K-

iS

*^--;r'

ISf^ilil;^'?

^IS

?::::f#

FROAI THE

.<.t

»y>*-'

I-,

Bost

Do not write
pen-il. Penaltie
Revised Laws of

T!/is hook cr(7
/(-r/ stamped ke

on Public Library

in this book or mark it with pen or
s for so doing are imposed by the
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

J issued to. the borro'cver on the date
'o,c:

FORM NO. 609; 10.2.34; 224H.

m.

;^v-t-'^'

PAPERS AND MEMOIR OF
FLEEMING JENKIN

VOL. II.

rUlSTED BY

SrOTTISWUODE AND CO., NEW-tiXUEET SQUAUK

LONDON

PAPEES

LITEEAEY, SCIENTIFIC, &c,

BY THE LATE

FLEEMING JENKIN, F.E.S., LL.D.

PEOFESSOK OF ENGINEEllING IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

EDITED BY

SIDNEY COLVIN, M.A. and J, A. EWING, F.R.S.

WITH A MEMOIR BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II.

LONDON
LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO.

AND NEW YORK : 15 EAST 16'" STREET

1887

c

All rights reserved

0:

'J

'/< '

CONTENTS

OF

THE SECOND VOLUME.

PAPERS BY FLEEMING JENKIN {continued).
POLITICAL ECONOMY:

PAGE

TeADE-UNIONS : How FAR LEGITIMATE 3

The Gbaphic Representation of the Laws of Supply and

Demand, and their Application to Labour ... 76

On the Principles which regulate the Incidence of Taxes 107

The Time-Labour System . . 122

Is ONE Man's Gain another Man's Loss ? 140

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION:

Technical Education 157

On Science Teaching in Laboratories 183

APPLIED SCIENCE :

Prefatory Note : by Prof J. A. Ewing, F.R.S 193

Submarine Telegraphy 195

Telpherage 2.52

On the Application of Graphic Methods to the Determi-
nation of the Efficiency of Machinery . . , 271

ABSTRACTS OF FLEEMING .lENKINS SCIENTIFIC PAPERS . 345

List op Professor Jenkin's British Patents 370

DIAGRAMS.

Fig. 46.— a Speed 1 Rev. per Second

Fig. 47. — B. Speed 4 Revs, per Second

Fig. 49.— D. Speed 4 Revs, per Second

Fig. 50.— E. Speed 1 Rev. per Second

Fig. 51.— E. Speed 1 Rev. per Second

Fig. 52.— E. Speed 4 Revs, per Second

Fig. 53.— G. Speed infinitely Slow .

Fig. 54.— H. Distribution of Steam and Speed as for E

To face p. 327
329
331
332
332
333
334
334

POLITICAL ECONOMY

TBADE-UNIONS : HOW FAR LEGITIMATE.'

Tradp;-unions are on their trial. Large and increasing numbers
of workmen have banded together to promote their common
interests ; they claim to represent the feelings and wishes of the
artisans in each trade ; they possess large resources, and have
used their power with such effect that while they proclaim higher
wages, lighter labour, and increased influence, as fruits of their
exertions, they are denounced by numerous opponents as illegal
societies, using outrage and intimidation to coerce men and
masters, and as injuring commerce, without permanent benefit
even to the members of these unlawful unions. The men say
that they have found a plan by which they can, and do, better
their condition, and they claim the right to put their plan in prac-
tice under the protection of the law. They are answered by the
assertion that trade-unions are nurseries of disaffection, fatal to
liberty, hostile to merit, and injurious at once to capital and
labour. On all hands legislation is called for ; each party awaits
with impatience the report of the Royal Commission now sitting ;
the unions demand recognition as corporate bodies able to possess
property and to recover debts at law ; while their opponents
press for the complete abolition of the system, or at least for such
repressive and restrictive measures as shall break the power of
these combinations.

The issues are of imperial importance. Mistaken legislation
in one direction may involve great detriment to our commercial
prospei'ity ; and errors of an opposite kind may alienate the
great body of skilled artisans to whom the suffrage has just been
largely intrusted. The loyalty of these men to our constitution
as hitherto worked will in a great measure depend on the justice

' Reviem of Reports of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the
organisation and rules of Trades- Unions and other Assoc iatio7is. From The
North British Review, March 18G8.

4 POLITICAL ECONOMY

clone to tlieii" demands by the expiring Parliament ; and no
worse effect could follow the extension of the suffrage than an
attempt by workmen to use their new power to alter legislation
in a sense favourable to their immediate interests, but adverse
to those of the nation. The. evidence received by the Eoyal
Commission, and the questions asked by the members of that
Commission, seem to show that even among those who are
familiar with trade, with workmen, and with the handling of
economical questions, the gravest errors are rife — errors indorsed
without hesitation by the greater portion of the press. The
claims and practices of unions are judged on no fixed principles
and their legitimate action is condemned with almost the same
rigour as is justly displayed in branding the foul crimes which
they have fostered. The wishes of workmen are misunderstood,
their habits are unknown, and they are pitied for hardships
unheard of from the mouths of artisans, but mercifully vouched
for by master builders.

The principles of political economy, though oflen quoted, are
little understood ; we propose — -/rs^, to discuss those principles
as affecting trade-unions ; secondly, to consider the right to com-
bine ; thirdly, to describe unions as they exist ; and finally, to
examine what legislative action is required. Before entering on
these four subdivisions of our task, we will state briefly the
general features of the case for and against trade-unions, and
for the latter purpose shall draw largely from an article in the
Quarterly B,evieiv.

This article begins with the assertion that unions are not
economically beneficial to their members ; that they do not, and
cannot, raise wages permanently. It is not denied that wages
have risen since the establishment of unions, but this rise may
have been due to large profits made in trade — not to the unions
at all. When profits are large the demand for labour will be
great, and wages must rise. When profits are small in a given
trade, capital will be driven from that trade, and wages will fall.
The action of trade-unions cannot, it is said, increase the wages
fund or capital out of which the workmen are to be paid, nor do
they diminish the number of the recipients, though they may
prevent the increase of that number by arbitrarily limiting the
number of apprentices. Now, wages depend simply on the ratio

TRADE-UyiONS 5

between the capital employed as T^ages and the number of per-
sons to be paid ; and unless by augmenting the capital or by
diminishing the number, in other words, by augmenting the
demand or diminishing the supply, no permanent alteration in
wages can be effected. The question for those who wish to
raise the wages of labour is, not how to divide the existing wages
fund in a manner more favourable to the working man, but how
to increase competition for his labour among employers ; in
other words, how to increase the wages fund. Trade-unions--,
far from even aiming at this end, drive capital away from trade
by harrassing employers, diminishing profits, and increasing
risks. Therefore, in the long run they tend to diminish wages,
and though for a little while they may obtain an increase from
an employer working, for instance, under a penalty, the increase
is only temporary, and is little, if at all, short of a theft from
that employer. But while they fail to increase wages, they do
increase the cost of production ; they do therefore injure all
consumers, themselves as well as others. By excluding compe-
tition, they may raise their own wages, but this exclusion con-
stitutes a tyrannous monopoly which cannot be permitted for a
.day ; and even this monopoly can never raise the wages of
working men as a whole. The main aim and object of trade-
unions being to raise wages, the above arguments lead to the
conclusion that this object is a delusion based on an obvious
fallacy, that unions are, so far even as concerns the interest of
their members, an enormous blunder. But worse than this,,
they are injurious to the country at large, and their existence- is
irreconcilable with public policy. They injure the quality of
articles produced, by diminishing competition among artisans ;
they are hostile to excellence among workmen, discouraging
piece-work and over-time, by which the skilful man may hope to
better his condition ; they oppose machinery, and foster dis-
sension between employers and employed ; they limit the quan-
tity of wealth produced by limiting the number of producers ; —
by all these means, without benefit to themselves, they banish
trade, and increase the cost of produce to consumers. Worse
still, they are not even honest, nor do they represent the true
feelings and wishes of workmen ; they are governed by glib
democrats, wdio resort to force and outrage to establish their

6 POLITICAL ECONOMY

power ; they are secret societies, and therefore odious ; they
have been established by fraud, on the pretence of being benefit
societies for which purpose they are even now bankrupt ; the
savings which should have been invested to provide for the
benefits have been squandered in futile strikes, and even had
every sixpence been profitably invested, the subscriptions are
inadequate to provide for the payments promised. It is really a
comfort to think that such monstrous organisations are even by
the present law illegal, and we must readily grant that the only
remedy practicable is total abolition. Here and there we have
reinforced the Quarterly argument by extracts from the evidence
of Mr. Mault and others; and assuredly this impeachment,
•supported by evidence of murder, theft, and outrage, can be met
with no light denial.

Let us now hear what men in unions claim to have accom-
plished, what objects they avow, and how they answer the accu-
sations against them. As to wages, the men say : — 'We have
raised wages ; if political economy says that this is impossible,
so much the worse for political economy ; we know that unions
do raise wages, and our employers know it, and this is one reason
why they are hostile to unions. Our opinion is no conjecture,
but based on evidence collected for years from all parts of Eng-
land— evidence which we lay before you. The cry used always
to be that strikes could not raise wages ; now it often is that
wages have by unions and strikes been raised so high that trade
is banished to other countries. Not only do we raise wages,
but by the establishment of working rules, by the collection of
information as to the want and excess of labour in different
towns, by the selection of good and exclusion of bad workmen,
by discouraging piece-work and over-time, noxious practices
both, we have greatly benefited our members, and at the same
time we have benefited both our employers and the consumers
of the wealth we produce. By the establishment of organised
bodies with whom employers can treat and argue, we have
diminished the number of strikes, and facilitated arbitration ;
our unions supervise the conduct of their members, and we
have notably raised the social position of the artisan ; by our
benefit funds we encourage frugality and have banished pau-
perism from among us. Your calculations as to our bankruptcy

TRADE-UNIONS 7

are based on a misconception of our rules ; we do not discourage
excellence ; we do not oppose machinery ; we are not governed
by democrats ; we no more injure trade by refusing to work for
less than o^s. per week than a capitalist injures trade by refusing
to invest his money for less than 10 per cent. The unions are
popular even among non-members, and are recognised by the
whole working class of the country as acting in their interests,
and we so love our unions that we will emigrate or starve rather
than abandon them. We admit that the great power given by
unions has been abused by the ignorant in certain trades ; we
admit that even the best unions have from time to time made
mistakes, and that the worst have incited men to murder and
outrage ; we will second every endeavour to prevent the recur-
rence of such crimes, but we contend that such great power has
never yet been wielded by single men or by large bodies with
less abuse of that power ; we claim to have our rights recognised
by law ; we will cheerfully submit to those restrictions of our
power which are required for the general good, but if you
determine on abolition we will use our whole political power to
reverse your decision.'

The answer reads tamely after the accusation. Here and
there it involves direct contradiction as to facts. It does not
meet the case as to limiting the number of competitors, and it
could only be honestly delivered by members of the best unions ;
but before examining any of the minor contradictions, we must
endeavour to settle the first question at issue, Can or cannot
unions raise wages ? This really is a fundamental question. If
unions cannot raise wages, it is futile to discuss whether they
should be permitted to try ; they certainly cause great annoy-
ance and loss by their endeavours, and also suffer much them-
selves ; if they cannot raise wages, neither can they obtain other
indirect benefits, such as shorter hours, equivalent to increased
pay. The one argument in favour of permitting combinations
of workmen to bargain with their employers is that these
combinations do enable men to make a more advantageous
bargain with the capitalist. If this be not true, the policy
of allowing an apparent but unreal privilege would be dis-
honest to the workman and unjust to the capitalist. It could
only be palliated on the ground that we dare not interfere with

8 POLITICAL ECONOMY

the igiioriince of the workmen, and mast deceive them to keep
them quiet. Let us, then, examine closely the arguments in
favour of the proposition dinned daily into our ears, that no com-
bination of workmen or of masters can alter the rate of wages.

These arguments take two forms, different in wording, but
the same in essence, and are enounced as the doctrine of the
Wages Fund, and the Law of Demand and Supply. Mr. Mill
writes of the wages fund as follows: —

Wages depend, then, on the proportion between the number of
the labouring population and the capital or other funds devoted to
tlie purchase of labour ; we will say, for shortness, the capital. If
wages are higher at one time or place than at another, if the subsist-
ence and comfort of the class of hired labourers are more ample, it
is and can be for no other reason than because capital bears a greater
proportion to population. It is not the absolute amount of accom-
modation or of production that is of importance to the labouring
class ; it is not the amount even of the funds destined for distribu-
tion among the labourers : it is the proportion between those funds
and the numbers among whom they are shared. The condition of
the class can be bettered in no other way than by altering that pro-
portion to their advantage ; and every scheme for their benefit which
does not proceed on this as a foundation, is, for all permanent pur-
poses, a delusion.

Very clear and very true. When you know the number of
recipients and the sum to be paid them, divide the number of
shillings by the number of men, and you obtain the mean
Wtiges. If 1,000 eggs are sold daily, and 1,000 pence are daily
spent on eggs, the mean price of eggs that day will be a penny
a piece. The price of eggs depends on the Qg^ fund, it seems.
Diminish the number of men, diminish your divisor, says Mill,
and your quotient will be larger. Sell only 500 eggs, and the
price will be twopence, if the ^gg fund remains the same, which
it will not. Still, we do not deny that by restricting the num-
ber of eggs for sale, and of labourers applying for employment,
the price of eggs and rate of wages will rise though the wages
and ^gg funds will fall. But we seem now to be leaving the
clear and beaten path of simple division : apparently this same
wages fund is not a constant quantity. It may diminish, it
may increase. This becomes interesting to our labourers, who
cannot readily diminish their numbers. Cannot this same

TRADE- UNIONS 9

wages fund be persuaded to increase for their benefit ? How-
does it happen to be exactly tlie amount it is ? What will
make it rise, what will make it fall ? The stock answer is, ' My
poor fellows, do not delude yourselves ; the wages fund depends
on the profits of capital ; if profits are large the fund may in-
ci'ease, but everything tending to diminish the profits dimin-
ishes the wages fund, so if you or some of you for a little while
get increased wages, diminishing our profits, the fund to be
divided among you next year will be smaller ; and so, however
much we may regret iu, you will infallibly get less than you do
now ; what you are now getting is the market price of your
labour — the laws of political economy say so.' Workmen do n(.t
always believe this, and sometimes do get an increase of wages ;
but the argument of the economists is elastic — they say the
wages fund has increased ; your new wages are now the market
price of labour ; you would have got it without asking. But all
workmen are not quite sure that this is true, nor are we. The
fallacy lies in the premiss that everything which diminishes
profits diminishes the wages fund, or the saving which the
capitalist applies to the purchase of labour. Of course the
tendency in that direction must be admitted, but the motion of
a body is not determined by one force only ; to deduce its motion
by calculation from the forces in action, we must take all the
forces into account, all the tendencies ; and we venture to say
that in a large number of cases diminished profits on capital
may cause an increase in the saving applied to the purposes of
production. Take a concrete case first. A manufacturer having
a large fixed capital in the form of a factory, has for some years
cleared as gross receipts 100,000^ ; he has paid as wages
80,000^. per annum ; for simplicity's sake we may assume that
he pays for his raw material and tools in wages only ; he has
spent 20,000^. per annum on his personal establishment.
Under pressure from trade-unions he has thought it wise to
give an increase of wages to his workmen for one year, though
they have neither diminished in numbers nor have his profits
increased ; he would rather not face the loss entailed by a
strike. Such things do happen. That year he pays his work-
men 90,000/., and finds he has only 10,000/, clear profits.
What will this man do ? Will he next year pay a smaller

lo POLITICAL ECONOMY

number of workmen, employing say only 50,000Z. in wages at
his original mill, and diverting the balance of 50,000^. to in-
crease other investments or his personal expenditure, or will he
curtail his expenditure, and provide 90,000^. as wages for his
workmen next year too ? As a matter of observation, many
manufacturers will continue the production to the extent of
100,000^. per annum, and will increase the amount paid as
wages. Their gains do not represent the profits on the wages
fund alone, but on the fixed capital as well. If they diminish
the rate of production in their factory by investing a large
])ortion of their gross annual receipts elsewhere, they greatly
diminish the returns on their fixed capital, so much indeed
as to outweigh any moderate advantage they can obtain by
investing annual receipts more profitably. This consideration
will often lead a manufacturer to continue his business with in-
creased wages and diminished profits. No manufacturer has
come before the Commission to say, ' I have always, or generally,
diminished my business whenever I have had to give increased
wages ;' and yet, whenever a man does continue his business at
the original rate of production, with increased wages and con-
stant, or nearly constant, receipts, he is increasing the wages
fund or his circulating capital in the face of a diminished profit.
Should he obtain an increase of price from the consumer, our
argument is strengthened.

The greatest portion of the circulating capital of a country
constituting its wages fund is of this nature. Year by year the
savings of other classes add to this fund, but it is mainly com-
posed of the price received by the manufacturer for his produce,
a portion of which he habitually re-invests in the payment of
labour without any conscious effort to save. We now assert that
the proportion which he does so re-invest is not necessarily
smaller; because wages are larger or profits smaller. A manu-
facturer will generally work his mill or factory to the utmost
so long as he does obtain a profit ; he does not voluntarily set
aside a certain sum for wages, diminishing and increasing that
sum according to profits, but he employs as many men as he
can, and pays them what he must. How this 'must 'is de-
termined, shall be considered further on. Obviously there is a
liuiil to aclioii of this sort. Any conscious savings he will

TRA DE- UNIONS 1 1

generally invest in other undertakings, and if his profits fall
below a certain point, he will endeavour in all ways to divert
the use of his fixed capital to other objects. He may be unable
to control his personal expenditure ; and so, if wages rise and
profits fall beyond a certain point, his contribution to the wages
fund will diminish, and possibly disappear, owing to his ruin.
But how is this certain point to be determined ? Are all manu-
facturers habitually carrying on their business at such profits,
that should these diminish they will diminish their annual
payments in wages ? We think not, and if not, the wages fund
may increase in the face of diminished profits.

Let us turn to the second class of capitalists, men who, not
being manufacturers, save to invest money, with the object of
obtaining an assured income as the reward of their saving. A
portion of each new saving will find its way into the wages fund.
Will these savings be increased or diminished as the rate of in-
terest is high or low ? On the other hand, a high rate of interest
is a greater temptation to investment than a low one ; but then
with a low rate of interest, a much larger sum must be invested
to return a given income, and a given ideal income, of say
1,000/. per annum, is generally the object of investors of this
class. Is it clear that the saving for investment in countries
with a high average rate of interest is greater in proportion to
the incomes than in countries where a low rate of interest
obtains ? We doubt it extremely ; indeed, we entirely disbe-
lieve that saving increases in proportion to the rate of interest
to be obtained. We do not belie re that men determine if they
can get 10 per cent, that they will invest 1,000/., but if they can
only get 5 per cent, they will spend it. The contrary proposition
is more nearly true : if men can get 10 per cent, for their money
they will consider they have made a suflBcient provision for their
family by investing 10,000/. ; if they can only get 5 per cent,
they feel compelled to invest 20,000/. before retiring fioja
business. In fine, both with the manufacturer re-investing old
savings in his own business, and the professional man investing
new . savings, diminished profits on capital lead to diminished
expenditure, and not always or generally to diminished saving.
The reason why this fact is very generally denied may probably
be a confusion between profits and the fund out of which savings

.12 POLITICAL ECONOMY

are takeu. If, it is said, the profits from which savings are
made for re-investment diminish, how can we expect savings
to increase ? But the renewed savings for re-investment which
constitute the great bulk of the wages fund do not come out of
profits, but out of gross receipts. Our typical manufacturer
does not annually obtain the 80,000L or 90,000?. used for wages
out of his profits of 1 0,000Z. or 20,000L, but out of his gross
annual receipts of 100,000/. So that diminished profits do not
entail a diminution in the fund from which renewed savings are
made. They do diminish the fund from which new savings
ai'e drawn, and no one will deny that in face of fixlling profits
and rising wages new investments in a particular trade will be
checked.

Hitherto we have assumed that notwithstanding the in-
creased cost of production consumers would pay no more for
the produce. If they do pay more, the fund from which the
renewed savings are drawn will increase also, and the wages
fund will or may be increased still further. We took the other
case first, as more unfavourable to our views.

But, it may be urged, the argument as to a possible increase
of the wages fund, notwithstanding diminished profits, cannot
hold good in those employments which require but little fixed
capital. Undoubtedly the more easily capital can be trans-
ferred from one business to another, the sooner will any pos-
sible increase of wages fund applicable to that business reach
its limit ; but this same transfer of capital is by no means
an easy matter, as any manufacturer or man of business will
tell us.

Some persons in speaking of the wages fund seem to imagine
that there would be a material as well as a moral difficulty in
paying increased wages. They reason as if wages were limited
by the amount of cash which manufacturers hold. It is of no
use, they say, that the manufacturer may be willing to pay in-
creased wages, if he has not already saved money enough for
the purpose. A man cannot give what he has not got. A man
who will open his eyes and will look at the way in which wages
are paid in jDractice, will never be deceived by this fallacy.
There is a very considerable available sum in the hands of all
solvent persons and manufacturers, used to provide agninst

TRADE-UNIOXS J3

irregularities in receipts and payments. This fund in money,
or in assets easily convertible into money, forms a kind of dis-
tributing reservoir, and might be called the reservoir fund. If
it were not for a fund of this kind the richest man might be in
continual straits for a few pounds because receipts do not arrive
daily, but at intermittent and at more or less uncertain times.
No solvent manufacturer (except in times of panic) would have
any difficulty in doubling the wages of all his workmen next
week and for many weeks following (though he might ulti-
mately be ruined by the process), any more than a solvent con-
sumer would have any difficulty in doubling his weekly expen-
diture, though he might ultimately leave himself without a
penny. All money received by a manufacturer is first paid into
the reservoir fund ; from that fund it may pass into four distinct
channels : it may be spent, it may be invested in fixed capital
unproductively, in fixed capital productively, or finally, in circu-
lating capital out of which wages are paid. If the manufacture
is profitable, the receipts paid into the reservoir fund continually
exceed the sum returned into the circulating channel ; an in-
crease in the wages of the workmen increases the sum to be
returned, and diminishes the suras flowing into the three other
channels. Even if the trade is not profitable, wages may be in-
creased, but only by drawing back through tlie second or thii-d
channel sums previously invested, until the manufacturer is
wholly ruined. To allow this last re-absorption, savings made
by some other person are certainly required, and in hard times
these savings may not be forthcoming, so that in common
language our manufacturer cannot realise his assets. He will
be all the sooner ruined in this case by unprofitable trade ; but
so long as trade is profitable, in order to pay increased wao-es
he need only divert out of the reservoir fund what, up to that
time, he has habitually spent or consumed as income. Thus
there is no material obstacle to an increase of wages, so long as
any profit whatever is made by trade.

Having sifted the wages fund argument, we find that it
tells us nothing as to the possible price of labour, because it
does not tell us how the wages fund itself is determined. It
may increase by obtaining a larger share of the gross receipts
from the sale of produce, though profits may be less ; it may be

,4 POLITICAL ECONOMY

,svv(01('(l by tlic increased savings of the comrnnnity made in tlio
face of a diminislied average rate of interest; it may rise by an
increase in the gross receipts received by the maker from the con-
sumer, and the want of specie opposes no obstacle to an increase
of wages so long as produce will sell for more than its cost. We
see that in some uncertain way the wages fund is affected by
the security of property, the effective desire of accumulation,
]irofits made on capital, the number of labourers, peace or war,
but we have found no better way than mere observation of
determining whether a given change of circumstances will or
Avill not augment the fund. One class of economists believe
thfiy can give a definite rule by which the price of labour may
be determined, or at least by which any permanent change in
that price is regulated. This rule would, therefore, if true,
allow us to calculate either the wages fund or the change in
the wages fund due to altered circumstances. This rule they
name the Law of Demand and Supply. We will again take
our definition of the law from Mr. Mill, who says —

The idea of a ratio as between demand and supply is out of place,
and has no concern in the matter ; the proper matliematical analogy
is that of an equation.

Demand and supply, the quantity demanded and tlio quantity
supplied, will be made equal. If unequal at any moment, competi-
tion equalises them, and the manner in which this is done is by an
adjustment of the value. If the demand increases, the value rises ;
if the demand diminishes, the value falls ; again, if the supply falls
off, the value rises ; and falls if the supply is increased. The rise or
the fall continues until the demand and supply are again equal to
one another ; and the value which a commodity will bring in any
market is no other than the value which in that market gives a
demand just sufficient to carry off the existing or expected supply.
. . . This then is the law of value with respect to all commodities
not susceptible of being multiplied at pleasure.

