gines. Not that its boiler cannot be rendered so strong, that its bursting shall be as rare as that of any other, but because its very strength renders the consequences more terrible, when unfortunately it does burst. And as it will sometimes happen, that steam-engines will be intrusted to the management of careless or ignorant people, we cannot hope entirely to prevent the recurrence of that accident; and we believe that the only way to lessen the amount of destruction is to use engines, the boilers of which may burst without doing great injury. This circumstance, important in every case, is particularly so in steam passage-boats, where a great number of persons are constantly exposed; persons, too, who have a right to expect that every precaution will be taken to insure their safety.

There is in the steam engine a loss of power in changing the direction of its action from rectilinear to rotatory, by the methods in common practice, not very satisfactorily accounted for, considering the magnitude of the loss, which on an average amounts to about three fourths of the whole power, as appears from the reports on the performance of the engines used at the mines in Cornwall. This, together with the hope of producing a more simple machine, has given rise to very frequent attempts to apply the action of the steam directly to a wheel, and by that means obtain a circular motion primarily. Mr Watt, whose comprehensive mind seems early to have embraced the whole subject of the mechanical application of steam, made several contrivances for this purpose. One of them is described in his specification of 1769. But none of his plans to effect this object succeeding, he abandoned them all. And no engine has been adopted to any extent, in which the force of steam is not applied in the first instance to produce motion in the direction of the axis of a cylinder.

It is probable that the production of the steam engine had some influence in exciting engineers to the inventing and improving of the machinery necessary to its application to the arts. We do not know, however, of a single machine, the invention of which can be traced directly to this cause; and it is worthy of remark, considering the widely extended and diversified use of the steam engine at this day, that all who were early concerned in improving it, from the Marquis of Worcester down even to Mr Watt, seem to have had principally in view the raising of the water from the mines; although some of them foresaw that advantage might be taken of a power so admirable in some part of the wide range of practical mechanics.

While the steam engine was yet in its infancy, indeed, before the separate condenser was used, the machinery for manufacturing cotton was getting into notice, which, perhaps, as far as mere ingenuity is concerned, exceeds the steam engine itself. Richard Hargreaves, a weaver of Lancashire, invented the spinning machine, called the jenny, in 1767. He is also said to have been the inventor of stock cards, which reduced the labor of carding fifty per cent. Later improvements having superseded these inventions of Hargreaves, his name has fallen into unmerited oblivion. He died in poverty in Nottingham, whither he was obliged to remove to avoid the popular fury of Lancashire; for it has not been until very lately that the laboring manufacturers have willingly permitted any innovation in the ancient modes of practice in the arts. Their mistaken views and narrow prejudices have constantly proscribed attempts at saving labor; and even at the present time, this spirit is not wholly extinct. Sir Richard Arkwright, who followed Hargreaves in improving the cotton machinery, was destined to a better fortune. From a poor barber, he raised himself to opulence and the rank of knighthood. Abandoning his occupation in 1767, he left Preston, his native town, and went to Warrington, where he made a mechanical contrivance for perpetual motion. We mention this merely to show how ignorant he must have been of the science of mechanics. Mr John Kay, however, of that town, suggested to him the more hopeful project of making a machine for spinning cotton. Mr Kay, it seems, had himself invented a machine for that purpose, which he described to Arkwright. With the assistance of Kay, Arkwright completed his machine so as to take out a patent in 1769. The merit of Arkwright's invention, and that which distinguishes it from all others, is the drawing the sliver of cotton by rollers, which are found a complete substitute for the human fingers. Arkwright did not stop here, but devoted the rest of his life. to improving the machinery and reducing the various processes of the manufacture to order and system. He not only made improvements in the carding, but the vigor of his genius manifested itself in every stage of preparing the cotton for the loom. His first machinery driven by water was erected at Cromford in Derbyshire in 1771.

In 1779, Mr Crompton completed the machine called the mule, which partakes of the principles of both Hargreaves and

Arkwright's machines, from which circumstance it is said to have derived its name. The mule is superior to any other machine for spinning certain kinds of yarn. Cotton may be drawn out by it to an almost incredible fineness. It is said that one pound has been made into a thread one hundred and sixty seven miles in length; which, to place the fact in a stronger light, is one hundred and thirty feet to each grain weight.

