finer, and being pressed close to the 
 hot metal, are burnt. 
 
 The removal of these filaments from patent net is 
 still more necessary for its perfection. The net is 
 passed at a moderate velocity through a flame of gas 
 issuing from a very long and narrow slit. Imme- 
 diately above the flame a long funnel is fixed, which 
 is connected with a large air pump worked by a 
 steam engine. The flame is thus drawn forcibly 
 through the net, and all the filaments on both sides 
 of it are burned off at one operation. Previously to 
 this application of the air pump, the net acting in 
 the same way, although not to the same extent, as 
 the wire-gauze in Davy's safety lamp, cooled down 
 the flame so as to prevent the combustion of the 
 filaments on the upper side : the air pump by 
 quickening the current of ignited gas, removes this 
 nconvenience. 
 
54 REGISTERING OPERATIONS. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 REGISTERING OPERATIONS. 
 
 (65.) ONE great advantage which we may derive 
 / I from machinery is from the check which it affords 
 against the inattention, the idleness, or the dishonesty 
 of human agents. Few occupations are more weari- 
 some than counting a series of repetitions of the same 
 fact ; the number of paces we walk affords a tolerably 
 good measure of distance passed over, but the value 
 of this is much enhanced by possessing an instru- 
 ment, the pedometer, which will count for us the 
 ^joumber of steps we have made. I A piece of mecha- 
 nism of this kind is sometimes applied to count the 
 number of turns made by the wheel of a carriage, and 
 ^ thus to indicate the distance travelled : an instru- 
 ment, similar in its object, but differing in its con- 
 struction, has been used for counting the number of 
 strokes made by a steam-engine, and the number of 
 coins struck in a press. One of the simplest instru- 
 ments for counting any series of operations, was con- 
 trived by Mr. Donkin.* 
 
 (66.) Another instrument for registering is used in 
 some establishments for calendering and embossing. 
 Many hundred thousand yards of calicoes and 
 stuffs undergo these operations weekly ; and as the 
 price paid for the process is small, the value of the 
 
 * Transactions of the Society of Arts, 1819, p. 116. 
 
REGISTERING OPERATIONS. 55 
 
 time spent in measuring them would bear a con- 
 siderable proportion to the profit. A machine has, 
 therefore, been contrived for measuring and registering 
 the length of the goods as they pass rapidly through 
 the hands of the operator, by which all chance of 
 erroneous counting is avoided. 
 
 (67.) Perhaps the most useful contrivance of this j 
 kind, is one for ascertaining the vigilance of a watch- j 
 man. It is a piece of mechanism connected with a 
 clock placed in an apartment to which the watchman 
 has not access ; but he is ordered to pull a string 
 situated in a certain part of his round once in every 
 hour. The instrument, aptly called a tell-tale, informs 
 the owner whether the man has missed any, and what 
 hours during the night. 
 
 (68.) It is often of great importance, both for 
 regulations of excise as well as for the interest of 
 the proprietor, to know the quantity of spirits or of 
 other liquors which have been drawn off by those 
 persons who are allowed to have access to the vessels 
 during the absence of the inspectors or principals. 
 This may be accomplished by a peculiar kind of stop- 
 cock, which will, at each opening, discharge only a 
 certain measure of fluid, the number of times the ; 
 cock has been turned being registered by a counting 
 apparatus accessible only to the master. 
 
 (69.) The time and labour consumed in gauging 
 the contents of casks partly filled, has led to an im- 
 provement which, by the simplest means, obviates a 
 considerable inconvenience, and enables any person 
 to read off, on a scale, the number of gallons con- 
 tained in any vessel, as readily as he does the degree 
 of heat indicated by his thermometer. A small stop- 
 
56 REGISTERING OPERATIC 
 
 cock connects the bottom of the cask with a glass 
 tube of narrow bore fixed to a scale on the side of 
 the cask, and rising a little above its top. The plug 
 of the cock may be turned into three positions : in 
 the first, it cuts off all communication with the cask : 
 in the second, it opens a communication between the 
 cask and the glass tube : and, in the third, it cuts off 
 the connexion between the cask and the tube, and 
 opens a communication between the tube and any 
 vessel held beneath the cock to receive its contents. 
 The scale of the tube is graduated by pouring into 
 the cask successive quantities of water, while the 
 communication between the cask and the tube is 
 open. Lines are then drawn on the scale opposite 
 the places in the tube to which the water rises at 
 each addition, and the scale being thus formed by 
 actual measurement,* the contents of each cask are 
 known by inspection, and the tedious process of 
 gauging is altogether dispensed with. Other advan- 
 tages accrue from this simple contrivance, in the 
 great economy of time which it introduces in making 
 mixtures of different spirits, in taking stock, and in 
 receiving spirit from the distiller. 
 
 (70.) The gas-meter, by which the quantity of gas 
 used by each consumer is ascertained, is another 
 instrument of this kind. They are of various forms, 
 but all of them intended to register the number of 
 cubic feet of gas which has been delivered. It is very 
 desirable that these meters should be obtainable at 
 a moderate price, and that every consumer should 
 
 * This contrivance is due to Mr. JTeneky, of High Holborn, 
 in whose establishment it is in coi stant use. 
 
REGISTERING OPERATIONS. 57 
 
 employ them ; because, by making each purchaser 
 pay only for what ho consumes, and by preventing 
 that extravagant waste of gas which we frequently 
 observe, the manufacturer of gas will be enabled to 
 make an equal profit at a diminished price to the 
 consumer. 
 
 (71.) The sale of water by the different companies 
 in London, might also, with advantage, be regulated 
 by a meter. If such a system were adopted, much 
 water which is now allowed to run to waste would be 
 saved, and an unjust inequality between the rates 
 charged on different houses by the same company be 
 avoided. 
 
 (72.) Another most important object to which a 
 meter might be applied, would be to register the 
 quantity of water passing into the boilers of steam- 
 engines. Without this, our knowledge of the quantity 
 evaporated by different boilers, and with fire-places 
 of different constructions, as well as our estimation of 
 the duty of steam-engines, must evidently be imperfect. 
 
 (73.) Another purpose to which machinery for 
 registering operations is applied with much advantage 
 is the determination of the average effect of natural 
 or artificial agents. The mean height of the baro- 
 meter, for example, is ascertained by noting its height 
 at a certain number of intervals during the twenty- 
 four hours. The more these intervals are contracted, 
 the more correctly will the mean be ascertained ; but 
 the true mean ought to be influenced by each mo- 
 mentary change which has occurred. Clocks have 
 been proposed and made with this object, by which 
 a sheet of paper is moved, slowly and uniformly, 
 before a pencil fixed to a float iipon the surface of the 
 
58 REGISTERING OPERATIONS. 
 
 mercury in the cup of the barometer. Sir David 
 Brewster proposed, several years ago, to suspend a 
 barometer, and swing it as a pendulum. The variations 
 in the atmosphere would thus alter the centre of 
 oscillation, and the comparison of such an instrument 
 with a good clock, would enable us to ascertain the 
 mean altitude of the barometer during any interval of 
 the observer's absence.* 
 
 An instrument for measuring and registering the 
 quantity of rain, was invented by Mr. John Taylor, 
 and described by him in the Philosophical Magazine. 
 It consists of an apparatus in which a vessel that 
 receives the rain falling into the reservoir tilts over 
 as soon as it is full, and then presents another similar 
 vessel to be filled, which in like manner, when full, 
 tilts the former one back again. The number of times 
 these vessels are emptied is registered by a train of 
 wheels ; and thus, without the presence of the ob- 
 server, the quantity of rain falling during a whole 
 year may be measured and recorded. 
 
 Instruments might also be contrived to determine 
 the average force of traction of horses, of the wind, 
 of a stream, or of any irregular and fluctuating 
 effort of animal or other natural force. 
 
 (74.) Clocks and watches may be considered as 
 instruments for registering the number of vibrations 
 performed by a pendulum or a balance. The mechanism 
 by which these numbers are counted is technically 
 
 * About seven or eight years since, without being aware of 
 Sir David Brewster's proposal, I adapted a barometer, as a 
 pendulum, to the works of a common eight- day clock; it re- 
 mained in my library for several months, but I have mislaid the 
 observations which were made. 
 
REGISTERING OPERATIONS. 59 
 
 called a scapement. It is not easy to describe : but 
 the various contrivances which have been adopted for 
 this purpose, are amongst the most interesting and 
 most ingenious to which mechanical science has given 
 birth. Working models, on an enlarged scale, are 
 almost necessary to make their action understood by 
 the unlearned reader; and, unfortunately, these are 
 not often to be met with. A very fine collection of 
 such models exists amongst the collection of instru- 
 ments at the University of Prague. 
 
 Instruments of this kind have been made to extend 
 their action over considerable periods of time, and to 
 register not merely the hour of the day, but the days 
 of the week, of the month, of the year, and also to 
 indicate the occurrence of several astronomical pheno- 
 mena. 
 
 Repeating clocks and watches may be considered 
 as instruments for registering time, which communi- 
 cate their information only when the owner requires 
 it, by pulling a string, or by some similar applica- 
 tion. 
 
 An apparatus has recently been applied to watches, 
 by which the hand which indicates seconds leaves a 
 small dot of ink on the dial-plate whenever a certain 
 stop or detent is pushed in. Thus, whilst the eye is 
 attentively fixed on the phenomenon to be observed, 
 the finger registers on the face of the watch-dial the 
 commencement and the end of its appearance. 
 
 (75.) Several instruments have been contrived for 
 awakening the attention of the observer at times 
 previously fixed upon. The various kinds of alarums 
 connected with clocks and watches are of this kind. 
 In some instances it is desirable to be able to set 
 
60 REGISTERING OPERATIONS. 
 
 them so as to give notice at many successive and 
 distant points of time, such as those of the arrival of 
 given stars on the meridian. A clock of this kind is 
 used at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, 
 
 (76.) An earthquake is a phenomenon of such 
 frequent occurrence, and so interesting, both from its 
 fearful devastations as well as from its connexion with 
 geological theories, that it becomes important to 
 possess an instrument which shall, if possible, indicate 
 the direction of the shock, as well as its intensity. 
 An observation made a few years since at Odessa, 
 after an earthquake which happened during the night, 
 suggests a simple instrument by which the direction 
 of the shock may be determined. 
 
 A glass vase, partly filled with water, stood on the 
 table of a room in a house at Odessa; and, from the cold- 
 ness of the glass, the inner part of the vessel above the 
 water was coated with dew. Several very perceptible 
 shocks of an earthquake happened between three and 
 four o'clock in the morning ; and when the observer 
 got up, he remarked that the dew was brushed off at 
 two opposite sides of the glass by a wave which the 
 earthquake had caused in the water. The line joining 
 the two highest points of this wave was, of course, that 
 in which the shock travelled. This circumstance, which 
 was accidentally "noticed by an engineer at Odessa,* 
 suggests 'the plan of keeping, in countries subject to 
 earthquakes, glass vessels partly filled with treacle, 
 or some unctuous fluid, so that when any lateral 
 motion is communicated to them from the earth, the 
 
 * Memoires de 1' Academic des Sciences de Petersburgh, ' 
 <T serie, torn. i. p. 4. 
 
REGISTERING OPERATIONS. 61 
 
 adhesion of the liquid to the glass shall enable the 
 observer, after some interval of time, to determine 
 the direction of the shock. 
 
 In order to obtain some measure of the vertical 
 oscillation of the earth, a weight might be attached 
 to a spiral spring, or a pendulum might be sustained 
 in a horizontal position, and a sliding index be 
 moved by either of them, so that the extreme devia- 
 tions should be indicated by it. This, however, 
 would not give even the comparative measure accu- 
 rately, because a difference in the velocity of the 
 rising or falling of the earth's surface would affect the 
 instrument. 
 
t52 ECONOMY OF MATERIALS. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 ECONOMY OF THE MATERIALS EMPLOYED. 
 
 (77.) THE precision with which all operations by 
 machinery are executed, and the exact similarity of 
 the articles thus made, produce a degree of economy 
 in the consumption of the raw material which is, in 
 some cases, of great importance. The earliest mode 
 of cutting the trunk of a tree into planks, was by 
 the use of the hatchet or the adze. It might, per- 
 haps, be first split into three or four portions, and 
 then each portion was reduced to a uniform surface 
 by those instruments. With such means the quan- 
 tity of plank produced would probably not equal the 
 quantity of the raw material wasted by the process : 
 and, if the planks were thin, would certainly fall 
 far short of it. An improved tool, completely re- 
 verses the case : in converting a tree into thick 
 planks, the saw causes a waste of a very small frac- 
 tional part; and even in reducing it to planks of 
 only an inch in thickness, does not waste more 
 than an eighth part of the raw material. When the 
 thickness of the plank is still further reduced, as is 
 the case in cutting wood for veneering, the quantity 
 of material destroyed again begins to bear a consider- 
 able proportion to that which is used ; and hence 
 circular saws, having a very thin blade, have been 
 employed for such purposes. In order to economize 
 
ECONOMY OF MATERIALS. 63 
 
 still further the more valuable woods, Mr. Brunei 
 contrived a machine which, by a system of blades, cut 
 off the veneer in a continuous shaving, thus render- 
 ing the whole of the piece of timber available. 
 
 (78.) The rapid improvements which have taken 
 place in the printing-press during the last twenty 
 years, afford another instance of saving in the mate- 
 rials consumed, which has been well ascertained by 
 measurement, and is interesting from its connexion 
 with literature. In the old method ?f inking type, 
 by large hemispherical balls stuffed and covered with 
 leather, the printer, after taking a small portion of ink 
 from the ink-block, was continually rolling the balls 
 in various directions against each other, in order that 
 a thin layer of ink might be uniformly spread over 
 their surface. This he again transferred to the type 
 by a kind of rolling action. In such a process, even 
 admitting considerable skill in the operator, it could 
 not fail to happen that a large quantity of ink should 
 get near the edges of the balls, which, not being 
 transferred to the type, became hard and useless, and 
 : was taken off in the form of a thick black crust. 
 Another inconvenience also arose, the quantity of 
 ink spread on the block not being regulated by mea- 
 s sure, and the number and direction of the transits of 
 I the inking-balls over each other depending on the 
 will of the operator, and being consequently irregular, 
 it was impossible to place on the type a uniform 
 layer of ink, of the quantity exactly sufficient for the 
 impression. The introduction of cylindrical rollers 
 of an elastic substance, formed by the mixture of 
 glue and treacle, superseded the inking-balls, and 
 produced considerable saving in the consumption of 
 
64 ECONOMY OF MATERIALS. 
 
 ink : but the most perfect economy was only to be 
 produced by mechanism. When printing-presses, 
 moved by the power of steam, were introduced, the 
 action of these rollers was found to be well adapted 
 to their performance ; and a reservoir of ink was 
 formed, from which a roller regularly abstracted a 
 small quantity at each impression. From three to 
 five other rollers spread this portion uniformly over 
 a slab, (by most ingenious contrivances varied in 
 almost each kind of press,) and another travelling 
 roller, having fed itself on the slab, passed and re- 
 passed over the type just before it gave the impres- 
 sion to the paper. 
 
 In order to shew that this plan of inking puts the 
 proper quantity of ink upon the type, we must prove, 
 first, that the quantity is not too Jittle : this would 
 soon have been discovered from the complaints of 
 the public and the booksellers ; and, secondly, that 
 it is not too great. This latter point was satisfactorily 
 established by an experiment A few hours after one 
 side of a sheet of paper has been printed upon, the ink 
 is sufficiently dry to allow it to receive the impression 
 upon the other ; and, as considerable pressure is 
 made use of, the tympan on which the side first 
 printed is laid, is guarded from soiling it by a sheet 
 of paper called the set-off sheet. This paper re- 
 ceives, in succession, every sheet of the work to be 
 printed, acquiring from them more or less of the ink, 
 according to their dryness, or the quantity upon 
 them. It was necessary in the former process, after 
 about one hundred impressions, to change this set-off 
 sheet) which then became too much soiled for further 
 use. In the new method of printing by machinery, 
 
ECONOMY OF MATERIALS. 65 
 
 no such sheet is used, but a blanket is employed as 
 its substitute ; this does not require changing above 
 once in five thousand impressions, and instances have 
 occurred of its remaining sufficiently clean for twenty 
 thousand. Here, then, is a proof that the quantity 
 of superfluous ink put upon the paper in machine- 
 printing is so small, that, if multiplied by five thou- 
 sand, and in some instances even by twenty thousand, 
 it is only sufficient to render useless a single piece 
 of clean cloth.* 
 
 The following were the results of an accurate 
 experiment upon the effect of the process just de- 
 scribed, made at one of the largest printing esta- 
 blishments in the metropolis."!- Two hundred reams 
 of paper were printed off, the old method of inking 
 with balls being employed; two hundred reams of 
 the same paper, and for the same book, were then 
 printed off in the presses which inked their own type. 
 The consumption of ink by the machine was to that by 
 the balls as four to nine, or rather less than one-half. 
 
 * In the very best kind of printing, it is necessary, in the 
 old method, to change the set-off sheet once in twelve times. 
 In printing the same kind of work by machinery, the blanket 
 is changed once in 2000. 
 
 f- This experiment was made at the establishment of Mr. 
 Clowes, in Stamford- street 
 
()6 IDENTITY AND 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 OF THE IDENTITY OP THE WORK WHEN IT IS OF 
 THE SAME KIND, AND ITS ACCURACY WHEN O. 
 DIFFERENT KINDS. 
 
 (79.) NOTHING is more remarkable, and yet less 
 unexpected, than the perfect identity of things manu- 
 factured by the same tool. If the top of a circular 
 box is to be made to fit over the lower part, it may 
 be done in the lathe by gradually advancing the tool 
 of the sliding-rest ; the proper degree of tightness 
 between the box and its lid being found by trial. 
 After this adjustment, if a thousand boxes are made, 
 no additional care is required ; the tool is always 
 carried up to the stop, and each box will be equally 
 adapted to every lid. The same identity pervades 
 all the arts of printing ; the impressions from the 
 same block, or the same copper-plate, have a simi- 
 larity which no labour could produce by hand. The 
 minutest traces are transferred to all the impressions, 
 and no omission can arise from the inattention or 
 unskilfulness of the operator. The steel punch, with 
 which the card- wadding for a fowling-piece is cut, if 
 it once perform its office with accuracy, constantly 
 reproduces the same exact circle. 
 
 (80.) The accuracy with which machinery exe- 
 cutes its work is, perhaps, one of its most important 
 advantages : it may, however, be contended, that a 
 
 r< 
 
 r 
 

 ACCURACY OF WORK. 67 
 
 considerable portion of this advantage may be re- 
 solved into saving of time ; for it generally happens, 
 that any improvement in tools increases the quantity 
 
 k of work done in a given time. ^Without tools, that 
 is, by the mere efforts of the human hand, there are, 
 undoubtedly, multitudes of things which it would be 
 impossible to make. Add to the human hand the 
 rudest cutting-instrument, and its powers are en- 
 larged : the fabrication of many things then becomes 
 easy, and that of others possible with great labour. 
 Add the saw to the knife or the hatchet, and other 
 works become possible, and a new course of difficult 
 operations is brought into view, whilst many of the 
 former are rendered easy. This observation is appli- 
 cable even to the most perfect tools or machines. It 
 would be possible for a very skilful workman, with 
 files and polishing substances, to form a cylinder out 
 of a piece of steel ; but the time which this would 
 require would be so considerable, and the number of 
 failures would probably be so great, that for all 
 practical purposes such a mode of producing a steel 
 cylinder might be said to be impossible. The same 
 process by the aio! of the lathe and the sliding-rest is 
 
 | the every-day employment of hundreds of workmen. 
 (81.) Of all the operations of mechanical art, that 
 of turning is the most perfect. If two surfaces are 
 worked against each other, whatever may have been 
 
 1 their figure at the commencement, there exists a 
 tendency in them both to become portions of spheres. 
 Either of them may become convex, and the other 
 concave, with various degrees of curvature. A plane 
 surface is the line of separation between convexity 
 and concavity, and is most difficult to hit ; it is more 
 F 2 
 
68 IDENTITY AND ACCURACY OF WOK. 
 
 easy to make a good circle than to produce a straight 
 line. A similar difficulty takes place in figuring 
 specula for telescopes ; the parabola is the surface 
 which separates the hyperbolic from the elliptic 
 figure, and is the most difficult to form. If a spindle, 
 not cylindrical at its end, be pressed into a hole 
 not circular, and kept constantly turning, there 
 is a tendency in these two bodies so situated to 
 become conical, or to have circular sections. If a 
 triangular-pointed piece of iron be worked round 
 in a circular hole the edges will gradually wear, and 
 it will become conical. These facts, if they do not 
 explain, at least illustrate the principles on which the 
 excellence of work formed in the lathe depends. 
 
OF COPYING. 69 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 OF COPYING. 
 
 (82.) THE two last-mentioned sources of excellence 
 in the work produced by machinery depend on a 
 principle which pervades a very large portion of all 
 manufactures, and is one upon which the cheapness 
 of the articles produced seems greatly to depend. 
 The principle alluded to is that of COPYING, taken 
 in its most extensive sense. Almost unlimited pains 
 are, in some instances, bestowed on the original, from 
 which a series of copies is to be produced ; and the 
 larger the number of these copies, the more care and 
 pains can the manufacturer afford to lavish upon the 
 original. It may thus happen, that the instrument 
 or tool actually producing the work, shall cost five 
 or even ten thousand times the price of each indi- 
 vidual specimen of its power. 
 
 As the system of copying is of so much importance, 
 and of such extensive use in the arts, it will be con- 
 venient to classify a considerable number of those 
 processes in which it is employed. The following 
 enumeration however is not offered as a complete 
 list ; and the explanations are restricted to the short- 
 est possible detail which is consistent with a due 
 :egard to making the subject intelligible. 
 
 
70 OF COPYING. 
 
 . / Operations of copying are effected under the 
 following circumstances : 
 
 By printing from cavities. By stamping. 
 
 By printing from surface. By punching. 
 
 By casting. With elongation. 
 
 By moulding. With altered dimensions. 
 
 Of Printing from Cavities. 
 
 (83.) The art of printing, in all its numerous de- 
 partments, is essentially an art of copying. Under 
 its two great divisions, printing from hollow lines, 
 as in copper-plate, and printing from surface, as in 
 block-printing, are comprised numerous arts. 
 
 (84.) Copper-plate Printing. In this instance, the 
 copies are made by transferring to paper, by means 
 . of pressure, a thick ink, from the hollows and lines 
 cut in the copper. An artist will sometimes exhaust 
 the labour of one or two years upon engraving a 
 plate, which will not, in some cases, furnish above 
 five hundred copies in a state of perfection. 
 
 (85.) Engravings on Steel. This art is like that 
 of engraving on copper, except that the number of 
 copies is far less limited. A bank-note engraved as ' 
 a copper-plate, will not give above three thousand 
 impressions without a sensible deterioration. Two 
 impressions of a bank-note engraved on steel were 
 examined by one of our most eminent artists,* who 
 found it difficult to pronounce with any confidence, 
 which was the earliest impression. One of these was 
 a proof from amongst the first thousand, the other 
 was taken after between seventy and eighty thousand 
 had been printed off. 
 
 * The late Mr. Lowry. 
 
OF COPYING. 71 
 
 (86.) Music-Printing. Music is usually printed 
 from pewter plates, on which the characters have been 
 impressed by steel punches. The metal being much 
 softer than copper, is liable to scratches, which de- 
 tain a small portion of the ink. This is the reason of 
 the dirty appearance of printed music. A new pro- 
 cess has recently been invented by Mr. Cowper, by 
 which this inconvenience will be avoided. The im- 
 proved method, which gives sharpness to the charac- 
 ters, is still an art of copying ; but it is effected by 
 surface-printing, nearly in the same manner as calico- 
 printing from blocks, to be described hereafter, (96.) 
 The method of printing music from pewter-plates, 
 although by far the most frequently made use of, is 
 not the only one employed, for music is occasionally 
 printed from stone. Sometimes also it is printed 
 with moveable type ; and occasionally the musical 
 characters are printed on the paper, and the lines 
 printed afterwards. Specimens of both these latter 
 modes of music-printing may be seen in the splendid 
 collection of impressions from the types of the press 
 of Bodoni at Parma : but notwithstanding the great 
 care bestowed on the execution of that work, the per- 
 petual interruption of continuity in the lines, arising 
 from the use of moveable types, when the characters 
 and lines are printed at the same time, is apparent. 
 
 (87.) Calico- Printing from Cylinders. Many ol 
 the patterns on printed calicos are copies by printing 
 from copper cylinders about four or five inches in 
 diameter, on which the desired pattern has been 
 previously engraved. One portion of the cylinders 
 is exposed to the ink, whilst an elastic scraper of 
 very thin steel, by being pressed forcibly against 
 
 
72 OF COPYING. 
 
 another part, removes all superfluous ink from the 
 surface previously to its reaching the cloth. A piece 
 of calico twenty-eight yards in length rolls through 
 this press, and is printed in four or five minutes. 
 
 (88.) Printing from perforated Sheets of Metal, or 
 Stencilling. Very thin brass is sometimes perforated 
 in the form of letters, usually those of a name ; this is 
 placed on any substance which it is required to mark, 
 and a brush dipped in some paint is passed over the 
 brass. Those parts which are cut away admit the 
 paint, and thus a copy of the name appears on the 
 substance below. This method, which affords rather 
 a coarse copy, is sometimes used for paper with 
 which rooms are covered, and more especially for the 
 borders. If a portion be required to match an old 
 pattern, this is, perhaps the most economical way of 
 producing it. 
 
 (89.) Coloured impressions of leaves upon paper 
 may be made by a kind of surface printing. Such 
 leaves are chosen as have considerable inequalities : 
 the elevated parts of these are covered, by means of 
 an inking ball, with a mixture of some pigment 
 ground up in linseed oil ; the leaf is then placed be- ] 
 tween two sheets of paper, and being gently pressed, 
 the impression from the elevated parts on each side 
 appear on the corresponding sheets of paper. 
 
 (90.) The beautiful red cotton handkerchiefs dyed 
 at Glasgow have their pattern given to them by a 
 process similar to stencilling, except that instead of 
 printing from a pattern, the reverse operation, that 
 of discharging a part of the colour from a cloth already 
 dyed, is performed. A number of handkerchiefs 
 are pressed with very great force between two plates 
 
OF COPYING. 73 
 
 of metal, which are similarly perforated with round 
 or lozenge-shaped holes, according to the intended 
 pattern. The upper plate of metal is surrounded by 
 a rim, and a fluid which has the property of discharg- 
 ing the red dye is poured upon that plate. This 
 liquid passes through the holes in the metal, and also 
 through the calico ; but, owing to the great pressure 
 opposite all the parts of the plates not cut away, it 
 does not spread itself beyond the pattern. After this, 
 the handkerchiefs are washed, and the pattern of 
 each is a copy of the perforations in the metal-plate 
 used in the process. 
 
 (91.) Another mode by which a pattern is formed 
 by discharging colour from a previously dyed cloth, 
 is to print on it a pattern with paste ; then, passing 
 it into the dying-vat, it comes out dyed of one uniform 
 colour. But the paste has protected the fibres of 
 the cotton from the action of the dye or mordant ; and 
 when the cloth so dyed is well washed, the paste is 
 dissolved, and leaves uncoloured all those parts of 
 the cloth to which it was applied. 
 
 Printing from Surface. 
 
 This second department of printing is of more fre- 
 quent application in the arts than that which has 
 just been considered. 
 
 (92.) Printing from wooden Blocks. A block of 
 box wood is, in this instance, the substance out of 
 which the pattern is formed : the design being 
 sketched upon it, the workman cuts away with sharp 
 tools every part except the lines to be represented in 
 the impression. This is exactly the reverse of the 
 process of engraving on copper, in which every line to 
 
74 OF COPYING. 
 
 be represented is cut away. The ink, instead of filling 
 the cavities cut in the wood, is spread upon the surface 
 which remains, and is thence transferred to the paper. 
 
 (93.) Printing from moveaUe Types. This is the 
 most important in its influence of all the arts of 
 copying. It possesses a singular peculiarity, in the 
 immense subdivision of the parts that form the pat- 
 tern. After that pattern has furnished thousands 
 of copies, the same individual elements may be 
 arranged again and again in other forms, and thus 
 supply multitudes of originals, from each of which 
 thousands of their copied impressions may flow. It 
 also possesses this advantage, that wood-cuts may be 
 used along with the letter-press, and impressions 
 taken from both at the same operation. 
 
 (94.) Printing from Stereotype. This mode of 
 producing copies is very similar to the preceding. 
 There are two modes by which stereotype plates are 
 produced. In that most generally adopted a mould 
 is taken in plaster from the moveable types, and 
 in this the stereotype plate is cast. Another 
 ^method has been employed in France : instead of 
 composing the work in moveable type, it was set up 
 in moveable copper matrices ; each matrix being in 
 fact a piece of copper of the same size as the type, 
 and having the impression of the letter sunk into its 
 surface, instead of projecting in relief. A stereotype 
 plate may, it is evident, be obtained at once from this 
 arrangement of matrices. The objection to the plan 
 is the great expense of keeping so large a collection 
 of matrices. 
 
 As the original composition does not readily admit 
 of change, stereotype plate.; can only be applied with 
 
OF COPYING. 75 
 
 advantage to cases where an extraordinary number of 
 copies are demanded, or where the work consists of 
 figures, and it is of great importance to ensure accuracy. 
 Trifling alterations may, however, be made in it from 
 time to time ; and thus mathematical tables may, by 
 the gradual extirpation of error, at last become perfect. 
 This mode of producing copies possesses, in common 
 with that by moveable types, the advantage of admit- 
 cing the use of wood-cuts ; the copy of the wood-cut 
 in the stereotype plate being equally perfect with 
 that of the moveable type. This union is of consi- 
 derable importance, and cannot be accomplished with 
 engravings on copper. 
 
 (95.) Lettering Books. The gilt letters on the 
 backs of books are formed by placing a piece of gold 
 leaf upon the leather, and pressing upon it brass 
 letters previously heated : these cause the gold im- 
 mediately under them to adhere to the leather, 
 whilst the rest of the metal is easily brushed away. 
 When a great number of copies of the same volume 
 are to be lettered, it is found to be cheaper to have 
 a brass pattern cut with the whole of the proper 
 title : this is placed in a press, and being kept 
 hot, the covers, each having a small bit of leaf- 
 gold placed in the proper position, are successively 
 brought under the brass, and stamped. The letter- 
 ing at the back of the volume in the reader's hand 
 was executed in this manner. 
 
 (96.) Calico- Printing from Blocks. This is a mode 
 of copying, by surface-printing, from the ends of small 
 pieces of copper wire, of various forms, fixed into a 
 block of wood. They are all of one uniform height, 
 about the eighth part of an inch above the surface of 
 
76 OF COPYING. 
 
 the wood, and are arranged by the maker into any 
 required pattern. If the block be placed upon a 
 piece of fine woollen cloth, on which ink of any 
 colour has been uniformly spread, the projecting 
 copper wires receive a portion, which they give up 
 when applied to the calico to be printed. By the 
 former method of printing on calico, only one colour 
 could be used ; but by this plan, after the flower 
 of a rose, for example, has been printed with one set 
 of blocks, the leaves may be printed of another colour 
 by a different set. 
 
 (97.) Printing Oil-Cloth. After the canvass, which 
 forms the basis of oil-cloth, has been covered with 
 paint of one uniform tint, the remainder of the pro- 
 cesses which it passes through, are a series of copy- 
 ings by surface-printing, from patterns formed upon 
 wooden blocks very similar to those employed by the 
 calico printer. Each colour requiring a distinct set 
 of blocks, those oil-cloths with the greatest variety of 
 colours are most expensive. 
 
 There are several other varieties of printing which 
 we shall briefly notice as arts of copying ; which, 
 although not strictly surface-printing, yet are more 
 allied to it than that from copper-plates. 
 
 (98.) Letter Copying. In one of the modes of 
 performing this process, a sheet of very thin paper is 
 damped, and placed upon the writing to be copied. 
 The two papers are then passed through a rolling 
 press, and a portion of the ink from one paper is 
 transferred to the other. The writing is, of course, 
 reversed by this process ; but the paper to which 
 it is transferred being thin, the characters are seen 
 through it on the other side, in their proper position. 
 
77 
 
 Another common mode of bopying letters is by 
 placing a sheet of paper covered on both sides with 
 a substance prepared from lamp-black, between a 
 sheet of thin paper and the paper on which the let- 
 ter to be despatched is to be written. If the upper 
 or thin sheet be written upon with any hard pointed 
 substance, the words written with this style will be 
 impressed from the black paper upon both those 
 adjoining it. The translucency of the upper sheet, 
 which is retained by the writer, is in this instance 
 necessary to render legible the writing which is on 
 the back of the paper. Both these arts are very 
 limited in their extent, the former affording two or 
 three, the latter from two to perhaps ten or fifteen 
 copies at the same time. 
 
 (99.) Printing on China. This is an art of copy- 
 ing which is carried to a very great extent. As the 
 surfaces to which the impression is to be conveyed 
 are often curved, and sometimes even fluted, the ink, 
 or paint, is first transferred from the copper to some 
 flexible substance, such as paper, or an elastic com- 
 pound of glue and treacle. It is almost immediately 
 conveyed from this to the unbaked biscuit, to which 
 it more readily adheres. 
 
 (100.) Lithographic Printing. This is another mode 
 of producing copies in almost unlimited number. The 
 original which supplies the copies is a drawing made 
 on a stone of a slightly porous nature ; the ink em- 
 ployed for tracing it is made of such greasy materials 
 that when water is poured over the stone it shall not 
 wet the lines of the drawing. When a roller covered 
 with printing-ink, which is of an oily nature, is passed 
 over the stone previously wetted, the water prevents 
 
78 OF COPYING. 
 
 this ink from adhering to the uncovered portions ; 
 whilst the ink used in the drawing is of such a nature 
 that the printing-ink adheres to it. In this state, if 
 a sheet of paper be placed upon the stone, and then 
 passed under a press, the printing-ink will be trans- 
 ierred to the paper, leaving the ink used in the draw- 
 ing still adhering to the stone. 
 
 (10 L.) There is one application of lithographic print- 
 ing which does not appear to have received sufficient 
 attention, and perhaps further experiments are neces- 
 sary to bring it to perfection. It is the reprinting 
 of works which have just arrived from other countries. 
 A few years ago one of the Paris newspapers was 
 reprinted at Brussels as soon as it arrived by means 
 of lithography. Whilst the ink is yet fresh, this may 
 easily be accomplished : it is only necessary to place 
 one copy of the newspaper on a lithographic stone ; 
 and by means of great pressure applied to it in a 
 rolling press, a sufficient quantity of the printing ink 
 will be transferred to the stone. By similar means, 
 the other side of the newspaper may be copied on 
 another stone, and these stones will then furnish 
 impressions in the usual way. If printing from stone 
 could be reduced to the same price per thousand 
 as that from moveable types, this process might be 
 adopted with great advantage for the supply of works 
 for the use of distant countries possessing the same 
 language. For a single copy might be printed off 
 with transfer ink, and thus an English work, for 
 example, might be published in America from stone, 
 whilst the original, printed from moveable types, 
 made its appearance on the same day in England. 
 
 (102.) It is much to be wished that such a method 
 
OF COPYING. 79 
 
 were applicable to the reprinting of fac-similes of old 
 and scarce books. This, however, would require the 
 sacrifice of two copies, since a leaf must be destroyed 
 for each page. Such a method of reproducing a 
 small impression of an old work, is peculiarly ap- 
 plicable to mathematical tables, the setting up of 
 which in type is always expensive and liable to error : 
 but how long ink will continue to be transferable to 
 stone, from paper on which it has been printed, must 
 be determined by experiment. The destruction of 
 the greasy or oily portion of the ink in the character 
 of old books, seems to present the greatest impedi- 
 ment ; if one constituent only of the ink were 
 removed by time, it might perhaps be hoped, that 
 chemical means would ultimately be discovered for 
 restoring it : but if this be unsuccessful, an attempt 
 might be made to discover some substance having a 
 strong affinity for the carbon of the ink which remains 
 on the paper, and very little for the paper itself.* 
 
 (103.) Lithographic prints have occasionally been 
 executed in colours. In such instances a separate 
 stone seems to have been required for each colour, 
 and considerable care, or very good mechanism, 
 must have been employed to adjust the paper to each 
 stone. If any two kinds of ink should be discovered 
 mutually inadhesive, one stone might be employed 
 for two inks ; or if the inking-roller for the second 
 and subsequent colours had portions cut away cor- 
 responding to those parts of the stone inked by the 
 previous ones, then several colours might be printed 
 from the same stone : but these principles do not 
 
 * I possess a lithographic reprint of a page of a table, which 
 appears, from the form of the type, to have been several years 
 old. 
 
80 OF COPYING. 
 
 appear to promise much, except for coarse sub- 
 jects. 
 
 (104.) Register-Printing. It is sometimes thought 
 necessary to print from a wooden block, or stereotype 
 plate, the same pattern reversed upon the opposite 
 side of the paper. The effect of this, which is tech- 
 nically called Register-Printing, is to make it appear 
 as if the ink had penetrated through the paper, 
 and rendered the pattern visible on the other side. 
 If the subject chosen contains many fine lines, it 
 seems at first sight extremely difficult to effect so 
 exact a super-position of the two patterns, on oppo- 
 site sides of the same piece of paper, that it shall be 
 impossible to detect the slightest deviation ; yet the 
 process is extremely simple. The block which gives 
 the impression is always accurately brought down to 
 the same place by means of a hinge ; this spot is 
 covered by a piece of thin leather stretched over it ; 
 the block is now inked, and being brought down to 
 its place, gives an impression of the pattern to the 
 leather : it is then turned back ; and being inked a 
 second time, the paper intended to be printed is 
 placed upon the leather, when the block again de- 
 scending, the upper surface of the paper is printed 
 from the block, and its under surface takes up the 
 impression from the leather. It is evident that the 
 perfection of this mode of printing depends in a great 
 measure on finding some soft substance like leather, 
 which will take as much ink as it ought from the 
 block, and which will give it up most completely to 
 paper. Impressions thus obtained are usually fainter 
 on the lower side ; and in order in some measure to 
 remedy this defect, rather more ink is put on the 
 block at the first than at the second imDression. 
 
. OF COPYING. 81 
 
 Of Copying by Casting. 
 
 (105.) The art of casting, by pouring substances in 
 a fluid state into a mould which retains them until 
 they become solid, is essentially an art of copying ; 
 the form of the thing produced depending entirely 
 upon that of the pattern from which it was formed. 
 
 (106.) Of Casting Iron and other Metals. Patterns 
 of wood or metal made from drawings are the ori- 
 ginals from which the moulds for casting are made : 
 so that, in fact, the casting itself is a copy of the 
 mould ; and the mould is a copy of the pattern. 
 In castings of iron and metals for the coarser pur- 
 poses, and, if they are afterwards to be worked, even 
 for the finer machines, the exact resemblance amongst 
 the things produced, which takes place in many of 
 the arts to which we have alluded, is not effected 
 in the first instance, nor is this necessary. As the 
 metals shrink in cooling, the pattern is made larger 
 than the intended copy ; and in extricating it from 
 the sand in which it is moulded, some little dif- 
 ference will occur in the size of the cavity which it 
 leaves. In smaller works, where accuracy is more 
 requisite, and where few or no after-operations are to 
 be performed, a mould of metal is employed which 
 has been formed with considerable care. Thus, in 
 casting bullets, which ought to be perfectly spherical 
 and smooth, an iron instrument is used, in which 
 a cavity has been cut and carefully ground ; and, in 
 order to obviate the contraction in cooling, a jet is 
 left which may supply the deficiency of metal arising 
 from that cause, and which is afterwards cut off. The 
 leaden toys for children are cast in brass moulds 
 
82 OF COPYING. 
 
 which open, and in which have been graved or 
 chiselled the figures intended to be produced. 
 
 (107.) A very beautiful mode of representing small 
 branches of the most delicate vegetable productions 
 in bronze has been employed by Mr. Chan trey. A 
 small strip of a fir-tree, a branch of holly, a curled 
 leaf of broccoli, or any other vegetable production, is 
 suspended by one end in a small cylinder of paper 
 which is placed for support within a similarly formed 
 tin case. The finest river silt, carefully separated 
 from all the coarser particles, and mixed with water, 
 so as to have the consistency of cream, is poured 
 into the paper cylinder by small portions at a time, 
 carefully shaking the plant a little after each addition, 
 in order that its leaves may be covered, and that no 
 bubbles of air may be left. The plant and its mould 
 are now allowed to dry, and the yielding nature of 
 the paper allows the loamy coating to shrink from 
 the outside. When this is dry it is surrounded by a 
 coarser substance ; and, finally, we have the twig 
 with all its leaves imbedded in a perfect mould. 
 This mould is carefully dried, and then gradually 
 heated to a red heat. At the ends of some of the 
 leaves or shoots, wires have been left to afford air- 
 holes by their removal, and in this state of strong 
 ignition a stream of air is directed into the hole 
 formed by the end of the branch. The consequence 
 is, that the wood and leaves which had been turned 
 into charcoal by the fire, are now converted into 
 carbonic acid by the current of air ; and, after some 
 time, the whole of the solid matter of which the plant 
 consisted is completely removed, leaving a hollow 
 mould, bearing on its interior all the minutest traces 
 
OF COPYING. 83 
 
 of its late vegetable occupant. When this process is 
 completed, the mould being still kept at nearly a 
 red heat, receives the fluid metal, which, by its 
 weight, either drives the very small quantity of air, 
 which at that high temperature remains behind, out 
 through the air-holes, or compresses it into the pores 
 of the very porous substance of which the mould is 
 formed. 
 
 (108.) When the form of the object intended to be 
 cast is such that the pattern cannot be extricated 
 from its mould of sand or plaster, it becomes neces- 
 sary to make the pattern with wax, or some other 
 easily fusible substance. The sand or plaster is 
 moulded round this pattern, and, by the application 
 of heat, the wax is extricated through an opening 
 left purposely for its escape. 
 
 (109-) It is often desirable to ascertain the form of 
 the internal cavities, inhabited by molluscous animals, 
 such as those of spiral shells, and of the various 
 corals. This may be accomplished by filling them 
 with fusible metal, and dissolving the substance of 
 the shell by muriatic acid ; thus a metallic solid will 
 remain which exactly filled all the cavities. If such 
 forms are required in silver, or any other difficultly 
 fusible metal, the shells may be filled with wax or 
 resin, then dissolved away ; and the remaining waxen 
 form may serve as the pattern from which a plaster 
 mould may be made for casting the metaL Some 
 nicety will be required in these operations ; and per- 
 haps the minuter cavities can only be filled under an 
 exhausted receiver. 
 
 (110.) Casting in Plaster. This is a mode of copy- 
 ing applied to a variety of purposes : to produce 
 G 2 
 
84 OF COPYING, 
 
 accurate representations of the human form, of 
 statues, or of rare fossils, to which latter purpose 
 it has lately been applied with great advantage. In 
 all casting, the first process is to make the mould ; 
 and plaster is the substance which is almost always 
 employed for the purpose. The property which it 
 possesses of remaining for a short time in a state 
 of fluidity, renders it admirably adapted to this ob- 
 ject, and adhesion, even to an original of plaster, is 
 effectually prevented by oiling the surface on which 
 it is poured. The mould formed round the subject 
 which is copied, removed in separate pieces and then 
 reunited, is that in which the copy is cast. This 
 process gives additional utility and value to the finest 
 works of art. The students of the Academy at 
 Venice are thus enabled to admire the sculptured 
 figures of Egina, preserved in the gallery at Munich ; 
 as well as the marbles of the Parthenon, the pride 
 of our own Museum. Casts in plaster of the Elgin 
 marbles adorn many of the academies of the Conti- 
 nent; and the liberal employment of such presents 
 affords us an inexpensive and permanent source of 
 popularity. 
 
 (111.) Casting in Wax. This mode of copying, 
 aided by proper colouring, offers the most successful 
 imitations of many objects of natural history, and 
 gives an air of reality to them which might de- 
 ceive even the most instructed. Numerous figures 
 of remarkable persons, having the face and hands 
 formed in wax, have been exhibited at various times ; 
 and the resemblances have, in some instances been 
 most striking. But whoever would see the art of 
 copying in wax carried to the highest perfection, 
 
OF COPYING. 85 
 
 hould examine the beautiful collection of fruit at 
 the house of the Horticultural Society ; the model of 
 the magnificent flower of the new genus Rafflesia 
 the waxen models of the internal parts of the human 
 body which adorn the anatomical gallery of the Jardin 
 des Plantes at Paris, and the Museum at Florence 
 or the collection of morbid anatomy at the University 
 of Bologna. The art of imitation by wax does not 
 usually afford the multitude of copies which flow 
 from many similar operations. This number is 
 checked by the subsequent stages of the process, 
 which, ceasing to have the character of copying by a 
 tool or pattern, become consequently more expen- 
 sive. In each individual production, form alone is 
 given by casting ; the colouring must be the work of 
 the pencil, guided by the skill of the artist. 
 
 Of Copying by Moulding. 
 
 (112.) This method of producing multitudes of 
 individuals having an exact resemblance to each 
 other in external shape, is adopted very widely in 
 the arts. The substances employed are, either natu- 
 rally or by artificial preparation, in a soft or plastic 
 state; they are then compressed by mechanical 
 force, sometimes assisted by heat, into a mould of 
 the required form. 
 
 (113.) Of Bricks and Tiles. An oblong box of 
 wood fitting upon a bottom fixed to the brick- 
 maker's bench, is the mould from which every brick 
 is formed. A portion of the plastic mixture of which 
 he bricks consist is made ready by less skilful 
 ' lands : the workman first sprinkles a little sand 
 
86 OF COPYING?. 
 
 into the mould, and then throws the clay Into it 
 with some force; at the same time rapidly work- 
 ing it with his fingers, so as to make it completely 
 close up to the corners. He next scrapes off, with a 
 wetted stick, the superfluous clay, and shakes the 
 new-formed hrick dexterously out of its mould upon 
 a piece of board, on which it is removed by another 
 workman to the place appointed for drying it. A 
 very skilful moulder has occasionally, in a long 
 summer's day, delivered from ten to eleven thousand 
 bricks ; but a fair average day's work is from five to 
 six thousand. Tiles of various kinds and forms are 
 made of finer materials, but by the same system of 
 moulding. Amongst the ruins of the city of Gour, 
 the ancient capital of Bengal, bricks are found having 
 projecting ornaments in high relief: these appear to 
 have been formed in a mould, and subsequently 
 glazed with a coloured glaze. In Germany, also, 
 brickwork has been executed with various ornaments. 
 The cornice of the church of St. Stephano, at Berlin, 
 is made of large blocks of brick moulded into the 
 form required by the architect. At the establishment 
 of Messrs. Cubitt, in Gray's-inn lane, vases, cornices, 
 and highly ornamented capitals of columns are thus 
 formed which rival stone itself in elasticity, hard- 
 ness, and durability. 
 
 (114.) Of embossed China. Many of the forms 
 given to those beautiful specimens of earthenware 
 which constitute the equipage of our breakfast and 
 our dinner tables, cannot be executed in the lathe of 
 the potter. The embossed ornaments on the edges 
 of the plates, their polygonal shape, the fluted surface 
 of many of the vases, would all be difficult and 
 
OF COPYING. 87 
 
 costly of execution by the hand ; but they become 
 onsy and comparatively cheap, when made by press- 
 ing the soft material out of which they are formed 
 into a hard mould. The care and skill bestowed on 
 the preparation of that mould are repaid by the 
 multitude it produces. In many of the works of the 
 china manufactory, one part only of the article is 
 moulded ; the upper surface of the plate, for ex- 
 ample, whilst the under side is figured by the lathe. 
 In some instances, the handle, or only a few orna- 
 ments, are moulded, and the body of the work is 
 turned. 
 
 (115.) Glass Seals. The process of engraving 
 upon gems requires considerable time and skill. 
 The seals thus produced can therefore never become 
 common. Imitations, however, have been made of 
 various degrees of resemblance. The colour which 
 is given to glass is, perhaps, the most successful 
 part of the imitation. A small cylindrical rod of 
 coloured glass is heated in the flame of a blow pipe, 
 until the extremity becomes soft. The operator then 
 pinches it between the ends of a pair of nippers, 
 which are formed of brass, and on one side of which the 
 device intended for the seal has been carved in relief. 
 When the mould has been well finished and care is 
 taken in heating the glass properly, the seals thus pro- 
 duced are not bad imitations ; and by this system of 
 copying they are so multiplied, that the more ordinary 
 kinds are sold at Birmingham for three pence a dozen. 
 
 (116.) Square Glass Bottles. The round forms 
 which are usually given to vessels of glass are 
 readily produced by the expansion of the air with 
 which they are blown. It is, however, necessary in 
 
88 OF COPYING. 
 
 many cases to make bottles of a square form, and 
 each capable of holding exactly the same quantity of 
 fluid. It is also frequently desirable to have im- 
 printed on them the name of the maker of the 
 medicine or other liquid they are destined to con- 
 tain. A mould of iron, or of copper, is provided 
 of the intended size, on the inside of which ar^ 
 engraved the names required. This mould, which 
 is used in a hot state, opens into two parts, to 
 allow the insertion of the round, unfinished bottle, 
 which is placed in it in a very soft state before it 
 is removed from the end of the iron tube with which 
 it was blown. The mould is now closed, and the 
 glass is forced against its sides, by blowing strongly 
 into the bottle. 
 
 (117.) Wooden Snuff-Boxes. Snuff-boxes orna- 
 mented with devices, in imitation of carved work cr 
 of rose engine-turning, are sold at a price which 
 proves that they are only imitations. The wood, 
 or horn, out of which they are formed, is softened by 
 long boiling in water, and whilst in this state it is 
 forced into moulds of iron, or steel, on which are cut 
 the requisite patterns, where it remains exposed to 
 great pressure until it is dry. 
 
 (118.) Horn Knife-Handles and Umbrella- Handles. 
 The property which horn possesses of becoming soft 
 by the action of water and of heat, fits it for many 
 useful purposes. It is pressed into moulds, and 
 becomes embossed with figures in relief, adapted to 
 the objects to which it is to be applied. If curved, it 
 may be straightened ; or if straight, it may be bent 
 into any forms which ornament or utility may require ; 
 and by the use of the mould these forms may be 
 
OF COPYING. 89 
 
 multiplied in endless variety. The commoner sorts 
 of knives, the crooked handles for umbrellas, and a 
 multitude of other articles to which horn is applied, 
 attest the cheapness which the art of copying gives to 
 the things formed of this material. 
 
 (119.) Moulding Tortoise-shell. The same prin- 
 ciple is applied to things formed out of the shell of 
 the turtle, or the land tortoise. From the greatly 
 superior price of the raw material, this principle of 
 copying is, however, more rarely employed upon it ; 
 and the few carvings which are demanded, are usually 
 performed by hand. 
 
 (120.) Tobacco Pipe- Making. This simple art is 
 almost entirely one of copying. The moulds are 
 formed of iron, in two parts, each embracing one half 
 of the stem ; the line of junction of these parts may 
 generally be observed running lengthwise from one 
 end of the pipe to the other. The hole passing to the 
 bowl is formed by thrusting a long wire through the 
 clay before it is enclosed in the mould. Some of the 
 moulds have figures, or names, sunk in the inside, 
 which give a corresponding figure in relief upon the 
 finished pipe. 
 
 (121.) Embossing upon Calico. Calicoes of one 
 colour, but embossed all over with raised patterns, 
 though not much worn in this country, are in great 
 demand in several foreign markets. This appear- 
 ance is produced by passing them between rollers, on 
 one of which is figured in intaglio the pattern to be 
 transferred to the calico. The substance of the cloth 
 is pressed very forcibly into the cavities thus formed, 
 and retains its pattern after considerable use. The 
 watered appearance in the cover of the volume in the 
 
90 OF COPYING. 
 
 readei's hands is produced in a similar manner. A 
 cylinder of gun-metal, on which the design of the 
 watering is previously cut, is pressed by screws against 
 another cylinder, formed out of pieces of brown paper 
 which have been strongly compressed together and 
 accurately turned. The two cylinders are made to re- 
 volve rapidly, the paper one being slightly damped, 
 and, after a few minutes, it takes an impression 
 from the upper or metal one. The glazed calico 
 is now passed between the rollers, its glossy sur- 
 face being in contact with the metal cylinder, which 
 is kept hot by a heated iron inclosed within it. 
 Calicoes are sometimes watered by placing two 
 pieces on each other in such a position that the 
 longitudinal threads of the one are at right angles 
 to those of the other, and compressing them in this 
 state between flat rollers. The threads of the one 
 piece produce indentations in those of the other, but 
 they are not so deep as when produced by the former 
 method. 
 
 (122.) Embossing upon Leather. This art of copy- 
 ing from patterns previously engraved on steel rollers 
 is in most respects similar to the preceding. The 
 leather is forced into the cavities, and the parts which 
 are not opposite to any cavity are powerfully con- 
 densed between the rollers. 
 
 (123.) Swaging. This is an art of copying prac- 
 tised by the smith. In order to fashion his iron 
 and steel into the various forms demanded by his 
 customers, he has small blocks of steel into which are 
 sunk cavities of different shapes ; these are called 
 swages, and are generally in pairs. Thus if he wants 
 a round bolt, terminating in a cylindrical head of 
 
OF COPYING. 91 
 
 larger diameter, and having one or more projecting 
 rims, he uses a corresponding swaging -tool ; and 
 having heated the end of his iron rod, and thickened 
 it by striking the end in the direction of the axis, 
 (which is technically called upsetting,) he places its 
 head upon one part of the swage; and whilst an 
 assistant holds the other part on the top of the hot 
 iron, he strikes it several times with his hammer, 
 occasionally turning the head one quarter round. 
 The heated iron is thus forced by the blows to 
 assume the form of the mould into which it is im- 
 pressed. 
 
 (124.) Engraving by Pressure. This is one of the 
 most beautiful examples of the art of copying carried 
 to an almost unlimited extent ; and the delicacy with 
 which it can be executed, and the precision with 
 which the finest traces of the graving tool can be 
 transferred from steel to copper, or even from hard 
 steel to soft steel, is most unexpected. We are in- 
 debted to Mr. Perkins for most of the contrivances 
 which have brought this art at once almost to perfec- 
 tion. An engraving is first made upon soft steel, 
 which is hardened by a peculiar process without in 
 the least injuring its delicacy. A cylinder of soft 
 steel, pressed with great force against the hardened 
 steel engraving, is now made to roll very slowly 
 backward and forward over it, thus receiving the 
 design, but in relief. The cylinder is in its turn 
 hardened without injury ; and if it be slowly rolled 
 to and fro with strong pressure on successive plates 
 of copper, it will imprint on a thousand of them a 
 perfect fac- simile of the original steel engraving from 
 which it was made. Thus the number of copies 
 
92 OF COPYING. 
 
 producible from the same design may be multiplied a 
 thousand- fold. But even this is very far short of the 
 limits to which the process may be extended. The 
 hardened steel roller, bearing the design upon it in 
 relief, may be employed to make a few of its first 
 impressions upon plates of soft steel, and these being 
 hardened become the representatives of the original 
 engraving, and may in their turn be made the pa- 
 rents of other rollers, each generating copper-plates 
 like their prototype. The possible extent to which 
 fac- similes of one original engraving may thus be 
 multiplied, almost confounds the imagination, and 
 appears to be for all practical purposes unlimited. 
 
 This beautiful art was first proposed by Mr. Per- 
 kins for the purpose of rendering the forgery of bank- 
 notes a matter of great difficulty ; and there are two 
 principles which peculiarly adapt it to that object : 
 first, the perfect identity of all the impressions, so 
 that any variation in the minutest line would at oncb 
 cause detection ; secondly, that the original plates 
 may be formed by the united labours of several 
 artists most eminent in their respective departments ; 
 for as only one original of each design is necessary, 
 the expense, even of the most elaborate engraving, 
 will be trifling, compared with the multitude of copies 
 produced from it. 
 
 (125.) It must, however, be admitted that the 
 principle of copying itself furnishes an expedient for 
 imitating any engraving or printed pattern, however 
 complicated ; and thus presents a difficulty which 
 none of the schemes devised for the prevention of 
 forgery appear to have yet effectually obviated. In 
 attempting to imitate the most perfect bank note, the 
 
OF COPYING. 93 
 
 first process would be to place it with the printed side 
 downwards upon a stone or other substance, on which, 
 by passing it through a rolling-press, it might be firmly 
 fixed. The next object would be to discover some 
 solvent which should dissolve the paper, but neither 
 affect the printing-ink, nor injure the stone or sub- 
 stance to which it is attached. Water does not seem 
 to do this effectually, and perhaps weak alkaline 
 or acid solutions would be tried. If, however, this 
 could be fully accomplished, and if the stone or other 
 substance, used to retain the impression, had those 
 properties which enable us to print from it, innu- 
 merable fac-similes of the note might obviously be 
 made, and the imitation would be complete. Por- 
 celain biscuit, which has recently been used with a 
 black-lead pencil for memorandum-books, seems in 
 some measure adapted for such trials, since its po- 
 rosity may be diminished to any required extent by 
 regulating the dilution of the glazing. 
 
 (126.) Gold and Silver Moulding. Many of the 
 mouldings used by jewellers consist of thin slips 
 of metal, which have received their form by pass- 
 ing between steel rollers, on which the pattern is 
 embossed or engraved ; thus taking a succession of 
 copies of the devices intended. 
 
 (127.) Ornamental Papers. Sheets of paper co- 
 loured or covered with gold or silver leaf, and em- 
 bossed with various patterns, are used for covering 
 books, and for many ornamental purposes. The 
 figures upon these are produced by the same process, 
 that of passing the sheets of paper between engraved 
 rollers. 
 
94 OF COPYING. 
 
 Of Copying by Stamping. 
 
 (128.) This mode of copying is extensively em- 
 ployed in the arts. It is generally executed by means 
 of large presses worked with a screw and heavy fly- 
 wheel. The materials on which the copies are im- 
 pressed are most frequently metals, and the process is 
 sometimes executed when they are hot, and in one 
 case when the metal is in a state between solidity and 
 fluidity. 
 
 (129.) Coins and Medals. The whole of the coins 
 which circulate as money are produced by this mode 
 of copying. The screw-presses are either worked by 
 manual labour, by water, or by steam power. The 
 mint which was sent a few years since to Calcutta was 
 capable of coining 200,000 pieces a day. Medals, 
 which usually have their figures in higher relief than 
 coins, are produced by similar means ; but a single 
 blow is rarely sufficient to bring them to perfection, 
 and the compression of the metal which arises from 
 the first blow renders it too hard to receive many 
 subsequent blows without injury to the die. It is 
 therefore, after being struck, removed to a furnace, in 
 which it is carefully heated red-hot and annealed, 
 after which operation it is again placed between the 
 dies, and receives additional blows. For medals, on 
 which the figures are very prominent, these processes 
 must be repeated many times. One of the largest 
 medals hitherto struck underwent them nearly a 
 hundred times before it was completed. 
 
 (130.) Ornaments for military Accoutrements, and 
 Furniture. These are usually of brass, and are 
 stamped up out of solid or sheet brass by placing it 
 
OF COPYING. 95 
 
 between dies, and allowing a heavy weight to drop 
 upon the upper die from a height of from five to 
 fifteen feet. 
 
 (131.) Buttons and Nail-heads. Buttons embossed 
 with crests or other devices are produced by the same 
 means ; and some of those which are plain receive their 
 hemispherical form from the dies in which they are 
 struck. The heads of several kinds of nails which 
 are portions of spheres, or polyhedrons, are also 
 formed by these means. 
 
 (132.) Of a process for Copying, called in France 
 Clichee. This curious method of copying by stamp- 
 ing is applied to medals, and in some cases to form- 
 ing stereotype plates. There exists a range of 
 temperature previous to the melting point of several 
 of the alloys of lead, tin, and antimony, in which the 
 compound is neither solid, nor yet fluid. In this 
 kind of pasty state it is placed in a box under a die, 
 which descends upon it with considerable force. The 
 blow drives the metal into the finest lines of the die, 
 and the coldness of the latter immediately solidifies 
 the whole mass. A quantity of the half melted metal 
 is scattered in all directions by the blow, and is 
 retained by the sides of the box in which the process 
 is carried on. The work thus produced is admirable 
 for its sharpness, but has not the finished form of 
 a piece just leaving the coining-press : the sides are 
 ragged, and it must be trimmed, and its thickness 
 equalized in the lathe. 
 
 Of Copying by Punching. 
 
 (133.) This mode of copying consists in driving 
 a steel punch through the substance to be cut, either 
 
96 OF COPYING. 
 
 by a blow or by pressure. In some cases the object 
 is to copy the aperture, and the substance separated 
 from the plate is rejected ; in other cases the small 
 pieces cut out are the objects of the workman's 
 labour. 
 
 (134.) Punching iron Plate for Boilers. The 
 steel punch used for this purpose is from three- 
 eighths to three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and 
 drives out a circular disk from a plate of iron from 
 one-quarter to five-eighths of an inch thick. 
 
 (135.) Punching tinned Iron. The ornamental 
 patterns of open work which decorate the tinned and 
 japanned wares in general use, are rarely punched by 
 the workman who makes them. In London the art 
 of punching out these patterns in screw-presses is 
 carried on as a separate trade ; and large quantities of 
 sheet tin are thus perforated for cullenders, wine- 
 strainers, borders of waiters, and other similar pur- 
 poses. The perfection and the precision to which 
 the art has been carried are remarkable. Sheets of 
 copper, too, are punched with small holes about the 
 hundredth of an inch in diameter, in such multitudes 
 that more of the sheet metal is removed than remains 
 behind ; and plates of tin have been perforated with 
 above three thousand holes in each square inch. 
 
 (136.) The inlaid plates of brass and rosewood, 
 called buhl work, which ornament our furniture, are, 
 in some instances, formed by punching ; but in this 
 case, both the parts cut out, and those which remain, 
 are in many cases employed. In the remaining illus- 
 trations of the art of copying by punching, the part 
 made use of is that which is punched out. 
 
 (137.) Cards for Guns. The substitution of a 
 
OF COPYING 
 
VS UF COPYING. 
 
 Copying with Elongation. 
 
 (140.) In this species of copying there exists but 
 little resemblance between the copy and the original. 
 It is the cross section only of the thing produced 
 which is similar to the tool through which it passes. 
 When the substances to be operated upon are hard, 
 they must frequently pass in succession through 
 several holes, and it is in some cases necessary to 
 anneal them at intervals. 
 
 (141.) Wire drawing. The metal to be converted 
 into wire is made of a cylindrical form, and drawn 
 forcibly through circular holes in plates of steel : at 
 each passage it becomes smaller ; and, when finished, 
 its section at any point is a precise copy of the last 
 hole through which it passed. Upon the larger kinds 
 of wire, fine lines may sometimes be traced, running 
 longitudinally ; these arise from slight imperfections 
 in the holes of the draw-plates. For many purposes 
 of the arts, wire, the section of which is square 
 or half round, is required : the same method of 
 making it is pursued, except that the holes through 
 which it is drawn are in such cases themselves 
 square, or half-round, or of whatever other form the 
 wire is required to be. A species of wire is made, 
 the section of which resembles a star with from six to 
 twelve rays ; this is called pinion wire, and is used 
 by the clock-makers. They file away all the rays 
 from a short piece, except from about half an inch 
 near one end : this becomes a pinion for a clock ; anc 
 the leaves or teeth are already burnished and finished, 
 from having passed through the draw-plate. 
 
 (142.) Tube drawing. The art of forming tube, 
 
t>F COPYING. 99 
 
 of uniform diameter is nearly similar in its mode of 
 execution to wire drawing. The sheet brass is bent 
 round and soldered so as to form a hollow cylinder ; 
 and if the diameter outside is that which is required 
 ! to be uniform, it is drawn through a succession of 
 holes, as in wire-drawing. If the inside diameter 
 is to be uniform, a succession of steel cylinders, 
 called triblets, are drawn through the brass tube. In 
 making tubes for telescopes, it is necessary that both 
 the inside and outside should be uniform. A steel 
 triblet, therefore, is first passed into the tube, which 
 is then drawn through a succession of holes, until the 
 outside diameter is reduced to the required size. The 
 i metal of which the tube is formed is condensed be- 
 tween these holes and the steel cylinder within ; and 
 'when the latter is withdrawn the internal surface 
 appears polished. The brass tube is considerably 
 extended by this process, sometimes even to double 
 its first length. 
 
 (143.) Leaden pipes. Leaden pipes for the con- 
 veyance of water were formerly made by casting; 
 but it has been found that they can be made both 
 cheaper and better by drawing them through holes in 
 the manner last described. A cylinder of lead, of 
 five or six inches in diameter and about two feet 
 <long, is cast with a small hole through its axis, and 
 in iron triblet of about fifteen feet in length is forced 
 'into the hole. It is then drawn through a series of 
 holes, until the lead is extended upon the triblet 
 from one end to the other, and is of the proper thick- 
 ness in proportion to the size of the pipe, 
 
 (144.) Iron rolling. When cylinders of iron of 
 'greater thickness than wire are required, they are 
 1 formed by passing wrought iron between rollers, each 
 
100 OF COPYING. 
 
 of which has sunk in it a semi-cyliixdrica. groove ; 
 and as such rollers rarely touch accurately, a longi- 
 tudinal line will usually be observed in the cylinders 
 so manufactured. Bar iron is thus shaped into all the 
 various forms of round, square, half-round, oval, &c. 
 in which it occurs in commerce. A particular species 
 of moulding is thus made, which resembles, in its 
 section, that part of the frame of a window which 
 separates two adjacent panes of glass. Being much 
 stronger than wood, it can be considerably reduced 
 in thickness, and consequently offers less obstruction 
 to the light ; it is much used for sky-lights. 
 
 (145.) It is sometimes required that the iron thus, 
 produced should not be of uniform thickness through- 
 out. This is the case in bars for rail-roads, where 
 greater depth is required towards the middle of the 
 rail which is at the greatest distance from the sup- 
 ports. This form is produced by cutting the groove 
 in the rollers deeper at those parts where additional 
 strength is required, so that the hollow which sur-| 
 rounds the roller would, if it could be unwound, be a* 
 mould of the shape the iron is intended to fit. 
 
 (146.) Vermicelli. The various forms into which, 
 this paste is made are given by forcing it through holes 
 in tin plate. It passes through them, and appears 
 on the other side in long strings. The cook makes 
 use of the same method in preparing butter and orna- 
 mental pastry for the table, and the confectioner in 
 forming cylindrical lozenges of various composition. 
 
 Of Copying with altered Dimensions. 
 
 (147.) Of the Pentagraph. This mode of copying 
 is chiefly used for drawings or maps : the instrument 
 is simple; and, although usually em ployed in reducing, 
 
OF COPYING. 101, 
 
 capable of enlarging the size of .the copy. An 
 automaton figure, exhibited in London Vsh'ort.tjma 
 since, which drew profiles of its visitors, was regulated 
 by a mechanism on this principle. A small aperture 
 in the wall, opposite the seat in which the person 
 is placed whose profile is taken, conceals a camera 
 lucida, which is placed in an adjoining apartment : 
 and an assistant, by moving a point, connected by a 
 pentagraph with the hand of the automaton, over the 
 outline of the head, causes the figure to trace a cor- 
 responding profile. 
 
 (148.) By turning The art of turning might per- 
 haps itself be classed among the arts of copying. 
 A steel axis, called a mandril, having a pully attached 
 to the middle of it, is supported at one end either by 
 a conical point, or by a cylindrical collar, and at the 
 other end by another collar, through which it passes. 
 The extremity which projects beyond this last collar 
 is formed into a screw, by which various instruments, 
 called chucks, can be attached to it. These chucks 
 are intended to hold the various materials to be sub- 
 mitted to the operation of turning, and have a great 
 variety of forms. The mandril with the chuck is 
 made to revolve by a strap which passes over the 
 pully that is attached to it, and likewise over a larger 
 wheel moved either by the foot, or by its connexion 
 with steam or water power. All work which is 
 executed on a mandril partakes in some measure of 
 the irregularities in the form of that mandril; and the 
 perfect circularity of section which ought to exist in 
 every part of the work, can only be ensured by an 
 ^qual accuracy in the mandril and its collar. 
 