There are commodities of which, though capable of being in-
creased or diminished, to a great or even unlimited extent, the value
never depends on anything but demand and supply. This is the
case in particular with the connnodity labour.

Well, as Mill says, labour and commodities not capable of
being multiplied at pleasure have their value fixed by demand

TRADE -UNIONS 15

and snii])l_v alone, let us first see what that law means as applied
to some given commodity.

A thousand equal diamonds are offered for sale ; a thousand
jiurchasers equally desire them : what will be the price of
diamonds? A thousand eggs have been imported to a henless
island ; a thousand islanders would like to have them for break-
fast : what will be the price of eggs ? No economist has
hitherto stated the law of demand and supply so as to allow this
calculation to be made.

Let us examine more nearlj^ what is meant by ' demand '
and ' supply.' The word demand is used in two distinct senses
and the confusion arising from these two meanings lies at the
bottom of much bad reasoning. 8np2^ly is almost always used
to signify ' the quantity offered for sale,' and can be expressed
or measured by a number. Thus the supply of eggs is the
number of eggs ; the supply of land the number of acres in the
market. When the demand is said to be equal to the supply,
men mean that all of the commodity offered for sale is bought,
and that no more would have been bought had it been offered.
In this sense demand also means a quantity measured by a
number ; as Mill says, ' A ratio between demand and supply is
only intelligible if by demand we mean the quantity demanded.'
But the word demand, as popularly used, signifies a desire ; and
when 100 eggs are sold each day at 2d. each, instead of ^d., the
demand is said to have increased ; and so correct would this
language be in any other than in a highly technical sense, that
correct reasoning will be impossible so long as this ambiguous
word is used to signify the quantity demanded. The quantity
demanded depends on the price at which the goods can be
purchased ; and the demand in the sense of a desire may oe
measured by value as expressed in money. Thus, in a place
where 1,000 eggs per diem are sold at 2d. each, the desire for
eggs maybe said to be twice as strong as in a place where 1,000
eggs will fetch daily Id. a piece only. Again, the number sup-
plied, popularly called the supply, must not be confounded with
the readiness to sell the commodity in question. We may say
that the people who sell the 1,000 eggs at If^. are twice as ready
to part with or supply eggs as those who sell them at 2d. The
equality between demand and supply means equality between

i6 POLITICAL ECONOMY

the number demanded and the number supplied at a given price ;
and to signify these numbers we shall use these words, and not
the words demand and supply. No equality or ratio can be
said to exist between the desire to buy and the readiness to sell.
When our 1,000 eggs are sold at 2(:Z., the desire to buy was
clearly greater than when they were sold at Ic^., but the readi-
ness to sell was less in the former case than in the latter. A high
price indicates a great demand and a small supply, in the sense
of readiness to sell. If the desire be measured by the product of
the number sold and their price — in other words, by the whole
sum spent — the readiness of a community to sell, being in-
versely proportional to the price, might be measured by what is
called the reciprocal of that nvimber, or by the quotient of the
number supplied by the money spent. Measured thus there is
no equality or constant ratio between desire to buy and readiness
to sell. The two may increase together, as when a larger num-
ber are sold at a constant price, or either may increase while
the other diminishes, or both may decrease together. There is,
indeed, an equality between the wish to buy and the reluctance
to sell each individual thing, but this means no more than that
the purchaser and seller must agree on one price before a
transaction can take place. Still, as reluctance to sell is
measured by the price demanded, we might state that when
prices are constant, the desire to purchase is equal to the
reluctance to sell, measuring one by the money spent and the
other by the money received. These two equations, first be-
tween two numbers, and secondly between two values, are both
true, and can one be deduced from the other ; but unfor-
tunately, because the number demanded has an effect on the
reluctance to sell, and vice versa, people speak as if the equation
lay between the number demanded and the readiness or perhaps
the reluctance to sell — which is nonsense. Any increase in the
number demanded at a given price indicates an increase at the
time in the whole desire for the thing wanted ; but it is not
true that an increased total desire for the thing wanted neces-
sarily indicates an increase in the number demanded. At one
time in a given town 1000 workmen may be wanted at 20s. per
week, and at another time only 800 workmen at 30s. If the
value of money has remained constant with respect to other

TRADE-UNIOXS 17

commodities, the total desire of the community for that par-
ticular kind of labour may be said to be greater in the second
case than in the first, though the number of labourers wanted
is less. Again, if at one time 1,000 are willing to work at 20^.
and at another time none, or say only 100, will work at 20s.,
while 900 are willing to work for 25s., the readiness to supply
labour will have diminished, though the number of labourers
remains the same. To avoid confusion, we will avoid the
equivocal words demand and siqyphj altogether, and speak only
of the number or quantity demanded and supplied as one pair
of corresponding ideas, and the desire to purchase and reluctance
to sell as a second pair of comparable magnitudes.*

' We may now try to write the equation indicated by Mr. Mill. Let the
quantity demanded be called D, and the variable price x. We know that
D is affected by the price, diminishing as the price increases, and may
therefore write I) = f( — ), where / is not a simple factor, but is a mere

symbol, indicating that D increases as the price diminishes, and is affected
by no other circumstance, an assumption which on any given market- day may
be true. Next, let S be the number which at the price x will be supplied
during the same time that the quantity I) is bought. S will also vary with
the price, but it will increase as the price increases. We may therefore
write iS=2^(a7), expressing the assumption that (Sis a function of the price,
and is affected by no other circumstance. When I) is equal to S, we have
theequation/(— ) = i^(a?), by which the price x could be calculated, and would

be determined, if the quantities demanded and supplied varied according to
any constant law, and merely in consequence of variation of price. There
would then be only one natural and invariable value or price for each article.
But this equation does not express all tliat Mill sa3-s. If the desire for the
article increases, the value tends to rise. The quantity demanded then is
not a mere function of the price. D must therefore be considered equal to
some more complicated expression, such as f(A + — ), where A is some un-

X

known variable quantity. Again the readiness to sell at a given price may
diminish, and so diminish the quantity supplied, which is therefore not a
mere function of price. To express this we write S = F(B + x), where B
again is an unknown variable quantity ; thus when J) is equal to S, we have
Ihe new equation, f(A + —) = F(B + x), — an equation in which, so long as
A and B and/ and ^were all constant in value and form, x would remain
constant, and would be fixed in terms of these magnitudes. If x were to rise
by what we may term an accident for a day or two above the value determined
by the equation, the first number would be smaller than the second, the quan-
tity supplied would be in excess of that required, competition would therefore
at once lower the price to its true value, as determined by the above equation,
so that all goods supplied might be sold. The consequence of a fall in
VOL. II. C

; ,
' 7

1 8 POLITICAL ECONOMY

"We assert that the number of things bought and sold may
remain perfectly constant and yet a considerable change of price
take place. Not only may the number remain equal at very
different prices — this no one denies ; but a thousand transactions
may take place this year at one price and a thousand transactions
may take place next year at double the price without any varia-
tion whatever having taken place in the demand or supply, as
measured by the number of goods supplied and sold. What is
necessary for this result is simply that while a disinclination to
supply the article at the old price arises, an inclination on the
part of purchasers to buy at a higher price shall also arise. So
long as the total desire for the article, and reluctance or readiness
to sell it, are unaltered, the price of the commodity remains
fixed. Competition between both buyers and purchasers brings
back the price to this fixed amount whenever any accidental
deviation occurs. This is the law of demand and supply, as
usually understood. The price is no more fixed by competition
than a weight is fixed by a balance and scales ; but the balance
and scales serve to measure weights, and competition brings the
price to the amount fixed by other considerations, which, in the
case of a limited article, may be infinite in number, including

price diminishing the second member would be to raise the first. The in-
creased quantity wanted would bring back x to its true market value. Again,
suppose that the desire to possess the goods increases by an increase of A ;
if B remains constant then x must rise to maintain our equation. If the
readiness to sell increases by an increase of B, x must fall. Our equation
thus expresses every relation between value, demand, and supply, which Mill
states as expressing the law of value with respect to all commodities not
sr.sceptible of being multiplied at pleasure. But there is nothing in this law
to prevent A,f, F, and B from varying any day or any hour, from motives of
the most opposite kind.

When the quantity demanded at a fixed price increases, A is increased. If
B varies at the same time to a corresponding extent, we may have x the same
as before, but a brisk trade instead of a slow one. If, on the other hand, B
diminishes while A is constant, the price will rise while the number of
transactions will become more limited, but if A rises while B falls, we may
have a new and higher value of x, with a constant number of transactions ;
this is the conclusion to which we especially wish to draw attention. A
diminished supply conveys to the minds of most persons the idea of absolutely
fewer things for sale ; but when an exact definition is sought of the number
of things for sale, the idea of price is necessarily added ; the things must be
for sale at a given price, and an increase in the price at which a given num-
ber will be supplied produces many of the effects due to a diminution in the
number supplied at a constant price.

TRADE-UNIONS

19

everytliing capable of increasing the desire for the commodity,
or the reluctance to part with it. The action of the law as
usually described is true, but partial ; the effect due to a dis-
inclination on the part of purchasers to sell at the old price is
admitted as a virtual diminution of supply, but this increased
price will, it is said, diminish the demand, meaning the number
demanded, and so the price may rise, but the number de-
manded, as well as the number supplied, will fall ; on the
other hand, the demand, meaning either number demanded or
desire to purchase, may rise ; this they say will increase the
number supplied under the stimulus of an increased price, and
the price will rise with an increased number of transactions.
No one has ever denied these two actions, both tending to an
increase of price — but one with an increased trade, the other
with a diminished trade. How is it that we are not equally
familiar with the third case, where the demand, meaning the
desire to purchase, increases, and the supply, meaning readiness
to sell, diminishes at the same time, so that as before we have
an increased price, but this time with neither an increase nor a
decrease in the number of transactions ? ^ A change of price at
any time may be due to increased desire for possession, or in-
creased reluctance to sell ; the increased reluctance to sell may
increase the desire for possession, or it may diminish this desire ;
the action in any one case can only be determined by experi-
ment. If the holders of a thousand diamonds refuse to sell
except at an average increase of 20 per cent, in price, no one can
tell except by experiment whether more or less money will be
spent in diamonds next year, nor even whether more or fewer
diamonds will be bought.

To apply this reasoning to labour : — Wages, it is said, can
only increase by an increase in the demand or by a decrease in
the supply ; and decrease in the supply is always interpreted to
mean decrease in the number of men in want of employment.

' The omission of this case from consideration tends to obscure the fact,
that a great change in price may accompany a very small change in the
number of transactions, and indeed that change of price has no invariable
connection with a change in the number of transactions, unless on the
assumption that the quantities A, B,f, and F, all remain constant, which will
be sensibly true during any short period. These quantities in the long run
all may and do varj', for every commodity.

c 2

20 POLITICAL ECONOMY

Now, an equivalent effect to that prodviced by a decrease in the
number supplied is produced whenever a given number of men
who were yesterday willing to work at 30s. per week are to-day
unwilling to work at that price, and require 31s. instead of 30s,
If while the readiness to sell labour is decreased the desire to
purchase it does not increase, we allow that to re-establish
equality between the number demanded and the number svip-
plied, the number demanded or employed must fall as wages
rise ; but if the diminished readiness to work be accompanied
by an increased wish for labourers, wages may rise, and the
number employed remain the same, though the demand and
supply, as measured by the number demanded and supplied,
would remain constant. Really it seems ridiculous to take so
much pains to prove the self-evident proposition that if men
want higher wages, and masters see that it is their interest to
give those w^ages, the transaction may occur and all the men
remain employed.

A second effect which may follow, and perhaps most gene-
rally does follow, the unwillingness of men to work except at
increased wages, is this : the number employed may actually
diminish, and yet the desire for labour, as measured by the
total fund spent for labour, may increase ; so that the reduced
number, with augmented wages, may receive more than the
larger number at lower wages ; in this case it may be the
interest of the workman to support his fellows out of work by a
contribution from his gains, rather than by a reduction in his
own requirements, to allow them to find employment. We
have reasoned so far on the assumption that the workmen act
as one body, as is sensibly the case where unions are strong.
We have therefore neglected the effect of competition among
workmen. Where competition can occur, it weakens the effect
which an increased reluctance to sell their labour on the part of
some workmen can produce in increasing the total desire for
their work. The smaller the united body which refuses the low
wages, the less their power ; but whatever their size and impor-
tance, the tendency of their action remains the same.

It may here be argued, that the increased desire or demand
on the part of the masters would have given a rise of wages
independently of any action on the part of the men ; but it bv

TRADE-UNIONS 21

no means follows that without the diminished willingness to
work on the part of the men the increased desire would ever
have arisen. The master builders of Loudon want for their
present work 2,000 men. They are paying them 30s. a week ;
there may be no reason why they should want an increased
number, and still less reason why iwoprio motu they should wish
to give them 36s. ; but let the men decline to work for less than
36s., the masters, if making a good profit, will still want 2,000
men to do their work, and may therefore agree to advance the
wages. The demand in the sense of desire for labour may
thus be said to have increased, but it has increased solely in
consequence of the diminished willingness to sell. On the other
hand, if trade is bad and the workmen are unwilling to work,
the masters will not care to give 36s., and so the diminished
readiness to sell labour may diminish instead of increasing the
desire for it ; and if the men are obstinate, some may get em-
ployment at 36s. for urgent matters, but the whole desire for
labour and number demanded will both diminish.

An antagonist might still urge this argument : When trade
is so good that masters can afford the advance of wages, they
would naturally extend their business, and would want more
hands ; it is this potential increase in the number of hands wanted
that really determines the increase of wages— not the refusal of
the men to work for less than 36s. This need not always or
even generally be true, but even in this case the action of the
men in demanding more wages determines a rise of wages
instead of extension of employment.'

Our argument is briefly this : — Wages, like the price of all
other limited commodities, depend on a conflict between the
desire for the commodity and the reluctance to sell it. Any-
thing affecting either feeling as to labour will alter wages. The
total desire measured by the total sum paid for wages may in-
crease in consequence of large profits leading men to wish for an
extension of trade, but it may also increase owing to increased
' To return to our equation : Under the influence of a good trade A may
rise and JB fall, raising the value of ar, and leaving the numerical value of f-ach
side of the equation unaltered. Or, on the other hand, A and 7? maj^ both
rise, while x remains constant. The action of the men determines the
former change, corresponding lo an increase of wages, in distinction to the
latter change, indicating an increased number employed.

22 POLITICAL ECONOMY

reluctance on the part of the labourers to sell, leading the pur-
chasers of labour and produce, one or both, to pay more, lest
they should lose wholly, or in part, their profits, or the enjoy-
ment of the produce. Competition is the process by which the
price is ascertained at which the desire for the commodity and
the reluctance to sell it are equal, but in no way can be said to
determine the price.

We have come to a point where the identity of the wages
fund argument with the demand and supply argument is
obvious. The wages fund is the desire for labour, as measured
by the total sum paid for it. That desire may increase or
decrease in consequence of the increased reluctance of men to
sell their labour. The increase of the fund invested by the
capitalist may be due to increased payments he receives or
expects to receive from his customers, or it may be directly due
to a relinquishment of profits. It is wholly impossible to say
when this will or wdll not be the case ; it is impossible to fix
any one given rate of average return on capital which may be
taken as a kind of standard towards which, in all times and
places, the profits tend. By the joint action of capital and
labour, profits are made ; that is to say, produce results from
their action which exceeds the value of produce consumed by
them in the process. Each claims a share in the profits ; each
must have some share, or each will refuse his aid. How much
must each have ? in what proportion shall the profits be divided ?
We apprehend that this is purely a question of bargain, and
that the share each receives will vary, and may legitimately
vary, within very wide limits. The capitalist may not force
the labourer to work ; the labourer may not force the capitalist
to invest savings productively ; each must tempt the other, and
it is entirely a question of experiment how much temptation
will in each case be required. It is quite possible that the
temptation which was sufficient yesterday will not be suflficient
to-day. Those who misapply the doctrine of demand and
supply, or the wages fund argument, assume that the sum avail-
able to pay the workmen is fixed beforehand, or, if not fixed,
must be diminished by any increase of wages. To assume this
is to beg the question. Every effect which is distinctly seen to
follow on changes in demand and supply, as popularly under-

TRADE-UNIONS 23

stood, will follow without this wholly arbitrary assumption
of fixed wages for a fixed supply of workmen ; and these
known effects are not inconsistent with the fact that workmen,
by bargaining, may in certain cases raise their wages. When
more workmen are wanted than can be found, undoubtedly
wages will rise without any bargaining ; the competition among
masters for workmen in that case indicates the increased desire,
it does not create it ; and when more workmen want work than
are wanted, wages will fall in spite of bargaining ; the competi-
tion among workmen indicates their increased readiness to sell ;
but when the number wanted and the number able to work are
not very different, bargaining may raise wages or prevent a fall ;
and in the two other cases it may increase a rise and diminish a
fall— a conclusion surely not far removed from common-sense.
The contrary view, that somehow wages or prices are fixed by a
law, is something like the idea that the strength of a beam is
fixed by an equation. We can imagine a party of wiseacres who
should meet the proposal of an engineer to cheapen their bridges
by saying, ' Pray, don't be so foolish ; you ought to know that
the strengtli of a beam is determined by mathematics ; ' and
our primitive engineer, guiltless of algebra, might say, ' So
much the w^orse for mathematics ; I know I can make beams
lighter and stronger and cheaper, and IVe done it.' At first
this would be shortly denied ; but at last one of the party would
find out that the mathematics were all right after all, the equa-
tions for the strength of a beam perfectly correct, only, that as
some of the terms were variable, it was quite consistent with
algebra that beams should be made stronger by a better distri-
bution of material. Even so economists who know that the
equation exists, determining prices, should remember that there
are other variables in the equation besides prices, and that the
law only determines the price in terms of these variables.

If it be granted that bargaining does affect wages, it will
readily be allowed that an association with savings enables its
members to bargain more advantageously than isolated work-
men could do. If the alternative before the labourer is work
at the wages offered or starvation, he will be much less reso-
lute in his views as to his worth, than when the alternative
lies between work at high wages and mere privation ; and a

24 POLITICAL ECOAOMY

large maie, acting in concert, finds support in the mutual ap-
proval of its members. Joint action also causes greater incon-
venience to the capitalists, and forces them to make up their
mind at one given time. This point requires no elaboration.
Many persons think the unions ought not to be allowed to
exercise the powers they possess, but few, if any, will deny
that if wages can be altered by bargaining, unions can drive
the harder bargain.

We have so far, with Mill, assumed that labour is on the
same footing as to value as commodities of which the quantity
cannot be increased ; but the grounds of that assumption should
be understood. The cost of articles which can be multiplied
at will is rightly supposed to depend ultimately on the cost of
production. Why ? Because there is no room for the exercise
of any unwillingness to sell, such as may occur in the case of
holders of a monopoly. If one set of holders will not sell
without a profit above the average, new makers will produce,
and by their competition soon reduce the cost to that which
represents an ordinary profit on outlay. '

The 'prima facie reason why labour cannot be included in
this category of objects is, that the quantity for sale cannot
be increased or diminished quickly enough. The cost of manu-
facture of labour is (neglecting previous outlay on education)
the cost of the weekly sustenance of the labourer, who has to
go on producing himself, and however small his profits on his
absolutely necessary outlay may be, he is forced to sell or die ;
but then he has the great advantage that by eating twice as
much he cannot do twice as much work, so that at any time when
he is all wanted, he gets the benefit of being a limited article,

' Returning to our equation, there io no room for B ; the number supplied
can only depend on Fi^x) ; but if the variable B disappears, ^ , as an independent
variable, disappears too ; for A could only vary in our equation without a
change mf{x) or F{x) by the variation of B. We then find that the price of a
commodity such as this is absolutely fixed once for all, so long as the relation
between/ and F remains constant. Now, the number supplied at a given
price will increase precisely as the number wanted increases, so long as the
profit remains unaltered — in other words, F=fz, where z is a factor or func-
tion depending on the cost of manufacture — hence the relation between i?' and
/ can vary only from a variation in the cost of manufacture, in which one
possible variation is a change in the average rate of profit expected by the
makei.

TRADE-UNIONS 25

and may get more than his prime cost ; but when he is not all
wanted, and must sell his labour, he may be driven to cheapen
his prime cost to starvation wages, or wages at which he can
barely exist ; whereas other articles, if the profit falls too low,
are simply not produced. Mill points out, very justly, that if
time be given for adj ustment, the labourer comes into the cate-
gory of unlimited articles ; for though he will not avoid daily
producing himself by eating, he may avoid reproducing himself
in children, and will avoid doing so if his profit as a labourer
be below a certain amount. This certain amount depends on
what the labourer considers the minimum at which it is worth
while to exist. The natural price of labour is fixed in this
manner quite as definitely as the natural price of any unlimited
commodity is fixed by the cost of its production, including in
that cost the current rate of profit in trade. So far, therefore,
it would appear that, after all, granting time, we might bring
wages into the second category, in which bargaining avails no-
thing ; but there are here one or two remarks to be made. If
the standard of comfort be so raised that our labourer positively
will not work unless he has more food and better clothes than
last year, his prime cost is raised ; but, considering the objec-
tion that men have to starvation and the workhouse, it is im-
possible that his standard should rise, unless he has some saving
or fund to prevent his starving or to allow of emigration. This
increase in the standard of comfort held by the labourer is
analogous to the rate of profits expected by the manufacturer.
If manufacturers, as a body, determine that it really is not
worth while to produce goods except at an increased profit, the
prime cost of their produce will be increased. Manufacturers
could not act up to this determination unless they had savings
— unless they combined, and unless they could prevent compe-
tition. The workman can only raise his price on precisely the
same conditions, but he is fortunate so far, that competitors
cannot readily be produced for any skilled employment. Ulti-
mately, whenever population increases at such rate that com-
petitors are practically unlimited, and where this population can
flow without check into any skilled employment, wages must
fall to such a point that no further competitors will enter the lists.
But this increase in the number of competitors, and fall in the stan-

26 POLITICAL ECONOMY

dard required as an inducement, both depend on man's own
choice and on the standard of comfort once established. Whe-
ther, therefore, we look on wages as determined at any given
time by the law of demand and supply, or as determined in the
long-run by the cost of living, we find that the standard of
comfort expected by the men, and the possession of savings
sufficient to ward off starvation, may exercise great influence
on the value of labour.

Much has been said on the identity of the interests of capital
and labour. Well-meaning but fruitless attempts are made to
teach workmen that capital and labour are never in antagonism.
No one can deny that each needs the other ; but they have a
common interest only as the horse and his rider have a common
interest. If the horse starves the rider must walk; if the horse
jibs he must go to the knacker. So the rider feeds the horse,
and the horse carries the rider. So far they have common in-
terests ; but it is none the less true that they have opposed
interests, inasmuch as the horse would like to eat plenty of corn
and do as little work as possible ; while the rider, on the con-
trary, would be better pleased the less his horse ate and the
farther he trotted. Workmen are all the less likely to see the
common interest, if they hear the antagonism persistently
denied with what seems to them hypocrisy. They think it
monstrous that one of two parties to a bargain should be told
to shut his eyes, and open his hands and take the wages fixed
by Political Economy, which allegorical personage looks very
like an employer on pay-day. On this ground of a common
interest the workmen might as well require that all profits
should be paid to them, and that employers should thankfully
accept the share Political Economy, in the shape of a union
secretary, might think fit to award them.

