4i6 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



of the bolts and fitting of the cupheads and eyes, they 

 would leave little to desire." 



These remarks with regard to Sir Joseph Whit- 

 worth's fractional computations open an entirely new 

 feature in the construction of carriages. Were a 

 system properly established by which interchangeable 

 parts could be made use of, the repair of carriages 

 would be a matter requiring but little time or attention 

 on the part of the coach-builder ; and were there, in 

 addition to this, greater attention paid to the measure- 

 ments, particularly to the distances that one part was 

 from another, we should not have carriages as they 

 are frequently made nowadays, sprawling about all 

 over the place, with no regard either to uniformity or 

 to the increased draught consequent on want of atten- 

 tion to these details. 



Machinery, were it to be constructed without 

 serious consideration as to measurement, would occupy 

 far greater space than could possibly be provided for 

 it, particularly on board ships ; but happily it is so 

 arranged, and space is so marvellously economised, 

 that there does not exist within the limits of eood 

 machinery an atom of space that is not made use of 

 for some purpose. The moving parts pass one another 

 so closely, that the distance between them is computed 

 by the millionth part of an inch ; and it is the late 

 Sir Joseph Whitworth who was particularly active in 

 bringing about this condition of things ; and I can 

 see no reason why in the construction of car- 

 riages some of the nicety as regards measurement, 

 that is such a striking feature in the manufacture 

 of machinery, should not also be applied to 

 carriages intended for the common roads. Were 

 this so, the appearance of carriages would be im- 