 (149.) Rose Engine-turning. This elegant art de- 
 
102 OF COPYING. 
 
 pends in a great measure on copying. Circular plates 
 of metal called rosettes, having various indentations 
 on 'the surfaces and edges, are fixed on the mandril, 
 which admits of a movement either end-wise or 
 laterally : a fixed obstacle called the " touch" against 
 which the rosettes are pressed by a spring, obliges 
 the mandril to follow their indentations, and thus 
 causes the cutting tool to trace out the same pattern 
 on the work. The distance of the cutting tool from 
 the centre being usually less than the radius of the 
 rosette, causes the copy to be much diminished. 
 
 (150.) Copying Dies. A lathe has been long 
 known in France, and recently been used at the 
 English mint for copying dies. A blunt point is 
 carried by a very slow spiral movement successively 
 over every part of the die to be copied, and is pressed 
 by a weight into all the cavities ; while a cutting 
 point connected with it by the machine traverses the 
 face of a piece of soft steel, in which it cuts the de- 
 rice of the original die on the same or on a diminished 
 fccale. The degree of excellence of the copy increases 
 in proportion as it is smaller than the original. The 
 die of a crown-piece will furnish by copy a very 
 tolerable die for a sixpence. But the chief use to be 
 expected from this lathe is to prepare all the coarser 
 parts, and leave only the finer and more expressive 
 lines for the skill and genius of the artist. 
 
 (151.) Shoe-last making Engine. An instrument 
 no; very unlike in principle was proposed for the pur- 
 pose of making shoe-lasts. A pattern last of a shoe 
 for the right foot was placed in one part of the appa- 
 ratus, and when the machine was moved, two pieces of 
 wood, placed in another part which had been previously 
 
OF COPYING. 103 
 
 adjusted by screws, were cut into lasts greater or less 
 than the original, as was desired ; and although the 
 pattern was for the right foot, one of the lasts was for 
 the left, an effect which was produced by merely in- 
 terposing a wheel which reversed the motion between 
 the two pieces of wood to be cut into lasts. 
 
 (152.) Engine for copying Busts. Many years 
 since, the late Mr. Watt amused himself with con- 
 structing an engine to produce copies of busts or 
 statues, either of the same size as the original, or 
 in a diminished proportion. The substances on 
 which he operated were various, and some of the re- 
 sults were shewn to his friends, but the mechanism 
 by which they were made has never been described. 
 More recently, Mr. Hawkins, who, nearly at the 
 same time, had also contrived a similar machine, has 
 placed it in the hands of an artist, who has made 
 copies in ivory from a variety of busts. The art 
 of multiplying in different sizes the figures of the 
 sculptor, aided by that of rendering their acquisition 
 cheap through the art of casting, promises to give ad 
 ditional value to his productions, and to diffuse more 
 widely the pleasure arising from their possession. 
 
 (153.) Screw-cutting. When this operation is per- 
 formed in the lathe by means of a screw upon the 
 mandril, it is essentially an art of copying, but it is 
 only the number of threads in a given length which 
 is copied ; the form of the thread, and length as well 
 as the diameter of the screw to be cut, are entirely 
 independent of those from which the copy is made. 
 There is another method of cutting screws in a lathe 
 by means of one pattern screw, which, being connected 
 by wheels with the mandril, guides the cutting point. 
 
104 OF COPYING. 
 
 In this process, unless the time of revolution of the 
 mandril is the same as that of the screw which guides 
 the cutting point, the number of threads in a given 
 length will be different. If the mandril move quicker 
 than the cutting-point, the screw which is produced 
 will be finer than the original ; if it move slower, the 
 copy will be more coarse than the original. The 
 screw thus generated may be finer or coarser, it 
 may be larger or smaller in diameter, it may have 
 the same or a greater number of threads than that 
 from which it is copied ; yet all the defects which 
 exist in the original will be accurately transmitted, 
 under the modified circumstances, to every individual 
 generated from it. 
 
 (154.) Printing from Copper-Plates with altered 
 dimensions. Some very singular specimens of an art 
 of copying, not yet made public, were brought from 
 Paris a few years since. A watchmaker in that city, 
 of the name of Gonord, had contrived a method by 
 which he could take from the same copper-plate 
 impressions of different sizes, either larger or smaller 
 than the original design. Having procured four im- 
 pressions of a parrot, surrounded by a circle, executed 
 in this manner, I shewed them to the late Mr. Lowry, 
 an engraver equally distinguished for his skill, and 
 for the many mechanical contrivances with which he 
 enriched his art. The relative dimensions of the 
 several impressions were 5'5, 6*3, 8'4, 15*0, so that 
 the largest was nearly three times the linear size of 
 the smallest ; and Mr. Lowry assured me, that he 
 was unable to detect any lines in one which had not 
 corresponding lines in the others. There appeared to 
 be a difference in the quantity of ink, but none in 
 
OF COPYING. 10.5 
 
 the traces of the engraving; and, from the general 
 appearance, it was conjectured that the largest but 
 one was the original impression from the copper-plate. 
 
 The means by which this singular operation was 
 executed have not been published ; but two conjec- 
 tures were formed at the time which merit notice. 
 It was supposed that the artist was in possession of 
 some method of transferring the ink from the lines 
 of a copper-plate to the surface of some fluid, and 
 of re-transferring the impression from the fluid to 
 paper. If this could be accomplished, the print 
 would, in the first instance, be of exactly the same 
 size as the copper from which it was derived ; but if 
 the fluid were contained in a vessel having the form 
 of an inverted cone, with a small aperture at the 
 bottom, the liquid might be lowered or raised in the 
 vessel by gradual abstraction or addition through the 
 apex of the cone ; in this case, the surface to which 
 the printing-ink adhered would diminish or enlarge, 
 and in this altered state the impression might be 
 re-transferred to paper. It must be admitted, that 
 this conjectural explanation is liable to very con- 
 siderable difficulties ; for, although the converse 
 operation of taking an impression from a liquid sur- 
 face has a parallel in the art of marbling paper, the 
 possibility of transferring the ink from the copper to 
 the fluid requires to be proved. 
 
 Another and more plausible explanation is founded 
 on the elastic nature of the compound of glue and 
 treacle, a substance already in use in transferring 
 engravings to earthenware. It is conjectured, that 
 an impression from the copper-plate is taken upon a 
 large sheet of this composition; that this sheet is 
 
106 OF COPYING. 
 
 then stretched in both directions, and that the ink 
 thus expanded is transferred to paper. If the copy 
 is required to be smaller than the original, the elastic 
 substance must first be stretched, and then receive 
 the impression from the copper-plate : on removing 
 the tension it will contract, and thus reduce the size 
 of the design. It is possible that one transfer may 
 not in all cases suffice ; as the extensibility of the 
 composition of glue and treacle, although considerable, 
 is still limited. Perhaps sheets of India rubber of 
 uniform texture and thickness, may be found to 
 answer better than this composition ; or possibly the 
 ink might be transferred from the copper-plate to the 
 surface of a bottle of this gum, which bottle might, 
 after being expanded by forcing air into it, give up 
 the enlarged impression to paper. As it would require 
 considerable time to produce impressions in this 
 manner, and there might arise some difficulty in 
 making them all of precisely the same size, the pro- 
 cess might be rendered more certain and expeditious 
 by performing that part of the operation which 
 depends on the enlargement or diminution of the 
 design only once ; and, instead of printing from the 
 soft substance, transferring the design from it to 
 stone : thus a considerable portion of the work would 
 be reduced to an art already well known, that of 
 lithography. This idea receives some confirmation 
 from the fact, that in another set of specimens, con- 
 sisting of a map of St. Petersburgh, of several sizes, 
 a very short line, evidently an accidental defect, 
 occurs in all the impressions of one particular size, 
 but not in any of a different size. 
 
 (155.) Machine to produce Engraving from Medals. 
 
OF COPYING. 107 
 
 An instrument was contrived, a long time ago, and 
 is described in the Manuel de Tourneur y by which cop- 
 per-plate engravings are produced from medals and 
 other objects in relief. The medal and the copper 
 are fixed on two sliding plates at right angles to 
 each other, so connected that, when the plate on 
 which the medal is fixed is raised vertically by a 
 screw, the slide holding the copper-plate is advanced 
 by an equal quantity in the horizontal direction. 
 The medal is fixed on the vertical slide with its face 
 towards the copper-plate, and a little above it. 
 
 A bar, terminating at one end in a tracing-point, 
 and at the other in a short arm, at right angles 
 to the bar, and holding a diamond-point, is placed 
 horizontally above the copper ; so that the tracing- 
 point shall touch the medal to which the bar is 
 perpendicular, and the diamond-point shall touch the 
 copper-plate to which the arm is perpendicular. 
 
 Under this arrangement, the bar being supposed to 
 move parallel to itself, and consequently to the 
 copper, if the tracing-point pass over a flat part of 
 the medal, the diamond-point will draw a straight 
 line of equal length upon the copper; but, if the 
 tracing-point pass over any projecting part of the 
 medal, the deviation from the straight line by the 
 diamond-point, will be exactly equal to the elevation 
 of the corresponding point of the medal above the 
 rest of the surface. Thus, by the transit of this 
 tracing-point over any line upon the medal, the 
 diamond will draw upon the copper a section of the 
 medal through that line. 
 
 A screw is attached to the apparatus, so that if the 
 medal be raised a very small quantity by the screw, 
 
108 OF COPYING. 
 
 the copper-plate will be advanced by the same quan- 
 tity, and thus a new line of section may be drawn : 
 and, by continuing this process, the series of sectional 
 lines on the copper produces the representation of the 
 medal on a plane : the outline and the form of the 
 figure arising from the sinuosities of the lines, and 
 from their greater or less proximity. The effect of 
 this kind of engraving is very striking ; and in some 
 specimens gives a high degree of apparent relief. 
 It has been practised on plate-glass, and is then 
 additionally curious from the circumstance of the fine 
 lines traced by the diamond being invisible, except in 
 certain lights. 
 
 From this description, it will have been seen that the 
 engraving on copper must be distorted ; that is to say, 
 that the projection on the copper cannot be the same 
 as that which arises from a perpendicular projection 
 of each point of the medal upon a plane parallel to 
 itself. The position of the prominent parts will be 
 more altered than that of the less elevated ; and the 
 greater the relief of the medal the more distorted will 
 be its engraved representation. Mr. John Bate, son 
 of Mr. Bate, of the Poultry, has contrived an im- 
 proved machine, for which he has taken a patent, in 
 which this source of distortion is remedied. The 
 head, in the title-page of the present volume, is copied 
 from a medal of Roger Bacon, which forms one of a 
 series of medals of eminent men, struck at the royal 
 mint at Munich, and is the first of the published pro- 
 ductions of this new art.* 
 
 * The construction of the engraving becomes evident on 
 examining it with a lens of sufficient power to show the con- 
 tinuity of the lines. 
 
OF COPYING. 109 
 
 The inconvenience which arises from too high a 
 relief in the medal, or in the bust, might be remedied 
 by some mechanical contrivance, by which the devia- 
 tion of the diamond-point from the right line, (which 
 it would describe when the tracing-point traverses a 
 plane), would be made proportional, not to the 
 elevation of the corresponding point above the plane 
 of the medal, but to its elevation above some other 
 parallel plane removed to a fit distance behind it. 
 Thus busts and statues might be reduced to any 
 required degree of relief. 
 
 (156.) The machine just described naturally sug- 
 gests other views which seem to deserve some con- 
 sideration, and, perhaps, some experiment. If a 
 medal were placed under the tracing-point of a 
 pentagraph, an engraving tool substituted for the 
 pencil, and a copper-plate in the place of the paper ; 
 and if, by some mechanism, the tracing-point, which 
 slides in a vertical plane, could, as it is earned over 
 the different elevations of the medal, increase or 
 diminish the depth of the engraved line proportion- 
 ally to the actual height of the corresponding point 
 on the medal, then an engraving would be produced, 
 free at least from any distortion, although it might 
 be liable to objections of a different kind. If, by 
 any similar contrivance, instead of lines, we could 
 make on each point of the copper a dot, varying in 
 size or depth with the altitude of the corresponding 
 point of the medal above its plane, then a new 
 species of engraving would be produced : and the 
 variety of these might again be increased, by causing 
 the graving point to describe very small circles, of 
 diameters, varying with the height of the point 
 
110 OF COPYING. 
 
 on the medal above a given plane ; or by making 
 the graving tool consist of three equi-distant points, 
 whose distance increased or diminished according 
 to some determinate law, dependent on the eleva- 
 tion of the point represented above the plane of the 
 medal. It would, perhaps, be difficult to imagine 
 the effects of some of these kinds of engraving; 
 but they would all possess, in common, the property 
 of being projections, by parallel lines, of the objects 
 represented, and the intensity of the shade of the 
 ink would either vary according to some function 
 of the distance of the point represented from some 
 given plane, or it would be a little modified by the 
 distances from the same plane of a few of the imme- 
 diately contiguous points. 
 
 (157.) The system of shading maps by means 
 of lines of equal altitude above the sea bears some 
 analogy to this mode of representing medals, and if 
 applied to them would produce a different species of 
 engraved resemblance. The projections on the plane 
 of the medal, of the section of an imaginary plane, 
 placed at successive distances above it, with the 
 medal itself, would produce a likeness of the figure on 
 the medal, in which all the inclined parts of it would be 
 dark in proportion to their inclination. Other species 
 of engraving might be conceived by substituting, 
 instead of the imaginary plane, an imaginary sphere 
 or other solid, intersecting the figure in the medal. 
 
 (158.) Lace made ~by Caterpillars. A most ex- 
 traordinary species of manufacture, which is in a 
 slight degree connected with copying, has been con- 
 trived by an officer of engineers residing at Munich. 
 It consists of lace, and veils, with open patterns in 
 

 Gl? COPYING. Ill 
 
 them, made entirely by caterpillars. The following 
 is the mode of proceeding adopted : He makes a 
 paste of the leaves of the plant, which is the usual 
 food of the species of caterpillar* he employs, and 
 spreads it thinly over a stone, or other flat substance. 
 He then, with a camel-hair pencil dipped in olive oil, 
 draws upon the coating of paste the pattern he 
 wishes the insects to leave open. This stone is 
 then placed in an inclined position, and a num- 
 ber of the caterpillars are placed at the bottom. 
 A peculiar species is chosen, which spins a strong 
 web ; and the animals commencing at the bottom, 
 eat and spin their way up to the top, carefully avoid- 
 ing every part touched by the oil, but devouring all 
 the rest of the paste. The extreme lightness of 
 these veils, combined with some strength, is truly 
 surprising. One of them, measuring twenty-six and 
 a half inches by seventeen inches, weighed only 1.51 
 grains ; a degree of lightness which will appear more 
 strongly by contrast with other fabrics. One square 
 yard of the substance of which these veils are made 
 weighs 4i grains, whilst one square yard of silk 
 gauze weighs 137 grains, and one square yard of the 
 finest patent net weighs 262 J grains. The ladies' 
 coloured muslin dresses, mentioned in the table sub- 
 joined, cost ten shillings per dress, and each weigh 
 six ounces ; the cotton from which they are made 
 weigliing nearly six and two-ninth ounces avoirdupois 
 weight. 
 * The Phajaena Paj.dilla. which feeds on the Prunus Padus. 
 
112 
 
 OF COPYING. 
 
 Weight of One Square Yard of each of the following 
 Articles.* 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF GOODS. 
 
 Valuo 
 per Yard 
 
 Weight 
 finished of 
 One Square 
 
 Weight of 
 Cotton used 
 in making 
 
 
 
 Yard. 
 
 Yard. 
 
 
 *. u. 
 
 Troy Grains. 
 41 
 
 Troy drains. 
 
 Silk Gauze 3-4 wide 
 
 1 
 
 137 
 
 
 Finest Patent Net 
 
 
 262 
 
 
 
 
 551 
 
 
 6-4ths Jaconet Muslin 
 
 2 
 
 613 
 
 670 
 
 Ladies' coloured Muslin Dresses 
 
 3 
 1 2 
 
 788 
 972 
 
 875 
 1069 
 
 9-Sths Calico 
 
 9 
 
 988 
 
 1085 
 
 -yard Nankeen 
 
 8 
 
 2240 
 
 2432 
 
 
 
 
 
 (159.) This enumeration, which is far from com- 
 plete, of the arts in which copying is the foundation, 
 may be terminated with an example which has long 
 been under the eye of the reader ; although few, 
 perhaps, are aware of the number of repeated copy- 
 ings of which these very pages are the subject. 
 
 1 . They are copies, by printing, from stereotype 
 plates. 
 
 2. These stereotype plates are copied, by the art 
 of casting, from moulds formed of plaster of Paris. 
 
 * Some of these weights and measures are calculated from a 
 statement in the Report of the Committee of the House of 
 Commons on Printed Cotton Goods ; and the widths of the 
 pieces there given are presumed to be the real widths, not 
 those by which they are called in the retail shops. 
 
OF COPYING. 113 
 
 3. Those moulds are themselves copied by cast- 
 ing the plaster in a liquid state upon the moveable 
 types set up by the compositor. 
 
 [It is here that the union of the intellectual and 
 the mechanical departments takes place. The mys- 
 teries, however, of an author's copying, form no part 
 of our inquiry, although it may be fairly remarked, 
 that, in numerous instances, the mental far eclipses 
 the mechanical copyist.] 
 
 4. These moveable types, the obedient mes- 
 sengers of the most opposite thoughts, the most 
 conflicting theories, are themselves copies by cast- 
 ing from moulds of copper called matrices. 
 
 5. The lower part of those matrices, bearing the 
 impressions of the letters or characters, are copies, 
 by punching, from steel punches on which the same 
 characters exist in relief. 
 
 6. These steel punches are not themselves en- 
 tirely exempted from the great principle of art. 
 Many of the cavities which exist in them, such as 
 those in the middle of the punches for the letters 
 a, 6, d, e, g, &c., are produced from other steel 
 punches in which these parts are in relief. 
 
 We have thus traced through six successive stages 
 of copying the mechanical art of printing from 
 stereotype plates : the principle of copying contri- 
 buting in this, as in every other department of manu- 
 facture, to the uniformity and the cheapness of the 
 work produced. 
 
] 14 ON THE METHOD 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 ON THE METHOD OF OBSERVING MANUFACTORIES. 
 
 (160.) HAVING now reviewed the mechanical prin- 
 ciples which regulate the successful application of 
 mechanical science to great establishments for the 
 production of manufactured goods, it remains for us 
 to suggest a few inquiries, and to offer a few ob- 
 servations, to those whom an enlightened curiosity 
 may lead to examine the factories of this or of other 
 countries. 
 
 The remark, that it is important to commit to 
 writing all information as soon as possible after it is 
 received, especially when numbers are concerned, 
 applies to almost all inquiries. It is frequently im- 
 possible to do this at the time of visiting an esta- 
 blishment, although not the slightest jealousy may 
 exist ; the mere act of writing information as it is 
 communicated orally, is a great interruption to the 
 examination of machinery. In such cases, therefore, 
 it is advisable to have prepared beforehand the ques- 
 tions to be asked, and to leave blanks for the 
 answers, which may be quickly inserted, as, in a 
 multitude of cases, they are merely numbers. Those 
 who have not tried this plan will be surprised at the 
 quantity of information which may, through its means, 
 be acquired, even by a short examination. Each 
 
UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF OBSERVING MANu 
 
 manufacture requires its own list of 
 will be better drawn up after the first visit. The fol- 
 lowing outline, which is very generally applicable, 
 may suffice for an illustration ; and to save time, it 
 may be convenient to have it printed ; and to bind up, 
 in the form of a pocket book, a hundred copies of 
 the skeleton forms for processes, with about twenty 
 of the general inquiries. 
 
 GENERAL INQUIRIES. 
 
 Outlines of a Description of any of the Mechanical Arts 
 ought to contain Information on the following points. 
 
 Brief sketch of its history, particularly the date of its 
 invention, arid of its introduction into England. 
 
 Short reference to the previous states through which the 
 material employed has passed; the places whence it is 
 procured ; the price of a given quantity. 
 
 [The various processes must now be described succes- 
 sively according to the plan which will be given in 161 ; 
 after which the following information should be given.] 
 
 Are various kinds of the same article made in one esta- 
 blishment, or at different ones, and are there differences in 
 the processes? 
 , To what defects are the goods liable ? 
 
 What substitutes or adulterations are used ? 
 
 What waste is allowed by the master ? 
 
 What tests are there of the goodness of the manufactured 
 articles ? 
 
 The weight of a given quantity, or number, and a com- 
 parison with that of the raw material ? 
 
 The wholesale price at the manufactory? s. d. 
 per 
 
 The usual retail price ? s. d. 
 
 Who provide tools? Master, or men? Who repair 
 tools ? Master, or men ? 
 
 What is the expense of the machinery ? 
 i 2 
 
116 ON THE METHOD 
 
 What is the annual wear and tear, and what its duration? 
 
 Is there any particular trade for making it ? Where ? 
 
 Is it made and repaired at the manufactory ? 
 
 In any manufactory visited, state the number ( ) 
 
 of processes ; and of the persons employed in each process ; 
 and the quantity of manufactured produce. 
 
 What quantity is made annually in Great Britain ? 
 
 Is the capital invested in manufactories large or small ? 
 
 Mention the principal seats of this manufacture in 
 England ; and if it flourishes abroad, the places where it is 
 established. 
 
 The duty, excise, or bounty, if any, should be stated, 
 and any alterations in past years; and also the amount 
 exported or imported for a series of years. 
 
 Whether the same article, but of superior, equal, or infe- 
 rior make, is imported ? 
 
 Does the manufacturer export, or sell, to a middleman, 
 who supplies the merchant ? 
 
 To what countries is it chiefly sent ? and in what goods 
 are the returns made ? 
 
 (161.) Each process requires a separate skeleton, 
 and the following outline will be sufficient for many 
 different manufactories : 
 
 Process ( ) Manufacture ( ) 
 
 Place ( ) Name ( ) 
 
 date 183 
 
 The mode of executing it, with sketches of the tools or 
 machine if necessary. 
 
 The number of persons necessary to attend the machine. 
 
 Are the operatives men, ( ) women, ( ) 
 
 or children ? ( ) If mixed, what are the proportions ? 
 
 What is the pay of each 1( s. d.) ( s. d.) 
 ( s. d.) per 
 
 What number ( ) of hours do they work per 
 
 day ? 
 
OF OBSERVING MANUFACTORIES. 117 
 
 Is it usual, or necessary, to work night and day without 
 stopping ? 
 
 Is the labour performed by piece or by day-work ? 
 
 Who provide tools ? Master or men ? Who repair tools ? 
 Master, or men? 
 
 What degree of skill is required, and how many years' 
 ( ) apprenticeship ? 
 
 The number of times ( ) the operation is repeated 
 
 per day or per hour ? 
 
 The number of failures ( ) in a thousand ? 
 
 Whether the workmen Or the master loses by the broken 
 or damaged articles ? 
 
 What is done with them ? 
 
 If the same process is repeated several times, state the 
 diminution or increase of measure, and the loss, if any, at 
 each repetition. 
 
 (162.) In this skeleton, the answers to the ques- 
 tions are in some cases printed, as "Who repair 
 " the tools ? Masters, Men ;" in order that the proper 
 answer may be underlined with a pencil. In filling 
 up the answers which require numbers, some care 
 should be taken : for instance, if the observer stands 
 with his watch in his hand before a person heading a 
 pin, the workman will almost certainly increase his 
 speed, and the estimate will be too large. A much 
 better average will result from inquiring what quan- 
 tity is considered a fair day's work. When this 
 cannot be ascertained, the number of operations per- 
 formed in a given time may frequently be counted 
 when the workman is quite unconscious that any 
 person is observing him. Thus the sound made by 
 the motion of a loom may enable the observer to 
 count the number of strokes per minute, even though 
 he is outside the building in which it is contained. 
 
118 THE METHOD OF OBSERVING MANUFACTORIES. 
 
 M. Coulomb, who had great experience in making 
 such observations, cautions those who may repeat 
 his experiments against being deceived by such cir* 
 cumstances : " Je prie " (says he) " ceux qui voudront 
 " les repeter, s'ils n'ont pas le temps de mesurer les 
 " resultats apres plusieurs jours d'un travail continu, 
 " d'observer les ouvriers a differentes reprises dans 
 " la journee, sans qu'ils sachent qu'ils sont observes. 
 " L'on ne peut trop avertir combien Ton risque de se 
 " tromper en calculant, soit la vitesse, soit le temps 
 " effectif du travail, d'apres une observation de quelques 
 " minutes." Memoir es de VInstitut. Tom. II. p. 247. 
 It frequently happens, that in a series of answers to 
 such questions, there are some which, although given 
 directly, may also be deduced by a short calculation 
 from others that are given or known ; and advantage 
 should always be taken of these verifications, in 
 order to confirm the accuracy of the statements ; or, 
 in case they are discordant, to correct the apparent 
 anomalies. In putting lists of questions into the 
 hands of a person undertaking to give information 
 upon any subject, it is in some cases desirable to 
 have an estimate of the soundness of his judgment. 
 The questions can frequently be so shaped, that some 
 of them may indirectly depend on others ; and one or 
 two may be inserted whose answers can be obtained 
 by other methods : nor is this process without its 
 advantages in enabling us to determine the value of 
 our own judgment. The habit of forming an esti- 
 mate of the magnitude of any object or the frequency 
 of any occurrence, immediately previous to our ap- 
 plying to it measure or number, tends materially to 
 fix the attention and to improve the judgment. 
 
SECTION II. 
 
 ON THE DOMESTIC AND POLITICAL ECONOMY OF 
 MANUFACTURES. 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 DISTINCTION BETWEEN MAKING AND MANUFAC- 
 TURING. 
 
 (163.) THE economical principles which regulate 
 tlia application of machinery, and which govern the 
 interior of all our great factories, are quite as essen- 
 tial to the prosperity of a great commercial country, 
 as are those mechanical principles, the operation of 
 which has been illustrated in the preceding section. 
 
 The first object of every person who attempts to 
 
 make any article of consumption, is, or ought to be, 
 
 to produce it in a perfect form ; but in order to secure 
 
 to himself the greatest and most permanent profit, 
 
 he must endeavour, by every means in his power, to 
 
 render the new luxury or want which he has created, 
 
 ! cheap to those who consume it. The larger number 
 
 | of purchasers thus obtained will, in some measure, 
 
120 DISTINCTION BETWEEN 
 
 secure him from the caprices of fashion, whilst it 
 furnishes a far greater amount of profit, although the 
 contribution of each individual is diminished. The 
 importance of collecting data, for the purpose of 
 enabling the manufacturer to ascertain how many 
 additional customers he will acquire by a given re- 
 duction in the price of the article he makes, cannot 
 be too strongly pressed upon the attention of those 
 who employ themselves in statistical inquiries. In 
 some ranks of society, no diminution of price can bring 
 forward a great additional number of customers ; 
 whilst, among other classes, a very small reduc- 
 tion will so enlarge the sale, as to yield a considerable 
 / increase of profit. Materials calculated to assist in 
 
 ^forming a Table of the numbers of persons who possess 
 incomes of different amount, occur in the 14th Report 
 of the Commissioners of Revenue Inquiry; which 
 includes a statement of the amount of personal pro- 
 perty proved at the legacy office during one year ; 
 the number of the various classes of testators ; and an 
 account of the number of persons receiving dividends 
 from funded property, distributed into classes. Such 
 a table, formed even approximately, and exhibited 
 
 JM the form of a curve, might be of service. 
 
 (16f^) A considerable difference exists between 
 the terms making and manufacturing. The former 
 refers to the production of a small, the latter to that 
 of a very large number of individuals $ and the dif- 
 ference is well illustrated in the evidence, given before 
 the Committee of the House of Commons, on the 
 Export of Tools and Machinery. On that occasion 
 Mr. Maudslay stated, that he had been applied to by 
 the Navy Board to make iron tanks for ships, and 
 
MAKING AND MANUFACTURING. 121 
 
 that he was rather unwilling to do so, as he con- 
 sidered it to be out of his line of business ; however, 
 he undertook to make one as a trial. The holes 
 for the rivets were punched by hand - punching 
 with presses, and the 1680 holes which each tank 
 required cost seven shillings. The Navy Board, 
 who required a large number, proposed that he 
 should supply forty tanks a week for many months. 
 The magnitude of the order made it worth his while 
 to commence manufacturer, and to make tools for the 
 express business. Mr. Maudslay therefore offered, 
 if the Board would give him an order for two thou- 
 sand tanks, to supply them at the rate of eighty per 
 week. The order was given : he made tools, by 
 which the expense of punching the rivet-holes of 
 each tank was reduced from seven shillings to nine- 
 pence ; he supplied ninety-eight tanks a week for six 
 months, and the price charged for each was reduced 
 from seventeen pounds to fifteen. 
 
 (165.) If, therefore, the maker of an article wish 
 to become a manufacturer, in the more extended sense 
 of the term, he must attend to other principles besides 
 those mechanical ones on which the successful execu- 
 tion of his work depends ; and he must carefully 
 arrange the whole system of his factory in such a 
 manner, that the article he sells to the public may be 
 produced at as small a cost asjpossibla. // Should he 
 not be actuated at first by motives so remote, he 
 will, in every highly civilized country, be compelled, 
 by the powerful stimulus of competition, to attend to 
 the principles of the domestic economy of manufac- 
 tures. At every reduction in price of the commodity 
 he makes, lie will be driven to seek compensation 
 
 
.122 ON MAKING AND MANUFACTURING. 
 
 in a saving of expense in some of the processes ; and 
 his ingenuity will be sharpened in this inquiry by the 
 hope of being able in his turn to undersell his rivals. 
 The benefit of the improvements thus engendered 
 is, for a short time, confined to those from whose 
 ingenuity they derive their origin ; but when a suf- 
 ficient experience has proved their value, they become 
 generally adopted, until in their turn they are super- 
 1 seded by other more economical methods. 
 
ON MONEY AS A MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE. 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 OF MONEY AS A MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE. 
 
 (166.) IN the earlier stages of societies the inter- 
 change of the few commodities required was con- 
 ducted by barter ; but as soon as their wants became 
 more varied and extensive, the necessity of having 
 some common measure of the value of all commo- 
 dities itself capable of subdivision became appa- 
 rent : thus money was introduced. In some countries 
 shells have been employed for this purpose ; but 
 civilized nations have, by common consent, adopted 
 the precious metals. * The sovereign power has, in 
 most countries, assumed the right of coining ; or, in 
 other words, the right of stamping with distinguish- 
 ing marks, pieces of metal having certain forms and 
 weights, and a certain degree of fineness : the marks 
 becoming a guarantee, to the people amongst whom 
 the money circulates, that each piece is of the required 
 weight and quality. 
 
 * In Russia platinum has been employed for coin ; and it pos- 
 sesses a peculiarity which deserves notice. Platinum cannot be 
 melted in our furnaces, and is chiefly valuable in commerce 
 when in the shape of ingots, from which it may be forged into 
 useful forms. But when a piece of platinum is cut into two parts, 
 it cannot easily be reunited except by means of a chemical 
 process, in which both parts are dissolved in an acid. Hence 
 ; when platinum coin is too abundant, it cannot, like gold, be re- 
 duced into masses by melting, but must pass through an 
 expensive process to render it useful. 
 
124 ON MONEY AS A 
 
 The expense of manufacturing gold Into coin, and 
 that of the loss arising from wear, as well as of interest 
 on the capital invested in it, must either be defrayed 
 by the state, or be compensated by a small reduction 
 in its weight, and is a far less cost to the nation 
 than the loss of time and inconvenience which would 
 arise from a system of exchange or barter. t 
 
 (167.) These coins are liable to two inconveniences : 
 they may be manufactured privately by individuals, 
 of the same quality, and similarly stamped ; or 
 imitations may be made of inferior metal, or of dimi- 
 nished weight. The first of these inconveniences 
 would be easily remedied by making the current 
 value of the coin nearly equal to that of the same 
 weight of the metal ; and the second would be obviated 
 by the caution of individuals in examining the external 
 characters of each coin, and partly by the punishment 
 inflicted by the State on the perpetrators of such 
 frauds. 
 
 (168.) The subdivisions of money vary in dif- 
 ferent countries, and much time may be lost by 
 an inconvenient system of division. The effect is 
 felt in keeping extensive accounts, and particularly 
 in calculating the interest on loans, or the discount 
 upon bills of exchange. The decimal system is the 
 best adapted to facilitate all such calculations ; and it 
 becomes an interesting question to consider whether 
 our own currency might not be converted into one 
 decimally divided. The great step, that of abolishing 
 the guinea, has already been taken without any in- 
 convenience, and but little is now required to render 
 the change complete. 
 
 (169.) If, whenever it becomes necessary to call 
 
 
MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE. 125 
 
 in the half-crowns, a new coin of the value of two 
 shillings were issued, which should he called by some 
 name implying a unit (a Prince, for instance), we 
 should have the tenth part of a sovereign. A few 
 years after, when the public were familiar with this 
 coin, it might be divided into one hundred instead of 
 ninety-six; farthings ; and it would then consist of 
 twenty-five pence, each of which would be four per 
 cent, less in value than the former penny. The shil- 
 lings and sixpences being then withdrawn from circu- 
 lation, their place might be supplied with silver coins 
 each v*orth five of the new pence, and by others of 
 tenpence, and of twopence halfpenny ; the latter coin, 
 having a distinct name, would be the tenth part of a 
 Prince. 
 
 (170.) The various manufactured commodities, and 
 the various property possessed by the inhabitants of 
 a country, all become measured by the standard thus 
 introduced. But it must be observed that the value 
 of gold is itself variable ; and that, like all other ! 
 commodities, its price depends on the extent of 
 demand compared with that of the supply. 
 
 (171.) As transactions multiply, and the sums 
 to be paid become large, the actual transfer of the 
 precious metals from one individual to another is 
 attended with inconvenience and difficulty, and it 
 is found more convenient to substitute written pro- 
 mises to pay on demand specified quantities of gold. 
 These promises are called bank notes ; and when 
 the person or body issuing them is known to be 
 able to fulfil the pledge, the note will circulate for 
 a long time before it gets into the hands of any 
 person who may wish to make use of the gold it 
 
126 ON MONEY AS A 
 
 represents. These paper representatives supply the 
 place of a certain quantity of gold ; and, being much 
 cheaper, a large portion of the expense of a metallic 
 circulation is saved by their employment. 
 
 (172.) As commercial transactions increase, the 
 transfer of bank notes is, to a considerable extent, 
 superseded by shorter processes. Banks are esta- 
 blished, into which all monies are paid, and out of 
 which all payments are made, through written orders 
 called checks, drawn by those who keep accounts 
 with them. In a large capital, each bank receives, 
 through its numerous customers, checks payable by 
 every other ; and if clerks were sent round to re- 
 ceive the amount in bank-notes due from each, it 
 would occupy much time, and be attended with some 
 risk and inconvenience. 
 
 (173.) Clearing House. In London this is avoided, 
 by making all checks paid in to bankers pass through 
 what is technically called " The Clearing House." In 
 a large room in Lombard-street, about thirty clerks 
 from the several London bankers take their stations, 
 in alphabetical order, at desks placed round the room ; 
 each having a small open box by his side, and the 
 name of the firm to which he belongs in large charac- 
 ters -on the wall above his head. From time to time 
 other clerks from every house enter the room, and, 
 passing along, drop into the box the checks due by 
 that firm to the house from which this distributor is ' 
 sent. The clerk at, the table enters the amount of 
 ..the several checks in a book previously prepared, 
 under the name of the v bank to which they are res- 
 pectively due. 
 
 Four o'clock in the afternoon is the latest hour to 
 
MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE. 12? 
 
 which the boxes are open to receive checks ; and at a 
 few minutes before that time, some signs of increased 
 activity begin to appear in this previously quiet and 
 business-like scene. Numerous clerks then arrive, 
 anxious to distribute, up to the latest possible mo- 
 ment, the checks which have been paid into the 
 houses of their employers. 
 
 At four o'clock all the boxes are re^noved, and each 
 clerk adds up the amount "of the checks put into his 
 box and payable by his own to other houses. He 
 also receives another book from his own house, con- 
 taining the amounts of the checks which their distri- 
 buting clerk has put into the box of every other 
 banker. Having compared these, he writes out the 
 balances due to or from his own house, opposite the 
 name of each of the other banks ; and having verified 
 this statement by a comparison with the similar list 
 made by the clerks of those houses, he sends to his 
 own bank the general balance resulting from this 
 sheet, the amount of which, if it is due from that 
 to other houses, is sent back in bank notes. 
 
 At five o'clock the Inspector takes his seat ; when 
 each clerk, who has upon the result of all the trans- 
 actions a balance to pay to various other houses, 
 pays it to the inspector, who gives a ticket for the 
 amount. The clerks of those houses to whom 
 money is due, then receive the several sums from the 
 inspector, who takes from them a ticket for the 
 amount. Thus the whole of these payments are 
 made by a double system of balance, a very small 
 amount of bank notes passing from hand to hand, 
 and scarcely any coin. 
 
 (174.) It is difficult to form a satisfactory esti- 
 
128 ON MONEY AS A 
 
 mate of the sums which daily pass through this 
 operation : they fluctuate from two millions to per- 
 haps fifteen. About two millions and a half may 
 possibly be considered as something like an average, 
 requiring for its adjustment, perhaps, 200,000/. in 
 bank notes and 201. in specie. By an agreement 
 between the different bankers, all checks which have 
 the name of any firm written across them must pass 
 through the clearing-house : consequently, if any such 
 check should be lost, the firm on which it is drawn 
 would refuse to pay it at the counter ; a circumstance 
 which adds greatly to the convenience of commerce. 
 
 The advantage of this system is such, that two 
 meetings a day have been recently established one 
 at twelve, the other at three o'clock ; but the payment 
 of balances takes place once only, at five o'clock. 
 
 If all the private banks kept accounts with the 
 Bank of England, it would be possible to carry on 
 the whole of these transactions with a still smaller 
 quantity of circulating medium. 
 
 (175.) In reflecting on the facility with which 
 these vast transactions are accomplished sup- 
 posing, for the sake of argument, that they form 
 only the fourth part of the daily transactions of the 
 whole community it is impossible not to be struck 
 with the importance of interfering as little as possible 
 with their natural adjustment. Each payment indi- 
 cates a transfer of property made for the benefit of 
 both parties ; and if it were possible, which it is not, 
 to place, by legal or other means, some impediment 
 in the way which only amounted to one-eighth per 
 cent., such a species of friction would produce a use- 
 less expenditure of nearly four millions annually : a 
 
MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE. 129 
 
 circumstance which is deserving the attention of those 
 who doubt the good policy of the expense incurred 
 by using the precious metals for one portion of the 
 currency of the country. 
 
 (176.) One of the most obvious differences be- 
 tween a metallic and a paper circulation is, that 
 the coin can never, by any panic or national dan- 
 ger, be reduced below the value of bullion in other 
 civilized countries ; whilst a paper currency may, 
 from the action of such causes, totally lose its value. 
 Both metallic and paper money, it is true, may be 
 depreciated, but with very different effects. 
 
 1st. Depreciation of Coin. The state may issue 
 coin of the same nominal value, but containing .only 
 half the original quantity of gold, mixed with some 
 cheap alloy ; but every piece so issued bears about 
 with it internal evidence of the amount of the depre- 
 ciation : it is not necessary that every successive pro- 
 prietor should analyse the new coin ; but a few 
 having done so, its intrinsic worth becomes publicly 
 known. Of course the coin previously in circulation 
 is now more valuable as bullion, and quickly disap- 
 pears. All future purchases adjust themselves to the 
 new standard, and prices are quickly doubled; but 
 all past contracts also are vitiated, and all persons to 
 whom money is owing, if compelled to receive pay- 
 ment in the new coin, are robbed of one-half of 
 their debt, which is confiscated for the benefit of the 
 debtor. 
 
 2d. Depreciation of Paper. The depreciation of 
 paper money follows a different course. If, by any 
 act of the government paper is ordained to be a legal 
 tender for debts, and, at the same time, ceases to be 
 
 K 
 
1,30 ON MONEY AS A 
 
 exchangeable for coin, those who have occasion 
 to purchase of foreigners, who are not compelled 
 to take the notes, will make some of their payments 
 in gold ; and if the issue of paper, unchecked by the 
 power of demanding the gold it represents, be con- 
 tinued, the whole of the coin will soon disappear. But 
 the public, who are obliged to take the notes, are 
 unable, by any internal evidence, to detect the extent 
 of their depreciation ; it varies with the amount in 
 circulation, and may go on till the notes shall be 
 worth little more than the paper on which they are 
 printed. During the whole of this time every 
 creditor is suffering to an extent which he cannot 
 measure ; and every bargain is rendered uncertain 
 in its advantage, by the continually changing value 
 of the medium through which it is conducted. This 
 calamitous course has actually been run in several 
 countries : in France, it reached nearly its extreme 
 limit during the existence of assignats. We have 
 ourselves experienced some portion of the misery it 
 creates ; but by a return to sounder principles, have 
 happily escaped the destruction and ruin which always 
 attends the completion of that career. 
 
 (177.) Every person in a civilized country re- 
 quires, according to his station in life, the use of a 
 certain quantity of money, to make the ordinary , 
 purchases of the articles which he consumes. The 
 same individual pieces of coin, it is true, circulate 
 again and again, in the same district : the identical 
 piece of silver, received by the workman on Saturday 
 night, passing through the hands of the butcher, 
 the baker, and the small tradesman, is, perhaps, 
 given by the latter to the manufacturer in exchange 
 

 MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE. 131 
 
 for his check, and is again paid into the hands of the 
 workman at the end of the succeeding week. Any 
 deficiency in this supply of money is attended with 
 considerable inconvenience to all parties. If it 
 be only in the smaller coins, the first effect is a 
 difficulty in procuring small change ; then a dis- 
 position in the shop-keepers to refuse change unless 
 a purchase to a certain amount be made ; and, 
 finally, a premium in money will be given for chang- 
 ing the larger denominations of coin. 
 
 Thus money itself varies in price, when mea- 
 sured by other money in larger masses : and this 
 effect takes place whether the circulating medium is 
 metallic or of paper. These effects have constantly 
 occurred, and particularly during the late war ; and, 
 in order to relieve it, silver tokens for various sums 
 were issued by the Bank of England. 
 
 The inconvenience and loss arising from a defi- 
 ciency of small money fall with greatest weight on the 
 classes whose means are least ; for the wealthier 
 buyers can readily procure credit for their small 
 purchases, until their bill amounts to one of the larger 
 coins. 
 
 (178.) As money, when kept in a drawer, pro- 
 duces nothing, few people, in any situation of life, 
 will keep, either in coin or in notes, more than is 
 immediately necessary for their use ; when, therefore, 
 there are no profitable modes of employing money, a 
 superabundance of paper will return to the source 
 from whence it issued, and an excess of coin will 
 be converted into bullion and exported. 
 
 (179.) Since the worth of all property is mea- 
 sured by money, it is obviously conducive to the 
 
 K 2 
 
132 ON MONEY AS A 
 
 general welfare of the community that fluctuations 
 in its value should be rendered as small, and as 
 gradual as possible. 
 
 The evils which result from sudden changes in the 
 value of money will perhaps become more sensible, 
 if we trace their effects in particular instances. As- 
 suming, as we are quite at liberty to do, an extreme 
 case, let us suppose three persons, each possessing a 
 hundred pounds : one of these, a widow advanced in 
 years, and who, by the advice of her friends, purchases 
 with that sum an annuity of twenty pounds a year 
 during her life : and let the two others be workmen, 
 who, by industry and economy, have each saved a 
 hundred pounds out of their wages ; both these latter 
 persons proposing to procure machines for/calendering; 
 and to commence that business. One of these invests 
 his money in a Savings' Bank ; intending to make his 
 own calendering machine, and calculating that he ' 
 shall expend twenty pounds in materials, and the 
 remaining eighty in supporting himself and in pay- 
 ing the workmen who assist him in constructing it. I 
 The other workman, meeting with a machine which ; 
 he can buy for two hundred pounds, agrees to pay 
 for it a hundred pounds immediately, and the re- 
 mainder at the end of a twelvemonth. Let us 
 now imagine some alteration to take place in the 
 currency, by which it is depreciated one-half : prices 
 soon adjust themselves to the new circumstances, 
 and the annuity of the widow, though nominally of 
 the same amount, will, in reality, purchase only half 
 the quantity of the necessaries of life which it did 
 before. The workman who had placed his money in 
 the Savings' Bank, having perhaps purchased ten 
 
MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE. 133 
 
 pounds' worth of materials, and expended ten pounds 
 in labour applied to them, now finds himself, by this 
 alteration in the currency, possessed nominally of 
 eighty pounds, but in reality of a sum which will 
 purchase only half the labour and materials required 
 to finish his machine ; and he can neither complete 
 it, from want of capital, nor dispose of what he has 
 already done in its unfinished state for the price it has 
 cost him. In the mean time, the other workman, who 
 had incurred a debt of a hundred pounds in order to 
 complete the purchase of his calendering machine, 
 finds that the payments he receives for calendering, 
 have, like all other prices, doubled, in consequence of 
 the depreciation of the currency ; and he has therefore, 
 in fact, obtained his machine for one hundred and fifty 
 pounds. Thus, without any fault or imprudence, and 
 owing to circumstances over which they have no 
 control, the widow is reduced almost to starve ; one 
 workman is obliged to renounce, for several years, 
 his hope of becoming a master ; and another, with- 
 out any superior industry or skill, but, in fact, from 
 having made, with reference to his circumstances, 
 rather an imprudent bargain, finds himself unex- 
 pectedly relieved from half his debt, and the pos- 
 sessor of a valuable source of profit; whilst the former 
 owner of the machine, if he also has invested the 
 money arising from its sale in the Savings' Bank, 
 finds his property suddenly reduced one-half. 
 
 (180.) These evils, to a greater or less extent, at- 
 tend every change in the value of the currency ; and 
 the importance of preserving it as far as possible unal- 
 tered in value, cannot be too strongly impressed upon 
 all classes of the community. 
 
134 ON THE INFLUENCE OF 
 
 CHAP XV. 
 
 ON THE INFLUENCE OF VERIFICATION ON PRICE. 
 
 (181.) THE money price of an article at any given 
 period is usually stated to depend upon the proportion 
 between the supply and the demand. The average 
 price of the same article during a long period, is said 
 to depend, ultimately, on the power of producing and 
 selling it with the ordinary profits of capitaL But 
 these principles, although true in their general sense, 
 are yet so often modified by the influence of others, 
 that it becomes necessary to examine a little into the 
 ^disturbing forces. 
 
 (182.) With respect to the first of these propo- 
 sitions, it may be observed, that the cost of any article 
 to the purchaser includes, besides the ratio of the supply 
 to the demand, another element, which, though often of 
 little importance, is, in many cases, of great conse- 
 quence. The cost, to the purchaser, is the price he pays 
 for any article, added to the cost of verifying the fact 
 of its having that degree of goodness for which he con- 
 tracts. In some cases the goodness of the article is 
 evident on mere inspection : and in those cases there 
 is not much difference of price at different shops. 
 The goodness of loaf sugar, for instance, can be 
 discerned almost at a glance ; and the consequence 
 is, that the price is so uniform, and the profit upon 
 it so small, that no grocer is at all anxious to sell it ; 
 
VERIFICATION ON PRICE. 135 
 
 whilst, on the other hand, tea, of which it is exceed- 
 ingly difficult to judge, and which can be adulterated 
 by mixture so as to deceive the skill even of a 
 practised eye, has a great variety of different prices, 
 and is that article which every grocer is most anxious 
 to sell to his customers. 
 
 The difficulty and expense of verification are, in 
 some instances, so great, as to justify the deviation 
 from well-established principles. Thus it is a general 
 maxim that Government can purchase any article at a 
 cheaper rate than that at which they can manufacture 
 it themselves. But it has nevertheless been considered 
 more economical to build extensive flour-mills (such 
 are those at Deptford), and to grind their own corn, than 
 to verify each sack of purchased flour, and to employ 
 persons in devising methods of detecting the new modes 
 of adulteration which might be continually resorted to. 
 (183.) Some years since, a mode of preparing old 
 clover and trefoil seeds by a process called " doc- 
 toring " became so prevalent as to excite the attention 
 of the House of Commons. It appeared in evidence 
 before a committee, that the old seed of the white 
 clover was doctored by first wetting it slightly, and 
 then drying it with the fumes of burning sulphur; 
 and that the red clover seed had its colour improved 
 by shaking it in a sack with a small quantity of in- 
 digo; but this being detected after a time, the doctors 
 then used a preparation of logwood, fined by a little 
 \ copperas, and sometimes by verdigris ; thus at once 
 i improving the appearance of the old seed, and dimi- 
 nishing, if not destroying, its vegetative power already 
 enfeebled by age. Supposing no injury had resulted 
 to good seed so prepared, it was proved that from the 
 
136 ON THE INFLUENCE OF 
 
 improved appearance, the market price would be en- 
 hanced by this process from five to twenty-five 
 shillings a hundred- weight. But the greatest evil 
 arose from the circumstance of these processes ren- 
 dering old and worthless seed equal in appearance to 
 the best. One witness had tried some doctored seed, 
 and found that not above one grain in a hundred 
 grew, and that those which did vegetate died away 
 afterwards ; whilst about eighty or ninety per cent, 
 of good seed usually grows. The seed so treated 
 was sold to retail dealers in the country, who of 
 course endeavoured to purchase at the cheapest rate, 
 and from them it got into the hands of the farmers ; 
 neither of these classes being capable of distinguishing 
 the fraudulent from the genuine seed. Many culti- 
 vators, in consequence, diminished their consumption 
 of the article ; and others were obliged to pay a 
 higher price to those who had skill to distinguish the 
 mixed seed, and who had integrity and character to 
 prevent them from dealing in it. 
 
 (184.) In the Irish flax trade, a similar example 
 of the high price paid for verification occurs. It is 
 stated in the report of the committee " That the 
 " natural excellent quality of Irish flax, as contrasted 
 " with foreign or British, has been admitted." Yet 
 from the evidence before that committee it appears 
 that Irish flax sells, in the market, from Id. to 2d. 
 per pound less than other flax of equal or inferior 
 quality. Part of this difference of price arises from 
 negligence in its preparation, but a part also from the 
 expense of ascertaining that each parcel is free from 
 useless matter to add to its weight : this appears 
 from the evidence of Mr. J. Corry, who was, during 
 
VERIFICATION ON PRICE. 137 
 
 twenty-seven years, Secretary to the Irish Linen- 
 Board : 
 
 <l The owners of the flax, who are almost always people 
 in the lower classes of life, believe that they can best 
 " advance their own interests by imposing on the buyers. 
 " Flax being sold by weight, various expedients are used to 
 " increase it ; and every expedient is injurious, particularly 
 " the damping of it ; a very common practice, which makes 
 ' the flax afterwards heat. The inside of every bundle (and 
 " the bundles all vary in bulk) is often full of pebbles, or dirt 
 " of various kinds, to increase the weight. In this state it 
 " is purchased, and exported to Great Britain. The natural 
 " quality of Irish flax is admitted to be not inferior to that 
 " produced by any foreign country ; and yet the flax of every 
 " foreign country, imported into Great Britain, obtains a 
 " preference among the purchasers, because the foreign flax 
 " is brought to the British market in a cleaner and more 
 " regular state. The extent and value of the sales of 
 " foreign flax in Great Britain can be seen by reference to 
 " the public accounts; and I am induced to believe, that 
 " Ireland, by an adequate extension of her flax tillage, and 
 " having her flax markets brought under good regulations, 
 " could, without encroaching in the least degree upon the 
 *' quantity necessary for ber borne consumption, supply the 
 " whole of the demand of the British market, to the ex- 
 11 elusion of the foreigners." 
 
 (185.) The lace trade affords other examples; 
 and, in inquiring into the complaints made to the 
 House of Commons by the frame-work knitters, the 
 committee observe, that, "It is singular that the 
 " grievance most complained of one hundred and 
 ' c fifty years ago, should, in the present improved 
 " state of the trade, be the same grievance which 
 " is now most complained of: for it appears, by 
 " the evidence given before your committee, that aU 
 
138 ON THE INFLUENCE OF 
 
 " the witnesses attribute the decay of the trade more 
 " to the making of fraudulent and bad articles, than to 
 " the war, or to any other cause" And it is shewn 
 by the evidence, that a kind of lace called " single- 
 press" was manufactured, which, although good to 
 the eye, became nearly spoiled in washing by the 
 slipping of the threads ; that not one person in a 
 thousand could distinguish the difference between 
 "single-press" and "double-press lace;" and that, 
 even workmen and manufacturers were obliged to 
 employ a magnifying-glass for that purpose ; and 
 that, in another similar article, called " rvarp lace" 
 such aid was essential. It was also stated by one 
 witness, that 
 
 " The trade had not yet ceased, excepting in those places 
 " where the fraud had been discovered ; and from those 
 " places no orders are now sent for any sort of Nottingham 
 " lace, the credit being totally ruined." 
 
 (186.) In the stocking trade similar frauds have 
 been practised. It appeared in evidence, that stock- 
 ings were made of uniform width from the knee down 
 to the ankle, and being wetted and stretched on frames 
 at the calf, they retained their shape when dry ; but 
 that the purchaser could not discover the fraud until, 
 after the first washing, the stockings hung like bags 
 about his ankles. 
 
 (187.) In the watch trade the practice of deceit, in 
 forging the marks and names of respectable makers, 
 has been carried to a great extent both by natives 
 and foreigners ; and the effect upon our export trade 
 has been most injurious, as the following extract 
 from the evidence before a committee of the House of 
 Commons will prove : 
 
VERIFICATION ON PRICE. 139 
 
 " Question. How long have yon been in the trade? 
 
 " Answer. Nearly thirty years. 
 
 " Quest. The trade is at present much depressed? 
 
 " Am. Yes, sadly. 
 
 " Quest. What is your opinion of the cause of that 
 " distress ? 
 
 " Ans. I think it is owing to a number of watches that 
 " have been made so exceedingly bad that they will hardly 
 " look at them in the foreign markets ; all with a handsome 
 " outside show, and the works hardly fit for any thing. 
 
 " Quest. Do you mean to say, that all the watches made 
 " in this country are of that description ? 
 
 " Ans. No ; only a number which are made up by some 
 " of the Jews, and other low manufacturers. I recollect 
 " something of the sort years ago, of a fall-off of the East * 
 " India work, owing to there being a number of handsome 
 " looking watches sent out, for instance, with hands on and 
 " figures, as if they shewed seconds, and had not any work 
 " regular to shew the seconds : the hand went round, but it 
 " was not regular. 
 
 " Quest. They had no perfect movements? 
 
 " Ans. No, they had not; that was a long time since, 
 " and we had not any East India work for a long time 
 " afterwards." 
 
 In the home market, inferior but showy watches are 
 made at a cheap rate, which are not warranted by 
 the maker to go above half an hour ; about the time 
 occupied by the Jew pedlar in deluding his country 
 customer. 
 
 (188.) The practice, in retail linen-drapers' shops, 
 of calling certain articles yard-wide when the real 
 width is, perhaps, only seven-eighths or three-quarters, 
 arose at first from fraud, which being detected, custom 
 was pleaded in its defence : but the result is, that 
 the vender is constantly obliged to measure the width 
 
MO ON THE INFLUENCE OF 
 
 of his goods in the customer's presence. In all 
 these instances the object of the seller is to get a 
 higher price than his goods would really produce if 
 their quality were known ; and the purchaser, if not 
 himself a skilful judge (which rarely happens to be 
 the case), must pay some person, in the shape of an 
 additional money price, who has skill to distinguish, 
 and integrity to furnish, articles of the quality agreed 
 on. But as the confidence of persons in their own 
 judgment is usually great, large numbers will always 
 flock to the cheap dealer, who thus, attracting many 
 customers from the honest tradesman, obliges him to 
 charge a higher price for his judgment and character 
 than, without such competition, he could afford to do, 
 (189.) There are few things which the public are 
 less able to judge of than the quality of drugs ; and 
 when these are compounded into medicines it is 
 scarcely possible, even for medical men, to decide 
 whether pure or adulterated ingredients have been 
 employed. This circumstance, concurring with the 
 present injudicious mode of paying for medical assist- 
 ance, has produced a curious effect on the price of 
 medicines. Apothecaries, instead of being paid for 
 their services and skill, are remunerated by being 
 allowed to place a high charge upon their medicines, 
 which are confessedly of very small pecuniary value. 
 The effect of such a system is an inducement to 
 prescribe more medicine than is necessary ; and in 
 fact, even with the present charges, the apothecary, 
 in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, cannot be 
 fairly remunerated unless the patient either takes, or 
 pays for, more physic than he really requires. The 
 apparent extravagance of the charge of eighteeu-pence 
 
VERIFICATION ON PRICE. 141 
 
 for a two-ounce phial* of medicine, is obvious to 
 many who do not reflect on the fact that a great part 
 of the charge is, in reality, payment for the exercise 
 of professional skill. As the same charge is made by 
 the apothecary, whether he attends the patient or 
 merely prepares the prescription of a physician, the 
 chemist and druggist soon offered to furnish the same 
 commodity at a greatly diminished price. But the 
 eighteen-pence charged by the apothecary might have 
 been fairly divided into two parts, three-pence for 
 medicine and bottle, and fifteen-pence for attendance. 
 The chemist, therefore, who never attends his cus- 
 tomers, if he charges only a shilling for the same 
 medicine, realizes a profit of 200 or 300 per cent, 
 upon its value. This enormous profit has called into 
 existence a multitude of competitors ; and in this 
 instance the impossibility of verifying has, in a great 
 measure, counteracted the beneficial effects of com- * 
 petition. The general adulteration of drugs, even at 
 the extremely high price at which they are retailed as 
 medicine, enables those who are supposed to sell 
 them in an unadulterated state to make large profits, 
 whilst the same evil frequently disappoints the ex- 
 pectation, and defeats the skill, of the most eminent 
 physician. 
 
 It is difficult to point out a remedy for this evil 
 without suggesting an almost total change in the 
 system of medical practice. If the apothecary were 
 to charge for his visits, and to reduce his medicines 
 
 * Apothecaries frequently purchase these phials at the old 
 bottle-warehouses at ten shillings per gross ; so that when their 
 servant has washed them, the cost of the phial is nearly one 
 penny. 
 
142 ON THE INFLUENCE OF 
 
 to one-fourth or one-fifth of their present price, he 
 would still have an interest in procuring the best drugs, 
 for the sake of his own reputation or skill. Or if the 
 medical attendant, who is paid more highly for his 
 time, were to have several pupils, he might himself 
 supply the medicines without a specific charge, and his 
 pupils would derive improvement from compounding 
 them, as well as from examining the purity of the 
 drugs he would purchase. The public would gain 
 several advantages by this arrangement. In the 
 first place, it would be greatly for the interest of the 
 medicai practitioner to have the best drugs ; it would 
 be his interest also not to give more physic than 
 needful ; and it would enable him, through some of 
 his more advanced pupils, to watch more frequently 
 the changes of any malady. 
 
 (190.) There are many articles of hardware which 
 it is impossible for the purchaser to verify at the time 
 of purchase, or even afterwards, without defacing 
 them. Plated harness and coach furniture may be 
 adduced as examples : these are usually of wrought 
 iron covered with silver, owing their strength to the 
 one and a certain degree of permanent beauty to the ; 
 other metal. Both qualities are, occasionally, much 
 impaired by substituting cast for wrought iron, and 
 by plating with soft solder (tin and lead) instead of 
 with hard solder (silver and brass). The loss of 
 strength is the greatest evil in this case; for cast 
 iron, though made for this purpose more tough than 
 usual by careful annealing, is still much weaker than 
 wrought iron, and serious accidents often arise from 
 harness giving way. In plating with soft solder, 
 a very thin plate of silver is made to cover the 
 
VERIFICATION ON PRICE. 143 
 
 iron, but it is easily detached, particularly by a low 
 degree of heat. Hard soldering gives a better coat 
 of silver, which is very firmly attached, and is not 
 easily injured unless by a very high degree of heat. 
 The inferior can be made to look nearly as well as 
 the better article, and the purchaser can scarcely 
 discover the difference without cutting into it. 
 
 (191.) The principle that price, at any moment, 
 is dependent on the relation of the supply to the de- 
 mand, is true to the full extent only when the whole 
 supply is in the hands of a very large number of 
 small holders, and the demand is caused by the 
 wants of another set of persons, each of whom re- 
 quires only a very small quantity. And the reason 
 appears to be, that it is only in such circumstances 
 that a uniform average can be struck between the 
 feelings, the passions, the prejudices, the opinions, 
 and the knowledge, of both parties. If the supply, 
 or present stock in hand, be entirely in the possession 
 of one person, he will naturally endeavour to put 
 such a price upon it as shall produce by its sale the 
 greatest quantity of money ; but he will be guided 
 in this estimate of the price at which he will sell, both 
 by the knowledge that increased price will cause a 
 diminished consumption, and by the desire to realize 
 his profit before a new supply shall reach the market 
 from some other quarter. If, however, the same 
 stock is in the hands of several dealers, there will 
 be an immediate competition between them, arising 
 partly from their different views of the duration of 
 the present state of supply, and partly from their 
 own peculiar circumstances with respect to the em- 
 plpyment of their capital. 
 
144 ON THE INFLUENCE OF 
 
 (192.) The expense of ascertaining that the price 
 charged is that which is legally due is sometimes 
 considerable. The inconvenience which this veri- 
 fication produces in the case of parcels sent by 
 coaches is very great. The time lost in recovering 
 an overcharge generally amounts to so many times 
 the value of the sum recovered, that it is but rarely 
 resorted to. It seems worthy of consideration whether 
 it would not be a convenience to the public if Go- 
 vernment were to undertake the general conveyance 
 of parcels somewhat on the same system with that on 
 which the post is now conducted. The certainty of 
 their delivery, and the absence of all attempt at over- 
 charge, would render the prohibition of rival carriers 
 unnecessary. Perhaps an experiment might be made 
 on this subject by enlarging the weight allowed to be 
 sent by the two-penny post, and by conveying works 
 in sheets by the general post. 
 
 This latter suggestion would be of great import- 
 ance to literature, and consequently to the circulation 
 of knowledge. As the post office regulations stand 
 at present, it constantly happens that persons who 
 have an extensive reputation for science, receive by 
 post, from foreign countries, works, or parts of works, 
 for which they are obliged to pay a most extravagant 
 rate of postage, or else refuse to take in some interest- 
 ing communication. In France and Germany, printed 
 sheets of paper are forwarded by post at a very 
 moderate expense, and it is fit that the science and 
 literature of England should be equally favoured. 
 
 (193.) It is important, if possible, always to 
 connect the name of the workman with the work 
 he has executed : this secures for him the credit or 
 
/ 
 
 VERIFICATION ON 
 
 the blame he may justly deserve r and diminishes, in 
 some cases, the necessity of verification. The ex- 
 tent to which this is carried in literary works, pub- 
 lished in America, is remarkable. In the translation 
 of the Mecanique Cceleste, by Mr. Bowditch, not 
 merely the name of the printer, but also those of 
 the compositors, are mentioned in the work. 
 
 (194.) Again, if the commodity itself is of a 
 perishable nature, such, for example, as a cargo of 
 ice imported into the port of London from Norway a 
 few summers since, then time will supply the place 
 of competition ; and, whether the article is in the 
 possession of one or of many persons, it will scarcely 
 
 , reach a monopoly price. The history of cajeput oil 
 during the last few months, offers a curious illus- 
 tration of the effect of opinion upon price. In July 
 of last year (1831) cajeput oil was sold, exclusive of 
 duty, at Id. per ounce. The disease which had ra- 
 vaged the East was then supposed to be approach- 
 ing our shores, and its proximity created alarm. 
 
 ; At this period, the oil in question began to be much 
 talked of, as a powerful remedy in that dreadful 
 disorder ; and in September it rose to the price of 3s. 
 and 45. the ounce. In October there were few or 
 
 i no sales : but in the early part of November, the 
 speculations in this substance reached their height, 
 and between the 1st and the 15th it realized the fol- 
 lowing prices : 3s. 9d., 5s., 6s. 6d., Is. 6d., 8s., 9s., 
 
 * )0s., 10s. 6rf.. 11s. After the 15th of November, the 
 
 1 holders of cajeput oil were anxious to sell at much 
 lower ratfs ; and in December a fresh arrival was of- 
 fered by public sale at 5s., and withdrawn, being sold 
 afterwards, as it was understood, by private contract, 
 t 
 
146 VERIFICATION ON PRICE. 
 
 at 4s. or 4s. 6d. per oz. Since that time, Is. 6d. 
 and Is. have been realized ; and a fresh arrival, 
 which is daily expected, (March 1832) will probably 
 reduce it below the price of July. Now it is impor- 
 tant to notice, that in November, the time of greatest 
 speculation, the quantity in the market was held by 
 few persons, and that it frequently changed hands, 
 each holder being desirous to realize his profit. The 
 quantity imported since that time has also been con- 
 siderable.* 
 
 (195.) The effect of the equalization of price by 
 an increased number of dealers, may be observed in 
 the price of the various securities sold at the Stock 
 Exchange. The number of persons who deal in the 
 3 per cent, stock being large, any one desirous of 
 selling can always dispose of his stock at one-eighth 
 per cent, under the market price ; but those who 
 wish to dispose of bank stock, or of any other securi- 
 ties of more limited circulation, are obliged to make 
 a sacrifice of eight or ten times this amount upon 
 each hundred pounds value. 
 
 (196.) The frequent speculations in oil, tallow, and 
 other commodities, which must occur to the memory 
 of most of my readers, were always founded on the 
 principle of purchasing up all the stock on hand, and 
 agreeing for the purchase of the expected arrivals ; 
 thus proving the opinion of capitalists to be, that a 
 larger average price may be procured by the stock 
 being held by few persons. 
 
 * I have understood that the price of camphor, at the same 
 time, suffered similar changes 
 
INFLUENCE OF DURABILITY ON PRICE. 147 
 
 CHAP. XVL 
 
 ON THE INFLUENCE OF DURABILITY ON PRICF- 
 
 (197.) HAVING now considered the circumstances 
 that modify what may be called the momentary 
 amount of price, we must next examine a principle 
 which seems to have an effect on its permanent ave- / 
 rage. The durability of any commodity influences itefc 
 cost in a permanent manner. We have already stated i 
 that what may be called the momentary price of any) 
 commodity depends upon the proportion existing 
 between the supply and demand, and also upon the 
 cost of verification. The average price, during a 
 long period, will depend upon the labour required for ; 
 producing and bringing it to market, as well as upon 
 the average supply and demand ; but it will also be 
 influenced by the durability of the article manufac- 
 tured, 
 
 Many things in common use are substantially con- 
 sumed in using: a phosphorus match, articles of food, 
 and a cigar, are examples of this description. Some 
 things after use become inapplicable to their former 
 purposes, as paper which has been printed upon: 
 but it is yet available for the cheesemonger or the 
 trunk-maker. Some articles, as pens, are quickly 
 worn out by use ; and some are still valuable after 
 a long continued wear. There are others, few per- 
 haps in number, which never wear out ; the harder 
 
 L2 
 
148 ON THE INFLUENCE OF 
 
 precious stones, when well cut and polished, are 
 of this latter class : the fashion of the gold or silver 
 mounting in which they are set may vary with the 
 taste of the age, and such ornaments are constantly 
 exposed for sale as second-hand, but the gems them- 
 selves, when removed from their supports, are never 
 so considered. A brilliant which has successively 
 graced the necks of a hundred beauties, or glittered 
 for a century upon patrician brows, is weighed by 
 the diamond merchant in the same scale with ano- 
 ther which has just escaped from the wheel of the 
 lapidary, and will be purchased or sold by him at 
 the same price per carat. The great mass of com- 
 / modities is intermediate in its character between 
 these two extremes, and the periods of respective 
 duration are very various. It is evident that the 
 average price of those things which are consumed in 
 the act of using them, can never be less than that 
 of the labour of bringing them to market. They may 
 for a short time be sold for less, but under such cir- 
 cumstances their production must soon cease alto- 
 gether. On the other hand, if an article never wears 
 out, its price may continue permanently below the 
 cost of the labour expended in producing it; and 
 the only consequence will be, that no further pro- 
 duction will take place : its price will continue to be 
 regulated by the relation of the supply to the demand ; 
 and should that at any after time rise, for a consi- 
 derable period, above the cost of production, it will 
 be again produced. 
 