Let us openly face the fact, that wages and profits on capital
are matters of bargain between men and master, and then we
shall be prepared to consider under what conditions that bar-
gain may be most advantageously made in the interests of the
whole community. Revising our argument, and confining its
application to a stationary community, we find that annually,
in addition to fixed capital employed in production, a certain
circulating capital is employed in the payment of wages to

TRADE-UAJOyS 27

productive labourers. Annually the capital and hiLour pro-
duce wealth of more value than the circulating capital. This
new wealth may be divided in an infinite variety of ways. The
same sum as before may be spent as circulating capital in the
shape of wages, and the whole excess of the wealth produced be
consumed by the capitalist as his reward for saving. But this
constancy need not be maintained ; it is equally possible that
the wealth may be divided in other proportions. What does in
practice determine the proportions ? We answer, the will of
the capitalist and of the labourer. The exercise of this free will
is subject to the heaviest penalties. The capitalist may refuse
to re-invest so large a proportion of his wealth, and may diminish
wages. His penalty may be that fewer workmen will work
— perhaps none ; his profits next year may diminish instead of
increasing, he may find no profits, and have to live by consum-
ing the capital he would fain invest. Again, if the workmen
demand a larger share, they do it at their peril ; they may get
a smaller share, they may get none. Thus a perpetual and in-
evitable strife arises as to the distribution of the wealth pro-
duced by the conjunction of labour and capital ; each party de-
clares their share to be the smallest they can possibly accept.
' I will starve or emigrate rather than take less than 36s. per
week,' says the workman. ' I will spend my wealth, or invest
it abroad or in non-productive investments unless I get 15 per
cent.,' says the capitalist.^ The sincerity of the two parties to
the bargain cannot be tested except by the practical test of a
refusal to work, or a refusal to employ workmen. It cannot be
contended that the jsroportions of distribution once fixed will
be constant, or that any natural proportion whatever does exist.
No man by reasoning beforehand can discover what rate of profit
w^ll reward a man for saving, or in other Avords, what is the
natural interest on capital. No man by reasoning a priori can
determine what food, lodging, raiment, amusement will be sufii-
cient for an artisan, or in other words, what are the natural
wages of that artisan. Both the necessary reward to induce
saving, and the standard of comfort, will vary immensely with

' There is no means in anj' one case of knowing what profit an employer
really does make ; the workman openly states his claim for so much a week ;
the employer does not state bis profit, nor can he be expected to do so.

28 POLITICAL ECONOMY

custom, education, government, climate, and indeed with every
circumstance wliicli affects man's desire for wealth.

In the assertion of their determination, the capitalists stand
at a great advantage when compared with an individual labourer
who has no accumulated savings. He must work or starve, or
break into open rebellion. When he has saved money, he may
emigrate or change his occupation, since he will have time at his
command. If many workmen at once determine not to work
below a certain standard, and if they have accumulated funds,
they stand more or less on an equal footing with the capitalist.
They can wait, and he can wait ; they suffer, and he suffers ;
the force of their determination is tested by the time during
which each will endure the loss entailed. The capitalist sees
opportunities of profits lost, he sees rivals supplanting him in
trade ; if his capital has been borrowed, he may see ruin im-
pending. The workman sees his savings vanish, he endures
privation at his home, he sees a rival workman at his bench,
he must face unknown changes, starve, or live on charity.

This torture soon settles whether really the capitalist will be
content with 14 per cent., or the workman with SO.s. Nor is there
any other test by which the proportion required to induce in-
vestment and to induce work can be settled. Workmen will
continue to think it outrageous that the capitalist will not be
content with less than 15 per cent. Masters will continue to
think it monstrous that workmen who live uncommonly well on
36s. will not work for less than 40.9. In truth, the master has
no moral obligation to save or invest capital in consideration of
any particular rate of interest, nor is it the duty of the work-
man to work at any given rate of wages. Capital and labour
are antagonists, they must fight for the spoil, but they fight
under this singular condition, which should put buttons on the
foils — if one kills the other, the victor cannot long survive ;
nay, each feels every wound he gives his foe.

We have now completed the first branch of our inquiry, and,
assuming that trade-unions can and do materially increase
wages, will proceed to consider whether combination for this
and analogous purposes ought to be permitted, and if permitted,
under what restrictions, both as to the objects sought and the
means employed to compass those objects ; in brief, what are

TRADE-UNIONS 29

or what onglit to be the rights of trade-unions, taking for our
guide the interest of the community and the laws of positive
morality.

Writers who admit that unions do and can raise wages, rarely
contend that any legal restriction should be put on what they
call the right to combine for the purpose of raising wages. Even
the Quarterh/, before venturing to recommend the abolition of
unions, undertakes to prove that they do not benefit the work-
man by increasing his pay. Workmen generally hold the most
decided belief that they have a right to combine with this ob-
ject. So they have, while the law remains unaltered, but (we
are almost afraid to write such heresy) they do not come into
the world clothed with any natural right to combine, and the
utility of these combinations to the nation is not so clear as
they think. Granting that the law forces no man to sell his
labour except on such terms as suit him (with exceptions which
do not vitiate the reasoning), it does not follow that the law
must and ought to grant a right of combination. How that
poor word ' right ' is misused ! It is perhaps hopeless to try to
explain in a few words to those who do not know it already,
that a ' right ' has any other meaning than something which
is thought nice by the person using the word. We will, how-
ever, quote a passage from Mr. Austin's work on the Province
of Jurisprudence : —

Every right supposes a duty incumbent on a party or parties
other than the party entitled. Through the imposition of that
corresponding duty, the right was conferred. Through the continu-
ance of that corresponding duty, the right continues to exist. If
that corresponding duty be the creature of a law imperative, the
right is a right properly so called. If that corresponding duty be
the creature of a law improper, the right is styled a right by an
analogical extension of the term. Consequently, a right existing
through a duty imposed by the law of God, or a right existing
through a duty imposed by positive law, is a right properly so
called. Where the duty is the creature of a positive moral rule, the
nature of the corresponding right depends upon the nature of the
rule. If the rule imposing the duty be a law imperative and proper,
the right is a right properly so called. If the rule imposing the
duty be a law set by opinion, the right is styled a right through an
analogical extension of the term. Rights conferred by the law of

30 POLITICAL ECO NT) MY

God, or rights existing through duties imposed by the law of God,
may be styled Divine. Rights conferred by positive law, or rights
existing through duties imposed by positive law, may be styled
emphatically legal. Or it may be said of rights conferred by posi-
tive law, that they are sanctioned or protected legally. The rights,
proper or improper, which are conferred by positive morality, may
be styled moral. Or it may be said of rights conferred by positive
morality, that they are sanctioned or protected morally.

No one will contend that Divine law enforces the duty of
permitting or aiding trade-unions. Positive law may or may
not, as it pleases Parliament. The whole question then as
to the right of combination depends on the question whether
there is a positive moral law imposing the duty of allowing
or sanctioning trade-unions. Positive morality is unfortu-
nately less well defined than Divine and positive law. We,
for our part, cannot admit that any positive morality sanctions
such combinations if they are injurious to the country, but will
freely grant that so far as they are beneficent to the community
they have a sanction. What we wish workmen would under-
stand is, that they have no rights other than are sanctioned by
Divine law, the law of their country, and positive morality ;
and that whether a supposed right has or has not the sanction
of positive morality is a fair matter for argument, not to be
settled by doggedly repeating a set phrase that every man has a
right to vote, or a right to combine, or a right to be comfortable,
etc. etc., but to be proved by showing that the exercise of this
right benefits the community. Especially this right to combine
is no clear matter, and always has been and ought to be con-
ferred with great caution by positive law. For instance, almost
every man has a right to walk up and down in the streets of
London, but it would be intolerable that any 500 men should
be allowed to combine, and all walk one way, blocking up the
street ; when the right to combine is granted, as to Volunteers,
the right of walking about in any direction they please is re-
stricted. Any one may go into Trafalgar Square ; but a right
to combine, even to hold a meeting, is quite another matter.
And one may carry on a trade, but if several people combine
to carry on trade, the right to combine, whether as partners,
as a joint-stock or limited liability company, is conferred with

TRADE-UNIONS 31

restrictions devised in the interest of the community. People
may think the laws affecting the joint-stock companies bad,
and may wish to change them, but no one complains that the
gi'eat powers of those companies are regulated by positive law.
If joint-stock companies were clearly injurious to the com-
munity, they might be and ought to be abolished to-morrow,
for there is no positive moral right to combine for the pur-
pose of trading, nor is there any positive moral right to com-
bine for the purpose of selling labour. Those who support
trade-unions must therefore argue thus : These unions raise
wages ; they so far benefit the community by benefiting that
section of it which is most numerous and least well off.
Diminished profits to capital cause an evil which does not
outweigh the good of increased wages, especially as there is a
limit beyond which, if wages rise, the whole payment to the
working classes will diminish, so that they will learn by experi-
ence at what point consistently with the good of the community
their wages must cease for the time to rise. Their opponents,
gi'anting, as some do, that the unions raise wages, contend that
by doing so they injure the consumer, first, by the direct
increase of cost of the goods which he buys ; and secondly,
by the indirect decrease of production likely to result from
diminished profits to capital. Unions raise prices and restrict
trade. If the prices of produce rise in all trades, the purchasing
power of the wages will remain the same, and the nominal
benefit to workmen will confer no real benefit, while the loss to
capitalists and annuitants will be doubled. It must, we think,
be admitted that if unions become very general and the wages
of the whole working classes rise, the purchasing power of the
wages will not increase so much as the nominal value of the
wages. But as the cost of produce does not wholly depend on
the wages paid in this country, nor wholly on wages paid any-
where, but partly on the profits of capital, it must equally be
admitted that the purchasing power of the wages will rise with
their nominal amount, though not equally, and there will result,
therefore, a tangible gain to the workman, and a loss to capital-
ists and annuitants. Looking at the relative position of the
rich and poor, we do not think that the permission to combine
should be withheld because it tends to diminish the present

32 POLITICAL ECONOMY

inequality of condition. Great inequality is necessary and
desirable, but it is at present great enough to admit of some re-
duction. The accusation that unions do restrict trade is also well
founded. No rationally conducted combination will so restrict
ti-ade as to diminish the total wages fund, but a rational combi-
nation may diminish the rapidity of its extension, by diminish-
ing the profits of capital. The inducement to save, and the
fund out of which new savings are made, are both diminished :
and though other reasons, such as the desire for a given income,
may tend to increase capital, still observation seems to show
that trade will extend faster with large profits and small wages
than with small profits and large wages. Is the rapid extension
of trade a permanent good ? Is it better that there shall be a
working population of twenty-five millions with small wages,
much pauperism, and great total wealth, or a population of
twenty millions, less total wealth, but good wages, and little
pauperism ? To put the question is to answer it. If unions
raise wages and the standard of comfort, the mere restriction
to an increased trade will be no evil, provided the increased
standard of comfort leads to a corresponding restriction of the
increase of population. If it do not, then indeed the temporary
gain to the fathers will be fatal to the children.

At one and the same time to diminish the increase in the
production of wealth, and increase the number among whom
the wealth is to be divided, is to insure a future generation of
paupers. Trade-unions may for once increase the share of the
workman in the profits on production, but they can only do it
once, and so soon as the limit has been reached beyond which
the wages fund under their action will decrease instead of
increasing, they can no longer benefit the workman further than
by maintaining the good they have won. When that wages
fund has reached its maximum ratio to the total produce of the
country, then every word said by Mill on the subject of the
necessary limitation to population is applicable. Trade-unions
could not maintain themselves in the face of paupers clamouring
for employment, and perhaps the clear perception which those
unions produce of the necessity of limited competition to the
wellbeing of competitors for bread, may lead even the English
workman to act on the precepts of Mill, as well as to vote for

TRADE-UNIONS 33

him and cheer him. Meanwhile, simple restriction of the ex-
tension of trade is not fer se an evil, and none of the pleas
against trade-unions founded upon it will hold water. When
the Bank of England raises its rate of discount to 6, 7, 10 per
cent, it restricts trade — unsound trade, you say; but is not
trade unsound which requires for its success that the workmen
shall be quasi paupers ? The laws on joint-stock companies, the
standing orders of the House of Commons, the determination of
any board of directors not to invest money in an undertaking
which promises to return less than 5 per cent., taxes, wars,
Factory Acts — all these things are restrictions on trade, some
wise, some inevitable ; thus, we cannot forbid actions simply
because they restrict trade, and we can see no reason why com-
binations of capitalists should be permitted to fix the rate of
interest at which they will invest their money, and combinations
of workmen forbidden to fix the rate at which they will sell
their labour. They no more restrict trade by demanding high
wages than capitalists do by demanding high profits. The same
reasoning answers the allegation that trade-unions drive away
trade. Unquestionably, if the workmen are sufficiently foolish
to persist in their demands for wages which the trade cannot
afford, they may drive away the trade ; but again, if capitalists
are so foolish as not to sell unless at a profit so great as to prevent
successful competition with other countries, they may lose their
business, ruining themselves and their workmen. We do not,
therefore, prescribe a given rate of profit as a maximum, but
trust to self-interest as the strongest of motives to prevent
such suicidal action. Workmen in practice may be found less
sensible than employers, but there is much evidence in the
Blue-Books to show that the unions do look very keenly into
the possibility of foreign competition ; and in an ideal union it
is clear that information among the men that the trade was
being lost would lead them to abate their demands

An odd fallacy has been mooted lately, chiefly by Americans,
to the effect that free-trade and high wages are incompatible —
that, in effect, free-trade tends to lower wages, and that if the
unions raise wages free-trade must be abandoned. The effect
of free-trade at any place is to reduce the price of articles
which cannot advantageously be made there, but it increases
VOL. II. D

34 POLITICAL ECONOMY

the price of articles which can be advantageously made there ;
and as under perfect free-trade no article would be produced any-
where but where it would be advantageously produced, it raises
the price paid at each place for those articles, and raises the fund
out of which wages arise. Free-trade, therefore, not only in-
creases the purchasing power of fixed wages, but actually tends
to raise wages. Thus, supposing wine can be more advantage-
ously made in France and beer in England, under free-trade
the average price of beer in the two countries will be higher
than it was in England when excluded from France, and wine
with free-trade will be dearer in the two countries than wine in
France when excluded from England. But the average price of
beer and wine in France and England will, with free-trade, be
lower than without it. The Frenchman, if he sets his heart on
alternate bottles of Bass and Beaune, will be able to purchase
them for less than before ; but the brewer of Bass and the
grower of Beaune will get more money with free-trade than
without it, and will be able to pay higher wages, until of course
by competition his profits are brought down to the average rate.
Free-trade can only depress wages of those commodities which
were already made at a disadvantage in any given place. If
this disadvantage be due to excessive wages, it will depress
wages ; but unless the manufacture can bear the average rate of
wages, it ought not to be carried on in that place. The work-
men have, therefore, in such a case to decide whether they pre-
fer to abandon their trade or to work for lower wages ; but here
again they are simply in the same position as the employer.
Free-trade tends to diminish profits on all articles which cannot
be advantageously made in a place, and so a producer of such
articles must either abandon his trade or be content with small
profits. Free-trade is good for both capital and labour when
applied to proper objects ; it is inimical to capital and labour
when improperly, that is to say wastefully, employed. It is
found expedient to allow the capitalist to consult his own inte-
rest rather than prescribe his course of action by law : and we
think it will be found equally expedient to allow the workman
to consult his interest, and to make no attempt to keep down
wages by preventing the combination necessary to allow work-
men to make a bargain.

When the right to combine is granted, it can only be granted

TRADE-UNIONS 35

in the interest of the whole community, not in the interest of the
members of any particular combination. Joint-stock companies
are allowed not in the interest of their shareholders, but because
joint-stock companies are supposed to benefit the nation. The
law granting the right ought therefore to impose limits on the
action of the combination wherever that action is hurtful to
the community, as in the case of a company, by imposing a
limit to the profits it shall divide among its shareholders. The
very first limitation to the powers of a trade-union should be
aimed at preventing any violent or sudden change in the labour
market. A sudden refusal to work causes much greater incon-
venience than a refusal to work at a future time ; it may cause
great suffering to the community, as when all cabs are with-
drawn, or when engine-drivers strike suddenly ; and it may
extort wages for a time which the capitalist would never have
given, if he had been aware, before entering on a certain course
of action, of the demand his workmen would make. This can
create no permanent rise of wages, and it does harm both to
public and to employer, driving away capital without any
advantage to the workman. No law could permit all the bakers
one day to declare that they would not sell bread under double
or treble the price charged the day before, or to declare that for
the next month they would make no bread. No law could
permit all the railway oflBcials round London to declare that
to-morrow they would not work. We need not, however, deny
to bakers and railway officials the right to combine. Let them
give six months' notice, and the public can provide against the
threatened loss or inconvenience. Any employer receiving a
six months' notice will be free to choose whether he will enter
into new engagements ; if so, on what terms : and though he
may still be fettered by old engagements, a six months' notice
will generally extricate him from any serious embarrassment.

This simple restriction, which apparently would be accepted
readily by the unions, is far from being the only one required.
A combination permitted with the object of raising wages in-
evitably uses its power to obtain collateral benefits, generally
equivalent to increased pay, though differing in form ; in fine
they bargain not only as to wages, but as to all the conditions
of tbe conti-act between man and master.

D 2

36 POLITICAL ECONOMY

All arguments in favour of permitting bargains for money
apply to bargains for other privileges, such as a diminution of
the hours of labour, the notice to be given before dismissal, the
allowance to be made for travelling, etc. But as some conditions
are illegal in any contract, we are at liberty to consider what con-
ditions shall be declared illegal in this particular class of agree-
ment between employer and workman. We assert that the con-
tract must contain no jpro vision in virtue of which the worJcman or
the master shall undertake to injure a third person ivho is no
party to the contract, and that all other conditions may properly
be made a matter of bargain. This principle will serve to dis-
tinguish the right from the wrong action of unions, when in the
next division of our subject we consider their actual practice,
as explained in the evidence before the Commissioners. Ob-
serve, we do not say that workmen must not combine to injure
other people. Masters might say that by combining to make
them pay high wages unions injured them. Consumers might
complain of high prices as an injury. Fellow-labourers thrown
out of work by a strike may complain that they suffer by the
action of the combination. Yet if a bargain is to be allowed at
all, these injuries must follow. We say that the workmen and
employers must not be allowed to agree on terms one of which
is the injury of a third person. If a contract of this form is
entered into, the workman is bribing his employer to injure
this third person. The employer wants work done ; the work-
man says, ' I will do it on these conditions : — 1st, You shall
pay me 30s. a week ; 2nd, My working hours shall not exceed
66 in each week ; 3rd, You shall turn off John Smith.' Wher-
ever, as in this case, one condition of the agreement is that a
third person shall be injured, the agreement is contrary to the laws
of positive morality, and it is and should be not only illegal, but
subject to a penalty for both the parties to such an agreement.
We need hardly have recourse to first principles to prove this,
and shall assume it as self-evident ; our only care will be to
prove that, if enforced, it is sufficient to restrict the action of
trade-unions within harmless limits.

To resume : We find that although combination to raise wages
and guard the other interests of workmen is no natural right,
it may be permitted consistently with the interests of the com-
munity, provided sudden action be prevented, which might

TRADE-UNIONS yj

both derange the necessary machinery of daily production and
traffic and also unnecessarily harass the capitalist engaged in
production ; and we further declare that the legitimate field
for the action of the combination in driving its bargain is
defined by the principle that no injury to a third person shall
form any part of that bargain.

We turn now to the description of trade-unions as they are ;
and assuming that the general scope and action of unions is
suflficiently known, we shall forthwith discuss those rules and
practices which are either certainly pernicious, or are thought
so by many writers.

The atrocious outrages detected at Sheffield, and among the
Manchester brickmakers, require little comment here ; not,
indeed, that too much can be said to show the execration in
which such crimes are held : they are only possible in societies
where the criminal is conscious of the support and aj^probation
of his associates — where the opinions of men are vile, and
their conscience degraded. It is therefore most necessary that
the thieves and murderers should know that beyond that de-
praved circle they are known and loathed as simple thieves and
murderers. We do not pass by these outrages quickly, as of small
account, but because there is no question but that they are out-
rages, that they deserve the heaviest penalties, and that further
legislation is desirable for their better prevention, detection,
and punishment. By and by we will discuss the remedies and
safeguards against these crimes ; but now, when about to
discuss the merits of various rules and practices, it were waste
time to prove that assassination, arson, theft, and the destruc-
tion of property must remain crimes, even if committed by
members of a trade-union in the interests of what they call the
trade.

Unions wholly free from outrage, and whose members neither
practise personal violence nor even intimidation, do neverthe-
less interfere with non-society men — knobsticks, as they are
called by engineers. The wretched knobstick need not fear
that he will be murdered or even beaten, but he is persecuted
nevertheless ; he is jeered at and snubbed on all possible occa-
sions ; he is betrayed to foremen for peccadilloes ; he receives
none of those little aids by which the other men lighten one
another's labour ; apprentices fetch him no beer ; he is generally

38 POLITICAL ECONOMY

rather an inferior workman, and his work receives its full due
of criticism ; he is an outcast, a pariah, and fear of personal
violence is not required to render this position a wretched one.
Some societies will not allow him to work in the same shop
with their members, even as though he tainted the air ; and
upon the whole, perhaps, these societies are the most merciful.
Workmen in general cannot be brought to see the wickedness
of their conduct towards the poor knobstick. They reason
thus : ' If he is a competent workman, and will pay a very mode-
rate subscription, we will receive him among us ; if he is not
with us he is against us ; and while he acts as our enemy, he
receives great part of the benefits we painfully gain for ourselves
by self-denial and privation ; we strike, we starve, we gain the
victories, and then this fellow who fought against us shares
the spoil. Our wages rise, and so do his, unless we can prevent
it, as we certainly will if we can by any means within the law.'
Odd as it may seem, the knobstick takes much the same view
of his own position ; he feels himself a sneak, who for money
betrays his fellows, he looks on the union with fear and long-
ing, but with reverence. He is unskilful, poor, weak, and a
traitor ; they are skilled, rich, strong, and noble ; yes, even when
they morally kick him ; for they serve a common cause, he
stands alone an outcast ; he wishes he could work better, could
scrape that entrance-money together, and pay the fine standing
against his name. Sometimes he does and feels himself a free
man at the very moment when he would generally be described
as entering into slavery.

The above description is drawn from experience among the
engineers. In trades where the union is weaker, non-society
men may meet with less contempt, and greater facilities in
joining are often held out ; and again, there are unions which
treat them much worse, refusing to work in a shop where a
single non-society man is employed. With the engineers,
every man would belong to the union if he could. In other
trades there are doubtless men who disapprove of the conduct, of
the unions, and would much rather not belong to them or
acquiesce in their proceedings, but who are nevertheless driven
into the unions by the harassing conduct above described ; but
we believe this to be a small class. In considering the treat-

TRADE- UNIONS

39

ment which the knobsticks receive, aud which is cruelly wi-oiig,
we must remember how natural that particular form of cruelty-
is to man, and how society is pervaded from top to bottom with
a similar feeling. The knobstick is the 'parvenu — the man
who has not entered the profession by the right gate. A saving
clause generally exists in favour of great merit ; and it does
take great merit to overcome the barriers erected by the actual
possessor of any patronage or privilege. Men can get into the
Ai'tillery or Engineers by competition ; does any one think a
snob could stop in those corps ? We remember very well the
case of a young man who had served his apprenticeship as pupil
to a very eminent mechanical engineer, but who was told by a
civil engineer, that whatever his merits or knowledge he must
not look forward to the position of a resident engineer on a
railway, a position worth from 250Z. to 400Z. per annum,
because he had come into the profession by a wrong gate, i.e.,
through a mechanical engineer's office, not through a civil
engineer's office. Be it in law, physic, church, army, or navy,
the man who does not come in at the right gate will be looked
upon with an evil eye. We fear the feeling is too deep-rooted
in our English nature to be met by any law to the contrary.
Great merit of course overcomes the feeling, and wins regard in
spite of all restrictions, and this more readily among cultivated
than uncultivated men ; but shall we not feel greater indigna-
tion at the physician who refuses to attend a case where a
midwife has been employed, than at a workman who declines
to work beside a knobstick ?

While we frankly allow that there is no hope of obtaining
full justice for the non-society man wherever unions are strong,
we can point out one great distinction between the cases of
oppression among gentlemen and those among workmen. The
social indignities heaped on the victim are the same in both
cases ; but the workmen often go further — they make a bargain
with their employer that he shall join in the persecution, that as
one consideration received in return for their labour they shall
be able to shut the door against their weak competitor. They
thus bribe the employer to deprive workmen of the wages they
could otherwise gain. This action falls distinctly within the
rule which we laid down, that no compact should be allowed,

40 POLITICAL ECONOMY

one condition of which was the injury of a third party. Neither
master nor man should be suffered to agree to a rule excluding
the knobstick ; we fear he will be excluded by the system of
contumely, after all has been done that can be done for him,
but we can at least protect him against positive enactments.

