116 jSIechanic Arts, [Chap. IX. 



for half-pence finer than copper has before been 

 rolled for making money ; it works the coupoirs 

 or screw-presses for cui:ting- out the circular pieces 

 of copper, and coins both the faces and edges of 

 tlie money at the same time^ with such superior 

 excellence, and cheapness of Avorkmanship^ as well 

 as with marks of such powerful machinery as must 

 totally prevent clandestine imitation, and, in con- 

 sequence, save many lives from the hand of the 

 executioner. By this machinery four boys, of ten 

 or twelve years of age, are capable of striking 

 thirty thousand guineas in an hour, and the ma- 

 chine itself keeps an unerring account of the pieces 

 struck '^r 



Several modern improvements in the art of 

 Printing deserve a place in this imperfect list. 

 The first worthy of beino- mentioned is the Stereo- 

 type-\ plan of printing, which has lately become 

 so fashionable, especially in France. This plan 

 Avas first invented in ll'lo, by Mr. Ged, a gold- 

 smith, of Edinburgh, who, among other books, 

 pnnted a very neat edition oi Sallust X, hi his new 

 method. Owing, however, either to some defect 

 in the plan, or to the want of skill in the execu- 

 tion of his specimen, ]\Ir. (Jed's invention seems 

 to have attracted but little notice. In 1782 Mr. 



* Darwin's Botanic Garden, part i, canto i, note. 



t This word, which M. Didot of France seems to have first 

 t-mployed, is derived from the Greek words grs^io^, solultis, and 

 rvro, fiipua, denoting that the types are soldered, or otherwise con- 

 nected together. 



J In the title page of this edition there are the following 

 words, viz. Edinlnirghi : GuUdmus Gcd, ainifahcr Editicnsis, non 

 typis niohilihus, ut 'cu/go Jlcri sold ; sed tahdlis sen Iambus fusis, 

 cxcudcbat. 