 J (198.) Articles become old from actual decay, or 
 
 * the wearing out of their parts ; from improved modes 
 
 oijconstruc.ting them ; or from changes in theiFform 
 
DURABILITY ON PRICE. 149 
 
 and fashion, required by the varying taste of the age. 
 fiTlihe two latter cases, their utility is but little 
 diminished; and, being less sought after by those .,.. 
 who have hitherto employed them, they are sold at 
 a reduced price to a class of society rather below that 
 of their former possessors. Many articles of furni- 
 ture, such as well-made tables and chairs, are thus 
 found in the rooms of those who would have been 
 quite unable to have purchased them when new ; and 
 we find constantly, even in the houses of the more 
 opulent, large looking-glasses which have passed 
 successively through the hands of several possessors, 
 changing only the fashion of their frames ; and in 
 some instances even this alteration is omitted, an 
 additional coat of gilding saving them from the 
 character of being second-hand. Thus a taste foj: 
 luxuries is propagated downwards in society j_ anj, 
 after a short period, the numbers who have acquired 
 new wants become sufficient to excite the ingenuity 
 ottn'e manufacturer!^ reduce the cost of supplying 
 them, whilst he is himself benefited by the extended 
 
 scale of demand. 1 
 
 (199.) There is a peculiarity in looking-glasses 
 with reference to the principle just mentioned. The 
 most frequent occasion of injury to them arises from 
 accidental violence ; and the peculiarity is, that, 
 unlike most other articles, when broken they are still 
 of some value. If a large mirror is accidentally 
 cracked, it is immediately cut into two or more 
 smaller ones, each of which may be perfect. If the 
 degree of violence is so great as to break it into many 
 fragments, these smaller pieces may be cut into 
 squares for dressing-glasses ; and if the silvering is 
 
150 ON THE INFLUENCE OF 
 
 injured, it can either be re-silvered or used as plate- 
 glass for glazing windows. The addition from our 
 manufactories to the stock of plate-glass in the 
 country is annually about two hundred and fifty 
 thousand square feet. It would be very difficult to 
 estimate the quantity annually destroyed or exported, 
 but it is probably small ; and the effect of these 
 continual additions is seen in the diminished price 
 and increased consumption of the article. Almost 
 all the better order of shop fronts are now glazed 
 with it. If it were quite indestructible, the price 
 would continually diminish ; and unless an increased 
 demand arose from new uses, or from a greater num- 
 ber of customers, a single manufactory, unchecked 
 by competition, would ultimately be compelled to 
 shut up, driven out of the market by the permanence 
 of its own productions. 
 
 (200.) The metals are in some degree permanent, 
 although several of them are employed in such forms 
 that they are ultimately lost. 
 
 Copper is a metal of which a great proportion re- 
 turns to use : a part of that employed in sheathing 
 ships and covering houses is lost from corrosion ; but 
 the rest is generally re-melted. Some is lost in small 
 brass articles, and some is consumed in the formation 
 of salts, Roman vitriol (sulphate of copper), verdigris 
 (acetate of copper), and verditer. 
 
 Gold is wasted in gilding and in embroidering , 
 but a portion of this is recovered by burning the old 
 articles. Some portion is lost by the wear of gold, 
 but, upon the whole, it possesses considerable per- 
 manence. 
 
 Iron. A proportion of this metal is wasted by 
 
DURABILITY ON PRICE. 151 
 
 oxidation, in small nails, in fine wire ; by the wear 
 of tools, and of the tire of wheels, and by the forma- 
 tion of some dyes : but much, both of cast and of 
 wrought Iron, returns to use. 
 
 Lead is wasted in great quantities. Some por- 
 tion of that which is used in pipes and in sheets 
 for covering roofs returns to the melting-pot ; but 
 large quantities are consumed in the form of small 
 shot, or sometimes in that of musket-balls, litharge, 
 and red-lead, for white and red paints, for glass- 
 making, for glazing pottery, and for sugar of lead 
 (acetate of lead). 
 
 Silver is rather a permanent metal. Some portion 
 is consumed in the wear of coin, in that of silver 
 plate, and a portion in silvering and embroidering. 
 
 Tin. The chief waste of this metal arises from 
 tinned iron ; some is lost in solder and in solutions 
 for the dyers. 
 
152 CP PRICE 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 OF PRICE AS MEASURED BY MONEY. 
 
 (201.) THE money price at which an article sells 
 furnishes us with comparatively little information 
 respecting its value, if we compare distant intervals 
 of time and different countries ; for gold and silver, 
 in which price is usually measured, are themselves 
 suhject, like all other commodities, to changes in 
 value ; nor is there any standard to which these varia- 
 tions can he referred. The average price of a certain 
 quality of different manufactured articles, or of raw 
 produce, has been suggested as a standard ; but a 
 new difficulty then presents itself; for the improved 
 methods of producing such articles render their 
 money price extremely variable within very limited 
 periods. The annexed table will afford a striking 
 instance of this kind of change within a period of 
 only twelve years. 
 
AS MEASURED BY MONEY. 
 
 153 
 
 Prices of the following Articles at Birmingham, in the 
 undermentioned Years. 
 
 DESCRIPTION. 
 
 1818. 
 
 1824. 
 
 1828. 
 
 1830. 
 
 
 s. d. 
 25 
 
 *. d. 
 
 20 
 
 s. d. 
 16 
 
 s. d. 
 13 
 
 Awls, polished, Liverpool gross 
 Bed-screws, 6 inches long gross 
 Bits, tinned, for bridles . doz. 
 Bolts for doors, 6 inches doz. 
 Braces for carpenters, ) 
 with 12 bits > " 
 
 2 6 
 18 
 5 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 15 
 5 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 1 6 
 6 
 3 3 
 2 3 
 
 4 2 
 
 1 2 
 5 
 2 6 
 1 6 
 
 3 5 
 
 
 4 6 
 
 6 3 
 
 3 
 
 2 2 
 
 Buttons, small, for waist- ") sg 
 
 2 6 
 
 2 
 
 1 2 
 
 8 
 
 Candlesticks, 6 in., brass pair 
 Curry-combs, six barred doz. 
 
 2 11 
 2 9 
 25 
 
 2 
 2 6 
 21 
 
 1 7 
 1 5 
 18 
 
 1 2 
 11 
 16 
 
 Gun-locks, single rol-) each 
 ler ) 
 
 6 
 
 5 2 
 
 1 10 
 
 1 6 
 
 Hammers, shoe, No. O . doz. 
 Hinges, cast-butts, 1 inch doz. 
 Knobs, brass, 2 inches) ^ oz 
 for commodes / 
 Latches for doors, bright ) ^ 
 
 6 9 
 10 
 
 4 
 2 3 
 
 3 9 
 
 7 
 
 3 6 
 2 2 
 
 3 
 
 3| 
 
 1 6 
 1 
 
 2 9 
 2| 
 
 1 2 
 9 
 
 Locks for doors, iron ) , 
 
 38 
 
 32 
 
 15 
 
 13 6 
 
 Sad-irons & other cast- ) t 
 
 22 6 
 
 20 
 
 14 
 
 11 6 
 
 Shovel & tongs, fire-irons, pair 
 Spoons, tinned table .... gross 
 
 1 
 17 6 
 
 4 6 
 
 1 
 15 
 3 9 
 
 9 
 10 
 1 6 
 
 6 
 7 
 1 1 
 
 
 28 
 
 25 
 
 19 6 
 
 16 6 
 
 Trays, japanned tea, 30 ) each 
 
 4 6 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 1 5 
 
 Vices for blacksmiths, &c. cwt 
 
 30 
 1 10 
 
 28 
 1 4 
 
 22 
 1 
 
 19 6 
 9 
 
 iron No 6 bunc 
 
 16 
 
 13 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (202.) I have taken some pains to assure myself 
 of the accuracy of the above table : at different periods 
 of the years quoted the prices may have varied ; but 
 
154 
 
 I believe it may be considered as a fair approxima- 
 tion. In the course of my inquiries I have been 
 favoured with another list, in which many of the 
 same articles occur; but in this last instance the 
 prices quoted are separated by an interval of twenty 
 years. It is extracted from the books of a highly 
 respectable house at Birmingham ; and the prices 
 confirm the accuracy of the former table, so far as 
 they relate to the articles which are found in that list. 
 
 Prices of 1812 and 1832. 
 
 DESCRIPTION. 
 
 1812. 
 
 1832. 
 
 Reduction 
 per cent. in 
 price of 
 1812. 
 
 
 s. d. 
 25 
 
 s. d. 
 14 
 
 44 
 
 Awls, Liverpool blades . . . gross 
 Candlesticks, iron, plain . . 
 
 3 6 
 3 10} 
 6 4 
 
 1 
 2 34 
 3 9 
 
 71 
 41 
 41 
 
 Bed screws, 6 inch ) 
 square head J ' ' % 
 
 7 6 
 8 6 
 
 4 6 
 4 8 
 
 40 
 
 45 
 
 Curry-combs, 6 barred . . dozen 
 
 4 
 5 5i 
 
 1 
 1 5 
 
 75 
 74 
 
 mtont fi ) 
 
 
 
 
 barred ..' P . .'. J ' dozen 
 
 7 14 
 
 1 5 
 
 80 
 
 
 Q R3 
 
 1 10 
 
 70 
 
 Fire-irons, iron head, No. 1. . . . 
 No 
 
 1 4i 
 1 6 
 
 7f 
 
 S 1 
 
 53 
 53 
 
 No 3 
 
 1 81 
 
 o 94 
 
 53 
 
 , NO 1 
 
 1 4 
 
 1 IfU 
 
 o 104 
 
 53 
 
 Gun-locks, single roller . . . each 
 Locks, 1 brass, port. pad. . . 
 , 24 inch 3 keyed till-locks,each 
 
 In fcO Oi <! I- 
 
 O bO O 10 C 
 
 1 11 
 
 2 6 
 9 
 2 
 
 73 
 85 
 65 
 60 
 
 Spoons, tinned, iron table . gross 
 Stirrups, com. tinned, ) 
 2 bar 1 ' dozen 
 
 22 6 
 7 
 
 7 
 2 9 
 
 69 
 61 
 
 Trace-chains, iron cwt, . 
 
 46 94 
 
 15 
 
 68 
 
AS MEASURED BY MONEY. 
 
 155 
 
 Prices of the principal Materials, used in Mines in 
 
 Cornwall, at different periods.* 
 (ALL DELIVERED AT THE MINES.) 
 
 DESCRIPTION. 
 
 1800. 
 
 1810. 
 
 1820. 
 
 1830. 
 
 1832. 
 
 y 
 Coals wey . . 
 Timber (balk) . . foot . . 
 
 s. d. 
 81 7 
 2 
 3 3 
 66 
 20 6 
 16 
 16&17 
 114 2 
 9 3 
 72 
 2 4 
 
 32 6 
 
 s. d. 
 85 5 
 4 
 3 
 84 
 14 6 
 
 17&18 
 117 6 
 10 
 84 
 2 3 
 
 28 6 
 
 s. d. 
 53 4 
 1 5 
 3 6 
 48 6 
 11 
 15 
 12&15 
 68 
 8 9 
 65 8 
 2 4 
 50 
 22 
 
 s. d. 
 51 
 1 
 3 3 
 40 
 7 
 8 
 6 6 
 52 6 
 5 11 
 52 6 
 2 2 
 44 
 17 
 
 s. d. 
 40 
 10 
 
 40 
 6 6 
 6 6 
 6 10 
 49 
 4 10 
 43 
 2 1 
 38 
 16 6 
 
 Ropes cwt. . 
 
 Iron, (common bar) cwt. . 
 Common castings cwt. . 
 
 Gunpowder. . . . lOOlbs. 
 
 Tallow cwt. . 
 
 Leather Ib. . . 
 Blistered steel . . cwt. . 
 2s. nails cwt. . 
 
 
 (203.) I cannot omit availing myself of this oppor- 
 tunity of calling the attention of the manufacturers, 
 merchants, and factors, in all our manufacturing and 
 commercial towns, to the great importance, both for 
 their own interests, and for that of the population 
 to which their capital gives employment, of collecting 
 with care such averages from the actual sales regis- 
 tered in their hooks. Nor, perhaps, would it he 
 without its use to suggest, that such averages would 
 be still more valuable if collected from as many 
 different quarters as possible ; that the quantity 
 of the goods from which they are deduced, together 
 with the greatest deviations from the mean, ought to 
 be given ; and that if a small committee were to 
 undertake the task, it would give great additional 
 
 * I am indebted to Mr. John Taylor for this interesting table. 
 
156 OF PRICE 
 
 weight to the information. Political economists have 
 been reproached with too small a use of facts, and 
 too large an employment of theory. If facts are 
 wanting, let it be remembered that the closet-philo- 
 sopher is unfortunately too little acquainted with the 
 admirable arrangements of the factory ; and that no 
 class of persons can supply so readily, and with 
 so little sacrifice of time, the data on which all the 
 reasonings of political economists are founded, as the 
 merchant and manufacturer ; and, unquestionably, to 
 no class are the deductions to which they give rise 
 so important. Nor let it be feared that erroneous 
 deductions may be made from such recorded facts : 
 the errors which arise from the absence of facts are 
 far more numerous and more durable than those which 
 result from unsound reasoning respecting true data. 
 
 (204.) The great diminution in price of the articles 
 here enumerated may have arisen from several causes : 
 1. The alteration in the value of the currency. 2. The 
 increased value of gold in consequence of the in- 
 creased demand for coin. The first of these causes 
 may have had some influence ; and the second may 
 have had a very small effect upon the two first quota- 
 tions of prices, but none at all upon the two latter 
 ones. 3. The diminished rate of profit produced by 
 capital however employed. This may be estimated by 
 the average price of three per cents, at the periods 
 stated. 4. The diminished price of the raw materials 
 out of which these articles were manufactured. The 
 raw material is principally brass and iron, and the 
 reduction upon it may, in some measure, be esti- 
 mated by the diminished price of iron and brass wire, 
 in the cost of which articles, the labour bears a less 
 
AS MEASURED BY MONEY. 
 
 157 
 
 proportion than it does in many of the others. 5. The 
 smaller quantity of raw material employed, and perhaps, 
 in some instances, an inferior quality of workmanship. 
 6. The improved means by which the same effect was 
 produced by diminished labour. 
 
 (205.) In order to afford the means of estimating 
 the influence of these several causes, the following 
 tahle is subjoined : 
 
 Average Price of 
 
 1812. 
 
 1818. 
 
 1824. 
 
 1828. 
 
 1830. 
 
 1832. 
 
 Gold, per oz 
 
 .v. d. 
 4 15 6 
 
 5. d. 
 400 
 
 s. d. 
 317 6% 
 
 .v. d 
 3 17 7 
 
 s. a 
 3 17 9 
 
 .9. d. 
 
 3 17 10i 
 
 Value of currency,? 
 per cent 3 
 
 79 5 3 
 
 97 10 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 Price of 3 per cent- 1 
 
 59| 
 
 7*1 
 
 93! 
 
 86 
 
 89| 
 
 82 
 
 Wheat per quarter . 
 
 650 
 
 4 1 
 
 3 2 1 
 
 3 11 10 
 
 3 14 6 
 
 2 19 3 
 
 English pig-iron, at? 
 Birmingham . . 3 
 
 7 10 
 
 676 
 
 6 10 
 
 5 10 
 
 4 10 
 
 
 
 English bar-iron, do. 
 
 .. 
 
 16 10 
 
 9 10 
 
 7 15 
 
 600 
 
 500 
 
 Swedish bar iron, in - 
 London, exclud-l 
 ing duty of fromV 
 41. to 61. IQs. perk 
 ton * 
 
 16 10 
 
 17 10 
 
 MOO 
 
 14 10 
 
 3 15 
 
 320 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 j 
 
 As this table, if unaccompanied by any expla- 
 nation, might possibly lead to erroneous conclu- 
 sions, I subjoin the following observations, for which 
 I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Tooke, who 
 may yet, I hope, be induced to continue his valuable 
 work on High and Low Prices, through the important 
 period which has elapsed since its publication. 
 
 "The table commences with 1812, and exhibits a 
 great falling off in the price of wheat and iron coin- 
 cidently with a fall in the price of gold, and leading 
 to the inference of cause and effect. Now, as regards 
 wheat, it so happened that in 1812 it reached ito 
 
158 OB PRICE 
 
 highest price in consequence of a series of bad 
 harvests, when relief by importation was difficult and 
 enormously expensive. In December, 1813, whilst 
 the price of gold had risen to 51., the price of wheat 
 had fallen to 73s., or 50 per cent, under what it had 
 been in the spring of 1812 ; proving clearly that the 
 two articles were under the influence of opposite 
 causes. 
 
 "Again, in 1812, the freight and insurance on 
 Swedish iron were so much higher than at present 
 as to account for nearly the whole of the difference of 
 price: and in 1818 there had been an extensive 
 speculation which had raised the price of all iron, so 
 that a part of the subsequent decline was a mere 
 reaction from a previously unfounded elevation. 
 More recently, in 1825, there was a great spe- 
 culative rise in the article, which served as a strong 
 stimulus to increased production : this, aided by 
 improved power of machinery, has proceeded to 
 such an extent as fully to account for the fall of 
 price." 
 
 To these reflections I will only add, that the result 
 of my own observation leads me to believe that by 
 far the most^ influential of these causes has been the 
 invention of cheaper modes of manufacturing. The 
 extent to which this can be carried, while a profit can 
 yet be realized at the reduced price, is truly astonish- 
 ing, as the following fact, which rests on good autho- 
 rity, will prove. Twenty years since, a brass knob 
 for the locks of doors was made at Birmingham ; the 
 price, at that time, being 13s. 4d. per dozen. The 
 same article is now manufactured, having the same 
 weight of metal, and an equal, or in fact a slightly 
 
MEASURED BY MONEY. 
 
 159 
 
 superior finish, at Is. 9$d. per dozen. One cir- 
 cumstance which has produced this economy in 
 ihe manufacture is, that the lathe on which these 
 knobs are finished is now turned by a steam- 
 engine ; so that the workman, relieved from that 
 labour, can make them twenty times as fast as he ; 
 did formerly. 
 
 (206.) The difference of price of the same article, 
 when of various dimensions at different periods in 
 the same country and in different countries is 
 curiously contrasted in the annexed Table. 
 
 Comparative Price of Plate Glass, at the Manufactories of 
 London, Paris, Berlin, and Petersburg. 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 PARIS. 
 
 BERLIN. 
 
 PETERS- 
 BURG. 
 
 i 
 
 5 
 
 1771. 
 
 1794. 
 
 1832. 
 
 1825. 
 
 1835. 
 
 1828. 
 
 1825. 
 
 flMJll. 
 
 Inch. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s.d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 s. d. 
 
 > s. d. 
 
 3. d. 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 10 3 
 
 10 l| 17 6 
 
 087 
 
 076 
 
 8 11 
 
 4 10 
 
 30 
 
 20 
 
 1 14 6 
 
 232 
 
 2 6 10 
 
 1 16 10 
 
 1 7 10 
 
 1 10 6 
 
 1 2 10 
 
 50 
 
 SO 
 
 24 2 4 
 
 11 5 
 
 6 12 10 
 
 905 
 
 503 
 
 8 13 
 
 5 15 
 
 60 
 
 40 
 
 67 14 10 
 
 27 
 
 13 9 6 
 
 22 7 5 
 
 10 4 3 
 
 21 18 
 
 12 9 
 
 16 
 
 40 
 
 , 
 
 13 6 
 
 19 2 9 
 
 36 4 5 
 
 14 17 5 
 
 35 2 11 
 
 17 5 
 
 90 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 84 8 
 
 34 12 9 
 
 71 3 8 
 
 28 13 4 
 
 
 33 18 7 
 
 '100 
 
 75 
 
 
 275 
 
 74 5 10 
 
 210 13 3 
 
 70 9 7 
 
 
 
 120 
 
 75 
 
 
 
 97 15 9 
 
 354 3 2 
 
 98 3 10 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The price of silvering these plates is twenty per cent, 
 on the cost price for English glass ; ten per cent, on 
 the cost price for Paris plates ; and twelve and a half 
 on those of Berlin. 
 
 The following table shews the dimensions and 
 price, when silvered, of the largest plates of glass 
 
160 
 
 OF rmcE 
 
 ever made by the British Plate- Glass Company, 
 which are now at their warehouse in London : 
 
 Height 
 
 Breadth. 
 
 Price when silvered. 
 
 AMitt. 
 
 132 
 146 
 149 
 151 
 160 
 
 IckM. 
 
 84 
 81 
 84 
 83 
 
 80 
 
 s. rf. 
 200 8 
 220 7 
 239 1 6 
 239 10 7 
 246 15 4 
 
 The prices of the largest glass in the Paris lists 
 when silvered, and reduced to English measure, were, 
 
 Year. 
 
 Inches. Inches. 
 
 Price when silvered. 
 
 1825 
 1835 
 
 [128 80 
 128 80 
 
 s. d. 
 629 12 
 136 19 
 
 (207.) If we wish to compare the value of any 
 article at different periods of time, it is clear that 
 neither any one substance, nor even the combination 
 of all manufactured goods, can furnish us with an 
 invariable unit by which to form our scale of estima- 
 tion. Mr. Malthus has proposed for this purpose to 
 consider a day's labour of an agricultural labourer, 
 as the unit to which all value should be referred. 
 Thus, if we wish to compare the value of twenty yards 
 of broad cloth in Saxony at the present time, with 
 that of the same kind and quantity of cloth fabricated 
 in England two centuries ago, we must find the 
 number of days' labour the cloth would have purchased 
 in England at the time mentioned, and compare it 
 with the number of days' labour which the same 
 quantity of cloth will now purchase in Saxony. 
 Agricultural labour appears to have been selected, 
 ?>ecause it exists in all countries, and employs a large 
 
AS MEASURED BY MONEY. 161 
 
 number of persons, and also because it requires a 
 very small degree of previous instruction. It seems, 
 in fact, to be merely the exertion of a man's physical 
 force ; and its value above that of a machine of equal 
 power arises from its portability, and from the facility 
 of directing its efforts to arbitrary and continually 
 fluctuating purposes. It may perhaps be worthy of 
 inquiry, whether a more constant average might not 
 be deduced from combining with this species of 
 labour those trades which require but a moderate 
 exertion of skill, and which likewise exist in all 
 civilized countries, such as those of the blacksmith 
 and carpenter, &c.* In all such comparisons there 
 is, however, another element, which, though not 
 essentially necessary, will yet add much to our means 
 of judging. It is an estimate of the quantity of that 
 food on which the labourer usually subsists, which is 
 necessary for his daily support, compared with the 
 quantity which his daily wages will purchase. 
 
 (208.) The existence of a class of middle-men, 
 between small producers and merchants, is frequently 
 advantageous to both parties ; and there are certain 
 periods in the history of several manufactures which 
 naturally call that class of traders into existence. 
 There are also times when the advantage ceasing, the 
 custom of employing them also terminates ; the 
 middle-men, especially when numerous, as they some- 
 times are in retail trades, enhancing the price with- 
 out equivalent good. Thus, in the recent examination 
 
 * Much information for such an inquiry is to be found, for 
 the particular period to which it refers, in the Report of the 
 Committee of the House of Commons on Manufacturers' Employ- 
 ment, Id July, 1830. 
 
 M 
 
162 OF PRICE AS MEASURED BY MONEY. 
 
 by the House of Commons into the state of the Coal 
 Trade, it appears that five-sixths of the London 
 public is supplied by a class of middle-men who are 
 called in the trade " Brass-plate Coal-Merchants :" 
 these consist principally of merchants' clerks, gen- 
 tlemen's servants, and others, who have no wharfs of 
 their own, but merely give their orders to some true 
 coal-merchant, who sends in the coals from his 
 wharf : the brass-plate coal-merchant, of course, re- 
 ceiving a commission for his agency. 
 
 (209.) In Italy this system is carried to a great 
 extent amongst the Bjijturiers, or persons who under- 
 take to convey travellers. There are some possessed 
 of greater fluency and a more persuasive manner, who 
 frequent the inns where the English resort, and who, 
 as soon as they have made a bargain for the convey- 
 ance of a traveller, go out amongst their countrymen 
 and procure some other voiturier to do the job for a 
 considerably smaller sum, themselves pocketing the 
 difference. A short time before the day of starting, 
 the contractor appears before his customer in great dis- 
 tress, regretting his inability to perform the journey 
 on account of the dangerous illness of a mother or some 
 relative, and requesting to have his cousin or brother 
 substituted for him. The English traveller rarely 
 fails to acquiesce in this change, and often praises 
 the filial piety of the rogue who has deceived him. 
 
OF RAW MATERIALS. 163 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 OF RAW MATERIALS. 
 
 (210.) ALTHOUGH the cost of any article may be 
 reduced in its ultimate analysis to the quantity of 
 ' labour by which it was produced ; yet it is usual, in a 
 certain state of the manufacture of most substances, 
 to call them by the term raw material. Thus iron, 
 when reduced from the ore and rendered malleable, 
 is in a state fitted for application to a multitude of 
 useful purposes, and is the raw material out of which 
 most of our tools are made. In this stage of its 
 manufacture, but a moderate quantity of labour has 
 been expended on the substance ; and it becomes an 
 interesting subject to trace the various proportions in 
 which raw material, in this sense of the term, and 
 labour unite to constitute the value of many of the 
 productions of the arts. 
 
 (211 .) Gold-leaf consists of a portion of the metal 
 beaten out to so great a degree of thinness, as to 
 allow a greenish-blue light to be transmitted through 
 its pores. About 400 square inches of this are sold, 
 in the form of a small book containing 25 leaves of 
 gold, for Is. 6d. In this case, the raw material, or 
 gold, is worth rather less than two-thirds of the 
 manufactured article. In the case of silver leaf, the 
 labour considerably exceeds the value of the material. 
 A book of fifty leaves, which would cover above 
 * 000 square inches, is sold for Is. 3d. 
 M 2 
 
164 
 
 OF RAW MATERIALS. 
 
 (212.) We may trace the relative influence of the 
 two causes above referred to, in the prices of fine gold 
 chains made at Venice. The sizes of these chains are 
 known by numbers, the smallest having been (in 1828) 
 No. 1, and the numbers 2, 3, 4, &c. progressively 
 increasing in size. The following Table shews the 
 numbers and the prices of those made at that time.* 
 The first column gives the number by which the 
 chain is known ; the second expresses the weight in 
 grains of one inch in length of each chain ; the third 
 column the number of links in the same length ; and 
 the last expresses the price, in francs worth ten- 
 pence each, of a Venetian braccio, or about two 
 English feet of each chain. 
 
 VENETIAN GOLD CHAINS. 
 
 No. 
 
 Weight of 
 One Inch, in Grains. 
 
 Number of Links 
 in One Inch. 
 
 Price of a Venetian 
 Braccio, equal to 
 Two Feet Inch 
 English. 
 
 
 
 .44 
 
 98 to IOC 
 
 60 francs. 
 
 1 
 
 .56 
 
 92 
 
 40 
 
 U 
 
 .77 
 
 88 
 
 26 
 
 2 
 
 .99 
 
 84 
 
 20 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 1.46 
 1.61 
 
 72 
 64 
 
 20 
 21 
 
 5 
 
 2.09 
 
 64 
 
 23 
 
 6 
 
 2.61 
 
 60 
 
 24 
 
 7 
 
 3.36 
 
 56 
 
 27 
 
 8 
 
 3.65 
 
 re 
 
 29 
 
 9 
 
 3.72 
 
 56 
 
 32 
 
 10 
 
 5.35 
 
 50 
 
 34 
 
 24 
 
 9.71 
 
 32 
 
 60 
 
 A still finer chain is now manufactured (18-32). 
 
OF RAW MATERIALS. 165 
 
 Amongst these chains, that numbered and that 
 numbered 24 are exactly of the same price, although 
 the quantity of gold in the latter is twenty-two 
 times as much as in the former. The difficulty 
 of making the smallest chain is so great, that the 
 women who make it cannot work above two hours 
 at a time. As we advance from the smaller chain, 
 the proportionate value of the work to the worth 
 of the material becomes less and less, until at the 
 numbers 2 and 3, these two elements of cost balance 
 each other : after which, the difficulty of the work 
 decreases, and the value of the material increases. 
 
 (213.) The quantity of labour expended on these 
 chains is, however, incomparably less than that which 
 is applied in some of the manufactures of iron. In 
 the case of the smallest Venetian chain the value of 
 the labour is not above thirty times that of the gold. 
 The pendulum spring of a watch, which governs the 
 vibrations of the balance, costs at the retail price 
 two-pence, and weighs fifteen one-hundredths of a 
 grain, w r hilst the retail price of a pound of the best 
 iron, the raw material out of which fifty thousand 
 such springs are made, is exactly the same sum of 
 two pence. 
 
 (214.) The comparative price of labour and of raw 
 material entering into the manufactures of France, 
 has been ascertained with so much care, in a memoir 
 of M. A. M. Heron de Villefosse, " Recherches sta- 
 tistiques, sur les Metaux de France"* that we shall 
 give an abstract of his results reduced to English 
 measures. The facts respecting the metals relate to 
 the year 1825. 
 
 * Memoires de PInsti tut, 1826. 
 
1(56 OF RAW MATERIALS. 
 
 In France the quantity of raw material which can 
 be purchased for II. , when manufactured into 
 
 Silk goods is worth 2-37 
 
 Broad cloth and woollens 2-15 
 
 Hemp and cables ,, . . 3*94 
 
 Linen comprising thread laces 5-00 
 
 Cotton goods 2*44 
 
 The price of Pig-Lead was \l. Is. per cwt. ; and 
 lead of the value of 1 L sterling, became worth, when 
 manufactured into 
 
 Sheets or pipes of moderate dimensions .... l'25 
 
 White lead 2-60 
 
 Ordinary printing characters 4-90 
 
 The smallest type 28-30 
 
 The price of Copper was 51. 2s. per cwt. Copper 
 worth II. became when manufactured into 
 
 Copper sheeting 1-26 
 
 Household utensils 4*77 
 
 Common brass pins tinned 2'34 
 
 Rolled into plates covered with ^ silver. . . . 3-56 
 Woven into metallic cloth, each square inch of 
 
 which contains 10,000 meshes 52-23 
 
 The price of Tin was 41. 12s. per cwt. Tin worth 
 II. when manufactured into 
 
 Leaves for silvering glass . . . . , became 4?1*73 
 
 Household utensils 1-85 
 
 Quicksilver cost Wl. 16s. per cwt. Quicksilver 
 worth 11. when manufactured into 
 
 Vermilion of average quality . . * became 1*81 
 
OF RAW MATERIALS. 167 
 
 Metallic Arsenic cost 11. 4s. per cwt. Arsenic 
 worth II. when manufactured into 
 
 White oxide of arsenic became l'S3 
 
 Sulphuret (orpiment) 4-26 
 
 The price of Cast-iron was 85. per cwt. Cast-iron 
 worth II. when manufactured into 
 
 Household utensils became 2-00 
 
 Machinery 4'00 
 
 Ornamental, as buckles, &c 45*00 
 
 Bracelets, figures, buttons, &c 147-00 
 
 Bar-Iron cost II. 6s. per cwt. Bar- Iron worth \L 
 when manufactured into 
 
 Agricultural instruments became 3.57 
 
 Barrels, musket 9*10 
 
 Barrels of double-barrel guns, twisted and 
 
 damasked 238-08 
 
 Blades of penknives 657-14 
 
 , razor, cast steel 53-57 
 
 , sabre, for cavalry, infantry, and artil- 
 lery, &c from 9-25. to 16-07 
 
 of table knives 35-70 
 
 Buckles of polished steel, used as jewellery. . . 896-66 
 
 Clothiers' pins 8-03 
 
 Door-latches and bolts from 4-85 to 8-50 
 
 Files, common , 2-55 
 
 , flat, cast steel 20-44 
 
 Horse-shoes 2-55 
 
 Iron, small slit, for nails 1-10 
 
 Metallic cloth, iron wire, No. 80 9671 
 
 Needles of various sizes from 17*33 to 70-85 
 
 Reeds for weaving 3-4ths calico 21-87 
 
 Saws (frame) of steel 5-12 
 
 for wood 14-28 
 
170 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 the subject of discussion amongst writers on Political 
 Economy ; but the relative importance of their in- 
 fluence does not appear, in all cases, to have been 
 estimated with sufficient precision. It is my intention, 
 in the first instance, to state shortly those principles, 
 and then to point out what appears to me to have 
 been omitted by those who have previously treated 
 
 e subject. 
 
 / (21%.) 1 Of the time required for learning. It 
 will readily be admitted, that the portion of time 
 occupied in the acquisition of any art will depend on 
 the difficulty of its execution ; and that the greater 
 the number of distinct processes, the longer will be 
 the time which the apprentice must employ in ac- 
 quiring it. Five or seven years have been adopted, 
 in a great many trades, as the time considered requi- 
 site for a lad to acquire a sufficient knowledge of his 
 art, and to enable him to repay by his labour, during 
 the latter portion of his time, the expense incurred by 
 his master at its commencement. If, however, in- 
 stead of learning all the different processes for making 
 a needle, for instance, his attention be confined to 
 one operation, the portion of time consumed unpro- 
 fitably at the commencement of his apprenticeship 
 will be small, and all the rest of it will be beneficial 
 to his master : and, consequently, if there be any 
 competition amongst the masters, the apprentice will 
 be able to make better terms, and diminish the period 
 of his servitude. Again, the facility of acquiring skill 
 in a single process, and the early period of life at 
 which it can be made a source of profit, will induce 
 a greater number of parents to bring up .their children 
 to it ; and from this circumstance also, the number 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 171 
 
 of workmen being increased, the wages will soon 
 fall. 
 
 (219.) 2. Of waste of materials in learning. Acer- 
 tain quantity of material will, in all cases, be con- 
 sumed unprofitably, or spoiled by every person who 
 learns an art ; and as he applies himself to each new 
 process, he will waste some of the raw material, or of 
 the partly manufactured commodity. But if each 
 man commit this waste in acquiring successively 
 every process, the quantity of waste will be much 
 greater than if each person confine his attention to 
 one process ; in this view of the subject, therefore, 
 the division of labour will diminish the price of 
 production. 
 
 (220.) 3. Another advantage resulting from the 
 division of labour is, the saving of that portion 
 of time which is always lost in changing from one 
 occupation to another. When the human hand, or 
 the human head, has been for some time occupied 
 in any kind of work, it cannot instantly change its 
 employment with full effect. The muscles of the 
 limbs employed have acquired a flexibility during 
 their exertion, and those not in action a stiffness 
 during rest, which renders every change slow and 
 unequal in the commencement. Long habit also 
 produces in the muscles exercised a capacity for 
 enduring fatigue to a much greater degree than they 
 could support under other circumstances. A similar 
 result seems to take place in any change of mental 
 exertion ; the attention bestowed on the new subject 
 not being so perfect at first as it becomes after some 
 exercise. 
 
 (221.) 4. Change of Tools. The employment of 
 
170 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 the subject of discussion amongst writers on Political 
 Economy ; but the relative importance of their in- 
 fluence does not appear, in all cases, to have been 
 estimated with sufficient precision. It is my intention, 
 in the first instance, to state shortly those principles, 
 and then to point out what appears to me to have 
 been omitted by those who have previously treated 
 Jlie subject. 
 
 (21%.) 1* Of the time required for learning. It 
 will readily be admitted, that the portion of time 
 occupied in the acquisition of any art will depend on 
 the difficulty of its execution; and that the greater 
 the number of distinct processes, the longer will be 
 the time which the. apprentice must employ in ac- 
 quiring it. Five or seven years have been adopted, 
 in a great many trades, as the time considered requi- 
 site for a lad to acquire a sufficient knowledge of his 
 art, and to enable him to repay by his labour, during 
 the latter portion of his time, the expense incurred by 
 his master at its commencement. If, however, in- 
 stead of learning all the different processes for making 
 a needle, for instance, his attention be confined to 
 one operation, the portion of time consumed unpro- 
 fitably at the commencement of his apprenticeship 
 will be small, and all the rest of it will be beneficial 
 to his master : and, consequently, if there be any 
 competition amongst the masters, the apprentice will 
 be able to make better terms, and diminish the period 
 of his servitude. Again, the facility of acquiring skill 
 in a single process, and the early period of life at 
 which it can be made a source of profit, will induce 
 a greater number of parents to bring up ,their children 
 to it ; and from this circumstance also, the number 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 171 
 
 of workmen being increased, the wages will soon 
 fall. 
 
 (219.) 2. Of waste of materials in learning. Acer- ^ 
 tain quantity of material will, in all cases, be con- 
 sumed unprofitably, or spoiled by every person who 
 learns an art ; and as he applies himself to each new 
 process, he will waste some of the raw material, or of 
 the partly manufactured commodity. But if each 
 man commit this waste in acquiring successively 
 every process, the quantity of waste will be much 
 greater than if each person confine his attention to 
 one process ; in this view of the subject, therefore, . 
 the division of labour will diminish the price of 
 production. 
 
 (220.) 3. Another advantage resulting from the 
 division of labour is, the saving of that portion 
 of time which is always lost in changing from one 
 occupation to another. When the human hand, or 
 the human head, has been for some time occupied 
 in any kind of work, it cannot instantly change its 
 employment with full effect. The muscles of the 
 limbs employed have acquired a flexibility during 
 their exertion, and those not in action a stiffness 
 during rest, which renders every change slow and 
 unequal in the commencement. Long habit also 
 produces in the muscles exercised a capacity for 
 enduring fatigue to a much greater degree than they 
 could support under other circumstances. A similar 
 result seems to take place in any change of mental 
 exertion ; the attention bestowed on the new subject 
 not being so perfect at first as it becomes after some 
 exercise. 
 
 (221.) 4. Change of Tools. The employment of 
 
172 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 different tools in the successive processes is another 
 cause of the loss of time in changing from one opera- 
 tion to another. If these tools are simple, and the 
 change is not frequent, the loss of time is not con- 
 siderable ; but in many processes of the arts the tools 
 are of great delicacy, requiring accurate adjustment 
 every time they are used ; and in many cases the 
 time employed in adjusting bears a large proportion 
 to that employed in using the tool. The sliding- 
 rest, the dividing and the drilling- engine, are of this 
 kind ; and hence, in manufactories of sufficient 
 extent, it is found to be good economy to keep one 
 machine constantly employed in one kind of work ; 
 one lathe, for example, having a screw motion to its 
 sliding-rest along the whole length of its bed, is kept 
 constantly making cylinders ; another, having a mo- 
 tion for equalizing the velocity of the work at the 
 point at which it passes the tool, is kept for facing 
 surfaces ; whilst a third is constantly employed in 
 cutting wheels. 
 
 (222.) 5. Skill acquired by frequent repetition of 
 the same processes. The constant repetition of the 
 same process necessarily produces in the workman 
 a degree of excellence and rapidity in his particular 
 department, which is never possessed by a person 
 who is obliged to execute many different processes. 
 This rapidity is still further increased from the cir- 
 cumstance that most of the operations in factories, 
 where the division of labour is carried to a consi- 
 derable extent, are paid for as piece-work. It is 
 difficult to estimate in numbers the effect of this 
 cause upon production. In nail-making, Adam Smith 
 has stated, that it is almost three to one ; for, he 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 173 
 
 observes, that a smith accustomed to make nails, but 
 whose whole business has not been that of a nailer, 
 can make only from eight hundred to a thousand per 
 day ; whilst a lad who had never exercised any other 
 trade, can make upwards of two thousand three 
 hundred a day. 
 
 (223.) In different trades, the economy of produc- 
 tion arising from the last-mentioned cause will neces- 
 sarily be different. The case of nail-making is, 
 perhaps, rather an extreme one. It must, however, 
 be observed, that, in one sense, this is not a perma- 
 nent source of advantage ; for, though it acts at the 
 commencement of an establishment, yet every month 
 adds to the skill of the workmen ; and at the end of 
 three or four years they will not be very far behind 
 those who have never practised any other branch of 
 their art. Upon an occasion when a large issue of 
 bank-notes was required, a clerk at the Bank of 
 England signed his name, consisting of seven letters, 
 including the initial of his Christian name, five thou- 
 sand three hundred times during eleven working 
 hours, besides arranging the notes he had signed in 
 parcels of fifty each. 
 
 (224.) 6. The division of labour suggests the con- 
 trivance of tools and machinery to execute its pro- 
 cesses. When each process, by which any article is 
 produced, is the sole occupation of one individual^ 
 his whole attention being devoted to a very limited 
 and simple operation, improvements in the form of 
 his tools, or in the mode of using them, are much 
 more likely to occur to his mind, than if it were dis- 
 tracted by a greater variety of circumstances. Such 
 an improvement in the tool is generally the first step 
 
174: ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 towards a machine. If a piece of metal is to be cut 
 in a lathe, for example, there is one particular angle 
 at which the cutting-tool must be held to insure the 
 cleanest cut ; and it is quite natural that the idea of 
 fixing the tool at that angle should present itself to 
 an intelligent workman. The necessity of moving 
 the tool slowly, and in a direction parallel to itself, 
 would suggest the use of a screw, and thus arises 
 the sliding-rest. It was probably the idea of mount- 
 ing a chisel in a frame, to prevent its cutting too 
 deeply, which gave rise to the common carpenter's 
 plane. In cases where a blow from a hammer is 
 employed, experience teaches the proper force re- 
 quired. The transition from the hammer held in 
 the hand to one mounted upon an axis, and lifted 
 regularly to a certain height by some mechanical 
 contrivance, requires perhaps a greater degree of in- 
 vention than those just instanced ; yet it is not 
 difficult to perceive, that, if the hammer always falls 
 from the same height, its effect must be always the 
 same. 
 
 (225.) When each process has been reduced to the 
 use of some simple tool, the union of all these tools, 
 actuated by one moving power, constitutes a machine. 
 In contriving tools and simplifying processes, the 
 operative workmen are, perhaps, most successful ; 
 but it requires far other habits to combine into one 
 machine these scattered arts. A previous education 
 as a workman in the peculiar trade, is undoubtedly 
 a valuable preliminary ; but in order to make such 
 combinations with any reasonable expectation of suc- 
 cess, an extensive knowledge of machinery, and the 
 power of making mechanical drawings, a.re essentially 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 175 
 
 requisite. These accomplishments are now much 
 more common than they were formerly ; and their 
 absence was, perhaps, one of the causes of the mul- 
 titude of failures in the early history of many of our 
 manufactures. 
 
 (226.) Such are the principles usually assigned as 
 the causes of the advantage resulting from the divi- 
 sion of labour. As in the view I have taken of the , 
 question, the most important and influential cause 
 has been altogether unnoticed/I shall re-state thos, 
 principles in the words of Adam Smith : " The great 
 " increase in the quantity of work, which, in conse- 
 " quence of the division of labour, the same number 
 " of people are capable of performing, is owing to 
 " three different circumstances : first, to the increase 
 " of dexterity in every particular workman ; secondly, 
 " to the saving of time, which is commonly lost in 
 " passing from one species of work to another ; and, 
 " lastly, to the invention of a great number of ma- 
 " chines which facilitate and abridge labour, and 
 " enable one man to do the work of many." Now, 
 although all these are important causes, and each 
 has its influence on the result ; yet it appears to 
 me, that any explanation of the cheapness of ma- 
 nufactured articles, as consequent upon the division 
 of labour, would be incomplete if the following prin- 
 ciple were omitted to be stated. 
 
 That the master manufacturer, by dividing the work 
 to be executed into different processes, each requiring 
 different degrees of skill or of force, can purchase 
 exactly that precise quantity of both which is necessary 
 f or each process; whereas, if the whole work were 
 executed by one workman, that person must possess 
 
)76 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 sufficient skill to perform the most difficult, nnd suffi- 
 cient strength to execute the most laborious, of the 
 operations into which the art is divided.* 
 
 (227.) As the clear apprehension of this principle, 
 upon which a great part of the economy arising from 
 the division of labour depends, is of considerable 
 importance, it may be desirable to point out its 
 precise and numerical application in some specific 
 manufacture. The art of making needles is, perhaps, 
 that which I should have selected for this illustra- 
 tion, as comprehending a very large number of pro- 
 cesses remarkably different in their nature ; but the 
 less difficult art of pin-making, has some claim to 
 attention, from its having been used by Adam Smith ; 
 and I am confirmed in the choice of it, by the cir- 
 cumstance of our possessing a very accurate and 
 minute description of that art, as practised in France 
 above half a century ago. 
 
 (228.) Pin-making. In the manufacture of pins 
 iuJEl^l^d the following processes are employed : 
 
 1. Wire-drawing. (a.) The brass wire used for 
 making pins is purchased by the manufacturer in 
 coils of about twenty-two inches in diameter, each 
 weighing about thirty-six pounds. (&.) The coils 
 are wound off into smaller ones of about six inches 
 in diameter, and between one and two pounds' weight, 
 (c.) The diameter of this wire is now reduced, by 
 
 * I have already stated that this principle presented itself 
 to me after a personal examination of a number of manufac- 
 tories and workshops devoted to different purposes; but I have 
 si nee found that it had been distinctly pointed out, in the work 
 of Gioja, Nuovo Prospetto delle Scienze Economiche, 6 torn. 4to 
 Milano, 1815, torn. i. capo iv. 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 177 
 
 drawing it repeatedly through holes in steel plates, 
 until it becomes of the size required for the sort 
 of pins intended to be made. During this pro- 
 cess the wire is hardened, and to prevent its 
 breaking, it must be annealed two or three times, 
 according to the diminution of diameter required. 
 (d.} The coils are then soaked in sulphuric acid, 
 largely diluted with water, in order to clean them, 
 and are then beaten on stone, for the purpose of 
 removing any oxidated coating which may adhere to 
 them. These operations are usually performed by 
 men, who draw and clean from thirty to thirty-six 
 pounds of wire a day. They are paid at the rate 
 of five farthings per pound, and generally earn about 
 85. 6d. per day. 
 
 M. Perronnet made some experiments on the 
 extension the wire undergoes in passing through 
 each hole : he took a piece of thick Swedish brass 
 wire, and found 
 
 Feet In. 
 
 Its length to be before drawing 3 8 
 
 After passing the first hole 5 5 
 
 second hole , 7 2 
 
 third hole 7 8 
 
 It was now annealed, and the length became 
 
 After passing the fourth hole 10 8 
 
 fifth hole 13 1 
 
 sixth hole 16 8 
 
 And finally, after passing through six other 
 
 holes s 144 
 
 The holes through which the wire was drawn were 
 not, in this experiment, of regularly decreasing 
 diameter: it is extremely difficult to make such 
 
 N 
 
178 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 holes, and still more to preserve them in their original 
 dimensions. 
 
 (229.) 2. Straightening the Wire. The coil of wire 
 now passes into the hands of a woman, assisted by a 
 boy or girl. A few nails, or iron pins, not quite in a 
 line, are fixed into one end of a wooden table about 
 twenty feet in length ; the end of the wire is passed 
 alternately between these nails, and is then pulled to 
 the other end of the table. The object of this pro- 
 cess is to straighten the wire, which had acquired a 
 considerable curvature in the small coils in which it 
 had been wound. The length thus straightened is 
 cut off, and the remainder of the coil is drawn into 
 similar lengths. About seven nails or pins are em- 
 ployed in straightening the wire, and their adjust- 
 ment is a matter of some nicety. It seems, that by 
 passing the wire between the first three nails or pins, 
 a bend is produced in an opposite direction to that 
 which the wire had in the coil ; this bend, by passing 
 the next two nails, is reduced to another less curved 
 in the first direction, and so on till the curve of 
 the wire may at last be confounded with a straight 
 line. 
 
 (230.) 3. Pointing. (.) A man next takes about 
 three hundred of these straightened pieces in a parcel, 
 and putting them into a gauge, cuts off from one end, 
 by means of a pair of shears, moved by his foot, a 
 portion equal in length to rather more than six pins. 
 He continues this operation until the entire parcel is 
 reduced into similar pieces. (&.) The next step is 
 to sharpen the ends : for this purpose the operator 
 sits before a steel mill) which is kept rapidly revolv- 
 ing ' it consists of a cylinder about six inches 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 179 
 
 diameter, and two and a half inches broad, faced with 
 steel, which is cut in the manner of a file. Another 
 cylinder is fixed on the same axis at a few inches 
 distant ; the file on the edge of which is of a finer 
 kind, and is used for finishing off the points. The 
 workman now takes up a parcel of the wires between 
 the finger and thumb of each hand, and presses the 
 ends obliquely on the mill, taking care with his fingers 
 and thumbs to make each wire slowly revolve upon 
 its axis. Having thus pointed all the pieces at one 
 end, he reverses them, and performs the same opera- 
 tion on the other. This process requires considerable 
 skill, but it is not unhealthy ; whilst the similar 
 process in needle-making is remarkably destructive 
 of health, (c.) The pieces now pointed at both ends, 
 are next placed in gauges, and the pointed ends are 
 cut off, by means of shears, to the proper length of 
 which the pins are to be made. The remaining 
 portions of the wire are now equal to about four pins 
 in length, and are again pointed at each end, and 
 their lengths again cut off. This process is repeated 
 a third time, and the small portion of wire left in the 
 middle is thrown amongst the waste, to be melted 
 along with the dust arising from the sharpening. It 
 is usual for a man, his wife, and a child, to join in 
 performing these processes ; and they are paid at the 
 rate of five farthings per pound. They can point 
 from thirty-four to thirty-six and a half pounds per 
 jlay, and gain from 6s. 6d. to 7s., which may be 
 apportioned thus ; 5s. 6d. the man, Is. the woman, 
 6d. to the boy or girl. 
 
 (231.) 4. Twisting and Cutting the Heads. The 
 next process is making the heads. For this purpose 
 
180 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 (a.) a boy takes a piece of wire, of the same diameter 
 as the pin to be headed, which he fixes on an axis 
 that can be made to revolve rapidly by means of a 
 wheel and strap connected with it. This wire is called 
 the mould. He then takes a smaller wire, which 
 having passed through an eye in a small tool held in 
 his left hand, he fixes close to the bottom of the 
 mould. The mould is now made to revolve rapidly 
 by means of the right hand, and the smaller wire coils 
 round it until it has covered the whole length of the 
 mould. The boy now cuts the end of the spiral con- 
 nected with the foot of the mould, and draws it off. 
 (ft.) When a sufficient quantity of heading is thus 
 made, a man takes from thirteen to twenty of these 
 spirals in his left hand, between his thumb and three 
 >uter fingers : these he places in such a manner that 
 iwo turns of the spiral shall be beyond the upper 
 edge of a pair of shears, and with the forefinger of the 
 same hand he feels that only two turns do so project. 
 With his right hand he closes the shears ; and the two 
 turns of the spiral being cut off, drop into a basin ; 
 the position of the forefinger preventing the heads 
 from flying about when cut off. The workmen who 
 cut the heads are usually paid at the rate of 2d. to 
 3d. per pound for large heads, but a higher price is 
 given for the smaller heading. Out of this they pay 
 the boy who spins the spiral ; he receives from 4d. 
 to 6d. a day. A good workman can cut from six to 
 about thirty pounds of heading per day, according to 
 its size. 
 
 (232.) 5. Heading. The process of fixing the 
 head on the body of the pin is usually executed 
 by women and children. Each operator sits before 
 
OF THE 
 ON THE DIVISION O* %*$ipj- V E R?S*I T 1 
 
 a small steel stake, having a cavity, into which one 
 half of the intended head will fit ; immediately above 
 is a steel die, having a corresponding cavity for the 
 other half of the head : this latter die can he raised 
 by a pedal moved by the foot. The weight of the 
 hammer is from seven to ten pounds, and it falls 
 through a very small space, perhaps from one to two 
 inches. The cavities in the centre of these dies are 
 connected with the edge of a small grove, to admit of 
 the body of the pin, which is thus prevented from 
 being flattened by the blow of the die. (a.) The 
 operator with his left hand dips the pointed end of 
 the body of a pin into a tray of heads; having passed 
 the point through one of them, he carries it along to 
 the other end. with the fore-finger. He now takes 
 the pin in the right hand, and places the head in the 
 cavity of the stake, and, lifting the die with his foot, 
 allows it to fall on the head. This blow tightens the 
 head on the shank, which is then turned round, and 
 the head receives three or four blows on different 
 parts of its circumference. The women and children 
 who fix the heads are paid at the rate of Is. 6d. for 
 every twenty thousand. A skilful operator can with 
 great exertion do twenty thousand per day ; but 
 from ten to fifteen thousand is the usual quantity : 
 children head a much smaller number ; varying, of 
 course, with the degree of their skill. About one per 
 cent, of the pins are spoiled in the process ; these are 
 picked out afterwards by women, and are reserved, 
 along with the waste from other processes, for the ' 
 melting-pot. The die in which the heads are struck 
 is varied in form according to the fashion of the time ; 
 but the repeated blows to which it is subject render 
 
182 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 it necessary that it should be repaired after it has 
 been used for about thirty pounds of pins. 
 
 (233.) 6. Tinning. The pins are now fit to be 
 tinned, a process which is usually executed by a man, 
 assisted by his wife, or by a lad. The quantity of 
 pins operated upon at this stage is usually fifty-six 
 pounds, (a.) They are first placed in a pickle, in 
 order to remove any grease or dirt from their surface, 
 and also to render them rough, which facilitates the 
 adherence of the tin with which they are to be 
 covered. (&.) They are then placed in a boiler full 
 of a solution of tartar in water, in which they aro 
 mixed with a quantity of tin in small grains. In 
 this they are generally kept boiling for about two 
 hours and a half, and are then removed into a tub 
 of water into which some bran has been thrown, for 
 the purpose of washing off the acid liquor, (c.) They 
 are then taken out, and, being placed in wooden 
 trays, are well shaken in dry bran : this removes 
 any water adhering to them ; and by giving the 
 wooden tray a peculiar kind of motion, the pins are 
 thrown up, and the bran gradually flies off, and leaves 
 them behind in the tray. The man who pickles and 
 tins the pins usually gets one penny per pound for 
 the work, and employs himself, during the boiling of 
 one batch of pins, in drying those previously tinned. 
 He can earn about 9s. per day ; but out of this he 
 pays about 3s. for his assistant. 
 
 (234.) 7. Papering. The pins come from the 
 tinner in wooden bowls, with the points projecting 
 in all directions : the arranging of them side by side 
 in paper is generally performed by women, (a.) A 
 woman takes up some, and places them on a comb, 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 183 
 
 and shaking them, some of the pins fall back into the 
 'jowl, and the rest, being caught by their heads, are 
 detained between the teeth of the comb. (&.) Having 
 thus arranged them in a parallel direction, she fixes 
 the requisite number between two pieces of iron, 
 having twenty-five small grooves, at equal distances ; 
 (c.) and having previously doubled the paper, she 
 presses it against the points of the pins until they 
 have passed through the two folds which are to retain 
 them. The pins are then relieved from the grasp of 
 the tool, and the process is repeated. A woman 
 gains about Is.Qd. per day by papering; but chil- 
 dren are sometimes employed, who earn from 6d. 
 per day, and upwards. 
 
 (235.) Having thus generally described the various 
 processes of pin-making, and having stated the usual 
 cost of each, it will be convenient to present a tabular 
 view of the time occupied by each process, and its 
 cost, as well as the sums which can be earned by the 
 persons who confine themselves solely to each pro- 
 cess. As the rate of wages is itself, fluctuating, and 
 as the prices paid and quantities executed have been 
 given only between certain limits, it is not to be 
 expected that this table can represent the cost of 
 *ach part of the work with the minutest accuracy, 
 nor even that it shall accord perfectly with the prices 
 bove given : but it has been drawn up with some 
 are, and will be quite sufficient to serve as the basis 
 f those reasonings which it is meant to illustrate. 
 V table nearly similar will be subjoined, which has 
 )een deduced from a statement of M. Perronet, 
 especting the art of pin-making in France, above 
 seventy years ago. 
 
184 
 
 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 English Manufacture. 
 
 (236.} Pins, " Elevens" 5,546 weigh one pound ; 
 " one dozen" = 6,932 pins weigh twenty ounces, and 
 require six ounces of paper. 
 
 NAME OF THE PROCESS. 
 
 Workmen 
 
 Time f r 
 making 
 1 Ib. of 
 Pins. 
 
 Cost of 
 making 
 1 Ib. of 
 Pins. 
 
 Workman 
 earns 
 per Day. 
 
 Price of making 
 each Part of a single 
 Pin, in Millionths 
 of a Penny. 
 
 
 
 Hours. 
 
 Pence. 
 
 8. d. 
 
 
 1. Drawing Wire ( 224.) 
 
 Man.. 
 
 .3636 
 
 1.2500 
 
 3 3 
 
 225 
 
 2. Straightening wire \ 
 ( 225.) J 
 
 Woman 
 Girl . . 
 
 .3000 
 .3000 
 
 .2840 
 .1420 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 51 
 
 26 
 
 3. Pointing . . . ( 226.) 
 
 Man . . 
 
 .3000 
 
 1.7750 
 
 5 3 
 
 319 
 
 4. Twisting and Cutting S 
 Heads... ( 227.) J 
 
 Boy . . 
 Man.. 
 
 .0400 
 .0400 
 
 .0147 
 .2103 
 
 4 
 5 4 
 
 3 
 
 38 
 
 5. Heading . . . ( 228.) 
 
 Woman 
 
 4.0000 
 
 5.0000 
 
 1 3 
 
 901 
 
 6. Tinning, or Whiten- S 
 ing . , . . ( 229.) J 
 
 Man. . 
 Woman 
 Woman 
 
 .1071 
 .1071 
 2.1314 
 
 .6666 
 .3333 
 3.1973 
 
 6 
 3 
 1 6 
 
 121 
 
 60 
 576 
 
 7. Papering . . ( 230.) 
 
 7.6892 
 
 12.8732 
 
 2320 
 
 Number of Persons employed : Men, 4 ; Women, 4 ; Children, 2. 
 Total, 10. 
 
 French Manufacture. 
 
 (237.) Cost of 12,000 pins, No. 6, each being eight- 
 tenths of an English inch in length, as they were 
 manufactured in France about 1760 ; with the cost 
 of each operation : declucecTfrom the observations 
 and statement of M. Perron p*. 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 185 
 
 NAME OF THE PROCESS. 
 
 Time for 
 
 Cost of 
 
 
 
 Twelve 
 Thousand 
 Fins. 
 
 Twelve 
 
 Thousand 
 Pins. 
 
 usually 
 earns 
 per Day. 
 
 of Tools 
 and 
 Materials. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 o. 
 
 4. 
 
 5. 
 6., 
 
 7. 
 
 Wire , 
 
 Hours. 
 
 Pence. 
 
 Pence. 
 
 Pence. 
 24.75 
 
 .12o 
 
 .5 
 .5 
 
 1.0 
 2.0 
 
 Straightening and Cutting 
 
 1.2 
 1.2 
 1.2 
 .8 
 1.2 
 .6 
 .5 
 .8 
 
 .5 
 .625 
 .875 
 .5 
 .5 
 .375 
 .125 
 .375 
 
 4.5 
 10.0 
 7.0 
 9.375 
 4.75 
 7.5 
 3.0 
 5.625 
 
 Turning Wheel* 
 
 Fine Pointing 
 
 Turning Wheel 
 
 Cutting off pointed Ends 
 iTurnino- Spiral 
 
 \ Cutting off Heads 
 
 
 Heading 
 
 12.0 
 
 .333 
 
 4.25 
 
 f Tartar for Cleaning. . . . 
 
 Tartar for Whitening . . 
 
 
 
 
 Papering 
 
 4.8 
 
 .5 
 
 2.0 
 
 Paper 
 
 Wear of Tools 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 24.3 
 
 4.708 
 
 (238.) It appears from the analysis we have given 
 of the art of pin-making, that it occupies rather more 
 than seven hours and a half of time, for ten different 
 individuals working in succession on the same mate- 
 rial, to convert it into a pound of pins ; and that the 
 
 * The great expense of turning the wheel appears to have 
 arisen from the person so occupied being unemployed during 
 half his time, whilst the pointer went to another manufactory. 
 
186 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 total expense of their labour, each being paid in the 
 joint ratio of his skill and of the time he is employed, 
 amounts very nearly to Is. Id. But from an exa- 
 mination of the first of these tables, it appears that 
 the wages earned by the persons employed vary from 
 4%d. per day up to 6s., and consequently the skill 
 which is required for their respective employments 
 may be measured by those sums. Now it is evident, 
 that if one person were required to make the whole 
 pound of pins, he must have skill enough to earn 
 about 5s. 3d. per day, whilst he is pointing the wires 
 or cutting off the heads from the spiral coils, and 65. 
 when he is whitening the pins ; which three operations 
 together would occupy little more than the seven- 
 teenth part of his time. It is also apparent, that 
 during more than one half of his time he must be 
 earning only Is. 3d. per day, in putting on the heads; 
 although his skill, if properly employed, would, in 
 the same time, produce nearly five times as much. 
 If, therefore, we were to employ, for all the processes, 
 the man who whitens the pins, and who earns 65. per 
 day, even supposing that he could make the pound 
 of pins in an equally short time, yet we must pay 
 him for his time 46.14 pence, or about 35. Wd. The 
 pins mould therefore cost, in making, three times and 
 three quarters as much as they now do by the appli- 
 cation of the division of labour. 
 
 The higher the skill required of the workman in 
 any one process of a manufacture, and the smaller 
 the time during which it is employed, so much the 
 greater will be the advantage of separating that pro- 
 cess from the rest, and devoting one person's attention 
 entirely to it. Had we selected the art of needle- 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 18? 
 
 making as our illustration, the economy arising from 
 the division of labour would have been still more strik- 
 ing ; for the process of tempering the needles requires 
 great skill, attention, and experience, and although 
 from three to four thousand are tempered at once, the 
 workman is paid a very high rate of wages. In 
 another process of the same manufacture, dry-point- 
 ing, which also is executed with great rapidity, the 
 wages earned by the workman reach from 7s. to 12^., 
 1 5s., and even, in some instances, to 20s. per day ; 
 whilst other processes are carried on by children paid 
 at the rate of 6d. per day. 
 
 (239.) Some further reflections suggested by the 
 preceding analysis, will be reserved until we have 
 placed before the reader a brief description of a^ 
 machine_for making pins, invented by an American. 
 It is highly ingenious in point of contrivance^, and, 
 in respect to its economical principles, will furnish a 
 strong and interesting contrast with the manufacture 
 of pins by the human hand. In this machine a coil 
 of brass wire is placed on an axis ; one end of this 
 wire is drawn by a pair of rollers through a small 
 hole in a plate of steel, and is held there by a forceps. 
 As soon as the machine is put in action, 
 
 1. The forceps draws the wire on to a distance 
 equal in length to one pin : a cutting edge of steel 
 then descends close to the hole through which the 
 wire entered, and severs the piece drawn out. 
 
 2. The forceps holding the piece thus separated 
 moves on, till it brings the wire to the centre of the 
 chuck of a small lathe, which opens to receive it. 
 Whilst the forceps is returning to fetch another piece 
 of wire, the lathe revolves rapidly, and grinds the 
 
iS8 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 projecting end of the wire upon a steel mill, which 
 advances towards it. 
 
 3. After this first or coarse pointing, the lathe 
 stops, and another forceps takes hold of the half- 
 pointed pin, (which is instantly released by the 
 opening of the chuck,) and conveys it to a similar 
 chuck of an adjacent lathe, which receives it, and 
 finishes the pointing on a finer steel mill. 
 
 4. This mill again stops, and another forceps re- 
 moves the pointed pin into a pair of strong steel 
 clams, having a small groove in them hy which they 
 hold the pin very firmly. A part of this groove, 
 which terminates at that edge of the steel clams 
 which is intended to form the head of the pin, is 
 made conical. A small round steel punch is now 
 driven forcibly against the end of the wire thus 
 clamped, and the head of the pin is partially formed 
 by compressing the wire into the conical cavity. 
 
 5. Another pair of forceps now removes the pin 
 to another pair of clams, and the head of the pin 
 is completed by a blow from a second punch, the end 
 of which is slightly concave. Each pair of forceps 
 returns as soon as it has delivered its burden ; and 
 thus there are always five pieces of wire at the same 
 moment in different stages of advance towards a 
 finished pin. 
 
 The pins so formed are received in a tray, and 
 whitened and papered in the usual manner. About 
 sixty pins can thus be made by this machine in one 
 minute ; but each process occupies exactly the same 
 time. 
 
 (240.) In order to judge of the value of such a 
 machine, compared with hand-labour, it would be 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 189 
 
 necessary to ascertain : 1. The defects to which pins 
 so made are liable. 2. Their advantages, if any, 
 over those made in the usual way. 3. The prime 
 cost of the machine for making them. 4. The ex- 
 pense of keeping it in repair. 5. The expense of 
 moving the machine and of attending to it. 
 
 1. Pins made by the machine are more likely to 
 bend, because the head being "punched up," the wire 
 must be in a soft state to admit of that operation. 2. 
 Pins made by the machine are better than common 
 ones, because they are not subject to losing their 
 heads. 3. With respect to the prime cost of a machine, 
 it would be very much reduced if a large number 
 should be required. 4. With regard to its wear and 
 tear, experience only can decide : but it may be 
 remarked, that the steel clams or dies in which the 
 heads are punched up, will wear quickly unless the 
 wire has been softened by annealing ; and that if 
 softened, the bodies of the pins will bend too readily. 
 Such an inconvenience might be remedied, either by 
 making the machine spin the heads and fix them on, 
 or by annealing only that end of the wire which is to 
 become the head of the pin : but this would cause a 
 delay between the operations, since the brass is too 
 brittle, while heated, to bear a blow without crumbling. 
 5. On comparing the time occupied by the machine 
 with that stated in the analysis, we find that, except 
 in the heading, the human hand is more rapid. 
 Three thousand six hundred pins are pointed by the 
 machine in one hour, whilst a man can point fifteen 
 thousand six hundred in the same time. But in the 
 process of heading, the rapidity of the machine is 
 two and a half times that of the human hand. It 
 
190 ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR. 
 
 must, however, be observed, that the grinding in the 
 machine does not require the application of a force 
 equal to that of one man ; for all the processes are 
 executed at once by the machine, and a single la- 
 uourer can easily work it. 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF MENTAL LABOUR. 191 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 ON THE DIVISION OF MENTAL LABOUR. 
 
 (241.) WE have already mentioned what may, 
 perhaps, appear paradoxical to some of our readers, 
 that the division of labour can be applied with 
 equal success to mental as to mechanical operations, 
 and that it ensures in both the same economy of 
 time. A short account of its practical application, 
 in the most extensive series of calculations ever 
 executed, will offer an interesting illustration of this 
 fact, whilst at the same time it will afford an occasion 
 for shewing that the arrangements whichoughtjto 
 regulate the interior economy of a manufactory, are 
 founded on principles of deeper root than may have 
 been supposed, and are capable of being usefully 
 employed in preparing the road to some of the sub- 
 limest investigations of the human mind. 
 
 (242.) In the midst of that excitement which 
 accompanied the Revolution of France and the suc- 
 ceeding wars, the ambition of the nation, unex- 
 hausted by its fatal passion for military renown, 
 was at the same time directed to some of the nobler 
 and more permanent triumphs which mark the era 
 of a people's greatness, and which receive the ap- 
 plause of posterity long after their conquests have 
 been wrested from them, or even when their existence 
 as a nation may be told only by the page of history. 
 
192 
 
 ON THE DIVISION OF MENTAL LABOUR. 
 
 Amongst their enterprises of science, the French 
 government was desirous of producing a series of 
 mathematical tables, to facilitate the application 
 of the decimal system which they had so recently 
 adopted. They directed, therefore, their mathema- 
 ticians to construct such tahles, on the most extensive 
 scale. Their most distinguished philosophers, re- 
 sponding fully to the call of their country, invented 
 new methods for this laborious task ; and a work, 
 completely answering the large demands of the 
 government, was produced in a remarkably short 
 period of time. M. Prony, to whom the superin- 
 tendence of this great undertaking was confided, in 
 speaking of its commencement, observes : " Je m?y 
 " livrai avec toute Vardeur dont fetois capable, et je 
 " m'occupai d'abord du plan general de ^execution. 
 " Toutes les conditions que favois a remplir necessi- 
 " toient Vemploi d'un grand nombre de calculateurs ; 
 " et il me vint bientot a la pensee d'appliquer a la 
 " confection de ces Tables la division du travail, dont 
 " les Arts de Commerce tirent un parti si avantageux 
 " pour reunir a la perfection de main-d'ceuvre 
 " V economic de la depense et du temps" The cir- 
 cumstance which gave rise to this singular ap- 
 plication of the principle of the division of labour 
 is so interesting, that no apology is necessary for 
 introducing it from a small pamphlet printed at 
 Paris a few years since, when a proposition was made 
 by the English to the French government, that the 
 two countries should print these tables at their joint 
 expense. 
 