The case of labourers employed to do the work of skilled
artisans is closely analogous but not identical. Perhaps some
of our readers may not be aware of the great distinction in
social status between the artisan and the labourer. In works
on political economy the labourer means a man who lives by the
labour of his hands, but in workmen's language a labourer
means a man of wholly different and much lower standing than
the skilled workman. The labourer in each trade does the
work requiring comparatively little skill, but much strength and
hard work, and in workshops the line between labourers and
artisans or mechanics is as clear and as strongly drawn as that
between employers and workmen. Not that a labourer is
necessarily or generally a mere beast of burden without any
skill ; on the contrary, an engineer's labourer or a bricklayer's
labourer requires considerable training ; and so it is in each
branch of trade. Castom has partitioned the work between two
classes, one receiving nearly twice the wages of the other, and
consisting of men with some education, men who dress in a
good black coat on Sundays, and who look on the other or
labouring class as one with whose members they cannot asso-
ciate out of the workshop, while in the workshop the labourers
are treated as servants. Labourers have sometimes foremen of
their own ; they have unions also, in emulation of their betters ;
but the labourer and mechanic are as different as the mechanic
and the gentleman. This being the relation between the two
classes, it is a mortal sin in a labourer to presume to encroach
on the field which the mechanic arrogates to himself. Of course
labourers, by seeing mechanics constantly at work, are fre-
quently able to do the simpler parts of the work as well as they.
Woe to the labourer who is caught doing the work of his betters ;
he will not be beaten, any more than a gentleman's servant
wearing his master's clothes will be thrashed, but he will n^t
long keep his employment. The subdivision of the work into
two categories has come about in the interest of all concerned.

TRADE- UNIONS 4 1

It has analogies in the distinctions between apothecaries,
general practitioners, and physicians, between solicitors and
barristers. It would be very inconvenient in any workshop if
the labourers were generally looking to promotion as mechanics,
nor will they ever desire it as a body ; but precisely as there
should be no legal impediment to a practitioner who wished to
become a physician, or to a solicitor who wished to become a
barrister, so there should be no legal, or rather illegal, disabilities
preventing a labourer from changing his condition or work.
Few of the unions, we imagine, would object to this; they object
to a labourer who remains a labourer, but does odds and ends of
their work. The objection will never be eradicated, but judged
by our rule the men would not be justified in striking against
the employment of one or more labourers in ways of which
they did not approve.

There is yet one more form of interference with competition :
those who will not work on certain conditions, who are on
strike, bribe other men who are willing to work, not to do so.
This is indefensible, according to the rule laid down. The
union must not contract with any man, or body of men, to the
injury of" a third person — the master. If this simple rule could
therefore be enforced against men and masters, it would pre-
vent strikes against non-society men, and against the employ-
ment of labourers to do any special class of work. It would
remove the disabilities which, under unions as they are, do
weigh on labourers and similar competitors in the labour
market, and it would abolish the system of buying off competing
workmen during strikes. The coercion of non-society men by
what are sometimes called moral means would remain ; but
against this society at large is powerless in all ranks ; and we
warn all those who fancy that the unions are oligarchies ruling
tyrannically a disaffected multitude outside the pale, that the
competition of outsiders against the societies will not be much
more active than at present, when all coercion is at an end : for
incredible as it may seem, trade-unions are looked up to by the
mass of workmen of all grades as the champions of labour,
whose rules may injure individuals here and there, but on the
whole benefit the great majority.

From what precedes it is already apparent that, in bargain-

42 POLITICAL ECONOMY

ing as to wages, unions think it their business to settle many-
coll literal conditions ; and, in fact, no relation between employer
and employed escapes their vigilance. At first sight, all men
who pique themselves on being liberal, are disposed to concede
to workmen the right of refusing to work unless the conditions
of the employment suit them as well as the wages ; but a little
consideration has already shown us that we cannot allow men
to stipulate for any conditions whatever. We will now point
out some of those conditions which are indefensible, but which
have been claimed, ay, and established, by the workmen.

Sometimes the societies choose the materials the masters
shall employ, such as the size and make of bricks, or the quality
of stone to be used. Sometimes they choose the place where
the materials shall be prepared for use, as when they refuse to
set stones worked at the quarry instead of at the building.
Sometimes they refuse to allow the employment of certain
machinery. Sometimes they claim the right of dismissing their
own superior officers, as their foremen. Sometimes they even
choose the means of transport of the materials to be used,
refusing to fix bricks brought on a given canal, or by a given
carter. They even claim a veto over contractors, and sometimes
architects. In fine, it is hard to say in what matter affecting
their employer they will not occasionally interfere, when it is
their interest to do so.

These claims are selected from isolated instances in special
trades; they do not represent the general conduct of unions,
and it must be singularly galling to workmen to find every
instance of unjust action discovered in any petty branch or trade
attributed to the general policy of their societies. On the
contrary, many skilled artisans will not hesitate to denounce
interference in every case above cited as unjust and intolerable.
The difficulty is to show this to the more ignorant workman,
who replies doggedly, ' I have a right to do what I please with
my own labour, and will not work if you get bricks from Jones
less than four inches thick, or stones ready dressed from
Eobinson's quarries, or if Smith cuts them, or if Green is to be
foreman, or if you use barrows instead of hods.' We answer,
' 0 dogged objector ! you have not a right to do what you
please with your own, but only to do that which is laAvful, and

TRADE-UNIONS 43

it shall not be lawful for you to use your labour as a payment to
your employer for injuries wliich you wish to inflict on Brown,
Jones, Robinson, Green, and the customer who wants 2^ inch
bricks. You must not spend your money standing outside your
grocer's door, and paying all who come there sixpence each, on
condition that they shall deal elsewhere. A bargain between
two people to injure a third is a conspiracy, and you shall not
sell your labour on those most objectionable conditions.' The
ground commonly taken against these and similar conditions,
that they are contrary to free-trade and injurious to customers,
though true as far as it goes, is insufficient. Our dogged brick-
layer asks if he and his employer are not to be free to agree on
any conditions they please, and calls that free-trade. It is true
that we cannot pretend to prevent everything injurious to
customers. High wages and high profits are injurious to cus-
tomers ; we do not interfere with these in general ; but from
the principle of preventing a contract between two parties, con-
taining a condition injurious to a third party, the impropriety
of all the above claims follows as a simple consequence. If our
bricklayer does not see it, he must be made to see it.

The case of one trade striking in suppoi^t of another, as
masons in support of bricklayers, offers greater difficulty,
supposing the original strike to be for a legitimate object.
If the support were bought by one trade from another, the
action would be illegal. The masons' union must not contract
with the bricklayers' union to injure the master for a considera-
tion obtained from the bricklayers ; but if the masons received
no consideration, specified or implied, we do not see that they
could be prevented from supporting their colleagues. So far as
their contract with their employers is concerned, they are at
liberty to make an advantage to a third party one of the condi-
tions of the contract. They may say to the employers, ' You
shall pay me five shillings a day, and that mason one shilling
extra, or I will not work for you.' The hours of labour, the
conditions on which notice of dismissal shall be given, the regu-
lations as to lost time, allowances for walking, for travelling, are
all proper subjects for negotiation, and may fitly be included in
any contract.

The rules of a workshop include all these matters, but

44 POLITICAL ECONOMY

they include otliers which are uncondenined by the principle
hitherto employed to distinguish good from evil. These are
the rules as to over-time, piece-work, and the standard rate
of wages — all vexed questions. The standard rate of wages is
differently interpreted by men and masters. The men say
' it is a minimum below which no one of our members shall
work, and we will take care to have no members much below
the average. If we do not carefully select our members as
competent workmen, they will not find employment at all at our
standard rate. We shall then have to support these incompetent
members out of our own funds ; we are therefore bound, under a
very stringent penalty, to admit none but competent workmen,'
The masters, on the other hand, declare the so-called minimum
to be virtually a maximum, fixed so high that they cannot afford
to give the best workmen more than the standard rate, because
they have to pay the inferior men more than their value. They
also allege that the men interfere to prevent skilled workmen
obtaining higher wages. This the men deny, we think with
truth, alleging that masters are not at all in the habit of offering
superior men higher wages. The masters allege that they would
more often do so if they were not afraid that the rise would be
made a pretext for a demand for an increased standard rate ;
they also express great compassion for the inferior workmen,
who, not being worth the standard rate, cannot get employment
at all. On this last point all grievance would cease if there
were no coercion against non-society men. The inferior work-
man would simply not join the society, and the master could
then pay him what he pleased. We doubt whether the best
masters would be very anxious to see him in their shops. We
think the men have here the best of the argument, and that
the masters are hardly candid in speaking of bargains with
individual men. Such bargains never have been common.
New workmen are almost always engaged at the current rate
for average workmen, and either kept or dismissed without
material change in those wages, unless the rate changes. Mr.
Smith in his evidence, in answer to a leading question, says,
' he ' (the employer) ' would not bargain with each individual
man,' but points out that if he wanted more workmen he would
instruct his foreman to offer ^d. a day extra, that is to say, over

TRADE-UNIONS 45

the current rate of wages. Even Mr. Mault, who acted as a
kind of advocate, with a brief against the unions, speaks of the
' current rate of wages.' The separate bargain with each man,
except in extreme cases, has never obtained, and never will.
No satisfactory evidence was brought showing that men of extra
skill did receive higher wages without unions than with unions,
and the case against unions as levelling the men broke down,
though urged almost with importunity by the Commissioners.

No workmen came forward to say, ' I shou.ldhave 5s. a week
more but for the unions.' There is good evidence that highly
skilled woi-kmen in unions do receive more than less skilled
workmen.^ This point would be a small one if no coercion were
used to non-society men, as these ambitious workmen would
quit the union if they thought it retarded their progress ; but it
is certainly to be regretted that all the unions do not act upon
a simjjle principle involved in the carpenters' and joiners' trade-
rules, recently adopted at Birmingham : ' The ordinary rate of
wages for skilled operatives of the various branches to be G^cZ.
per hour. Superior and inferior workmen to be rated by the
employer or foreman.'

The middle-class public greatly misapprehend the question
of extra skill. In such professions as the law or physic extra
skill has an enormous extra value. The best advice may be
worth 100 guineas, when the average advice is only worth
one. The difference in skill between workmen is not at all
after this manner. If the average workman be worth 35s., the
very best will not be worth more than 40s. The difference in
wages usually given does not generally exceed a shilling or two
per week. The great advantage given by skill is certainty of

' The assertion that unions wish to reduce good and bad men to one level
is continually repeated, but we find no corroborative evidence anywhere.
Masters say that they are afraid of giving good workmen extra wages, lest
this should lead the men to expect a general rise. They also say, they can-
not afford to give extra pay when the general rate is high. Neither state-
ment bears on the workman's wish for equality. Neither with nor without
unions is there any machinery of competition by which the man of extra
skill can enforce full extra payment, because of the understanding between
masters that one shall not entice away the other's best hands. The objection
to piece-work is due to no objection to skill ; if there be any such objection,
it can only exist in some local or small trades, and we are really curious to
know how the cry arose.

46 POLITICAL ECONOMY

employment. The highly skilled workman is always spoken of
by middle-class writers as a man anxious and likely to rise in
the world. This is untrue ; the men who rise do not rise in
virtue of their skill as workmen, but because they possess other
qualities far more valuable, and which, in fact, are rarely found
in combination with extreme skill at the bench. The evidence
given before the Commission has failed to show that skilled
workmen think themselves aggrieved, or that the unions have
prevented workmen from rising. In general, all allegations on
the part of masters that unions are baneful to their members
must be received with great caution. The members of unions
are extremely well satisfied with them, as any one mixing with
workmen will soon discover. In fine, if unions are to bargain,
they can only bargain for the standard rate of wages ; they may
refuse to allow their own members to receive less, taking the risk
of having to support incompetent members. It is wrong that
skilled workmen should be prevented from gaining in unions
as much as they would out of the union, and this is, in fact, not
practised ; if it were and if the highly skilled men chose to
remain in the unions without coercion, we fail to see how we
can interfere to prevent their working at less wages than they
are worth. The complaint that unions made men indolent
seems also based on misconception. Many masters complain
that men are lazy, and declare that unions make them lazy. It
is undeniable that men who are tolerably certain of employment
will not work so hard as men to whom loss of employment means
pauperism. If, therefore, unions have made and do make men
more independent and less liable to starve, they probably do
make them less industrious ; but though hard work is good, we
doubt the propriety of keeping men poor in order that they may
work the harder. As a proof of indolence, masters cite the
general dislike of over-time avowed by trade-unions.

The question of over-time is thoroughly misunderstood by
the general public. By refusing to work more than ten hours,
or even eight hours a day, a man may put his employer to spme
inconvenience ; he may make less money than if he worked
fourteen or sixteen hours per diem, and indirectly he may in-
crease the cost of articles to the consumer ; but surely if he
can by working eight hours each day gain as much money as

TRADE-UNIONS 47

he requires, society lias no right to ask him to work longer ;
when he bargains with his master that he shall not be made
to work longer, this condition, so far from being directly inju-
rious to any thii'd party, is beneficial to his fellow-workmen,
since more of them will be employed than if he worked sixteen
hours each day. Bat, says the Press, he ought to be energetic,
hard-working ; he ought not to be satisfied with what he can
earn in eight hours. Why not ? Is contentment so great a
crime ? The country will never progress if our workmen be-
come indolent, it is said. True enough ; but what is indolence ?
Do you for the progress of the country desire that workmen
shall work eight, ten, twelve, or sixteen hours each day ? Is
it not perhaps quite as well that 1,000 men should work
hard for ten hours a day, as 800 should work for fourteen, or
even 700 for sixteen hours each ? ' Ah ! but,' says the middle-
class lawyer, ' where should I have been if I had not worked late
every night for years ; and what a shame it is to prevent the
ambitious workman from pushing his way by hard work too ; or
suppose he has a large family, as I have, what an atrocious thing
is this that a trade society shall tell him No, you must not work
extra hours to gain enough to support and start your sons and
daughters in life ! These trade-unions are levellers, foes to merit
and progress.' Gentlemen who reason thus know neither the
objects nor the habits of workmen. If any individual who
pleased could work over-time without entailing equal work on
all his fellows, there would be little or no objection to over- time ;
but if over-time is made at all, it must be made by a large pro-
portion of the men employed in a shop. The engine must be
at work, the gas burning, the time-keeper at the gate, the fore-
man present; and does any one suppose this can be done
for an odd man here and there, who wishes to get on, or earn
extra pay ? No ; the rule in a shop is, that all or none work
over-time. Of course, one branch of the shop, as the pattern-
makers, may not be working extra hours, though the erecters
are ; but the work in any branch of the shop where over-time is
made must be in full swing, or over-time would not pay the
masters. Over-time, gentlemen, means this : — You are eno-ao-ed
at a salary to work in an office from 9 to 5, which most of
you think long hours. One day your employer comes into the

48 POLITICAL ECONOMY

office and says to you, ' For the next six months you must all
come back after dinner, and work from 7 to 10 every evening ;
of course you will be paid for your extra hours at an increased
rate.' The consternation in the office would be great ; here and
there one of you would like it, but to the mass it would be intoler-
able. They could not go out to dinner or to the theatre ; they
would have to give up their reading at home ; they could not
see their friends ; and if this sort of thing were to go on year
after year, and become the rule, not the exception, most of you
would look out for lighter work and less pay. Over-time,
habitual over-time we mean, is due to the simplest possible
cause. It allov/s employers to make more money, with a given
fixed capital. Suppose that their works are large enough to
turn out 50 locomotives per annum, with men working ten hours
a day ; then if the men work fourteen hours a day, the works may
perhaps turn out 60 or 65 locomotives per annum. The profits
on the capital invested will therefore be so much increased,
that for the extra hours wages can be profitably paid at a
higher rate — at time and a quarter, or time and a half, in tech-
nical language. Masters say, as Mr. Smith says in his evidence,
their works are not elastic, and if they get extra orders they
must work extra time. As brick walls are not elastic, they
stretch flesh and blood, and it being, as we have shown, clearly
their interest to keep their productive powers at a maximum,
they keep flesh and blood somewhat tightly stretched, so that
in many works the habitual hours are from 6 in the morn-
ing to 8 at night, and in some from 6 to 10. Unions have
opposed this, and most properly so. It is better for the
men and better for the country that a larger number of men
should be employed for the smaller number of hours. Never
mind how the men employ their leisure ; we will neither assume
with some that they pass it in laudable courses of study, nor
with others that they pass it in the pothouse ; independently of
all these really irrelevant arguments, we say there is no reason
why workmen as a body should not decline to work more than
a given number of hours, provided in those hours they can
make the wages they require. It may be inconvenient to a few
of their number not to have the opportunity of making more,
but it would be intolerable that a large mass of workmen

TRADK-UNIOXS 40

slioultl, niglit after night and year after year, have all of them
to work till 10 o'clock, in order that 1 per cent, of their
number should rise to be a master, or that even 5 per cent.,
with extra large families, should be more at their ease. In
truth, the middle-class mind is so imbued with the one longing
to get on, that they cannot conceive a healthy state of society in
which the members are actually contented with their position.
Your middle-class man must make his way and end his days with
greater means, and in a higher rank of society, than his father,
or he has failed. Nay, such is the struggle, that unless he
steadily strives to advance he will recede, and, falling back,
will come to real ruin and privation. Failing to perceive the
happier condition of skilled workmen, who need not struggle at
all, and who scoff at the idea that to become a draughtsman or
a clerk is an advance, the middle class think, as Mr. Glad-
stone said at Oldham, that the best condition of things for the
labouring classes is that in which it shall be easiest for the able
or the diligent man to rise out of it. What a blunder is this !
On the contrary, the best state for the working man is that in
which he can be good, happy, and well off, remaining in that
state. Not one in a thousand can ever hope to rise, and we must
not legislate for this unit, but for the 999 who desire no better
than to do their duty in the condition of life in which they
were born, not out of it — which last is the whole aim of the
educated Englishman.

We have spoken of habitual over-time ; as to occasional over-
time in the face of a real emergency, no union ought to object to
it, and we think few do, unless there be some standing quarrel.
We have known a gang of a dozen shipwrights work thirty-six
hours on a stretch, ay, and work hard too, and be back at their
work after one night's rest. No indolence this, nor any un-
common case ; but then the men must feel that there is a real
occasion calling for extra exertion.

Piece-work is no better understood than over-time. In some
places, and in many trades, as at Birmingham in the hardware
trades, the men ivill have piece-work, and decline to be paid by
the day. There some masters deprecate piece-work. In other
trades and other places, the men set their face against piece-
work, and there the masters uphold it. This is no accusation
VOL. II. E

50 POLITICAL ECONOMY

against either party ; what answers bsst for the masters does not
alwajs answer best for the men, and vice versa. Unlike over-
time, piece-work has its good as well as bad points. The clever,
hard-working, and ingenious workman, who contracts to do a
given piece of work for a fixed price, will work harder and
make more money than a man working by the day. His in-
vention is also called into play, and various clever devices in
aid of work are continually invented by men working by the
piece. They make tools specially adapted to the job, and get-
ting handy, often turn out the work, done well, and with
surprising quickness. A master will then often diminish the
contract price ; the man grumbles a little, but submits, so long
as it is his interest to do so ; and in good workshops, there is a
kind of honourable understanding that men at piece-work shall
be allowed to make time and a third ; that is to say, at the end
of the week their profits will not be considered excessive if they
receive one-third more than men in receipt of daily wages. So
far, piece-work is distinctly beneficial. Men working by the
day do not like it, for it makes them seem lazy ; they therefore
urge against it, that it tends to make men scamp work, i.e.,
do it only just well enough to pass, and that where work
cannot be thoroughly inspected this scamping is carried very
far. This is probably true, but it would apply to all con-
tracts; and with all submission to the workmen, we do not
think that their zeal for good work would lead them to op-
pose the practice very resolutely. No rules against using
inferior kinds of iron or unseasoned wood appear to be issued
by the societies, and the secretaries would no doubt say these
matters rested between the employers and their customers, so that
zeal against the bad work due to a particular plan of payment
seems uncalled for. In truth, piece-work has some tendency to
diminish wages in certain trades, and also tends to make men
work harder ; and as the average man dislikes low wages and
hard work, he opposes piece-work, to the detriment undoubtedly
of the skilful hard-working man. This is much to be regretted,
and might drive the skilful man out of the unions, if there was
no moral coercion keeping him in. We do not see how legis-
lation can force a body of men to take contracts rather than
wages. We can only provide legal protection for those men who

TRADE- UNIONS 51

prefer a contract to a salary. No general rule about piece-work
can be laid down. Where articles are made by thousands, not
by tens, piece-work tends to raise wages. Men become very ex-
pei-t, so that their labour is worth more ; they do work at home
also, and keep their tools and inventions secret ; and the master
well knows that paying by the day he would get less for his
money, even if the earnings of the workmen were less per week.
In these cases piece-work is the rulc; not the exception ; and
yet it has some very bad effects. It prevents any modification
in the design and pattern of the articles produced. The workmen
either flatly refuse to make the new design, or finding by a few
trials how much longer it takes them to make than the old form,
they demand such an exorbitant price that the manufacturer
prefers to keep in the old rut. Birmingham is, we believe,
losing her pre-eminence in the hardware market partly if not
mainly in consequence of this vicious system of payment re-
straining invention and progress, while both in America and on
the Continent the quality of work and the patterns used have
greatly improved. Thus in laying down the law about piece-
work, general rules must be avoided, and the attention directed
to the special customs of each trade.

As an instance of misconception due to ignorance of special
customs, we may remind our readers of a paragraph which
went the round of the papers, stating that the union of engineers
had a rule under which a man making any extra profit by piece-
work was forced to share that profit among all his mates, though
they were simply receiving daily wages. What a picture this
raised of a hard-working man who, before he could make one
shilling for himself, had to gain a pound for twenty other idle
people ! The explanation turns upon a special form of contract
devised for the convenience of men and masters, and applicable,
for instance, to the erection or putting together of a locomotive
engine, the parts of which have been prepared in the fitting-
shop and boiler-shed. A gang of half a dozen men may be em-
ployed to erect the engine, and these work under a leading hand.
The employer finds it his interest to let the erection of the
engine as a contract to this gang, who undertake to finish the
work for a fixed sum, say 60^. The contract is not, however,
made in form between the half-dozen men, who have no cor-.

52 POLITICAL ECONOMY

porate capacity, but with the leading hand as their representa-
tive. As it would be very inconvenient to the men to wait for
the completion of the job before receiving payment, they are
each paid the usual weekly wages, and the balance due to them
when the work is done is paid to the leading hand for distribu-
tion. He is sometimes, indeed generally, allowed by his mates
rather a larger share than he would get if the division were
made strictly according to the wages at which each man is rated
in the shops. It appears that some leading hands took it into
their heads that they might keep the balance to themselves, as
probably at law they might have a right to do. The union
very properly stopped this. All the men are working by the
piece, and all should make like profit. If any one of them
skulked his work, the others would either force him to quit the
gang, or at the least would take care never to work associated
with him again. This was explained to the Commission by Mr.
Allan, but it was apparently not very clearly understood.

The limitation of apprentices is a common but not universal
rule among trade-unions— the object being to keep up wages by
preventing competition. This condition directly injures all ap-
prentices who are excluded under it, and we think it therefore
an improper condition in the contract between master and man.
It is highly valued by the men as a very powerful means of
raising wages ; and while they admit that this is the general
scope of the rule, they defend their conduct by several argu-
ments which deserve consideration. First, they say that they
are willing to enter into a bargain to work for their masters, but
not to teach ; that they do not, in fact, impose this condition
injurious to a third party, but simply refuse to enter into
a special subsidiary contract to teach, that being no essential
part of their business. This is so far a sound argument, that we
think it would be unanswerable if they would allow masters to
employ apprentices in distinct rooms, taught by workmen who
did not share this objection to the education of competitors ;
but neither masters nor men will look at this as a practical issue
from the difficulty. Unless, therefore, the men allow appren-
tices to work along with them they do exclude young men from
the trade, and make their injury a condition upon which the
society man will work. Another argument is, that if no limita-

TRADE-UNIONS 53

tion were imposed wages would fall so rapidly that really the
benefit to those admitted into the trade would vanish, and that
the union is acting kindly in preventing lads from embarking
in a trade in such numbers as would prevent them from ever
earning a comfortable livelihood. Specious this, but false — as
most arguments are which attempt to prove that a rule devised
for your own benefit really benefits the person against whom
it is aimed. It would no doubt be pleasant for skilled work-
men to possess a monopoly of their trades, and only to admit
such numbers as would keep their wages at a comfortable rate.
Administered with a little good sense, such a rule as this would
insure the existence of a class of well-to-do artisans ; — but how
about those excluded ? No monopoly can be allowed for the
benefit of a privileged class of workmen who are to administer
the patronage as seems good to them, regardless of the poverty
of all applicants whom they refuse. "Workmen compare their
trades to ships, which when full can receive no more with com-
fort ; but if a ship's crew, finding a crowd of famished creatures
on an island, told them, ' Really, good people, we should be most
inconveniently crowded if you came on board ; why, we should
have to be put on short rations, and yon know you would not
like that yourselves ; ' the answer would be — ' Have pity on us ;
short rations are not starvation, overcrowding is not abandon-
ment ; ' and the crew would deserve hanging who left the
wretches behind rather than sacrifice some comfort. A low
standard of comfort, implying low wages, is an evil and a great
evil ; but it is a worse evil to create an artificially high standard
among the few, to the detriment of the many. Of course, rules
which simply prevented the accumulation of an undue number
of lads in one shop would be defensible enough, and educa-
tional restrictions might also be permitted, analogous to those
which fence round most of the learned professions. These
restrictions do limit competition ; but the members of the
several professions do not simply select j>roj)rio motii who shall
and who shall not be free to enter these professions. Mr.
Roebuck told at Sheffield a pitiful story of an orphan lad • sup-
posed to have suffered exclusion under one of these arbitrnry

' It so happens, the had was not excluded, but the uni>n did a'-k for his
exclusion.

