392 
many were curious to see the press, 
Gutenberg ‘had repeatedly sent his 
servant to take jit to pieces, that none 
might have a view of it. 
And. lastly, John Dunne, goldsmith, 
declared that, about three years be- 
fore, he had. received, from Gutenberg 
nearly a hundred florins, im payment 
of. certain articles requisite in the 
printing business. 
From this. body of evidence, it clearly 
appears, that the primary: elements of 
Typography,-as arising art, calculated 
for general,use, may be referred to 
the fortunate and fostering genius of 
John Gutenberg. 
. A question. yet remains, whether 
Gutenberg made use of characters 
fixed.in the wood, or of moveable 
Tetters. There are good reasons for 
thinking that the letters were of the 
Jatter description, or why should 
Gutenberg be so eager to dispatch 
orders to open the press with two 
screws, to take the pages to pieces, 
and to place the pieces in the press, 
or upon it? If the pages had been 
composed of fixed plates, how could 
they be taken to pieces, when loosened 
from the press? and why place them 
afterwards on the. press, the better to 
ensure secrecy? it would, on the con- 
trary, have led to discovery, as fixed 
forms, when exposed to view, are 
very easy to be known, and the art of 
printing images, with sentences engra- 
ved in wood, had been long known in 
Germany ; and, moreover, what oc- 
casion for forms and presses, when 
fixed plates were used, the impression 
of which was performed by the balls 
of the card-makers? 
Some are of opinion, and not without 
apparent reason, that Gutenberg made 
use of metal characters, as some parts 
of the process have recorded, that a 
certain quantity of lead was purchased 
by his partner Dritzehen. The testi- . 
mony of the-goldsmith has also a simi- 
lar tendency, though the matter for 
sale be not. mentioned... Moveable 
characters of .wood are not so proper 
for typographical works, owing to their 
fragility and spungy nature, ever dila- 
ting and contracting. ; 
On. the whole, we may conclude that 
the city of Swrasburg was the real cra- 
die. of printing, properly so called; that 
Gutenberg. there exhibited the. first 
samples of the art, and afterwards 
carried it toa higher. degree of per- 
fection, by the aid of cast letters, in his 
natiye.city, Mentz.. 
it appears certain that Gutenberg 
Origin and early Progress of the Art of Printing. 
was residing in Strasburgh, in 1444, 
from the town-registers; . it appears 
also from a document quoted .by 
Kohler, thaf in 1443 he. had hired a | 
house» at‘ Mentz. He had lived in 
Strasburgh more than twenty years. 
There are authentic acts to prove that 
Gutenberg made‘a fresh ‘contract in 
Mentz, in 1450, with John Fust, a rich 
burgess, as a partner in the printing 
business; and here they printed, for the 
first time, the famous’ Latin Bible 
which has given rise to so much specu- 
lation among bibliographers. A’ law- 
suit arising between Fust and’Guten- 
berg, the latter was adjudged to’ ‘pay 
certain sums to Fust, which he had 
appropriated to his private expenses ; 
all his printing materials were also 
transferred to Fust, in 1455, Nov: 6G. 
_ Another authentic act is yet in ex- 
istence, dated 1459; from which it ap- 
pears that Gutenberg, not discouraged 
by some heavy losses, set'up.a fresh 
printing office at Mentz, and there 
printed a number of works, without 
interruption, till 1465, whem being ad- 
mitted, among other gentlemen,’ into 
the family of the eleetor Adolphus: of 
Nassau, with an honourable stipend, 
he died February 4, 1468, not livmg 
to enjoy it long, 
Once instance of the strenuons claims 
that have been advanced in favour of 
Coster, will appear from the following 
mscription, placed on’ the front of the 
house, where itis pretended that Coster 
lived; 
Memorie Sacrum, 
Typographia, 
Ars Artium omniim © 
Conservatrix 
Hic primum inventa 
Circa Annum Cid ceccxt. 
Thus rendered, literally, ‘Sacred to 
memory. Here Typography, the pre- 
server of all other arts, was first in- 
vented about the year 1440.” 
a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, : 
Wwe: have seen many loose notices 
relative to medicated baths of 
different kinds, both fluid and gazeous ; 
_and, as I live in a retired village, and . 
have occasion. for. an eflicacious re- 
medy, I shall be served and gratified 
if any of, your scientific or invalid 
readers. would furnish your ,pages 
with an account of .the real improve- 
ments made.in baths, Oiheaell 
ea A SEPTIGENARIAN. 
Monmouthshire, Nov. 2. 
For 
