NEW FORM OF SECTION-CUTTING MACHINE. 269 



will be, may even consider s'acli complexity a great objection to it ; 

 but this idea can only be entertained by those who are ignorant of 

 the advantages which machinery has over the more primitive modes 

 of working. Thns, for example, a hammer and chisel are more 

 simple and less complex than a planing machine, both being used 

 for the same purpose, yet with what different results ! Yet fifty 

 years ago the chisel did what the machine now does, and with results 

 that throw all comparison in the shade, and I could institute a 

 similar comparison between the present accepted methods of mak- 

 ing sections (especially hard ones) and that performed by the 

 aid of tlie machine. In the meantime I wish you to understand 

 that the various apparently complex parts were added to an origi- 

 nally simple contrivance as the necessity for them made itself 

 manifest, in order to enable sections to be cut more easily, more 

 quickly, and correctly. In short, wherever I found that any exer- 

 cise of skill on the part of the operator could be dispensed with by 

 adding some contrivance to the machine for that purpose, I never 

 scrupled to make the addition ; consequently, the more complex 

 the machine became, the less necessary was the possession of skill 

 to the operator; and, indeed, I know of no better way of explain- 

 ing the dijBferent pieces and method of working the machine, as 

 well as to prove the complete originality of the whole design, than 

 by giving a history in detail of the construction of the first machine, 

 which I have brought here to-night for that purpose. The various 

 desiderata will probably occur to you as they presented themselves 

 to me, and you will be able to form your own opinion of the manner 

 in which I have satisfied them. 



Originally I intended to construct an apparatus for cutting sec- 

 tions of hard material only, such as bone, teeth, etc., and I com- 

 menced the task in my bedroom, with a few scraps of brass-plate 

 and nails that I found lying about the house, without any intention 

 of going beyond the very simplest possible arrangement of at most 

 two or three pieces ; the rest of the parts were added as the necessity 

 for doing so showed itself, and I ask you to keep this in mind as 

 you examine the grotesque construction of those parts — they were 

 contrived to suit the bits of brass I possessed ; in short, this my 

 coat, was cut according to my cloth. 



At first I only intended to make a brass frame, against which I 

 might press the saw or knife, so as to enable me to cut steadily. 

 Finding, however, that it was very difficult to hold the frame 



