174 CHKONICLES OF A CLAY FAKM. 



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 figure, 

 and the direction of his spine, acts most effectively 

 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. For the same 

 reason, in pulling at the oar, or towing a barge, he 

 inclines his figure as much as possible in a direction 

 perpendicular to the stress. In digging, he lifts the 

 soil more than the plough does, and in pressing the 

 spade into the ground he still employs perpen- 

 dicular force, limited only by his weight. Manual 

 labour is in fact most powerful in perpendicular 

 action. 