 (243.) The origin of the idea is related in the fol- 
 lowing extract : 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF MENTAL LABOUR. 193 
 
 "C'est a un chapitre d'un ouvrage Anglais,* justement 
 c61ebre, (I.) qu'est probablement due 1'existence de 1'ouvrage 
 dont le gouvernement Britannique veut faire jouir le monde 
 savant : 
 
 " Voici 1'anecdote : M. de Prony s'6tait engage", avec les 
 comites de gouvernement, a composer pour la division cen- 
 tesimale du cercle, des tables logarithmiques et trigonome- 
 triques, qui, non settlement ne laissassent rien a desirer quant cL 
 V exactitude, mats qui formassent le monument de calcul le plus 
 vaste et le plus imposant qui eut jamais etc execute, ou meme 
 con$u. Les logarithmes des nombres de 1 a 200,000 
 formaient a ce travail un supplement necessaire et exige\ 
 II fut aise a M. de Prony de s'assurer que mme en s'asso- 
 ciant trois ou quatre habiles co-operateurs, la plus grande 
 duree presumable de sa vie, ne lui suffirai pas pour remplir 
 ses engagements. II e'tait occcupe* de cette facheuse pensee 
 lorsque, se trouvant devant la boutique d'un marchand de 
 livres, il apperputla belle edition Anglaise de Smitb, donnee 
 a Londres en 1776 ; il ouvrit le livre au hazard, et tomba 
 sur le premier chapitre, qui traite de la division du travail, 
 et oft la fabrication des e'pingles est cite*e pour exemple. 
 A peine avait-il parcouru les premieres pages, que, par une 
 espece d'inspiration, il conput 1'expe'dient de mettre ses 
 logarithmes en manufacture comme les epingles. II 
 faisait, en ce moment, a 1'ecole polytechnique, des lef ons 
 sur une partie d'analyse liee a ce genre de travail, la 
 methods des difference^ et ses applications a V interpolation. 
 II alia passer quelques jours a la campagne, et revint a 
 Paris avec le plan de fabrication^ qui a ete suivi dans 
 1'execution. II rassembla deux ateliers, qui faisaient 
 separe*ment les m6mes calculs, et se servaient de ve>ifica- 
 tion reciproque."f 
 
 \ 
 
 * An Enquiry into the Nature and Games of the Wealth of 
 Nations, by Adam Smith. 
 
 f Note sur la publication, proposee par le gouvernement 
 o 
 
194 ON THE DIVISION OF MENTAL LABOUR. 
 
 (244.) The ancient methods of computing tables 
 were altogether inapplicable to such a proceeding. 
 M. Prony, therefore, wishing to avail himself of 
 all the talent of his country in devising new methods, 
 formed the first section of those who were to take 
 part in this enterprise out of five or six of the most 
 eminent mathematicians in France. 
 
 First Section. The duty of this first section was 
 to investigate, amongst the various analytical expres- 
 sions which could be found for the same function, 
 that which was most readily adapted to simple nume- 
 rical calculation by many individuals employed at the 
 same time. This section had little or nothing to do 
 with the actual numerical work. When its labours 
 were concluded, the formulae on the use of which it 
 had decided, were delivered to the second section. 
 
 Second Section. This section consisted of seven 
 or eight persons of considerable acquaintance with 
 mathematics : and their duty was to convert into 
 numbers the formulae put into their hands by the 
 first section, an operation of great labour ; and then 
 to deliver out these formulae to the members of the 
 third section, and receive from them the finished cal- 
 culations. The members of this second section had 
 certain means of verifying the calculations without 
 the necessity of repeating, or even of examining, the 
 whole of the work done by the third section. 
 
 Third Section. The members of this section, 
 whose number varied from sixty to eighty, received 
 certain numbers from the second section, and, using 
 nothing more than simple addition and subtraction, 
 
 Anglais des grands tables logarithmiques et trigonometriques 
 de M.de Prony. De Pimprimerie de F.Didot, Dec. 1, 1820. p.7. 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF MENTAL LABOUR. 195 
 
 they returned to that section the tables in a finished 
 state. It is remarkable that nine-tenths of this class 
 had no knowledge of arithmetic beyond the two first 
 rules which they were thus called upon to exercise, 
 and that these persons were usually found more cor- 
 rect in their calculations, than those who possessed a 
 more extensive knowledge of the subject. 
 
 (245.) When it is stated that the tables thus com- 
 puted occupy seventeen large folio volumes, some 
 idea may perhaps be formed of the labour. From 
 that part executed by the third class, which may 
 almost be termed mechanical, requiring the least 
 knowledge and by far the greatest exertions, the first 
 class were entirely exempt. Such labour can always 
 be purchased at an easy rate. The duties of the 
 second class, although requiring considerable skill in 
 arithmetical operations, were yet in some measure 
 relieved by the higher interest naturally felt in those 
 more difficult operations. The exertions of the first 
 class are not likely to require, upon another occa- 
 sion, so much skill and labour as they did upon the 
 first attempt to introduce such a method ; but when 
 the completion of a calculating-engine shall have 
 produced a substitute for the whole of the third 
 section of computers, the attention of analysts will 
 naturally be directed to simplifying its application, 
 by a new discussion of the methods of converting 
 analytical formulae into numbers. 
 
 (246.) The proceeding of M. Prony, in this cele- 
 brated system of calculation, much resembles that 
 of a skilful person about to construct a cotton or 
 silk-mill, or any similar establishment. Having, by 
 his own genius, or through the aid of his friends, 
 o 2 
 
a 
 
 (f 
 
 196 ON THE DIVISION OJF MENTAL LABOUR. 
 
 found that some improved machinery may be suc- 
 cessfully applied to his pursuit, he makes drawings 
 of his plans of the machinery, and may himself be 
 considered as constituting the first section. He next 
 requires the assistance of operative engineers capable 
 of executing the machinery he has designed, some of 
 whom should understand the nature of the processes to 
 be carried on ; and these constitute his second section. 
 When a sufficient number of machines have been 
 made, a multitude of other persons, possessed of a 
 lower degree of skill, must be employed in using 
 them ; these form the third section : but. their, wo,rj;, 
 and the just performance of the machines, must be 
 
 Still superintended by the second class. 
 
 (247.) As the possibility of performing arithmetical 
 calculations by machinery may appear to non-mathe- 
 matical readers to be rather too large a postulate, and 
 as it is connected with the subject of the division of 
 labour, I shall here endeavour, in a few lines, to give 
 some slight perception of the manner in which this 
 can be done, and thus to remove a small portion of 
 the veil which covers that apparent mystery. 
 
 (248.) That nearly all tables of numbers which 
 follow any law, however complicated, may be formed, to 
 a greater or less extent, solely by the proper arrange- 
 ment of the successive addition and subtraction of 
 numbers befitting each table, is a general principle 
 which can be demonstrated to those only who are 
 well acquainted with mathematics ; but the mind, even 
 of the reader who is but very slightly acquainted with 
 that science, will readily conceive that it is not im- 
 possible, by attending to the following example. 
 
 The subjoined table is the beginning of one in 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF MENTAL LABOUR. 
 
 197 
 
 very extensive use, which has been printed and re- 
 printed very frequently in many countries, and is 
 called a Table of Square Numbers. 
 
 Terms of 
 the Table. 
 
 A. 
 
 Table. 
 
 B. 
 
 First 
 ' Difference. 
 
 C. 
 
 Second 
 Difference. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 16 
 
 2 
 
 1 9 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 6 
 
 36 
 
 2 
 
 13 
 
 7 
 
 49 
 
 Any number in the table, column A, may be ob- 
 tained, by multiplying the number which expresses 
 the distance of that term from the commencement 
 of the table by itself; thus, 25 is the ftfth term 
 from the beginning of the table, and 5 multiplied by 
 itself, or by 5, is equal to 25. Let us now subtract 
 each term of this table from the next succeeding 
 term, and place the results in another column (B), 
 which may be called first-difference column. If we 
 again subtract each term of this first difference from 
 the succeeding term, we find he result is always the 
 number 2, (column C ;) and ,hat the same number 
 will always recur in that column, which may be called 
 the second-difference, will apj ear to any person who 
 
198 ON THE DIVISION OF MENTAL LABOUR. 
 
 takes the trouble to carry on the table a few terms 
 further. Now when once this is admitted, it is quite 
 clear that, provided the first term (1) of the Table, 
 the first term (3) of the first differences, and the 
 first term (2) of the second or constant difference, 
 are originally given, we can continue the table of 
 square numbers to any extent, merely by addition : 
 for the series of first differences may be formed by 
 repeatedly adding the constant difference (2) to (3) 
 the first number in column B, and we then have 
 the series of numbers, 3,5, 6, &c. : and again, by suc- 
 cessively adding each of these to the first number 
 (1) of the table, we produce the square numbers. 
 
 (249.) Having thus, I hope, thrown some light 
 upon the theoretical part of the question, I shall 
 endeavour to shew that the mechanical execution 
 of such an engine, as would produce this series of 
 numbers, is not so far removed from that of ordinary 
 machinery as might be conceived.* Let the reader 
 imagine three clocks, placed on a table side by side, 
 each having only one hand, and each having a thou- 
 sand divisions instead of twelve hours marked on 
 the face ; and every time a string is pulled, let them 
 strike on a bell the numbers of the divisions to which 
 their hands point. Let him further suppose that two 
 of the clocks, for the sake of distinction called B and 
 C, have some mechanism by which the clock C 
 advances the hand of the clock B one division, for 
 
 * Since the publication of the Second Edition of this Work, 
 one portion of the engine which I have been constructing 
 for some years past has been put together. It calculates, 
 in three columns, a table with its first and second differences. 
 Each column can be expressed as far as five figures, so that 
 these fifteen figures constitute about one ninth part of the 
 
ON THE DIVISION OF MENTAL LABOUR. 199 
 
 each stroke it makes upon its own bell: and let 
 the clock B by a similar contrivance advance the 
 hand of the clock A one division, for each stroke 
 it makes on its own bell. With such an arrange- 
 ment, having set the hand of the clock A to the 
 division I., that of B to III., and that of C to II., let 
 the reader imagine the repeating parts of the clocks 
 to be set in motion continually in the following 
 order : viz. pull the string of clock A ; pull the 
 string of clock B ; pull the string of clock C. 
 
 The table on the following page will then express 
 the series of movements and their results. 
 
 larger engine. The ease and precision with which it works, 
 leave no room to doubt its success in the more extended form. 
 Besides tables of squares, cubes, and portions of logarithmic 
 tables, it possesses the power of calculating certain series 
 whose differences are not constant ; and it has already tabu- 
 lated parts of series formed from the following equations : 
 A 3 u x units figure of A u , 
 
 A*M, nearest whole No. to 
 
 The subjoined is one amongst the series which it has calcu- 
 lated ; 
 
 3,486 42,972 
 
 4,991 50,532 
 
 1 6,907 58,813 
 14 9,295 67,826 
 70 12,236 77,602 
 
 230 15,741 88,202 
 
 495 19,861 99,627 
 
 916 24,597 111,928 
 
 1,504 30,010 125,116 
 
 2,340 36,131 139,272 
 
 The general term of this is, 
 
 *= - JT- - + the whole number in-- H- 
 1 . Z 3 10 
 
 4- 10 2 3 (units figure of*'** / 
 
200 ON THE DIVISION OF MENTAL LABOUR. 
 
 1 Repetitions 
 of Process. 
 
 MOVE- 
 MENTS. 
 
 CLOCK A. 
 
 Hand set to 
 I. 
 
 CLOCK B. 
 
 Hand set to 
 III. 
 
 CLOCK C. 
 
 Hand set to 
 II. 
 
 
 Pull A 
 
 TABLE 
 
 ftnt 
 
 difference 
 
 Second 
 different,. 
 
 , J 
 
 B 
 
 t The hand is ad- } 
 < vanced(by B.) f 
 
 B. strikes .... 3 
 
 
 ' 
 
 c 
 
 (3 divisions . . ) 
 
 i The hand isad- } 
 J vanced (byC.) 5- 
 
 C. strikes 2 
 
 k 
 
 
 
 ' 2 divisions. . ) 
 
 
 
 Pull A 
 
 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 r The hand is ad--) 
 \ vauced (by B ) > 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 C 
 
 i 5 divisions . . ) 
 
 t The hand isad- ^ 
 ] vanced (by C.) > 
 
 C. strikes 2 
 
 
 
 
 * 2 divisions . . 7 
 
 
 
 Pull A 
 
 
 
 
 
 jj 
 
 f The hand is ad- ) 
 < vanced (by B.) > 
 
 B. strikes .... 7 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 (7 divisions . . ) 
 
 ^ The hand is ad- -\ 
 J vanced (by C.) S- 
 
 C. strikes 2 
 
 
 
 
 ( 2divisions . . > 
 
 
 
 Pull A 
 
 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 r The hand is ad- ) 
 < vanred(by B.) > 
 
 
 
 
 C 
 
 ' 9 divisions . . ) 
 
 t The hand is ad- j 
 : vanced (by C.) * 
 
 C. strikes 2 
 
 
 
 
 * 2divisions , . ^ 
 
 
 ( 
 
 Pull A 
 
 A. strikes .... 25 
 
 
 
 
 B. 
 
 J 
 
 f The hand is ad- ) 
 {vanced (byB.) J 
 (ll divisions . 3 
 
 B. strikes .... 11 
 
 / The hand isad- \ 
 ? vanced (by C.) 
 
 C strikes 2 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 f 2 divisions . . ) 
 
 
 
 Pnll A 
 
 A. strikes .... 36 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 t The hand is ad- ) 
 < vauced (by B.) > 
 
 B. strikes .... 13 
 
 
 
 p 
 
 ' 13 divisions . ) 
 
 f The hand isad- -\ 
 ? vanced (by C.) > 
 
 C. strikes 2 
 
 
 
 
 ( 2divisions . . 7 
 
 
ff r rri "0*1 
 
 ON THE DIVISION OF MENTAL LABOUR. J|CfJ \ T * 
 
 If now only those divisions struck or pointed at by 
 the clock A be attended to and written down, it will 
 be found that they produce the series of the squares 
 of the natural numbers. Such a series could, of 
 course, be carried by this mechanism only so far as 
 the numbers which can be expressed by three figures ; 
 but this may be sufficient to give some idea of the 
 construction, and was, in fact, the point to which 
 the first model of the calculating-engine, now in 
 progress, extended. \ 
 
 (250.) We have seen, then, that the effect of the { ~ 
 division of labour, both in mechanical and in mental 
 operations, is, that it enables us to purchase and apply . 
 to each process precisely that quantity of skill and4Hfe^' 
 knowledge which is required for it : we avoid em- 
 ploying any part of the time of a man who can get 
 eight or ten shillings a day by his skill in tempering 
 needles, in turning a wheel, which can be done for 
 sixpence a day ; and we equally avoid the loss 
 arising from the employment of an accomplished 
 mathematician in performing the lowest processes of 
 arithmetic. 
 
 (251.) The division of labour cannot be success- _ ^ 
 fully practised unless there exists a great demand ? 
 for its produce ; and it requires a large capital to be 
 employed in those arts in which it is used. In 
 watchmaking it has been carried, perhaps, to the 
 greatest extent. It was stated in evidence before 
 a committee of the House of Commons, that there 
 are a hundred and two distinct branches of this 
 art, to each of which a boy may be put apprentice : 
 and that he only learns his master's department, 
 and is unable, after his apprenticeship has expired, 
 
L 
 
 202 ON THE DIVISION OF MENTAL LABOUR 
 
 without subsequent instruction, to work at any other 
 branch. The watch-finisher, whose business is to 
 put together the scattered parts, is the only one, out 
 of the hundred and two persons, who can work in 
 any other department than his own. 
 
 (252.) In one of the most difficult arts, that of 
 Mining, great improvements have resulted from the 
 judicious distribution of the duties ; and under the 
 arrangements which have gradually been introduced, 
 the whole system of the mine and its government is 
 now placed under the control of the following officers. 
 
 1. A Manager, who has the general knowledge of 
 all that is to be done, and who may be assisted by 
 one or more skilful persons. 
 
 2. Underground Captains direct the proper mining 
 operations, and govern the working miners. 
 
 3. The Purser and Book-keeper manage the ac- 
 counts. 
 
 4. The Engineer erects the engines, and superin- 
 tends the men who work them. 
 
 5. A chief Pitman has charge of the pumps and 
 the apparatus of the shafts. 
 
 6. A Surface-captain, with assistants, receives the 
 ores raised, and directs the dressing department, the 
 object of which is to render them marketable. 
 
 7. The head Carpenter superintends many con- 
 structions. 
 
 8. The foreman of the Smiths regulates the iron- 
 work and tools. 
 
 9. A Materials-man selects, purchases, receives 
 and delivers all articles required. 
 
 10. The Roper has charge of ropes and cordage 01 
 all sorts. 
 
COST OF EACH PROCESS. 203 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 ON THE COST OF EACH SEPARATE PROCESS IN A 
 MANUFACTURE. 
 
 (253.) THE great competition introduced by ma- ( 
 chinery, and the application of the principle of jhe 
 subdivision of labour, render it necessary for each 
 producer to be continually on the watch, to discover . 
 improved methods by which the cost of the article he 
 manufactures may be reduced ; and, with this view, 
 it is of great importance to know the precise expense 
 of every process, as well as of the wear and tear of 
 machinery which is due to it. KThe same informa- 
 tion is desirable for those by whom the manu- 
 factured goods are distributed and sold ; because it 
 enables them to give reasonable answers or explana- 
 tions to the objections of inquirers, and also affords 
 them a better chance of suggesting to the manu- 
 facturer changes in the fashion of his goods, which 
 may be suitable either to the tastes or to the finances 
 of his customers. To the statesman such know- 
 ledge is still more important ; for without it he 
 must trust entirely to others, and can form no judg- 
 ment worthy of confidence, of the effect any tax ma} ' 
 produce, or of the injury the manufacturer or the 
 
 country may suffer by its imposition. , j 
 
 (254.) One of the first advantages which suggests 
 itself as likely to arise from a correct analysis of the 
 expense of the several processes of any manufacture, 
 is the indication which ii would furnish of the course 
 
204 COST OF EACH PROCESS 
 
 in which improvement should be directed. If a 
 method could be contrived of diminishing by one 
 fourth the time required for fixing on the heads 
 of pins, the expense of making them would be 
 reduced about thirteen per cent. ; whilst a reduction 
 of one half the time employed in spinning the coil of 
 wire out of which the heads are cut, would scarcely 
 make any sensible difference in the cost of manufac- 
 turing of the whole article. It is therefore obvious, 
 that the attention would be much more advantage- 
 ously directed to shortening the former than the 
 latter process. 
 
 (255.) The expense of manufacturing, in a country 
 where machinery is of the rudest kind, and manual 
 labour is very cheap, is curiously exhibited in the 
 price of cotton cloth in the island of Java. The 
 cotton, in the seed, is sold by the Picul, which is a 
 weight of about l-331bs^^ Not above one fourth or one 
 fifth of this weight, however, is cotton : the natives, 
 by means of rude wooden rollers, can only separate 
 about 1 Jib. of cotton from the seed by one day's la- 
 bour. A Picul of cleansed cotton, therefore, is worth 
 between four and five times the cost of the impure 
 article ; and the prices of the same substance, in its 
 different stages of manufacture, are for one Picul : 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 Cotton in the seed 2 to 3 
 
 Clean cotton 10 11 
 
 Cottonthread 24 
 
 Cotton thread died blue 35 
 
 Good ordinary cotton cloth 50 
 
 Thus it appears that the expense of spinning in Java 
 is 117 per cent, on the value of the raw material; 
 the expense of dying thread blue is 45 per cent, on 
 
IN A MANUFACTURE. 205 
 
 its value ; and that of weaving cotton thread into 
 cloth 117 per cent, on its value. The expense of 
 spinning cotton into a fine thread is, in England, 
 about 33 per cent.* 
 
 (256.) As an example of the cost of the different 
 processes of a manufacture, perhaps an analytical 
 statement of the expense of the volume now in the 
 reader's hands may not be uninteresting ; more espe- 
 cially as it will afford an insight into the nature and 
 extent of the taxes upon literature. It is found eco- 
 nomical to print it upon paper of a very large size, so 
 that although thirty-two pages, instead of sixteen, 
 are really contained in each sheet, this work is still 
 called 8vo. 
 
 [This relates to the ordinary size of the type used in the volume.] 
 
 To Printer for composing small type, } 
 
 as in extracts and contents, extra > 2 3 
 
 per sheet, 3s. Wd. > 
 
 To Printer, for composing table-work, \ 
 
 extra per sheet, 5s. 6d. ) * ' 
 
 Average charge for corrections, per i 
 
 sheet, 31. 2s. Wd > 6 
 
 Press- work, 3000 being printed off, > 
 
 persheet,3/. 10s J 36 15 
 
 Paper for 3000, at II Us. 6d. per 
 
 ream, weighing 28lbs. : the duty on 
 
 paper at 3d. per Ib. amounts to 7s. 
 
 per ream, so that the 63 reams which 
 
 are required for the work will cost : 
 
 Paper 77 3 6 
 
 Excise Duty 22 1 
 
 Total expense of paper 99 4 6 
 
 Total expense of printing and paper. .205 18 
 * These facts are taken from Crawfurd's Indian Archipelago. 
 
206 COST OF EACH PROCESS 
 
 S. d. 
 
 Brought up 205 18 
 
 Steel-plate for title-page 7 6 
 
 Engraving on ditto, Head of Bacon ... 2 2 
 
 Ditto letters 1 1 
 
 Total expense of title-page 310 6 
 
 Printing title-page, at 6s. per 100 9 
 
 Paper for ditto, at Is. 9d. per 100 2 12 6 
 
 Expenses of advertising 40 
 
 Sundries.. 5 
 
 Total expense in sheets 266 1 
 
 Cost of a single copy in sheets ; 3052 being 
 
 printed, including the overplus 1 9 
 
 Extra boarding 6 
 
 Cost of each copy, boarded* 2 3 
 
 (257.) This analysis requires some explanation. 
 The printer usually charges for composition by the 
 sheet, supposing the type to be all of one kind ; and 
 as this charge is regulated by the size of the letter, 
 on which the quantity in a sheet depends, little dis- 
 pute can arise after the price is agreed upon. If there 
 are but few extracts, or other parts of the work, 
 which require to be printed in smaller type ; or if 
 there are many notes, or several passages in Greek, 
 or in other languages, requiring a different type, these 
 are considered in the original contract, and a small 
 additional price per sheet allowed. If there is a 
 large portion of small type, it is better to have a 
 specific additional charge for it per sheet. If any 
 work with irregular lines and many figures, and what 
 
 * These charges refer to the edition prepared for the public, 
 *nd do not relate to the large paper copies in the hands 
 of some of the author's friends. 
 
IN A MANUFACTURE. 207 
 
 the printers call rules, occurs, it is called table-work, 
 and is charged at an advanced price per sheet. 
 Examples of this are frequent in the present volume. 
 If the page consists entirely of figures, as in mathe- 
 matical tables, which require very careful correction, 
 the charge for composition is usually doubled. A 
 few years ago I printed a table of logarithms, on a 
 large- sized page, which required great additional 
 labour and care from the Readers,* in rendering the 
 proofs correct, and for which, although new punches 
 were not required, several new types were prepared, 
 and for which stereotype plates were cast, costing about 
 21. per sheet. In this case 1 ll. per sheet were charged, 
 although ordinary composition, with the same sized 
 letter, in demy octavo, could have been executed at 
 thirty-eight shillings per sheet : but as the expense 
 was ascertained before commencing the work, it gave 
 rise to no difficulties. 
 
 (258.) The charge for corrections and alterations 
 is one which, from the difficulty of measuring them, 
 gives rise to the greatest inconvenience, and is as 
 disagreeable to the publisher (if he be the agent 
 between the author and the printer), and to the 
 master printer or his foreman, as it is to the author 
 himself. If the author study economy, he should 
 make the whole of his corrections in the manuscript, 
 and should copy it out fairly : it will then be printed 
 correctly, and he will have little to pay for correc- 
 tions. But it is scarcely possible to judge of the 
 effect of any passage correctly, without having it set 
 
 * " Readers" are persons employed to correct the press at 
 the printing-office. 
 
208 COST OF EACH PROCESS 
 
 up in type ; and there are few subjects, upon which an 
 author does not find he can add some details or ex- 
 planation, when he sees his views in print. If, there- 
 fore, he wish to save his own labour in transcribing, 
 and to give the last polish to the language, he must 
 be content to accomplish these objects at an increased 
 expense. If the printer possess a sufficient stock of 
 type, it will contribute still more to the convenience 
 of the author to have his whole work put up in what 
 are technically called slips,* and then to make all 
 the corrections, and to have as few revises as he 
 can. The present work was set up in slips, but 
 the corrections have been unusually large, and the 
 revises frequent. 
 
 (259.) The press-work, or printing off, is charged 
 at a price agreed upon for each two hundred and fifty 
 sheets ; and any broken number is still considered as 
 two hundred and fifty. When a large edition is re- 
 quired, the price for two hundred and fifty is reduced; 
 thus, in the present volume, two hundred and fifty 
 copies, if printed alone, would have been charged 
 eleven shillings per sheet, instead of 5s. IQd., the 
 actual charge. The principle of this mode of charging 
 is good, as it obviates all disputes ; but it is to be 
 regretted that the custom of charging the same price 
 for any small number as for two hundred and fifty, 
 is so pertinaciously adhered to, that the workmen 
 will not agree to any other terms when only twenty 
 or thirty copies are required, or even when only three 
 
 * Slips are long pieces of paper on which sufficient matter 
 is printed to form, when divided, from two to four pages o* 
 text. 
 
IN A MANUFACTURE. 209 
 
 or four are wanted for the sake of some experiment. 
 Perhaps if all numbers above fifty were charged as 
 two hundred and fifty, and all below as for half two 
 hundred and fifty, both parties would derive an 
 advantage. 
 
 (260.) The effect of the excise duty is to render 
 the paper thin, in order that it may weigh little ; but 
 this is counteracted by the desire of the author to 
 make his book look as thick as possible, in order that 
 he may charge the public as much as he decently 
 can ; and so on that ground alone the duty is of no 
 importance. There is, however, another effect of this 
 duty, which both the public and the author feel ; for 
 they pay, not merely the duty which is charged, but 
 also the profit on that duty, which the paper-maker 
 requires for the use of additional capital ; and also 
 the profit to the publisher and bookseller on the 
 increased price of the volume. 
 
 (261.) The estimated charge for advertisements is, 
 in the present case, about the usual allowance for 
 such a volume ; and, as it is considered that adver- 
 tisements in newspapers are the most effectual, where 
 the smallest pays a duty of 3s. 6d., nearly one half 
 of the charge of advertising is a tax. 
 
 (262.) It appears then, that, to an expenditure 
 of 224 . necessary to produce the present volume, 
 421. are added in the shape of a direct tax. Whe- 
 ther the profits arising from such a mode of manu- 
 facturing will justify such a rate of taxation, can 
 only be estimated when the returns from the volume 
 are considered, a subject that will be discussed in 
 a subsequent chapter.* It is at present sufficient 
 * Chap. XXXI. 
 P 
 
210 COST OF EACH PROCESS. 
 
 - - I 
 
 to observe, that /the tax on advertisements is an 
 impolitic tax when contrasted with that upon paper, 
 and on other materials employed. The object of 
 all advertisements is, by making known articles 
 for sale, to procure for them a better price, if the 
 sale is to be by auction ; or a larger extent of sale 
 if by retail dealers. Now the more any article is 
 known, the more quickly it is discovered whether 
 it contributes to the comfort or advantage of the 
 public ; and the more quickly its consumption is 
 /assured if it be found valuable. It would appear, 
 then, that every tax on communicating information 
 respecting articles which are the subjects of taxation 
 in another shape, is one which must reduce the 
 amount that would have been raised, had no impe- 
 diment been placed in the way of making known 
 to the public their qualities and their nnW. 
 
CAUSES OF LARGE FACTORIES, 211 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 ON THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF LARGE 
 FACTORIES. 
 
 (263.) ON examining the analysis which has been 
 given in Chap. XIX. of the operations in the art of 
 pin-making, it will be observed, that ten individuals 
 are employed in it, and also that the time occupied 
 in executing the several processes is very different. 
 In order, however, to render more simple the reasoning 
 which follows, it will be convenient to suppose that 
 each of the seven processes there described requires 
 an equal quantity of time. This being supposed, it 
 is at once apparent, that, to conduct an establish- 
 ment for pin-making most profitably, the number 
 of persons employed must be a multiple of ten. 
 For if a person with small means has only sufficient 
 capital to enable him to employ half that number of 
 persons, they cannot each of them constantly adhere to 
 the execution of the same process ; and if a manufac- 
 turer employs any number not a multiple of ten, a si- 
 milar result must ensue with respect to some portion of 
 them. The same reflection constantly presents itself 
 on examining any well-arranged factory. In that of 
 Mr. Mordan, the patentee of the ever-pointed pencils, 
 one room is devoted to some of the processes by 
 which steel pens are manufactured. Six fly-presses are 
 here constantly at work ; in the first a sheet of thin 
 
212 CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 
 
 steel is brought by the workman under the die which 
 at each blow cuts out a flat piece of the metal, having 
 the form intended for the pen. Two other workmen 
 are employed in placing these flat pieces under two 
 other presses, in which a steel chisel cuts the slit. 
 Three other workmen occupy other presses, in which 
 the pieces so prepared receive their semi-cylindrical 
 form. The longer time required for adjusting the 
 small pieces in the two latter operations renders them 
 less rapid in execution than the first"; so that two 
 workmen are fully occupied in slitting, and three in 
 bending the flat pieces, which one man can punch 
 out of the sheet of steel. If, therefore, it were 
 necessary to enlarge this factory, it is clear that 
 twelve or eighteen presses would be worked with more 
 
 ^.economy than any number not a multiple of six. 
 
 The same reasoning extends to every manufacture 
 
 < which is conducted upon the principle of the Division 
 of Labour, and we arrive at this general conclusion : 
 When the number of processes into which it is most 
 advantageous to divide it, and the number of indi- 
 viduals to be employed in it, are ascertained, then 
 all factories which do not employ a direct multiple 
 of this latter number, will produce the article at a 
 greater cost. This principle ought always to be 
 kept in view in great establishments, although it is 
 quite impossible, even with the best division of 
 the labour, to attend to it rigidly in practice. The 
 proportionate number of the persons who possess 
 the greatest skill, is of course to be first attended 
 to. That exact ratio which is most profitable for 
 a factory employing a hundred workmen, may not 
 be quite the best where there are five hundred' 
 

 OF LARGE FACTOl^J N I V E Jl'^B I T "5 
 
 and the arrangements of both may probably ad- 
 mit of variations, without materially increasing the 
 cost of their produce. But it is quite certain that no 
 individual, nor in the case of pin-making could any 
 five individuals, ever hope to compete with an ex- 
 tensive establishment." Hence arises one cause 
 of the great size of manufacturing establishments, 
 which have increased with the progress of civilization. 
 Other circumstances, however, contribute to the same 
 end, and arise also from the same cause the division 
 of labour. 
 
 The material out of which the manufactured 
 article is produced, must, in the several stages of its 
 progress, be conveyed from one operator to the next in 
 succession : this can be done at least expense when 
 they are all working in the same establishment. If 
 the weight of the material is considerable, this 
 reason acts with additional force ; but even where 
 it is light, the danger arising from frequent re- 
 moval may render it desirable to have all the 
 processes carried on in the same building. In the 
 cutting and polishing of glass this is the case ; 
 whilst in the art of needle-making several of the 
 processes are carried on in the cottages of the 
 workmen. It is, however, clear that the latter plan, 
 which is attended with some advantages to the 
 family of the workmen, can be adopted only where 
 there exists a sure and quick method of knowing 
 that the work has been well done, and that the whole 
 of the materials given out have been really employed. 
 
 (265.) The inducement to contrive machines for - 
 any process of manufacture increases with the demand 
 for the article ; and the introduction of machinery, on 
 
214 CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 
 
 the other hand, tends to increase the quantity pro- 
 duced, and to lead to the establishment of large 
 factories. An illustration of these principles may be 
 found in the history of the manufacture of patent net. 
 The first machines for weaving this article were 
 very expensive, costing from a thousand to twelve 01 
 thirteen hundred pounds. The possessor of one of 
 these, though it greatly increased the quantity he 
 could produce, was nevertheless unable, when working 
 eight hours a day, to compete with the old methods. 
 This arose from the large capital invested in the 
 machinery ; but he quickly perceived that with the 
 same expense of fixed capital, and a small addition to 
 his circulating capital, he could work the machine 
 during the whole twenty-four hours. The profits thus 
 realized soon induced other persons to direct their at- 
 tention to the improvement of those machines ; and 
 the price was greatly reduced, at the same time 
 that the rapidity of production of the patent net was 
 increased. But if machines be kept working through 
 the twenty-four hours, it is necessary that some 
 person shall attend to admit the workmen at the time 
 they relieve each other ; and whether the porter or 
 other servant so employed admit one person or 
 twenty, his rest will be equally disturbed. It will 
 also be necessary occasionally to adjust or repair the 
 machine ; and this can be done much better by a 
 workman accustomed to machine-making, than by the 
 person who uses it. Now, since the good perform- 
 ance and the duration of machines depend to a very 
 great extent upon correcting every shake or imperfec- 
 tion in their parts as soon as they appear, the prompt 
 attention of a workman resident on the spot will 
 
OF LARGE FACTORIES. 215 
 
 considerably reduce the expenditure arising from the 
 wear and tear of the machinery. But in the case of a 
 single lace-frame, or a single loom, this would be too 
 expensive a plan. Here then arises another circum- 
 stance which tends to enlarge the extent of a factory. 
 It ought to consist of such a number of machines as 
 shall occupy the whole time of one workman in 
 keeping them in order : if extended beyond that 
 number, the same principle of economy would point 
 out the necessity of doubling or tripling the number 
 of machines, in order to employ the whole time of 
 two or three skilful workmen. 
 
 /(2?66.) Where one portion of the workman's labour 
 consists in the exertion of mere physical force, as in 
 weaving and in many similar arts, it will soon occur 
 to the manufacturer, that if that part were executed 
 by a steam-engine, the same man might, in the case 
 of weaving, attend to two or more looms at once ; 
 and, since we already suppose that one or more 
 operative engineers have been employed, the number 
 of his looms may be so arranged that their time shall 
 be fully occupied in keeping the steam-engine and 
 the looms in order. One of the first results will be, 
 that the looms can be driven by the engine nearly 
 twice as fast as before : and as each man, when 
 relieved from bodily labour, can attend to two looms, 
 one workman can now make almost as much cloth as 
 four. This increase of producing power is, however,/ 
 greater than that which really took place at first ; the 
 velocity of some of the parts of the loom being limited 
 by the strength of the thread, and the quickness with 
 which it commences its motion : but an improvement 
 was soon made, by which the motion commenced 
 
216 CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 
 
 slowly, and gradually acquired greater velocity than 
 it was safe to give it at once; and the speed was 
 thus increased from 100 to about 120 strokes per 
 minute. 
 
 $fflf) Pursuing the same principles, the manufac- 
 tory becomes gradually so enlarged, that the expense 
 of lighting during the night amounts to a considerable 
 sum ; and as there are already attached to the esta- 
 blishment persons who are up all night, and can there- 
 fore constantly attend to it, and also engineers to make 
 and keep in repair any machinery, th? addition of an 
 apparatus for making gas to light the factory leads 
 to a new extension, at the same time that it con- 
 tributes, by diminishing the expense of lighting, and 
 the risk of accidents from fire, to reduce the cost of 
 jnanufacturing. 
 
 (268,) Long before a factory has reached this 
 extent, it will have been found necessary to establish 
 an accountant's department, with clerks to pay the 
 workmen, and to see that they arrive at their stated^ 
 times ; and this department must be in communication 
 with the agents who purchase the raw produce, and 
 with those who sell the manufactured article. 
 
 (269.) We have seen that the application of the 
 Division of Labour tends to produce cheaper articles ; 
 that it thus increases the demand ; and gradually, by 
 the effect of competition, or by the hope of increased 
 gain, that it causes large capitals to be embarked in 
 extensive factories. Let us now examine the influence 
 of this accumulation of capital directed to one object. 
 In the first place, it enables the most important prin- 
 ciple on which the advantages of the division of labour 
 depends to be carried almost to its extreme limits : not 
 
OF LARGE FACTORIES. 217 
 
 merely is the precise amount of skill purchased which 
 is necessary for the execution of 'each process, but 
 throughout every stage, from that in which the raw 
 material is procured, to that by which the finished 
 produce is conveyed into the hands of the consumer, 
 the same economy of skill prevails. The quantity 
 of work produced by a given number of people is 
 greatly augmented by such an extended arrange- 
 ment ; and the result is necessarily a great reduction 
 in the cost of the article which is brought to market. 
 
 jythf) Amongst the causes which tend to the 
 cheap production of any article, and which are con- 
 nected with the employment of additional capital, may 
 be mentioned, the care which is taken to prevent the 
 absolute waste of any part of the raw material. An 
 attention to this circumstance sometimes causes the 
 union of two trades in one factory, which otherwise 
 might have been separated. 
 
 An enumeration of the arts to which the horns of 
 cattle are applicable, will furnish a striking example 
 of this kind of economy. The tanner who has pur- 
 chased the raw hides, separates the horns, and sells 
 them to the makers of combs and lanterns. The horn 
 consists of two parts, an outward horny case, and an 
 inward conical substance, somewhat intermediate be- 
 tween indurated hair and bone. The first process 
 consists in separating these two parts, by means of 
 a blow against a block of wood. The horny exterior 
 is then cut into three portions with a frame-saw. 
 
 1 . The lowest of these, next the root of the horn, 
 after undergoing several processes, by which it is 
 flattened, is made into combs. 
 
 2. The middle of the horn, after being flattened by 
 
CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 
 
 heat, and having its transparency improved by oil, is 
 split into thin layers, and forms a substitute for glass, 
 in lanterns of the commonest kind. 
 
 3. The tip of the horn is used by the makers of 
 knife-handles, and of the tops of whips, and for other 
 similar purposes. 
 
 4. The interior, or core of the horn, is boiled down 
 in water. A large quantity of fat rises to the surface ; 
 this is put aside, and sold to the makers of yellow 
 soap. 
 
 5. The liquid itself is used as a kind of glue, and 
 is purchased by cloth dressers for stiffening. 
 
 6. The insoluble substance, which remains behind, 
 is then sent to the mill, and, being ground down, is 
 sold to the farmers for manure 
 
 7. Besides these various purposes to which the dif- 
 ferent parts of the horn are applied, the clippings, 
 which arise in comb-making, are sold to the farmer 
 for manure. In the first year after they are spread 
 over the soil they have comparatively little effect, but 
 during the next four or five their efficiency is con- 
 siderable. The shavings which form the refuse of 
 
 ' the lantern-maker, are of a much thinner texture : 
 some of them are cut into various figures and painted, 
 and used as toys ; for being hygrometric, they curl up 
 when placed on the palm of a warm hand. But the 
 greater part of these shavings also are sold for 
 manure, and from their extremely thin and divided 
 forrn, the full effect is produced upon the first crop. 
 
 (27 Jl) Another event which has arisen, in one 
 trade at least, from the employment of large capital, 
 is, that a class of middle-men, formerly inter- 
 posed between the maker and the merchant, now 
 
OF LARGE FACTORIES. 219 
 
 no longer exist. When calico was woven in the 
 cottages of the workmen, there existed a class of 
 persons who travelled about and purchased the pieces 
 so made, in large numbers, for the purpose of selling 
 them to the exporting merchant. But these middle- 
 men were obliged to examine every piece, in order to 
 know that it was perfect, and of full measure. The 
 greater number of the workmen, it is true, might 
 be depended upon, but the fraud of a few would 
 render this examination indispensable : for any single 
 cottager, though detected by one purchaser, might 
 still hope that the fact would not become known to 
 all the rest. 
 
 The valu of character, though great in all circum- 
 stances of life, can never be so fully experienced by 
 persons possessed of small capital, as by those em- 
 ploying much larger sums : whilst these larger sums 
 of money for which the merchant deals, render his 
 character for punctuality more studied and known by 
 others. Thus it happens that high character supplies 
 the place of an additional portion of capital ; and the 
 merchant, in dealing with the great manufacturer, is 
 saved from the expense of verification, by knowing 
 that the loss, or even the impeachment, of the manu- 
 facturer's character, would be attended with greater 
 injury to himself than any profit upon a single trans- 
 action could compensate. 
 
 (272.) The amount of well-grounded confidence, 
 which exists in the character of its merchants and 
 manufacturers, is one of the many advantages that 
 an old -manufacturing country always possesses over 
 its rivals. To such an extent is this confidence in 
 character carried in England, that, at one of our 
 
220 CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 
 
 largest towns, sales and purchases on a very exten- 
 sive scale are made daily in the course of business 
 without any of the parties ever exchanging a written 
 document. 
 
 (273.) A breach of confidence of this kind, which 
 might have been attended with very serious embar- 
 rassment, occurred in the recent expedition to the' 
 mouth of the Niger. 
 
 "We brought with us from England," Mr. Lander 
 states, "nearly a hundred thousand needles of various 
 " sizes, and amongst them was a great quantity of 
 " * Whitechapel Sharps' warranted ' superfine, and not 
 " to cut in the eye.' Thus highly recommended, we 
 " imagined that these needles must have been excel- 
 " lent indeed ; but what was our surprise, some time 
 " ago, when a number of them which we had disposed 
 " of were returned to us, with a complaint that they 
 " were all eyeless, thus redeeming with a vengeance 
 " the pledge of the manufacturer, ' that they would 
 " not cut in the eye.' On an examination afterwards, 
 " we found the same fault with the remainder of the 
 " 'Whitechapel sharps,' so that to save our credit we 
 "have been obliged to throw them away."* 
 
 (274.) The influence of established character in 
 producing confidence operated in a very remarkable 
 manner at the time of the exclusion of British manu- 
 factures from the Continent during the last war. 
 One of our largest establishments had been in the 
 habit of doing extensive business with a house in 
 the centre of Germany ; but, on the closing of the 
 
 * Lander's Journal of an Expedition to the Mouth of the Niger 
 vol. ii. p. 42. 
 
OF LARGE FACTORIES. 221 
 
 continental ports against our manufactures, heavy 
 penalties were inflicted on all those who contravened 
 the Berlin and Milan decrees. The English manu- 
 facturer continued, nevertheless, to receive orders, 
 with directions how to consign them, and appoint- 
 ments for the time and mode of payment, in letters, 
 the handwriting of which was known to him, but 
 which were never signed, except by the Christian 
 name of one of the firm, and even in some instances 
 they were without any signature at all. These 
 orders were executed ; and in no instance was there 
 the least irregularity in the payments. 
 
 (275.) Another circumstance may be noticed, 
 which to a small extent is more advantageous to 
 large than to small factories. In the export of 
 several articles of manufacture, a drawback is allowed 
 by government, of a portion of the duty paid on the 
 importation of the raw material. In such circum- 
 stances, certain forms must be gone through in order 
 to protect the revenue from fraud ; and a clerk, or 
 one of the partners, must attend at the custom-house. 
 The agent of the large establishment occupies nearly 
 the same time in receiving a drawback of several 
 thousands, as the smaller exporter does of a few 
 shillings. But if the quantity exported is incon- 
 siderable, the small manufacturer frequently does 
 not find the drawback will repay him for the loss of 
 time. 
 
 (276.) In many of the large establishments of 
 our manufacturing districts, substances are employed 
 which are the produce of remote countries, and which 
 are, in several instances, almost peculiar to a few 
 situations. The discovery of any new locality, 
 
2*22 CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 
 
 where such articles exist in abundance, is a matter 
 of great importance to any establishment which con- 
 sumes them in large quantities ; and it has been 
 found, in some instances, that the expense of send- 
 ing persons to great distances, purposely to discover 
 and to collect such produce, has been amply repaid. 
 Thus it has happened, that the snowy mountains of 
 Sweden and Norway, as well as the warmer hills of 
 Corsica, have been almost stripped of one of their 
 vegetable productions, by agents sent expressly from 
 one of our largest establishments for the dying of 
 calicos. Owing to the same command of capital, 
 and to the scale upon which the operations of large 
 factories are carried on, their returns admit of the 
 expense of sending out agents to examine into the 
 wants and tastes of distant countries, as well as of 
 trying experiments, which, although profitable to 
 them, would be ruinous to smaller establishments 
 possessing more limited resources. 
 
 These opinions have been so well expressed in the 
 Report of the Committee of the House of Commons 
 on the Woollen Trade, in 1806, that we shall close 
 this chapter with an extract, in which the advantages 
 of great factories are summed up. 
 
 " Your committee have the satisfaction of seeing, that the 
 " apprehensions entertained of factories are not only vicious 
 " in principle, but they are practically erroneous ; to such a 
 " degree, that even the very opposite principles might be 
 " reasonably entertained. Nor would it be difficult to prove, 
 " that the factories, to a certain extent at least, and in the 
 " present day, seem absolutely necessary to the well-being 
 4< of the domestic system ; supplying those very particulars 
 " wherein the domestic system must be acknowledged to be 
 
OF LARGE FACTORIES. 223 
 
 " inherently defective : for it is obvious, that the little 
 "master manufacturers cannpjL afibrd, like the man who 
 " possesses considerable capital, to try the experiments 
 " which are requisite, and incur the risks, and even losses, 
 " which almost always occur, in inventing and perfecting 
 " new articles of manufacture, or in carrying to a state of 
 " greater perfection articles already established. He can- 
 " not learn, by personal inspection, the wants and habits, 
 " the arts, manufactures, and improvements of foreign 
 " countries ; diligence, economy, and prudence, are the 
 " requisites of his character, not invention, taste, and enter- 
 prise ; nor would he be warranted in hazarding the loss 
 " of any part of his small capital. He walks in a sure 
 " road as long as he treads in the beaten track ; but he 
 " must not deviate into the paths of speculation. The i 
 '*" owner of a factory, on the contrary, being commonly j 
 " possessed of a large capital, and having all his workmen 
 " employed under his own immediate superintendence, 
 " may make experiments, hazard speculation, invent shorter 
 " or better modes of performing old processes, may intro- 
 " duce new articles, and improve and perfect old ones, 
 " thus giving the range to his taste and fancy, and, thereby 
 " alone enabling our manufacturers to stand the compe- 
 * tition with their commercial rivals in other countries. 
 " Meanwhile, as is well worthy of remark (and experience 
 " abundantly warrants the assertion), many of these new 
 " fabrics and inventions, when their success is once esta- 
 " Wished, become general among the whole body of ma- 
 " nufacturers ; the domestic manufacturers themselves thus 
 " benefiting, in the end, from those very factories which 
 ' had been at first the objects of their jealousy. The his- 
 " tory of almost all our other manufactures, in which great 
 " improvements have been made of late years, in some 
 *< cases at an immense expense, and after numbers of 
 " unsuccessful experiments, strikingly illustrates and en- 
 w forces the above remarks. It is besides an acknowledged 
 " fact, that the owners of factories are often amongst the 
 
224 CAUSES OF LARGE FACTORIES. 
 
 " most extensive purchasers at the halls, where they buy 
 " from the domestic clothier the established articles of ma- 
 " nufacture, or are able at once to answer a great and sudden 
 " order ; while, at home, and under their own superinten- 
 " dence, they make their fancy goods, and any articles of a 
 " newer, more costly, or more delicate quality, to which they 
 " are enabled by the domestic system to apply a much larger 
 " proportion of their capital. Thus, the two systems, in- 
 ' ' stead of rivalling, are mutual aids to each other ; each 
 ' ' supplying the other's defects, and promoting the other's 
 " prosperity." 
 
ON THE POSITION OF JARGE FACTORIES. 225 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 ON THE POSITION OF LARGE FACTORIES. 
 
 (277.) IT is found in every country, that the situ- 
 ation of large manufacturing establishments is con- 
 fined to particular districts. In the earlier history 
 of a manufacturing community, before cheap modes 
 of transport have been extensively introduced, it will 
 almost always be found that manufactories are placed 
 near those spots in which nature has produced the raw 
 material : especially in the case of articles of great 
 weight, and in those the value of which depends more 
 upon the material than upon the labour expended. on 
 it. Most of the metallic ores being exceedingly heavy, 
 and being mixed up with large quantities of weighty 
 and useless materials, must be smelted at no great 
 distance from the spot which affords them : fuel and 
 power are the requisites for reducing them ; and any 
 considerable fall of water in the vicinity will naturally 
 be resorted to for aid in the coarser exertions of 
 physical force ; for pounding the ore, for blowing the 
 furnaces, or for hammering and rolling out the iron. 
 There are indeed peculiar circumstances which will 
 modify this. Iron, coal, and limestone, commonly 
 occur in the same tracts ; but the union of the fuel 
 in the same locality with the ore does not exist with 
 respect to other metals. The tracts generally the 
 most productive of metallic ores are, geologically 
 speaking, different from those affording coal : thus in 
 Q 
 
226 ON THE POSITION 
 
 Cornwall there are veins of copper and of tin, but no 
 beds of coal. The copper ore, which requires a very 
 large quantity of fuel for its reduction, is sent by sea 
 to the coal-fields of Wales, and is smelted at Swan- 
 sea ; whilst the vessels which convey it, take back 
 coals to work the steam-engines for draining the 
 mines, and to smelt the tin, which requires for that 
 purpose a much smaller quantity of fuel than copper. 
 (278.) Rivers passing through districts rich in coal 
 and metals, will form the first high roads for the con- 
 veyance of weighty produce to stations in which other 
 conveniences present themselves for the further appli- 
 cation of human skill. Canals will succeed, or lend 
 their aid to these ; and the yet unexhausted applica- 
 tions of steam and of gas, hold out a hope of attaining 
 almost the same advantages for countries to which 
 nature seemed for ever to have denied them. Manu- 
 factures, commerce, and civilization, always follow the 
 line of new and cheap communications. Twenty 
 years ago, the Mississippi poured the vast volume of 
 its waters in lavish profusion through thousands of 
 miles of countries, which scarcely supported a few 
 wandering and uncivilized tribes of Indians. The 
 power of the stream seemed to set at defiance the 
 efforts of man to ascend its course ; and, as if to 
 render the task still more hopeless, large trees, torn 
 from the surrounding forests, were planted like stakes 
 in its bottom, forming in some places barriers, in 
 others the nucleus of banks ; and accumulating in 
 the same spot, which but for accident would have 
 been free from both, the difficulties and dangers of 
 shoals and of rocks. Four months of incessant toil 
 could scarcely convey a small bark with its woni-out 
 
OF LARGE FACTORIES. 22? 
 
 crew two thousand miles up this stream. The same 
 voyage is now performed in fifteen days by large 
 vessels impelled by steam, carrying hundreds of 
 passengers enjoying all the comforts and luxuries of 
 civilized life. Instead of the hut of the Indian, 
 and the far more unfrequent log-house of the thinly 
 scattered settlers, villages, towns, and cities, have 
 arisen on its banks ; and the same engine which 
 stems the force of these powerful waters, will pro- 
 bably tear from their bottom the obstructions which 
 have hitherto impeded and rendered dangerous their 
 navigation.* 
 
 (279.) The accumulation of many large manufac- 
 turing establishments in the same district has a ten- 
 
 * The amount of obstructions arising from the casual fixing 
 of trees in the bottom of the river, may be estimated from the 
 proportion of steam-boats destroyed by running upon them. 
 The subjoined statement is taken from the American Almanack 
 for 1832: 
 
 " Between the years 1811 and 1831, three hundred and 
 " forty-eight steam-boats were built on the Mississippi and its 
 " tributary streams. During that period a hundred and fifty 
 4t were lost or worn out. 
 
 worn out ...... 63 
 
 lost by snags . . . 36 
 
 " Of this hundred and fifty 
 
 burnt 
 
 lost by collision .... 3 
 by accidents not ascertained. 34" 
 Thirty-six, or nearly one fourth, being destroyed by acci- 
 dental obstructions. 
 
 Snag is the name given in America to trees which stand 
 nearly upright in the stream, with their roots fixed at the 
 bottom. 
 
 It is usual to divide off at the bow of the steam- boats a 
 water-tight chamber, in order that when a hole is made in it 
 by running against the snags, the water may not enter the rest 
 of the vessel and sink it instantly. 
 o 2 
 
2'28 ON THE POSITION 
 
 dency to bring together purchasers or their agents 
 from great distances, and thus to cause the institution 
 of a public mart or exchange. This contributes to 
 diffuse information relative to the supply of raw ma- 
 terials, and the state of demand for their produce, 
 with which it is necessary manufacturers should be 
 well acquainted. The very circumstance of collecting 
 periodically, at one place, a large number both of 
 those who supply the market and of those who require 
 its produce, tends strongly to check the accidental 
 fluctuations to which a small market is always sub- 
 ject, as well as to render the average of the prices 
 much more uniform. 
 
 (280.) When capital has been invested in machi- 
 nery, and in buildings for its accommodation, and 
 when the inhabitants of the neighbourhood have ac- 
 quired a knowledge of the modes of working at the 
 machines, reasons of considerable weight are required 
 to cause their removal. Such changes of position do 
 however occur; and they have been alluded to by 
 the Committee on the Fluctuation of Manufacturers' 
 Employment, as one of the causes interfering most 
 materially with an uniform rate of wages : it is there- 
 fore of particular importance to the workmen to be 
 acquainted with the real causes which have driven 
 
 manufactures from their ancient seats. 
 
 " The migration or change of place of any manufacture 
 " has sometimes arisen from improvements of machinery 
 " not applicable to the spot where such manufacture was 
 ' carried on, as appears to have been the case with the 
 " woollen manufacture, which has in great measure mi- 
 * grated from Essex, Suffolk, and other southern counties, 
 " to the northern districts, where coal for the use of the 
 " steam-engine is much cheaper. But this change has, in 
 
OF LARGE FACTORIES. 229 
 
 " some instances, been caused or accelerated by the conduct 
 " of the workmen, in refusing a reasonable reduction of 
 " wages, or opposing the introduction of some kind of im- 
 " proved machinery or process ; so that, during the dispute, 
 " another spot has in great measure supplied their place in 
 '"* the market. Any violence used by the workmen against 
 " the property of their masters, and any unreasonable com- J:, 
 <l bination on their part, is almost sure thus to be injurious to 
 11 themselves."* ^ ( 
 
 (281.) These removals become of serious conse- 
 quence when the factories have been long established, 
 because a population commensurate with their wants 
 invariably grows up around them. The combinations 
 in Nottinghamshire, of persons under the name of 
 Luddites, drove a great number of lace-frames from 
 that district, and caused establishments to be formed 
 in Devonshire. We ought also to observe, that the 
 effect of driving any establishment into a new dis- 
 trict, where similar works have not previously existed, 
 is not merely to place it out of the reach of such com- 
 binations ; but, after a few years, the example of its 
 success will most probably induce other capitalists in 
 the new district to engage in the same manufacture : 
 and thus, although one establishment only should be 
 driven away, the workmen, through whose combina- 
 tion its removal is effected, will not merely suffer by 
 the loss of that portion of demand for their labour 
 which the factory caused ; but the value of that 
 labour will itself be reduced by the competition of a 
 new field of production. 
 
 This passage is not printed in Italics in the original, but 
 it has been thus marked in the above extract, from its ira- j 
 portance, and from the conviction that the most extended dis- 
 cussion will afford additional evidence of its truth. 
 
230 ON THE POSITION OF LARGE FACTORIES. 
 
 (282.) Another circumstance which has its influ- 
 ence on this question, is the nature of the machinery. 
 Heavy machinery, such as stamping-mills, steam- 
 engines, &c., cannot readily be moved, and must 
 always be taken to pieces for that purpose ; but when 
 the machinery of a factory consists of a multitude 
 of separate engines, each complete in itself, and all 
 put in motion by one source of power, such as that of 
 steam, then the removal is much less inconvenient. 
 Thus, stocking-frames, lace -machines, and looms, 
 can be transported to more favourable positions, with 
 but a small separation of their parts. 
 
 (283.) It is of great importance that the more 
 intelligent amongst the class of workmen should 
 examine into the correctness of these views ; because, 
 without having their attention directed to them, the 
 whole class may, in some instances, be led by design- 
 ing persons to pursue a course, which, although 
 plausible in appearance, is in reality at variance with 
 their own best interests. I confess I am not without 
 a hope that this volume may fall into the hands of 
 workmen, perhaps better qualified than myself to 
 reason upon a subject whjch requires only plain com- 
 mon sense, and whose powers are sharpened by its 
 importance to their personal happiness. In asking 
 their attention to the preceding remarks, and to those 
 which I shall offer respecting combinations, I can 
 claim only one advantage over them ; namely, that I 
 never have had, and in all human probability never 
 shall have, the slightest pecuniary interest, to influence 
 even remotely, or by anticipation, the judgments I 
 have formed on the facts which have come before 
 
ON OVER-MANUFACTURING. 231 
 
 CHAP. XXIV.- 
 
 ON OVER-MANUFACTURING. 
 
 (284.) ONE of the natural and almost inevitable 
 consequences of competition is the production of a 
 supply much larger than the demand requires. This 
 result usually arises periodically ; and it is equally 
 important, both to the masters and to the workmen, 
 to prevent its occurrence, or to foresee its arrival. In 
 situations where a great number of very small capi- 
 talists exist, where each master works himself and is 
 assisted by his own family, or by a few journeymen, 
 and where a variety of different articles is pro- 
 duced, a curious system of compensation has arisen 
 which in some measure diminishes the extent to 
 which fluctuations of wages would otherwise reach. 
 This is accomplished by a species of middle-men or 
 factors, persons possessing some capital, who, when- 
 ever the price of any of the articles in which they 
 deal is greatly reduced, purchase it on their own 
 account, in the hopes of selling at a profit when the 
 market is better. These persons, in ordinary times, 
 act as salesmen oragems, and make up assortments 
 of goods at the market price, for the use of the home 
 or foreign dealer. They possess large warehouses 
 in which to make up their orders, or keep in store 
 articles purchased during periods of depression ; thus 
 acting as a kind of fly-wheel in equalizing the market 
 price. 
 
232 ON OVER-MANUFACTURING. 
 
 (285.) The effect of over-manufacturing upon great 
 establishments is different. When an over supply 
 has reduced prices, one of two events usually occurs : 
 the first is a diminished payment for labour; the 
 other is a diminution of the number of hours during 
 which the labourers work, together with a diminished 
 rate of wages. In the former case production con- 
 tinues to go on at its ordinary rate : in the latter, 
 the production itself being checked, the supply again 
 adjusts itself to the demand as soon as the stock on 
 hand is worked off, and prices then regain their 
 former level. I The latter course appears, in the first 
 instance, to be the best both for masters and men ; 
 but there seems to be a difficulty in accomplishing 
 this, except where the trade is in few hands. In 
 fact, it is almost necessary, for its success, that there 
 should be a combination amongst the masters or 
 amongst the men ; or, what is always far preferable 
 tp either, a mutual agreement for their joint interests. 
 ^Combination among the men is difficult, and is 
 always attended with the evils which arise from the 
 ill-will excited against any persons who, in the per- 
 fectly justifiable exercise of their judgment, are dis- 
 posed not to act with the majority. The combination 
 of the masters, on the other hand, is unavailing, unless 
 the whole body of them agree : for if any one master 
 can procure more labour for his money than the rest, 
 he will be able to undersell them. 
 
 (286.) If we look only at the interests of the 
 consumer, the case is different. When too large a , 
 supply has produced a great reduction of price, it / 
 opens the consumption of the article to a new/ 
 class, and increases the consumption of those whoj 
 
ON OVER-MANUFACTURING. 233 
 
 previously employed it : it is therefore against the 
 interest of both these parties that a return to the 
 former price should occur. It is also certain, that 
 by the diminution of profit which the manufacturer 
 suffers from the diminished price, his ingenuity 
 will be additionally stimulated ; that he will ap- 
 ply himself to discover other and cheaper sources 
 for the supply of his raw material, that he will 
 endeavour to contrive improved machinery which 
 shall manufacture it at a cheaper rate, or try to 
 introduce new arrangements into his factory, which 
 shall render the economy of it more perfect. In 
 the event of his success, by any of these courses or 
 by their joint effects, a real and substantial good 
 will be produced. A larger portion of the public will 
 receive advantage from the use of the article, and 
 they will procure it at a lower price ; and the manu- 
 facturer, though his profit on each operation is 
 reduced, will yet, by the more frequent returns on 
 the larger produce of his factory, find his real gain 
 at the end of the year, nearly the same as it was 
 before ; whilst the wages of the workman will re- 
 turn to their level, and both the manufacturer and 
 the workman will find the demand less fluctuating, 
 from its being dependent on a larger number of 
 customers. 
 
 (287.) It would be highly interesting, if we could 
 trace, even approximately, through the history of 
 any great manufacture, the effects of gluts in pro- 
 ducing improvements in machinery, or in methods of 
 working ; and if we could shew what addition to the 
 annual quantity of goods previously manufactured, 
 was produced by each alteration. It would probably 
 
234 ON OVER-MANUFACTURING. 
 
 be found, that the increased quantity manufactured 
 by the same capital, when worked with the new im- 
 provement^ would produce nearly the same rate of 
 profit as other modes of investment. 
 
 Perhaps the manufacture of iron * would furnish 
 the best illustration of this subject ; because, by 
 having the actual price of pig and bar iron at the 
 same place and at the same time, the effect of a 
 change in the value of currency, as well as several 
 other sources of irregularity, would be removed. 
 
 (288.) At the present moment, whilst the manu- 
 facturers of iron are complaining of the ruinously 
 low price of their produce, a new mode of smelting 
 iron is coming into use, which, if it realizes the state- 
 ment of the patentees, promises to reduce greatly the 
 cost of production. The improvement consists in 
 heating the air previously to employing it for blow- 
 ing the furnace. One of the results is, that coal 
 may be used instead of coke ; and this, in its turn, 
 diminishes the quantity of limestone which is re- 
 quired for the fusion of the iron stone. 
 
 The following statement by the proprietors of the 
 patent is extracted from Brewster's Journal, 1832, 
 p. 349 : 
 
 * The average price per ton of pig-iron, bar- iron, and coal, 
 together with the price paid for labour at the works, for a long 
 series of years, would be very valuable, and I shall feel much 
 indebted to any one who will favour me with it for any, even 
 short, period. 
 

 ON OVER-MANUFACTURING. 
 
 235 
 
 ' Comparative view of the quantity of materials required at 
 " the Clyde Iran Works to smelt a ton of foundry pig-iron, 
 11 and of the quantity of foundry pig-iron smelted from 
 " each furnace weekly. 
 
 
 Fuel in tons 
 of 20 cwt. 
 each cwt. 
 112 Ibs. 
 
 Iron, 
 stone. 
 
 Lime- 
 stone. 
 
 Weekly 
 produce In 
 pig-iron. 
 
 
 Tons. 
 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 1. With air not heated) 
 and coke . . . J 
 
 7 
 
 3i 
 
 15 
 
 45 
 
 2. With air heated and? 
 coke . . . . ) 
 
 H 
 
 S* 
 
 10 
 
 60 
 
 3. With air heated and ) 
 coals not coked . $ 
 
 2* 
 
 Si 
 
 n 
 
 65 
 
 ,. 
 
 "Notes. 1st. To the coals stated in the second and 
 
 third lines, must be added 5 cwt. of small coals, required 
 " to heat the air. 
 
 " 2d. The expense of the apparatus for applying the 
 " heated air will be from 200J. to 300/. per furnace. 
 
 " 3d. No coals are now coked at the Clyde Iron Works ; 
 " at all the three furnaces the iron is smelted with coals. 
 
 " 4th. The three furnaces are blown by a double-powered 
 " steam engine, with a steam cylinder 40 inches in diameter, 
 " and a blowing cylinder 80 inches in diameter, which 
 '* compresses the air so as to carry 2 Ibs. per square inch- 
 " There are two tuyeres to each furnace. The muzzles of 
 " the blow-pipes are 3 inches in diameter. 
 
 " 5th. The air heated to upwards of 600 of Fahrenheit. 
 " It will melt lead at the distance of three inches from the 
 " orifice through which it issues from the pipe." 
 
 (289.) The increased effect produced by thus 
 heating the air is by no means an obvious result ; 
 and an analysis of its action will lead to some 
 curious views respecting the future application of 
 machinery for blowing furnaces. 
 
 Every cubic foot of atmospheric air, driven into a 
 
236 ON OVER-MANUFACTURING. 
 
 furnace, consists of two gases* ; about one-fifth being 
 oxygen, and four-fifths azote. 
 
 According to the present state of chemical know- 
 lege, the oxygen alone is effective in producing heat ; 
 and the operation of blowing a furnace may be thus 
 analyzed. 
 
 1 . The air is forced into the furnace in a condensed 
 state, and, immediately expanding, abstracts heat 
 from the surrounding bodies. 
 
 2. Being itself of moderate temperature, it would, 
 even without expansion, still require heat to raise it 
 to the temperature of the hot substances to which it 
 is to be applied. 
 
 3. On coming into contact with the ignited sub- 
 stances in the furnace, the oxygen unites with them, 
 parting at the same moment with a large portion of 
 its latent heat, and forming compounds which have 
 less specific heat than their separate constituents. 
 Some of these pass up the chimney in a gaseous 
 state, whilst others remain in the form of melted 
 slags, floating on the surface of the iron, which is 
 fused by the heat thus set at liberty. 
 
 4. The effects of the azote are precisely similar to 
 the first and second of those above described; it 
 seems to form no combinations, and contributes 
 nothing, in any stage, to augment the heat. 
 
 The plan, therefore, of heating the air before driving 
 it into the furnace saves, obviously, the whole of that 
 heat which the fuel must have supplied in raising it 
 from the temperature of the external air up to that of 
 600 Fahrenheit ; thus rendering the fire more in- 
 
 * The accurate proportions are, by measure, oxygen 21, 
 azote 79. 
 
ON OVER-MANUFACTURING. 237 
 
 tense, and the glassy slags more fusible, and perhaps 
 also more effectually decomposing the iron ore. 
 The same quantity of fuel, applied at once to the 
 furnace, would only prolong the duration of its heat, 
 not augment its intensity. 
 
 (290.) The circumstance of so large a portion of 
 the air* driven into furnaces being not merely useless 
 but acting really as a cooling, instead of a heat- 
 ing, cause, added to so great a waste of mechanical 
 power in condensing it, amounting, in fact, to four- 
 fifths of the whole, clearly shews the defects of the 
 present method, and the want of some better mode of 
 exciting combustion on a large scale. The follow- 
 ing suggestions are thrown out as likely to lead 
 to valuable results, even though they should prove 
 ineffectual for their professed object. 
 
 (291.) The great difficulty appears to be to separate 
 the oxygen, which aids combustion, from the azote 
 which impedes it. If either of those gases becomes 
 liquid at a lower pressure than the other, and if those 
 pressures are within the limits of our present powers 
 of compression, the object might be accomplished. 
 
 Let us assume, for example, that oxygen becomes 
 liquid under a pressure of 200 atmospheres, whilst 
 azote requires a pressure of 250. Then if atmo- 
 spheric air be condensed to the two hundredth part of 
 its bulk, the oxygen will be found in a liquid state at 
 
 * A similar reasoning may be applied to lamps. An argand 
 burner, whether used for consuming oil or gas, admits almost 
 an unlimited quantity of air. It would deserve inquiry, whether 
 a smaller quantity might not produce greater light ; and, pos- 
 sibly, a different supply furnish more heat with the same ex- 
 penditure of fuel. 
 
