pend on the power applied to force down the piston, and drive the water into the air-vessel. Obs. An inspection of a pump or fire-engine, will teach more in ten miuutes, than mere description in as many hours. X. Trade and Commerce. 184. The barter of commodities is necessarily coeval with the first formation of society. One man might have too much corn; and another too much wool; and each would be willing to give what he had to spare of his own superfluity, for what he might want of the superfluity of the other. 185. In time, such barter would become a system; otherwise, every family would have to grow every commodity it wanted; and to manufacture every article it consumed. The taylor would make clothes for the farmer, and take provisions for his labour. The carpenter would build on the same principle of reward; and hence, all the distinct trades would arise, which we now see exercised. 186. One farmer too would cultivate wheat; and another make cheese and butter, according to the nature of their respective soils. They would either exchange on the spot, or each would carry his peculiar produce to a common market, and exchange it for gold or silver, articles of universal currency, which he could exchange at any time, for whatever else he wanted. 187. The application of labour to particular or individual objects, has also tended greatly to improve every manufacture. A man who is nothing but a taylor, is far more expert at making clothes, than if he were also, a shoemaker, carpenter, and blacksmith; and still more so, if instead of making all kinds of clothes, he work at particular parts of garments. This is called division of labour. 188. The utility of dividing labour is exemplified in making pins. Were a piece of metal given to a man to make one pin, he could scarcely do it in a day. In pin-manufactories, however, each pin passes through twenty-five hands: one draws out the wire, another straightens it, another cuts it, another points it, three or four prepare the head, two or three puts it on, and others finish them, and put them on a paper. Twenty-five persons, thus, make one hundred and twenty-five thousand pins in a day; or five thousand to each person! 189. Labour likewise sub-divides itself numerously in every branch of the elegant and useful arts. Thus, in building, there are, the brickmaker, the stone-mason, the architect, the surveyer, the bricklayer, the sawyer, the carpenter, the joiner, the slater, the plasterer, the plumber, the gla zier, the ironmonger, and the painter; all necessary in their several departments. 190. In villages and remote countries, where every separate branch could not meet with sufficient employment, the same person often pur sues two or three branches; for example, the stone-mason, bricklayer, slater, and plasterer, are often united in one workman; so the carpenter and joiner; also the plumber, glazier, and painter; and probably, the carpenter or bricklayer takes it on himself, to act also as architect and surveyor. See the Book of Trades. 191. In the arts connected with the furnishing of the house, there are the smith, the ironmonger, the cabinet-maker, the looking-glass maker, the frame-maker, the carpet-maker, the bedsteadmaker, the feather-merchant, the blanket manufacturer, the oil-cloth-maker, the copper-smith, the venitian blind-maker, the tinman, the printseller, the bookseller, and the painter; all necessary for the house of a man of taste and fortune. 192. In branches of trade connected with the clothing of a man, we have the wool-man, the comber, the spinner, the weaver, the fuller, the dyer, the presser, the packer, and the woollendraper. For linens, we have the flax-dresser, the spinner, the weaver, the bleacher, the presser, the packer, and the linen-draper. For cottons, there are the planter, the merchant, the cotton-spinner, the weaver, the bleacher, the dyer, the presser, the packer, the warehouseman, and the draper, 193. In the silk trade, there are the importer, the silk-throwster or spinner, the weaver, the dyer, presser, and mercer. In the iron and metallic trades, called the hardware-manufacture, there are the miner, the smelter, the iron-master, the founder, the scythe smith, the button-maker, the gun-smith, the sword blade manufacturer, the cutler, the polisher, the plater, the finisher, the sorter, the packer, the factor, and the hardware-man. 194. In connection with books and literature, there are the author, the designer, the publisher, the rag-merchant, the paper-maker, the stationer, the type-founder, the press-maker, the ink-maker, the pelt-maker, the chase-maker, the compositor, the pressman, the gatherer, the folder, the stitchthe leather-seller, the binder, the copper-smith, the engraver, the wood-cutter, the copper-plate printer, and the bookseller; in all 23 trades, to produce the Universal Preceptor. er, Obs. The author requires, too, his quill-merchant and his ink-maker; the designer, various branches of trade; as the pencil-maker, colour grinder, &c. &c.; the rags require sorters; the paper-maker has his vatmen, his dryers, pickers, sorters, pressers, &c. &c.; and so on in each department, extending the 23 even to 100. |