MATERIAL INSTRUMENTS. 87 



1. Considering the objections to the number of cards per se, the 

 following considerations apply, and also serve to express analogi- 

 cally some of their advantages : 



Generally speaking, the lower in the scale of combination is the 

 unit, the easier it is to treat it independently in forming such new 

 combinations as may be required. This applies to many examples 

 in every-day life. Take for example the printer's type, divided into 

 single letters ; how much better it lends itself to forming the great 

 variety of words it is intended to multiply and preserve, than if 

 whole words or even their constituent syllables were cast as single 

 pieces like the ideographic characters of the Chinese or the 

 hieroglyphics of the old Egyptians ! 



In fact, was not the germ of Guttenberg's invention, not that 

 of printing only, with which he and his associates are credited, 

 although it is as old as the use of the signet ring, but the printing 

 with movable letters ? 



So in building construction, consider the economical advantages 

 following the use of small portable bricks. What would be 

 thought of the believer in ideographic writing or in monolithic 

 building who opposed modern methods because they require 

 " too many letters," or "too many stones?" So with chemistry, a 

 science which, like the higher mathematics, may be said to have 

 been created by an atomic nomenclature. 



2. As to the cost of the cards, it may possibly be greater than 

 that of the books now used ; but this is a question which can 

 only be determined by experiment on a scale large enough to 

 pay for their printing in large quantities. I understand that the 

 last contract for postal cards was let at less than five cents per 

 hundred. 



3.- As to the time lost in filling them up, it maybe greater than 

 that required for a workman to find the foreman, tell him his needs, 

 and have the foreman write them down, but this is doubtful. 



4. Illiterate workmen are rarely employed in work requiring a 

 careful subdivision of their time ; but when this is otherwise, it 

 should be easy to provide a time-keeper, or to require the writing 

 to be done by some of their comrades or superiors. 



