Economy of Machinery and Manufactures. 121 



its weight in gold. About the same period, the Romans received 

 cambrics from Elis, which were sold for "their full weight of gold."* 

 But the limits of this notice forbid any further allusions to antiquity, 

 although the history of the progress of manufactures would be one 

 of extreme interest. . L 



From several tables, of the accuracy of which Mr. Babbage has 

 taken pains to assure himself, it appears, that the reduction in price 

 since 1812 has been from forty to sixty, and, in some instances, 

 eighty five per cent., on various articles. He remarks, that 



* 



" The extent to which manufacturing can be carried, and yet a profit be realized, 

 is astonishing, and is proved by the following fact. Twenty years since, a brass knob 

 for the locks of doors, was made at Birmingham, for 13s. Ad. per dozen. The. same 

 article is now manufactured, with the same weight of metal, and an equal or supe- 

 rior finish, for Is. 9|d. per dozen. One circumstance, which has produced this 

 economy in the manufacture is, that the lathe, on which these knobs are finished, is 

 turned by a steam engine ; so that the workman, now relieved from that labor, can 

 make them twenty times as fast as he did formerly." 



Several causes have contributed to diminish prices, within the last 

 half century. ' The most influential have undoubtedly been the in- 

 vention of cheaper modes of manufacturing, arising from improved 

 machinery, and division of labor ; and also, on a less rate of profit 

 on capital, however employed. f 



Division of labor has eminently contributed to this result. In 

 the division of labor, no time is lost in going from one process to 

 another, or in changing and adjusting tools ; a greater degree of 

 dexterity is acquired by constant attention to one process, and the 

 muscles, exercised in it, obtain a flexibility and a capacity for fatigue, 

 which they could not, if continually changing their motions. A fre- 

 quent repetition of the same process produces, also, a degree of ex- 

 cellence and rapidity otherwise unattainable. As an instance of this 

 remarkable celerity, Mr. Babbage states, " that a clerk of the Bank 

 of England signed his name, consisting of seven letters, including 

 the initial of his christian name, five thousand three hundred times, 

 during eleven working hours, and arranged the notes he had signed 

 in parcels of fifty each." 



A further advantage arises from the employment of just such 

 persons as are adapted to the different processes. For example, 

 ten persons are occupied in manufacturing pins, and they are paid in 

 the joint ratio of their skill and the time employed, from six shillings 



Annals of Commerce. t See p. 34, Economy of Machinery, &c 



foL. XXIV— No. 1. 16 