238 ON OVER-MANUFACTURING. 
 
 the bottom of the vessel in which the condensation 
 is effected, and the upper part of the vessel will 
 contain only azote in the state of gas. The oxygen, 
 now liquified, may be drawn off for the supply of the 
 furnace ; but as it ought, when used, to have a very 
 moderate degree of condensation, its expansive force 
 may be previously employed in working a small 
 engine. The compressed azote also in the upper 
 part of the vessel, though useless for combustion, 
 may be employed as a source of power, and, by its 
 expansion, work another engine. By these means 
 the mechanical force exerted in the original com- 
 pression would all be restored, except that small 
 part retained for forcing the pure oxygen into the 
 furnace, and the much larger part lost in the friction 
 of the apparatus. 
 
 (292.) The principal difficulty to be apprehended 
 in these operations is that of packing a working 
 piston, so as to bear the pressure of 200 or 300 
 atmospheres : but this does not seem insurmountable. 
 It is possible also that the chemical combination of 
 the two gases which constitute common air may 
 be effected by such pressures : if this should be 
 the case, it might offer a new mode of manufacturing 
 nitrous or nitric acids. The result of such experi- 
 ments might take another direction : if the condensa- 
 tion were performed over liquids, it is possible that 
 they might enter into new chemical combinations. 
 Thus, if air were highly condensed in a vessel con- 
 taining water, the latter might unite with an additional 
 dose of oxygen,* which might afterwards be easily 
 disengaged for the use of the furnace. 
 
 * Deutoxide of hydrogen, the oxygenated water of Thenard. 
 
ON OVER-MANUFACTURING. 239 
 
 (293.) A farther cause of the uncertainty of the re- 
 sults of such an experiment arises from the possibility 
 that azote may really contribute to the fusion of the 
 mixed mass in the furnace, though its mode of ope- 
 rating is at present unknown. An examination of 
 the nature of the gases issuing from the chimneys of 
 iron-foundries, might perhaps assist in clearing up this 
 point ; and, in fact, if such inquiries were also insti- 
 tuted upon the various products of all furnaces, we 
 might expect the elucidation of many points in the 
 economy of the metallurgic art. 
 
 (294.) It is very possible also, that the action of 
 oxygen in a liquid state might be exceedingly cor- 
 rosive, and that the containing vessels must be lined 
 with platinum or some other substance of very diffi- 
 cult oxydation ; and most probably new and unex- 
 pected compounds would be formed at such pressures. 
 In some experiments made by Count Rumford in 
 1797, on the force of fired gunpowder, he noticed a 
 solid compound, which always appeared in the gun- 
 barrel when the ignited powder had no means of 
 escaping ; and, in those cases, the gas which escaped 
 on removing the restraining pressure was usually 
 inconsiderable. 
 
 (295.) If the liquefied gases are used, the form of 
 the iron furnace must probably be changed, and 
 perhaps it may be necessary to direct the flame 
 from the ignited fuel upon the ore to be fused, in- 
 stead of mixing that ore with the fuel itself: by 
 a proper regulation of the blast, an oxygenating 
 or a deoxygenating flame might be procured ; and 
 from the intensity of the flame, combined with its 
 chemical agency, we might expect the most refractory 
 
240 ON OVER-MANUFACTURING. 
 
 ore to be smelted, and that ultimately the metals at 
 Dresent almost infusible, such as platinum, titanium, 
 and others, might be brought into common use, and 
 thus effect a revolution in the arts. 
 
 (296.) Supposing, on the occurrence of a glut, 
 that new and cheaper modes of producing are not 
 discovered, and that the production continues to ex- 
 ceed the demand, then it is apparent that too much 
 capital is employed in the trade ; and after a time, 
 the diminished rate of profit will drive some of the 
 manufacturers to other occupations. What particular 
 individuals will leave it must depend on a variety 
 of circumstances. Superior industry and attention 
 will enable some factories to make a profit rather 
 beyond the rest ; superior capital in others will 
 enable them, without these advantages, to support 
 competition longer, even at a loss, with the hope of 
 driving the smaller capitalists out of the market, and 
 then reimbursing themselves by an advanced price. 
 It is, however, better for all parties, that this contest 
 should not last long ; and it is important, that no 
 artificial restraint should interfere to prevent it. An 
 instance of such restriction, and of its injurious 
 effect, occurs at the port of Newcastle, where a 
 particular act of parliament requires that every 
 ship shall be loaded in its turn. The Committee 
 of the House of Commons, in their Report on the 
 Coal Trade, state that, " Under the regulations 
 " contained in this act, if more ships enter into 
 " the trade than can be profitably employed in 
 " it, the loss produced by detention in port, and 
 " waiting for a cargo, which must consequently take 
 " place, instead of falling, as it naturally would, 
 
ON OVER-MANUFACTURING. 241 
 
 " upon particular ships, and forcing them from the 
 1 trade, is now divided evenly amongst them ; and 
 " the loss thus created is shared by the whole num- 
 " her." Report, p. 6. 
 
 (297.) It is not pretended, in this short view, to 
 trace out all the effects or remedies of over-manu- 
 facturing ; the subject is difficult, and, unlike some of 
 the questions already treated, requires a combined view 
 of the relative influence of many concurring causes. 
 
 
242 INQUIRIES PREVIOUS TO 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 
 INQUIRIES PREVIOUS TO COMMENCING ANY 
 MANUFACTORY. 
 
 (298.) THERE are many inquiries which ought al- 
 ways to be made previous to the commencement of 
 the manufacture of any new article. These chiefly 
 relate to the expense of tools, machinery, raw mate- 
 rials, and all the outgoings necessary for its produc- 
 tion, to the extent of demand which is likely to 
 arise, to the time in which the circulating capital 
 will be replaced, and to the quickness or slowness 
 with which the new article will supersede those 
 already in use. 
 
 (299.) The expense of tools and of new machines 
 will be more difficult to ascertain, in proportion as 
 they differ from those already employed ; but the 
 variety in constant use in our various manufactories, 
 is such, that few inventions now occur in which con- 
 siderable resemblance may not be traced to others 
 already constructed. The cost of the raw material is 
 usually less difficult to determine ; but cases occa- 
 sionally arise in which it becomes important to 
 examine whether the supply, at the given price, can 
 be depended upon : for, in the case of a small con- 
 sumption, the additional demand arising from a 
 factory may produce a considerable temporary rise, 
 though it may ultimately reduce the price. 
 
COMMENCING ANY MANUFACTORY. 243 
 
 (300.) The quantity of any new article likely to 
 be consumed is a most important subject for the 
 consideration of the projector of a new manufacture. 
 As these pages are not intended for the instruction of 
 the manufacturer, but rather for the purpose of giving 
 a general view of the subject, an illustration of the 
 way in which such questions are regarded by prac- 
 tical men, will, perhaps, be most instructive. The 
 following extract from the evidence given before a 
 Committee of the House of Commons, in the Report 
 on Artizans and Machinery, shews the extent to 
 which articles apparently the most insignificant, are 
 consumed, and the view which the manufacterer 
 takes of them. 
 
 The person examined on this occasion was Mr. 
 Ostler, a manufacturer of glass beads and other toys 
 of the same substance, from Birmingham. Several 
 of the articles made by him were placed upon the 
 table, for the inspection of the Committee of the 
 House of Commons, which held its meetings in one 
 of the committee-rooms. 
 
 " Question. Is there any thing else you have to state 
 11 upon this subject? 
 
 " Answer. Gentlemen may consider the articles on the 
 " table as extremely insignificant ; but perhaps I may sur- 
 " prise them a little, by mentioning the following fact 
 " Eighteen years ago, on my first journey to London, a 
 " respectable-looking man, in the city, asked me if I could 
 " supply him with dolls' eyes ; and I was foolish enough 
 " to feel half offended ; I thought it derogatory to my new 
 " dignity as a manufacturer, to make dolls' eyes. He took 
 " me into a room quite as wide, and perhaps twice the 
 " length of this, and we had just room to walk between 
 " stacks, from the floor to 0)3 ceiling, of parts of dolls. He 
 
iii INQUIRIES PREVIOUS TO 
 
 <; said, ' These are only the legs and arms ; the trunks 
 " are below.' But I saw enough to convince me, that 
 " he wanted a great many eyes; and, as the article ap- 
 ' peared quite in my own line of business, I said I would 
 " take an order by way of experiment ; and he shewed me 
 " several specimens. I copied the order. He ordered 
 " various quantities, and of various sizes and qualities. 
 " On returning to the Tavistock hotel, I found that the 
 " order amounted to upwards of 500/. I went into the 
 " country, and endeavoured to make them. I had some 
 " of the most ingenious glass toy-makers in the kingdom 
 " in my service ; but when I shewed it to them, they 
 " shook their heads, and said they had often seen the 
 " article before, but could not make it. I engaged them 
 " by presents to use their best exertions ; but after trying 
 ' and wasting a great deal of time for three or four weeks, 
 " I was obliged to relinquish the attempt. Soon afterwards 
 " I engaged in another branch of business (chandelier 
 " furniture), and took no more notice of it. About 
 * eighteen months ago I resumed the trinket trade, and 
 "then determined to think of the dolls' eyes; and about 
 " eight months since, I accidentally met with a poor fellow 
 " who had impoverished himself by drinking, and who 
 " was dying in a consumption, in a state of great want. 
 " I showed him ten sovereigns ; and he said he would 
 " instruct me in the process. He was in such a state 
 " that he could not bear the effluvia of his own lamp ; 
 " but though I was very conversant with the manual part of 
 " the business, and it related to things I was daily in the 
 " habit of seeing, I felt I could do nothing from his de- 
 " scription. (I mention this to show how difficult it is to 
 " convey, by description, the mode of working.) He took 
 ' me into his garret, where the poor fellow had economized 
 ' to such a degree, that he actually used the entrails and fat 
 " of poultry from Leadenhall market to save oil (the price 
 " of the article having been lately so much reduced by 
 " competition at home.) In an instant, before I had seen 
 
COMMENCING ANY MANUFACTORY. 245 
 
 " him make three, I felt competent to make a gross ; and 
 " the difference between his mode and that of my own work- 
 " men was so trifling, that I felt the utmost astonishment. 
 
 " Quest, You can now make dolls' eyes? 
 
 " Am. I can. As it was eighteen years ago that I 
 " received the order I have mentioned, and feeling doubtful 
 " of my own recollection, though very strong, and suspect- 
 " ing that it could [not] have been to the amount stated, I last 
 11 night took the present very reduced price of that article 
 " (less than half now of what it was then), and calculating 
 " that every child in this country not using a doll till two 
 " years old, and throwing it aside at seven, and having a 
 " new one annually, I satisfied myself that the eyes alone 
 " would produce a circulation of a great many thousand 
 " pounds. I mention this merely to shew the importance 
 " of trifles; and to assign one reason, amongst many, for 
 " my conviction, that nothing but personal communication 
 " can enable our manufactures to be transplanted." 
 
 (301.) In many instances it is exceedingly difficult 
 to estimate beforehand the sale of an article, or the 
 effects of a machine ; a case, however, occurred during 
 a recent inquiry, which although not quite appro- 
 priate as an illustration of probable demand, is highly 
 instructive as to the mode of conducting investiga- 
 tions of this nature, A committee of the House of 
 Commons was appointed to inquire into the tolls pro- 
 per to be placed on steam-carriages ; a question, appa- 
 rently, of difficult solution, and upon which widely 
 different opinions had been formed, if we may judge by 
 the very different rate of tolls imposed upon such car- 
 riages by different " turnpike trusts." The principles 
 on which the committee conducted the inquiry were, 
 that " The only ground on which a fair claim to 
 " toll can be made on any public road, is to raise 
 
!246 INQUIRIES PREVIOUS TO 
 
 " a fund, which, with the strictest economy, shall be 
 * ' just sufficient, first, to repay the expense of its 
 " original formation ; secondly, to maintain it in 
 " good and sufficient repair." They first endea- 
 vouied to ascertain, from competent persons, the 
 effect of the atmosphere alone in deteriorating a well- 
 constructed road. The next step was, to determine 
 the proportion in which the road was injured, by the 
 effect of the horses' feet compared with that of the 
 Yv'heels. Mr. Macneill, the superintendent, under Mr. 
 Telford, of the Holyhead roads, was examined, and 
 proposed to estimate the relative injury, from the 
 comparative quantities of iron worn off from the 
 shoes of the horses, and from the tire of the wheels. 
 From the data he possessed, respecting the consump- 
 tion of iron for the tire of the wheels, and for the 
 shoes of the horses, of one of the Birmingham day- 
 coaches, he estimated the wear and tear of roads, 
 arising from the feet of the horses, to be three times as 
 great as that arising from the wheels. Supposing 
 repairs amounting to a hundred pounds to be re- 
 quired on a road travelled over by a fast coach at the 
 rate of ten miles an hour, and the same amount of 
 injury to occur on another road, used only by wag- 
 gons, moving at the rate of three miles an hour, Mr. 
 Macneill divides the injuries in the following pro- 
 portions : 
 
COMMENCING ANY MANUFACTORY. 
 
 247 
 
 INJURY ARISING FROM 
 
 FAST 
 COACH. 
 
 HEAVY 
 
 WAGGON. 
 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 Wheels 
 
 20 
 
 35 5 
 
 
 60 
 
 44 5 
 
 
 
 
 TOTAL INJURY .... 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 Supposing it, therefore, to be ascertained that the 
 wheels of steam-carriages do no more injury to roads 
 than other carriages of equal weight travelling with 
 the same velocity, the committee now possessed the 
 means of approximating to a just rate of toll for 
 steam-carriages.* 
 
 (302.) As connected with this subject, and as 
 affording most valuable information upon points in 
 which, previous to experiment, widely different 
 opinions have been entertained; the following extract 
 is inserted from Mr. Telford's Report on the State 
 of the Holyhead and Liverpool Roads. The in- 
 strument employed for the comparison was invented 
 by Mr. Macneill ; and the road between London 
 and Shrewsbury was selected for the place of ex- 
 periment. 
 
 The general results, when a waggon weighing 
 21 cwt. was used on different sorts of roads, are 
 as follows : 
 
 * One of the results of these inquiries is, that every coach 
 which travels from London to Birmingham distributes about 
 eleven pounds of wrought iron, along the line of road between 
 those two places. 
 
248 
 
 INQUIRIES PREVIOUS TO 
 
 Ibs. 
 
 1. On well-made pavement, the draught is . . 33 
 
 2. On a broken stone surface, or old flint road . 65 
 
 3. On a gravel road 147 
 
 4 On a broken stone road, upon a rough pave- 
 ment foundation 46 
 
 5, On a broken stone surface, upon a bottoming 
 of concrete, formed of Parker's cement and 
 gravel 46 
 
 The following statement relates to the force re- 
 quired to draw a coach weighing 18 cwt., exclusive of 
 seven passengers, up roads of various inclinations : 
 
 INCLINATION. 
 
 Force required 
 at Six Miles 
 per Hour. 
 
 Force 
 at Eight Miles 
 per Hour. 
 
 Force 
 at Ten Miles 
 per Hour. 
 
 1 in 20 
 
 Ibs. 
 268 
 
 Ibs. 
 296 
 
 Ibs. 
 318 
 
 1 in 26 
 
 213 
 
 219 
 
 225 
 
 1 in 30 
 
 165 
 
 196 
 
 200 
 
 1 in 40 
 
 160 
 
 166 
 
 172 
 
 1 in 600 
 
 111 
 
 120 
 
 128 
 
 (303.) In establishing a new manufactory, the time 
 in which the goods produced can be brought to mar- 
 ket and the returns be realized, should be thoroughly 
 considered, as well as the time the new article will take 
 to supersede those already in use. If it is destroyed 
 in using, the new produce will be much more easily 
 introduced. Steel pens readily took the place of 
 quills ; and a new form of pen would, if it possessed 
 any advantage, as easily supersede the present one. 
 A new lock, however secure, and however cheap, 
 
'V- OF THE 
 V 
 COMMENCING ANY MANtlFA 
 
 would not so readily make its way. If less ex- 
 pensive than the old, it would be employed in 
 work : but old locks would rarely be removed to 
 make way for it ; and even if perfectly secure, its 
 advance would be slow. 
 
 (304.) Another element in this question which 
 should not be altogether omitted, is the opposition 
 .vhich the new manufacture may create by its real 
 or apparent injury to other interests, and the probable 
 effect of that opposition. This is not always fore- 
 seen ; and when anticipated is often inaccuratel) 
 estimated. On the first establishment of steam- 
 boats from London to Margate, the proprietors of the 
 coaches running on that line of road petitioned the 
 House of Commons against them, as likely to lead to 
 the ruin of the coach proprietors. It was, however, 
 found that the fear was imaginary ; and in a very 
 few years, the number of coaches on that road was 
 considerably increased, apparently through the very 
 means which were thought to be adverse to it. The 
 fear, which is now entertained, that steam-power and 
 rail-roads may drive out of employment a large pro- 
 portion of the horses at present in use, is probably 
 not less unfounded. On some particular lines such 
 an effect might be produced ; but in all probability 
 the number of horses employed in conveying goods 
 and passengers to the great lines of rail-road, would 
 exceed that which is at present used. 
 
250 ON A NEW SYSTEM 
 
 CHAP XXVI. 
 
 ON A NEW SYSTEM OF MANUFACTURING. 
 
 (305.) A MOST erroneous and unfortunate opinion 
 I prevails amongst workmen in many manufacturing 
 countries, that their own interest and that of their 
 employers are at variance. The consequences are, 
 that valuable machinery is sometimes neglected, and 
 even privately injured, that new improvements, in- 
 troduced by the masters, do not receive a fair trial, 
 and that the talents and observations of the workmen 
 are not directed to the improvement of the processes 
 in which they are employed. This error is, perhaps, 
 most prevalent where the establishment of manufac- 
 tories has been of recent^origin, and where the number 
 of persons employed in them is not very large : thus, 
 in some of the Prussian provinces on the Rhine it 
 prevails to a much greater extent than in Lan- 
 cashire. Perhaps its diminished prevalence in our 
 own manufacturing districts, arises partly from the 
 superior information spread amongst the workmen ; 
 and partly from the frequent example of persons, who 
 by good conduct and an attention to the interests 
 of their employers for a series of years, have become 
 foremen, or who have ultimately been admitted 
 into advantageous partnerships. Convinced as I am, 
 from my own observation, that the prosperity and 
 
OF MANUFACTURING. 251 
 
 success of the master manufacturer is essential to 
 the welfare of the workman, I am yet compelled to 
 a irnit that this connexion is, in many cases, too 
 rv mote to be always understood by the latter: 
 jui'.l whilst it is perfectly true that workmen, as a 
 class, derive advantage from the prosperity of their 
 employers, I do not think that each individual par- 
 takes of that advantage exactly in proportion to the 
 i xtont to which he contributes towards it ; nor do I 
 perceive that the resulting advantage is as immediate 
 a ; it mi jht become under a different system. 
 
 (308.) It would be of great importance, if, in 
 CVcry large establishment the mode of payment 
 c ;uld be so arranged, that every person employed 
 s-.auld derive advantage from the success of the 
 v/nole ; and that the profits of each individual should 
 advance, as the factory itself produced profit, with- 
 out the necessity of making any change in the wages. 
 This is by no means easy to effect, particularly 
 amongst that class whose daily labour procures for 
 them their daily food. The system which has long 
 been pursued in working the fWnisjjj-pineg, although 
 not exactly fulfilling these conditions, yet possesses 
 advantages which make it worthy of attention, as 
 having nearly approachad towards them, and as 
 tending to render fully effective the faculties of all 
 who are engaged in it. I am the more strongly 
 induced to place before the reader a short sketch of 
 this system, because its similarity to that which I 
 shall afterwards recommend for trial, will perhaps 
 remove some objections to the latter, and may also 
 furnish, some valuable hints for conducting any ex- 
 periment which might be undertaken. 
 
252 ON A NEW SYSTKM 
 
 ^ 
 
 (307.) In the mines of Cornwall, almost the whole 
 of the operations, both above and below ground, are 
 contracted for. The manner of making the contract 
 is nearly as follows. At the end of every two mouths, 
 the work which it is proposed to carry on during the 
 next period is marked out. It is of three kinds. 
 1. ^utyjork, which consists in sinking shafts, driving 
 levels, and making excavations : this is paid for by 
 the fathom in depth, or in length, or by the cubic 
 fathom. 2. Tribute, which is payment for raising 
 and dressing the ore, by means of a certain part of its 
 value when rendered merchantable. It is this mode 
 of payment which produces such admirable effects. 
 The miners, who are to be paid in proportion to 
 the richness of the vein, and the quantity of m'etal 
 extracted from it, naturally become quick-sighted in 
 the discovery of ore, and in estimating its value ; and 
 it is their interest to avail themselves of every im- 
 provement that can bring it more cheaply to market. 
 3. Dressing. The " Tributors," who dig and dress 
 the ore, can seldom afford to dress the coarser parts 
 of what they raise, at their contract price ; this 
 portion, therefore, is again let out to other persons, 
 who agree to dress it at an advanced price. 
 
 The lots of ore to be dressed, and the works to be 
 carried on, having been marked out some days before, 
 and having been examined by the men, a kind of 
 auction is held by the captains of the mine, in which 
 each lot is put up, and bid for by different gangs of 
 men. The work is then offered, at a price usually 
 below that bid at the auction, to the lowest bidder, 
 who rarely declines it at the rate proposed. The 
 tribute is a certain sum out of every twenty shillings 
 
OF MANUFACTURING. 253 
 
 worth of ore raised, and may vary from three- 
 pence to fourteen or fifteen shillings. The rate 
 of earnings in tribute is very uncertain : if a vein, 
 which was poor when taken, becomes rich, the men 
 earn money rapidly ; and instances have occurred 
 in which each miner of a gang has gained a hundred 
 pounds in the two months. These extraordinary 
 cases, are, perhaps, of more advantage to the owners 
 of the mine than even to the men; for whilst the 
 skill and industry of the workmen are greatly stimu- 
 lated, the owner himself always derives still greater 
 advantage from the improvement of the vein.* This 
 system has been introduced, by Mr. Taylor, into the 
 lead mines of Flintshire, into those at Skipton in 
 Yorkshire, and into some of the copper mines of 
 Cumberland; and it is desirable that it should become 
 general, because no other mode of payment affords 
 to the workmen a measure of success so directly 
 proportioned to the industry, the integrity, and the 
 talent, which they exert. 
 
 (308.) I shall now present the outline of a system 
 which appears to me to be pregnant with the most 
 important results, both to the class of workmen and 
 to the country at large ; and which, if acted upon, 
 would, in my opinion, permanently raise the working 
 classes, and greatly extend the manufacturing system. 
 
 The general principles on which the proposed 
 system is founded, are 
 
 1st. That a considerable part of the wages received 
 
 * For a detailed account of the method of working the 
 Cornish mines, see a paper of Mr. John Taylor's, Transactions 
 of the Geological Society, vol. ii. p. 309. 
 
254 ON A NEW SYSTEM 
 
 by each person employed should depend on the profits 
 made by the establishment ; and, 
 
 2d. That every person connected with it should 
 derive more advantage from applying any improve- 
 ment he might discover, to the factory in which he is 
 employed, than he could by any other course. 
 
 (309.) It would be difficult to prevail on the large 
 capitalist to enter upon any system, which would 
 change the division of the profits arising from the 
 employment of his capital in setting skill and labour 
 in action ; any alteration, therefore, must be expected 
 rather from the small capitalist, or from the higher 
 class of workmen, who combine the two characters ; 
 and to these latter classes, whose welfare will be first 
 affected, the change is most important. I shall there- 
 fore first point out the course to be pursued in making 
 the experiment ; and then, taking a particular branch 
 of trade as an illustration, I shall examine the merits 
 and defects of the proposed system as applied to it. 
 
 (310.) Let us suppose, in some large manufactur- 
 ing town, ten or twelve of the most intelligent and 
 skilful workmen to unite, whose characters for sobriety 
 and steadiness are good, and are well known among 
 their own class. Such persons will each possess some 
 small portion of capital ; and let them join with one or 
 two others who have raised themselves into the class 
 of small master manufacturers, and, therefore possess 
 rather a larger portion of capital. Let these persons, 
 after well considering the subject, agree to esta- 
 blish a manufactory of fire-irons and fenders ; and 
 let us suppose that each of the ,ten workmen can com- 
 mand forty pounds, and each of the small capitalists 
 possesses two hundred pounds : thus they have 
 
OF MANUFACTURING. 255 
 
 a capital of SOQL with which to commence business ; 
 and, for the sake of simplifying, let us further sup- 
 pose the labour of each of these twelve persons to 
 be worth two pounds a week. One portion of their 
 capita] will be expended in procuring the tools 
 necessary for their trade, which we shall take at 
 400/., and this must be considered as their fixed 
 capital. The remaining 400Z. must be employed 
 as circulating capital, in purchasing the iron with 
 which their articles are made, in paying the rent of 
 their workshops, and in supporting themselves and 
 their families until some portion of it is replaced by 
 the sale of the goods produced. 
 
 (311.) Now the first question to be settled is, 
 
 what proportion of the profit should be allowed for 
 the use of capital, and what for skill and labour ? It 
 does not seem possible to decide this question by 
 any abstract reasoning: if the capital supplied by 
 each partner is equal, all difficulty will be removed ; 
 if otherwise, the proportion must be left to find its 
 level, and will be discovered by experience ; and it 
 is probable that it will not fluctuate much. Let us 
 suppose it to be agreed that the capital of 800Z. shall 
 receive the wages of one workman. At the end of 
 each week every workman is to receive one pound as 
 wages, and one pound is to be divided amongst the 
 owners of the capital. After a few weeks the 
 returns will begin to come in ; and they will soon be- 
 come nearly uniform. Accurate accounts should be 
 kept of every expense and of all the sales ; and at the 
 end of each week the profit should be divided. A 
 certain portion should be laid aside as a reserved 
 fund, another portion for repair of the tools, and the 
 
256 ON A NEW SYSTEM 
 
 remainder being divided into thirteen parts, one of these 
 parts would be divided amongst the capitalists and one 
 belong to each workman. Thus each man would, in 
 ordinary circumstances, make up his usual wages of 
 two pounds weekly. If the factory went on prosper- 
 ously, the wages of the men would increase ; if the 
 sales fell off they would be diminished, It is important 
 that every person employed in the establishment, what- 
 ever might be the amount paid for his services, whether 
 he act as labourer or porter, as the clerk who keeps the 
 accounts, or as book-keeper employed for a few hours 
 once a week to superintend them, should receive one 
 half of what his service is worth in fixed salary, the 
 other part varying with the success of the under- 
 taking. 
 
 (312.) In such a factory, of course, division of 
 labour would be introduced ; some of the workmen 
 would be constantly employed in forging the fire- 
 irons, others in polishing them, others in piercing and 
 forming the fenders. It would be essential that the 
 time occupied in each process, and also its expense, 
 should be well ascertained ; information which would 
 soon be obtained very precisely. Now, if a work- 
 man should find a mode of shortening any of the 
 processes, he would confer a benefit on the whole 
 party, even if they received but a small part of the 
 resulting profit. For the promotion of such discove- 
 ries, it would be desirable that those who make them 
 should either receive some reward, to be determined 
 after a sufficient jtrial by a committee assembling 
 periodically ; or if they be of high importance, that 
 the discoverer should receive one-half, or two-thirds, 
 of the profit resulting from them during the next 
 
OF MANUFACTURING. 25? 
 
 year, or some other determinate period, as might be 
 found expedient. As the advantages of such im- 
 provements would be clear gain to the factory, it is 
 obvious that such a share might be allowed to the 
 inventor, that it would be for his interest rather to 
 give the benefit of them to his partners, than to dis- 
 pose of them in any other way. 
 
 (313.) The result of such arrangements in a fac- 
 tory would be, 
 
 1. That every person engaged in it would have a 
 direct interest in its prosperity ; since the effect of any 
 success, or falling off, would almost immediately pro- 
 duce a corresponding change in his own weekly receipts. 
 
 2. Every person concerned in the factory would 
 have an immediate interest in preventing any waste 
 or mismanagement in all the departments. 
 
 3. The talents of all connected with it would be 
 strongly directed to its improvement in every depart- 
 ment. 
 
 4. None but workmen of high character and quali- 
 fications could obtain admission into such establish- 
 ments ; because when any additional hands were 
 required, it would be the common interest of all to 
 admit only the most respectable and skilful ; and it 
 would be far lesseaj^jto impose upon a dozen work- 
 men than upon the single proprietor of a factory. 
 
 5. When any circumstance produced a glut in the 
 market, more skill would be directed to diminishing 
 the cost of production ; and a portion of the time 
 of the men might then be occupied in repairing and 
 improving their tools, for which a reserved fund 
 would pay, thus checking present, and at the same 
 time facilitating future production. 
 
 s 
 
258 ON A NEW SYSTEM 
 
 6. Another advantage, of no small importance, would 
 be the total removal of all real or imaginary causes 
 for combinations. The workmen and the capitalist 
 would so shade into each other, would so evi- 
 dently have a common interest, and their difficulties 
 and distresses would be mutually so well understood, 
 that, instead of combining to oppress one another, 
 the only combination which could exist would be a 
 most powerful union between both parties to overcome 
 their common difficulties. 
 
 (314.) One of the difficulties attending such a 
 system is, that capitalists would at first fear to em- 
 bark in it, imagining that the workmen would receive 
 too large a share of the profits : and it is quite true 
 that the workmen would have a larger share than 
 at present: but, at the same time, it is presumed 
 the effect of the whole system would be, that the 
 I total profits of the establishment being much increased, 
 \ the smaller proportion allowed to capital under this 
 i system would yet be greater in actual amount, than 
 that which results to it from the larger share in the 
 system now existing. 
 
 (315.) It is possible that the present laws relating 
 to partnerships might interfere with factories so con- 
 ducted. If this interference could not be obviated 
 by confining their purchases under the proposed 
 system to ready money, it would be desirable to 
 consider what changes in the law would be neces- 
 sary to its existence : and this furnishes another 
 reason for entering into the question of limited part- 
 nerships. 
 
 (316.) A difficulty would occur also in discharging 
 workmen who behaved ill, or who were not competent 
 
OF MANUFACTURING. 259 
 
 to their work ; this would arise from their having a 
 certain interest in the reserved fund, and, perhaps, 
 from their possessing a certain portion of the capital 
 employed ; but without entering into detail, it may 
 be observed, that such cases might be determined on 
 by meetings of the whole establishment ; and that if 
 the policy of the laws favoured such establishments, 
 it would scarcely be more difficult to enforce just 
 regulations, than it now is to enforce some which are 
 unjust, by means of combinations either amongst the 
 masters or the men. 
 
 (317.) Some approach to this system is already 
 practised in several trades : the mode of conducting 
 the Cornish mines has already been alluded to ; the 
 payment to the crew of whaling ships is governed by 
 this principle ; the profits arising from fishing with 
 nets on the south coast of England are thus divided : 
 one-half the produce belongs to the owner of the boat 
 and net ; the other half is divided in equal portions 
 between the persons using it, who are also bound to 
 assist in repairing the net when injured. 
 
260 ON CONTRIVING MACHINERY, 
 
 CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 ON CONTRIVING MACHINERY. 
 
 (318.) THE power of inventing mechanical con- 
 trivances, and of combining machinery, does not 
 appear, if we may judge from the frequency or its 
 occurrence, to be a difficult or a rare gift. Of the vast 
 multitude of inventions which have been produced 
 almost daily for a series of years, a large part has 
 failed from the imperfect nature of the first trials ; 
 whilst a still larger portion, which had escaped the 
 mechanical difficulties, failed only because the eco- 
 nomy of their operations was not sufficiently attended 
 to. 
 
 The commissioners appointed to examine into the 
 methods proposed for preventing the forgery of bank 
 notes, state in their report, that out of one hundred 
 and seventy-eight projects communicated to the Bank 
 and to the commissioners, there were only twelve of 
 superior skill, and nine which it was necessary more 
 particularly to examine. 
 
 (319.) It is however a curious circumstance, that 
 although the power of combining machinery is so 
 common, yet the more beautiful combinations are 
 exceedingly rare. Those which command our admi- 
 ration equally by the perfection of their effects and 
 the simplicity of their means, are found only amongst 
 the happiest productions of genius. 
 
ON CONTRIVING MACHINERY. 261 
 
 To produce movements even of a complicated 
 kind is not difficult. There exist a great multitude 
 of known contrivances for all the more usual pur- 
 poses, and if the exertion of moderate power is the 
 end of the mechanism to be contrived, it is possible 
 to construct the whole machine upon paper, and to 
 judge of the proper strength to be given to each part 
 as well as to the frame-work which supports it, and 
 also of its ultimate effect, long before a single part of 
 it has been executed. In fact, all the contrivance, 
 and all the improvements, ought first to be repre- 
 sented in the drawings. 
 
 (320.) On the other hand, there are effects depen- 
 dent upon physical or chemical properties for the 
 determination of which no drawings will be of any 
 use. These are the legitimate objects of direct trial. 
 For example ; if the ultimate result of an engine is 
 to be that it shall impress letters on a copper-plate 
 by means of steel punches forced into it, all the 
 mechanism by which the punches and the copper are 
 to be moved at stated intervals, and brought into 
 contact, is within the province of drawing, and the 
 machinery may be arranged entirely upon paper. 
 But a doubt may reasonably spring up, whether the 
 bur that will be raised round the letter, which has 
 been already punched upon the copper, may not inter- 
 fere with the proper action of the punch for the letter 
 which is to be punched next adjacent to it. It may 
 also be feared that the effect of punching the second 
 letter, if it be sufficiently near to the first, may 
 distort the form of that first figure. If neither of 
 these evils should arise, still the bur produced by 
 the punching might be expected to interfere with the 
 
262 ON CONTRIVING MACHINERY. 
 
 goodness of the impression produced by the copper- 
 plate ; and the plate itself, after having all but its 
 edge covered with figures, might change its form, 
 from the unequal condensation which it must suffer 
 in this process, so as to render it very difficult to take 
 impressions from it at all. It is impossible by any 
 drawings to solve difficulties such as these, experi- 
 ment alone can determine their effect. Such experi- 
 ments having been made, it is found that if the sides 
 of the steel punch are nearly at right angles to the face 
 of the letter, the bur produced is very inconsidera- 
 ble ; that at the depth which is sufficient for copper- 
 plate printing, no distortion of the adjacent letters 
 takes place, although those letters are placed very close 
 to each other ; that the small bur which arises may 
 easily be scraped off ; and that the copper-plate 
 is not distorted by the condensation of the metal in 
 punching, but is perfectly fit to print from, after it has 
 undergone that process. 
 
 (321.) The next stage in the progress of an inven- 
 tion, after the drawings are finished and the prelimi- 
 nary experiments have been made, if any such should 
 be requisite, is the execution of the machine itself. 
 It can never be too strongly impressed upon the 
 minds of those who are devising new machines, that 
 to make the most perfect drawings of every part tends 
 essentially both to the success of the trial, and to 
 economy in arriving at the result. The actual ex- 
 ecution from working drawings is comparatively an 
 easy task ; provided always that good tools are em- 
 ployed, and that methods of working are adopted, in 
 which the perfection of the part constructed depends 
 
ON CONTRIVING MACHINERY 263 
 
 less on the personal skill of the workman, than upon 
 the certainty of the method employed. 
 
 (322.) The causes of failure in this stage most fre- 
 quently derive their origin from errors in the preceding 
 one ; and it is sufficient merely to indicate a few of 
 their sources. They frequently arise from having neg- 
 lected to take into consideration that metals are not 
 perfectly rigid but elastic. A steel cylinder of small 
 diameter must not be regarded as an inflexible rod ; 
 but in order to ensure its perfect action as an axis, it 
 must be supported at proper intervals. 
 
 Again, the strength and stiffness of the framing 
 which supports the mechanism must be carefully at- 
 tended to. It should always be recollected, that the 
 addition of superfluous matter to the immovable 
 parts of a machine produces no additional momen- 
 tum, and therefore is not accompanied with the same 
 evil that arises when the moving parts are increased in 
 weight. The stiffness of the framing in a machine 
 produces an important advantage. If the bearings 
 of the axis (those places at which they are sup- 
 ported) are once placed in a straight line, they will 
 remain so, if the framing be immovable ; whereas 
 if the framework changes its form, though ever so 
 slightly, considerable friction is immediately pro- 
 duced. This effect is so well understood in the 
 districts where spinning factories are numerous, that, 
 in estimating the expense of working a new factory, 
 it is allowed that five per cent, on the power of the 
 steam-engine will be saved if the building is fire- 
 proof: for the greater strength and rigidity of a fire- 
 proof building prevents the movement of the long 
 shafts or axes which drive the machinery, from being 
 
264 ON CONTRIVING MACHINERY. 
 
 impeded by the friction that would arise from tl 
 slightest deviation in any of the bearings. 
 
 (323.) In conducting experiments upon machiner 
 it is quite a mistake to suppose that any imperfei 
 mechanical work is good enough for such a purpos< 
 If the experiment is worth making, it ought to 1 
 tried with all the advantages of which the state < 
 mechanical art admits ; for an imperfect trial me 
 cause an idea to be given up, which better workmai 
 ship might have proved to be practicable. On tl 
 other hand, when once the efficiency of a coutrivan< 
 has been established, with good workmanship, it wi 
 be easy afterwards to ascertain the degree of perfectic 
 which will suffice for its due action. 
 
 (324.) It is partly owing to the imperfection of t] 
 original trials, and partly to the gradual improvi 
 ments in the art of making machinery, that mar 
 inventions which have been tried, and given up : 
 one state of art, have at another period been em 
 nently successful. The idea of printing by meai 
 of moveable types had probably suggested itself 1 
 the imagination of many persons conversant wil 
 impressions taken either from blocks or seals. \^ 
 find amongst the instruments discovered in tl 
 remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum, stamps f< 
 words formed out of one piece of metal, and inch 
 ding several letters. The idea of separating the* 
 letters, and of recombining them into other word 
 for the purpose of stamping a book, could scarce] 
 have failed, to occur to many : but it would almoi 
 certainly have been rejected by those best acquainte 
 with the mechanical arts of that time ; for the worl 
 men of those days must have instantly perceived tl 
 
ON CONTRIVING MACHINERY. 265 
 
 impossibility of producing many thousand pieces of 
 wood or metal, fitting so perfectly and ranging so 
 uniformly, as the types or blocks of wood now used 
 in the art of printing. 
 
 The principle of the press which bears the name of 
 Bramah, was known about a century and a half 
 before the machine, to which it gave rise, existed ; 
 but the imperfect state of mechanical art in the time 
 of the discoverer, would have effectually deterred 
 him, if the application of it had occurred to his mind, 
 from attempting to employ it in practice as an instru- 
 ment for exerting force. 
 
 These considerations prove the propriety of repeat- 
 ing, at the termination of intervals during which the 
 art of making machinery has received any great 
 improvement, the trials of methods which, although 
 founded upon just principles, had previously failed. 
 
 (325.) When the drawings of a machine have been 
 properly made, and the parts have been well executed, 
 and even when the work it produces possesses all the 
 qualities which were anticipated, still the invention 
 may fail ; that is, it may fail of being brought into 
 general practice. This will most frequently arise 
 from the circumstance of its producing its work at a 
 greater expense than that at which it can be made by 
 other methods. 
 
 (326.) Whenever the new, or improved machine, 
 is intended to become the basis of a manufacture, it 
 is essentially requisite that the whole expense attend- 
 ing its operations should be fully considered before 
 its construction is undertaken. It is almost always 
 very difficult to make this estimate of the expense : 
 the more complicated the mechanism, the less easy is 
 
266 ON CONTRIVING MACHINERY. 
 
 the task ; and in cases of great complexity and 
 extent of machinery it is almost impossible. It has 
 been estimated roughly, that the first individual of 
 any newly-invented machine, will cost about five 
 times as much as the construction of the second, an 
 estimate which is, perhaps, sufficiently near the truth. 
 If the second machine is to be precisely like the 
 first, the same drawings, and the same patterns will 
 answer for it ; but if, as usually happens, some im- 
 provements have been suggested by the experience of 
 the first, these must be more or less altered. When, 
 however, two or three machines have been com- 
 pleted, and many more are wanted, they can usually 
 be produced at much less than one-fifth of the ex- 
 pense of the original invention. 
 
 (327.) The arts of contriving, of drawing, and 
 of executing, do not usually reside in their greatest 
 perfection in one individual ; and in this, as in other 
 arts, the division of labour must be applied. The 
 best advice which can be offered to a projector of 
 any mechanical invention, is to employ a respectable 
 draughtsman ; who, if he has had a large experience 
 in his profession, will assist in finding out whether 
 the contrivance is new, and can then make working 
 drawings of it. The first step, however, the ascer- 
 taining whether the contrivance has the merit of 
 novelty, is ixiost important ; for it is a maxim equally 
 just in all the arts, and in every science, that the man 
 who aspires to fortune or to fame by new discoveries, 
 must be content to examine with care the knowledge oj 
 his contemporaries, or to exhaust his efforts in in- 
 venting again, what he will most probably find has 
 been better executed, before. 
 
ON CONTRIVING MACHINERY. 267 
 
 (328.) This, nevertheless, is a subject upon which 
 even ingenious men are often singularly negligent. 
 There is, perhaps, no trade or profession existing iiT 
 which there is so much quackery, so much ignorance 
 of the scientific principles, and of the history of theii 
 own art, with respect to its resources and extent, as 
 are to he met with amongst mechanical projectors. 
 The self- constituted engineer, dazzled with the 
 beauty of some, perhaps, really original contrivance, 
 assumes his new profession with as little suspicion 
 that previous instruction, that thought and painful 
 labour, are necessary to its successful exercise, as 
 does the statesman or the senator. Much of this 
 false confidence arises from the improper estimate 
 which is entertained of the difficulty of invention 
 in mechanics. It is, therefore, of great importance 
 to the individuals and to the families of those who 
 are too often led away from more suitable pur- 
 suits, the dupes of their own ingenuity and of the 
 popular voice, to convince both them and the public 
 that the power of making new mechanical combina- 
 tions is a possession common to a multitude of minds, 
 and that the talents which it requires are by no means 
 of the highest order. It is still more important that 
 they should be impressed with the conviction that 
 the great merit, and the great success of those who 
 have attained to eminence in such matters, was 
 almost entirely due to the unremitted perseverance 
 with which they concentrated upon their successful 
 inventions the skill and knowledge which years of 
 study had matured. 
 
268 PROPER CIRCUMSTANCES FOR 
 
 CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 PROPER CIRCUMSTANCES FOR THE APPLICATION OF 
 MACHINERY. 
 
 (329.) THE first object of machinery, the chief 
 cause of its extensive utility, is the perfection and 
 the cheap production of the articles which it is intend- 
 ed to make. \ Whenever it is required to produce a 
 great multitude of things, all of exactly the same kind, 
 the proper time has arrived for the construction of tools 
 or machines by which they may be manufactured. 
 If -only a few pairs of cotton stockings should be 
 required, it would be an absurd waste of time, and of 
 capital, to construct a stocking-frame to weave them, 
 when, for a few pence, four steel wires can be pro- 
 cured by which they may be knit. If, on the other 
 hand, many thousand pairs were wanted, the time 
 employed, and the expense incurred in constructing a 
 stocking frame, would be more than repaid by the saving 
 of time in making that large number of stockings. 
 The same principle is applicable to the copying of 
 letters : if three or four copies only are required, the 
 pen and the human hand furnish the cheapest means 
 of obtaining them : if hundreds are called for, litho- 
 graphy may be brought to our assistance ; but if 
 hundreds of thousands are wanted, the machinery of 
 a printing establishment supplies the most economical 
 method of accomplishing the object. 
 

 THE APPLICATION OF MACHINERY. 269 
 
 (330.) There are, however, many cases in which 
 machines or tools must be made, in which economical 
 production is not the most important object. When- 
 ever it is required to produce a few articles, parts 
 of machinery, for instance, which must be executed 
 with the most rigid accuracy or be perfectly alike, 
 it is nearly impossible to fulfil this condition, even 
 with the aid of the most skilful hands : and it be- 
 comes necessary to make tools expressly for the 
 purpose, although those tools should, as frequently 
 happens, cost more in constructing than the things 
 they are destined to make. 
 
 (331.) Another instance of the just application of 
 machinery, even at an increased expense, arises where 
 the shortness of time in which the article is produced, 
 has an important influence on its value. In the pub- 
 lication of our daily newspapers, it frequently hap- 
 pens that the debates in the Houses of Parliament 
 are carried on to three and four o'clock in the 
 morning, that is, to within a very few hours of the 
 time for the publication of the paper. The speeches 
 must be taken down by reporters, conveyed by them 
 to the establishment of the newspaper, perhaps at the 
 distance of one or two miles, transcribed by them in 
 the office, set up by the compositor, the press cor- 
 rected, and the paper be printed off and distributed, 
 before the public can read them. Some of these 
 Journals have a circulation of from five to ten thou- 
 sand daily. Supposing four thousand to be wanted, 
 and that they could be printed only at the rate of 
 five hundred per hour upon one side of the paper, 
 (which was the greatest number two journeymen and 
 a boy could take off by the old hand-presses), sixteen 
 
270 PROPER CIRCUMSTANCES FOR 
 
 hours would be required for printing the complete 
 edition ; and the news conveyed to the purchasers of 
 the latest portion of the impression, would be but of 
 date before they could receive it. To obviate this 
 difficulty, it was often necessary to set up the paper 
 in duplicate, and sometimes, when late, in triplicate : 
 but the improvements in the printing-machines have 
 been so great, that four thousand copies are now 
 printed on one side in an hour. 
 
 ""(332.) The establishment of "The Times" news- 
 paper is an example, oji^a^Jarge^scale, of a manu- 
 factory in which the division of labour, both mental 
 and bodily, is admirably illustrated, and in which also 
 the effect of domestic economy is well exemplified. 
 It is scarcely imagined, by the thousands who read 
 that paper in various quarters of the globe, what a 
 scene of organized activity the factory presents during 
 the whole night, or what a quantity of talent and 
 mechanical skill is put in action for their amusement 
 and information.* Nearly a hundred persons are 
 
 * The Author of these pages, with one of his friends, was 
 recently induced to visit this most interesting establishment, 
 after midnight, during the progress of a very important debate. 
 The place was illuminated with gas, and was light as the day: 
 there was neither noise nor bustle ; and the visitors were re- 
 ceived with such calm and polite attention, that they did not, 
 until afterwards, become sensible of the inconvenience which 
 such intruders, at a moment of the greatest pressure, must 
 occasion, nor reflect that the tranquillity which they admired, 
 was the result of intense and regulated occupation. But the 
 effect of such' checks in the current of business will appear on 
 recollecting that, as four thousand newspapers are printed off 
 on one side within the hour, every minute is attended with a 
 loss of sixty-six impressions. The quarter of an hour, therefore, 
 
THE APPLICATION OF MACHINERY. 271 
 
 employed in this establishment j ? and, during the , 
 session of parliament, at least twelve reporters are 
 constantly attending the Houses of Commons and 
 Lords ; each in his turn retiring, after about an hour's 
 work, to translate into ordinary writing, the speech 
 he has just heard and noted in short-hand. In the 
 mean time fifty compositors are constantly at work, 
 some of whom have already set up the beginning, 
 whilst others are committing to type the yet undried 
 manuscript of the continuation of a speech, whose 
 middle portion is travelling to the office in the pocket 
 of the hasty reporter, and whose eloquent conclusion 
 is, perhaps, at that very moment, making the walls of 
 St. Stephen's vibrate with the applause of its hearers. 
 These congregated types, as fast as they are com- 
 posed, are passed in portions to other hands ; till 
 at last the scattered fragments of the debate, forming, 
 
 which the stranger may think it not unreasonable to claim for 
 the gratification of his curiosity (and to him this time is but a 
 moment), may cause a failure in the delivery of a thousand 
 copies, and disappoint a proportionate number of expectant 
 readers, in some of our distant towns, to which the morning 
 papers are despatched by the earliest and most rapid convey- 
 ances of each day. 
 
 This note is inserted with the further and more general pur- 
 pose of calling the attention of those, especially foreigners, who 
 are desirous of inspecting our larger manufactories, to the 
 chief cause of the difficulty which frequently attends their in- 
 troduction. When the establishment is very extensive, and its 
 departments skilfully arranged, the exclusion of visitors arises, 
 not from any illiberal jealousy, nor, generally, from any desire 
 of concealment, which would, in most cases, be absurd; but 
 from the substantial inconvenience and loss of time, throughout 
 an entire series of well-combined operations, which must be 
 occasioned even by short and casual interruptions. 
 
272 PROPER CIRCUMSTANCES FOR 
 
 when united with the ordinary matter, eight-and- 
 forty columns, re-appear in regular order on the 
 platform of the printing-txress. The hand of man is 
 now too slow for the demands of his curiosity, but 
 the power of steam comes to his assistance. Ink is 
 rapidly supplied to the moving types, by the most 
 perfect mechanism ; four attendants incessantly 
 introduce the edges of large sheets of white paper 
 to the junction of two great rollers, which seem to 
 devour them with unsated appetite; other rollers 
 convey them to the type already inked, and having 
 brought them into rapid and successive contact, 
 re-deliver them to four other assistants, completely 
 printed by the almost momentary touch. Thus, in 
 one hour, four thousand sheets of paper are printed 
 on one side ; and an impression of twelve thousand 
 copies, from above three hundred thousand moveable 
 pieces of metal, is produced for the public in six 
 hours. 
 
 (333.) The effect of machinery in printing other 
 periodical publications, and of due economy in dis- 
 tributing them, is so important for the interests of 
 knowledge, that it is worth examining by what means 
 it is possible to produce them at the small price at 
 which they are sold. " Chambers' Journal," which is 
 published at Edinburgh, and sold at three half-pence 
 a number, will furnish an example. Soon after its 
 commencement in 1832, the sale in Scotland reached 
 30,000, and in order to supply the demand in London 
 it was reprinted ; but on account of the expense of 
 " composition" it was found that this plan would not 
 produce any profit, and the London edition was 
 about to be given up, when it occurred to the pro* 
 
THE APPLICATION OF MACHINERY. 273 
 
 prietor to stereotype it at Edinburgh, and cast two 
 copies of the plates. This is now done about three 
 weeks before the day of publication, one set of 
 plates being sent up to London by the mail, an im- 
 pression is printed off by steam : the London agent 
 has then time to send packages by the cheapest con- 
 veyances to several of the large towns, and other 
 copies go through the booksellers' parcels to all the 
 smaller towns. Thus a great saving is effected in the 
 outlay of capital, and 20,000 copies are conveyed 
 from London, as a centre, to all parts of England, 
 whilst there is no difficulty in completing imperfect 
 sets, nor any waste from printing more than the pub- 
 lic demand. 
 
 (334.) The conveyance of letters is another case, in 
 which the importance of saving time would allow of 
 great expense in any new machinery for its accom- 
 plishment. There is a natural limit to the speed of 
 horses, which even the greatest improvements in the 
 breed, aided by an increased perfection in our roads, 
 can never surpass ; and from which, perhaps, we are 
 at present not very remote. When we reflect upon 
 the great expense of time and money which the last 
 refinements of a theory or an art usually require, 
 it is not unreasonable to suppose that the period 
 has arrived in which the substitution of machinery 
 , for such purposes ought to be tried. 
 
 (335.) The Post-bag despatched every evening by 
 the mail to one of our largest cities, Bristol, usually 
 weighs less than a hundred pounds. Now, the first 
 reflection which naturally presents itself is, that, in 
 order to transport these letters a hundred and twenty 
 miles, a coach and apparatus, weighing above thirty 
 
 T 
 
274 PROPER CIRCUMSTANCES FOR 
 
 hundred weight, are put in motion, and also conveyed 
 over the same space.* 
 
 It is obvious that, amongst the conditions of ma- 
 chinery for accomplishing such an object, it would 
 be desirable to reduce the weight of matter to be 
 conveyed along with the letters : it would also be 
 desirable to reduce the velocity of the animal power 
 employed ; because the faster a horse is driven, the 
 less weight he can draw. Amongst the variety of 
 contrivances which might be imagined for this pur- 
 pose, we will mention one, which, although by no 
 means free from objections, fulfils some of the pre- 
 scribed conditions ; and it is not a purely theoretical 
 speculation, since some few experiments have been 
 made upon it, though on an extremely limited scale. 
 
 (336.) Let us imagine a series of high pillars 
 erected at frequent intervals, perhaps every hundred 
 feet, and as nearly as possible in a straight line be- 
 tween two post towns. An iron or steel wire must 
 be stretched over proper supports, fixed on each of 
 these pillars, and terminating at the end of every 
 three or five miles, as may be found expedient, in a 
 very strong support, by which it may be stretched. 
 At each of ihese latter points a man ought to reside 
 in a small station-house. A narrow cylindrical tin 
 case, to contain the letters, might be suspended by two 
 wheels rolling upon this wire ; the cases being so con- 
 structed as to enable the wheels to pass unimpeded 
 
 * It is true that the transport of letters is not the only 
 object which this apparatus answers ; but the transport of pas- 
 sengers, which is a secondary ooject, does in fact put a limit 
 to the velocity of that of the letters, which is the primary one. 
 
THE APPLICATION OF MACHINERY. 275 
 
 by the fixed supports of the wire. An endless wire 
 of much smaller size must pass over two drums, 
 one at each end of the station. This wire should be 
 supported on rollers, fixed to the supports of the 
 great wire, and at a short distance below it. There 
 would thus be two branches of the smaller wire 
 always accompanying the larger one ; and the atten- 
 dant at either station, by turning the drum, might 
 cause them to move with great velocity in opposite 
 directions. In order to convey the cylinder which 
 contains the letters, it would only be necessary to 
 attach it by a string, or by a catch, to either of the 
 branches of the endless wire. Thus it would be con- 
 veyed speedily to the next station, where it would be 
 removed by the attendant to the commencement of 
 the next wire, and so forwarded. It is unneces- 
 sary to enter into the details which this, or any 
 similar plan, would require. The difficulties are 
 obvious; but if these could be overcome, it would 
 present many advantages besides velocity ; for if an 
 attendant resided at each station, the additional ex- 
 pense of having two or three deliveries of letters 
 every day, and even of sending expresses at any 
 moment, would be comparatively trifling ; nor is it 
 impossible that the stretched wire might itself be 
 available for a species of telegraphic communication 
 yet more rapid. 
 
 Perhaps if the steeples of churches, properly 
 selected, were made use of, connecting them by a 
 few intermediate stations with some great central 
 building, as, for instance, with the top of St. Paul's ; 
 and if a similar apparatus were placed on the top of 
 each steeple, with a man to work it during the day, 
 T 2 
 
276 I- ROPER CIRCUMSTANCES FOR 
 
 it might be possible to diminish the expense of the 
 two-penny post, and make deliveries every half hour 
 over the greater part of the metropolis. 
 
 (337.) The power of steam, however, bids fair 
 almost to rival the velocity of these contrivances ; 
 and the fitness of its application to the purposes of 
 conveyance, particularly where great rapidity is re- 
 quired, begins now to be generally admitted. The 
 following extract from the Report of the Committee 
 of the House of Commons on steam-carriages, ex- 
 plains clearly its various advantages : 
 
 u Perhaps one of the principal advantages resulting from 
 " the use of steam, will be, that it may be employed as 
 " cheaply at a quick as at a slow rate ; * this is one of the 
 " ' advantages over horse-labour, which becomes more and 
 " ' more expensive as the speed is increased. There is 
 " ' every reason to expect, that in the end the rate of tra- 
 " ' veiling by steam will be much quicker than the utmost 
 " ' speed of travelling by horses ; in short, the safety to 
 " f travellers will become the limit to speed.' In horse- 
 " draught the opposite result takes place ; ' in all cases 
 " f horses lose power of draught in a much greater propor- 
 " * tion than they gain speed, and hence the work they do 
 " 'becomes more expensive as they go quicker.' 
 
 " Without increase of cost, then, we shall obtain a power 
 " which will insure a rapidity of internal communication 
 " far beyond the utmost speed of horses in draught ; and 
 " although the performance of these carriages may not have 
 " hitherto attained this point, when once it has been esta- 
 " Wished, that at equal speed we can use steam more 
 " cheaply in draught than horses, we may fairly anticipate 
 " that every day's increased experience in the management 
 " of the engines, will induce greater skill, greater confi- 
 " dence, and greater speed. 
 
 " The cheapness of the conveyance will probably be, for 
 " some time, a secondary consideration. If, at present, it 
 
THE APPLICATION OF MACHINERY. 277 
 
 " can be used as cheaply as horse-power, the competition 
 " with the former modes of conveyance will first take place 
 " as to speed. When once the superiority of steam car- 
 " riages shall have been fully established, competition will 
 " induce economy in the cost of working them. The evi- 
 " dence, however, of Mr. Macneill, shewing the greater 
 " efficiency, with diminished expenditure of fuel, by loco- 
 " motive engines on railways, convinces the committee, 
 " that experience will soon teach a better construction of 
 " the engines, and a less costly mode of generating the 
 *' requisite supply of steam. 
 
 " Nor are the advantages of steam-power confined to the 
 " greater velocity attained, or to its greater cheapness than 
 " horse-draught. In the latter, danger is increased, in as 
 " large a proportion as expense, by greater speed. In 
 " steam-power, on the contrary, ' there is no danger of 
 " ' being run away with, and that of being overturned is 
 " ' greatly diminished. It is difficult to control four such 
 " * horses as can draw a heavy carriage ten miles per hour, 
 " ' in case they are frightened, or choose to run away ; and 
 " ' for quick travelling they must be kept in that state of 
 " ( courage, that they are always inclined for running away, 
 " ' particularly down hills, and at sharp turns of the road. 
 " * In steam, however, there is little corresponding danger, 
 " l being perfectly controllable, and capable of exerting its 
 " ' power in reverse in going down hills.' Every witness 
 " examined has given the fullest and most satisfactory evi- 
 " dence of the perfect control which the conductor has 
 " over the movement of the carriage. With the slightest 
 " exertion it can be stopped or turned, under circumstances 
 " where horses would be totally unmanageable." 
 
 (338.) Another instance may be mentioned in 
 which the object to he obtained is so important, that 
 although it might be rarely wanted, yet machinery for 
 that purpose would justify considerable expense. A 
 vessel to contain men, and to he navigated at some 
 
278 PROPER CIRCUMSTANCES FOR 
 
 distance below the surface of the sea, would, in many 
 circumstances, be almost invaluable. Such a vessel, 
 evidently, could not be propelled by any engine 
 requiring the aid of fire. If, however, by condens- 
 ing air into a liquid, and carrying it in that state, 
 a propelling power could be procured sufficient for 
 moving the vessel through a considerable space, the 
 expense would scarcely render its occasional employ- 
 ment impossible.* 
 
 (339.) Slide of Alpnach. Amongst the forests 
 which flank many of the lofty mountains of Switzer- 
 land, some of the finest timber is found in positions 
 almost inaccessible. The expense of roads, even if 
 it were possible to make them in such situations, 
 would prevent the inhabitants from deriving any 
 advantages from these almost inexhaustible sup- 
 plies. Placed by Nature at a considerable elevation 
 above the spot at which they can be made use of, 
 they are precisely in fit circumstances for the appli- 
 cation of machinery to their removal ; and the inha- 
 bitants avail themselves of the force of gravity to 
 relieve them from some portion of this labour. The 
 inclined planes which they have established in various 
 forests, by which the timber has been sent down to the 
 water-courses, have excited the admiration of every 
 traveller ; and in addition to the merit of simplicity, 
 the construction of these slides requires scarcely any- 
 thing beyond the material which grows upon the spot. 
 
 Of all these specimens of carpentry, the Slide of 
 Alpnach was the most considerable, from its great 
 
 * A proposal for such a vessel, and description of its con- 
 struction, by the author of this volume, may be found in the 
 Encyclopedia Metropolitana, Art. DIVING BELL. 
 
THE APPLICATION OF MACHINERY. 27^ 
 
 length, and from the almost inaccessible position from 
 which it descended. The following account of it is 
 taken from Gilbert's Annalen, 1819, which is trans- 
 lated in the second volume of Brewster's Journal : 
 
 " For many centuries, the rugged flanks and the 
 deep gorges of Mount Pilatus were covered with im- 
 penetrable forests ; which were permitted to grow 
 and to perish, without being of the least utility to 
 man, till a foreigner, who had been conducted into 
 their wild recesses in the pursuit of the chamois, 
 directed the attention of several Swiss gentlemen to 
 the extent and superiority of the timber. The most 
 skilful individuals, however, considered it quite im- 
 practicable to avail themselves of such inaccessible 
 stores. It was not till the end of 1816, that M. 
 Rupp, and three Swiss gentlemen, entertaining more 
 sanguine hopes, purchased a certain extent of the 
 forests, and began the construction of the slide, which 
 was completed in the spring of 1818. 
 
 " The Slide of Alpnach is formed entirely of about 
 25,000 large pine trees, deprived of their bark, and 
 united together in a very ingenious manner, without 
 the aid of iron. It occupied about 160 workmen 
 during eighteen months, and cost nearly 100,000 
 francs, or 4,250. It is about three leagues, or 
 44,000 English feet long, and terminates in the Lake 
 of Lucerne. It has the form of a trough, about six 
 feet broad, and from three to six feet deep. Its 
 bottom is formed of three trees, the middle one of 
 which has a groove cut out in the direction of its 
 length, for receiving small rills of water, which are 
 conducted into it from various places, for the pur- 
 pose of diminishing the friction. The whole of the 
 
280 PROPER CIRCUMSTANCES FOR 
 
 slide is sustained by about 2,000 supports ; and in 
 many places it is attached, in a very ingenious man- 
 ner, to the rugged precipices of granite. 
 
 " The direction of the slide is sometimes straight, 
 and sometimes zig-zag, with an inclination of from 
 10 to 18. It is often carried along the sides of 
 hills and the flanks of precipitous rocks, and some- 
 times passes over their summits. Occasionally it 
 goes under ground, and at other times it is con- 
 ducted over the d.eep gorges by scaffoldings 120 feet 
 in height. 
 
 " The boldness which characterizes this work, the 
 sagacity and skill displayed in all its arrangements, 
 have excited the wonder of every person who has 
 seen it. Before any step could be taken in its 
 erection, it was necessary to cut several thousand 
 trees to obtain a passage through the impene- 
 trable thickets. All these difficulties, however, 
 were surmounted, and the engineer had at last 
 the satisfaction of seeing the trees descend from 
 the mountain with the rapidity of lightning. The 
 larger pines, which were about a hundred feet long, 
 and ten inches thick at their smaller extremity, ran 
 through the space of three leagues, or nearly nine 
 miles, in two minutes and a half, and during their 
 descent, they appeared to be only a few feet in 
 length. The arrangements for this part of the 
 operation were extremely simple. From the lower 
 end of the slide to the upper end, where the trees 
 were introduced, workmen were posted at regular 
 distances, and as soon as every thing was ready, 
 the workman at the lower end of the slide cried out 
 to the one above him, " Lachez" (Let go). The cry 
 
THE APPLICATION OF MACHINERY. 281 
 
 was repeated from one to another, and reached the 
 top of the slide in three minutes. The workmen at 
 the top of the slide then cried out to the one below 
 him, " II vient" (It comes), and the tree was in- 
 stantly launched down the slide, preceded by the 
 cry which was repeated from post to post. As soon 
 as the tree had reached the bottom, and plunged 
 into the lake, the cry of Lachez was repeated as 
 before, and a new tree was launched in a similar 
 manner. By these means a tree descended every 
 five or six minutes, provided no accident happened 
 to the slide, which sometimes took place, but which 
 was instantly repaired when it did. 
 
 " In order to shew the enormous force which the 
 trees acquired from the great velocity of their de- 
 scent, M. Rupp made arrangements for causing some 
 of the trees to spring from the slide. They pene- 
 trated by their thickest extremities no less than from 
 eighteen to twenty-four feet into the earth ; and one 
 of the trees having by accident struck against an- 
 other, it instantly cleft it through its whole length, 
 as if it had been struck by lightning. 
 
 " After the trees had descended the slide, they were 
 collected into rafts upon the lake, and conducted to 
 Lucerne. From thence they descended the Reuss, 
 then the Aar to near Brugg, afterwards to Waldshut 
 by the Rhine, then to Basle, and even to the sea 
 when it was necessary. 
 
 " It is to be regretted that this magnificent struc- 
 ture no longer exists, and that scarcely a trace of it 
 is to be seen upon the flanks of Mount Pilatus. Poli- 
 tical circumstances having taken away the principal 
 source of demand for the timber, and no other 
 
282 THE APPLICATION OF MACHINERY. 
 
 market having been found, the operation of cutting 
 and transporting the trees necessarily ceased."* 
 
 Professor Playfair, who visited this singular work, 
 states, that six minutes was the usual time occupied 
 in the descent of a tree ; but that in wet weather, it 
 reached the lake in three minutes. 
 
 * The mines of Bolanos in Mexico are supplied with timber 
 from the adjacent mountains by a slide similar to that o! 
 Alpnach. It was constructed by M. Floresi, a gentleman 
 well acquainted with Switzerland. 
 
ON THE DURATION OF MACHINERY. 
 
 CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 ON THE DURATION OF MACHINERY. 
 
 (340.) THE time during which a machine will con- 
 tinue to perform its work effectually, will depend 
 chiefly upon the perfection with which it was origi- 
 nally constructed, upon the care taken to keep it in 
 proper repair, particularly to correct every shake or 
 looseness in the axes, and upon the smallness of the 
 mass and of the velocity of its moving parts. Every 
 thing approaching to a blow, all sudden change of 
 direction, is injurious. Engines for producing power, 
 such as wind-mills, water-mills, and steam-engines, 
 usually last a long time.* 
 
 (341.) Many of the improvements which have 
 taken place in steam-engines, have arisen from an 
 improved construction of the boiler or the fire-place. 
 The following table of the work done by steam- 
 engines in Cornwall, whilst it proves the importance 
 of constantly measuring the effects of machinery, 
 shows also the gradual advance which has been made 
 in the art of constructing and managing those engines. 
 
 * The return which ought to be produced by a fixed steam- 
 engine employed as a moving power, is frequently estimated ar 
 ten per cent, on its cost. 
 
284 
 
 ON THE DURATION OF MACHINERY. 
 
 A Table of the duty performed by Steam Engines in Cornwall, 
 shewing the average of the whole for each year, and also the 
 average duty of the best Engine in each Monthly Report. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Approximate 
 number of En- 
 gines reported. 
 
 Average duty of the 
 whole. 
 
 Average duty of the 
 best Engines. 
 
 1813 
 
 24 
 
 19,456,000 
 
 26,400,000 
 
 1814 
 
 29 
 
 20,534,232 
 
 32,000,000 
 
 1815 
 
 35 
 
 20,526,160 
 
 28,700,000 
 
 1816 
 
 32 
 
 22,907,110 
 
 32,400,000 
 
 1817 
 
 31 
 
 26,502,259 
 
 41,600,000 
 
 1818 
 
 32 
 
 25,433,783 
 
 39,300,000 
 
 1819 
 
 37 
 
 26,252,620 
 
 40,000,000 
 
 1820 
 
 37 
 
 28,736,398 
 
 41,300,000 
 
 1821 
 
 39 
 
 28,223,382 
 
 42,800,000 
 
 1822 
 
 45 
 
 28,887,216 
 
 42,500,000 
 
 1823 
 
 45 
 
 28,156,162 
 
 42,122,000 
 
 1824 
 
 45 
 
 28,326,140 
 
 43,500,000 
 
 1825 
 
 50 
 
 32,000,741 
 
 45,400,000 
 
 1826 
 
 48 
 
 30,486,630 
 
 45,200,000 
 
 1827 
 
 47 
 
 32,100,000 
 
 59,700,000 
 
 1828 
 
 54 
 
 37,100,000 
 
 76,763,000 
 
 1829 
 
 52 
 
 41,220,000 
 
 76,234,307 
 
 1830 
 
 55 * 
 
 43,350,000 
 
 75,885,519 
 
 1831 
 
 55 
 
 44,700,000 
 
 74,911,365 
 
 1832 
 
 60 
 
 44,400,000 
 
 79,294,114 
 
 1833 
 
 58 
 
 46,000,000 
 
 83,306,092 
 
 (342 .) The advantage arising from registering the duty 
 done by steam-engines in Cornwall has been so great 
 that the proprietors of one of the largest mines, on 
 which there are several engines, find it good economy 
 to employ a man to measure the duty they perform 
 every day. This daily report is fixed up at a par- 
 ticular hour, and the engine-men are always in wait- 
 ing, anxious to know the state of their engines. As 
 the general reports are made monthly, if accident 
 
 * These fifty-five engines consumed, on the average for the 
 year 1831, 81,867 bushels of coals monthly, being 1488 bushels 
 for each engine. 
 