54 POLITICAL ECONOMY

rules determining who may and who may not become an
apprentice. It is a pity he should have used an argument so
easily answered. All rules, all laws, however beneficial on the
whole, work hardly in individual cases, and workmen know this
as well as Mr. Roebuck ought to know it.

We have now discussed the main rules of trade-unions — some
bad, some indifferent, some good. There are minor regulations
about which a great fuss has been made. Here and there a
rule is found that members shall not speak to employers, which
simply is an endeavour to stop talebearing ; there is here and
there a rule against chasing, which means that some men have
been suspected of maliciously, or for extra pay, driving their
mates to work harder than was pleasant, by showing what they,
the chasers, could do ; — wrong, no doubt, and meaning that work-
men squabble sometimes in an undignified manner, but having
no reference whatever to the really skilled workman, who is
honoured in and out of unions by all men. Then there are
lists of black sheep here and there. Some masters copied this
practice by the way, but explained that their black sheep got
white in time, whereas the men's black sheep were dyed in
grain ; but the men explained that their black sheep would be
bleached by the payment of a fine ; and indeed, that these por-
tentous lists mean that if a sinner is repentant, he must pay a
fine varying say from 2s. 6d. to 21., according to the enormity
of his offence, before be can once again be admitted as a lamb
into the fold — many of those fines being simply safeguards
against the intermission of the weekly payments whenever the
said sheep preferred not to pay them. It is preposterous to
make a fuss about these trivial matters. Let us settle on some
rational principle, how far the action of unions may extend on
really important points, and leave the management of brick-
layers' etiquette to bricklayers, and smile rather than frown
when we hear that a man may be fined 6d. for tattling.

Passing from the examination of the rules, with their merits
and demerits, we will say a few words as to their administration.
On this point there is as great a difference between the practice
of various unions and various trades as between man and man.
Such societies as the Amalgamated Engineers or the Amalga-
mated Joiners and Carpenters fight with courtesy when they

TRA DE- UNIONS 5 5

think they must fight, and enforce their rules against peccant
brethren with justice and without rancour. Of course where
there are opposing interests there will be disputes, and where
there are disputes there will be some recrimination ; but after
reading Mr. Mault's attack and Mr. Applegarth's reply, we con-
clude that masters have little cause to blame these unions of
superior workmen. The executive council and secretaries are
really superior men, and prevent instead of fomenting strikes.
The masons do not stand so high ; bricklayers lower still ; with
them may be classed plasterers ; and when we reach brick-
layers' labourers and brickmakers we reach the realm where
violence and outrage are used as the sanction of trade rules.
In the better societies, moderate fines or exclusion from the
society are ample securities against any infraction of the
laws. It is not till we reach Sheffield and the grinding trades
that we find the payment of arrears enforced by maiming and
murder. The wretches do not see when they whine a com-
plaint that they are driven to it ; having no legal redress
against defaulters, they pronounce the condemnation of their
unions. Exclusion should be and is the bitterest punishment in
the better unions, even though exclusion is followed by no neces-
sary loss of work. The grinders dare not exclude their members.
A club or an insurance office need never sue for arrears. Ex-
pulsion is a very simple remedy, entirely in their own hands ;
and unless expulsion be felt as a punishment, the club is of
no benefit to the member. There is evidence to show that
the better class of unions facilitate arbitration upon disputed
points, and settle rules with the masters more easily than can
be done when the workmen are disorganised. It is natural
enough that masters should resent having to settle any rules at
all, and having to meet the unions as their equals, with whom
they are to bargain, discussing every condition of the contract
as if with a brother capitalist. They naturally regret the good
old tiines when the workman was a servant, often a trusted and
devoted servant, but still a servant who must do as he was told.
That is past, and the world will not turn back, so it is useless
to discuss whether or not a reverse motion would, on the whole,
be profitable. The old form of good feeling as between master
and dependent is gone, but it is quite possible that good feeling

56 POLITICAL ECONOMY

in a new form should grow up. We hope and expect that it
will ; but so long as masters try to crush the unions, and to
detach men from them, this new kind feeling is impossible.
The sincere attachment of men to their unions admits of no
rational doubt. Over and over again employers have tried to
put an end to unions by declaring that they would employ no
union men ; as often unions have come out of the struggle
more vigorous than ever. Men will starve, they will emigrate ;
they have starved, they have emigrated, rather than abandon
these institutions. Men trust in them, as they trust in them-
selves, with a thorough British self-reliance. A Frenchman
clamours for work and protection from his Government, or
from his master. They look for their benefits from the head
of the establishment as they look for benefits at the hands of
the Government. Englishmen are too self-reliant to follow
any similar course of life. The English workmen ask nothing
but wages and respect from their employers ; and from the
Government they ask leave to be allowed to manage their
own affairs. They organise themselves and govern them-
selves on a small scale, as Great Britain a,t large is governed
on a large scale ; and, when organised, they say little about the
rights of man, or communism, or principles of any kind. They
want good wages, and where the shoe pinches they try to ease
it. They have done so with so much success, and have had so
much pleasure in managing their own affairs, that they feel a
loyalty to their unions akin to that felt by the middle classes to
Parliament. To deny this feeling shows ignorance, to ignore
it folly. Would that the workmen felt towards our Govern-
ment what they feel for the unions ; they may come to feel this,
and if they do England will be stronger than she is now. It is
the fashion to speak of the workmen as tools in the hands of
secretaries and delegates, who foment strikes to their own profit.
Among the lower trades the men may be in the hands of low
men, though probably even there the governors truly represent
the governed. The large unions are no more in the hands of
their leaders than England is in the hands of Parliamentary
leaders. The unions have their Gladstones and Disraelis m
2nirvo, no doubt, but these are representative men ; and the
constitution of a union is siuRularlv well suited to secure an

TRADE- UN JONS 57

accurate representation of the feelings of a majority, and a full
expression to the opinions of a minority. The ofheers are
elected by universal suffrage, and all decrees are passed in the
same manner. This, we allow, affords small guarantee for a
true expression of feeling. Shareholders may all vote, but
directors govern ; fellows of learned societies elect, but the
councils choose. But why ? Because of the great difficulty in
organising any opposition, in finding a nucleus round which
discontented members can rally. But trade-unions are divided
into many branches, each with a committee and local secretary,
each holding a separate meeting, generally in a separate town,
before any vote is given. Thus the carpenters have 1 90 branches,
the engineers 308 branches ; and any discontented branch can
express its opposition, and can make known its feelings to all
other branches, while the executive council or committee can
never personally explain their motives, or personally influence
more than a very few branches. No better plan could be devised
against the growth of dictation ; and except in small local
societies we see no signs of dictatorship. In the large
societies the accounts are regularly printed, distributed, and
scrutinised by every branch ; and each one has a direct interest
in preventing a misapplication of funds by any of the others.
The incomes of six of the societies concerning which evidence
was given before the Commissioners, ranged from 2,700/. per
annum to nearly 87,000/. per annum. Is not the collection
and successful administration of these funds a very striking
proof of the powers of self-government possessed by work-
men ?

Not an instance of malversation in these societies was brought
before the Commissioners ; no workmen appeared to complain
that they were defrauded ; no complaint was made of any
difficulty in collecting the funds. The accounts appear to be
well kept, and the expenses of management were not shown to
l)e excessive. (The siuall local societies, such as those in Sheffield,
differ toto ccelo from the account just given.) The monthly
circulars published by the leading societies are very creditable
documents. They record the votes given on all questions by all
the branches. They contain the reports from all branches of the
state of trade in the several districts ; also the number of sick

58 POLITICAL ECONOMY

and the number out of employment in each place, with the amount
of relief distributed from the funds of the union. The decisions
of the executive council and resolutions of branches are also
printed. A number of the circular or report issued b}^ the
Amalgamated Joiners and Carpenters, taken at hazard, contains,
besides the above official matters, an account of the presentation
of a testimonial to a gentleman who had rendered assistance in
courts of arbitration ; a suggestion that technical education
might prove one of the benefits of trade-unions, with a resolu-
tion of the executive council in support of the suggestion ;
a report of a speech by Mr. Grenfell, M.P., on trade-unions,
urging the stock doctrines of political economy ; a portion of a
paper on trade societies and co-operative production, by Mr.
Ludlow ; some short account of co-operation in America ; re-
ports of the proceedings at branch anniversaries, with the
accompaniments of loyal toasts, evergreens, and allegorical de-
signs, such as Justice trampling outrage under foot, and holding
a balance with a scale on which the word ' Arbitration ' is
inscribed. Next comes a letter from the operative bricklayers
of Burslem, who mean well, though the style of their secretary
is cloudy. He says of trade-unions : —

Although they may in some instances have exceeded the bounds
of discretion, and perhaps acted tyrannically, yet, as a body of men,
they must execrate the conduct of such officials as those of Sheffield
and Manchester, believing that education (compulsory or otherwise)
would have prevented such a state of things — as witness those trades
where the greatest amount of it exists.

Inarticulate this, but good. The report concludes with an open
column, containing letters from their members. One letter sug-
gests a plan for a co-operative society ; one advocates a reform
in the method of voting ; and one calls for a trade directory.
We ai*e tempted to give this last letter m extenso. The style of
the joiner differs considerably from that of the bricklayer.

Brother Members, — At a time when trade is generally in a
very depressed state throughout the country, it may not altogether
be out of place to consider whether we cannot aflbrd some additional
facilities to those of our members who aiv, unfortunately compelled
to search for employment.

TRADE-L'XIOXS 59

I have heard many members state the difficulty they have ex-
perienced in finding out the workshops whenever they have ventured
into a locality with which they were not well acquainted. This is not
to be wondered at in London, where many of the shops are situated
in some court or alley, so that a man might pass by every day for a
month without once dreaming that a joiner's shop was to be found
in the immediate vicinity. And I am quite sure that many of us
who reside in the north of London would be nearly as much at a loss
in looking for a job in Lambeth or the Borough, as we should be in
Birmingham or Manchester. This state of things is not, I believe,
confined to the metropolis ; it prevails also in other districts.

To supply the want which I consider at present exists, I would
suggest that schedules be issued from the General Office, on which
eich Bi'anch could forward a return of the names and addresses of
;ill the building firms in the vicinity. A committee might be ap-
pointed by each Branch for the purpose of filling up the schedules,
and the result of their labours might be read over to the Branch for
final approval, and signed by the officers, before it is forwarded to
the General Office. From these returns a trade Directory might be
compiled, and issued to the Branches ; a copy might be kept with
the vacant book of each Branch for the use of any member who
might require it, whilst those who might desii'e a copy for private
use could be supplied at a reasonable price. The returns could be
revised and a new edition issued whenever such a course might be
deemed necessary.

If this plan were adopted, I believe much time and trouble might
be saved which is now needlessly expended, as a member when sign-
ing the vacant book might copy on a slip of paper the addresses of
any firms he might wish to visit. A member seeking employment
in a strange town would be specially benefited by such an arrange-
ment,

The policy of our society, as I undei-stand it, is to endeavour to
remove as much as possible of our surplus labour into those districts
Avhere trade is brisk, and where it may find profitable employment.
With this view we publish a monthly return of the .state of trade in
each town where a Branch of our Society exists. Would it not also
be a step in the right direction if we published a Directory which
would furnish valuable information to members on travel, and to
many others in want of employment ?

Tlie adoption of this suggestion would involve very little expense,
and miglit easily be carried into eftect by the Executive Council,
should it meet witli the appro^•;d of the mcnd)ors. I therefore take

6o POLITICAL ECONOMY

the liberty of soliciting the Branches to express their opinions thereon
by resolution in the usual way. — ^Yours fraternally,

John D. Prior, Islington Branch.

.> Wakeling Terrace, Bride Street, X.
January \tli, 1868.

llemark, that in the above report there are no leading' articles,
and no matter but what strictly bears on the union and the in-
terests of its members.^ In a society conducted upon this plan,
we cannot doubt that any course of action decided upon does
truly represent the wishes of the members. Yet, when men
refuse to work for certain wages, a portion of the Press invari-
ably deplores the unhappy fate of the poor men misled and duped
by secretaries and delegates wlio are supposed to find their
account in ruining the societies they serve. Lately, even the
leading journals have deplored the blind obstinacy of the ship-
wrights at the East-end of London, who will not consent to a
reduction of wages. We are told that it is intolerable that
men who will not work for Gs. a day should be supported
by the poor-rates and by charity. Only as a matter of fact,
we believe that none of the union shipwrights have received
anything either from charity or the poor-rates. Other papers
say the strike is supported by contributions from distant
branches, whose members force the ]\Iillwall men to refuse
reasonable wages. The Millwall men remark that there is no
strike, and that they are living on their savings, and are not
supported from the union funds. Probably this assertion would
require some qualification before it expressed all the facts ; but
we believe the Millwall men to have been hitherto quite as much
in favour of refusing to submit to any reduction of wages as the
other branches or unions. They may be wise or foolish ; it may
be better for them that few or no ships should be built at Mill-
wall, or it may be a great loss. If, owing to the dearness of
provisions and cost of transport, ships are built in the Thames
at a disadvantage, it will be better for the whole country, in
the long run, that shipbuilding should not be practised there.

' The Annual Reports of large f-ocieties contain detailed statements of ex-
penditure, receipts, liind.~-, etc. The Engineers' Kcport for ISC? has 429 pages
that of tlie Carp(mters 150 pages.

TKADE-UA70XS 6i

That is the true free-trade principle. But whatever be thought
of these questions, we cannot refuse men the right to de-
cline 20s. a day, so long as they support themselves or one
another, and do not hinder competition. But ' think of the
distress they occasion among the labourers, and other trades
who would take lower wages, but who cannot work without
shipwrights." Poor fellows ! they do suflFer sadly, but to force
shipwrights to work at wages they will not voluntarily accept
is equivalent to confiscation of property. Vast misery is caused
when a capitalist, finding that he can invest his money more
profitably elsewhere, closes a mill. We do not compel him to
be content with 2 per cent., when he will not invest without
the profit of 10. People are amazed when they hear a man
declare that he cannot bring up his family if he has less
than Iti. a day, and point to labourers who support large
families on o.>>\ a day. The shipwright may very properly
plead that his standard of comfort and education is wholly
different from that of the labourer, and that what he means
is just what a gentleman means who says he can't marrv under
five hundred a year. A high standard is very far from an
unmixed evil ; it is almost unmixed good.

There is much discrepancy between the various estimates
of the proportion of men in each trade who have hitherto joined
unions. Mr. Mault, for the building trades, puts the number
as low as 10 per cent., and tries to convince us that these 10
per cent., being organized, do lead and govern 90 per cent,
disorganized ; though the latter are backed by the masters and
Colonel Maude. Mr. Applegarth thinks about half the men in the
building trade belong to the unions, and that in large towns
this proportion is far exceeded. Mr. Mault includes, as in the
trade, the boys, the labourers, and all the little country workmen,
taking his gross numbers from the census; his estimate is,
therefore, obviously very incorrect, and we do not think many
masters will endorse his estimate from practical experience.
According to one estimate 700,000 men are now enrolled in
ti-ade-unions. The large societies are increasing very rapidly ;
most of them increased by about one-fourth during last year.
The Engineers' Society, with 33,600 members, an income of
86,885/., a reserve fund of 140,000/., and 308 branches, stands

62 POLITICAL ECONOMY

far aliea.d of all others, but it increased b}" only 3,300 members
last year. If, as some think, it already includes 90 per cent, of
all the men working at the trade, no further very rapid increase
is possible. No masters came forward to give evidence against
this society. Nor did Mr. Allan, the secretary, complain of the
masters. Such disputes as have occurred in this trade of late
years seem to have been of a very trifling character. The
engineers did not go to Geneva, nor take part in the great trade
conference with which Mr. Potter was connected.

The Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, num-
bering 8,261 members, with an income of 10,487/., 8,320Z.' in
hand, and 1 90 branches, is very similar in organization and in
general conduct to the Engineers' Society. Both of these unions
are benefit or mutual insurance societies as well as trade
societies. They have an allowance for the sick, a superannua-
tion allowance, a payment for burial expenses, and they give
lOOL to any member who is so disabled by an accident that he
cannot follow his trade. Most of the unions have some benefits,
and partake in some degree of the nature of friendly societies,
but the superannuation payment is generally omitted. These
benefits are sometimes most unjustly described as mere traps, to
entice prudent men into unions. It is far more true that the
trade-unions have taught their members to be provident. The
benefits, great or small, are so unmixed a good, that the
opponents of unions have endeavoured to show that after all
they are, as benefit societies, mere swindling concerns, that the
subscriptions from members are quite insufficient to provide for
the benefits promised, even in the great Engineers' Society, with
its 140,000Z. of capital. These enemies to unions have got an
actuary, Mr. Tucker, to come and pronounce the curse of bank-
ruptcy on unions from this point of view ; and he has been
generally acknowledged a true prophet by writers. Mr. Allan
holds up facts in the face of Mr. Tucker's calculations which he
does not attempt to reconcile with his deductions, and the facts
seem to contradict the figures.

The following table shows the payments which, according to
Mr. Tucker, would be required to provide for the engineers'
benefits : —

' In 1868 the fund is 14,171Z.

TRADE-UNIONS

63

Age

MON-THLY PaYMEN-TS

Total

To provide

To provide

To proviile

of Kntry

10^-. per Week

feuiitraniiua-

for a Payment

ill Sicliiiess,

tioii Allow-

of 12Z. at

up to 65

ance

Beatli

S. d.

S. d.

S. d

s. d. 1

25

1 1

2 2

0 4-i

3 7|

30

1 3

2 10

0 5|

4 6i

35

1 3L

3 10

0 64:

5 7f

40

1 5

5 5

0 7f

7 5^
9 3

45

1 U

6 10

0 9|

Now, as the actual subscriptions of the members amount
to only 4s. M. per month, it seems clear that the society, spend-
ing about half its income on trade purposes and management,
must be bankrupt.

Mr. Allan in reply says, ' We have paid all calls upon us for
sixteen years, and our funds in hand increase rapidly. We had
ten years' experience in an older society, and may therefore count
twenty-six years' experience against your calculations. We have
also many sources of income that you do not count.' Mr. Tucker
rejoins, saying, ' Your members have increased so rapidly that
your soundness has never been put to the test.' Mr. Allan
hands in statements showing for each year the payment under
each head, and points out that one-third of the members leave
before dying or receiving superannuation allowance, and Mr.
Glen Finlaison has been called in to advise the Commissioners
further.

On looking over the figures it is clear that the statistics on
which Mr. Tucker reasoned do not apply to trade societies.
Thus, from 1858 to 1866, the amount paid by the Engineers for
sick benefits amounted on the average to %\(i. jDer month per
member, and this payment per member was sensibly constant
during those nine years, being '^\d. for 1858 and l\d. in 1866.
During the seven preceding years the benefit was a little
smaller, and the average per month per member was 6|f^., pre-
senting the same stationary character. These amounts are about
half what Mr. Tucker would make a man of thirty pay. The
difference is partly accounted for by the fact that the 10s. per
week is reduced to 5s. after twenty-six weeks' illness • but it

64 POLITIC A L ECONOMY

innst be cliieBy due to the supervision under wliicli ever}^ sucli
member lives— a supervision of great service to the really sick,
but fatal to malingering. Mr. Allan in fact here completely re-
futes the calculaticns, and the constancy of the payments year
by year proves that their small amount does not depend on any
ex'ceptional youth on the part of the members. The superannua-
tion allowance, on the other hand, has not reached its maximum
among the engineers ; it has increased from \d. per month per
member in 1852 (and 0 in 1851) to 3(^. in 1865 and 1866— still
very far from the 2s. 2(1. which Mr. Tucker would i-elentlessly
exact from every subscriber. This enormous discrepancy is due
to three causes : —

1. The maximum has not yet been reached.

2. No man has a right to the superannuation allowance at
any given age, but must continue to work so long as the society
can find employment for him, so that a very large proportion of
the men work till they die.

3. One-third of the members fall off befoi^e becoming entitled
to the allowance.

Mr. Glen Finlaison will in course of time tell us how much all
these circumstances ought theoretically to diminish Mr. Tucker's
estimate.

The payment per month per member for the burial benefit
shows a gradual increase, rising from l^c^. to 3c^. in the sixteen
years, but during the last nine years the increase has been very
slow, being 2|d in 1858, and 3d in 1866. Out of every 100
men in the society at a given time, 33 do not die at all, but
retire ; this ought therefore to diminish Mr. Tucker's estimate
by one-third ; but these men who never receive the funeral
benefit contribute to the fund from which the others are paid,
and diminish by so much their contributions. The longer tbey
stop in the society the greater is this action ; without any very
complex calculation, we see that from this one cause Mr. Tucker's
estimate must be diminished by considerably more than one-
third, nearly by one-half — in which case the actual payments of
the engineers will, even from Mr. Tucker's table, have nearly
reached their maximum. If the average age of members, as
would appear from this, has reached a constant maximum, in
which case '^\(l. for sickness, with Zd. for superannuation, and

TRADE-UNIONS 65

2>d. for funeral, in all 14c^. a month, will really be sufficient to
provide for benefits wliicli would cost on the actuary's estimate
3^. 7|cZ., even on a preposterously favourable assumption as to
the youth of members when they join the society. The question
turns chiefly on the superannuation allowance. We wait with
curiosity for Mr. Glen Finlaison's report ; but even this gentle-
man can have no statistics as to the number of mechanics who
are unable to support themselves in old age by their craft, and
how long infirm men live after stopping work. In the absence
of data, assumptions are quite worthless. Meanwhile, we venture
to remind Mr. Tucker that, for trade purposes, and expenses of
management combined, the Engineers' Society does not spend
so large a proportion of its receipts as the St. Patrick's and some
other friendly societies spend on management alone. Moreover,
if the funds do fall short of the calls upon them, trade-societies
can call upon their members for extra payments.^ Sir Daniel
Gooch and others suggest that these calls will not be met. No
such case has yet arisen, nor in a mutual insurance society do
we think it likely to arise, but of course with long practice
workmen may emulate the financial morality even of railway
directors. Meanwhile, let it be well understood that not a
single case of repudiation has been discovered among any of
the larger societies. Even assurance companies have met
their liabilities with less certainty than trade-unions ; between
1844 and 1866, 308 assurance companies have ceased to exist;
of these, 59 are winding up in the Court of Chancery. In
1867, the total number of companies was 204, so that the
failures form a considerable percentage of the whole number.

Reviewing, as a whole, the conduct of trade-unions, we find
that they differ one from another as man differs from man.
Among small unions of ignorant uneducated men we find
organised villainy of the grossest stamp. In larger unions of
better workmen we find narrow views enforced with blind self-
ishness, but without violence. In the largest unions, formed
by the most skilled artisans, we find few objectionable rules,
and few disputes between master and man ; while the strug-
gles that do occur are carried on with little bitterness and

' The ironfounders are now being severely tested, but they have survived
many tests during the last fifty-seven years.

VOL. II. F

66 POLITICAL ECONOMY

absolutely no violence. These last unions comprise benefit
societies of great value. In all cases we find an intense
attachment of workmen to the union, joined with dislike of
those who cannot or will not join the society, — a dislike which
in the better trades involves social discomfort, and in Sheffield
the risk of assassination. We find the cries about piece-work
and over-time to be founded on ignorance ; that the indolence
complained of arises not from unions, but from the natural
slackening which results from increased comfort and diminished
risk of want. We find the accusation of levelling unsupported
by the evidence of any levelled workman, and wholl}^ denied by
the unions. We find that the government of unions does truly
represent the wishes of their members, that they do assure those
members against want, and that they do increase the wages of
the working classes. Let us not reason of an imaginary work-
ing man, ground down by the tyranny of a secretary, secretly
loathing his oppressor, losing the substance of wages while
grasping at the shadow, and using violence to coerce a majority
whom he cannot convince, and with whom he secretly agrees.
Let us not seek with middle-class complacency to patronize
the oppressed being, and deliver him from his thraldom. So
doing, we shall seem but wretched hypocrites to workmen
blindly unable to comprehend our blindness. No ; it is the
wearer who knows where the shoe pinches. Masters hate
unions; workmen love them. Let those who feel them to be
adversaries destroy them if they can; the workmen will fight
hard, but in the great trades they have used and will use no
foul weapons, and will feel little bitterness to open opponents.