Such is a brief outline of the commencement and early progress of this extensive and useful branch of industry. Many and great improvements have been made in it, in almost all the stages of the manufacture, since the death of sir Richard Arkwright. Indeed, it is but a few years since the very important machine, known by the name of the double speeder, was perfected. Power looms are also quite recent. But to the praise of Arkwright, we may remark, that all the ingenuity that has succeeded him, has been unable to make any important improvement on his water spinning frame. The machinery for manufacturing cotton is at this time unquestionably more perfect, than that used in any other manufacture. Cotton stuffs are now sold at such prices, and this is the best test of the facility with which they are manufactured, that with a numerous class in all countries, they have supplanted the use of linens and silks. The quantity of linen cloth made in Ireland has remained about stationary for several years past, although the countries which supply themselves with linens of Irish manufacture, have greatly increased in population. And every body knows the misery which the depression of the silk trade, a few years since, brought upon thousands in England.

We cannot leave this subject without noticing the invention of the saw gin, by a native of Massachusetts, a machine for clearing the fibres of cotton from the seeds. We do this, not merely because it is an American invention, but because the world has not produced a machine, which increases in so great a degree the product of the labor of the workman. It is stated by the inventor, that each person employed with the machine is equal to one thousand persons working with the hands merely; and we do not know that this comparison is to be considered materially erroneous. To show the great influence which it has had on the agriculture of a large district of our country, we shall make an extract or two from a charge to a New Series, No. 10.

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jury of Georgia, by judge Johnson. The cotton plant furnished clothing to mankind before the age of Herodotus. The green seed is a species much more productive than the black, and by nature adapted to a much greater variety of climate; but by reason of the strong adherence of the fibre to the seed, without the aid of some more powerful machine for separating it than any formerly known among us, the cultivation of it could never have been made an object. The machine, of which Mr Whitney claims the invention, so facilitates the preparation of this species for use, that the cultivation of it has suddenly become an object of infinitely greater importance than that of the other species ever can be.

With regard to the utility of this discovery, the court would deem it a waste of time to dwell long upon this topic. Is there a man who hears us, who has not experienced its utility? The whole interior of the southern states was languishing, and its inhabitants emigrating for want of some object to engage their attention and employ their industry, when the invention of this machine at once opened views to them, which set the whole country in active motion. From childhood to age, it has presented us a lucrative employment. Individuals, who were depressed in poverty and sunk in idleness, have suddenly risen to wealth and respectability. Our debts have been paid off; our capitals increased; and our lands are trebled in value. We cannot express the weight of obligation, which the country owes to this invention. The extent of it cannot now be seen. Some faint presentiment may be formed from the reflection, that cotton is rapidly supplanting wool, flax, silk, and even furs in manufactures, and may one day profitably supply the use of specie in our East India trade. Our sister states also participate in the benefits of this invention; for, besides affording the raw materials for their manufactories, the bulkiness and quality of the article afford a valuable employment for their shipping.'

The success, which attended the establishment of the cotton machinery, directed the attention of ingenious men to attempt the somewhat similar manufacture of woollen fabrics by machinery driven by power, and although the triumph has not been so complete as that which attended the cotton manufacture, yet the saving of labor has been of a greater extent than the most visionary projector could have dreamed of fifty years ago. The jenny and carding machine were transferred with little alteration

from the cotton to the woollen fabrics. By the first of these machines, one person is enabled to spin about as much as fifty persons could by the old method, and it should be remembered, that this process cost more labor, than any other in the manufacture of cloth. The invention of shearing machinery soon followed that of the jenny, and was attended with great, though not equal advantages.

The manufacture of hemp and flax, by machinery moved without human aid, to such a degree as is required in the ordinary methods, attracted a great share of the public attention as early as the cotton machinery was established. Ingenuity has been on the rack ever since to accomplish an object of such magnitude. So much has this been thought of by rulers, as well as private individuals, that the emperor Napoleon, by a decree in 1810, offered the munificent reward of one million of franks to the inventor, of whatever nation he might be, who should produce the best machine for spinning flax. Competitors for the prize arose in almost every civilized nation, and many most ingenious machines were constructed. But we believe no one possessed advantages decidedly superior to all others, and unless we have been misinformed on the subject, no machine was rewarded. The length of the fibres of flax, which constitute one of its excellencies as a material for thread, presents difficulties in the way of spinning it by machinery, which are unknown in the use of cotton and wool. It cannot be prepared by carding, as these other substances are, and the rollers are capable of drawing it but very imperfectly, although, as we have before remarked, they even surpass the human fingers in drawing out cotton. Yet, notwithstanding these difficulties in the production of an even thread, there are machines in operation in this country, as well as Great Britain and France, which spin some coarse kinds of thread tolerably well, and with great rapidity. The machines are, however, too imperfect to spin the fine threads, and in Ireland, where the labor of women is very cheap, they have not much disturbed the ancient course of manufacture.

The improvements in manufacturing the metals, particularly iron, have been very great, since the date of the steam engine. England, possessed of abundance of the necessary materials. for this manufacture, has brought the art of making iron castings to great perfection; and it gives us pleasure to notice, that this branch of art has been much improved in the United