MR. BABBAGE'S CALCULATING MACHINE. 341 



most extraordinary. Pieces of mechanism for perform- 

 ing particular arithmetical operations have been long ago 

 constructed, but these bear no comparison either in 

 ingenuity or in magnitude to the grand design conceived 

 and nearly executed by Mr. Babbage. Great as the power 

 of mechanism is known to be, yet we venture to say that 

 many of the most intelligent of our readers will scarcely 

 admit it to be possible that astronomical and navigation 

 tables can be accurately computed by machinery ; that 

 the machine can itself correct the errors which it may 

 commit; and that the results of its calculations, when 

 absolutely free from error, can be printed off, without the 

 aid of human hands, or the operation of human intelli- 

 gence. All this, however, Mr. Babbage's machine can do ; 

 and as I have had the advantage of seeing it actually 

 calculate, and of studying its construction with Mr. 

 Babbage himself, I am able to make the above statement 

 on personal observation. The calculating machine now 

 constructing under the superintendence of the inventor 

 has been executed at the expense of the British Govern- 

 ment, and is of course their property. It consists essen- 

 tially of two parts, a calculating part, and a printing part, 

 both of which are necessary to the fulfilment of Mr. 

 Babbage's views, for the whole advantage would be lost 

 if the computations made by the machine were copied by 

 human hands and transferred to types by the common 

 process. The greater part of the calculating machinery 

 is already constructed, and exhibits workmanship of such 

 extraordinary skill and beauty that nothing approaching 

 to it has been witnessed. In order to execute it, parti- 

 cularly those parts of the apparatus which are dissimilar 

 to any used in ordinary mechanical constructions, tools 

 and machinery of great expense and complexity have been 

 invented and constructed ; and in many instances contriv- 

 ances of singular ingenuity have been resorted to, which 