We prophesy no dismal revolution, no war of fustian with
broadcloth, no violence of any kind, if the attempt be made to
abolish unions ; we only expect then shortly to see candidates
of the highest respectability on the hustings swallowing un-
wholesome pledges to support the worst rules trade-unions have
yet devised. Now is our opportunity. If we show that we can
govern wisely, workmen may consent to be governed. If we
act with folly we must soon learn to follow our new masters.
Educated Englishmen have hitherto known how to lead, and we
therefore dismiss the question whether workmen shall still be
permitted to combine, and consider only what remedies shall be

TRADE-UNIONS 67

applied to the gangrene spots found here and there, and what
restrictions are really necessary in the interests of society and
in protection of the rights of the minority.

Admitting that total abolition is out of the question as im-
politic, undeserved, and impossible, we must insist that the
great power granted to the bodies of workmen shall be adminis-
tered under stringent regulations, clearly defining the rights
and duties of the workmen, securing masters against extortion,
independent workmen against coercion, and individual members
of the unions against fraud or oppression by the majority. The
better unions may complain that they have deserved no penal
enactments, but laws are made for good and bad alike, the good
man differing from the bad, not as living under a different law,
but as never incurring its penalties. In treating of the legal
action required, we have to consider simply how to prevent these
crimes and misdemeanours which some unions have been shown
to foster.

First, it will be necessary to give the unions a corporate
existence, enabling them to sue and be sued ; not but that the
better unions are almost indifferent upon this point, finding
expulsion an ample remedy against defaulting subscribers, as is
the case with clubs ; nor yet is a corporate existence necessary
to allow the unions securely to possess property — the device of
trustees would meet, and has met this want. Giving a legal
remedy against debtors will remove that shadow of justification
which has been quite falsely pleaded in extenuation of rattening
{i.e. coercion by theft), in the case of the grinding trades ; but
removing the excuse will not prevent the crime. We advise
legalizing not on the above grounds, but in order that the whole
body of workmen may be responsible for their conduct to in-
dividual members and to society ; in order that any benefits
promised may be secured; in order that no unjust expulsion or
illegal levy of funds may be enforced by an irresponsible body,
and in order that the unions may suffer as a body when they
transgress the law. There is so clear an agreement between all
parties on this point that arguments in support of legalizing
are unnecessary, and we need only discuss the conditions under
which a corporate capacity may be granted.

The conditions on which unlimited joint-stock companies

68 POLITICAL ECONOMY

are allowed to exist need not be very widely departed from
in the case of unions. The Government ought no more to
interfere as to the sufficiency of the payments by members to
meet the benefits promised, than they ought to declare publicly
whether a given joint-stock company is sound or unsound ; but
they may properly insist that the liability of the members of
the association shall be unlimited, so that no member subscrib-
ing on the faith of mutual assurance need be without a legal
remedy against the body and the individuals for any sums
which may become due to him. The names of all members
should be made public, and every change of membership, by
death, expulsion, or withdrawal should also be published, with
the cause of the change, and a legal appeal against expulsion
should be established. The rules of the union should be the
articles of association, providing for their own modification, and
for the passing of bye-laws within certain limits. The duty of
the registrar should be confined to certifying whether the
articles of the association contained any illegal provisions, and
no society should be permitted to exist except in the form now
sketched. We would lea,ve the widest possible scope to legal
societies, and would forbid secret societies under heavy penalties.
Of course the accounts of these societies should be audited, but
we attribute little virtue to the system of audits. We do not
see how an auditor, even if he examine a voucher for every
payment, is to discover whether or no the voucher be forged ;
if a dozen men, when a branch wishes to misapply funds, sign
receipts, say for payments during sickness, and the secretary
duly enters these payments in his book, how can any auditor,
however appointed, discover that these men were not sick, but
that the funds have been misapplied ? In cases of crime paid
for out of union funds, a bungle in the accounts might assist
detection, but simple misappropriation of funds will not be
detected by auditing. Again, suppose it to have been detected,
the auditor refuses to pass the accounts. If the union approve
the misappropriation they have only to subscribe the amount,
recoup the peccant branch, and the accounts must pass. This
is no punishment for misappropriation. If lOZ. are misapplied
without detection the union will possess a balance of say 90Z.
If detected they will have to subscribe 10/., but they do not

TRADE-UNIONS 69

lose this, they simply raise their balance to 100^ This form of
punishment would be as sensible as though a judge were to
condemn a prisoner to pay out of his pocket a fine of 40s. to
his own bankers. The simple refusal of an auditor to pass
accounts will be no punishment, and will not even cause tem-
porary inconvenience, unless the misappropriation has been
very large. What can follow a refusal to pass the accounts ?
In a joint-stock company no dividend can be declared ; but are
we prepared to say that in a union no benefits shall be paid
while the accounts remain uncertified ? No ; there is no magic
either in the word audit or in the thing, and if the auditor is
to have any power to enforce correct accounts, he must have the
power of inflicting penalties for non-compliance with the regu-
lations. He will be of little use as a protection against the
action of unions, but may be useful in protecting the interests
of members defrauded by their officers.

What rules shall be legal, what rules shall be illegal ? We
propose that the union should be treated as a single body,
existing for the purpose of contracting for the sale of labour,
and that no contract shall be allowed which, by any of its con-
ditions, requires the injury of a third person or body, not a party
to the contract. No rules permitting or enforcing such contracts
should therefore be legal, and we see no other restriction which
has been shown by evidence to be necessary. This principle
would render illegal, — strikes against outsiders ; against machi-
nery ; against any special materials, any given contractor ;
against the limitation of apprentices. It would leave the union
the fullest scope to determine the conditions on which its mem-
bers would sell their labour, so long as these conditions were
within the competence of their employer and of themselves.

Our principle would allow all bargains as to hours of labour,
the amount of wages, the time of their payment, the conditions
of dismissal, the penalties enforced in woi'kshops against work-
men, the acceptance or refusal of piece-work, the establish-
ment of courts of arbitration, and the time during which any
given set of rules, forming part of a contract, shall be binding.
No special provision is wanted against murder, theft, intimi-
dation, or violence. All these things are illegal. A provision
against threats might be found useful, and is suggested in the

^o POLITICAL ECONOMY

proposed Act drawn up by the conference of amalgamated
trades.^

In addition to the above restrictions, we woukl forbid all
sudden strikes ; that is to say, we would require that no con-
tract should be terminated suddenly either by masters or men,
but that a notice of from three to six months should always be
required. By this we do not mean that a master shall not be
at liberty to discharge a workman, or a workman to leave his
master, with any notice agreed to under the rules ; but that
when given rules are accepted by masters and men, neither party
shall be at liberty to require a change without a notice of from
three to six months. The above restrictions should all apply to
associations of masters, or to single masters, treated as the
purchasers of labour. Thus they would be prevented from
stipulating that union men should not work for other masters
who might happen to be obnoxious to the leading employers ;
and the penalty for any illegal agreement should be equally
enforced against master and man, whether proposed in the
interest of the former or of the latter.

What then shall be these penalties ? We answer without
hesitation, Fines levied on both parties to the illegal contract,
if this has been completed, and levied on the party proposing
the illegal contract, if this has not been completed. To fine a
s'ngle workman is a farce. To imprison him is a hardship,
unless he has committed a crime or misdemeanour, for which,
by the law as it stands, he would be personally liable. Nor do
the unimprisoned 999 suffer very much from the imprisonment
of their herald or representative ; they feel very angry, sub-
scribe large sums for him and for his relations, but vicarious
suffering touches them little. If unions are to be restrained as
a body, they must be punished as a body. The fines may be
equal for masters and men, and should be heavy enough to be
really felt. It will be said that the unions will never take any
collective action in wrong-doing, but will use some scapegoat
of a man to commit illegal actions, and that thus they will

' This Bill aims at protecting the funds of the pocieties, and freeing them
from liability under the law of conspiracy ; it contains a provision as to the
selection of juries in cases of offences committed by trade-unions which the
men had better abandon forthwith.

TRADE-UNIONS 71

escape any joint responsibility. The evidence before tlie Com-
missioners, except in cases of outrage, does not show this. It
is the union which strikes ; it is the union which demands
unreasonable and imf)roper conditions. Facts will show whether
the union has or has not supported a particular demand on
the part of a number of its members. There may be some
attempt hereafter at equivocation ; but if all members of a
union are withdrawn from a given shop, the motive of the
strike and the attendant facts will not be easily concealed
from a jury. The case of outrage and crime committed by one
member of a union, in its interest, will always present greater
difficulties, just as the detection of a criminal who has com-
mitted murder is always more or less difficult. But even in this
case we strongly advocate a punishment for the union whenever
complicity of the main body with the criminal can be estab-
lished to the satisfaction of a jury. We might then obtain
informers without indemnification as to the whole union ; and
we should be spared the degradation of discovering great crimes
only on condition of allowing them to pass unpunished. Of
course occasionally this would lead to the punishment of some
innocent persons along with the guilty; but if innocent persons
belonging to an association by their supineness allow the com-
mission of crime or folly by their associates they must suffer,
and ought to suffer, precisely as the innocent shareholders of a
mismanaged company must suffer, and ought to suffer, by the
misconduct of secretaries and directors. If they fear this, they
need not join these associations at all. These involuntary
accomplices should have their remedy against single branches
of the society, secretaries, or others who may have involved
them without their consent.

Oiir recommendations are briefly, Turn trade-unions into legal
associations, with power to contract for the sale of the labour of
their members ; declare what contracts are illegal, and punish
the association as a mass for any illegal transaction it promotes,
threatens to promote, or sanctions ; require publicity, and enforce
regular accounts ; punish individuals for misconduct as indivi-
duals, and punish the body for misconduct as a body.

We have said nothing about arbitration — a pet plan with
many well-meaning persons. Compulsory arbitration is a con-

72 POLITICAL ECONOMY

tradiction in terms. Voluntary arbitration is an excellent
method for settling small points and avoiding quarrels upon
matters of sentiment, which are by no means the least serious
quarrels ; and courts of arbitration or conciliation will come
naturally to be established wherever unions and masters are ani-
mated by good feeling ; indeed, they have been established, and
have worked well. As a means of determining wages, or any
of the main conditions of a contract, they are quite useless,
except within very narrow limits. Mr. Kettle arbitrated as to
wages by the simple plan of finding out what wages were given
in the neighbourhood — a very good plan, but hardly applicable
on a large scale. Arbitration cannot fix the average price of
sugar, land, or labour, though it may decide whether the average
price of the day has been offered for any small quantity of these
commodities. Until bargains in the market and on 'Change can
be replaced by arbitration, arbitration will not replace strikes as
a means of determining the market value of labour.

A much more mischievous suggestion has clearly taken deep
root in the minds of some of the Commissioners — namely, that
trade societies should not be allowed to exist as beiiefit societies.
In the interests of the community, no less than those of work-
men, we earnestly trust that the impolicy of this proposal
may be seen in time. It has been put forward, as though
in the intei-est of the woi'kmen ; but the suggestion came from
no working man. No man has complained of not receiving the
benefit to which he was entitled. No man has complained that
to meet such payments to others he has submitted to vexatious
exactions exceeding the subscriptions he undertook to pay. The
men are thoroughly satisfied with the mutual assurance system
which has grown up. Englishmen of the lower classes find much
difficulty in setting by sufficient sums out of their earnings to
provide against sickness, accidents, or old age, while retaining
command of the capital saved. The recklessness and impro-
vidence of the Englishman is too well known ; but in the form
of subscriptions to benefit societies they do and can save, being
unable to withdraw their deposits. These trade and other benefit
societies have induced thousands to save thus, who would never
save in other ways ; the best unions wholly prevent pauperism
among their members. These admirable provisions are to be

TRADE-UNIONS 73

destroyed ! and wliy ? Because, forsootli, the accumulation of
funds destined to provide these benefits is supposed to be a
temptation to extravagance in striking. In other words, the
capitahst is supposed to be more ready to peril his position than
the spendthrift or needy man. The evidence is wholly against
such reasoning. The societies with large benefit funds are the
most reasonably managed. If a large fund is accumulated for
trade purposes only, it forms an irresistible temptation to strike.
How else can it be employed ? Masters would at least have
the melancholy satisfaction of being able to foretell when a strike
was imminent, by simply watching the accumulation of the
trade fund. But a subscriber to a benefit society, who sees the
fund applied to trade purposes, knows that he must make good
every farthing wasted. The fund that goes is his fund ; either
he will some day share it, or if it goes he must some day replace
it, b}" extra payments. You say the men are too stupid to
understand this ; but you are wrong. The men do understand
it, and even the dullest are taught when, after a strike, whips
and levies come week after week to enable the union to meet its
liabilities. They will repudiate, you say ; they have not repu-
diated, and little good is to be got by repudiation when the
assurance is mutual. To provide against the conceivable case
of all the young men of a trade repudiating a debt mainly owed
to old ones, the dissolution of a compan}- or withdrawal of
members may properly be subjected to some restriction, though
it seems hardly worth while to provide for a contingency which
is highly improbable. So strongly do we feel on the subject,
that we would rather urge that no trade society should be allowed
to exist without certain benefits. No better guarantee could be
obtained for a prudent administration of the funds. This is
no theory, but a fact. Separate trade and benefit societies
involve separate expenses of management, separate governing
bodies : if restricted to a given trade, the funds will infallibly be
improperly used for trade purposes ; if they are vinrestricted to
one trade, the supervision of each member by all the others,
allowing benefits to be cheaply purchased, would be sacrificed.
You also sacrifice the esprit de corps which brings in the
thoughtless lad as well as the sober middle-aged man. In a
word, let those who advocate the separation say distinctly in

74 POLITICAL ECONOMY

whose nterest they desire it. If for the workman, believe that
he knows best what he wishes, and wait for complaints before
you force your aid upon him. If you desire the separation in
order to weaken unions, say so. It may weaken them, but it
will force them to be aggressive, and diminish their responsi
bility. A precious plan this to avoid quarrels ! you give a man
money which he can spend in no other way than in fighting
and then prevent liim from accumulating other jjroperty, so that
he can lose nothing in the fray ! Of all the folly talked about
unions, surely this is the most mischievous, supported though it
be by men of real benevolence^ who prate of widows and orphans
as though hundreds such had been defrauded, as has truly been
the case in some of the very friendly societies they so strongly
advocate in opposition to trade-unions, which have hitherto
everywhere met their engagements.

In conclusion, we have only to urge that before men are con-
demned for practices which at first sight may seem unreason-
able and even unjust, care should be taken to understand the
practices, and the arguments should be heard which the men
have to urge in their favour. When we speak of the men, we
speak of the secretaries or others among them who have the
gift of speech. Many English workmen, not dull of under-
standing, cannot explain themselves, and what is more, they
will not do so, in answer to avowedly hostile inquiries. The
Press, in notices and articles written for the middle classes, and
written by men ignorant of workmen, has so very generally mis-
understood and misrepresented the action of unions, as to have
raised a feeling of angry contempt, preventing even wise and
reasonable advice from being listened to. Above all, let us
beware of believing that the men are suffering from hardships,
of which masters draw a harrowing picture, but of which no
artisan complains. Workmen are wedded to the system of
unions from no irrational motives, but because they have by
their aid obtained great benefits.

The members find great pleasure in the management of their
own affairs, and boast of the kindly feeling and enlarged sym-
pathies which co-operation induces, at least within the pale.

The artisan enrolled in one of the great societies may with
some truth speak as follows : — ' To unions we owe increased

TRADE-UNIONS

75

wages, dimiuisbed labour, freedom from care ; in hard times,
and in sickness, from want of work and want of bread, the
union protects us ; neither by accident nor in old age shall we
or ours be paupers ; we ask no patronage, receive no charity,
fear no oppression ; we live as free men, owing our welfare to
our own providence, and we shall maintain our power by using
it with prudence.' There is indeed a sad reverse to this plea-
sant picture. The best things may be misused, and trade-unions
have been misused ; but were we to abolish all institutions mis-
applied, all rights abused, all customs warped from their true
aim, what fragment of society could we retain ? Let us neither
seek to destroy trade-unions, strong as they are for good and
evil, nor yet fear with a firm hand to set a legal limit to their
power. With good laws and sound teaching these bodies may
yet become the pride of our country, affording one more proof
of the great faculty Englishmen possess of self-government.
Under bad laws, ignorant dislike, and unsound advice, they
may indeed turn to a curse, fostering disloyalty and outrage,
fatal to trade, and to the well-being of all classes. God grant
that we may be wise in time!

76 POLITICAL ECONOMY

THE GBAPHIG REPRESENTATION OF THE LAWS
OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND, AND THEIR
APPLICATION TO LABOUR.'

I.

Graphic REriiESEXTATioN of the Laws of Supply and
Demand.

Recent discussions on the laws determining the price of commo-
dities seem to show that these laws are neither so well under-
stood nor so clearly expressed in the writings of economists as is
sometimes supposed. Men are too much in the habit of speak-
ing of laws of political economy, without attaching to the word
law the same rigid meaning which it bears in physical sciences.
There are, however, some truths concerning the subjects treated
by the economist which do deserve the name of laws, and
admit of being stated as accurately, and defined in the same
manner, as any mathematical laws affecting quantities of any
description.

The following essay is an attempt to state in this rigorous
manner some propositions concerning the market price of com-
modities, using what is known as the graphic method of curves
to illustrate the laws and propositions as they arise.

First, I will consider what determines the price of a com-
modity at a given time in a given market, and it is unfortunately
necessary for this purpose to define the sense in which some
words will be used.

The whole supply of an article will be taken to mean the
whole quantity of the article for sale there and then. Supply
is in this sense mensurable, and can be expressed in tons,

' From Recess Studies. Edited by Sir Alexander Grant. Edinburgh, 1870.

LA TVS OF SUPPL V AND DEMAND

77

quarters, etc. Supply at a price denotes tlie quantitij which at a
given price holders would be, then and there, willing to sell.
Supply at a price is also mensurable. Demand at a price denotes
the quantity which, then and there, buyers would purchase at
that price.

The supply at a pirice and the demand at a price in any
given market will probably vary with the price ; they may be
said to be functions of the price.

Let a curve be drawn, the abscissse of which represent prices,
and the ordinates the supplies at each price. This curve will be
called the supply curve. A similar curve, constructed with the
demand at each price as ordinates, will be called the demand curve.

Quarters.

1800

Fig.l 1

1600

\.

1400

-— j\^ M'-ph.n^ply. __--^

1200
1000

^^^^^^..^-'^

800

^<r

600

/\

400

/ i \

£00

/ \

0

, , , / . A , , .

10 20 SO 40 60 60 YO 8J SLilliiigs

Fig. 1 . — First Law of Supply and Demand.

Whole supply for sale at any price, 1,400 quarters of wheat.

Price at which whole supply would be sold, Ws.

Price at which whole supply would be bought, 20«.

Market price, 50s.

Price below which no sale could take p'ace, iOs.

Price above which no sale could take place, 62*.

Quantity which will be sold, 800 quarters.

Fig. 1 shows a pair of imaginary demand and supply curves
for corn. At 60s. per quarter the supply is 1,000 quarters ; at
hhs. the supply is 900 quarters ; at 50s. only 800 quarters ; at
45s. only 600 quarters ; at 40s. the supply is nil.

At 62s. the demand is nil ; at 55s. only 600 quarters ; at
50s. it is 800 quarters; at 45s. 900 quarters; at 40s, 1.000
quarters ; and continues to rise fast at lower prices.

The first law of demand and supply may now be stated as
follows : —

78 POLITICAL ECONOMY

Prop. 1. hi a given marlxt, at a given time, the marJcet 2Jrice
of the commodity will he that at ivhich the supply and demand
curves cut.

This price is the price at which the supply and demand are
equal.

Corollary A. — At this price a greater quantity of the com-
modity will change hands than at any other price.

In practice, the supply and demand curves are unknown,
but the price at which supply and demand are equal is ascer-
tained approximately by competition in this wise : —

If some sellers offer their wares below the theoretical price,
so many buyers present themselves, that the other sellers, not
being afraid of having goods left on their hands, raise the price.
If some sellers begin by offering their wares above the theo-
retical pnce, so few buyers present themselves, that others, fear-
ing to have their goods left on their hands, undersell them.

If some buyers offer less than the theoretical price, so few
sellers are found that the same or other buyers raise their
offers.

If some buyers offer more than the theoretical price, so
many sellers are found that the other buyers reduce their offers.
The same effect is produced whether the buyers bid or sellers
proffer first. The excess or defect of the supply over the
demand at a price is inferred from the briskness of the sales,
and is independent of the particular form in which transactions
may take place.

Thus the market price, as determined by the first law of
supply and demand, is ascertained by competition.

The law thus stated assumes that each man knows his own
mind, that is to say, how much of his commodity he will then
and there sell or buy at each price, and that the condition of his
mind shall not vary.

If this be granted, then the market price will not be changed
by the sales. The base line, as each quarter of wheat is sold,
will then in our figures gradually ascend, until, when 800
quarters have been sold, it will have reached the position
shown in Fig. 2, when no further sales will take place, but the
market price will, as before, be 50s., any increase finding sellers,
any decrease buyers.

LAlVS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND 79

If every man were openly to write down beforehand exactly
what he would sell or buy at each price, the market price
might be computed immediately, and the transactions be then
and there closed.

10 20 so 40 50 60 VO 80 903lullin£a

Fig. 2. — Demand aud Supply Curves after completion of sales indicated in
Fig. 1, without change of market price.

Whole supply at any price, 600 quarters.

Price at whicli whole supply would be sold, 90^.

Price at which whole supply would be bought, 20*.

Market price, 50*.

Price below which no sale would take place, 50*.

Price above which no sale can take place, 50*.

Quantity which will be sold— niV.

The actual price at which each quarter is sold will be a mere
tentative approximation to the theoretical price. Bargainers all
day long will be watching the market, to ascertain whether a
given price is above or below that at which the quantity to be
bought and sold will be equal.

But, in practice, men's minds do not remain constant for
five minutes together, and we have found that only one point
in the supply curve, viz. the highest, is independent of men's
minds. The supply curve can never rise above the whole sii])-
flij^ but under this height it may vary almost indefinitely.

Similarly, the demand curve has a limit, which in this case
is a limit at each price. The funds available for purchase at any
price are limited, and this, which may be called the purchase
fund, at each price limits the possible demand ; but below this
continuous limit the demand curve may in its turn vary in-
definitely ; and thus, while the whole supply in the market may
be constant, and the funds available to support demand may be

' Except in those cases where men sell what they have not got, trustino-
that before the time fur delivery they may be able to secure a supply.

8o

POLITICAL ECONOMY

constant, yet the mai'ket price of tlie conimoditj may vary im-
mensely, as men's minds vary.

Assuming the two limits to be fixed and constant, tlie follow-
ing additional corollaries flow from the first law : —

B. — If the supply at a price increases at prices near the
market price, as shown in the upper dotted line (Fig. 3), prices
fall, and more is sold.

Sliillmgs,

Fig. 3. — Showing Changes in the Supply Curve.

If the supply curve rise to the upper clotted line the market price -(vill fall to 45^., and
900 quarters of wheat will change hands, instead of 800 as iu Fig. 1.

If the supply curve fall as shown by the lower dotted line the market price will rise to
55^., but only 600 quarters will be sold.

The whole supply, the price at which all would be sold or none sold, all bought or none
bought, may aU remain unaltered, as well as the demand curve. In practice some
or all of these elements would generally vary when the supply curve varies.

Q. — If the demand at a price increases at prices near the
market price, as shown in the upper dotted line (Fig, 4), prices
rise, and more is sold.

D. — If the supply at a price decreases at prices near the
market price, as shown in the lower dotted line (Fig. 3), prices
rise, and less is sold.

^. — If the demand at a price decreases at prices near the
market price, as shown in the lower dotted curve (Fig. 4), prices
fall, and less is sold.

^. — It is possible that both the demand at a price and supply
at a price may increase simultaneously, so that the price shall be
unaltered, while more of the commodity is bought and sold, or
less of the commodity may change hands with an unaltered price
demand and supply decreasing simultaneously.

LAWS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND

8r

These effects, and combinations of these effects, may occur,
while the whole supph' and purchase funds are both constant,
nevertheless at each moment the first law of demand and supply
holds good.