ON THE DURATION OF MACHINERY. 285 
 
 should cause a partial stoppage in the flue of any of 
 the boilers, it might without this daily check continue 
 two or three weeks before it could be discovered by a 
 falling off of the duty of the engine. In several of 
 the mines a certain amount of duty is assigned to each 
 engine ; and if it does more, the proprietors give a 
 premium to the engineers according to its amount. 
 This is called million-money, and is a great stimulus 
 to economy in working the engine. 
 
 (343.) Machinery for producing any commodity 
 in great demand, seldom actually wears out; new 
 improvements, by which the same operations can be 
 executed either more quickly or better, genera]'^ su- 
 perseding it long before that period arrives : indeed, 
 to make such an improved machine profitable, it is 
 usually reckoned that in five years it ought to have 
 paid itself, and in ten to be superseded by a better. 
 
 " A cotton manufacturer," says one of the witnesses 
 before a Committee of the House of Commons, " who left 
 " Manchester seven years ago, would be driven out of the 
 " market by the men who are now living in it, provided his 
 " knowledge had not kept pace with those who have been, 
 " during that time, constantly profiting by the progressive 
 " improvements that have taken place in that period." 
 
 (344.) The effect of improvements in machinery, 
 seems incidentally to increase production, through a 
 cause which may be thus explained. A manu- 
 facturer making the usual profit upon his capital, 
 invested in looms or other machines in perfect con- 
 dition, the market price of making each of which 
 is a hundred pounds, invents some improvement. 
 But this is of such a nature, that it cannot be adapted 
 to his present engines. He finds upon calculation, 
 
286 ON THE DURATION OF MACHINERY. 
 
 that at the rate at which he can dispose of his manu- 
 factured produce, each new engine would repay the 
 cost of its making, together with the ordinary profit 
 of capital, in three years : he also concludes from his 
 experience of the trade, that the improvement he is 
 ahout to make, will not be generally adopted by 
 other manufacturers before that time. On these 
 considerations, it is clearly his interest to sell his 
 present engines, even at half-price, and construct 
 new ones on the improved principle. But the pur- 
 chaser who gives only fifty pounds for the old 
 engines, has not so large a fixed capital invested 
 in his factory, as the person from whom he pur- 
 chased them ; and as he produces the same quantity 
 of the manufactured article, his profits will be larger. 
 Hence, the price of the commodity will fall, not 
 only in consequence of the cheaper production by 
 the new machines, but also by the more profitable 
 working of the old, thus purchased at a reduced price. 
 This change, however, can be only transient ; for a time 
 will arrive when the old machinery, although in good 
 repair, must become worthless. The improvement 
 which took place not long ago in frames for making 
 patent-net was so great, that a machine, in good 
 repair, which had cost 12001. f sold a few years after 
 for 60/. During the great speculations in that trade, 
 the improvements succeeded each other so rapidly, 
 that machines which had never been finished were 
 abandoned in the hands of their makers, because new 
 improvements had superseded their utility. 
 
 (345.) The durability of watches, when well 
 made, is very remarkable. One was produced, in 
 " going order" before a committee of the House of 
 
ON THE DURATION OF MACHINERY. 287 
 
 Commons to inquire into the watch trade, which 
 was made in the year 1660 ; and there are many of 
 ancient date, in the possession of the Clock-maker's 
 Company, which are still actually kept going. The 
 number of watches manufactured for home con- 
 sumption was, in the year 1798, about 50,000 annu- 
 ally. If this supply was for Great Britain only, it 
 was consumed by about ten and a half millions of 
 persons. 
 
 (346.) Machines are, in some trades, let out to hire, 
 and a certain sum is paid for their use, in the manner 
 of rent. This is the case amongst the frame-work 
 knitters : and Mr. Henson, in speaking of the rate 
 of payment for the use of their frames, states, that 
 the proprietor receives such a rent that, besides 
 paying the full interest for his capital, he clears 
 the value of his frame in nine years. When the 
 rapidity with which improvements succeed each 
 other is considered, this rent does not appear ex- 
 orbitant. Some of these frames have been worked 
 for thirteen years with little or no repair. But cir- 
 cumstances occasionally arise which throw them out 
 of employment, either temporarily or permanently. 
 Some years since, an article was introduced called 
 " cut-up work" by which the price of stocking 
 frames was greatly deteriorated. From the evi- 
 dence of Mr. J. Rawson, it appears that, in con- 
 sequence of this change in the nature of the work, 
 each frame could do the work of two , and many stock- 
 ing frames were thrown out of employment, and their 
 value reduced full three-fourths.* 
 
 * Report from the Committee of the House of Commons 
 on the Frame- Work Knitters' Petition, April, 1819. 
 
288 ON THE DURATION OF MACHINERY. 
 
 This information is of great importance, if the 
 numbers here given are nearly correct, and if no 
 other causes intervened to diminish the price of 
 frames ; for it shews the numerical connexion be- 
 tween the increased production of those machines 
 and their diminished value. 
 
 (347.) The great importance of simplifying all trans- 
 actions between masters and workmen, and of dis- 
 passionately discussing with the latter the influence 
 of any proposed regulations connected with their 
 trade, is well exemplified by a mistake into which 
 both parties unintentionally fell, and which was pro- 
 ductive of very great misery in the lace trade. Its 
 history is so well told by William Allen, a frame- 
 work knitter, who was a party to it, that an extract 
 from his evidence, as given before the Frame-work 
 Knitters' Committee of 1812, will best explain it. 
 
 " I beg to say a few words respecting the frame-rent ; 
 " the rent paid for lace-frames, until the year 1805, was 
 " Is. 6d. a frame per week ; there then was not any very 
 " great inducement for persons to buy frames and let them 
 " out by the hire, who did not belong to the trade ; at that 
 " time an attempt was made, by one or two houses, to 
 " reduce the prices paid to the workmen, in consequence of 
 " a dispute between these two houses and another great 
 '* house : some little difference being paid in the price 
 " among the respective houses, I was one chosen by the 
 " workmen to try if we could not remedy the impending 
 " evil : we consulted the respective parties, and found them 
 " inflexible ; these two houses that were about to reduce 
 " the prices, said that they would either immediately re- 
 " duce the price of making net, or they would increase the 
 '* frame-rent : the difference to the workmen was consi- 
 " derable, between the one and the other; they would 
 
ON THE DURATION OF MACHINERY. 2fl 
 
 tl suffer less, in the immediate operation of the thing, by 
 " having the rent advanced, than the price of making net 
 " reduced. They chose at that time, as they thought, the 
 " lesser evil, but it has turned out to be otherwise ; for, 
 " immediately as the rent was raised upon the per-centage 
 " laid out in frames, it induced almost every person, who 
 " had got a little money, to lay it out in the purchase of 
 " frames ; these frames were placed in the hands of men 
 " who could get work for them at the warehouses ; they 
 " were generally constrained to pay an enormous rent, and 
 u then they were compelled, most likely, to buy of the per- 
 " sons that let them the frames, their butcher 's-meat, their 
 " grocery, or their clothing : the encumbrance of these 
 " frames became entailed upon them : if any deadness took 
 " place in the work they must take it at a very reduced 
 " price, for fear of the consequences that would fall upon 
 " them from the person who bought the frame : thus the 
 " evil has been daily increasing, till, in conjunction with 
 " the other evils crept into the trade, they have almost 
 " crushed it to atoms." 
 
 (348.) The evil of not assigning fairly to each tool, 
 or each article produced, its proportionate value, or 
 even of not having a perfectly distinct, simple, and 
 definite agreement between a master and his work- 
 men, is very considerable. Workmen find it difficult 
 in such cases to know the probable produce of their 
 labour ; and both parties are often led to adopt 
 arrangements, which, had they been well examined, 
 would have been rejected as equally at variance in 
 the results with the true interests of both. 
 
 (349.) At Birmingham, stamps and dies, and 
 presses for a great variety of articles, are let out : 
 they are generally made by men possessing small 
 capital, and are rented by workmen. Power also 
 is rented at the same place. Steam engines are 
 u 
 
290 ON THE DURATION OF MACHINERY. 
 
 erected in large buildings containing a variety of 
 rooms, in which each person may hire one, two, 
 or any other amount of horse power, as his occu- 
 pation may require. If any mode could be dis- 
 covered of transmitting power, without much loss 
 from friction, to considerable distances, and at the 
 same time of registering the quantity made use of 
 at any particular point, a considerable change would 
 probably take place in many departments of the pre- 
 sent system of manufacturing. A few central engines 
 to produce power, might then be erected in our 
 great towns, and each workman, hiring a quantity 
 of power sufficient for his purpose, might have it 
 conveyed into his own house ; and thus a transition 
 might in some instances be effected, if it should be 
 found more profitable, back again from the system of 
 great factories to that of domestic manufacture. 
 
 (350.) The transmission of water through a series 
 of pipes, might be employed for the distribution of 
 power, but the friction would consume a consider- 
 able portion. Another method has been employed 
 in some instances, and is practised at the Mint. It 
 consists in exhausting the air from a large vessel by 
 means of a steam-engine. This vessel is connected 
 by pipes, with a small piston which drives each 
 coining press ; and, on opening a valve, the pres- 
 sure of the external air forces in the piston. This 
 air is then admitted to the general reservoir, and 
 pumped out by the engine. The condensation of 
 air might be employed for the same purpose ; but 
 there are some unexplained facts relating to elastic 
 fluids, which require further observations and experi- 
 ment before they can be used for the conveyance 
 
ON THE DURATION OF MACHINERY. W\ 
 
 of power to any considerable distance. It has 
 been found, for instance, in attempting to blow a 
 furnace by means of a powerful water-wheel driving 
 air through a cast-iron pipe of above a mile in 
 length, that scarcely any sensible effect was pro- 
 duced at the opposite extremity. In one instance, 
 some accidental obstruction being suspected, a cat 
 put in at one end found its way out without injury 
 at the other, thus proving that the phenomenon did 
 not depend on interruption within the pipe. 
 
 (351.) The most portable form in which power can 
 be condensed is, perhaps, by the liquefaction of the 
 gases. It is known that, under considerable pressure, 
 several of these become liquid at ordinary tempera 
 tures; carbonic acid, for example, is reduced to a 
 liquid state by a pressure of sixty atmospheres. 
 One of the advantages attending the use of these 
 fluids, would be that the pressure exerted by them 
 would remain constant until the last drop of liquid 
 had assumed the form of gas. If either of the ele- 
 ments of common air should be found to be capable 
 of reduction to a liquid state before it unites into 
 a corrosive fluid with the other ingredient, then we 
 shall possess a ready means of conveying power in 
 any quantity and to any distance. Hydrogen pro- 
 bably will require the strongest compressing force 
 to render it liquid, and may, therefore, possibly 
 be applied where still greater condensation of power 
 is wanted. In all these cases the condensed gases 
 may be looked upon as springs of enormous force, 
 which have been wound up by the exertion of power, 
 and which will deliver the whole of it back again 
 when required. These springs of nature differ in 
 
 r$ 
 
292 ON THE DURATION OF MACHINERY. 
 
 some respects from the steel springs formed by OUT 
 art ; for in the compression of the natural springs 
 a vast quantity of latent heat is forced out, and in 
 their return to the state of gas an equal quantity 
 is absorbed. May not this very property be em- 
 ployed with advantage in their application ? 
 
 Part of the mechanical difficulty to be overcome 
 in constructing apparatus connected with liquefied 
 gases, will consist in the structure of the valves 
 and packing necessary to retain the fluids under the 
 great pressure to which they must be submitted. 
 The effect of heat on these gases has not yet been 
 sufficiently tried, to lead us to any very precise 
 notions of the additional power which its application 
 to them will supply. 
 
 The elasticity of air is sometimes employed as a 
 spring, instead of steel : in one of the large printing- 
 machines in London the momentum of a considerable 
 mass of matter is destroyed by making it condense 
 the air included in a cylinder, by means of a piston 
 against which it impinges. 
 
 (352.) The effect of competition in cheapening 
 articles of manufacture sometimes operates in ren- 
 dering them less durable. When such articles are 
 conveyed to a distance for consumption, if they are 
 broken, it often happens, from the price of labour 
 being higher where they are used than where they 
 were made, that it is more expensive to mend the 
 old article, than to purchase a new. Such is usually 
 the case, in great cities, with some of the commoner 
 locks, with hinges, and with a variety of articles of 
 hardware. 
 
ON COMBINATIONS. 293 
 
 CHAP. XXX. 
 
 ON COMBINATIONS AMONGST MASTERS OR WORKMEN 
 AGAINST EACH OTHER. 
 
 (353.) THERE exist amongst the workmen of 
 almost all classes, certain rules or laws which govern 
 their actions towards each other, and towards their 
 employers. But, besides these general principles, 
 there are frequently others peculiar to each factory, 
 which have derived their origin, in many instances, 
 from the mutual convenience of the parties engaged 
 in them. Such rules are little known except to 
 those actually pursuing the several trades ; and, as 
 it is of importance that their advantages and dis- 
 advantages should be canvassed, we shall offer a few 
 remarks upon some of them. 
 
 (354.) The principles by which such laws should 
 be tried are, 
 
 1st. That they conduce to the general benefit of all 
 the persons employed. 
 
 2dly. That they prevent fraud. 
 
 3dly. That they interfere as little as possible with 
 the free agency of each individual. 
 
 (355.) It is usual in many workshops, that, on the 
 first entrance of a new journeyman, he shall pay a 
 small fine to the rest of the men. It is clearly unjust 
 to insist upon this payment ; and when it is spent 
 
294 COMBINATIONS AMONGST 
 
 in drinking, which is, unfortunately, too often the 
 case, it is injurious. The reason assigned for the 
 demand is, that the new comer will require some 
 instruction in the habits of the shop, and in the 
 places of the different tools, and will thus waste the 
 time of some of his companions until he is instructed. 
 If this fine were added to a fund, managed by the 
 workmen themselves, and either divided at given 
 periods, or reserved for their relief in sickness, it 
 would be less objectionable, since its tendency would 
 be to check the too frequent change of men from 
 one shop to another. But it ought, at all events, 
 not to be compulsory ; and the advantages to be 
 derived from the fund to which the workman is invited 
 to subscribe, ought to be his sole inducement to con- 
 tribute. 
 
 (356.) In many workshops, the workmen, although 
 employed on totally different parts of the objects 
 manufactured, are yet dependent, in some measure, 
 upon each other. Thus a single smith may be able to 
 forge, in one day, work enough to keep four or five 
 turners employed during the next. If, from idleness 
 or intemperance, the smith neglects his work, and 
 does not furnish the usual supply, the turners (sup- 
 posing them to be paid by the piece), will have their 
 time partly unoccupied, and their gains consequently 
 diminished. It is reasonable, in such circumstances, 
 that a fine should be levied on the delinquent ; but 
 it is desirable that the master should have concurred 
 with his workmen in establishing such a rule, and 
 that it should be shown to each individual previously 
 to his engagement ; and it is very desirable that 
 such fine should not be spent in drinking.. 
 
MASTERS OR WORKMEN. 295 
 
 (357.) In some establishments, it is customary for 
 the master to give a small gratuity whenever any 
 workman has exercised a remarkable degree of skill, 
 or has economized the material employed. Thus, in 
 splitting horn into layers for lanterns, one horn 
 usually furnishes from five to eight layers ; but if 
 f a workman split the horn into ten layers or more, he 
 receives a pint of ale from the master. These pre- 
 miums should not be too high, lest the material should 
 be wasted in unsuccessful attempts : but such regu- 
 lations, when judiciously made, are beneficial, as they 
 tend to produce skill amongst the workmen, profit to 
 the masters, and diminished cost to the consumers. 
 
 (358.) In some few factories, in which the men are 
 paid by the piece, it is usual, when any portion of 
 work, delivered in by a workman, is rejected by the 
 master on account of its being badly executed, to fine 
 the delinquent. Such a practice tends to remedy one 
 of the evils attendant upon that mode of payment, 
 and greatly assists the master, since his own judgment 
 is thus supported by competent and unprejudiced 
 judges. 
 
 (359.) Societies exist amongst some of the larger 
 bodies of workmen, and others have been formed 
 by the masters engaged in the same branches of trade. 
 These associations have different objects in view ; but 
 it is very desirable that their effects should be well 
 understood by the individuals who compose them ; 
 and that the advantages arising from them, which 
 are certainly great, should be separated as much as 
 possible from the evils which they have, unfortu- 
 nately, too frequently introduced. Associations of 
 workmen and of masters may, with advantage, agree 
 
296 COMBINATIONS AMONGST 
 
 upon rules to be observed by both parties, in esti- 
 mating the proportionate value of different kinds 
 of work executed in their trade, in order that time 
 may be saved, and disputes be prevented. They 
 may also be most usefully employed in acquiring 
 accurate information as to the number of persons 
 working in the various departments of any manufac- 
 ture, their rate of wages, the number of machines 
 in use, and other statistical details. Information 
 of this nature is highly valuable, both for the 
 guidance of the parties who are themselves most 
 interested, and to enable them, upon any application 
 to Government for assistance, or with a view to 
 legislative enactments, to supply those details, with- 
 out which the propriety of any proposed measure 
 cannot be duly estimated. Such details may be col- 
 lected by men actually engaged in any branch of 
 trade, at a much smaller expense of time, than by 
 persons less acquainted with, and less interested 
 in it. 
 
 (360.) One of the most legitimate and most im- 
 portant objects of such associations as we have just 
 mentioned, is to agree upon ready and certain jriodes 
 of measuring the quantity of work done by the work- 
 men. For a long time a difficulty upon this point 
 existed in the lace trade, which was justly com- 
 plained of by the men as a serious grievance ; but 
 the introduction of the " rack" which counts the 
 number of holes in the length of the piece, has en- 
 tirely put an end to the most fertile cause of disputes. 
 This invention was adverted to by the Committee 
 of 1812, and a hope was expressed, in their report, 
 that the same contrivance would be applied to 
 
MASTERS OR WORKMEN. 297 
 
 stocking-frames. It would, indeed, be of great 
 mutual advantage to the industrious workman, and 
 to the master-manufacturer in every trade, if the 
 machines employed in it could register the quantity 
 of work which they perform, in the same manner 
 as a steam-engine does the number of strokes 
 it makes. The introduction of such contrivances 
 pves a greater stimulus to honest industry than can 
 readily be imagined, and removes one of the sources 
 of disagreement between parties, whose real interests 
 must always suffer by any estrangement between 
 them. 
 
 (361.) The effects arising from combinations 
 amongst the workmen, are almost always injurious 
 to the parties themselves. There are numerous in- 
 stances, in which the public suffer by increased price 
 at the moment, but are ultimately gainers from the 
 permanent reduction which results ; whilst, on the 
 other hand, the improvements which are often made 
 in machinery in consequence of " a strike" amongst 
 the workmen, most frequently do injury, of greater 
 or less duration, to that particular class which gave 
 rise to them. As the injury to the men and to their 
 families is almost always more serious than that which 
 affects their employers, it is of the utmost impor- 
 tance to the comfort and happiness of the former class, 
 that they should themselves entertain sound views 
 upon this question. For this purpose a few illus- 
 trations of the principle which is here maintained, 
 will probably have greater weight than any reason- 
 ing of a more general nature, though drawn from 
 admitted principles of political economy. Suck 
 instances will, moreover, present the advantage of 
 
298 COMBINATIONS AMONGST 
 
 appealing to facts known to many individuals of 
 those classes for whose benefit these reflections are 
 intended. 
 
 (362.) There is a process in the manufacture of 
 gun-barrels for making what, in the language of 
 the trade, are called skelps. The skelp is a piece or 
 bar of iron, about three feet long, and four inches 
 wide, but thicker and broader at one end than at 
 the other : and the barrel of a musket is formed by 
 forging out such pieces to the proper dimensions, and 
 then folding or bending them into a cylindrical 
 form, until the edges overlap, so that they can be 
 welded together. 
 
 About twenty years ago, the workmen, employed 
 at a very extensive factory in forging these skelps 
 out of bar-iron, " struck " for an advance of wages ; 
 and as their demands were very exorbitant, they were 
 not immediately complied with. In the meantime, 
 the superintendent of the establishment directed his 
 attention to the subject ; and it occurred to him, 
 that if the circumference of the rollers, between 
 which the bar-iron was rolled, were to be made 
 equal to the length of a sketp, or of a musket barrel, 
 and if also the groove in which the iron was com- 
 pressed, instead of being of the same width and 
 depth throughout, were cut gradually deeper and 
 wider from a point on the rollers, until it returned 
 to the same point, then the bar-iron passing between 
 such rollers, instead of being uniform in width and 
 thickness, would have the form of a skelp. On 
 making the trial, it was found to succeed perfectly ; 
 a great reduction of human labour was effected by 
 the process, and the workmen who had acquired 
 
MASTERS OR WORKMEN. 299 
 
 peculiar skill in performing it ceased to derive any 
 
 advantage from their dexterity. 
 
 (363.) It is somewhat singular that another and > 
 a still more remarkable instance of the effect of com- 
 bination amongst workmen, should have occurred but 
 a few years since in the very same trade. The pro- 
 cess of welding the "skelps" so as to convert them into 
 gun-barrels, required much skill, and after the termi- 
 nation of the war, the demand for muskets having 
 greatly diminished, the number of persons employed 
 in making them was very much reduced. This cir- 
 cumstance rendered combination more easy ; and upon 
 one occasion, when a contract had been entered into 
 for a considerable supply to be delivered on a fixed 
 day, the men all struck for such an advance of 
 wages as would have caused the completion of the 
 contract to be attended with a very heavy loss. 
 
 In this difficulty, the contractors resorted to a 
 mode of welding the gun-barrel, for which a patent 
 had been taken out by one of themselves some years 
 before this event. The plan had not then succeeded 
 so well as to come into general use, in consequence 
 of the cheapness of the usual mode of welding by 
 hand-labour, combined with some other difficulties 
 with which the patentee had to contend. But the 
 stimulus produced by the combination of the work- 
 men, induced him to make new trials, and he 
 was enabled to introduce such a facility in welding 
 gun-barrels by rollers, and such perfection in the 
 work itself, that, in all probability, very few will in 
 future be welded by hand-labour. 
 
 This new process consisted in folding a bar of iron, 
 about a foot long, into the form of a cylinder, with 
 
300 COMBINATIONS AMONGS1 
 
 the edges a little overlapping. It was then placed in 
 a furnace, and being taken out when raised to a weld- 
 ing heat, a triblet, or cylinder of iron, was placed in 
 it, and the whole was passed quickly through a pair 
 of rollers. The effect of this was, that the welding 
 was performed at a single heating, and the remainder 
 of the elongation necessary for extending the skelps 
 to the length of the musket barrel, was performed in 
 a similar manner, but at a lower temperature. The 
 workmen who had combined were, of course, no 
 longer wanted, and instead of benefiting themselves 
 by their combination, they were reduced permanently, 
 by tins improvement in the art, to a considerably 
 lower rate of wages : for as the process of welding 
 gun-barrels by hand required peculiar skill and 
 considerable experience, they had hitherto been in 
 the habit of earning much higher wages than other 
 workmen of their class. On the other hand, the 
 new method of welding was far less injurious to 
 the texture of the iron, which was now exposed 
 only once, instead of three or four times, to the 
 welding heat, so that the public derived advantage 
 from the superiority, as well as from the economy 
 of the process. Another process has subsequent! y 
 been invented, applicable to the manufacture of a 
 lighter kind of iron tubes, which can thus be made 
 at a price which renders their employment very 
 general. They are now to be found in the shops 
 of all our larger ironmongers, of various lengths and 
 diameters, with screws cut at each end ; and are in 
 constant use for the conveyance of gas for lighting, 
 fir of water for warming, our houses. 
 
MASTERS OR WORKMEN. 301 
 
 (364.) Similar examples must have presented 
 themselves to all those who are familiar with the details 
 of our manufactories, but these are sufficient to illus- 
 trate one of the results of combinations. It would 
 not, however, be fair to push the conclusion deduced 
 from these instances to its extreme limit. Although 
 it is very apparent, that in the two cases which have 
 been stated, the effects of combination were per- 
 manently injurious to the workman, by almost 
 Immediately placing him in a lower class (with re- 
 spect to his wages) than he occupied before ; yet they 
 do not prove that all such combinations have this 
 effect. It is quite evident that they have all this 
 tendency; it is also certain that considerable sti- 
 mulus must be applied to induce a man to contrive 
 a new and expensive process ; and that in both 
 these cases, unless the fear of pecuniary loss had 
 acted powerfully, the improvement would not have 
 been made. If, therefore, the workmen had in 
 either case combined for only a small advance of 
 wages, they would, in all probability, have been 
 successful, and the public would have been de- 
 prived, for many years, of the inventions to which 
 these combinations gave rise. It must, however, be 
 observed, that the same skill which enabled the men 
 to obtain, after long practice, higher wages than the 
 rest of their class, would prevent many of them from 
 being permanently thrown back into the class ot. 
 ordinary workmen. Their diminished wages will 
 continue only until they have acquired, by practice, a 
 facility of execution in some other of the more difficult 
 operations : But a diminution of wages, even for a 
 year or two, is still a very serious inconvenience to 
 

 802 COMBINATIONS AMONGST 
 
 any person who lives by his daily exertion. The con 
 sequence of combination has then, in these instances, 
 been, to the workmen who combined reduction of 
 wages ; to the public reduction of price ; and to 
 the manufacturer increased sale of his commodity, 
 resulting from that reduction. 
 
 (365.) It is, however, important to consider the 
 effects of combination in another and less obvious point 
 of view. The fear of combination amongst the men 
 whom he employs, will have a tendency to induce the 
 manufacturer to conceal from his workmen the ex- 
 tent of the orders he may at any time have received ; 
 and, consequently, they will always be less acquainted 
 with the extent of the demand for their labour than 
 they otherwise might be. This is injurious to their 
 interests ; for instead of foreseeing, by the gradual 
 falling-off in the orders, the approach of a time when 
 they must be unemployed, and preparing accordingly, 
 they are liable to much more sudden changes than 
 those to which they would otherwise be exposed. 
 
 In the evidence given by Mr. Galloway, the en- 
 gineer, he remarks, that, "When employers are com- 
 " petent to show their men that their business is 
 " steady and certain, and when men find that they 
 " are likely to have permanent employment, they 
 " have always better habits, and more settled notions, 
 " which will make them better men, and better work- 
 " men, and will produce great benefits to all who are 
 " interested in their employment. 55 
 
 (366.) As the manufacturer, when he makes a 
 contract, has no security that a combination may 
 not arise amongst the workmen, which may render 
 that contract a loss instead of a benefit; besides 
 
MASTERS OR WORKMEN. 303 
 
 taking precautions to prevent them from becoming 
 acquainted with it, he must also add to the price at 
 which he could otherwise sell the article, some small 
 increase to cover the risk of such an occurrence. If 
 an establishment consist of several branches which can 
 only be carried on jointly, as, for instance, of iron 
 mines, blast furnaces, and a colliery, in which there 
 are distinct classes of workmen, it becomes necessary 
 to keep on hand a larger stock of materials than would 
 be required, if it were certain that no combinations 
 would arise. 
 
 Suppose, for instance, the colliers were to " strike" 
 for an advance of wages ; unless there was a stock 
 of coal above-ground, the furnaces must be stopped, 
 and the miners also would be thrown out of employ. 
 Now the cost of keeping a stock of iron ore, or of 
 coals above-ground, is just the same as that of keep- 
 ing in a drawer, unemployed, its value in money, 
 (except, indeed, that the coal suffers a small dete- 
 rioration by exposure to the elements.) The interest of 
 this sum must, therefore, be considered as the price of 
 an insurance against the risk of combination amongst 
 the workmen ; and it must, so far as it goes, increase the 
 price of the manufactured article, and, consequently, 
 limit the demand which would otherwise exist for it. 
 But every circumstance which tends to limit the de- 
 mand, is injurious to the workmen ; because the wider 
 the demand, the less it is exposed to fluctuation. 
 
 The effect to which we have alluded, is by no 
 means a theoretical conclusion ; the proprietors 
 of one establishment in the iron trade, within the 
 author's knowledge, think it expedient always to keep 
 above-ground a supply of coal for six months, which 
 
304 
 
 COMBINATIONS AMONGST 
 
 is, in that instance, equal in value to about 10,000/. 
 When we reflect that the quantity of capital through- 
 out the country thus kept unemployed merely from 
 the fear of combinations amongst the workmen, might, 
 under other circumstances, be used for keeping a 
 larger number at work, the importance of introduc- 
 ing a system in which there should exist no induce- 
 ment to combine becomes additionally evident. 
 
 (367.) That combinations are, while they last, 
 productive of serious inconveniences to the workmen 
 themselves, is admitted by all parties ; and it is 
 equally true, that, in most cases, a successful result 
 does not leave them in so good a condition as they 
 were in before " the strike." The little capital 
 they possessed, which ought to have been hoarded 
 with care for days of illness or distress, is exhausted ; 
 and frequently, in order to gratify a pride, at the 
 exisjtenee of which we cannot but rejoice, even 
 whilst we regret its misdirected energy, they will 
 undergo the severest privations rather than return to 
 work at their former wages. With many of the work- 
 men, unfortunately, during such periods, bad habits 
 are formed which it is very difficult to eradicate ; 
 and, in all those engaged in such transactions, the 
 kinder feelings of the heart are chilled, and passions 
 are called into action which are permanently injurious 
 to the happiness of the individual, and destruc- 
 tive of those sentiments of confidence which it is 
 equally the interest of the master - manufacturer 
 and of his workman to maintain. If any of the 
 trade refuse to join in the strike, the majority too 
 frequently forget, in the excitement of their feelings, 
 the dictates of justice, and endeavour to exert a 
 
MASTERS OR WORKMEN. 305 
 
 species of tyranny, which can never be permitted 
 to exist in a free country. In conceding therefore 
 to the working classes, that they have a right, if they 
 consider it expedient, to combine for the purpose of 
 procuring higher wages (provided always, that they 
 have completed all their existing contracts), it ought 
 ever to be kept before their attention, that the same 
 freedom which they claim for themselves they are 
 bound to allow to others, who may have different 
 views of the advantages of combination. Every 
 effort which reason and kindness can dictate, should 
 be made, not merely to remove their grievances, but 
 to satisfy their own reason and feelings, and to show 
 them the consequences which will probably result from 
 their conduct : but the strong arm of the law, backed, 
 as in such cases it will always be, by public opinion, 
 should be instantly and unhesitatingly applied, to 
 prevent them from violating the liberty of a portion 
 of their own, or of any other class of society. 
 
 (368.) Amongst the evils which ultimately fall 
 heavy on the working classes themselves, when, through 
 mistaken views, they attempt to interfere with their 
 employers in the mode of carrying on their business, 
 may be mentioned the removal of factories to other 
 situations, where the proprietors may be free from 
 the improper control of their men. The removal 
 of a considerable number of lace-frames to the 
 western counties, which took place, in consequence 
 of the combinations in Nottinghamshire, has already 
 been mentioned. Other instances have occurred, 
 where still greater injury has been produced by the 
 removal of a portion of the skill and capital of the 
 country to a foreign land. Such was the case at 
 x 
 
306 COMBINATIONS AMONGST 
 
 Glasgow, as stated in the fifth Parliamentary Report 
 respecting Artizans and Machinery. One of the 
 partners in an extensive cotton-factory, disgusted 
 by the unprincipled conduct of the workmen, re- 
 moved to the state of New York, where he re- 
 established his machinery, and thus afforded, to 
 rivals already formidable to our trade, at once a 
 pattern of our best machinery, and an example of the 
 most economical methods of employing it. 
 
 (369.) When the nature of the work is such that 
 it is not possible to remove it, as happens with regard 
 to mines, the proprietors are more exposed to injury 
 from combinations amongst the workmen : but as the 
 owners are generally possessed of a larger capital, 
 they generally succeed, if the reduction of wages 
 which they propose is really founded on the necessity 
 of the case. 
 
 An extensive combination lately existed amongst 
 the colliers in the north of England, which unfor- 
 tunately led, in several instances, to acts of violence. 
 The proprietors of the coal mines were consequently 
 obliged to procure the aid of miners from other parts 
 of England who were willing to work at the wages 
 they could afford to give ; and the aid of the civil, 
 and in some cases of the military, power, was re- 
 quisite for their protection. This course was persisted 
 in during several months, and the question being, 
 which party could support itself longest on the dimi- 
 nished gains, as it might have readily been foreseen, 
 the proprietors ultimately succeeded. 
 
 (370.) One of the remedies employed by the mas- 
 ters against the occurrence of combinations, is to make 
 engagements with their men for long periods and <:o 
 
MASTERS OR WORKMEN. 307 
 
 arrange them in such a manner, that these contracts 
 shall not all terminate together. This has been done 
 in some cases at Sheffield, and in other places. It is 
 attended with the inconvenience to the masters that, 
 during periods when the demand for their produce is 
 reduced, they are still obliged to employ the same 
 number of workmen. This circumstance, however, 
 frequently obliges the proprietors to direct their 
 attention to improvements in their works ; and in one 
 such instance, within the author's knowledge, a large 
 reservoir was deepened, thus affording a more con- 
 stant supply to the water-wheel, whilst, at the same 
 time, the mud from the bottom gave permanent fer- 
 tility to a piece of land previously almost barren. In 
 this case, not merely was the supply of produce 
 checked, when a glut existed, but the labour was, in 
 fact, applied more profitably than it would have been 
 in the usual course. 
 
 (371.) A mode of paying the wages of workmen 
 In articles which they consume, has been introduced 
 into some of our manufacturing districts, which has 
 been called the " truck system" As in many instances 
 this has nearly the effect of a combination of the 
 masters against the men, it is a fit subject for dis- 
 cussion in the present chapter : but it should be 
 carefully distinguished from another system of a very 
 different tendency, which will be first described. 
 
 (372.) The principal necessaries for the support of 
 a workman and his family are few in number, and are 
 usually purchased by him in small quantities weekly. 
 Upon such quantities, sold by the retail dealer, a 
 large profit is generally made ; and if the article is 
 one whose quality, like that of tea, is not readily 
 
308 COMBINATIONS AMONGST 
 
 estimated, then a great additional gain is made by 
 the retail dealer selling an inferior article. 
 
 Where the number of workmen living on the same 
 spot is large, it may be thought desirable that they 
 should unite together and have an agent, to purchase 
 by wholesale those articles which are most in de- 
 mand, as tea, sugar, bacon, &c., and to retail them 
 at prices, which will just repay the wholesale cost, 
 together with the expense of the agent who conducts 
 their sale. If this be managed wholly by a com- 
 mittee of workmen, aided perhaps by advice from the 
 master, and if the agent is paid in such a manner 
 as to have himself an interest in procuring good and 
 reasonable articles, it may be a benefit to the work- 
 men: and if the plan succeed in reducing the cost 
 of articles of necessity to the men, it is clearly the 
 interest of the master to encourage it. The master 
 may indeed be enabled to afford them facilities in 
 making their wholesale purchases ; but he ought 
 never to have the least interest in, or any connexion 
 with, the profit made by the articles sold. The men, 
 on the other hand, who subscribe to set up the shop, 
 ought not, in the slightest degree, to be compelled 
 to make their purchases there : the goodness and 
 cheapness of the article ought to be their sole induce- 
 ments. 
 
 It may perhaps be objected, that this plan is only 
 employing a portion of the capital belonging to the 
 workmen in a retail trade ; and that, without it, com- 
 petition amongst small shopkeepers will reduce the 
 articles to nearly the same price. This objection 
 would be valid if the objects of consumption required 
 no verification ; but combining what has been already 
 
MASTERS OH WORKMEN. 309 
 
 stated on that subject* with the present argument, 
 the plan seems liable to no serious objections. 
 
 (373.) The Truck system is entirely different in its 
 effects. The master-manufacturer keeps a retail shop 
 for articles required by his men, and either pays 
 their wages in goods, or compels them by express 
 agreement, or less directly, by unfair means, to ex- 
 pend the whole or a certain part of their wages at his 
 shop. If the manufacturer kept this shop merely for 
 the purpose of securing good articles, at fair prices, 
 to his workmen, and if he offered no inducement to 
 them to purchase at his shop, except the superior 
 cheapness of his articles, it would certainly be ad- 
 vantageous to the men. But, unfortunately, this 
 is not always the case ; and the temptation to the 
 master, in times of depression, to reduce in effect the 
 wages which he pays (by increasing the price of 
 articles at his shop), without altering the nominal 
 rate of payment, is frequently too great to be with- 
 stood. If the object be solely to procure for his 
 workmen better articles, it will be more effectually 
 accomplished by the master confining himself to 
 supplying a small capital, at a moderate rate of in- 
 terest ; leaving the details to be conducted by a 
 committee of workmen, in conjunction with his own 
 agent, and the books of the shop to be audited 
 periodically by the men themselves. 
 
 (374.) Wherever the workmen are paid in goods, 
 or are compelled to purchase at the master's shop, 
 much injustice is done to them, and great misery 
 results from it. Whatever may have been the inten 
 
 * See Chap, XV. 
 
310 COMBINATIONS AMONGST 
 
 tions of the master in such cases, the real effect is, to 
 deceive the workman as to the amount he receives in 
 exchange for his labour. Now, the principles on 
 which the happiness of that class of society depends, 
 are difficult enough to be understood, even by 
 those who are blessed with far better opportunities 
 of investigating them: and the importance of their 
 being well acquainted with those principles which 
 relate to themselves, is of more vital consequence 
 to workmen, than to many other classes. It is 
 therefore highly desirable to assist them in compre- 
 hending the position in which they are placed, by ren- 
 dering all the relations in which they stand to each 
 other, and to their employers, as simple as pos- 
 sible. Workmen should be paid entirely in money; 
 their work should be measured by some unbiassed, 
 some unerring piece of mechanism ; the time dur- 
 ing which they are employed should be defined, and 
 punctually adhered to. The payments they make 
 to their benefit societies should be fixed on such 
 just principles, as not to require extraordinary con- 
 tributions. In short, the object of all who wish to 
 promote then* happiness should be, to give them, in 
 the simplest form, the means of knowing beforehand, 
 the sum they are likely to acquire by their labour, and 
 the money they will be obliged to expend for their 
 support : thus putting before them, in the clearest 
 light, the certain result of persevering industry. 
 
 (375.) The cruelty which is inflicted on the work- 
 man by the payment of his wages in goods, is often 
 very severe. The little purchases necessary for the 
 comfort of his wife and children, perhaps the me- 
 dicines he occasionally requires for them in illness, 
 
MASTERS OR WORKMEN. 311 
 
 must all be made through the medium of barter ; and 
 he is obliged to waste his time in arranging an ex- 
 change, in which the goods which he has been com- 
 pelled to accept for his labour are invariably taken 
 at a lower price than that at which his master charged 
 them to him. The father of a family perhaps, writhing 
 under the agonies of the toothache, is obliged to make 
 his hasty bargain with the village surgeon, before 
 he will remove the cause of his pain ; or the discon- 
 solate mother is compelled to sacrifice her depreciated 
 goods in exchange for the last receptacle of her de- 
 parted offspring. The subjoined evidence from the 
 Report of the Committee of the House of Com- 
 mons on Framework-Knitters' Petitions, shows that 
 these are not exaggerated statements, 
 
 " It has been so common in our town to pay goods 
 " instead of money, that a number of my neighbours have 
 " been obliged to pay articles for articles, to pay sugar for 
 " drugs out of the druggist's shop ; and others have been 
 " obliged to pay sugar for drapery goods, and such things, 
 " and exchange in that way numbers of times. I was 
 " credibly informed, that one person paid half a pound of 
 " tenpenny sugar and a penny to have a tooth drawn; 
 " and there is a credible neighbour of mine told me, that 
 " he had heard that the sexton had been paid for digging 
 " a grave with sugar and tea ; and before I came off, 
 " knowing I had to give evidence upon these things, I 
 " asked this friend to inquire of the sexton, whether this 
 " was a fact : the sexton hesitated for a little time, on 
 " account of bringing into discredit the person who paid 
 " these goods; however, he said at last, 'I have received 
 " * these articles repeatedly I know these things have 
 " * been paid to a great extent in this way.' " 
 
312 COMBINATIONS OF MASTERS 
 
 CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 ON COMBINATIONS OF MASTERS AGAINST THE PUBLIC. 
 
 (376.) A SPECIES of combination occasionally takes 
 place amongst manufacturers against persons having 
 patents : and these combinations are always injurious 
 to the public, as well as unjust to the inventors. 
 Some years since, a gentleman invented a machine, 
 by which modellings and carvings were cut in maho- 
 gany, and other fine woods. The machine resembled, 
 in some measure, the drilling apparatus employed in 
 ornamental lathes ; it produced beautiful work at a 
 very moderate expense : but the cabinet-makers met 
 together, and combined against it, and the patent has 
 consequently never been worked. A similar fate 
 awaited a machine for cutting veneers by means of a 
 species of knife. In this instance, the wood could 
 be cut thinner than by the circular saw, and no waste 
 was incurred ; but "the trade" set themselves against 
 it, and after a heavy expense, it was given up. 
 
 The excuse alleged for this kind of combination, 
 was the fear entertained by the cabinet-makers that 
 when the public became acquainted with the article, 
 the patentee would raise the price. 
 
 Similar examples of combination seem not to be 
 unfrequent, as appears by the Report of the Com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons on Patents for 
 Inventions, June, 1829. See the evidence of Mr, 
 Holds worth. 
 
 (377.) There occurs another kind of combination 
 against the public, with which it is difficult to deal. It 
 
AGAINST THE PUBLIC. 313 
 
 usually ends in a monopoly, and the public are then 
 left to the discretion of the monopolists not to charge 
 them ahove the "growling point;" that is, not to 
 make them pay so much as to induce them actually 
 to combine against the imposition. This occurs when 
 two companies supply water or gas to consumers 
 by means of pipes laid down under the pavement in 
 the streets of cities : it may possibly occur also in 
 docks, canals, rail-roads, &c., and in other cases 
 where the capital required is very large, and the 
 competition very limited. If water or gas com- 
 panies combine, the public immediately loses all the 
 advantage of competition, and it has generally hap- 
 pened, that at the end of a period during which they 
 have undersold each other, the several companies 
 have agreed to divide the whole district supplied, into 
 two or more parts, each company then removing its 
 pipes from all the streets except those in its own 
 portion. This removal causes great injury to the 
 pavement, and when the pressure of increased rates 
 induces a new company to start, the same inconveni- 
 ence is again produced. Perhaps one remedy against 
 evils of this kind might be, when a charter is granted 
 to such companies, to restrict, to a certain amount, 
 the rate of profit on the shares, and to direct that any 
 profits beyond, shall accumulate for the repayment of 
 the original capital. This has been done in several 
 late acts of parliament establishing companies. The 
 maximum rate of profit allowed ought to be liberal, 
 to compensate for the risk ; the public ought to have 
 auditors on their part, and the accounts should be 
 annually published, for the purpose of preventing the 
 limitations from being exceeded. It must however 
 
314 COMBINATIONS OF MASTERS 
 
 be admitted, that this would be an interference with 
 capital, which, if allowed, should, in the present state 
 of our knowledge, be examined with great circum- 
 spection in each individual case, until some general 
 principle is established on well-admitted grounds. 
 
 (378.) An instrument called a gas-meter, which 
 ascertains the quantity of gas used by each consumer, 
 has been introduced, and furnishes a satisfactory mode 
 of determining the payments to be made by indivi- 
 duals to the Gas companies. A contrivance some- 
 what similar in its nature, might be used for the sale 
 of water ; but in that case some public inconvenience 
 might be apprehended, from the diminished quantity 
 which would then run to waste : the streams of water 
 running through the sewers in London, are largely 
 supplied from this source ; and if this supply were 
 diminished, the drainage of the metropolis might be 
 injuriously affected. 
 
 (379.) In the north of England a powerful com- 
 bination has long existed among the coal-owners, by 
 which the public has suffered in the payment of in- 
 creased price. The late examination of evidence 
 before a Committee of the House of Commons, has 
 explained its mode of operation, and the Committee 
 have recommended, that for the present the sale of coal 
 should be left to the competition of other districts. 
 
 (380.) A combination, of another kind, exists at 
 this moment to a great extent, and operates upon the 
 price of the very pages which are now communicating 
 information respecting it. A subject so interesting 
 to every reader, and still more so to every manufac- 
 turer of the article which the reader consumes, de- 
 serves an attentive examination. 
 
AGAINST THE PUBLIC. 
 
 315 
 
 We have shown in Chap. XXI. p. 205, the com- 
 ponent parts of the expense of each copy of the 
 present work ; and we have seen that the total amount 
 of the cost of its production, exclusive of any pay- 
 ment to the author for his labour, is 2s. 3d.* 
 
 Another fact, with which the reader is more prac- 
 tically familiar, is, that he has paid, or is to pay, to 
 his bookseller, six shillings for the volume. Let us 
 now examine into the distribution of these six shil- 
 lings, and then, having the facts of the case before 
 us, we shall be better able to judge of the merits 
 of the combination just mentioned, and to explain its 
 effects. 
 
 Distribution of the Profits on a Six Shilling Book. 
 
 
 BUYS 
 AT 
 
 SELLS 
 AT 
 
 PROFIT 
 on Capital 
 expended. 
 
 No. I. The Publisher who ac- } 
 counts to the author for > 
 every copy received . . j 
 
 .. d. 
 
 3 10 
 
 *. d. 
 4 2 
 
 10 per cent. 
 
 No. 1 1. The Bookseller who re- ") 
 tails to the public . ) 
 
 Or . 
 
 4 2 
 4 6 
 
 6 
 6 
 
 44 
 334 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. I. the Publisher, is a bookseller ; he is, in 
 fact, the Author's agent. His duties are, to receive 
 and take charge of the stock, for which he supplies 
 warehouse-room ; to advise the author about the 
 times and methods of advertising ; and to insert the 
 advertisements. As he publishes other books, he 
 
 * The whole of the subsequent details relate to the first 
 edition of this work. 
 
31G COMBINATIONS OF MASTERS 
 
 will advertise lists of those sold by himself; and thus, 
 by combining many in one advertisement, diminish 
 the expense to each of his principals. He pays the 
 author only for the books actually sold ; consequently, 
 he makes no outlay of capital, except that which he 
 
 ays for advertisements : but he is answerable for 
 -iny bad debts he may contract in disposing of them. 
 His charge is usually ten per cent, on the returns. 
 
 No. II. is the Bookseller who retails the work to 
 the public. On the publication of a new book, the 
 Publisher sends round to the trade, to receive " sub- 
 scriptions " from them for any number of copies not 
 less than two. These copies are usually charged to 
 the " subscribers," on an average, at about four or 
 five per cent, less than the wholesale price of the 
 book : in the present case the subscription price is 
 4s. 2d. for each copy. After the day of publication, 
 the price charged by the publisher to the booksellers 
 is 4s. 6d. With some works it is the custom to de- 
 liver twenty-five copies to those who order twenty- 
 four, thus allowing a reduction of about four per 
 cent. Such was the case with the present volume. 
 Different publishers offer different terms to the sub- 
 scribers ; and it is usual, after intervals of about six 
 months, for the publisher again to open a subscription 
 list, so that if the work be one for which there is a 
 steady sale, the trade avail themselves of these op- 
 portunities of purchasing, at the reduced rate, enough 
 to supply their probable demand. * 
 
 (381.) The volume thus purchased of the pub- 
 
 * These details vary with different books and different 
 publishers; those given in the text are believed to be sub- 
 stantially correct, and are applicable to works like the present. 
 
AGAxNST THE PUBLIC. 317 
 
 lisher at 4s. 2df. or 4s. 6d. is retailed by the book-* 
 seller to the public at 6s. In the first case he makes 
 a profit of forty-four, in the second of thirty-three 
 per cent. Even the smaller of these two rates of 
 profit on the capital employed, appears to be much 
 too large. It may sometimes happen, that when a 
 book is inquired for, the retail dealer sends across the 
 street to the wholesale agent, and receives, for this 
 trifling service, one fourth part of the money paid by 
 the purchaser ; and perhaps the retail dealer takes 
 also six months' credit for the price which the volume 
 actually cost him. 
 
 (382.) In section 256, the price of each process in 
 manufacturing the present volume was stated : we 
 shall now give an analysis of the whole expense of 
 conveying it into the hands of the public. 
 
 s. d. 
 The retail price 6s. on 3052 produces 915 12 
 
 1 Total expense of printing and paper . . 207 5 8 T ?j. 
 
 2 Taxes on paper and advertisements .... 40 Oil 
 
 3 Commission to publisher as 
 
 agent between author and 
 
 printer 1814 4 T * T 
 
 4 Commission to publisher as 
 
 agent for sale of the book . 6311 8 
 
 5 Profit : tbe difference be- 
 
 tween subscription price 
 
 and trade price, 4d. per vol. 50 17 4 
 
 6 Profit : the difference be- 
 
 tween trade price and retail 
 
 price, Is. 6d. per vol 228 18 
 
 * 362 1 4_ T 
 
 7 Remains for authorship , . . . 306 4 
 
 Total . 915 12 
 
318 COMBINATIONS OF MASTEHS 
 
 This account appears to disagree with that in 
 page 206 ; but it will be observed that the three 
 first articles amount to 2661. Is., the sum there 
 stated. The apparent difference arises from a cir- 
 cumstance which was not noticed in the first edition 
 of this work. The bill amounting to 205 . 18s., as 
 there given, and as reprinted in the present volume, 
 included an additional charge of ten per cent, upon 
 the real charges of the printer and paper-maker. 
 
 (383.) It is usual for the publisher, when he is 
 employed as agent between the author and printer, to 
 charge a commission of ten per cent, on all payments 
 he makes. If the author is informed of this custom 
 previously to his commencing the work, as was the 
 case in the present instance, he can have no just 
 cause of complaint ; for it is optional whether he 
 himself employs the printer, or communicates with 
 him through the intervention of his publisher. 
 
 The services rendered for this payment are, the 
 making arrangements with the printer, the wood- 
 cutter, and the engraver, if required. There is a 
 convenience in having some intermediate person be- 
 tween the author and printer, in case the former 
 should consider any of the charges made by the latter 
 as too high. When the author himself is quite un- 
 acquainted with the details of the art of printing, he 
 may object to charges which, on a better acquaint- 
 ance with the subject, he might be convinced were 
 very moderate and in such cases he ought to de- 
 pend on the judgment of his publisher, who is gene- 
 rally conversant with the art. This is particularly 
 the case in the charge for alterations and corrections, 
 some of which, although apparently trivial, occupy 
 
ffrr rr T 
 
 AGAINST THE PUB 
 
 3J 1 319 
 
 the compositors much time in ma 
 
 also be observed that the publisher, in 
 
 comes responsible for the payments to those persons. 
 
 (384.) It is not necessary that the author should 
 avail himself of this intervention, although it is the in- 
 terest of the publisher that he should ; and booksellers 
 usually maintain that the author cannot procure his 
 paper or printing at a cheaper rate if he go at once 
 to the producers. This appears from the evidence 
 given before the Committee of the House of Com- 
 mons in the Copyright Acts, May 8, 1818. 
 
 Mr. O. Rees, bookseller, of the house of Long- 
 man and Co., Paternoster-row, examined : 
 
 " Q. Suppose a gentleman to publish a work on his own 
 account, and to incur all the various expenses ; could he get 
 the paper at 30s. a ream ? 
 
 " A. I presume not ; I presume a stationer would not sell 
 the paper at the same price to an indifferent gentleman as to 
 the trade. 
 
 " Q. The Committee asked you if a private gentleman was 
 to publish a work on his own account, if he would not pay 
 more for the paper than persons in the trade ; the Committee 
 wish to be informed whether a printer does not charge a gen- 
 tleman a higher rate than to a publisher. 
 
 " A. I conceive they generally charge a profit on the 
 paper. 
 
 " Q. Do not the printers charge a higher price also for 
 printing, than they do to the trade ? 
 
 " A. I always understood that they do." 
 
 (385.) There appears to be little reason for this dis- 
 tinction in charging for printing a larger price to the 
 author than to the publisher, provided the former is 
 able to give equal security for the payment. With 
 respect to the additional charge on paper, if the 
 
320 COMBINATIONS OF MASTERS 
 
 author employs either publisher or printer to pur- 
 chase it, they ought to receive a moderate remune- 
 ration for the risk, since they become responsible for 
 the payment; but there is no reason why, if the 
 author deals at once with the paper-maker, he should 
 not purchase on the same terms as the printer ; and 
 if he choose, by paying ready money, not to avail 
 himself of the long credit allowed in those trades, he 
 ought to procure his paper considerably cheaper. 
 
 (386.) It is time, however, that such conventional 
 combinations between different trades should be done 
 away with. In a country so eminently depending for 
 its wealth on its manufacturing industry, it is of im- 
 portance that there should exist no abrupt distinction 
 of classes, and that the highest of the aristocracy 
 should feel proud of being connected, either personally 
 or through their relatives, with those pursuits on which 
 their country's greatness depends. The wealthier 
 manufacturers and merchants already mix with those 
 classes, and the larger and even the middling trades- 
 men are frequently found associating with the gentry 
 of the land. It is good that this ambition should be 
 cultivated, not by any rivalry in expense, but by a 
 rivalry in knowledge and in liberal feelings ; and 
 few things would more contribute to so desirable an 
 effect, than the abolition of all such contracted views 
 as those to which we have alluded. The advantage 
 to the other classes, would be an increased acquaint- 
 ance with the productive arts of the country, an in- 
 creased attention to the importance of acquiring habits 
 of punctuality and of business, and, above all, a 
 general feeling that it is honourable, in any rank of 
 life, to increase our own and our country's riches, by 
 
AGAINST THE PUBLIC. 32 1 
 
 employing our talents in the production or in the dis- 
 tribution of wealth. 
 
 (387.) Another circumstance omitted to be no- 
 ticed in the first edition relates to what is technically 
 called " the overplus" which may be now explained. 
 When 500 copies of a work are to be printed, each 
 sheet of it requires one ream of paper. Now a ream, 
 as used by printers, consists of 21 J quires, or 516 
 sheets. This excess of sixteen sheets is necessary in 
 order to allow for " revises," for preparing and ad- 
 justing the press for the due performance of its work, 
 and to supply the place of any sheets which may be 
 accidentally dirtied or destroyed in the processes 01 
 printing, or injured by the binder in putting into 
 boards. It is found, however, that three per cent, 
 is more than the proportion destroyed, and that 
 damage is less frequent in proportion to the skill and 
 care of the workmen. 
 
 From the evidence of several highly respectable 
 booksellers and printers, before the Committee of the 
 House of Commons on the Copyright Act, May, 1818, 
 it appears that the average number of surplus copies, 
 above 500, is between two and three ; that on smaller 
 impressions it is less, whilst on larger editions it 
 is greater ; that, in some instances, the complete num- 
 ber of 500 is not made up, in which case the printer 
 is obliged to pay for completing it ; and that in no 
 instance have the whole sixteen extra copies been 
 completed. On the volume in the reader's hands, 
 the edition of which consisted of 3000, the surplus 
 amounted to fifty-two, a circumstance arising from 
 the improvements in printing and the increased care 
 of the pressmen. Now this overplus ought to be 
 
322 COMBINATIONS OF MASTERS 
 
 accounted for to the author; and I believe it usually 
 is so by all respectable publishers. 
 
 (388.) In order to prevent the printer from pri- 
 vately taking off a larger number of impressions than 
 he delivers to the author or publisher, various expe- 
 dients have been adopted. In some works a particular 
 water-mark has been used in paper made purposely 
 for the book : thus the words " Mecanique Coeleste " 
 appear in the water-mark of the two first volumes of 
 the great work of Laplace. In other cases, where 
 the work is illustrated by engravings, such a fraud 
 would be useless without the concurrence of the 
 copper-plate printer. In France it is usual to print 
 a notice on the back of the title-page, that no copies 
 are genuine without the subjoined signature of the 
 author: and attached to this notice is the author's 
 name, either written, or printed by hand from a 
 wooden block. But notwithstanding this precaution, 
 I have recently purchased a volume, printed at 
 Paris, in which the notice exists, but no signature is 
 attached. In London there is not much danger of 
 such frauds, because the printers are men of capital, 
 to whom the profit on such a transaction would be 
 trifling, and the risk of the detection of a fact, which 
 must of necessity be known to many of their work- 
 men, would be so great as to render the attempt at it 
 folly. 
 
 (389.) Perhaps the best advice to an author, if 
 he publishes on his own account, and is a reasonable 
 person, possessed of common sense, would be to go 
 at once to a respectable printer and make his arrange- 
 ments with him. 
 
 (390.) If the author do nM wish to print his 
 
AGAINST THE PUBLIC. 323 
 
 work at his own risk, then he should make an agree- 
 ment with a publisher for an edition of a limited 
 number ; but he should by no means sell the copyright. 
 If the work contains wood-cuts or engravings, it 
 would be judicious to make it part of the contract 
 that they shall become the author's property, with 
 the view to their use in a subsequent edition of the 
 works, if they should be required. An agreement is 
 frequently made by which the publisher advances the 
 money and incurs all the risk on condition of his 
 sharing the profits with the author. The profits 
 alluded to are, for the present work, the last item of 
 section 382, or, 306/. 4s. 
 
 (391.) Having now explained all the arrange- 
 ments in printing the present volume, let us return 
 to section 382, and examine the distribution of the 
 915Z. paid by the public. Of this sum 207Z. was the 
 cost of the book, 40/. was taxes, 3621. was the 
 charges of the bookseller in conveying it to the con- 
 sumer, and 306Z. remained for authorship. 
 
 The largest portion, or 362L goes into the pockets 
 of the booksellers; and as they do not advance 
 capital, and incur very little risk, this certainly 
 appears to be an unreasonable allowance. The most 
 extravagant part of the charge is the thirty-three 
 per cent, which is allowed as profit on retailing the 
 book. 
 
 It is stated, however, that all retail booksel- 
 lers allow to their customers a discount of ten per 
 cent, upon orders above 205., and that consequently 
 the nominal profit of forty-four or thirty-three per 
 cent, is very much reduced. If this is the case, it 
 may fairly be inquired, why the price of 2J. for 
 
324 COMBINATIONS OF MASTERS 
 
 example, is printed upon the back of a book, when 
 every bookseller is ready to sell it at 11. 16s., and 
 why those who are unacquainted with that circum- 
 stance should be made to pay more than others who 
 are better informed ? 
 
 (392.) Several reasons have been alleged as justi- 
 fying this high rate of profit. 
 
 1st. It has been alleged that the purchasers of 
 books take long credit. This, probably, is often the 
 case, and admitting it, no reasonable person can 
 object to a proportionate increase of price. But it is 
 no less clear, that persons who do pay ready money, 
 should not be charged the same price as those who 
 defer their payments to a remote period. 
 
 2d. It has been urged that large profits are neces- 
 sary to pay for the great expenses of bookselling 
 establishments ; that rents are high and taxes heavy ; 
 and that it would be impossible for the great book- 
 sellers to compete with the smaller ones, unless the 
 retail profits were great. In reply to this it may be ob- 
 served that the booksellers are subject to no peculiar 
 pressure which does not attach to all other retail 
 trades. It may also be remarked that large esta- 
 blishments always have advantages over smaller 
 ones, in the economy arising from the division 
 of labour ; and it is scarcely to be presumed that 
 booksellers are the only class who, in large concerns, 
 neglect to avail themselves of them. 
 
 3d. It has been pretended that this high rate of 
 profit is necessary to cover the risk of the bookseller's 
 having some copies left on his shelves ; but he is not 
 obliged to buy of the publisher a single copy more 
 than he has orders for : and if he do purchase more, 
 
AGAINST THE PUBLIC. 325 
 
 at the subscription price, he proves, by the very 
 fact, that he himself does not estimate that risk at 
 more than from four to eight per cent. 
 
 (393.) It has been truly observed, on the other 
 hand, that many copies of books are spoiled by 
 persons who enter the shops of booksellers without 
 intending to make any purchase. But, not to men- 
 tion that such persons finding on the tables various 
 new publications, are frequently induced, by that 
 opportunity of inspecting them, to become purcha- 
 sers : this damage does not apply to all booksellers 
 nor to all books ; of course it is not necessary to 
 keep in the shop books of small probable demand 
 or great price. In the present case, the retail 
 profit on three copies only, namely, 4s. 6d., would 
 pay the whole cost of the one copy soiled in the 
 shop ; and even that copy might afterwards pro- 
 duce, at an auction, half or a third of its cost price. 
 The argument, therefore, from disappointments in the 
 sale of books, and that arising from heavy stock, are 
 totally groundless in the question between publisher 
 and author. It should be remarked also, that the 
 publisher is generally a retail, as well as a wholesale, 
 bookseller ; and that, besides his profit upon every 
 copy which he sells in his capacity of agent, he is 
 allowed to charge the author as if every copy had 
 been subscribed for at 4s. 2d., and of course he re- 
 ceives the same profit as the rest of the wholesale 
 traders for the books retailed in his own shop. 
 
 (394.) In the country, there is more reason for a 
 considerable allowance between the retail dealer and 
 the public ; because the profit of the country book- 
 seller is diminished by the expense of the carriage 
 
325 COMBINATIONS OF MASTERS 
 
 of the books from London. He must also pay a 
 commission, usually five per cent., to his London 
 agent, on all those books which his correspondent 
 does not himself publish. If to this be added a 
 discount of five per cent., allowed for ready money 
 to every customer, and of ten per cent, to book-clubs, 
 the profit of the bookseller in a small country town is 
 by no means too large. 
 
 Some of the writers, who have published cri- 
 ticisms on the observations made in the first edition 
 of this work, have admitted that the apparent rate of 
 profit to the booksellers is too large. But they have, 
 on the other hand, urged that too favourable a case is 
 taken in supposing the whole 3000 copies sold. If 
 the reader will turn back to section 382, he will find 
 that the expense of the three first items remains the 
 same, whatever be the number of copies sold ; and on 
 looking over the remaining items he will perceive that 
 the bookseller, who incurs very little risk and no 
 outlay, derives exactly the same profit per cent, on 
 the copies sold, whatever their number may be. This, 
 however, is not the case with the unfortunate author, 
 on whom nearly the whole of the loss falls undivided. 
 The same writers have also maintained, that the profit 
 is fixed at the rate mentioned, in order to enable the 
 bookseller to sustain losses, unavoidably incurred in 
 the purchase and retail of other books. This is the 
 weakest of all arguments* It would be equally just 
 that a merchant should charge an extravagant com- 
 mission for an undertaking unaccompanied with any 
 risk, in order to repay himself for the losses which 
 his own want of skill might lead to in his other 
 mercantile transactions. 
 
AGAINST THE PUBLIC. 32? 
 
 (395.) That the profit in retailing books is really 
 too large, is proved by several circumstances : First, 
 That the same nominal rate of profit has existed 
 in the bookselling trade for a long series of years, 
 notwithstanding the great fluctuations in the rate of 
 profit on capital invested in every other business. 
 Secondly, That, until very lately, a multitude of 
 booksellers, in all parts of London, were content with 
 a much smaller profit, and were willing to sell for 
 ready money, or at short credit, to persons of un- 
 doubted character, at a profit of only ten per cent., 
 and in some instances even at a still smaller per- 
 centage, instead of that of twenty-five per cent, on 
 the published prices. Thirdly, that they are unable 
 to maintain this rate of profit except by a combina- 
 tion, the object of which is to put down all com- 
 petition. 
 
 (396.) Some time ago a small number of the large 
 London booksellers entered into such a combination. 
 One of their objects was to prevent any bookseller from . \ 
 selling books for less than ten per cent, under the 
 published prices ; and in order to enforce this prin- 
 ciple, they refuse to sell books, except at the pub- 
 lishing price, to any bookseller who declines signing 
 an agreement to that effect. By degrees, many were 
 prevailed upon to join this combination; and the 
 effect of the exclusion it inflicted, left the small 
 capitalist no option between signing or having his 
 business destroyed. Ultimately, nearly the whole 
 trade, comprising about two thousand four hundred 
 persons, have been compelled to sign the agreement. 
 As might be naturally expected from a compact so 
 injurious to many of the parties to it, disputes have 
 
328 COMBINATIONS OF MASTERS 
 
 arisen ; several booksellers have been placed under 
 the ban of the combination, who allege that they 
 have not violated its rales, and who accuse the oppo- 
 site party of using spies, &c. to entrap them.* 
 
 (397.) The origin of this combination has been ex- 
 plained by Mr. Pickering, of Chancery-lane, himself 
 a publisher, in a printed statement, entitled, "BOOK- 
 SELLERS' MONOPOLY ; " and the following list of book- 
 sellers, who form the committee for conducting this 
 combination, is copied from that printed at the head 
 of each of the cases published by Mr. Pickering : 
 
 " Allen, J., 7, Leadenhall-street. 
 
 " Arch, J., 61, Cornhill. 
 
 " Baldwin, R., 47, Paternoster-row. 
 
 " Booth, J. 
 
 " Duncan, J., 37, Paternoster-row. 
 
 " Hatchard, J., Piccadilly. 
 
 " Marshall, R., Stationers '-court. 
 
 " Murray, J., Albemarle-street. 
 
 " Rees, O., 39, Paternoster-row. 
 
 " Richardson, J. M., 23, Cornhill. 
 
 " Rivington, J., St. Paul's Church-yard. 
 
 " Wilson, E., Royal Exchange." 
 (398.) In whatever manner the profits are divided 
 oetween the publisher and the retail bookseller, the 
 fact remains, that the reader pays for the volume in 
 his hands 6s., and that the author will receive only 
 3s. Wd. ; out of which latter sum, the expense of 
 printing the volume must be paid : so that in passing 
 
 * It is now understood that the use of spies has been given 
 up; and it is also known that the system of underselling is 
 again privately resorted to by many ; so that the injury arising 
 from this arbitrary system, pursued by the great booksellers, af- 
 fects only, or most severely, those whose adherence to an extorted 
 promise most deserves respect. Note to the second edition. 
 
AGAINST THE PUBLIC. 329 
 
 through two hands this book has produced a profit 
 of forty-four per cent. This excessive rate of profit 
 has drawn into the book-trade a larger share of 
 capital than was really advantageous ; and the com- 
 petition between the different portions of that capital 
 has naturally led to the system of underselling, to 
 which the committee above-mentioned are endea- 
 vouring to put a stop. * 
 
 (399.) There are two parties who chiefly suffer 
 from this combination., the public and authors. The 
 first party can seldom be induced to take an active 
 part against any grievance ; and in fact little is 
 required from it, except a cordial support of the 
 authors, in any attempt to destroy a combination so 
 injurious to the interests of both. 
 
 Many an industrious bookseller would be glad to 
 sell for 5s. the volume which the reader holds in hrs 
 hand, and for which he has paid 65. ; and, in doing 
 so for ready money, the tradesman who paid 4s. 6d. 
 for the book, would realise, without the least risk, 
 a profit of eleven per cent, on the money he had 
 advanced. It is one of the objects of the com- 
 bination we are discussing, to prevent the small capi- 
 talist from employing his capital at that rate of profit 
 which he thinks most advantageous to himself; and 
 such a proceeding is decidedly injurious to the public. 
 
 (400.) Having derived little pecuniary advantage 
 
 * The Monopoly Cases, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, of those published 
 by Mr. Pickering, should be consulted upon this point ; and, 
 as the public will be better able to form a judgment by hearing 
 the other side of the question, it is to be hoped the Chairman of 
 the Committee (Mr. Richardson) will publish those Regulations 
 respecting the trade, a copy of which, Mr. Pickering states, is 
 refused by the Committee even to those who sign them. 
 
