PRI 



PRI 



to Mr. Wilson ; for, with his Lordship's 

 characteristic generosity, Earl Stanhope 

 has uniformly declined to accept even 

 the reimbursement of any part of the mo- 

 nies by him expended in the prosecution 

 of this ingenious art. Some differences, 

 however, arising 1 between Mr. Wilson 

 and the Syndics of the University, the 

 contract was dissolved; and Mr. Wilson 

 published his case in a stereotyped pam- 

 phlet, entitled " Arbitration between the 

 University of Cambridge and Andrew 

 Wilson."' 



That Mr. Wilson might make out his 

 case more clearly, lie has given a " Com- 

 putation of the nonpareil bible, showing 1 

 the expenditure by both methods of 

 printing 1 , upon composition, reading 1 , 

 wear of type, and charges of composi- 

 tion; and upon paper, press-work, charges 

 on press-work, and insurance. " This com- 

 putation is, of course, much in favour of 

 the stereotype art ; amounting 1 , indeed, 

 to nearly one half, or fifty percent, saved 

 by the new method. In addition to the 

 saving attributed to stereotype printing, 

 it is said that, as every page of the most 

 extensive work has a separate plate, all 

 the pages of the said work must be 

 equally new and beautiful : which can- 

 not be the case with single types, which 

 are distributed and recomposed several 

 times over in the course of a large work. 

 The stereotype art also, it is said, pos- 

 sesses a security against error. This ad- 

 vantage is much insisted on by the friends 

 of the art ; but with what consistency, 've 

 confess, does not immediately appear : 

 for, strange as it may seem, after all the 

 care that we may naturally suppose was 

 taken to render Mr. Wilson's pamphlet 

 a model of stereotype perfection, it is 

 still not without its errata. The pamphlet 

 consists of about forty -four pages ; and 

 on the forty-first page, in a line^ contain- 

 ing only two monosyllables, there is an 

 error : (viz.) viod for void. There are one 

 or two other trifling inaccuracies in the 

 pamphlet, which afford demonstrative 

 proof that 



" Whoever thinks a faultless piece to 



see, 

 Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er 



shall be." 



Indeed, as every work hitherto stereo- 

 typed clearly manifests, it is not possible 

 that first editions of works should be 

 more correct when stereotyped than 

 when printed in the common way ; and 

 it ought not to be forgotten, that an error 



stereotyped in the first edition, is perpe- 

 tuated through every subsequent edi- 

 tion. It is said, that stereotype plates 

 admit of alteration : this, however, if car- 

 ried to any extent, must be attended with 

 a very considerable expense. 



In short, we ihink that the stereotype 

 art has much tii<' advantage of common 

 printing in standard books of very exten- 

 sive circulation and constant demand, and 

 wherein no alteration, as to plan or size, 

 is allowed ever to take place ; but for the 

 common and most general purposes of 

 the art of printing, the method by move- 

 able types is incomparably the best. 



The precise method adapted in stereo- 

 type printing being- hitherto a secret 

 known only to a few, our readers will per- 

 ceive that we can only, as we have done, 

 give a general history of the invention. 

 The mode of stereotype printing is, how- 

 ever, generally, first to set up a page, for 

 instance, in the common way, with move- 

 able types ; and when it is rendered as 

 correct as the nature of the thing \viil ad- 

 mit, a cast is taken from it, and in this 

 cast the metal for the stereotype plate is 

 poured ; and so for every page or sheet 

 of a work intended to be stereotyped. 

 When the plates are prepared, they are 

 printed off at the Stanhope press ,- and 

 it must be confessed, that the works hi- 

 therto published, that have been printed 

 in this manner, are very beautiful, and to 

 the full as correct as the best editions of 

 books printed according to the common 

 method. But as it does not appear that 

 any actual saving can be obtained in the 

 manufacture of books in general, the 

 London publishers have not yet thought 

 it worth their wl\ile to patronize and en- 

 courage this curious invention. 



PRISM, in geometry, an oblong solid, 

 contained under more than four planes, 

 whose bases are equal, parallel, and alike 

 situated. The prism is generated by the 

 motion of a rectinilear figure, descend- 

 ing always parallel to itself, along a right 

 line. If the describent be a triangle, the 

 body is said to be a triangular prism; if 

 square, a quadrangular one, &c. 



From the genesis of the piism, it is 

 evident it has two equal and opposite 

 bases, and is terminated by as many pa- 

 rallelograms as the base consists of sides : 

 and that all the sections of a prism pa- 

 rallel to its base are equal. Every trian- 

 gular prism may be divided into three 

 equal pyramids. 



To measure the surface of any prism, 

 find the area of each side, whether a tri- 

 angle, parallelogram, or other rectili- 





