THE "POWERS" THAT BE. 195 



over a drawer of papers ; a great deal of settling 

 down comfortably in arm-chairs ; and I 'm afraid, a 

 couple of cigars, followed this sudden resolution ; 

 and Mr. Greening looked wide awake, as the other, 

 casting his eye rapidly down the pages of a manu- 

 script, which looked as if a swarm of spiders had 

 crept out of the ink-pot and been playing at leap- 

 frog over the paper cleared his throat and began 

 reading his 



"PRIVATE NOTIONS ON CULTIVATION." 

 "There are three kinds of 'power' employed by 

 man. The first is manual power, the second is ani- 

 mal power, and the third and most recent, is me- 

 chanical power. Each has its own peculiar mode 

 of action; and refuses to adopt that of either of 

 the others. The power of a man, from his erect fig- 

 ure, and the direction of his spine, acts most effect- 

 ively in lifting. When he works at a winch, his 

 greatest force is in lifting the handle from its lowest 

 point in the circle, to about half way up. In pull- 

 ing at the oar, or towing a barge, he inclines his 

 figure so as to adjust it as much as possible in a direc- 

 tion perpendicular to the stress. In digging, he lifts 

 the soil more than the plow does, and in pressing 

 the spade into the ground, he still employs perpen- 

 dicular force, limited only by his weight. Manual 