Qrs

Sbiiliugs.

Fig. 4. — Showing Changes in the Demand Curve.

If the demand curve rise, as in the upper dotted line, the market price will be bSs., and

the quantity sold be 900 quarters.
If the demand curve fall, as in the lower dotted line, the price will fall to 45*., and the

quantity sold to 600 quarters.
As in Fig. 3, the whole supply, the price at which all would be sold or none sold, all

bought or none bought, is left unaltered, as well as the supply curve.
In practice some or all of these elements would generally vary wlien the demand curve

varies.

Let us next consider what will happen if the whole supply or
whole purchase fund vary.

Prop. 2. — If the whole supply he increased^ it v:ill most fre-
quentli/, hut not alu-ays, happen that the supply at a price will,
throughout the ichole scale, he increased; prices will then fall, as
shown in Fig. 5.

If the purchase fund he increased it icill often happen that the
demand at a price ivill rise throughout the whole scale ; prrices will
then rise, as shoirn in Fig. 6.

These two statements, which, for convenience, may be spoken
of as the second law of demand and supply, are frequently con-
founded with the first law, from which they are wholly distinct.
They are not laws in a strict sense, but express a degree of
probability, varying immensely in different cases, and with
different materials. I will now apply these laws to some of the
current controversies.

VOL. II. a

82

POLITICAL ECONOMY

It has lately been suggested that the manner of conducting
bargains will alter the market price of the commodity ; that,
in fact, open market, an auction, and a Dutch auction, might

E}^:-- .^"^^^j^boh.Bv^^Ju- - -

I'.* wkoje supply ^

Fig. 5. — Second Law of Supply and Demand.

Fig. 5 shows probable effect of increase in the whole supply.

The dotted line on right shows probable effect of increasing the whole supply to 1,800

quarters.
The price at which whole supply would be sold rises to 95*.
The price at which the whole supply would be bought falls to 10s.
The market price falls to 47s.

The price below which no sale could take place falls to 38^.
The price above which no sale could take place may remain unaltered.
The quantity which will be sold rises to 870 quarters.

produce three diiferent market prices. The peculiarity of an
auction is that the supply is constant at all prices, down to a

10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Fig. 6. — Second Law of Supply and Demand.

<)0
SUiUings.

Fig. 6 shows probable effect of an increase in the purchase fund.

The dotted demand line shows the probable effect of increasing the purchase fund.

The price at which the whole supply would be sold may be unaltered.

The price at which the whole supply would be bought rises to 30*-.

The market price rises to 53s.

The price below which no sale would be effected may remain unaltered.

The price above which no sale would take place rises to G5s.

The quantity which will be sold rises to 850.

LAJVS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND

83

limit which is the reserved price, and which may be absolutely
idl. Then the supply at each price is equal at all prices to the
whole supply, and it is the competition among buyers alone which

Qrs

ISOO
If-CO
1400
1200
1000
600
600
400
200

'■' ^^f?h-

Shillings.

Fig. 7. — Showing effect of selling 800 quarters unreservedly by auction, the
Demand Curve being constant, as in Fig. 1.

The supply curve becomes a straight horizontal line.

The market price will be 50*.

If 1,200 quarters were to be sold unreservedly, the market price would be 30*.

If only 200 quarters, the market price would be 61s.

keeps the price above zero. This state of things is shown in
Fig. 7, where the supply curve has become a straight line paral-
lel to the base line. Fig. 8 represents the supply and demand
curves at an auction, with a reserved price at 25.?.

Qrs.
1800

1300

140O

1200

1000

. \

F

ig.5.

V^. supply.

800

eoo

400

■

-_^-2i-?^_fEi.

\ . . .

ij LO 00 40 to CO 70 GO 90

Shillings.

Fig. 8. — Shows the effect of a sale by auction, with a reserved price of 4.5.'!

If 1,200 quarters are offered for sale, ouly 900 will be sold, and the price will be the

minimum of 45*.
If 600 quarters are offered for sale, they will all be sold, and the price be 55.;.

G -2

84 POLITICAL ECONOMY

Except in the shape of the supply curve, which is here always
known, these figures do not differ from the typical Fig. 1. And
the market price here, as before, is that at which the supply and
demand curves cut.

This point is ascertained in auctions by the competition of
buyers alone, whereas in open market sellers as well as buyers
compete.

In both forms of auction buyers judge whether at a given
price the demand is above or below the supply, partly by the
quickness of the bids, and partly by their former experience and
general knowledge.

In a Dutch auction buyers are as likely at first tentatively to
let the seller offer below the market price as to close with him
above that price.

In an English auction, buyers are as likely at first to run up
above the market price as to stop bidding below it.

It is only by experience of former markets, aiid a considerable
number of tentative transactions, that the theoretical price is
approached.

The device by which Mr. Thornton has made it appear that
in a Dutch and English auction there might be two market

11)00
800
600
400

£00

Kq. 9.

10 20 SO 40 GO 60 70 SO Shillings.

Fig. 9. — Thornton's Case, in which the price is indefinite between two limits.

The supply at an auction, unreserved, is 800 quarters.
There is a demand for exactly 800 at 15s., 20s., and all intermediate prices.
The supply and demand curves coincide between 15s. and 20^., and the market price is
not defined within those limits.

prices, is to assume that the demand at prices in the neighbour-
hood of the market price is constant at all prices ; that the same
number, and no more, fish would be bought at 18s. as at 20s. In

LAWS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND 85

this case the demand curve becomes horizontal near the market
price ; and as the supply curve is also horizontal, the market
price is indeterminate. This case is not peculiar to any form of
bargain, but represents an unusual state of mind. It is shown
in Fig. 9.

Where only a small number of transactions take place, there
can, in the above sense, be no theoretical market price ; thus,
with one buyer and seller of one thing, the demand and supply
curve become two straight lines, ending abruptly, as in Fig. 10.

Vxq. 10.

Sunshine

Fairy

Demund.

l£EilL

Be TTtfLt^d. J Supply.

0 iO 20 30 40 50 60 70 pounds sterliDg.
Fig. 10. — Sales of one article by one man to another.

A owns the horse Sunshine ; he will sell it at any price above 501. B will buy that horse

at any price below Vdl.
The demand and supply curves are two straight lines whicli do not overlap.
C owns the mare Fairy, which he will sell at any price above 40^. D will buy the mare

Fairy at any price below 50/.
The demand and supply lines overlap, and the price is indeterminate, depending on the

relative skill of the two persons iu bargaining.

If the supply line overlaps the demand line, the sale will
take place, and not otherwise ; but the price is indeterminate.
This is true whether the sale be by private bargain, by Dutch
or by English auction.

Fig. 11 shows Mr. Thornton's case of three horses, or any
less number, for sale at 50^. each, and one purchaser at 50^.
The curves indicate plainly enough the fact that the sale of one
horse is possible. The quantity sold is not equal to the
quantity bought, but it is more nearly equal than at any other
price.

We are now able to see precisely in what sense and in what
cases the first law of demand and supply may be said to fix
prices in a market. This law only selects one among many
possible prices already determined in the minds of sellers and

POLITICAL ECONOMY

buyers ; it does not in any case determine, or even change, the
price at which any one seller chooses to sell or any one buyer

Fi^.lJ

llowes
3

Supp^.

D tir\.n.n.S. .

0 13 ^0 SO 40 CO 60 pounds sterling.

Fig. 11. — Thornton's Case of three horses for sale at one price, one wanted
at same price.

Price determinate and also quantity sold, by intersection of demand with supply curve,
which indicates 3, or any smaller number, for sale at 501. or any higher price.

chooses to buy. In other words, the law states that the price
will be that corresponding to the intersection of the two curves,
but in no way determines what those curves will be. Moreover,
the law only comes into operation where buyers and sellers can
approximately estimate whether, at a given price, the quantity
wanted or the quantity for sale is the greater. Competition in
open market, or at any form of auction, is one mode in which
this estimate may be formed.

The first and second laws of demand and supply cannot
affect those cases where the buyers and sellers have no means of
estimating the relation between demand at a price and supply
at a price.

Examples of this occur —

(1) In simple transactions between man and man for one
object.

(2) When sealed tenders are sent in for the supply of a
given article.

(3) When shares in a new company are applied for before
any market is found for the shares.

In the first case, neither demand nor supply curve can be
drawn : the price is that at which the buyer can persuade the
seller to part with the article.

LAIVS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND 87

In the second case, the supply curve can be drawn, but the
demand at a price does not exist, and the demand curve cannot
be drawn. The buyer waits till the tenders are opened, choosing
the lowest.

In the third case, the supply is fixed, being the whole stock
of the company : the supply curve becomes a simple point. The
demand is unknown until the applications for shares are opened
— being all at one price, the demand curve then becomes a point
either above or below a supply point. If above, the shares are
allotted, but their price to the applicants is unaffected by the
excess of the demand over the supply.

As soon as allotment takes place the market price can be
determined ; and in accordance with Law II., if the whole
demand at one price has been in excess of the supply at that
price, the demand curve at other points in the neighbourhood of
that at which the shares were allotted will probably be above
the supply curve, and the shares will reach a premium. Rigging
the market consists in the artificial production of false supply
and demand curves, with the object of deceiving the public as to
the market price.

Even where the first and second laws apply, the price
selected by the first law, and the change of price resulting from
the second law, depend on the state of mind of the buyers and
sellers simply, and not on any material quantity, or on any law
hitherto stated. The demand curve and supply curve indicate
certain resolutions on the part of buyers and sellers ; and these
curves are therefore variable within certain limits, and do vary
with every cause which can affect the desire of men for the
article in question. The limits are set by the purchase fund to
the demand curve, by the whole supply to the supply curve ;
but at what price the limit for the supply curve, and at what
quantity and price the limit for the demand curve, shall be
touched, is wholly within the competence of the buyers and
sellers.

The first and second laws of demand and supply therefore
afford little help, or no help, in determining what the price of
any object will be in the long run. If the supply be limited, as
in the case of pictures by an old master, the desire for. the article
may rise or fall to any extent both on the part of buyers and-

88 POLITICAL ECONOMY

sellers. The knowledge that only 200 pictures of a given artist
exist helps us in no conceivable way to determine what their
value will be, nor whether that value will rise or fall. In a
given market, on a given day, the elements of the demand and
supply curves already exist in the minds of purchasers and
sellers, and both laws will apply, but neither law in the least
helps to determine the absolute height of either the supply or
the demand curve at any one time.

In this case of a limited supply we are thrown back on the
truism that the price of the article depends on the desire felt for
that article relatively to others ; but it is worth while to observe
that the price is not fixed by the buyer, but by the holder. No
man, by saying ' I will not give more than 100 guineas for that
picture,' can make the price 100 guineas. The price at any
moment of a similar article cannot be lower than the lowest price
which any holder will accept.

The popular adage that the worth of an article is what it
will fetch, supposes the holder forced to sell unreservedly ; com-
petition of buyers then fixes the price by the first law of demand
and supply.

Leaving on one side the case of a limited supply as unap-
proachable, let us consider the case of an article, the manu-
facture of which continues, and of which the quantity made
depends ultimately on the price obtainable. It is not neces-
sary to suppose that the possible quantity produced should be
unlimited, but only that as the price obtainable increases, the
supply manufactured can be increased until the supply at a price
equals the demand at a price.

In this category fall most manufactured goods. The average
demand curve may vary to an indeterminate extent, but the
average supply curve will be found in the long run to depend
simply on the cost of production : inasmuch as manufacturers
rarely desire the article they make for itself, but make it only
with the object of selling it.

If in a given market, or series of markets, they find no de-
mand, or an insufficient demand, for their produce, at cost
price (including what they think a fair profit), they will cease
to produce, or pi'oduce only as much as the demand at that
price requires. While, if the demand equals or exceeds the

LAIVS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND 89

supply at a higher price than cost price as above defined, makers
will be tempted to produce more, until by the action of the
second law the demand and supply at cost price become equal.
From these considerations may be deduced the third law of
demand and supply, which really does enable us to estimate
the probable price of any article, as well as the probable quan-
tity manufactured, and which may be stated as follows : —

Prop. 3. — In the long run, the p-ice of the manufactured
article is chiejli/ determined hij the cost of its production, and the
quantity manufactured is chiejiy determined hy the demand at
that pice.

The average height of the supply curve, over a number of
years, depends on the cost of production alone ; but at any
moment its position above or below that average depends on the
estimate formed by producers whether the actual demand curve
is above or below the average, and whether the future demand
curve is likely to rise above or fall below the actual demand
curve. This uncertain estimate varying day by day according
to transactions in the market and the dispositions of holders,
determines the departures of the supply curve from the average
fixed by cost of production. These departures alone (which
may be considerable) are the subject-matter of the first and
second laws of demand and supply. It is to be observed that
this case has one point in common with that where the quantity
of an article is limited — viz. the price in the long run is fixed
by the holders ; the number of transactions or quantity sold, by
the buyers. For when we say the average price depends on
the cost of production, including a profit to producers, these
producers are free to choose what profit they will be content with
as a body. This profit may vary, and does vary immensely, in
different countries, and at different times. Competition at any
one time prevents wide divergence from the average rate of
profit expected by manufacturers : but what profit is sufficient
to induce a man to produce is none the less a mere matter of
opinion. Still, over a long range of years the general opinion
on this point in a given country can be ascertained, and thus,
by the third law, then and there the probable price of an article
can be calculated.

The graphic representation of the third law is very similar

go

POLITICAL ECONOMY

to that of the first. The ordinates of the demand curve repre-
sent the average quantity wanted, say in a year, at the several
prices. This curve can only be approximately estimated before-
hand from past experience, and is subject to no one general law
for all materials. For each material experience may, however,
show several points of great importance in the curve ; as, for
instance, whether the curve be nearly horizontal — the total demand
being little affected by price — or whether it is sharply inclined,
showing that the demand increases rapidly as price is lowered,
and vice versa. Statistics collected over several years might also
show whether the general character of the curve was convex or
concave to the base, and at what rate approximately the average
height of the curve increased year by year. Thus, for many
materials, approximately accurate average yearly demand curves
might be determined by the collection of statistics.

0

/*?

/^

.<^

■ r-

^

" 1 /

"^

N

^\

. f/

^\

so ShilliDgs.

Fig. 12.— Third Law of Supplj^ and Demand.

The ordinates of the demand curve are the average yearly quantities of the material

required at each price.
The ordinates of the supply curve are the average quantities which at each price would

be manufactured if there were sufficient demand to absorb that quantity in the year.
The price corresponding to each jjoiut in the supply curve is the cost of production of

the article in that quantity, including in the words cost of production, sufficient

profit to labour and capital to induce the production of that quantity.
In other words, the price is the lowest price at which that giveu quantity will be

produced.

The ordinates of the average supply curve represent th6
quantity which will be produced in a year at each price. This
curve will also vary for all materials. In some it will have the
character of curve 1 in Fig. 12 — terminating almost abruptly

LAIVS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND 91

at a given price, and shooting very rapidly upwards, so as to be
nearly vertical ; this characterises the case of articles which, at
a given price, can be produced in almost unlimited quantities,
there being no material limit to their production in amounts
immensely superior to the demand. Toys, for instance, are
articles of this kind, requiring little capital, moderate skill, and
common raw materials.

Most supply curves will have the character of curve 2 in
Fig. 12. In these the cost of production will gradually increase
with the quantity produced, owing to the limitation of labour,
of capital, and of raw material.

Tlae cost of production, as it must be understood in the third
law of demand and supply, is obviously no one fixed cost constant
for all quantities, and the supply curve determined by the cost
of production may vary just as much as the supply curve in a

Fir, 13.

eurvt srruxtlq^iftnlltica.

Shillings.
Fig. 13. — Article clearer to produce in small quantities than in large.

Articles produced at the rate of less than li millions per annum, cost so much to pro-
duce that the quantities indicated by first curve only are produced at each price.
Sale 750,000, price bSs.

If made in wholesale quantities exceeding 5 millions, the cost of production is shown
by second curve. Seven millions may then be sold at ZOs.

The demand curve might have fallen below 5 millions at 27s., when the price will be
determined by the first supply curve only ; or, while above 5 millions at 27s., the
demand curve might fall short of the price of 55s., when the lower price would be
alone possible.

given market at a given time. The cost of production does not
mean the cost at which an article can be produced if unlimited
numbers of labourers could be found who would be content with
given wages, and if capitalists would apply unlimited capital at

92 POLITICAL ECONOMY

sotne fixed rate of profit. The cost of production varies with the
quantity to be produced, because as more is wanted a higher
price is generally required to tempt more capital and more labour
into the given walk. The ordinates of the supply curve, although
therefore truly representing cost of production, ultimately depend
greatly on men's will or choice, and may vary and do vary
immensely with variations in the quantity required.

Occasionally a commodity may be dearer to produce in small
quantities than in large, and its supply curve may have two
lrai:ches with two possible prices, as in Fig. 13.

The form and character of the average supply curve for many
n ater'als might be determined by statistics with fair approxi-
mation.

The intersection of the average supply and average demand
curve fixes the probable average price.

Average demand curves will in general approach horizontal
lines, and average supply curves will in general approach ver-
tical lines.

Only in the case in which the supply curve is a vertical line
at one price is it strictly true that the cost of production deter-
mines price without reference to demand ; but for all those cases
in which the co?t of production varies little with the quantity
produced, the statement is approximately true. When the
average supply curve is a vertical line, it is strictly true that
demand has no influence on the average price, but only deter-
mines the quantity which will be sold.

These curves then regulate the price of manufactured articles,
among which gold and labour may be both included.

In a given market, the price then and there will be that at
which the quantity wanted and quantity for sale are equal.

Increase in the whole quantity for sale will generally in-
crease the quantity for sale at all prices, and so lower prices,
and vice versa ; while increase in the funds applicable to purchase
will generally lead to an increase in the demand at all prices,
and so will raise prices, and vice versa.

In the long run there is no law by which the probable price
of an article limited in quantity can be ascertained.

In the long run the price of any article capable of being
manufactured depends mainly on the cost of production ; the

LAIVS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND

93

quantity produced depends mainly on demand, which itself is
subject to no law.

The cost of production is fixed by no immutable law, but
depends on the profit (including in this word all forms of ad-
vantage) expected by the producer (including in this word the
labourer as well as the capitalist).

Enough has now been said to show how much the value of
all things depends on simple mental phenomena, and not on laws
having mere quantity of materials for their subject.

The application of these laws to wages requires much care.
The difiiculty here will be found in determining the meaning of
cost of production as applied to human beings, and in ascertain-
ing how far the production of human beings is determined by
the same or similar motives to those which regulate the supply
of other produce. The first and second laws of demand and
supply find their application in limited districts and for short
periods, but these are of infinitely small importance compared
with the third law, in which we must seek the solution of that
great problem : On what does the general level of wages depend ?
The laws of price are as immutable as the laws of mechanics, but
to assume that the rate of wages is not under man's control
would be as absurd as to suppose that men cannot improve the
construction of machinery. A knowledge of the laws of me-
chanics allows us to improve machines ; a knowledge of the laws
of wages may equally lead to improvement in the lot of men.

II.

Application of the Laws of Demand and Supply to the
Special Problem of Wages.

The rate of wages paid to a certain class of workmen is simply
the market price of their labour, and this price will be deter-
mined by the same laws as determine the price of other commo-
dities. This truism is often interpreted as though it meant that
no efforts on the part of the masters could lower wages, and no
action on the part of men raise wages, the price of labour being.

94 POLITICAL ECONOMY

as is supposed, fixed by some natural law depending for its
action in no wise on tlie will of men, but solely on the number
of labourers and the amount of capital which is ready to be spent
on labour. The natural deduction from this hypothesis is, that
whatever wages happen to be paid are the right wages, and that
men should thankfully accept them, abandoning all attempt to
bargain as a useless waste of time and trouble in contending
against the inevitable law of nature.

What is true of wages is true of other commodities, and it
would be just as difficult to persuade the holders of any mer-
chandise to desist from bargaining about the price of goods, as
to persuade labourers to refrain from bargaining about wages.
Nevertheless, it is certainly true that by competition among
buyers, a market-price would be settled both for wages and
other commodities, as at an auction with unreserved price even
if the sellers did not bargain at all ; and this is precisely what
the more reasonable opponents of trade-unions mean when they
assert that wages are fixed by the laws of supply and demand. It
is unnecessary now to refute the other absurd form of the doc-
trine by which it was assumed that, the wages fund being fixed,
and the number of labourers fixed, you had only to compute
the mean wages by a simple sum in division — it being clearly
understood that the wages fund is a fluctuating quantity, altered
by every circumstance which affects the minds of capitalists. In
an article in the 'North British Review,^ the writer dwelt at much
length on this fallacy, and nearly the same arguments, sub-
sequently used by Mr. Thornton, have been acknowledged as
just by Mr. John Stuart Mill. The theory of wages, therefore,
presents two questions only : —

1. Does the power of bargaining give the labourer any
advantage ?

2. What is the cost of production of a labourer in a given
trade ?

If we can settle these two questions we may feel certain of
being able to answer all contingent questions, for we have found
that the cost of production ultimately regulates the average of
all prices, and therefore the average rate of wages ; and in a
given market we have found how the fluctuations in the average
' IVortli British Brriew, March 1858. ' Trade- Ud ions : how far legitimate.'

LAWS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND 95

price are determined. The one question which has not been
touched being the effect on the market of the power of bargain-
ing on the part of sellers, leaving the competition to buyers only.

I will first discuss this sj)ecial case, which is that of the
labourer who does not bargain as to his wages ; it is also the
case of a forced sale, as at a bankruptcy, and of any other sale
by auction without a reserved price. The curves in Fig, 7 re-
present this case. The power of bargaining, or, in other words,
of reserving some of the goods for sale, may lower the supply
curve below the straight line, and thus raise the price, diminish-
ing the quantity bought ; but it must be remembered that the
demand curve is no fixed line depending on some numerical
quantity or material weight, but represents a certain mental
state. Now, it is observed that the knowledge that goods must
be sold, that in fact there is no reserved price, does tend to
diminish the desire for these goods quite independently of the
knowledge of the mere material quantity in the market. The
knowledge that the bankruptcy of some firm will necessitate the
immediate sale of a stock, at once lowers the demand curve
while it raises the supply, and by a double action lowers the
price. This is often described as the effect of a sudden increase
of supply ; so it is, but the words, at a price^ should be added,
and whenever we take away the power of bargaining, or of
fixing a reserved price, we virtually increase the supply at a
price, putting the sellers into the position of bankrupts whose
effects must be realised.

Now the legitimate action of trade-unions is to enable the
labourer to set a reserved price on his merchandise, precisely as
any other dealer in goods can, and to deprive him of this power
is to put him to the same disadvantage as the bankrupt sales-
man. Each labourer who has a reserve fund may bargain for
himself, and concerted action is not theoretically necessary
to allow of bargaining ; practically the individual labourer
seldom bargains, but, acting in concert with others, he can and
does set a reserved price on his labour, and gets precisely the
advantage that any other salesman would. Probably the quantity
of labour or any other material bought under these circumstances
will be less than when no reserved price is fixed ; but this need
not be so. and even if it be, it may be more advantageous to the

96 POLITICAL ECONOMY

salesman to sell a moderate quantity at a good price than a
large quantity at a bad price. It may be more advantageous to
labourers that a moderate number should be employed at good
wages than a large number at bad wages.

It is said that when men have this power they abuse it,
and will set so high a reserved price on their labour, as ulti-
mitely to stop the purchase of it altogether, or at least diminish
it so far as to injure both themselves and capitalists. Self-
interest is the natural remedy for this. We do not object to
fishmongers setting a reserved price on fish, although they may
so diminish the consumption as materially to injure both them-
selves and the community. The only motive by which the
demands of a fishmonger are kept within reason is that of self-
interest, and precisely the same motive may be trusted to in the
case of a combination of labourers, unless they are so foolish as
to be unable to perceive the consequences of their own actions
— a case which is quite possible, though rarer than is imagined.'

Thus we find that the power of bargaining given to the
labourer does tend to raise wages ; but that it may diminish the
number of labourers employed, and often does so.