330 COMBINATIONS OF MASTERS 
 
 from my own literary productions ; and being aware, 
 that from the very nature of their subjects, they can 
 scarcely be expected to reimburse the expense of 
 preparing them, I may be permitted to offer an 
 opinion upon the subject, which I believe to be as 
 little influenced by any expectation of advantage from 
 the future, as it is by any disappointment at the past. 
 Before, however, we proceed to sketch the plan 
 of a campaign against Paternoster-row, it will be 
 fit to inform the reader of the nature of the ene- 
 mies' forces, and of his means of attack and defence. 
 Several of the great publishers find it convenient to 
 be the proprietors of Reviews, Magazines, Journals, 
 and even of Newspapers. The Editors are paid, in 
 some instances very handsomely, for their superin- 
 tendence ; and it is scarcely to be expected that they 
 should always mete out the severest justice on works 
 by the sale of which their employers are enriched. 
 The great and popular works of the day are, of course, 
 reviewed with some care, and with deference to 
 public opinion. Without this, the journals would not 
 sell ; and it is convenient to be able to quote such 
 articles as instances of impartiality. Under shelter 
 of this, a host of ephemeral productions are written 
 into a transitory popularity ; and by the aid of this 
 process, the shelves of the booksellers, as well as the 
 pockets of the public, are disencumbered. To such 
 an extent are these means employed, that some of 
 the periodical publications of the day ought to be 
 regarded merely as advertising machines. That the 
 reader may be in some measure on his guard against 
 such modes of influencing his judgment, he should 
 examine whether the work reviewed is published bv 
 
AGAINST THE PUBLIC. 331 
 
 the bookseller who is the proprietor of the review ; a 
 fact which can sometimes be ascertained from the 
 title of the book as given at the head of the article. 
 But this is by no means a certain criterion, because 
 partnerships in various publications exist between 
 houses in the book trade, which are not generally 
 known to the public ; so that, in fact, until Reviews 
 are establisned in which booksellers have no interest, 
 they can never be safely trusted. 
 
 (401.) In order to put down the combination of 
 booksellers, no plan appears so likely to succeed as a 
 counter-association of authors. If any considerable 
 portion of the literary world were to unite and form 
 such an association ; and if its affairs were directed by 
 an active committee, much might be accomplished. 
 The objects of such an union should be, to employ 
 some person well skilled in the printing, and in the 
 bookselling trade ; and to establish him in some 
 central situation as their agent. Each member of the 
 association to be at liberty to place any, or all of his 
 works in the hands of this agent for sale ; to allow 
 any advertisements, or list of books published by 
 members of the association, to be stitched up at the 
 end of each of his own productions ; the expense 
 of preparing them being defrayed by the proprietors 
 of the books advertised. 
 
 The duties of the agent would be to retail to 
 the public, for ready money, copies of books pub- 
 lished by members of the association. To sell to 
 the trade, at prices agreed upon, any copies they may 
 require. To cause to be inserted in the journals, or 
 at the end of works published by members, any ad- 
 vertisements which the committee or authors may 
 
332 COMBINATIONS OF MASTERS 
 
 direct. To prepare a general catalogue of the 
 works of members. To be the agent for any member 
 of the association respecting the printing of any work. 
 Such a union would naturally present other advan- 
 tages ; and as each author would retain the liberty of 
 nutting any price he might think fit on his produc- 
 dons, the public would have the advantage of reduc- 
 tion in price produced by competition between authors 
 on the same subject, as well as of that arising from 
 a cheaper mode of publishing the volumes sold to 
 them. 
 
 (402.) Possibly, one of the consequences resulting 
 from such an association, would be the establishment 
 of a good and an impartial Review, a work the want 
 of which has been felt for several years. The two 
 long-established and celebrated Reviews, the unbend- 
 ing champions of the most opposite political opinions, 
 are, from widely differing causes, exhibiting unequi- 
 vocal signs of decrepitude and decay. The Quarterly 
 advocate of despotic principles is fast receding from 
 the advancing intelligence of the age ; the new 
 strength and new position which that intelligence has 
 acquired, demands for its expression, new organs, 
 equally the representatives of its intellectual power, 
 and of its moral energies : whilst, on the other hand, 
 the sceptre of the Northern critics has passed, from 
 the vigorous grasp of those who established its do- 
 minion, into feebler hands. 
 
 (403.) It may be stated as a difficulty in realizing 
 this suggestion, that those most competent to supply 
 periodical criticism, are already engaged. But it is 
 to be observed, that there are many who now supply 
 literary criticisms to journals, the political principles 
 
AGAINST THE PUBLIC. 333 
 
 of which they disapprove ; and that if once a respec- 
 table and well-supported Review* were established, 
 capable of competing, in payment to its contributors, 
 with the wealthiest of its rivals, it would very soon 
 be supplied with the best materials the country can 
 produce, f It may also be apprehended that such a 
 combination of authors would be favourable to each 
 other. There are two temptations to which an Editor 
 of a review is commonly exposed : the first is, a ten- 
 dency to consult too much, in the works he criticises, 
 the interest of the proprietor of his review ; the se- 
 cond, a similar inclination to consult the interests of 
 his friends. The plan which has been proposed re- 
 moves one of these temptations, but it would be very 
 difficult, if not impossible, to destroy the other. 
 
 * At the moment when this opinion as to the necessity for 
 a new Review was passing through the press, I was informed 
 that the elements of such an undertaking were already organ- 
 ized. 
 
 f It has been suggested to me, that the doctrines main- 
 tained in this chapter may subject the present volume to the 
 opposition of that combination which it has opposed. I do 
 not entertain that opinion ; and for this reason, that the book- 
 sellers are too shrewd a class to supply such an admirable 
 passport to publicity as their opposition would prove to be if 
 generally suspected.* But should my readers take a different 
 view of the question, they can easily assist in remedying the 
 evil, by each mentioning the existence of this little volume to 
 two of his friends. 
 
 * I was mistaken in this conjecture; all booksellers are not so shrewd 
 as I had imagined, for some did refuse to sell this volume i consequently 
 others sold a larger number of copies. 
 
 In the Preface to the second edition, at the commencement of this vo- 
 lume, the reader will find some farther observations on the effect of the 
 Booksellers' combination. Note to the Second Edition. 
 
EFFECT OF MACHINERY IN REDUCING 
 
 CHAP. XXXII. 
 
 ON THE EFFECT OF MACHINERY IN REDUCING 
 THE DEMAND FOR LABOUR. 
 
 (404.) ONE of the objections most frequently urged 
 against machinery is, that it has a tendency to 
 supersede much of the hand-labour which was pre- 
 viously employed ; and in fact unless a machine di- 
 minished the labour necessary to make an article, it 
 could never come into use. But if it have that effect, 
 its owner, in order to extend the sale of his produce, 
 will be obliged to undersell his competitors ; this will 
 induce them also to introduce the new machine, and 
 the effect of this competition will soon cause the 
 article to fall, until the profits on capital, under the 
 new system, shall be reduced to the same rate as 
 /under the old. Although, therefore, /the use of ma- 
 chinery has at first a tendency to throw labour out of 
 employment, yet the increased demand consequent 
 upon the reduced price, almost immediately absorbs 
 a considerable portion of that labour, and perhaps, in 
 some cases, the whole of what would otherwise have 
 been displaced. \ 
 
 That the effect of a new machine is to diminish 
 the labour required for the production of the same 
 quantity of manufactured commodities may be 
 clearly perceived, by imagining a society, in which 
 occupations are not divided, each man himself manu- 
 facturing all the articles he consumes. Supposing each 
 
THE DEMAND FOR LABOUR. 335 
 
 individual to labour during ten hours daily, one of 
 which is devoted to making shoes, it is evident that 
 if any tool or machine be introduced, by the use 
 of which his shoes can be made in half the usual time, 
 then each member of the community will enjoy the 
 same comforts as before by only nine and one-half 
 hours' labour. 
 
 (405.) If, therefore, we wish to prove that the 
 total quantity of labour is not diminished by the in- 
 troduction of machines, we must have recourse to some 
 other principle of our nature. But the same motive 
 which urges a man to activity will become additionally 
 powerful, when he finds his comforts procured with 
 diminished labour ; and in such circumstances, it is 
 probable, that many would employ the time thus re- 
 deemed in contriving new tools for other branches of 
 their occupations. He who has habitually worked 
 ten hours a day, will employ the half hour saved 
 by the new machine in gratifying some other want ; 
 and as each new machine adds to these gratifications, 
 new luxuries will open to his view, which continued 
 enjoyment will as surely render necessary to his 
 happiness. 
 
 (406.) In countries where occupations are divided, 
 and where the division of labour is practised, the 
 ultimate consequence of improvements in machi- 
 nery is almost invariably to cause a greater demand , 
 for labour. Frequently the new labour requires, at ' 
 its commencement, a higher degree of skill than the 
 old ; and, unfortunately, the class of persons driven 
 out of the old employment are not always qualified 
 for the new one ; so that a certain interval must 
 elapse before the whole of their labour is wanted. 
 
336 EFFECT OF MACHINERY IN REDUCING 
 
 This, for a time, produces considerable suffering 
 amongst the working classes ; and it is of great im- 
 portance for their happiness that they should be 
 aware of these effects, and be enabled to foresee them 
 at an early period, in order to diminish, as much as 
 possible, the injury resulting from them. 
 * " (407.) One very important inquiry which this subject 
 presents is the question, Whether it is more for the 
 interest of the working classes, that improved machi- 
 nery should be so perfect as to defy the competition of 
 hand-labour; and that they should thus be at once 
 driven out of the trade by it ; or be gradually forced 
 to quit it by the slow and successive advances of the 
 machine? The suffering which arises from a quick 
 transition is undoubtedly more intense ; but it is also 
 much less permanent than that which results from 
 the slower process : and if the competition is per- 
 ceived to be perfectly hopeless, the workman will 
 at once set himself to learn a new department of 
 his art. On the other hand, although new machinery 
 < ; causes an increased demand for skill in those who 
 ' make and repair it, and in those who first superintend 
 its use ; yet there are other cases in which it enables 
 children and inferior workmen to execute work that 
 previously required greater skill. In such circum- 
 stances, even though the increased demand for the 
 article, produced by its diminished price, should 
 speedily give occupation to all who were before em- 
 ployed, yet the very diminution of the skill required, 
 would open a wider field of competition amongst the 
 working classes themselves. 
 
 That machines do not, even at their first in- 
 troduction, invariably throw human labour out of 
 
THE DEMAND FOR LABOUR. 337 
 
 employment, must be admitted; and it has been 
 maintained, by persons very competent to form an 
 opinion on the subject, that they never produce that 
 effect. The solution of this question depends on 
 facts, which, unfortunately, have not yet been col- 
 lected ; and the circumstance of our not possessing 
 the data necessary for the full examination of so 
 important a subject, supplies an additional reason 
 for impressing, upon the minds of all who are in- 
 terested in such inquiries, the importance of pro- 
 curing accurate registries, at various times, of the 
 number of persons employed in particular branches 
 of manufacture, of the number of machines used by 
 them, and of the wages they receive. 
 
 (408.) In relation to the inquiry just mentioned, 
 I shall offer some remarks upon the facts within my 
 knowledge, and only regret that those which I can 
 support by numerical statement are so few. When 
 the Crushing Mill, used in Cornwall and other 
 mining countries, superseded the labour of a great 
 number of young women, who worked very hard in 
 breaking ores with flat hammers, no distress followed. 
 The reason of this appears to have been, that the 
 proprietors of the mines, having one portion of their 
 capital released by the superior cheapness of the pro- 
 cess executed by the mills, found it their interest to 
 apply more labour to other operations. The women, 
 disengaged from mere drudgery, were thus profitably 
 employed in dressing the ores, a work which required 
 skill and judgment in the selection. 
 
 (409.) The increased production arising from alter- 
 ations in the machinery, or from improved modes of 
 using it, appears from the following table. A machine 
 
338 EFFECT OF MACHINERY IN REDUCING 
 
 called in the cotton manufacture a " Stretcher," 
 worked by one man, produced as follows : 
 
 Year. Pounds of Cotton Roving Wages Kate of earning 
 
 span. per score. per week. 
 
 s. d. s. d. 
 
 1810 400 1 3* 25 10 * 
 
 1811 600 10 25 
 1813 850 09 31 10 
 1823 1000 7* 31 3 
 
 The same man working at another Stretcher, the 
 Roving a little finer, produced, 
 
 1823 900 7* 28 li 
 
 1825 1000 07 27 6 
 
 1827 1200 06 30 
 
 1832 1200 06 30 
 
 In this instance, production has gradually increased 
 until, at the end of twenty-two years, three times as 
 much work is done as at the commencement, although 
 the manual labour employed remains the same. The 
 weekly earnings of the workmen have not fluctuated 
 very much, and appear, on the whole, to have ad- 
 vanced : but it would be imprudent to push too far 
 reasonings founded upon a single instance. 
 
 (410.) The produce of 480 spindles of " mule 
 yarn spinning," at different periods, was as follows : 
 
 Year. Hanks, about Wages 
 
 40 to the pound. per thousand. 
 
 *. rf. 
 
 1806 6,668 9 2 
 
 1823 8,000 6 3 
 
 1832 10,000 3 8 
 
 (411.) The subjoined view of the state of weav- 
 ing by hand and by power looms, at Stockport, in the 
 
 * In 1810, the workman's wages were guaranteed not t 
 be less than 26*. 
 
THE DEMAND FOR LABOUR. 339 
 
 years 1822 and 1832, is taken from an enumeration 
 of the machines contained in 65 factories, and was 
 collected for the purpose of being given in evidence 
 before a Committee of the House of Commons. 
 
 In 1822. la 1832. 
 
 Hand-loom weavers 2,800 800 2,000 decrease. 
 
 Persons using power-looms (357 3,059 2,402 increase. 
 Persons to dress the warp 98 388 290 increase. 
 
 Total persons employed 3,555 4,247 692 increase. 
 Power-looms 1,970 9,177 8,207 increase. 
 
 During this period, the number of hand-looms in 
 employment has diminished to less than one-third, 
 whilst that of power-looms has increased to more 
 than five times its former amount. The total num- 
 ber of workmen has increased about one-third ; but 
 the amount of manufactured goods (supposing each 
 power-loom to do only the work of three hand- 
 looms) is three and a half times as large as it was 
 before. 
 
 (412.) In considering this increase of employment, 
 it must be admitted, that the two thousand persons 
 thrown out of work are not exactly of the same class 
 as those called into employment by the power-looms. 
 A hand-weaver must possess bodily strength, which /^ 
 is not essential for a person attending a power-loom ; -77 
 consequently, women and young persons of both 
 sexes, from fifteen to seventeen years of age, find 
 employment in power-loom factories. This, however, 
 would be a very limited view of the employment 
 arising from the introduction of power-looms : the 
 skill called into action in building the new factories, 
 in constructing the new machinery, in making the 
 
340 EFFECT OF MACHINERY IN REDUCING 
 
 steam engines to drive it, and in devising improve- 
 ments in the structure of the looms, as well as in 
 regulating the economy of the establishment, is of a 
 much higher order than that which it had assisted in 
 superseding ; and if we possessed any means of mea- 
 suring this, it would probably be found larger in amoun t. 
 Nor, in this view of the subject, must we omit the 
 fact, that although hand-looms would have increased 
 in number if those moved by steam had not been 
 invented, yet it is the cheapness of the article manu- 
 ctured by power-looms which has caused this great 
 j Extension of their employment, and that by diminish- 
 ing the price of one article of commerce, we always 
 call into additional activity the energy of those who 
 produce others. It appears that the number of hand- 
 looms in use in England and Scotland in 1830, was 
 about 240,000 ; nearly the same number existed 
 in the year 1820 : whereas the number of power- 
 looms which, in 1830, was 55,000, had, in 1820, 
 been 14,000. When it is considered that each of 
 these power-looms did as much work as three 
 worked by hand, the increased producing power 
 was equal to that of 123,000 hand-looms. During 
 the whole of this period the wages and employ- 
 ment of hand-loom weavers have been very preca- 
 rious. 
 
 (413.) Increased intelligence amongst the work- 
 ing classes, may enable them to foresee some of 
 those improvements which are likely for a time to 
 affect the value of their labour; and the assistance 
 of Savings Banks and Friendly Societies, (the ad- 
 vantages of which can never be too frequently, or 
 too strongly, pressed upon their attention,) may be 
 
THE DEMAND FOR LABOUR. 341 
 
 of some avail in remedying the evil : but it may 
 be useful also to suggest to them, that a diversity 
 of employments amongst the members of one family, 
 mil tend, in some measure, to mitigate the priva- 
 tions which arise from fluctuation in the value of 
 labour. 
 
EFFECTS OF TAXE 
 
 CHAP. XXXIII. 
 
 ON THE EFFECT OF TAXES AND OF LEGAL RESTRIC- 
 TIONS UPON MANUFACTURES. 
 
 (414.) As soon as a tax is put upon any article, 
 the ingenuity of those who make, and of those who 
 use it, is directed to the means of evading as large a 
 part of the tax as they can ; and this may often be 
 accomplished in ways which are perfectly fair and 
 legal. An excise duty exists at present of 3d.* per 
 pound upon all writing paper. The effect of this 
 impost is, that much of the paper which is employed, 
 is made extremely thin, in order that the weight of a 
 given number of sheets may be as small as possible. 
 Soon after the first imposition of the tax upon win- 
 dows, which depended upon their number, and not 
 upon their size, new-built houses began to have fewer 
 windows and those of larger dimensions than before. 
 Staircases were lighted by extremely long windows, 
 illuminating three or four flights of stairs. When 
 the tax was increased, and the size of windows 
 charged as single was limited, then still greater care 
 was taken to have as few windows as possible, and 
 internal lights became frequent. These internal 
 lights in their turn became the subject of taxation ; 
 but it was easy to evade the discovery of them, and 
 
 * Twenty-eight shillings per cwt. for the finer, tvventy-oa.0 
 shillings per cwt. for the coarser papers. 
 
UPON MANUFACTURES. 343 
 
 in the last act of parliament reducing the assessed 
 taxes, they ceased to be chargeable. From the 
 changes thus successively introduced in the number 
 the forms, and the positions of the windows, a tole- 
 rable conjecture might, in some instances, be formed 
 of the age of a house. 
 
 (415.) A tax on windows is exposed to objection 
 on the double ground of its excluding air and light, 
 and it is on both accounts injurious to health. The 
 importance of light to the enjoyment of health is not 
 perhaps sufficiently appreciated : in the cold and 
 more variable climates, it is of still greater importance 
 than in warmer countries. 
 
 (416.) The effects of regulations of excise upon 
 our home manufactures are often productive of great 
 inconvenience ; and check, materially, the natural 
 progress of improvement. It is frequently necessary, 
 for the purposes of revenue, to oblige manufacturers 
 to take out a license, and to compel them to work ac- 
 cording to certain rules, and to make certain stated 
 quantities at each operation. When these quantities 
 are large, as in general they are, they deter manu- 
 facturers from making experiments, and thus impede 
 improvements both in the mode of conducting the 
 processes and in the introduction of new materials. 
 Difficulties of this nature have occurred in experi- 
 menting upon glass for optical purposes ; but in this 
 case, permission has been obtained by fit persons to 
 make experiments, without the interference of the 
 excise. Tt ought, however, to be remembered, that 
 such permission, if frequently or indiscriminately 
 granted, might be abused: the greatest protection 
 against such an abuse will be found, in bringing the 
 
S44 EFFECT OF TAXES 
 
 force of public opinion to bear upon scientific men, 
 and thus enabling the proper authorities, although 
 themselves but moderately conversant with science, 
 to judge of the propriety of the permission, from the 
 public character of the applicant. 
 
 (417.) From the evidence given, in 1808, before 
 the Committee of the House of Commons, On Distil- 
 lation from Sugar and Molasses, it appeared that, by 
 a different mode of working from that prescribed by 
 the Excise, the spirits from a given weight of corn, 
 which then produced eighteen gallons, might easily 
 have been increased to twenty gallons. Nothing more 
 is required for this purpose, than to make what is called 
 the wash weaker ; the consequence of which is, that 
 fermentation goes on to a greater extent. It was 
 stated, however, that such a deviation would render 
 the collection of the duty liable to great difficulties ; 
 and that it would not benefit the distiller much, 
 since his price was enhanced to the customer by 
 any increase of expense in the fabrication. Here 
 chen is a case in which a quantity, amounting to 
 one-ninth of the total produce, is actually lost to 
 the country. A similar effect arises in the coal- 
 trade, from the effect of a duty ; for, according to the 
 evidence before the House of Commons, it appears 
 that a considerable quantity of the very best coal is 
 actually wasted. The extent of this waste is very 
 various in different mines ; but in some cases it 
 amounts to one-third. 
 
 (418.) The effects of duties upon the import of 
 foreign manufactures are equally curious. A singular 
 instance occurred in the United States, where bar- 
 iron was, on its introduction, liable to a duty of 
 
UPON MANUFACTURES. 345 
 
 140 per cent, ad valorem, whilst hardware was 
 charged at 25 per cent only. In consequence of this 
 tax, large quantities of malleable iron rails for rail- 
 roads were imported into America under the deno- 
 mination of hardware ; the difference of 115 per cent, 
 in duty more than counter-balancing the expense 
 of fashioning the iron into rails prior to its impor- 
 tation. 
 
 (419.) Duties, drawbacks, and bounties, when con- 
 siderable in amount, are all liable to objections of a 
 very serious nature, from the frauds to which they 
 give rise. It has been stated before Committees of 
 the House of Commons, that calicoes made up in the 
 form, and with the appearance of linen, have fre- 
 quently been exported for the purpose of obtaining 
 the bounty : for calico made up in this way sells 
 only at Is. 4d. per yard, whereas linen of equal fine- 
 ness is worth from 2s. Sd. to 2s. Wd. per yard. It 
 appeared from the evidence, that one house in six 
 months sold five hundred such pieces of calico. 
 
 In almost all cases heavy duties, or prohibitions, 
 are ineffective as well as injurious ; for unless the ^ 
 articles excluded are of very large dimensions, there 
 constantly arises a price at which they will be clan- 
 destinely imported by the smuggler. The extent, 
 therefore, to which smuggling can be carried, should 
 always be considered in the imposition of new duties, 
 or in the alteration of old ones. Unfortunately it has 
 been pushed so far, and is so systematically con- 
 ducted between this country and France, that the 
 price per cent, at which most contraband articles 
 can be procured is perfectly well known. From the 
 evidence of Mr. Galloway, it appears that, from 30 
 
346 EFFECT OF TAXES 
 
 to 40 per cent, was the rate of insurance on export- 
 ing prohibited machinery from England, and that 
 the larger the quantity the less was the per-centage 
 demanded. From evidence given in the Report of 
 the Watch and Clock-makers' Committee, in 1817, it 
 appears that persons were constantly in the habit of 
 receiving in France watches, lace, silks, and other 
 articles of value easily portable, and delivering them 
 in England at ten per cent, on their estimated worth, 
 in which sum the cost of transport and the risk of 
 smuggling were included. 
 
 (420.) The process employed in manufacturing 
 often depends upon the mode in which a tax is levied 
 on the materials, or on the article produced. Watch- 
 glasses are made in England by workmen who pur- 
 chase from the glass-house globes of five or six inches 
 in diameter, out of which, by means of a piece of red- 
 hot tobacco pipe, guided round a pattern watch-glass 
 placed on the globe, they crack five others : these are 
 afterwards ground and smoothed on the edges. In 
 the Tyrol the rough watch-glasses are supplied at once 
 from the glass-house ; the workman, applying a thick 
 ring of cold glass to each globe as soon as it is blown, 
 causes a piece, of the size of a watch-glass, to be 
 cracked out. The remaining portion of the globe is 
 immediately broken, and returns to the melting 
 pot. This process could not be adopted in En- 
 gland with the same economy, because the whole of 
 the glass taken out of the pot is subject to the excisa 
 duty. 
 
 (421.) The objections thus stated as incidental to 
 particular modes of taxation are not raised with 
 a view to the removal of those particular taxes ; 
 
UPON MANUFACTURES. 347 
 
 their fitness or unfitness must be decided by a much 
 wider inquiry, into which it is not the object of 
 this volume to enter. Taxes are essential for the 
 security both of liberty and property, and the evils 
 which have been mentioned may be the least amongst 
 those which might have been chosen. It is, how- 
 ever, important that the various effects of every tax 
 should be studied, and that those should be adopted 
 which, upon the whole, are found to give the least 
 check to the productive industry of the country. 
 
 (422.) In inquiring into the effect produced, or to 
 be apprehended from any particular mode of taxation, 
 it is necessary to examine a little into the interests of 
 the parties who approve of the plan in question, as 
 well as of those who object to it. Instances have oc- 
 curred where the persons paying a tax into the hands 
 of government have themselves been adverse to any 
 reduction. This happened in the case of one class of 
 calico-printers, whose interest really was injured by a 
 removal of the tax on the printing : they received 
 from the manufacturers, payment for the duty, about 
 two months before they were themselves called on to 
 pay it to government ; and the consequence was, that a 
 considerable capital always remained in their hands. 
 The evidence which states this circumstance is well 
 calculated to promote a reasonable circumspection 
 in such inquiries. 
 
 " Do you happen to know any thing of an opposition 
 " from calico printers to the repeal of the tax on printed 
 " calicoes? 
 
 " I have certainly heard of such an opposition, and am 
 " not surprised at it. There are a very few individuals 
 
348 EFFECT OF TAXES 
 
 " who are, in fact, interested in the non-repeal of the tax r 
 " there are two classes of calico printers ; one, who print 
 " their own cloth, send their goods into the market, and 
 " sell them on their own account; they frequently advance 
 " the duty to government, and pay it in cash before their 
 " goods are sold, but generally before the goods are paid 
 ' for, being most commonly sold on a credit of six months: 
 ' they are of course interested on that account, as well as 
 " on others that have been stated, in the repeal of the tax. 
 " The other class of calico printers print the cloth of other 
 " people ; they print for hire, and on re-delivery of the 
 " cloth when printed, they receive the amount of the duty, 
 " which they are not called upon to pay to government 
 " sooner, on an average, than nine weeks from the stamping 
 " of the goods. Where the business is carried on upon a 
 " large scale, the arrears of duty due to government often 
 " amount to eight, or even ten thousand pounds, and furnish 
 " a capital with which these gentlemen carry on their 
 " business ; it is not, therefore, to be wondered at that they 
 " should be opposed to the prayer of our petition." 
 
 (423.) The policy of giving Bounties upon home 
 productions, and of enforcing restrictions against 
 those which can be produced more cheaply in other 
 countries, is of a very questionable nature : and, 
 except for the purpose of introducing a new manu- 
 facture, in a country where there is not much com- 
 mercial or manufacturing spirit, is scarcely to be 
 defended. All incidental modes of taxing one class 
 of the community, the consumers, to an unknown 
 extent, for the sake of supporting another class, the 
 manufacturers, who would otherwise abandon that 
 mode of employing their capital, are highly ob- 
 jectionable. One part of the price of any article 
 produced under such circumstances, consists of 
 
UPON MANUFACTURES. 349 
 
 the expenditure, together with the ordinary profits 
 of capital : the other part of its price may be looked 
 upon as charity, given to induce the manufacturer to 
 continue an unprofitable use of his capital, in order 
 to give employment to his workmen. If the sum 
 of what the consumers are thus forced to pay, merely 
 on account of these artificial restrictions, were gene- 
 rally known, its amount would astonish even those 
 who advocate them ; and it would be evident to both 
 parties, that the employment of capital in those 
 branches of trade ought to be abandoned. 
 
 (424.) The restriction of articles produced in a 
 manufactory to certain sizes, is attended with some 
 good effect in an economical view, arising chiefly 
 from the smaller number of different tools required 
 in making them, as well as from less frequent change 
 in the adjustment of those tools. A similar source 
 of economy is employed in the navy : by having 
 ships divided into a certain number of classes, each of 
 which comprises vessels of the same dimensions, the 
 rigging made for one vessel will fit any other of its 
 class ; a circumstance which renders the supply of 
 distant stations more easy. 
 
 (425.) The effects of the removal of a monopoly 
 are often very important, and they were perhaps never 
 more remarkable than in the bobbin-net trade, in the 
 years 1824 and 1825. These effects were, however, 
 considerably enhanced by the general rage for specu- 
 lation which was so prevalent during that singular 
 period. One of the patents of Mr. Heathcote for a 
 bobbin-net machine had just then expired, whilst 
 another, for an improvement in a particular part of 
 such machines, called a turn-again, had yet a few 
 
350 EFFECT OF TAXES 
 
 years to run. Many licenses had been granted to 
 use the former patent, which were charged at the 
 rate of about five pounds per annum for each quarter 
 of a yard in width, so that what is termed a six- 
 quarter frame (which makes bobbin-net a yard and 
 a half wide) paid thirty pounds a year. The second 
 patent was ultimately abandoned in August, 1823, 
 infringements of it having taken place. 
 
 It was not surprising that, on the removal of 
 the monopoly arising from this patent, a multitude 
 of persons became desirous of embarking in a trade 
 which had hitherto yielded a very large profit. 
 The bobbin-net machine occupies little space ; and 
 is, from that circumstance, well adapted for a do- 
 mestic manufacture. The machines which already 
 existed, were principally in the hands of the manu- 
 facturers ; but, a kind of mania for obtaining them 
 seized on persons of all descriptions, who could raise 
 a small capital ; and, under its influence, butchers, 
 bakers, small farmers, publicans, gentlemen's ser- 
 vants, and, in some cases, even clergymen, became 
 anxious to possess bobbin-net machines. 
 
 Some few machines were rented ; but, in most of 
 these cases, the workman purchased the machine he 
 employed, by instalments of from 31. to 61. weekly, 
 for a six-quarter machine ; and many individuals, un- 
 acquainted with the mode of using the machines so 
 purchased, paid others of more experience for in- 
 structing them in their use ; 50Z. or 60/. being some- 
 times given for this instruction. The success of the 
 first speculators induced others to follow the ex- 
 ample ; and the machine-makers were almost over- 
 whelmed with orders for lace-frames. Such was the 
 
UPON MANUFACTURES. 351 
 
 desire to procure them, that many persons deposited 
 a large part, or the whole, of the price, in the hands 
 of the frame-makers, in order to insure their having 
 the earliest supply. This, as might naturally he ex- 
 pected, raised the price of wages amongst the work- 
 men employed in machine-making ; and the effect 
 was felt at a considerable distance from Nottingham, 
 which was the centre of this mania. Smiths not used 
 to "flat filing" coming from distant parts, earned 
 from 80s. to 42s. per week. Finishing smiths, ac- 
 customed to the work, gained from 31. to 41. per 
 week. The forging smith, if accustomed to his work, 
 gained from 51. to 61. per week, and some few earned 
 10Z. per week. In making what are technically 
 called insidesj those who were best paid, were gene- 
 rally clock and watch makers, from all the districts 
 round, who received from 31. to 41. per week. The 
 selters-up, persons who put the parts of the machine 
 together, charged 201. for their assistance ; and, a 
 six-quarter machine, could be put together in a fort- 
 night or three weeks. 
 
 (426.) Good workmen, being thus induced to desert 
 less profitable branches of their business, in order to 
 supply this extraordinary demand, the masters, in 
 other trades, soon found their men leaving them, 
 without being aware of the immediate reason : some 
 of the more intelligent, however, ascertained the cause. 
 They went from Birmingham to Nottingham, in 
 order to examine into the circumstances which had 
 seduced almost all the journeymen clockmakers from 
 their own workshops ; and it was soon apparent, that 
 the men who had been working as clock-makers in 
 Birmingham, at the rate of 25s. a week, could earn 
 
352 EFFECT OF TAXES 
 
 21. by working at lace-frame-making in Notting- 
 ham. 
 
 On examining the nature of this profitable work, 
 the master clock-makers perceived that one part of 
 the bobbin-net machines, that which held the bobbins, 
 could easily be made in their own workshops. They 
 therefore contracted with the machine-makers, who 
 had already more work ordered than they could exe- 
 cute, to supply the " bobbin-carriers," at a price 
 which enabled them, on their return home, to give 
 such increased wages as were sufficient to retain 
 their own workmen, as well as yield themselves 
 a good profit. Thus an additional facility was 
 afforded for the construction of these bobbin-net 
 machines : and the conclusion was not difficult to be 
 foreseen. The immense supply of bobbin-net thus 
 poured into the market, speedily reduced its price ; 
 this reduction in price, rendered the machines by 
 which the net was made, less valuable ; some few 
 of the earliest producers, for a short time, carried 
 on a profitable trade ; but multitudes were disap- 
 pointed, and many ruined. The low price at which 
 the fabric sold, together with its lightness and 
 beauty, combined to extend the sale ; and ultimately, 
 new improvements in the machines, rendered the older 
 ones still less valuable. 
 
 (427.) The bobbin-net trade is, at present, both 
 extensive and increasing ; and, as it may, probably, 
 daim a larger portion of public attention at some fu- 
 ture time, it will be interesting to describe briefly its 
 actual state. 
 
 A lace-frame on the most improved principle, 
 at the present day, manufacturing a piece of net 
 
UPON MANUFACTURES. 353 
 
 two yards wide, when worked night and day, will 
 produce six hundred and twenty racks per week. 
 A rack is two hundred and forty holes ; and as in the 
 machine to which we refer, three racks are equal 
 in length to one yard, it will produce 21,493 square 
 yards of bobbin-net annually. Three men keep this 
 machine constantly working ; and, they were paid (by 
 piece-work) about 25s. each per week, in 1830. Two 
 boys, working only in the day-time, can prepare the 
 bobbins for this machine, and are paid from 2s. to 4s. 
 per week, according to their skill. Forty-six square 
 yards of this net weigh two pounds three ounces ; so 
 that each square yard weighs a little more than 
 three-quarters of an ounce. 
 
 (428.) For a condensed and general view of the pre- 
 sent state of this trade, we shall avail ourselves of a 
 statement by Mr. William Felkin, of Nottingham, 
 dated September, 1831, and entitled " Facts and 
 Calculations illustrative of the Present State of the 
 Bobbin-net Trade." It appears to have been col- 
 lected with care, and contains, in a single sheet of 
 paper, a body of facts of the greatest importance.* 
 
 (429.) The total capital employed in the factories, 
 for preparing the cotton, in those for weaving the 
 bobbin-net, and in various processes to which it is 
 subject, is estimated at above 2,000,OOOZ., and the 
 number of persons who receive wages, at above two 
 hundred thousand. 
 
 * I cannot omit the opportunity of expressing my hope that 
 this example will be followed in other trades. We should 
 thus obtain a body of information equally important to the 
 workman, the capitalist, the philosopher, and the statesman. 
 A A 
 
354 
 
 EFFECT OF TAXES 
 
 " Comparison of the Value of the Raw Material imported, with 
 " the Value of the Goods manufactured therefrom. 
 
 " Amount of Sea Island cotton annually used 
 " l,600,000lbs., value 120,000/. ; this is manufac- 
 " tured into yarn, weighing l,000,000lbs., value 
 " 500,000/. 
 
 " There is also used 25,000lbs. of raw silk, which 
 " costs 30,000/., and is doubled into 20,0001bs. 
 " thrown, worth 40,000/. 
 
 RAW 
 MATERIAL. 
 
 MANU- 
 FACTURE. 
 
 SQUARE 
 YARDS 
 PRODUCED. 
 
 Value 
 per 
 Sq. Yd. 
 
 TOTAL 
 VALUE. 
 
 Cotton, 1 
 
 1,600,000/68. J 
 
 Power Net . 
 Hand ditto . 
 Fancy ditto 
 
 6,750,000 
 15,750,000 
 150,000 
 
 a. d. 
 1 3 
 
 1 9 
 3 6 
 
 
 
 421,875 
 1,378,125 
 26,250 
 
 Silk, 25,000 Ibs. 
 
 Silk Goods . 
 
 750,000 
 
 1 9 
 
 65,625 
 
 23,400,000 
 
 1,891,875 
 
 " The brown nets which are sold in the Notting- 
 ham market, are in part disposed of by the agents 
 : of twelve or fifteen of the larger makers, i. e. to the 
 : amount of about 250,000. a year. The principal 
 f part of the remainder, i. e. about 1,050,OOOZ. a 
 1 year, is sold by about two hundred agents, who 
 
 * take the goods from one warehouse to another for 
 1 sale. 
 
 " Of this production, about half is exported in 
 ' the unembroidered state. The exports of bobbin- 
 
 * net are in great part to Hamburgh, for sale at 
 
 * home and at Leipzic and Frankfort fairs, Ant- 
 
 * werp, and the rest of Belgium ; to France, by 
 
UPON MANUFACTURES. 355 
 
 " contraband ; to Italy, and North and South 
 " America. Though a very suitable article, yet the 
 " quantity sent eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, 
 " has hitherto been too trifling for notice. Three- 
 " eighths of the whole production are sold unem- 
 " broidered at home. The remaining one-eighth is 
 " embroidered in this country, and increases the 
 " ultimate value as under, viz. 
 
 Embroidery. Increases Value. Ultimate Worth, 
 
 . . 
 
 " On power net . . . . 131,840 553,715 
 
 On hand net .... 1,205,860 2,583,985 
 
 "On fancy net .... 78,750 105,000 
 
 " On silk net 109,375 175,000 
 
 Total embroidery, ? , _ or R9fJ Ultimate ) 41 r 7no 
 wages, and profit, 1 1 > 5 -> 82 total value ] 3 > 417 70 
 
 " From this it appears, that in the operations of 
 " this trade, which had no existence twenty years 
 " ago, 120,OOOZ. original cost of cotton becomes, 
 " when manufactured, of the ultimate value of 
 " 3,242,700Z. sterling. 
 
 " As to weekly wages paid, I hazard the following 
 " as the judgment of those conversant with the 
 " respective branches, viz. 
 
 " In fine spinning and doubling, adults 255. ; 
 " children 7s. : work twelve hours per day. 
 
 " In bobbin -net making ; men working machines, 
 " 185. ; apprentices, youths of fifteen or more, 10s. ; 
 " by power, fifteen hours ; by hand, eight to twelve 
 " hours, according to width. 
 
 " In mending ; children 4s. : women 8s. ; work 
 " nine to fourteen hours, ad libitum. 
 
 A A 2 
 
356 EFFECT OF TAXES 
 
 " In winding, threading, &c., children and young 
 " women, 5s. ; irregular work, according to the pro- 
 " gress of machines. 
 
 " In embroidery ; children, seven years old and 
 " upwards, Is. to 3s. ; work ten to twelve hours ; 
 " women, if regularly at work, 55. to 7s. 6d. ; twelve 
 " to fourteen hours. 
 
 " As an example of the effect of the wages of lace 
 " embroidery, &c. it may be observed, it is often the 
 " case that a stocking weaver in a country village 
 " will earn only 7s. a week, and his wife and children 
 " 7s. to 14s. more at the embroidery frame." 
 
 (430.) The principal part of the hand-machines 
 employed in the bobbin-net manufacture are worked 
 in shops, forming part of, or attached to, private 
 houses. The subjoined list will show the kinds of 
 machinery employed, and classes of persons to whom 
 it belongs. 
 
 Bobbin-net Machinery now at work in the Kingdom. 
 
 Hand Levers 6 -quarter 500 HandCir--) 
 
 7-quarter200 culars . . . \ M^ter 100 
 
 8-quarter 300 7-quarter 300 
 
 10-quarter 300 8-quarter 400 
 
 12-quarter 30 9-quarter 100 
 
 16-quarter 20 10-quarter 300 
 
 20-quarter 1 12-quarter 100 
 
 Hand Rotary 10-quarter 50 Hand Traverse, Pusher, 
 
 12-quarter 50 Straight Bolt, &c., 
 
 averaging 5 quarters 750 
 
 1451 
 
 2050 
 
 Total hand machines . . 3501 carried over 
 
UPON MANUFACTURES. 357 
 
 Brought over 3501 
 
 Power 6-quarter. . . 100 
 
 7-quarter. . . 40 
 
 8-quarter. . . 350 
 
 10-quarte-r. . . 270 
 
 12 quarter. . . 220 
 
 1 6-quarter. . . 20 
 
 Total power machines 1000 
 
 Total number of Machines . 4501 
 700 persons own 1 machine, 700 machines. 
 
 226 2 452 
 
 181 3 543 
 
 96 4 384 
 
 40 5 200 
 
 21 6 126 
 
 17 7 119 
 
 19 8 152 
 
 17 9 153 
 
 12 10 120 
 
 8 11 88 
 
 6 12 72 
 
 5 13 65 
 
 5 14 .... 70 
 
 4 16 64 
 
 25 own respectively 18, 19, 
 20,21,23,24,25,26,27, 
 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 
 37, 50, 60, 68, 70, 75, 95, 
 105,206 1192 
 
 Number of 1 
 
 owners of > 1382 Holding together 4500 machines, 
 
 machines J 
 
 The hand workmen consist of the above-named 
 
 owners 1000 
 
 And of journeymen and apprentices 4000 
 
 5000 
 
358 EFFECT OF TAXES 
 
 These Machines are distributed as follows . 
 
 Nottingham 1240 
 
 New Radford 140 
 
 Old Radford and Bloomsgrove 240 
 
 Ison Green 160 
 
 Beeston and Chilwell 130 
 
 New and Old Snenton 180 
 
 Derby and its vicinity 185 
 
 Loughborough and its vicinity 385 
 
 Leicester . 95 
 
 Mansfield 85 
 
 Tiverton 220 
 
 Barnstable 180 
 
 Chard 190 
 
 Isle of Wight 80 
 
 In sundry other places 990 
 
 4500 
 
 " Of the above owners, one thousand work in their 
 " own machines, and enter into the class of journey- 
 " men as well as that of masters in operating on the 
 " rate of wages. If they reduce the price of their 
 " goods in the market, they reduce their own wages 
 " first ; and, of course, eventually the rate of wages 
 " throughout the trade. It is a very lamentable 
 " fact, that one-half, or more, of the one thousand 
 " one hundred persons specified in the list as own- 
 *' ing one, two, and three machines, have been 
 " compelled to mortgage their machines for more 
 " than their worth in the market, and are in many 
 " cases totally insolvent. Their machines are princi- 
 " pally narrow and making short pieces, while the 
 " absurd system of bleaching at so much a piece 
 " goods of all lengths and. widths* and dressing at 
 
UPON MANUFACTURES. 359 
 
 " so much all widths, has caused the new machines 
 " to be all wide, and capable of producing long 
 " pieces ; of course to the serious disadvantage, 
 " if not utter ruin, of the small owner of narrow 
 " machines. 
 
 " It has been observed above, that wages have 
 " been reduced, say 25 per cent, in the last two 
 " years, or from 24s. to 18s. a week. Machines 
 " have increased in the same time one-eighth in 
 " number, or from four thousand to four thousand 
 " five hundred, and one-sixth in capacity of produc- 
 " tion. It is deserving the serious notice of all 
 " proprietors of existing machines, that machines 
 " are now introducing into the trade of such power 
 " of production as must still more than ever depre- 
 " ciate (in the absence of an immensely increased 
 " demand) the value of their property." 
 
 (431.) From this abstract, we may form some 
 judgment of the importance of the bobbin-net trade. 
 But the extent to which it bids fair to be carried in 
 future, when the eastern markets shall be more open 
 to our industry, may be conjectured from the fact 
 which Mr. Felkin subsequently states, that, " We 
 " can export a durable and elegant article in cotton 
 " bobbin-net, at 4d. per square yard, proper for cer- 
 " tain useful and ornamental purposes, as curtains, 
 " &c.; and another article used for many purposes 
 " in female dress at 6d. the square yard." 
 
 (432.) Of Patents. In order to encourage the 
 invention, the improvement, or the importation of 
 machines, and of discoveries relating to manufactures, 
 it has been the practice in many countries, to grant 
 to the inventors or first introducers, an exclusive 
 
360 
 
 EFFECT OF TAXES 
 
 privilege for a term of years. Such monopolies are 
 termed Patents ; and they are granted, on the pay- 
 ment of certain fees, for different periods, from five 
 to twenty years. 
 
 The following table, compiled from the Report 
 of the Committee of the House of Commons " on 
 Patents" 1829, shows the expense and duration of 
 patents in various countries : 
 
 COUNTRIES. 
 
 EXPENSE. 
 
 TERM 
 OF 
 YEARS. 
 
 Number 
 granted in Six 
 Years, ending 
 in 1826. 
 (.Rep. p. 243.) 
 
 
 S. d. 
 
 120 
 125 
 100 
 6 15 
 f 12 
 | 32 
 ( 60 
 6 to 30 
 42 10 
 20 9 4 
 12 5 7 
 10 4 8 
 
 14 
 14 
 14 
 
 14 
 5 ~\ 
 10 C 
 15 ) 
 5, 10, 15 
 15 
 15 
 10 
 6 
 
 914 
 
 1091 
 
 1099 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Austria 
 
 Spain* Inventor 
 
 ,, Improver . . . 
 
 
 
 (433.) It is clearly of importance to preserve to 
 each inventor the sole use of his invention, until he 
 
 * The expense of a patent in Spain is stated in the Report 
 to be respectively 2000, 1200, and 1000 reals. If these are 
 reals of Mellon, in which accounts are usually kept at Madrid, 
 the above sums are correct ; but if they are reals of Plate, the 
 above sums ought to be nearly doubled. 
 
UPON MANUFACTURES. 361 
 
 shall have been amply repaid for the risk and expense 
 to which he has been exposed, as well as for the talent 
 he has exerted in completing it. But, the degrees 
 of merit are so various, and the difficulties of legis- 
 lating upon the subject so great, that it has been 
 found almost impossible to frame a law which 
 shall not, practically, be open to the most serious 
 objections. 
 
 The difficulty of defending an English patent in 
 any judicial trial, is very great; and the number of 
 instances on record in which the defence has suc- 
 ceeded, are comparatively few. This circumstance 
 has induced some manufacturers, no longer to regard 
 a patent as a privilege by which a monopoly price 
 may be secured : but they sell the patent article at 
 such a price, as will merely produce the ordinary 
 profits of capital ; and thus secure to themselves the 
 fabrication of it, because no competitors can derive a 
 profit from invading a patent so exercised. 
 
 (434.) The law of Copyright, is, in some measure, 
 allied to that of Patents ; and it is curious to observe, 
 that those species of property which require the 
 highest talent, and the greatest cultivation, which 
 are, more than any other, the pure creations of mind, 
 should have been the latest to be recognized by the 
 state. Fortunately, the means of deciding on an 
 infringement of property in regard to a literary pro- 
 duction, are not very difficult ; but the present 
 laws are, in some cases, productive of consider- 
 able hardship, as well as of impediment to the 
 advancement of knowledge. 
 
 (435.) Whilst discussing the general expediency 
 of limitations and restrictions, it may be desirable to 
 
362 EFFECT OF TAXES 
 
 point out one which seems to promise advantage, 
 though by no means free from grave objections. The 
 question of permitting by law, the existence of part- 
 nerships in which the responsibility of one or more of 
 the partners is limited in amount, is peculiarly im 
 portant in a manufacturing, as well as a commercial 
 point of view. In the former light, it appears cal- 
 culated to aid that division of labour, which we have 
 already proved to be as advantageous in mental as 
 it is in bodily operations ; and it might possibly 
 give rise to a more advantageous distribution of 
 talent, and its combinations, than at present exists. 
 There are in this country, many persons possessed of 
 moderate capital, who do not themselves enjoy the 
 power of invention in the mechanical and chemical 
 arts, but who are tolerable judges of such inventions, 
 and excellent judges of human character. Such 
 persons might, with great success, employ themselves 
 in finding out inventive workmen, whose want of 
 capital prevents them from realizing their projects. 
 If they could enter into a limited partnership with 
 persons so circumstanced, they might restrain within 
 proper bounds the imagination of the inventor, and 
 by supplying capital to judicious schemes, render 
 a service to the country, and secure a profit for 
 themselves. 
 
 (436.) Amongst the restrictions intended for the 
 general benefit of our manufacturers, there existed 
 a few years ago one by which workmen were for- 
 bidden to go out of the country. A law so com- 
 pletely at variance with every principle of liberty, 
 ought never to have been enacted. It was not, 
 however, until experience had convinced the 'egis- 
 
UPON MANUFACTURES. 363 
 
 lature of its inefficiency, that it was repealed.* When, 
 after the last war, the renewed intercourse between 
 England and the continent became extensive, it was 
 soon found that it was impossible to discover the 
 various disguises which the workmen could assume ; 
 and the effect of the law was rather, by the fear of 
 punishment, to deter those who had left the country 
 from returning, than to check their disposition to 
 migrate. 
 
 (436*.) The principle, that Government ought to 
 interfere as little as possible between workmen and 
 their employers, is so well established, that it is im- 
 portant to guard against its misapplication. It is 
 not inconsistent with this principle to insist on the 
 workmen being paid in money, for this is merely to 
 protect them from being deceived ; and still less is it 
 a deviation from it to limit the number of hours 
 during which children shall work in factories, or 
 the age at which they shall commence that species of 
 labour, for they are not free agents, nor are they 
 capable of judging, if they were ; and both policy 
 and humanity concur in demanding for them some 
 legislative protection. In both cases it is as right 
 and politic to protect the weaker party from fraud 
 or force, as it would be impolitic and unjust to in- 
 terfere with the amount of the wages of either. 
 
 * In the year 1824 the law against workmen going abroad, 
 as well as the laws preventing them from combining, were 
 repealed, after the fullest inquiry by a Committee of the House 
 of Commons. In 1825 an attempt to re-enact some of the most 
 objectionable was made, but it failed. 
 
364 THE EXPORTATION 
 
 CHAP. XXXIV. 
 
 ON THE EXPORTATION OF MACHINERY. 
 
 (437.) A FEW years only have elapsed, since our 
 workmen were not merely prohibited by act of Par- 
 liament from transporting themselves to countries in 
 which their industry would produce for them higher 
 wages, but were forbidden to export the greater 
 part of the machinery which they were employed to 
 manufacture at home. The reason assigned for this 
 prohibition was, the apprehension that foreigners 
 might avail themselves of our improved machinery, 
 and thus compete with our manufacturers. It was, in 
 fact, a sacrifice of the interests of one class of persons, 
 the makers of machinery, for the imagined benefit 
 of another class, those who use it. Now, indepen- 
 dently of the impolicy of interfering, without 
 necessity, between these two classes, it may be 
 observed, that the first class, or the makers of 
 machinery, are, as a body, far more intelligent than 
 those who only use it ; and though, at present, they 
 are not nearly so numerous, yet, when the removal 
 of the prohibition which cramps their ingenuity shall 
 have had time to operate, there appears good reason 
 to believe, that their number will be greatly in- 
 creased, and may, in time, even surpass that of 
 those who use machinery. 
 
OF MACHINERY. 365 
 
 (438.) The advocates of these prohibitions in 
 England seem to rely greatly upon the possibility of 
 preventing the knowledge of new contrivances from 
 being conveyed to other countries ; and they take 
 much too limited a view of the possible, and even 
 probable, improvements in mechanics. 
 
 (439.) For the purpose of examining this question, 
 let us consider the case of two manufacturers of the 
 same article, one situated in a country in which labour is 
 very cheap, the machinery bad, and the modes of trans- 
 port slow and expensive ; the other engaged in manu- 
 facturing in a country in which the price of labour is 
 very high, the machinery excellent, and the means of 
 transport expeditious and economical. Let them both 
 send their produce to the same market, and let each 
 receive such a price as shall give to him the profit 
 ordinarily produced by capital in his own country. 
 It is almost certain that in such circumstances the 
 first improvement in machinery will occur in the 
 country which is most advanced in civilization ; 
 because, even admitting that the ingenuity to con- 
 trive were the same in the two countries, the means 
 of execution are very different. The effect of im- 
 proved machinery in the rich country will be per- 
 ceived in the common market, by a small fall in the 
 price of the manufactured article. This will be 
 the first intimation to the manufacturer of the poor 
 country, who will endeavour to meet the diminution 
 in the selling price of his article by increased industry 
 and economy in his factory ; but he will soon find 
 that this remedy is temporary, and that the market- 
 price continues to fall. He will thus be induced to 
 examine the rival fabric, in order to detect, from its 
 
366 THE EXPORTATION 
 
 structure, any improved mode of making it. If, as 
 would most usually happen, he should be unsuccessful 
 in this attempt, he must endeavour to contrive im- 
 provements in his own machinery, or to acquire 
 information respecting those which have been made 
 in the factories of the richer country. Perhaps after 
 an ineffectual attempt to obtain by letters the infor- 
 mation he requires, he sets out to visit in person the 
 factories of his competitors. To a foreigner and rival 
 manufacturer such establishments are not easily ac- 
 cessible ; and the more recent the improvements, the 
 less likely he will be to gain access to them. His 
 next step, therefore, will be to obtain the knowledge 
 he is in search of from the workmen employed in using 
 or making the machines. Without drawings^ or an 
 examination of the machines themselves, this process 
 will be slow and tedious ; and he will be liable, after 
 all, to be deceived by artful and designing workmen, 
 and be exposed to many chances of failure. But 
 suppose he returns to his own country with perfect 
 drawings and instructions, he must then begin to 
 construct his improved machines : and these he can- 
 not execute either so cheaply or so well as his rivals 
 in the richer countries. But after the lapse of some 
 time, we shall suppose the machines thus laboriously 
 improved, to be at last completed, and in working 
 order. 
 
 (440.) Let us now consider what will have occurred 
 to the manufacturer in the rich country. He will, in 
 the first instance, have realized a profit by supplying 
 the home market, at the usual price, with an article 
 which it costs him less to produce ; he will then 
 reduce the price both in the home and foreign market, 
 
OF MACHINERY. 367 
 
 in order to produce a more extended sale. It is in 
 this stage that the manufacturer in the poor country 
 first feels the effect of the competition ; and if we 
 suppose only two or three years to elapse between the 
 first application of the new improvement in the rich 
 country, and the commencement of its employment 
 in the poor country, yet will the manufacturer who 
 contrived the improvement (even supposing that 
 during the whole of this time he has made only one 
 step) have realized so large a portion of the outlay 
 which it required, that he can afford to make a much 
 greater reduction in the price of his produce, and thus 
 to render the gains of his rivals quite. inferior to his 
 own. 
 
 (441.) It is contended that by admitting the ex- 
 portation of machinery, foreign manfacturers will be 
 supplied with machines equal to our own. The 
 first answer which presents itself to this argument is 
 supplied by almost the whole of the present volume ; 
 That I in order to succeed in a manufacture, it is \ 
 necessary not merely to possess good machinery, but 
 that the domestic economy of the factory should be most 
 carefully regulated. 
 
 The truth, as well as the importance of this principle, 
 is so well established in the Report of a Committee 
 of the House of Commons " On the Export of Tools 
 " and Machinery," that I shall avail myself of the 
 opinions and evidence there stated, before I offer any 
 observations of my own : 
 
 " Supposing, indeed, that the same machinery 
 " which is used in England could be obtained on the 
 " Continent, it is the opinion of some of the most 
 " intelligent of the witnesses that a want of arrange- 
 
368 THE EXPORTATION 
 
 " ment in foreign manufactories, of division of labour 
 " in their work, of skill and perseverance in their 
 " workmen, and of enterprise in the masters, together 
 " with the comparatively low estimation in which the 
 " master-manufacturers are held on the Continent, 
 " and with the comparative want of capital, and of 
 " many other advantageous circumstances detailed in 
 " the evidence, would prevent foreigners from inter - 
 " fering in any great degree by competition with 
 " our principal manufacturers ; on which subject the 
 " Committee submit the following evidence as worthy 
 " the attention of the House : 
 
 ' I would ask whether, upon the whole, you consider any 
 ' danger likely to arise to our manufactures from competi- 
 
 * tion, even if the French were supplied with machinery 
 1 equally good and cheap as our own ? They will always be 
 ' behind us until their general habits approximate to ours ; 
 ' and they must be behind us for many reasons that I have 
 ' before given. 
 
 ' Why must they be behind us ? One other reason is, that 
 
 * a cotton manufacturer who left Manchester seven years ago, 
 
 * would be driven out of the market by the men who are now 
 
 * living in it, provided his knowledge had riot kept pace with 
 ' those who have been during that time constantly profiting 
 1 by the progressive improvements that have taken place in 
 
 * that period ; this progressive knowledge and experience is 
 
 * our great power and advantage.' 
 
 "It should also be observed, that the constant, 
 " nay, almost daily, improvements which take place 
 " in our machinery itself, as well as in the mode of 
 " its application, require that all those means and ad- 
 " vantages alluded to above, should be in constant 
 " operation ; and that, in the opinion of several of 
 
OF MACHINERY. 36y 
 
 " the witnesses, although Europe were possessed of 
 " every tool now used in the United Kingdom, along 
 " with the assistance of English artisans, which she 
 " may have in any number, yet, from the natural and 
 " acquired advantages possessed by this country, the 
 " manufacturers of the United Kingdom would for 
 " ages continue to retain the superiority they now 
 " enjoy. It is indeed the opinion of many, that if 
 <f the exportation of machinery were permitted, the 
 " exportation would often consist of those tools and 
 " machines, which, although already superseded by 
 " new inventions, still continue to be employed, from 
 " want of opportunity to get rid of them ; to the 
 " detriment, in many instances, of the trade and 
 " manufactures of the country : and it is matter 
 " worthy of consideration, and fully borne out by the 
 " evidence, that by such increased foreign demand for 
 " machinery, the ingenuity and skill of our workmen 
 " would have greater scope ; and that, important as 
 " the improvements in machinery have lately been, 
 " they might, under such circumstances, be fairly 
 " expected to increase to a degree beyond all pre- 
 " cedent. 
 
 " The many important facilities for the construc- 
 " tion of machines and the manufacturing of com- 
 " modities which we possess, are enjoyed by no other 
 " country ; nor is it likely that any country can 
 " enjoy them to an equal extent for an indefinite 
 " period. It is admitted by every one, that our skill 
 " is unrivalled ; the industry and power of our people 
 " unequalled; their ingenuity, as displayed in the con- 
 tl tinual improvement in machinery, and production of 
 H commodities, without parallel ; and apparently, with- 
 
370 THE EXPORTATION 
 
 " out limit. The freedom which, under our govern- 
 " ment, every man has, to use his capital, his labour, 
 " and his talents, in the manner most conducive to 
 " his interests, is an inestimable advantage ; canals 
 " are cut, and rail-roads constructed, by the voluntary 
 " association of persons whose local knowledge en- 
 " ables them to place them in the most desirable 
 " situations ; and these great advantages cannot 
 " exist under less free governments. These circum- 
 " stances, when taken together, give such a decided 
 " superiority to our people, that no injurious rivalry, 
 " either in the construction of machinery or the 
 " manufacture of commodities, can reasonably be an- 
 " ticipated." 
 
 (442.) But, even if it were desirable to prevent 
 the exportation of a certain class of machinery, it is 
 abundantly evident, that, whilst the exportation of 
 other classes is allowed, it is impossible to prevent the 
 forbidden one from being smuggled out; and that, 
 in point of fact, the additional risk has been well 
 calculated by the smuggler. 
 
 (443.) It would appear, also, from various circum- 
 stances, that the immediate exportation of improved 
 machinery is not quite so certain as has been assumed ; 
 and that the powerful principle of self-interest will 
 urge the makers of it, rather to push the sale in a 
 different direction. When a great maker of machinery 
 has contrived a new machine for any particular process, 
 or has made some great improvement upon those in 
 common use, to whom will he naturally apply for the 
 purpose of selling his new machines ? Undoubtedly, 
 in by far the majority of cases, to his nearest and best 
 customers, those to whom he has immediate and 
 
OF MACHINERY, 371 
 
 personal access, and whose capability to fulfil any 
 contract is best known to him. With these, he will 
 communicate and offer to take their orders for the 
 new machine ; nor will he think of writing to 
 foreign customers, so long as he finds the home 
 demand sufficient to employ the whole force of his 
 establishment. Thus, therefore, the machine-maker 
 is himself interested in giving the first advantage of 
 any new improvement to his own countrymen. 
 
 (444,) In point of fact, the machine-makers in 
 London greatly prefer home orders, and do usually 
 charge an additional price to their foreign customers. 
 Even the measure of this preference may be found in 
 the evidence before the Committee on the Export of 
 Machinery. It is differently estimated by various 
 engineers; but appears to vary from five up to 
 twenty-five per cent, on the amount of the order. 
 The reasons are : 1 . If the machinery be compli- 
 cated, one of the best workmen, well accustomed to 
 the mode of work in the factory, must be sent out to 
 put it up ; and there is always a considerable chance 
 of his having offers that will induce him to remain 
 abroad. 2. If the work be of a more simple kind, 
 and can be put up without the help of an English 
 workman, yet for the credit of the house which sup- 
 plies it, and to prevent the accidents likely to occur 
 from the want of sufficient instruction in those who 
 use it, the parts are frequently made stronger, and 
 examined more attentively, than they would be for 
 an English purchaser. Any defect or accident also 
 would be attended with more expense to repair, if it 
 occurred abroad, than in England, 
 
 (445.) The class of workmen who make machinery, \ 
 
 B B 2 
 
L 
 
 372 THE EXPORTATION 
 
 possess much more skill, and are paid much more 
 highly than that class who merely use it ; and, if a 
 free exportation were allowed, the more valuable class 
 would, undoubtedly, be greatly increased; for, not- 
 withstanding the high rate of wages, there is no country 
 in which it can at this moment be made, either so well 
 or so cheaply as in England. We might, therefore, 
 supply the whole world with machinery, at an evident 
 advantage, both to ourselves and our customers. In 
 Manchester, and the surrounding district, many 
 thousand men are wholly occupied in making the 
 machinery, which gives employment to many hundred 
 thousands who use it ; but the period is not very 
 remote, when the whole number of those who used 
 machines, was not greater than the number of those 
 who at present manufacture them. Hence, then, 
 if England should ever become a great exporter 
 of machinery, she would necessarily contain a large 
 class of workmen, to whom skill would be indis- 
 pensable, and, consequently, to whom high wages 
 would be paid ; and although her manufacturers 
 might probably be comparatively fewer in number, 
 yet they would undoubtedly have the advantage 
 of being the first to derive profit from improve- 
 ment. Under such circumstances, any diminution 
 in the demand for machinery, would, in the first 
 instance, be felt by a class much better able to 
 meet it, than that which now suffers upon every 
 check in the consumption of manufactured goods ; 
 and the resulting misery would therefore assume a 
 mitigated character. 
 
 (446.) It has been feared, that when other countries 
 have purchased our machines, they will cease to 
 
OF MACHINERY. 373 
 
 demand new ones : but the statement which has been 
 given of the usual progress in the improvement of 
 the machinery employed in any manufacture, and of 
 the average time which elapses before it is superseded 
 by such improvements, is a complete reply to this 
 objection. If our customers abroad did not adopt the 
 new machinery contrived by us as soon as they could / 
 procure it, then our manufacturers would extend 
 their establishments, and undersell their rivals in 
 their own markets. 
 
 (447.) It may also be urged, that in each kind of 
 machinery a maximum of perfection may be imagined, 
 beyond which it is impossible to advance ; and cer- 
 tainly the last advances are usually the smallest when 
 compared with those which precede them : but it 
 should be observed, that these advances are generally 
 made when the number of machines in employment 
 is already large ; and when, consequently, their effects 
 on the power of producing are very considerable. But 
 though it should be admitted that any one species 
 of machinery may, after a long period, arrive at a 
 degree of perfection which would render further 
 improvement nearly hopeless, yet it is impossible to 
 suppose that this can be the case with respect to all 
 kinds of mechanism. In fact the limit of improvement 
 is rarely approached, except in extensive branches of 
 national manufactures ; and the number of such 
 branches is, even at present, very small. 
 
 (448.) Another argument in favour of the expor- 
 tation of machinery, is, that it would facilitate the 
 transfer of capital to any more advantageous mode 
 of employment which might present itself. If the 
 exportation of machinery were permitted, there would 
 
374 THE EXPORTATION 
 
 doubtless arise a new and increased demand ; and, sup- 
 posing any particular branch of our manufactures to 
 cease to produce the average rate of profit, the loss 
 to the capitalist would be much less, if a market were 
 open for the sale of his machinery to customers 
 more favourably circumstanced for its employment. 
 If, on the other hand, new improvements in machinery 
 should be imagined, the manufacturer would be more 
 readily enabled to carry them into effect, by having 
 the foreign market opened where he could sell his 
 old machines. The fact, that England can, notwith- 
 standing her taxation and her high rate of wages, 
 actually undersell other nations, seems to be well 
 established : and it appears to depend on the superior 
 goodness and cheapness of those raw materials of 
 machinery the metals, on the excellence of the 
 tools, and on the admirable arrangements of the 
 domestic economy of our factories. 
 
 (449.) The different degrees of facility with which 
 capital can be transferred from one mode of employ- 
 ment to another, has an important effect on the rate 
 of profits in different trades and in different countries. 
 Supposing all the other causes which influence the 
 rate of profit at any period, to act equally on capital 
 employed in different occupations, yet the real rates 
 of profit would soon alter, on account of the different 
 degrees of loss incurred by removing the capital from 
 one mode of investment to another, or of any variation 
 in the action of those causes. 
 
 (450.) This principle will appear more clearly by 
 taking an example. Let two capitalists have em- 
 barked 10,000/. each, in two trades : A in supply- 
 ing a district with water, by means of a steam-engine 
 
OF MACHINERY. 
 
 375 
 
 and iron pipes ; B in manufacturing bobbin-net. The 
 capital of A will be expended in building a house 
 and erecting a steam-engine, which costs, we shall 
 suppose, 3000Z. ; and in laying down iron pipes to 
 supply his customers, costing 7000Z. The greatest 
 part of this latter expense is payment for labour ; 
 and if the pipes were to be taken up, the damage 
 arising from that operation would render them of 
 little value, except as old metal ; whilst the expense 
 of their removal would be considerable. Let us, there- 
 fore, suppose, that if A were obliged to give up his 
 trade, he could realize only 4000Z. by the sale of his 
 stock. Let us suppose again that B, by the sale of 
 his bobbin-net factory and machinery, could realize 
 8000Z. and let the usual profit on the capital employed 
 by each party be the same, say 20 per cent : then we 
 have 
 
 
 Capital 
 invested. 
 
 Money which 
 would arise 
 from sale of 
 machinery. 
 
 Annual rate 
 of profit per 
 cent. 
 
 INCOME. 
 
 Water- works .... 
 
 10,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 20 
 
 2,000 
 
 Bobbin-net Factory 
 
 10,000 
 
 8,000 
 
 20 
 
 2,000 
 
 Now, if, from competition, or any other cause, 
 the rate of profit arising from water-works should 
 fall to 10 per cent., that circumstance would not 
 cause a transfer of capital from the water-works to 
 bobbin-net making ; because the reduced income 
 from the water- works, 1000Z. per annum, would still 
 be greater than that produced by investing 4000Z., 
 (the whole sum arising from the sale of the materials 
 
376 THE EXPORTATION 
 
 of the water-works), in a bobbin-net factory, which 
 sum, at 20 per cent., would yield only 800/. per 
 annum. In fact, the rate of profit, arising from the 
 water-works, must fall to less than 8 per cent, before 
 the proprietor could increase his income by remov- 
 ing his capital into the bobbin-net trade. 
 
 (451.) In any inquiry into the probability of the 
 injury arising to our manufacturers from the compe- 
 tition of foreign countries, particular regard should 
 be had to the facilities of transport, and to the exist- 
 ence in our own country of a mass of capital in roads, 
 canals, machinery, &c., the greater portion of which 
 may fairly be considered as having repaid the expense 
 of its outlay; and also to the cheap rate at which the 
 abundance of our fuel enables us to produce iron, the 
 basis of almost all machinery. It has been justly 
 remarked by M. de Villefosse, in the memoir before 
 alluded to, that " Ce que Von nomme en France, la 
 " question du prix desfers, est, d proprement parler, 
 " la question du prix des bois, et la question, des moyens 
 " de communications interieures par les routes, fleuves, 
 " rivieres et canaux." 
 
 The price of iron in various countries in Europe 
 has been stated in section 215 of the present volume ; 
 and it appears, that in England it is produced at the 
 least expense, and in France at the greatest. The 
 length of the roads which cover England and Wales 
 may be estimated roughly at twenty thousand miles 
 of turnpike, and one hundred thousand miles of 
 road not turnpike. The internal water commun- 
 cation of England and France, as far as I have 
 been able to collect information on the subject, 
 may be stated as follows: 
 
OF MACHINERY. 
 
 377 
 
 IN FRANCE. 
 
 Miles in Length. 
 
