the Progress of the Useful Arts. Sill 



of those who know only one process, is deplorable. He who 

 has never gone beyond the fixing of a pin's head, or the 

 sharpening of its point, would be rendered completely desti- 

 tute by the discovery of a method of forming a pin by ma- 

 chinery ; but the engine-maker has never felt any inconvenience 

 from the general introduction of slide-rests and planing-engines. 

 The philanthropist then, should rejoice to see the workman, 

 not contented with a single occupation, render himself master 

 of several crafts. A great deal of stress has been laid on what 

 is called the division of labour. Long continued practice in a 

 single art will indeed give at length great expertness ; yet I 

 question if one accustomed to vary his work, would not much 

 sooner reach proficiency. In passing from the grinding of knives 

 to the grinding of scissors, some little time indeed is lost, and a 

 i'ew minutes elapse ere the workman's hand has got, as he calls 

 it, into the way. But this only at first — after he has had fre- 

 quent occasion to make such transitions, his mind has stored 

 up the little incidents to be attended to, and no more time is 

 needed at a change of employment, than is necessary every 

 morning at the beginning of his day's labour. Not only would 

 this custom of acquiring several trades give security to the work- 

 man; it would at the same time greatly facilitate the march of 

 improvement. An interchange of methods and ideas would at 

 once lake place, and each craft would adopt some of the methods 

 practised by another. The wright, instead of forcing an ob- 

 stinate screw-nail, would use the chisel of the die-cutter to dress 

 the destroyed cut — thousands of applications would be made 

 of principles that otherwise would never be brought home to 

 the attention of the artizan. 



If we run over the history of the great improvements that 

 have been made, we will find that almost all of them have come 

 from the minds of those who have attended to a considerable 

 variety of subjects. The great improver of the steam-engine 

 was not an engine maker, nor did the contrivance of the stock- 

 ing-frame come from one tired with the monotonous manipula- 

 tion ; and I question much if any of the users of the distaff ever 

 entertained the idea that it could be dispensed with. The me- 

 thod of co-ordinates of the higher geometricians, after improving 

 astronomy and geodetics, descended to plan the sHde-rest, and 



