#50 Machine for Shoemakers . 
argument will apply to every man who by his ingenuity 
or his influence shall dimmish the evils which may be 
ultimately attendant on a life of labour. Thomas Holden 
has been impelled, for his own personal relief, to con- 
struct and use a simple machine for one branch of his 
craft. The master shoemakers and their masters, or em- 
ployers, will act meritoriously in extending its use. As 
the editor of a Journal of the Arts , I have thought it my 
duty in this, as in most other instances, to second the 
views of that excellent Society, which has been so long 
established in London, and has so actively and constant- 
ly exerted itself for their encouragement. 
Mr. Nicholas Turner, who addressed the Society on 
behalf of this machine, speaking highly in its commenda- 
tion, says that its cost will not be more than from be- 
tween twenty and thirty shillings. The inventor himself, 
after stating his sufferings from the pursuit of his business 
as a maker of shoes, says that he has found it to answer, 
and its use to have been followed by a restoration of his 
health. When he wrote his letter, he had made about 
two thousand pair of shoes with it, and he considers it as 
the quickest way of closing all the thread- work. 
Certificates were also sent to the Society, from six cord- 
wainers of the vicinity, who were witness to the use and 
advantages of the machine ; and Mr. Peter Martin, Sur- 
geon, of Tulborough, wrote a letter to Charles Taylor, 
Esq. secretary to the Society, which I have extracted 
verbatim. 
u I am sincerely of opinion, that Thomas Holden’s in- 
vention is a desirable acquisition to men of that profes- 
66 sion, especially to those who may be diseased internal- 
66 ly, or who may suffer from stomach weakness and in- 
^ digestion. These diseases may be aggravated, if not 
66 occasioned, by their working in a bent posture. 
“ The inventor, about twenty years ago, often applied 