 Navigable Rivers 4668 
 
 Navigable Canals 915*5 
 
 Navigable Canals in progress of execution 
 
 (1824) 1388 
 
 6971-5* 
 
 Butj if we reduce these numbers in the proportion of 
 3*7 to 1, which is the relative area of France as com- 
 pared with England and Wales, then we shall have 
 the following comparison : 
 
 
 ENGLAND.t 
 
 Portion of France 
 equal in size to Eng- 
 land and Wales. 
 
 
 Miltt. 
 
 1275.5 
 
 MO*. 
 
 1261.6 
 
 
 545.9 
 
 
 Canals, direct . . . 2023.5 
 branch 1506 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2174.1 
 Canals commenced .... 
 
 2174.1 
 
 247.4 
 375.1 
 
 Total . . 
 
 3995.5 
 
 1884.1 
 
 Population in 1831 . . . . 
 
 13,894,500 
 
 8,608,500 
 
 * This table is extracted and reduced from one of Ravinet, 
 Dictionnaire Hydrographique, 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1824. 
 
 f I am indebted to F. Page, Esq. of Speen, for that portion of 
 this table which relates to the internal navigation of England. 
 Those only who have themselves collected statistical details can 
 be aware of the expense of time and labour, of which the tew 
 lines it contains are the result. 
 
 J The tidal navigation includes the Thames, from the mouth 
 of the Medway, the Severn, from the Holmes, the Trent, 
 from Trent-falls in the Humber, the Mersey, from Runcorn 
 Gap. 
 
378 EXPORTATION OF MACHINERY. 
 
 This comparison, between the internal communi- 
 cations of the two countries, is not offered as com- 
 plete ; nor is it a fair view, to contrast the wealthiest 
 portion of one country with the whole of the other 
 but it is inserted with the hope of inducing those 
 who possess more extensive information on the 
 subject, to supply the facts on which a better com- 
 parison may be instituted. The information to be 
 added, would consist of the number of miles in each 
 country, of sea-coast, of public roads, of rail- 
 roads, of rail-roads on which locomotive engines 
 are used. 
 
 (452.) One point of view, in which rapid modes 
 of conveyance increase the power of a country, 
 deserves attention. On the Manchester Rail -road, 
 for example, above half a million of persons travel 
 annually; and supposing each person to save only 
 one hour in the time of transit, between Manchester 
 and Liverpool, a saving of five hundred thousand 
 hours, or of fifty thousand working days, of ten 
 hours each, is effected. Now this is equivalent to 
 an addition to the actual power of the country of 
 one hundred and sixty-seven men, without increas- 
 ing the quantity of food consumed ; and it should 
 also be remarked, that the time of the class of men 
 thus supplied, is far more valuable than that of mere 
 labourers 
 
FUTURE PROSPECTS OF MANUFACTURES. 379 
 
 CHAP. XXXV. 
 
 ON THE FUTURE PROSPECTS OF MANUFACTURES, AS 
 CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE. 
 
 (453.) IN reviewing the various processes offered i 
 as illustrations of those general principles which it 
 has been the main object of the present volume to 
 support and establish, it is impossible not to perceive 
 that the arts and manufactures of the country are 
 intimately connected with the progress of the severer 
 sciences ; and that, as we advance in the career of 
 improvement, every step requires, for its success, that 
 this connexion should be rendered more intimate. 
 
 The applied sciences derive their facts from ex- 
 periment ; but the reasonings, on which their chief 
 utility depends, are the province of what is called 
 abstract Science. It has been shown, that the 
 division of labour is no less applicable to mental 
 productions than to those in which material bodies 
 are concerned ; and it follows, that the efforts for the 
 improvement of its manufactures which any country 
 can make with the greatest probability of success, 
 must arise from the combined exertions of all those 
 most skilled in the theory, as well as in the prac- 
 tice of the arts ; each labouring in that department 
 for which his natural capacity and acquired habits i 
 have rendered him most fit. 
 
 (454.) The profit arising from the successful ap- 
 plication to practice of theoretical principles, will, in 
 
330 FUTURE PROSPECTS 
 
 most cases, amply reward, in a pecuniary sense, those 
 by whom they are first employed ; yet even here, 
 what has been stated with respect to Patents, will 
 prove that there is room for considerable amendment 
 in our legislative enactments : but the discovery cf 
 he great principles of nature demands a mind almost 
 exclusively devoted to such investigations ; and these, 
 in the present state of science, frequently require 
 costly apparatus, and exact an expense of time quite 
 incompatible with professional avocations. It be- 
 comes, therefore, a fit subject for consideration, whether 
 it would not be politic in the state to compensate for 
 some of those privations, to which the cultivators of 
 the higher departments of science are exposed ; and 
 the best mode of effecting this compensation, is a 
 question which interests both the philosopher and the 
 statesman. Such considerations appear to have had 
 their just influence in other countries, where the pur- 
 suit of Science is regarded as a profession, and where 
 those who are successful in its cultivation are not shut 
 out from almost every object of honourable ambi- 
 tion to which their fellow-countrymen may aspire. 
 Having, however, already expressed some opinion 
 upon these subjects in another publication,* I shall 
 here content myself with referring to that work. 
 
 (455.) There was, indeed, in our own country, one 
 single position to which science, when concurring with 
 independent fortune, might aspire, as conferring rank 
 and station, an office deriving, in the estimation of 
 the public, more than half its value from the 
 commanding knowledge of its possessor; and it is 
 
 * Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and 
 on some of its Causes. 8vo. 1830. Fellowes, 
 
OP MANUFACTURES. 381 
 
 extraordinary, that even that solitary dignity -that 
 barony by tenure in the world of British science 
 the chair of the Royal Society, should have been 
 coveted for adventitious rank. It is more extraordi- 
 nary, that a Prince, distinguished by the liberal views 
 he has invariably taken of public affairs, and emi- 
 nent for his patronage of every institution calculated 
 to alleviate those miseries from which, by his rank, 
 he is himself exempted who is stated by his friends 
 to be the warm admirer of knowledge, and most 
 
 O ' 
 
 anxious for its advancement, should have been so 
 imperfectly informed by those friends, as to have 
 wrested from the head of science-, the only civic wreath 
 which could adorn its brow.* 
 
 In the meanwhile the President may learn, through 
 the only medium by which his elevated station admits 
 
 * The Duke of Sussex was proposed as President of the 
 Royal Society in opposition to the wish of the Council in 
 opposition to the public declaration of a body of Fellows, com- 
 prising the largest portion of those by whose labours the 
 character of English science had been maintained. The aris- 
 tocracy of rank and of power, aided by such allies as it can always 
 command, set itself in array against the prouder aristocracy of 
 science. Out of about seven hundred members, only two hun- 
 dred and thirty balloted ; and the Duke of Sussex had a majority 
 of EIGHT. Under such circumstances, it was indeed extra- 
 ordinary, that His Royal Highness should have condescended 
 to accept the fruits of that doubtful and inauspicious victory. 
 
 The circumstances preceding and attending this singular 
 contest have been most ably detailed in a pamphlet, entitled 
 "A Statement of the Circumstances connected with the late Election 
 for the Presidency of the Royal Society, 1831, printed by R. 
 Taylor, Red-lion-court, Fleet-street/' The whole tone of the 
 tract is strikingly contrasted with that of the productions of 
 some of those persons by whom it was His Royal Highness's 
 misfortune to be supported 
 
382 FUTURE PROSPECTS 
 
 . approach, that those evils which were anticipated 
 from his election, have not proved to be imaginary, 
 and that the advantages by some expected to result 
 from it, have not yet become apparent. It may be 
 right also to state, that whilst many of the incon- 
 veniences, which have been experienced by the Pre- 
 sident of the Royal Society, have resulted from the 
 conduct of his own supporters, those who were com- 
 pelled to differ from him, have subsequently offered 
 no vexatious opposition : they wait in patience, 
 convinced that the force of truth must ultimately 
 work its certain, though silent course ; not doubting 
 that when His Royal Highness is correctly informed, 
 he will himself be amongst the first to be influenced 
 by its power. 
 
 (456.) But younger institutions have arisen to 
 supply the deficiencies of the old ; and very recently 
 a new combination, differing entirely from the older 
 societies, promises to give additional steadiness to 
 the future march of science. The " British Asso- 
 ciation for the Advancement of Science" which held 
 its first meeting at York* in the year 1831, would 
 have acted as a powerful ally, even if the Royal 
 Society were all that it might be : but in the present 
 state of that body such an association is almost 
 necessary for the purposes of science. The perio- 
 dical assemblage of persons, pursuing the same or 
 different branches of knowledge, always produces an 
 excitement which is favourable to the development 
 
 * The second meeting took place at Oxford in June 1832, 
 and surpassed even the sanguine anticipations of its friends. 
 The third annual meeting will take place at Cambridge in June 
 1833. 
 
OF MANUFACTURES. 383 
 
 of new ideas ; whilst the long period of repose which 
 succeeds, is advantageous for the prosecution of the 
 reasonings or the experiments then suggested ; and 
 the recurrence of the meeting in the succeeding year, 
 will stimulate the activity of the inquirer, by the hope 
 of being then enabled to produce the successful result 
 of his labours. Another advantage is, that such meet- 
 ings bring together a much larger number of persons 
 actively engaged in science, or placed in positions in 
 which they can contribute to it, than can ever be 
 found at the ordinary meetings of other institutions, 
 even in the most populous capitals ; and combined 
 efforts towards any particular object can thus be more 
 easily arranged. 
 
 (457.) But perhaps the greatest benefit which will 
 accrue from these assemblies, is the intercourse which 
 they cannot fail to promote between the different 
 classes of society. The man of science will derive 
 practical information from the great manufacturers ; 
 the chemist will be indebted to the same source 
 for substances which exist in such minute quan- 
 tity, as only to become visible in most extensive 
 operations ; and persons of wealth and property, 
 resident in each neighbourhood visited by these 
 migratory assemblies, will derive greater advantages 
 than either of those classes, from the real instruction 
 they may procure respecting the produce and manu- 
 factures of their country, and the enlightened gratifi- 
 cation which is ever attendant on the acouisition of 
 knowledge.* 
 
 * The advantages likely to arise from such an association, 
 have been so clearly stated in the address delivered by the 
 Rev Mr. Vernon Harcouri, at its first meeting, that I would 
 
384 FUTURE PROSPECTS 
 
 (458.) Thus it may be hoped that public opinion 
 shall be brought to bear upon the world of science ; 
 and that by this intercourse light will be thrown upon 
 the characters of men, and the pretender and the 
 charlatan be driven into merited obscurity. With- 
 out the action of public opinion, any administra- 
 tion, however anxious to countenance the pursuits of 
 science, and however ready to reward, by wealth or 
 honours, those whom they might think most eminent, 
 would run the risk of acting like the blind man re- 
 cently couched, who, having no mode of estimating 
 degrees of distance, mistook the nearest and most 
 insignificant for the largest objects in nature : it 
 becomes, therefore, doubly important, that the man 
 of science should mix with the world. 
 
 (459.) It is highly probable that in the next genera- 
 tion, the race of scientific men in England will spring 
 from a class of persons altogether different from that 
 which has hitherto scantily supplied them. Requiring, 
 for the success of their pursuits, previous education, 
 leisure, and fortune, few are so likely to unite these 
 essentials as the sons of our wealthy manufacturers, 
 who, having been enriched by their own exertions, in 
 a field connected with science, will be ambitious of 
 having their children distinguished in its ranks. It 
 must, however, be admitted, that this desire in the 
 parents would acquire great additional intensity, if 
 worldly honours occasionally followed successful 
 efforts ; and that the country would thus gain for 
 
 strongly recommend its perusal by all tnose who feel in- 
 terested in the success of English science. Vide First Report 
 of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. York t 
 (832. 
 
OF MANUFACTURES. 385 
 
 science, talents which are frequently rendered useless 
 by the unsuitable situations in which they are placed. 
 
 (460.) The discoverers of Iodine and Brome, two 
 substances hitherto undecompounded, were both 
 amongst the class of manufacturers, one being a 
 maker of saltpetre at Paris, the other a manufac- 
 turing chemist at Marseilles ; and the inventor of 
 balloons filled with rarefied air, was a paper manufac- 
 turer near Lyons. The descendants of Mongolfier, 
 the first aerial traveller, still carry on the establish- 
 ment of their progenitor, and combine great scientific 
 knowledge with skill in various departments of the 
 arts, to which the different branches of the family 
 have applied themselves. 
 
 (461.) Chemical science may, in many instances, 
 be of great importance to the manufacturer, as well 
 as to the merchant. The quantity of Peruvian 
 bark which is imported into Europe is very con- 
 siderable ; but chemistry has recently proved that 
 a large portion of the bark itself is useless. The 
 alkali Q,uinia which has been extracted from it, pos- 
 sesses all the properties for which the bark is valu- 
 able, and only forty ounces of this substance, when 
 in combination with sulphuric acid, can be extracted 
 from a hundred pounds of the bark. In this instance 
 then, with every ton of useful matter, thirty-nine tons 
 of rubbish are transported across the Atlantic. 
 
 The greatest part of the sulphate of quinia now 
 used in this country is imported from France, 
 where the low price of the alcohol, by which it is 
 extracted from the bark, renders the process cheap ; 
 but it cannot be doubted, that when more settled 
 forms of government shall have given security to 
 c c 
 
386 FUTURE PROSPECTS 
 
 capital, and when advancing civilization shall have 
 spread itself over the States of Southern America, the 
 alkaline medicine will be extracted from the woody 
 matter by which its efficacy is impaired, and that it 
 will be exported in its most condensed form. 
 
 (462.) The aid of chemistry, in extracting and in 
 concentrating substances used for human food, is of 
 great use in distant voyages, where the space occu- 
 pied by the stores must be economized with the 
 greatest care. Thus the essential oils supply the 
 voyager with flavour ; the concentrated and crystal- 
 lized vegetable acids preserve his health ; and alcohol, 
 when sufficiently diluted, supplies the spirit neces- 
 sary for his daily consumption. 
 
 (463.) When we reflect on the very small number 
 of species of plants, compared with the multitude 
 that are known to exist, which have hitherto been 
 cultivated, and rendered useful to man ; and when 
 we apply the same observation to the animal world, 
 and even to the mineral kingdom, the field that 
 natural science opens to our view seems to be indeed 
 unlimited. These productions of nature, varied and 
 innumerable as they are, may each, in some future day, 
 become the basis of extensive manufactures, and give 
 life, employment, and wealth, to millions of human 
 beings. But the crude treasures perpetually exposed 
 before our eyes, contain within them other and more 
 valuable principles. All these, likewise, in their num- 
 berless combinations, which ages of labour and research 
 can never exhaust, may be destined to furnish, in per- 
 petual succession, new sources of our wealth and of 
 our happiness. Science and knowledge are subject, in 
 their extension and increase, to laws quite opposite to 
 
OF MANUFACTURES. 38? 
 
 those which regulate the material world. Unlike the 
 forces of molecular attraction, which cease at sensible 
 distances ; or that of gravity, which decreases rapidly 
 with the increasing distance from the point of its 
 origin; the further we advance from the origin of 
 our knowledge, the larger it becomes, and the greater 
 power it bestows upon its cultivators, to add new 
 fields to its dominions. Yet, does this continually 
 and rapidly increasing power, instead of giving us 
 any reason to anticipate the exhaustion of so fertile a 
 field, place us at each advance, on some higher emi- 
 nence, from which the mind contemplates the past, 
 and feels irresistibly convinced, that the whole, al- 
 ready gained, bears a constantly diminishing ratio to 
 that which is contained within the still more rapidly 
 expanding horizon of our knowledge. 
 
 (464.) But, if the knowledge of the chemical and 
 physical properties of the bodies which surround us, as 
 well as our imperfect acquaintance with the less tangible 
 elements, light, electricity, and heat, which mysteriously 
 modify or change their combinations, concur to convince 
 us of the same fact ; we must remember that another 
 and a higher science, itself still more boundless, is also 
 advancing with a giant's stride, and having grasped 
 the mightier masses of the universe, and reduced 
 their wanderings to laws, has given to us in its own 
 condensed language, expressions, which are to the 
 past as history, to the future as prophecy. It is the 
 same science which is now preparing its fetters for 
 the minutest atoms that nature has created : al- 
 ready it has nearly chained the ethereal fluid, and 
 bound in one harmonious system all the intricate and 
 splendid phenomena of light. It is the science of 
 
388 FUTURE PROSPECTS 
 
 calculation, which becomes continually more neces- 
 sary at each step of our progress, and which must 
 ultimately govern the whole of the applications of 
 science to the arts of life. 
 
 (465.) But perhaps a doubt may arise in the mind, 
 whilst contemplating the continually increasing field 
 of human knowledge, that the weak arm of man may 
 want the physical force required to render that know- 
 ledge available. The_experience of the past, has 
 stamped with the indelible character of truth,_ihe 
 maxim, that " Knowledge is power" It not merely 
 gives to its votaries control over the mental faculties 
 of their species, but is itself the generator of physical 
 force. The discovery of the expansive power of 
 steam, its condensation, and the doctrine of latent 
 heat, has already added to the population of this 
 small island, millions of hands. But the source of 
 this power is not without limit, and the coal-mines of 
 the world may ultimately be exhausted. Without 
 adverting to the theory, that new deposites of that 
 mineral are now accumulating under the sea, at the 
 estuaries of some of our larger rivers ; without antici- 
 pating the application of other fluids requiring a less 
 supply of caloric than water : we may remark that 
 the sea itself offers a perennial source of power 
 hitherto almost unapplied. The tides, twice in each 
 day, raise a vast mass of water, which might be made 
 available for driving machinery. But supposing heat 
 still to remain necessary, when the exhausted state of 
 our coal-fields renders it expensive : long before 
 that period arrives, other methods will probably have 
 been invented for producing it. In some districts, 
 there are SDrings of kot water, which have flowed for 
 
OF MANUFACTURES, 389 
 
 centuries unchanged in temperature. In many parts 
 of the island of Ischia, by deepening the sources of the 
 hot springs only a few feet, the water boils ; and there 
 can be little doubt that, by boring a short distance, 
 steam of high pressure would issue from the orifice.* 
 
 In Iceland, the sources of heat are still more 
 plentiful ; and their proximity to large masses of ice, 
 seems almost to point out the future destiny of that 
 island. The ice of its glaciers may enable its in- 
 habitants to liquefy the gases with the least expendi- 
 ture of mechanical force ; and the heat of its volcanoes 
 may supply the power necessary for their condensa- 
 tion. Thus, in a future age, power may become the 
 staple commodity of the Icelanders, and of the inha- 
 bitants of other volcanic districts ;*}" and possibly the 
 very process by which they will procure this article 
 of exchange for the luxuries of happier climates may, 
 in some measure, tame the tremendous element which 
 occasionally devastates their provinces. 
 
 (466.) Perhaps to the sober eye of inductive philoso- 
 phy, these anticipations of the future may appear too 
 faintly connected with the history of the past. When 
 time shall have revealed the future progress of our 
 race, those laws which are now obscurely indicated, 
 will then become distinctly ap-parent ; and it may 
 
 * In 1828, the author of these pages visited Ischia, with a 
 committee of the Koyal Academy of Naples, deputed to examine 
 the temperature and chemical constitution of the springs in 
 that island. During the few first days, several springs which 
 had been represented in the instructions as under the boiling 
 temperature, were found, on deepening the excavations, to rise 
 to the bnilinar point. 
 
 f See section 3-51. 
 
390 FUTURE PROSPECTS 
 
 possibly be found that the_dominign^ of mind., over 
 the material world advances with an ever-accelerat- 
 ing force. 
 
 Even now, the imprisoned winds which the earliest 
 poet made the Grecian warrior bear for the protection 
 of his fragile bark; or those which, in more modern 
 times, the Lapland wizards sold to the deluded 
 sailors ; these, the unreal creations of fancy or 01 
 fraud, called, at the command of science, from their 
 shadowy existence, obey a holier spell : and the unruly 
 masters of the poet and the seer become the obedient 
 slaves of civilized man. 
 
 Nor have the wild imaginings of the satirist been 
 quite unrivalled by the realities of after years : 
 as if in mockery of the College of Laputa, light 
 almost solar has been extracted from the refuse of 
 fish ; fire has been sifted by the lamp of Davy ; and 
 machinery has been taught arithmetic instead of 
 poetry. 
 
 (467.) In whatever light we examine the triumphs 
 and achievements of our species over the creation 
 submitted to its power, we explore new sources of 
 wonder. But if science has called into real existence 
 the visions of the poet if the accumulating know- 
 ledge of ages has blunted the sharpest and dis- 
 tanced the loftiest of the shafts of the satirist, the 
 philosopher has conferred on the moralist an obliga- 
 tion of surpassing weight. In unveiling to him the 
 living miracles which teem in rich exuberance around 
 the minutest atom, as well as throughout the largest 
 masses of ever-active matter, he has placed before 
 him resistless evidence of immeasurable design. 
 Surrounded by every form of animate and inanimate 
 
OF MANUFACTURES. 391 
 
 existence, the sun of science has yet penetrated but 
 through the outer fold of Nature's majestic robe ; but 
 if thej3h^sj(^h from 
 
 amongst those countless evidences of creative power, 
 one^being, the masterpiece of its skill ; and from that 
 being to select one gift, the choicest of all the attri- 
 butes of life ; turning within his own breast, and 
 conscious of those powers which have subjugated to 
 his__race the external world, and of those higher 
 powers by which he has subjugated to himself that 
 creative faculty which aids his faltering conceptions 
 of a deity } - the humble worshipper at the. altar of 
 truth would pronounce that being, man.; that en- 
 dowment, human reason. 
 
 But however large the interval that separates the 
 lowest from the highest of those sentient beings 
 which inhabit our planet, all the results of observation, 
 enlightened by all the reasonings of the philosopher, 
 combine to render it probable that, in the vast extent 
 of creation, the proudest attribute of our race is but, 
 perchance, the lowest step in the gradation of intel- 
 lectual existence. For, since every portion of our 
 own material globe, and every animated being it sup- 
 ports, afford, on more scrutinizing inquiry, more per- 
 fect evidence of design, it would indeed be most 
 unphilosophical to believe that those sister spheres, 
 obedient to the same law, and glowing with light and 
 heat radiant from the same central source and that 
 the members of those kindred systems, almost lost 
 in the remoteness of space, and perceptible only 
 from the countless multitude of their congregated 
 globes should each be no more than a floating chaos 
 of unformed matter ; or, being all the work of 
 
392 FUTURE PROSPECTS OF MANUFACTURES. 
 
 the same Almighty architect, that no living eye 
 should be gladdened by their forms of beauty, that 
 no intellectual being should expand its faculties in 
 decyphering their laws. 
 
ADDITIONS. 
 
 9.) THE establishments for slaughtering horses at 
 Montfaucon, near Paris, supply another illustra- 
 tion of the profitable conversion of substances appa- 
 rently of little value. 
 
 1. The hair is first cut off from the mane and 
 tail. It amounts usually to about a quarter of a pound, 
 which, at 5d. per Ib. is worth \\d. 
 
 2. The skin is then taken off, and sold fresh to 
 the tanners of the neighbourhood. It usually weighs 
 about 601b., and produces from 9s. to 1* 
 
 3. The blood may be used either as manure, or 
 by sugar refiners, or as food for animals. Pigeons, 
 poultry, and especially turkeys, soon fatten upon it ; 
 but a few days before they are killed they should be 
 fed with grain, in order to remove the disagreeable 
 taste communicated to the flesh by the previous food. 
 In order to use the blood for manure, it is previously 
 
394 ADDITIONS. 
 
 dried, The cwt. costs at Paris about 95., and its 
 package and transport to America, where it is chiefly 
 used, cost nearly as much more. A horse produces 
 about 20lb. of dried blood, worth about Is. 9d. 
 
 4. The shoes are removed from the dead horses, 
 and sold, either to be used again, or as old iron. 
 The nails also are collected, and sold. The average 
 produce of the shoes and shoe-nails of a horse is 
 about 2|d. 
 
 5. The hoofs are sold partly to turners and comb- 
 makers, partly to manufacturers of sal ammonia and 
 Prussian blue, who pay for them about Is. 5d. 
 
 6. The fat is very carefully collected and melted 
 down. In lamps it gives more heat than oil, and 
 is therefore demanded by enamellers and glass toy 
 makers. It is also used for greasing harness, shoe 
 leather, &c. ; for soap and for making gas : it is worth 
 about 6d. per Ib. A horse on an average yields 81b. 
 of fat, worth about 4s. ; but well fed horses some- 
 times produce nearly 60lb. 
 
 7. The best pieces of the flesh are eaten by the 
 workmen ; the rest is employed as food for cats, dogs, 
 pigs, and poultry. It is likewise used as manure, 
 and in the manufacture of Prussian blue. A horse 
 has from 300 to 400lb. of flesh, which sells for from 
 II. Ss. to II. 17 s. 
 
 8. The tendons are separated from the muscles : 
 the smaller are sold fresh, to the glue makers in the 
 neighbourhood ; the larger are dried, and sent off in 
 greater quantities for the same purpose. A horse 
 yields about lib. of dried tendons, worth about 3d. 
 
ADDITIONS, 395 
 
 9. The bones are sold to cutlers, fan makers, and 
 manufacturers of sal ammoniac and ivory black. 
 A horse yields about 901bs., which sell for 2s. 
 
 10. The smaller intestines are wrought into coarse 
 strings for lathes ; the larger are sold as manure. 
 
 11. Even the maggots, which are produced in great 
 numbers in the refuse, are not lost. Small pieces of 
 the horse flesh are piled up, about half a foot high ; 
 and being covered slightly with straw to protect them 
 from the sun, soon allure the flies, which deposit their 
 eggs in them. In a few days the putrid flesh is 
 converted into a living mass of maggots. These are 
 sold by measure ; some are used for bait in fishing, 
 but the greater part as food for fowls, and especially 
 for pheasants. One horse yields maggots which sell 
 tor about Is. 5d. 
 
 12. The rats which frequent these establishments 
 are innumerable, and they have been turned to profit 
 by the proprietors. The fresh carcass of a horse is 
 placed at night in a room, which has a number of 
 openings near the floor. The rats are attracted into it, 
 and the openings then closed. 16,000 rats were killed 
 in one room in four weeks, without any perceptible 
 diminution of their number. The furriers purchase 
 the rat skins at about 3,9. the hundred. 
 
396 ADDITIONS. 
 
 The amount of the various items is thus : 
 
 *. d. 
 
 1. Hair 1$ 
 
 2. Skin 090 
 
 3. Blood 019 
 
 4. Shoes and nails .... 2^ 
 
 5. Hoofs 015 
 
 6. Fat 040 
 
 7. Flesh 180 
 
 8. Tendons 003 
 
 9. Bones 020 
 
 10. Intestines 
 
 11. Maggots 015 
 
 12. Rat skins 
 
 2 8 If 
 
 The dead horse, therefore, which can be purchased 
 at from Ss. 6d. to 12s., produces from 27. 9s. to 41. 14s. 
 
 (94.) M. Genoux, a French printer, has invented 
 a substan<?e resembling pasteboard, which, by pressure 
 upon moveable types, takes an impression from them, 
 which may be used as a mould for stereotype plates. 
 
 (113.) More recently a great variety of architec- 
 tural ornaments, rosettes, arabesques, &c. have been 
 cast with an alloy of zinc and tin. The foundry of 
 Mr. Geiss, at Berlin, supplies such ornaments in great 
 perfection, and many new buildings in that capital 
 are already ornamented with them. 
 
 
ADDITIONS. 397 
 
 (132.J The alloy which is used for this purpose 
 melts at the boiling point of water, or even below it. 
 
 Various degrees of fusibility are requisite for diffe- 
 rent purposes. The most usual proportions are : 
 
 Bismuth. Lead. Tin. Melting pt. 
 Fahr. 
 
 For stamping ornaments 3 2 1 201 
 For cameos, &c. ... 8 5 3 190 
 
 If the metal is required to be sonorous, 5 oz. tin, 
 8 oz. bismuth, 8 oz. zinc, 8 oz. brass, and 8 of nitre, 
 are taken. This alloy melts at about the heat of 
 boiling water. 
 
 (158.) The caterpillar is said to be either the 
 Tinea Punctata or Tinea Padilla. One insect can 
 work inch of cloth, and the inventor of the art, 
 Mr. De Hebenstreit, in order to give more strength to 
 the cloth, sometimes compels the caterpillars to work 
 several times over the same piece. 
 
 (213.) The much admired cast-iron ornaments 
 made at Berlin afford another example of the increased 
 value of the raw material, arising from the labour 
 expended upon it. At the establishment of M. De- 
 varanne, a distinguished manufacturer of cast-iron 
 at Berlin, 10,000 of some of the smaller pieces with 
 which the larger ornaments are composed, are required 
 to weigh one pound. 
 
S98 
 
 ADDITIONS. 
 
 Table of the Prices and Weights of various ornaments 
 of Berlin iron. 
 
 No. to cwt. Price of each. 
 5. d. 
 
 1. Diadems, 7 high by 5| broad . . 1100 17 4 
 
 2. Bracelets, 7 in. long by 2 in. broad, 
 
 72 pieces ......... 2090 9 1 
 
 3. Collars, 18 in. long, Is. 6d. from 37 
 
 to 40 single pieces ...... 2310 6 5 
 
 4. Girdle buckles, 3f in. higb, 2J broad 2640 2 8 
 
 5. Sevign needles, 2 high by ! broad, 
 
 11 pieces ......... 9020 4 7 
 
 6. Sevigne" earrings, 3 in. long, j broad, 
 
 24 pieces, pairs ..... . 10,450 5 5 
 
 7. Shirt buttons ........ 88,440 6 
 
 The grey cast-iron used in this manufacture costs 
 about 6s. 5d. per cwt. ; therefore the labour bestowed 
 on the material increases its value about 1 100 times 
 in the coarser, and nearly 10,000 times in the finer 
 articles. The prices in this table are the retail prices 
 in 1833. In 1827 they were about double, and in 
 1821 about triple those given above. 
 
 The causes of the perfection in this manufacture 
 appears to depend partly on the skill of the moulders, 
 partly on the excellence of the sand, but chiefly it 
 seems to arise from the quality of the iron, which is 
 melted at as low a temperature as possible. Now if 
 this iron when fluid has, like water, a point of 
 maximum density little above its point of solidifying, 
 then if it is poured into a mould at this temperature, 
 it will expand in cooling, and fill up the most minute 
 
ADDITIONS. 399 
 
 traces in the sand ; but if it is put in high above that 
 point, the part in contact with the sand will have 
 become solid before the temperature of the central 
 parts has sunk to that at which it begins to expand, 
 and thus the expansion will probably all take place 
 in the direction of the jet by which the metal entered. 
 It is much to be regretted that this beautiful manu- 
 facture seems to be declining ; a circumstance which 
 is attributed mainly to the insufficiency of the protec- 
 tion afforded to new designs. These are originally 
 produced at great expense to the manufacturers, and 
 when once sold to the public are immediately copied 
 by other manufacturers, who, not having contributed 
 to that expense, can easily undersell the original 
 introducers of them. The copies are frequently 
 inferior to the original, and the successive copies 
 becoming gradually deteriorated, have introduced a 
 bad article amongst the smaller manufactures, which 
 greatly injures the foreign trade. 
 
 (451.) The length of all the roads in the Prussian 
 monarchy amounts at present (1833) to 6766 English 
 miles. The length of all the navigable rivers, ex- 
 cepting those parts joining the sea, is about 2,800 
 English miles. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ABSTRACT sciences, difficulties op- 
 posed to the cultivation of, 454. 
 
 Accumulating power, 20, c. 2. 
 
 Accuracy of work executed by tools, 
 79; by turning, 81. 
 
 Action of forces, 45, or c. 5 ; diffi- 
 culty of simultaneous, 56. 
 
 Additions to human power, 4. 
 
 Advantages arising from machinery 
 and manufactures, the source 
 of, 1. 
 
 Advertisements, the cost of, 261. 
 
 Advice to projectors, 328. 
 
 Agriculturists and non- agricultur- 
 ists, proportion of each in every 
 hundred persons in Bengal, Italy, 
 France, and England, 3. 
 
 Alarums, 75. 
 
 Alpnach, slide of, 339. 
 
 American method of deepening ra- 
 pids, 52. 
 
 pin-making machine, 239. 
 
 almanack, note to, 278. 
 
 Apothecaries, charges of, 189. 
 
 Application of machinery, proper cir- 
 cum stances for the, 329, c. 28. 
 
 of heat for removing the 
 
 filaments of cotton in muslin and 
 patent net, 64. 
 
 Arithmetical calculations, 247. 
 
 Artisans and machinery, report of 
 House of Commons on, 300. 
 
 Atmosphere, effect of, on roads, 301. 
 
 Automatons, 45. 
 
 Bandana handkerchiefs, 2 (note). 
 Bank notes, wetting paper for, 61 ; 
 
 engraving of, 124 ; signing of, 223 ; 
 
 methods for preventing forgery of, 
 
 318. 
 
 Banking-houses, 172. 
 Bark, Peruvian, 461 
 
 Barometer clock. 
 
 Bar-iron, price of in various coun- 
 tries, 214 ; evasion of duty on, in 
 
 America, 418. 
 Bengal, proportion of agriculturists 
 
 and non-agriculturists in every 
 
 hundred persons in, 3. 
 Birmingham, increase of population 
 
 in, 3 ; prices of various articles at, 
 
 in 18181830, 201 ; ditto in 1812 
 
 and 1832, 202. 
 Blanket, in printing, 78. 
 Bleaching, 49. 
 Blocks, printing from, 92 ; calico, 
 
 printing from, 96. 
 Blow-pipe, 115. 
 Boats, skimming, 39 ; employed in 
 
 rapids, 52 ; tug, 53, 278. 
 Bobbin-net trade, 425. 
 Bobbin carriers, 426. 
 Boilers, punching iron plate for, 134. 
 Books, lettering, 95. 
 Booksellers, 380 ; monopoly of, 397, 
 Bottles, square glass, 116. 
 Boot-laces, tags for, 34. 
 Box, top of, turned in lathe, 79. 
 Brass tube drawing, 142. 
 Brass wire drawing, M. Perronnet's 
 
 experiment, 228. 
 Breakwater at Plymouth, 6. 
 Bricks and tiles, 113. See also 
 
 ADDITIONS. 
 Brine-springs, 50. 
 British association for the promotion 
 
 of science, 456. 
 Brome, 460. 
 Bronze, casting in, 107. 
 Buhl-work, 136. 
 Bursting of guns, 23 ; of steam 
 
 boilers, 25. 
 
 Busts, engine for copying, 152. 
 Buttons, 131. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 401 
 
 Cajeput oil, 194. 
 Calculations, arithmetical, 247. 
 Calicut, price of labour at, 2 (note). 
 Calico printing from cylinders, 87 ; 
 
 from blocks, 96; embossing on, 
 
 121 ; watering, ib. ; House of 
 
 Commons' report on, 422. 
 Capstan, clapper of the, for convey- 
 ing sound, 57. 
 Cards for guns, 137. 
 Carriages, draught of, over various 
 
 roads, 301. 
 Casks, instrument to measure liquor 
 
 in, 68, 69. 
 Casting, copying by, 105; iron and 
 
 other metals, 106; from vegetable 
 
 productions, 107; in plaster, 110; 
 
 in wax, 111 ; bricks and tiles, 113. 
 Cataract of steam-engine, 28. 
 Caterpillars, lace made by, 158. See 
 
 also AUDITIONS. 
 Causes and consequence of large 
 
 factories, 263, c. 22 ; of failure in 
 
 machines, 322. 
 Cavities, printing from, 83. 
 Chains, steel, 139; gold Venetian, 
 
 212. 
 
 Chambers' Journal, 333. 
 Chatham dock-yard, steam-engine 
 
 at, 27. 
 
 Children's leaden toys, 106. 
 China, printing on, 99; embossed, 
 
 114. 
 Chinese mode of conveying cotton, 
 
 19. 
 
 Chuck, 148, 239. 
 Clapper of the capstan for conveying 
 
 sound, 57. 
 
 Clearing-house, 173. 
 Clichee, 132. See also ADDITIONS. 
 Clock, striking, 30 ; alarum at Royal 
 
 Observatory, Greenwich, 75. 
 Clockmakers, 425, 426. 
 Clocks, position of, 54; barometer, 
 
 73 ; repeating, 74 ; for calculating 
 
 diiferences, 249. 
 Clover seed, doctored, 183. 
 Clyde iron works, 288. 
 Coal trade, 208, 296. 
 Coin, depreciation of, 176. 
 Coins and medals, 129 ; base and 
 
 spurious, 167. 
 
 Colours, lithographic printing in, 1 03. 
 
 Combinations of workmen, 283, 313 ; 
 
 amongst masters or workmen 
 
 against each other, 353; in iron 
 
 trade, 306 ; coal trade, 307 ; of 
 masters against the public, 312; 
 of booksellers, SI 8. 
 
 Communication between England 
 and France, 45 1 . 
 
 Communications by signals, 56. 
 
 Compensation to workmen, 284. 
 
 Confidence in character, 271 ; ex- 
 tent of, 272 ; breach of, 273 ; in- 
 stance of, 274. 
 
 Contriving machinery, on, 318, c. 27. 
 
 Conveyance of parcels, 192; cheap 
 modes of, 277 ; of letters, 334. 
 
 Copper, 200, 2 14. 
 
 Copper-plate printing, 84; with al- 
 tered dimensions, printing from, 
 154. 
 
 Copying, 82 ; letter, 98 ; by casting, 
 105, 110 ; in wax, 111 ; by mould- 
 ing, 112; in china, 114; glass, 115; 
 in wood, 117; in horn, ib. , in 
 tortoiseshell, 119 ; in leather, 122 ; 
 in iron, 123 ; by stamping, 128; by 
 punching, 133 ; with elongation, 
 140; with altered dimensions, 147; 
 dies, 150 ; through six stages in 
 printing this volume, 159. 
 
 Copyrights, 434. 
 
 Cornice brick of church of St. Ste- 
 phano, 113. 
 
 Cornwall, machinery in, 28, 57; 
 prices of principal materials used 
 in mines in, 202 ; method of pay- 
 ing miners in, 307; work done 
 by steam engine in, 341 ; crushing 
 mill in, 408. 
 
 Cost of each separate process in a 
 manufacture, 253, c. 21. 
 
 Cotton, Chinese mode of conveying, 
 19 ; machines for winding, 35 , 
 handkerchiefs, 90 ; comparative 
 value of that of Java in various 
 stages of manufacture, 255 ; table 
 of the quantity produced by the 
 stretchei >from 1810 to 1832, 409 ; 
 produce of, ib. ; spindles used in 
 spinning, 410. 
 
 Coulomb's experiment on porters' 
 loads, 33. 
 
 Counting machines for carriages, 65. 
 
 Crushing mill in Cornwall, 408. 
 
 Currency, introduction of metals as, 
 166. 
 
 Cutting trees into planks, 77. 
 
 Cylinders, red hot for singing, 64 ; 
 calico, printing from, 87. 
 
402 
 
 Damping paper for bank notes, 61. 
 
 Depreciation of coin, 176; of paper, 
 ib. 
 
 Diamond, glaziers', 8. 
 
 Dies, copying, 150. 
 
 Difficulties opposed to the cultiva- 
 tion of abstract science, 454. 
 
 Difficulty in distinguishing single 
 press lace, 185. 
 
 Dimensions, copying with altered, 
 
 Diminution in value of different ar- 
 ticles in 18121832, 205. 
 
 Dishes, pewter, at the court of the 
 Sultan Bello, 2 (note). 
 
 Distinction between making and 
 manufacturing, 163, c. 18. 
 
 Distribution of wealth, extract from 
 the Rev. R. Jones's Essay, 3; 
 of labour in mines, 252. 
 
 Diving vessel, 338. 
 
 Division of the objects of machinery, 
 15; of labour, 217, c. 19; sug- 
 gests the contrivance of tools and 
 machinery 224 ; of mental labour, 
 241, c. 20.' 
 
 Doctoring trefcil, clover, &c. 183. 
 
 Dolls' eyes, 300. 
 
 Domestic and political economy of 
 manufactures, 163; c. 13. 
 
 Donkin's counting machine, 65. 
 
 Drawback, 275. 
 
 Drawing wire, 141 tube, 142. 
 
 Drawings, Egyptian, 56. 
 
 Draw-plate, 141. 
 
 Dressing ores, 307. 
 
 Drilling engine, 221. 
 
 Drug trade, 189. 
 
 Durability in articles, 197. 
 
 Duration of machinery, 340, c. 29. 
 
 Duty on printing paper, 260; on 
 calico printing, 422. 
 
 Earthquake at Odessa, 76; mea- 
 surer, 4b. 
 
 Economical princples of machinery, 
 163. 
 
 Economy of human time, 6 ; of em- 
 ployed materials, 78 ; of raw pro- 
 duce, 270. 
 
 Effect of atmosphere, of wheels, and 
 of horses' feet, on roads,* 301 ; of 
 machinery in reducing the de- 
 mand for labour, 404, c. 32; of 
 taxes and of legal restrictions on 
 manufactures, 414, c. 33. 
 
 Egyptian drawing, 56. 
 
 Elongation, copying with, 140. 
 
 Embossing on china, 114; on calico, 
 121 ; on leather, 122. 
 
 Embroidered net, 429. 
 
 Emery powder, 62. 
 
 Employment of materials of little 
 value 9. See also ADDITIONS. 
 
 Engine, shoe-last making, 151 ; for 
 copying busts, 152. 
 
 England, proportion of agricultu- 
 rists and non-agriculturists in 
 every hundred persons in, 3. 
 
 England and France, communica- 
 tion between, 451. See also AD- 
 DITIONS. 
 
 English manufacture of pins, 236. 
 
 Engraving on steel. 85 ; on metal, 
 88; on wood, 92; by pressure, 
 124; bank notes, 124, 125; from 
 medals, machine to produce, 155. 
 
 Engravings of various sizes from 
 same plate, 154. 
 
 Evaporation of water of brine- 
 springs, 50, 51. 
 
 Exchange, money as a medium of, 
 166, c. 14. 
 
 Expense of printing the present 
 volume, 256. 
 
 Experiment on degrees of force, by 
 M. Rondelet,5 ; Le Vaillant's, 23; 
 on printing ink, 78; M. Perron- 
 net's on brass wire, 228. 
 
 Experiments on the gun barrel, 23 ; 
 on porters' loads, 33. 
 
 Explosion, reasoning on the theory 
 of, 25. 
 
 Exportation of machinery, 437, c. 34. 
 
 Factories, causes and consequences 
 of large, 263, c. 22 ; position of 
 large, 277, c. 23 ; accumulation of, 
 279; removal of, 280; important 
 suggestions, ib. ; system, 426. 
 
 Fatigue, 32. 
 
 Flashing of window-glass, 42. 
 
 Flax, Irish, 184. 
 
 Flints, 62. 
 
 Fluids, suspension of powders in, 62. 
 
 Fly-wheel, 21. 
 
 Fly or vane, 30. 
 
 Force, M. Rondelet, experiment 
 on, 5. 
 
 Forces, extending the time of action 
 of, 45, c. 5 ; too great for human 
 power, 56, c. 7. 
 
403 
 
 Forestalling, 196. 
 
 Frame-work knitters, 347, 375. 
 
 France, proportion of agriculturists 
 and non- agriculturists of every 
 hundred persons in, 3 ; stereotype 
 printing in, 94; communication 
 with England, 451. 
 
 French manufacture of pins, 237. 
 table of logarithms, 242. 
 
 Furnaces, 288. 
 
 furniture ornaments, 130 ; coach, 190. 
 
 Future prospect of manufactures as 
 connected with science, 454. 
 
 Gas meter, 70, 378. 
 
 Gas, streams of, 64 ; condensed, 389. 
 
 General inquiries on observing ma- 
 nufactories, 160. 
 
 Gilt paper ornaments, 138. 
 
 Glasgow, table of increase of popu- 
 lation in, 3 ; printing handker- 
 chiefs at, 90. 
 
 Glass-blowing, 42, 116. 
 
 Glass seals, 115; square bottles, 116 ; 
 plate, 199. 
 
 Glazier's diamond, 8. 
 
 Gold and silver moulding, 126 ; lace, 
 200; leaf, 211. 
 
 Goldbeater's skin, 9. 
 
 Gold chains, Venetian, 212. 
 
 Governor of steam-engine, 27. 
 
 Gun barrels, experiments on, 23 ; 
 improvement in the manufacture 
 of, 362. 
 
 Gun cards, 137. 
 
 Gunpowder, force of, 23. 
 
 Guns, explosion of, 23. 
 
 Great. Britain, comparative table of 
 population in, 3. 
 
 Hammers, tilt, 36. 
 Hand, substitute for, 13. 
 Handkerchiefs, Bandana, 2 (note); 
 
 printing red cotton, 90. 
 Handles, knife, 118; umbrella, ib. 
 Hardness of the diamond, 8. 
 Hardware, 190. 
 Harness, plated, 190. 
 Heading of pins, 232. 
 Hobnails, 13. 
 Hoofs of cattle, 9. 
 Horn, knife handles and umbrella 
 
 handles, 118 ; enumeration of its 
 
 uses, 270. 
 Horny refuse, 9. 
 House of Common s,report of the com- 
 
 mittee upon manufacturers' em- 
 ployment, 3; report on Holyhead 
 roads, 60 ; evidence on Irish flax, 
 184; on the watch trade, 187; on 
 woollen trade, 279 ; on artisans 
 and machinery, 300; report on 
 steam carriages, 337; evidence 
 on frame -work knitters, 347; 
 evidence on copyright act, 384; 
 on calico printing, 422 ; on export 
 of tools and machinery, 441. 
 
 Human power, additions to, 5 ; time, 
 economy of, 6 ; forces too great 
 for, 56. 
 
 Hydraulic press, 58. 
 
 Ice, skaters on, 38 ; importation of, 
 
 194. 
 Identity of work when of the same 
 
 kind, and its accuracy when of 
 
 different kinds, 79, c. 10. 
 Imitations of plants, 111; of the 
 
 human body, ib. ; on snuff-boxes, 
 
 Increase of population in Man- 
 chester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Not- 
 tingham, Birmingham, Great 
 Britain, 3. 
 
 Increase and diminution of velocity, 
 32, c. 4. 
 
 Influence of verification on price, 
 181, c. 15; of durability on price, 
 197, c. 16. 
 
 Injection, process of in tanning, 47 ; 
 of timber, with tar, 48. 
 
 Ink, printing, 78 ; consumption of, 
 ib. ; transfer, 101. 
 
 Ink -block, 78. 
 
 Inquiries, general, on observing 
 manufactories, 160; previous to 
 commencing a manufactory, 298, 
 c. 25. 
 
 Inspector, 173. 
 
 Instrument to show travelled dis- 
 tance, turns by the wheel of a 
 carriage, strokes made by the 
 steam engine, Mr.Donkin's, 65; for 
 calendering, 66 ; for ascertaining 
 the rounds of a watchman, 67 ; to 
 measure liquors, 68 ; Mr. Hen- 
 neky's, 69 (note) ; to measure gas, 
 70; to measure rain, 73; to note 
 the position of the seconds' hand 
 on the dial -plate of a stop-watch, 
 71 ; to ascertain the direction and 
 intensity of an earthquake, 76 ; to 
 
404 
 
 E reduce copper-plate engravings 
 rom medals, 155. 
 
 Internal communication of England 
 and France, 451. 
 
 Introduction of metals as currency, 
 166, c. 14. 
 
 Iodine, 460. 
 
 Irish flax, 1 84 , evidence of Mr. J. 
 Corry on, ib. 
 
 Iron, old, use of, 9 ; rod, as means of 
 communicating signals, 57; cast- 
 ing from, 106; plate for boilers, 
 punching, 134 ; tinned, 135; roll- 
 ing, 144 ; tanks for ships, 164; waste, 
 200; cast, 214; bar, ib.; duty on 
 bar, 418. 
 
 Italy, proportion of agriculturists and 
 non- agriculturists in every hun- 
 dred persons in, 3. 
 
 Jack, smoke, 43, 45 ; for physical 
 
 experiments, 46. 
 Jardin des Plantes, models in the, 
 
 111. 
 Jones, Rev. R. extract from Essay 
 
 on the Distribution of Wealth, 3. 
 
 Labour, price of, at Calicut, 2 (note) ; 
 division of, 217, c. 19 ; division of 
 mental, 241, c. 20 ; effect of ma- 
 chinery in reducing the demand 
 for, 404, c. 32. 
 
 Lace, made by caterpillars, 158; (see 
 also ADDITIONS); single-press, 185; 
 double-press, ib. ; machine for pa- 
 tent net, 265 ; embroidered, 429. 
 
 Lace trade, evidence before the 
 House of Commons on, 185; ditto, 
 347. 
 
 Lace-frames, 349. 
 
 Lead, waste of, 200; pig, 214, 216. 
 
 Leaden toys, 106; pipes, 143. 
 
 Leather, embossing on, 122. 
 
 Letter-boxes, of post-office, 55. 
 
 Letter-copying, 98. 
 
 Lettering books, 95. 
 
 Letter-press printing, 93. 
 
 Letters, conveyance of, 334. 
 
 Lime, sulphate of, 51. 
 
 Linen-drapery, deceits in, 188. 
 
 Lithographic prints, 100, 103. 
 
 Liverpool, table of population in, 3 ; 
 institution for the blind at, 14; 
 signals at, 44. 
 
 Load, most advantageous for por- 
 ters, 33. 
 
 Logarithms, great French tables of, 
 
 242. 
 London manufactures at the court 
 
 of Bello, 2 (note). 
 Looking-glasses, 199; table of prices 
 
 of, 206. 
 Luddites, 281. 
 
 Machine, difference between and 
 a tool, 10; to measure length of 
 cotton goods, 66 ; to register fluc- 
 tuating forces, 73; Mr. Brunei'? 
 to cut veneer, 77 ; to produce 
 engraving from medals, 155 ; Mr. 
 John Bates', 155; American pin- 
 making, 239 ; for weaving patent 
 net, 265. 
 
 Machinery and manufactures, 
 sources of the advantages arising 
 from, 1. 
 
 Machinery, division of the objects 
 of, 15 ; advantage of, as a check 
 against inattention, 65 ; on con- 
 triving, 318 ; proper circumstances 
 for the application of, 329, c. 28 ; 
 duration of, 340 ; effect of in re- 
 ducing the demand for labour, 
 404, c. 22; exportation of, 437, 
 c. 34; House of Commons' report 
 on export of and tools, 441. 
 Machines to wind riband and cot- 
 ton, 35 ; counting, for carriages, 
 65 ; facilities for removing, 282 ; 
 causes of failure in, 322 ; let for 
 hire, 346; for bobbin-net, 425; 
 number of bobbin-net in the king- 
 dom, 430. 
 
 Making and manufacturing, distinc- 
 tion between, 163, c. 13. 
 Manchester, table of increase of 
 
 population in, 3. 
 
 Manufactories, method of observing, 
 160, c. 12 ; general inquiries, ib. ; 
 causes and consequences of large, 
 263, c. 22; position of large, 277, 
 c. 23; inquiries previous to com- 
 mencing, 298, c. 25. 
 Manufacturing, on a new system of, 
 
 305, c. 26. 
 Manufacture, cost of each separate 
 
 process in a, 253, c. 21. 
 Manufactures at the court of Bello, 
 2 (note); domestic and political 
 economy of, 163,c. 13, s. 2 ; future 
 prospects of, as connected witU 
 science, 453, c. 35. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 405 
 
 Manufacturers' employment, report 
 of committee of the House of Com- 
 mons on, 3. 
 
 Masters and workmen, combinations 
 of, 353, c. 30 ; combinations of 
 masters against the public, 376, 
 c. 31. 
 
 Materials, employment of those of 
 little value, 9 (see also ADDI- 
 TIONS); economy of those em- 
 ployed, 77, c. 9 ; prices of the prin- 
 cipal used in mines at Corn-wall, 
 202 ; raw, 210 ; value, when manu- 
 factured, of one pound's worth of 
 raw, 214 ; waste of in learning, 218. 
 
 Matrices, 159. 
 
 Medals and coins, 129; machine to 
 produce engraving from, 155. 
 
 Memoires de 1'Institut, extract 
 from, 162. 
 
 Mental labour, division of, 241, c. 20. 
 
 Metal, printing from perforated 
 sheets of, 88. 
 
 Metallic arsenic, 214. 
 
 Metals, casting from, 106 ; intro- 
 duction of as currency, 166, c. 14. 
 
 Method of observing manufactories, 
 160, c. 12. 
 
 Middle-men, 208, 271. 
 
 Military ornaments, 130. 
 
 Mines, machinery of, 28, 57 ; prices 
 of principal materials used in, 
 202 ; distribution of labour in, 252 ; 
 method of remuneration to work- 
 men in, 307. 
 
 Mississippi, 52, 278. 
 
 Models, in plaster, 110; in wax, in 
 the house of the Horticultural 
 Society, 111; in the Jardin des 
 Plantes, ib. ; at Florence, ib. ; in 
 Bologna, ib. 
 
 Money as a medium of exchange, 
 166, c. 14 ; of price as measured 
 by, 201, c. 17. 
 
 Moulding, copying by, 112; in 
 china, 114; in glass, 115, 116; in 
 wood, 117; in horn, 118; in tor- 
 toisesheD, 119; in pipe-clay, 120; 
 gold and silver, 126. 
 
 Mountains, suggestions for measur- 
 ing the altitude, 31. 
 
 Mule-yarn spinning, 410. 
 
 Music printing, 86. 
 
 Muslin, fibres of, 64. 
 
 tfail-heads, 131. 
 
 Nail-making, 13, 222. 
 
 Needles, 11, 273. 
 
 Net, patent, machine for weaving, 
 
 265. 
 New system of manufacturing, 305, 
 
 c. 26. 
 Nottingham, table of population 
 
 in, 3. 
 
 Observations on charges for printing, 
 257. 
 
 Observing manufactories, method of, 
 160, c. 12. 
 
 Odessa, earthquake at, 76. 
 
 Oil,cajeput, 194. 
 
 Oil cloth printing, 97. 
 
 Operations, registering, 65, c. 8. 
 
 Ornamental papers, 127. 
 
 Ornaments, military and furniture, 
 130; gilt paper, 138. 
 
 Outlines of a description of any of 
 the mechanical arts ought to con- 
 tain information en certain points, 
 160. 
 
 Over-manufacturing, 284, c. 14. 
 
 Overplus, 387. 
 
 Paper, ornamental, 127; gilt, 138; 
 depreciation of, 176 ; effect of duty 
 on, 260 ; taxes on, 414. 
 
 Papering pins, 234. 
 
 Parcels, Conveyance of, 192. 
 
 Partneiships, limited, 435. 
 
 Patent net, machine for weaving, 
 265. 
 
 Patents, 432. 
 
 Pedometer, 65. 
 
 Pens, steel, '263. 
 
 Pentagraph, 147 
 
 Peruvian bark, 461. 
 
 Peter the Great, statue of, 56. 
 
 Pewter dishes at the court of Bello, 
 2 (note). 
 
 Phials, 189 (note). 
 
 Picul of cotton, 255. 
 
 Pig iron, materials for smelting, 288. 
 
 Pig lead, 214. 
 
 Pile-engine, 22. 
 
 Pin-making, 228; American ma- 
 chine for, 239. 
 
 Pins, wire ifor, 228; pointing, 230; 
 twisting 'and cutting heads, 231; 
 heading, 232; tinning, 233; pa 
 pering, 234 ; English manufac 
 ture, 236 ; French ditto, 237. 
 
 Pipe-clay, moulding in 120. 
 
406 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Pipemaking, 120. 
 
 Plaster, casting in, 110. 
 
 Plate glass, 199; comparative price 
 of in London, Paris, Berlin, and 
 Petersburgh, 206 j silvering of, ib. 
 
 Plate-iron, 21. 
 
 Plated ware, 190. 
 
 Platinum, 166 (note). 
 
 Plymouth breakwater, 6. 
 
 Pointing pins, 230. 
 
 Position of large factories, 277, c. 23. 
 
 Post-office letter-boxes, 55.. 
 
 Power, human, additions to, 5 ; 
 forces too great for, 56, c. 7. 
 
 Power, accumulating, 20, c. 2 ; re- 
 gulating, 27, c. 3. 
 
 Press-work, 259. 
 
 Price, influence of verification on, 
 181, c. 15; influence of durability 
 on, 197, c. 16 ; as measured by 
 money, 201, c. 17. 
 
 Prices of different articles at Bir- 
 mingham in 18181830,201 ; ditto 
 in 1812 and 1832, 202 ; of principal 
 materials used in mines at Corn- 
 wall, 202 ; of plate glass in Lon- 
 don, Paris, and Berlin, 206; of 
 silvering, ib. 
 
 Printing, from cavities, 83 ; copper- 
 plate, 84 ; music, 86 ; calico from 
 cylinders, 87 ; from perforated 
 sheets of metal, 88 ; handker- 
 chiefs, 90 ; from surface, 91 ; from 
 blocks, 92 ; from moveable types, 
 93 ; from stereotype, 94; oilcloth, 
 97 ; on china, 99 ; lithographic, 
 100; register, 104; from copper- 
 plates with altered dimensions, 
 154 ; this volume, copying through 
 six stages, 159 ; expense of print- 
 ing the present volume, 256. 
 
 Printing-ink, 78 ; experiment, ib. ; 
 consumption of, ib. 
 
 Printing on silver paper, 61, 
 
 Profits on a six-shilling book, 380. 
 
 Projectors, advice to, 328. 
 
 Proper circumstances for the appli- 
 cation of machinery, 329, c. 28. 
 
 Property valued by the standard of 
 currency, 170. 
 
 Proportion of agriculturists and non- 
 agriculturists in every 100 persons 
 employed in Bengal, Italy, France, 
 and England, 3. 
 
 Public, combination of masters 
 against the 376, c. 31. 
 
 Publishers, 380385. 
 Punching, 133. 
 
 Quantity of materials used for 
 
 smelting pig-iron, 288. 
 Quantity of work produced by the 
 
 stretcher from 1810 to 1832, 409 
 Quicksilver, 214. 
 
 Rack for measuringbobbin net, 360. 
 
 Rain, instrument for registering, 7. 
 
 Rapids, to remove rocks in, 52 ; to 
 draw boats up, ib. 
 
 Raw materials, 210, c. 18; value, 
 when manufactured, of one pound's 
 worth of, 214. 
 
 Readers, 257. 
 
 Red-hot cylinders, 64. 
 
 Register printing, 104. 
 
 Registering operations, 65, c. 8. 
 
 Regulating power, 27 c. 3. 
 
 Repeating clocks and watches, 74. 
 
 Report, House of Commons' com- 
 mittee upon manufacturers' em- 
 ployment, table, 3; on Holyhead 
 roads, 60 ; on woollen trade, 276 ; 
 OP artisans and machinery, 300 ; 
 on steam carriages, 337 ; on frame 
 work knitters, 347, 375; on pa- 
 tent**, 432 ; on export of tools and 
 machinery , 441. 
 
 Reprinting old works, 102. 
 
 Reviews, 400. 
 
 Riband, machines for winding, 35. 
 
 Rivers, deepening of, 52. 
 
 Rivets, used red hot, 58. 
 
 Roasting-jack, 45. 
 
 Rogers, Captain, evidence on steam- 
 vessels, 60. 
 
 Rollers, printing, 78. 
 
 Rolling, iron, 144. 
 Rondelet's 
 
 t's experiment on degrees 
 offeree, 5. 
 
 Rose-engine turning, 149. 
 Rosettes, 149. 
 Royal Society, 455. 
 Rules in particular factories, 355. 
 
 Sash-lines, 14. 
 Scapement movement, 74. 
 Science, future prospects of manu- 
 
 factures as connected with, 453, 
 
 c. 35. 
 
 Screw-cutting, 153. 
 Scythes, making, 37. 
 Seals, glass, 115. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 407 
 
 Separation of dense particles by sus- 
 pension in fluids, 62. 
 
 Set-off sheet, 78. 
 
 Shoe-last making engine, 151. 
 
 Shoe-machinery, 14. 
 
 Shots, gun, effects of various, 23. 
 
 Signals, communication by, 44, 57. 
 
 Silver moulding, 126; leaf, 211. 
 
 Silver paper, printing on, 61. 
 
 Silvering plate glass, 206. 
 
 Simultaneous action, difficulty of, 56. 
 
 Six-quarter-frame, 425. 
 
 Skating, safety of velocity in, 38. 
 
 Skelps, 362. 
 
 Skill acquired by frequent repetition 
 of the same process, 222. 
 
 Slide of Alpnach, 339. 
 
 Sliding rest, 221. 
 
 Smelting, 288. 
 
 Smoke-jack, 43. 
 
 Smuggling, 419. 
 
 Snag, 278 (note). 
 
 Snuff-boxes, wooden, 117. 
 
 Sound employed to save time in 
 giving orders, 7 ; produce a si- 
 multaneous effect, 56. 
 
 Sources of the advantages arising 
 from machinery and manufac- 
 tures, 1. 
 
 Spinning by hand and by wheel, 35 ; 
 expense of cotton in Java, 255 ; 
 produce of mule-varn at different 
 periods, 410. 
 
 Square numbers, table of, 248. 
 
 Square glass bottles, 116. 
 
 Stamping, 128. 
 
 Statue of Peter the Great, 56. 
 
 Steam-carriages, tolls on, 301 ; re- 
 port House of Commons on, 337. 
 
 Steam-engine, governor of, 27 ; ca- 
 taract, 28 ; uniform supply of fuel 
 to, 29 ; consuming smoke, ib. ; 
 instrument to count number of 
 strokes, 65 ; duty of, 72 ; applica- 
 tion of to weaving, 260 ; duty per- 
 formed by, 341. 
 
 Steam-vessels, 60, 278. 
 
 Steel, engraving on, 85 ; engraving 
 by pressure on, 124; chains, 139; 
 mill, 230 ; pens, 263. 
 
 Stencilling, 88. 
 
 Stereotype printing, 94. See also 
 ADDITIONS. 
 
 Stock purchases, 195. 
 
 Stocking trade, frauds in the, 1 86, 346 
 
 Stop-cock, 68. 
 
 Stop-watch, 74, 75. 
 Stretcher, the, 409. 
 Subdivision of money, 168. 
 Substitute for hand, 13. 
 Sugar and molasses, 417. 
 Sulphate of lime, 52. 
 Surface printing, 89, 92. 
 Suspension of particles in fluid me- 
 dium, 62. 
 Swaging, 123. 
 
 Table of increase of population in 
 manufacturing towns, 3 ; of the 
 weight of a square yard of diffe- 
 rent manufactures, 112; of prices 
 of various articles at Birmingham 
 in 18181830, 201 ; ditto in 1812 
 and 1832, 202; of the price of 
 plate glass at Paris, Berlin, Lon- 
 don, Petersburg, 206 ; of articles 
 diminished in value in 1812 1 832, 
 209 ; of Venetian gold chains, 212 ; 
 of raw material and labour in 
 various manufactures in France, 
 214; of English pin-making, 236 ; 
 French ditto, 237 ; of great French 
 logarithms, 242 ; of square num- 
 bers, 248 ; of calculation by clocks, 
 249 ; of quantity of materials for 
 smelting pig iron, 288 ; of injuries 
 arising to roads, 301 ; of force 
 required to draw a coach up va- 
 rious inclinations, 302 ; of duty 
 performed by a steam engine, 34 1 ; 
 of distribution of profits in a six- 
 shilling volume, 380 ; of compa- 
 rison of value of raw cotton, and 
 when manufactured, 429 ; of pa- 
 tents, 432 ; comparative of inter- 
 nal communications in England 
 and France, 451; of the quantity 
 of work produced by the stretcher 
 from 1810 to 1832, 409. 
 
 Tags of boot-laces, 34. 
 
 Tanks for ships, 164. 
 
 Tanning, 47. 
 
 Tar, impregnation of timber with, 48. 
 
 Telegraphs, 44. 
 
 Tell-tale, 67. 
 
 Tiles and bricks, 113. See also 
 ADDITIONS. 
 
 Tilt-hammer, 36. 
 
 Timber, impregnation of with tar, 48. 
 
 Time, economy of human, 6; ex- 
 tending the action of forces, 45, 
 c. 5 ; saving in natural operations. 
 
408 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 47, c. 6 , required for learning, 
 218; lost in changing occupation, 
 220. 
 
 Times newspaper, 332. 
 
 Tin, tubes for speaking, 7 ; worn- 
 out, 9. 
 
 Tin, waste of, 200, 214. 
 
 Tinned iron, punching, 135. 
 
 Tinning of pin wire, 233. 
 
 Tobacco-pipe making, 120. 
 
 Tolls on steam carriages, 301, 
 
 Tool, difference between and ma- 
 chine, 20. 
 
 Tools, 10 ; accuracy of work ex- 
 ecuted by, 79, c. 10; change of, 
 221 ; division of labour suggests 
 the contrivance, 224; House of 
 Commons' report on export of, and 
 machinery, 441. 
 
 Tortoiseshell, moulding in, 119. 
 
 Touch, human, 56, c. 7. 
 
 Touch, the, of a rose-engine, 149. 
 
 Tube-drawing, 142. 
 
 Tug-boat, 53. 
 
 Turning by lathe, 79; china, 114; 
 copying by, 148; rose-engine, 149. 
 
 Tutwork, 307. 
 
 Transfer-ink, 61. 
 
 Treblets. 142. 
 
 Trees, cutting into planks, 77. 
 
 Tributors, 307. 
 
 Truck system, 373. 
 
 Tympan, 78. 
 
 Types, printing from moveable, 94. 
 
 Umbrella handles, 118. 
 Union of theory and practice. 453, 
 c. 35. 
 
 Vaillaut's experiment, 23. 
 
 Value of various articles manufac- 
 tured from one pound's worth of 
 raw materials, 214 , of raw cotton 
 compared with manufactured, 429. 
 
 Vane, or fly, 30, 46. 
 
 Vegetable productions, casting from, 
 107. 
 
 Veils, lace, made by caterpillars, 158. 
 See also ADDITIONS. 
 
 Velocity, increase and diminution 
 of, 32 c. 4 ; of the tilt-hammer 36 ; 
 of skaters, 38 ; of boats, 39 ; of 
 carnages, 40 ; in glass-blowing, 42. 
 
 Veneer, Mr. Brunei's machine to 
 
 cut, 77. 
 Venetian gold chains, 212, 213. See 
 
 also ADDITIONS. 
 Verification of quality of sugar; tea, 
 
 flour, 182 ; character, a substitute 
 
 for, 193. 
 Vermicelli, 146. 
 Vermilion, 214. 
 
 Wages paid in goods, 374; in lace- 
 making, 429. 
 
 Waste of materials in learning, 219. 
 
 Watch glasses, 420. 
 
 Watchmaking, 251. 
 
 Watch stop, 74 ; chains, 139 ; trade, 
 frauds in the, 187; pendulum, 
 spring of, 213. 
 
 Watches and clocks, 45 ; depreciation 
 of export trade, 187; ancient, 345. 
 
 Watering calico, 121. 
 
 Water-mark, 388. 
 
 Water-meter, 71. 
 
 Water substituted for shot, 23 ; re- 
 action of, 39 ; of brine springs, 
 50. 
 
 Wave, velocity of a, passing through 
 deal, 25. 
 
 Wax, casting in, 111. 
 
 Wealth, extract from the Rev. R. 
 Jones's Essay on the Distribution 
 of, 3. 
 
 Weaving patent net, machine for, 
 265; by hand and power loom, 411. 
 
 Weight of a square yard of different 
 manufactures, 158. 
 
 Whitechapel sharps, 273. 
 
 Wire-drawing, 141, 228. 
 
 Wire, straightening for pins, 229. 
 
 Wood, moulding in, 117. 
 
 Wood-cuts, printing from, 92. 
 
 Wooden snuff-boxes, 117. 
 
 Woollen trade, extract from evi- 
 dence on, 276. 
 
 Work, identity of when of the same 
 kind, and its accuracy when of 
 different kinds, 79, c. 10; done 
 by steam-engines in Cornwall, 
 288. 
 
 Workmen, combinations of, 283 
 314,315,353, c. 30. 
 
 Works, reprinting old, 102. 
 
 Worn-out iron and tin, 9. 
 
 R. CLAY, PRINTEB, BRE AD-STREET-HILL. 
 
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