It will be very rationally asked : How is this statement con-
sistent with the doctrine that price, and consequently wages,
depend ultimately on the cost of production ? The explanation
of the apparent inconsistency is to be found in the fact that the
cost of production is itself not a fixed material thing, but depends
on men's desires and will in a great measure. The cost of pro-
duction is the cost at which a man thinks it worth his while to
produce the article ; this depends on his desires and opinions,
and is affected by a vast number of circumstances. If he has a
reserve fund, so that he need not perish should he cease to
produce, the immediate motive to produce is very much weak-
ened, and he will not think it worth his while to produce except
at a higher profit to himself; and when it is said that the cost
of production regulates the price, in that cost must be included
the profit to the producer. Indeed, if we analyse the cost of
production, it will be found to consist solely of the sum of a

' In the ordinary method of purchasing at shops we have an example of
buj-ers trusting to the competition of sellers only, and paying whatever is
asked, within a limit.

LAWS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND 97

succession of profits reaped by the producers of food, of raw
materials, and of tools — each of these profits depending solely
on the desires or fancied necessities of each class of labourers.
Thus the power of bargaining actually tends to increase the cost
of production, and thus the apparent paradox is justified.

While, however, we find that, both in a given market and on
an average of years, the power of bargaining will enable a seller
to obtain higher prices, this does not assist us in determining
what those prices shall be. The first law of demand and supply
gives no help, since it requires for its operation that men's minds
shall be already determined ; the second law, when applied" to
labour, brings us to the Malthusian doctrine, and when misun-
derstood, to the erroneous wages-fund theory. It is true that if
the number of labourers be increased, without a corresponding
increase in the demand at a price, probably wages will fall ; it is
also true that if the maximum of available capital be not in-
creased, probably the demand at a price will not increase, and
therefore it is true that if the population of a country increases
faster than at a certain rate, determined by the increase of wealth,
probably wages will fall. But all these truths help us little.
Certainly, we cannot a priori determine the fit proportion be-
tween land and population. Many countries are poor, and
afford bad wages, when thinly populated or semi-savage ; and
are rich, giving good wages, when thickly populated. Nor can
we fix a ratio between increase of population and increase of
wealth. If the population be a productive one, the more it
increases the better, until the limit to food production in the
world be reached. Only the labourer who, by want of education
or natural gifts, is able to produce less than he requires, im-
poverishes a country ; and I see no reason to suppose that as
yet any man, born in the most thickly-populated country, need
be in this condition. It is often said that to produce is useless
if there be no demand, but it is no real production of wealth
if the thing made be not wealth, that is, if it is not wanted ;
the producer, falsely so called, is producing a wrong thing ;
demand is limited by production as much as production by
demand. The demand er can only demand in virtue of his pos-
sessing or having produced what others want, and hence if all
were truly skilled, demand and the power of production would

VOL. II. H

98 POLITICAL ECONOMY

keep pace. Demand falls short of production from two reasons :
the thing produced is a thing not wanted, or those who want it
can produce nothing in return. If labour were wisely applied, the
only limit to the increase of a well-to-do population is the diffi-
culty of producing food. To say that the wealth of a country
depends on its powers of production, is as true as to say that its
powers of profitable production depend on its wealth ; no doubt,
the two things are dependent on one another, but there is no fixed
ratio between them, such that knowing one you may calculate
the other. Capital is produced by labour ; the relative amounts of
these two elements which can be employed in production at a given
moment is approximately fixed, but fixed only by the customs
and desires of that particular country at that particular time,
when capital expects such and such profit, and labourers expect
such and such comforts. Change these feelings, and the fixed
ratio between capital and labour vanishes, so that the Malthusian
law, true as it is, gives no help in determining the rate of wages,
because it gives no help in determining what profit a capitalist
will expect or what comfort a labourer will expect ; because, in
fact, it gives no help in determining the cost of production either
of labour or of anything else.

The action of the increase of population depends on the
second law of demand and supply, showing the probable direction
of the change in wages under given circumstances, but not help'-
ing to determine what wages must be at any time, nor what
they will be in future.

To determine ultimately the rate of wages, we are therefore
driven, as in all other cases, to the third law, that price is
determined by cost of production. But before applying this
law to labour, let as run over the mental machinery by which
the price of any article is brought to coincide with the cost of
production.

The value which buyers and sellers set on any article depends
on different motives. The demand in the buyers' minds cor-
responds to the utility which, in their opinion, attaches to the
article ; and the causes which help to form that opinion are too
numerous for classification. If their desire be slight, they can
force no one to produce ; if it be strong, they will tempt so many
to produce that competition will bring down the price to the

LAJVS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND 99

cost of production ; so that their opinion of the utility of the
article does not ultimately affect the price. Applying this to
labour, the capitalist, if willing only to pay low wages, can
neither force men to enter his workshop, nor to marry and pro-
duce children; and if willing to pay high wages he will attract
crowds, and produce such welfare as results in many marriages.
The competition among labourers will bring down the wages to
something which is equivalent to the cost of production. So far
the parallels run on all fours.

The value set on any article by the mind of the seller, who
only holds it with the object of obtaining money for it, depends
on simple motives as compared with those which may actuate
the buyer. The seller does not think of the utility of the
article, but he will remember the past, guess at the present, and
estimate the future demand, and he will compare these with
the cost of production which he has borne. He will be loth to sell
below the cost price, reckoning in that a given profit to himself.
Nevertheless, if he thinks that the future demand will be less
than the present he will sell : but if he estimates that the demand
will presently rise, he will hold back his ware. The different
estimates of the present and future demand determine the
differences in the supplies at various prices in any given market ;
but if the market price be below cost price, he will refrain from
producing the article in future ; and thus supply will be dimi-
nished until the market price rise up to or above cost price, then
production will continue at a diminished rate. If the market
price is much above cost price, more will be produced, until
cost price and market price again agree.

Now, how far do similar motives affect the production of
labour ? The labourer is precisely in the position of the seller
who attaches no value to his goods in themselves. The cost of
production of his labour may be defined as the cost of maintain-
ing the labourer from his birth to his death ; and if our law is
to hold good, his average wages must simply be such as will
enable him so to maintain himself; but in what style ? Goods
will not be produced unless they pay the producer, besides his
outlay, such a profit as makes it in his opinion worth while to
produce them. Similarly, labourers do not produce and keep
a family until their wages equal the cost of maintenance

loo POLITICAL ECONOMY

including sucli enjoyment or comfort as in their opinion make life
tolerable. The producer of other goods, when dissatisfied with
his profit, ceases to produce. The labourer, if dissatisfied with
his comforts, does not cumber himself with a wife and family —
he even emigrates, or, in last resort, goes on the parish, and
dies. A man being alive will generally sell himself day by day,
even below the rate at which he can be said to care for life, just
as in a temporary dej)ression of the market the producer of
cotton goods sells below cost price rather than not sell at all ;
but he will not commence the production or rearing of a family
unless satisfied with his wages ; and thus the wages of each class
depend on the standard of comfort at which they think it worth
while to marry and beget children. This action does not,
indeed, tnke place with the view of producing goods for sale ;
but it does produce goods for sale, and it only occurs when
existing goods (i.e. labour) meet with a sale satisfying the pro-
ducers. The case of labour is here again analogous to that of
any other goods produced for profit.

We can now answer the question, Whether men, by any
action of theirs, can raise wages ? How can they ? Not by
emigration, unless at the same time the cost of production of
labour vary. Such emigration will simply increase the produc-
tion of human beings, representing, as it does, one form of in-
creased demand for them, and we have seen that, in the long run,
demand has nothing to do with price. Not by increasing the
capital employed productively. This again will only increase
the number of human beings employed, not the wages they re-
ceive. Not by limiting the number of children to be born in a
given area and time ; this will limit trade, but will not perma-
nently raise wages, though the diminution in the number of
workmen of a given class at any moment will temporarily raise
wages, which will gradually fall, unless the standard of comfort
be permanently raised. Not by the limitation of the number of
apprentices to a given trade ; this will have but the same effect
as limiting the number of children. If not all these, what then ?
Simply by creating an increased standard of comfort among the
labourers. Do this, and our young labourer will claim higher
wages, and failing to obtain them, will not marry, or will emi-
grate. Our young apprentice will not enter those trades which

LAIVS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND loi

do not offer liim that profit wliich lie expects. The cost of pro-
duction of labour will have risen — the price or wages must rise
— the quantity supplied will have fallen, unless the demand
have risen. A new state of equilibrium between capital and
labour will have been reached, and although production of
wealth may have been checked for a while, it will afterwards
progress as before.

It is futile to preach Malthusian doctrines of self-restraint to
a labourer. The upper classes may grasp at those doctrines as
an excuse for selfishness, and precisely that class which by edu-
cation and wealth is fitted to produce valuable members of society
may be induced to refrain from so doing ; but it is useless to
expect that the mass of mankind, having once married, or
feeling suflSciently comfortable to think of marrying, will ever
refrain from self-indulgence for the sake of humanity at large.
It is only by appealing to self-interest that the desired end
can be attained, and this end is attained in the middle and
upper classes by means of self-interest. Educated men and
women will not, as a rule, marry until they see their way to
live in such a style as suits them, and the production of the
educated class is thus limited probably as much as is desirable ;
the fear here being, rather that the standard of comfort should
be chosen falsely with reference to imaginary luxuries, wholly
unnecessary to a really refined and cultivated existence. The
learned professions maintain their fees on no other principle
than that of maintaining a high standard of comfort. Men
fitted to exercise them will not enter them or remain in them
unless they see their way to live in the style they have
chosen ; shovild this fail them, they change their occupation,
they emigrate, or at least remain single, just as in the case of a
labourer. The average remuneration of a doctor or of an archi-
tect depends on the cost of his production, being mainly the cost
of his living in the style which men who have received that
degree of education expect. The number of doctors employed
at this rate depends on the number of people willing to pay the
fees asked. It is frequently supposed to be the limitation pro-
duced by the cost of education which enables the professional
man to earn higher wages than the mechanic, limiting as it does
the supply of educated men. It does this to some extent, but if

I02 POLITICAL ECONOMY

there were openings for a thousand more doctors to-morrow the
funds for their education would be found next day ; and again,
if the social position of doctors were to fall so that much smaller
fees were expected, the profession would be far more numerous
than at present.

It appears, then, that our third law, rigid as it is, only
brings us to a point at which once more the feelings of men
are the true arbiters of price. The cost of production of labour
determines wages, but is itself determined by men's expectation
of comfort.

Are we then to conclude that by simply asking for higher
pay men can always obtain it ? By no means.

The alternative presented to each man is, or might be, work
at the present rate or starve. However serious his discontent
at his present pay, he may well falter at the alternative ; but
if his dissatisfaction be real, he will, at least, refrain from pro-
ducing more labour, and thus his discontent will tend to raise
the wages as he wished. This is not the old doctrine of simply
limiting the number of human beings in order to raise wages,
but contains the truth partly taught by the old doctrine. The
ultimate effect of the limitation of labour can only be to limit the
production of wealth, and the bargain between labour and capital
will always, in time, result in driving the labourer back to the
lowest standard of comfort at which he will marry ; but if we
begin by raising the standard of comfort which our labourer
desires, we shall both limit the population and raise the wages.
The limitation of population is the intermediate machinery by
which the desired end is to be effected, but the motive-power
must be sought in individual self-interest or discontent.

Every action which tends to make the labourer put up with
less comfort, or less security, tends to lower his wages. Teach
him nothing, so that he wants no books nor other pleasures of
the mind. Abolish bodily amusements, so that he expects no
pleasures of the body. Accustom him to live like a beast in a
hovel ; remove all fear of absolute starvation by a poor-law j use
the same machinery to persuade him that he may, with a good
conscience, desert helpless children or old parents ; give him little
doles at every pinch, lest he be tempted to rebel ; — do all this,
and your dull aimless wretch will plod from day to day, expect-

LAWS OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND 103

ing nothing more, and spawning swarms of wretched beings to
succeed him in his hopeless contentment with a pittance. All
this has been too much done, undo it ; teach him, in order that he
may desire knowledge ; let him know that the world has pleasure
in it, so that he may long for pleasure ; show him what comfort
is, so that he may learn to want, not live as a savage without
wants ; and when he has learnt how good a thing it is to enjoy
life, let him fear poverty and starvation, as that man does fear
them who must subdue them or perish ; teach him to trust him-
self; teach him that his wife, his little ones, should trust him
and him alone ; let him look on miscalled charity as a temptation
of the devil ; and add to all this the greatest want of all, the long-
ing that he may be that excellent thing, the man who walks in
the ways of God ; and never fear that this being will grovel out
a life of hardship, or fail to learn how to win that which he so
much desires.

Discontent with that which is vile is the mainspring by
which the world is to be moved to good. Contentment with
degradation is a vice — a vice only too difficult to eradicate. The
action of these truths is everywhere to be seen. There is hardly
a grain of truth in the doctrine that men's wages are in propor-
tion to the pleasantness of their occupations. On the contrary,
all loathsome occupations are undertaken by apathetic beings for
a miserable hire. The plodding agricultural labourer has small
wages ; the discontented mechanic lives in comfort ; the pro-
fessional man, who never ceases struggling for more, wins luxu-
ries ; — yet the best paid is the most pleasant life. Now the
common explanation of this is, that there are few capable of ful-
filling the higher and pleasanter functions, and many capable of
performing the baser work ; but why are there few fit for the higher
lot ? Simply because of the high standard obtaining among
those who rejoice in it. A doctor with half a dozen sons will
not make all doctors ; he could afford to do this very well. It
is not the expense of the education which deters ; he knows
he could not find openings for all in the one path — he means by
this, not in the style to which he is accustomed, and in which
he expects his sons to live. It is the standard of comfort held
by the present doctors which limits the number entering the
profession, not the expense of education : again, a young doctor

I04 POLITICAL ECONOMY

saj'S that lie cannot marry on 300/. a year, although he knows
that a mechanic on lOOL lives in real comfort, and brings up a
well-to-do family. Again, it is the young doctor's standard of
comfort which limits the number of the well-to-do class, and so
keeps up their pay. But, it may be said, if it is not the expense
of education which limits the number of doctors, why do not
the well-to-do of the lower class make their sons professional
men, and so lower the standard of refinement and culture ? They
actually do so to a limited extent, but no sooner has the lad
received the professional education, and learnt the wants of
the new and higher class, than he adopts these ; and while his
father married on lOOZ. a year, he refuses to be contented with
less than 500Z.

Now, there is nothing which so much helps a man to keep
up the standard of his desires as the possession of some wealth.
A man who has something can hold out. If he cannot enjoy
large profits he can enjoy idleness ; but the pauper must work
or starve. Thus those who have money make the larger incomes,
and the poor in a profession make small pi'ofits. Money makes
money, because money produces a high standard of ease. Trade-
uuions are one of the most powerful agents for raising wages,
because they enable the community of workmen to acquire
wealth. They are more powerful than savings-banks or building-
societies, by which individuals obtain reserve funds. The in-
dividual workman knows that his reserve fund will be nearly
useless unless his neighbour has a reserve fund also. If each
workman in a strike trusted to his own funds only, the poorer
ones must give in first ; and these would secure work while the
richer, after spending a part of their reserve, would find them-
selves supplanted by the poorer competitors, and the sacrifice
made uselessly. A combined reserve fund gives great power by
insuring that all suffer alike. The trade-union, therefore, has
a permanent action in raising wages, because it enables men to
accumulate a common fund, with which they can sustain their
resolution not to work unless they obtain such pay as will give
increased comfort. The common reserve fund plays just the
same part in raising their wages, as is played by the small pa-
trimony or sustenance given by a doctor to his son, which enables

LA WS OF SUP PL V AND DEMAND 105

him, without risk of starvation, to refrain from taking unprofes-
sional fees.

Strange, therefore, as the doctrine may sound, it is the wants
of men which regulate their wages : and this is a simple de-
duction from the principle that the cost of production ultimately
determines the prices. Where wants are few and simple, there
wages are low; where wants are numerous, wages are high;
and it is the wants which raise the wages, not the wages which
have created the wants : pay a savage more than he is accus-
tomed to, and he simply squanders the money. But while the
wants of men determine their pay, it is the demand for men of
that class which determines how many shall be employed at
that pay. This is the corrective to discontent. If their wants
are great, few or no men of the given class may get any pay
at all. It is the seller of labour who determines the price, but
it is the buyer who determines the number of transactions.
Capital settles how many men are wanted at given wages, but
labour settles what wages the man shall have.

Surely we may be well satisfied with this conclusion. The
laws of demand and supply, rigid as they are, point to no
necessary impoverishment and degradation of the labourer as
men and means multiply ; they require for his improvement no
superhuman exercise of prudence on his part ; they ask for no
bounty from the men of great wealth. Well might men ex-
claim that the law was a law of death, when they so misread it as
to believe that unless an ignorant and brutish population could
be taught for the sake of unborn men to restrain their strongest
passion, poverty must be perpetuated in an ever-increasing
ratio. I do not so read the law ; but say, Convince these paupers
of their own misery. Teach them what comfort is, and a rational
self-interest will lead them to independence, which the more
wealthy have reached by the same path. Rational self-interest
has done most things in this world, the great duty of the teacher
being to distinguish rational from irrational self-interest. What-
ever school of religion or philosophy we belong to, we cannot
deny that each man, acting rationally for his own advantage,
will conduce to the good of all ; and if the motive be not the
highest, it is one which at least can always be counted on. It

io6 POLITICAL ECONOMY

were a poor world if higher motives were banished ; but in look-
ing to the improvement of the pauper it is well that we may
count on a motive which is at least effectual. And, looking
to this motive alone, I say that the laws of demand and sup-
ply are so far from being antagonistic to improvement, that we
need only teach men what they should desire, and excite in
their minds a real disgust at their miserable condition, in order,
by the very laws of price, to create the Utopia of labour where
all men shall get a fair day's wages for a fair day's work, by
which vague phrase the workman means that the pay for his
labour shall buy him enjoyment as well as bread.

I07

ON THE PRINCIPLES WHICH REGULATE THE
INCIDENCE OF TAXES.'

It is well known that many taxes do not fall ultimately on the
person from whom they are in the first instance levied. The
merchant advances the duties imposed on goods, but the tax
ultimately falls on the consumer. The problem of discovering
the ultimate or true incidence of each tax is one of great im-
portance, and of considerable complexity. The following paper
contains an investigation of the methods by which this incidence
may in some cases be experimentally determined, and of the
principles regulating the incidence in all cases — these principles
being stated in a mathematical form.

The author, in a paper published in Recess Studies, expressed
the law of supply and demand by representing what may be
termed the demand and supply functions as curves. The ordi-
nates parallel to the axis OX, Fig. 1, were prices — the co-ordi-
nates parallel to the axis 0 Y were the supplies at each price, and
the demand at each price for the respective curves — the market
price is then indicated by the ordinate x of the point at which
the curves intersect, this being the only price at which buyers
and sellers are agreed as to the quantity to be transferred.

We might write the law algebraically as follows, calling y
the quantity of goods in the market, at each price x, we have y
= (fi (x); and calling y^ the quantity of goods demanded at each
price, we have ,?/i = ^i (^) ', the market price is determined by the
equation y^y^. There is, however, little or no advantage in
adopting this algebraic form, because we cannot suppose that in
any instance 0 (x) or ^j (x) will be any tolerably simple algebraic
function, whereas the curve for given goods might be determined

' From Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edlnhurgli, Session 1871-2.

io8

POLITICAL ECONOMY

experimentally by observing from year to year variations of
quantities bought or quantities supplied at various prices.

Professor Jevons lias since given a much more complex
algebraic representation of the same law, which, however,
reduces itself to the above simple form.

The graphic method may also be employed to indicate the
advantage gained by each party in trade, and to show how it
may be estimated in money. Let the two curves indicate the
demaiid and supply at each price for a certain kind of goods.
If all sellers were of one mind, and were willing to supply all
their goods at a given price a?, and were quite determined to sell

Fig. 1

no goods below that price, the supply curve would be a mere
straight line parallel to 0 X, and ending abruptly at the ordinate
raised at x. Similarly, if all buyers wei-e of one mind, and
would only buy below a given price x^ but were willing to buy
all they want at that price, and no more at any lower price, the
demand curve would be a line parallel to 0 X ending abruptly
at the ordinate raised at a;, and the price would be quite inde-
terminate. If the two lines overlapped, transactions might take
. place at any price between that at which the sellers were willing
to sell and the buyers willing to buy ; there would in this case
be no market price. This case does not represent the true state

THE INCIDENCE OF TAXES 109

of either buyers' or sellers' minds in any real large market.
There are always a few holders who would only sell if the price
were much higher than the market price, — these are the people
who expect prices to rise ; there are some who are just willing
to sell at the market price, but who will not sell a penny below ;
and there are others, weak holders, who expect prices to fall,
and these would really, if pushed to extremity, sell below the
market price. This condition of things is represented by the
supply curve in Fig. 1.

Similarly, there are a few buyers who, if pushed to extremity,
would buy some goods above market price ; some also will just
buy at market price ; some will not buy unless the price is below
market price. This is represented by the demand curve.

Now, I contend that when the market price is fixed, those
traders who are perfectly indifi:erent whether they buy or sell at
that price reap no benefit by the trade ; but these will be few in
number.

Looking at the demand curve, the ordinate x^^ from the axis
O Y to A represents the value set on some of the goods by some
buyers, but these buyers have got the goods for the sum repre-
sented by the ordinate .1:; = 0 M ; the difference between these two
ordinates x^ — x is the difference in price between what was
given and what might have been given for a certain small quan-
tity At/ of goods. A?/ {x^—x)\s, therefore the benefit reaped by
buyers from the purchase of the quantity At/ ; and integrating
the benefits derived from the sale of each successive quantity, we
find the area M D C B A N represents the whole gain to buyers by
the purchase of the quantity ij of goods. Similarly, it is easy to
show that the area M D c & a P represents the gain to sellers by the
same transaction ; these areas represent the gain in money,
each product At/ {x^—x) being the product of a quantity by the
gain in money per unit of quantity.

Thus the whole benefit to the two leading communities is
represented by the sum of the two above-named areas, and the
partition of the benefit between the two communities is perfectly
definite.

Professor Jevons has used curves to integrate what he terms
the utility gained by exchange in a manner analogous to the
above ; but utility, as he defines it, admits of no practical

no POLITICAL ECONOMY

measurement, and he bases liis curve, not on the varying
estimates of value set by different individuals each on what he
has or what he wants, but on the varying utility to each indi-
vidual of each increment of goods. The above estimate of the
gain due to trade, deduced from the demand and supply curves
as originally drawn in my Recess Studies article is, I believe,
novel, and gives a numerical estimate in money of the value of
any given trade, which might be approximately determined by
observing the effect of a change of prices on the trade ; the
curves throughout their whole lengths could certainly not, in
most cases, be determined by experiment, but statistics gathered
through a few years would show approximately the steepness of
each curve near the market price, and this is the most important
information.

A steep supply curve and a horizontal demand curve indicate
that the buyers reap the chief benefit of the trade. The sellers,
if producers, may, however, be making important profits as
capitalists and labourers.

A steep demand curve and a level supply curve indicate
that the suppliers are chiefly benefited by the trade ; the com-
munity or body which is most ready to abandon the trade if the
price increases a little, benefits least by the trade.

When the traders are producers and consumers, the benefits
estimated in this way as due to the trade are not the only benefits
reaped by the community from the manufacture.

In this case, what is termed the supply curve depends on the
cost of production of the article, including that interest on
capital and that remuneration for skilled superintendence which
is necessary to induce the producer to employ his capital and
skill in that way. The cost of production increases generally
with the quantity of the article produced, otherwise the supply
curve would be a straight vertical line ; but as a matter of fact,
to produce an increase of production a rise of price is necessary,
indicating that only a few men with little capital are content
with a small rate of interest and small remuneration for their
skill, but that to induce many men with much capital to be
employed in the particular manufacture, a large rate of interest
and considerable remuneration are required, hence the supply
curve will be such as shown in Fig. 2, where the price O P is that

THE INCIDENCE OF TAXES

price or cost of production which is just sufficient to tempt a few
producers to produce a little of the article.

Then if O P' is the actual cost out of pocket required to
produce a small quantity of an article, and if O P is the lowest
cost at which any manufacturer can afford to produce it, the
area P'D'DM represents the whole profit to the producing
capitalist when the price is 0 M. The line DT' is not necessarily
parallel to D P, nor vertical, the bare cost of production of the
article generally increases as the quantity increases ; and in that
case D'P' is not vertical. Again, the rate of interest required to
tempt additional capital into a particular field is not constant,

Fig. 2.

but increases, hence P'D' is steeper than P D. I see at present
no means of experimentally ascertaining the gain reaped by
producers represented by the area PDD'P' : it can be approxi-
mately estimated by considering the prevailing rate of interest
in the producing community and the amount of capital required
for the production of the unit of the article.

We see that the gain of a manufacturing capitalist may be
divided into two parts — the profit as a trader, and the interest
as a capitalist.

In safe trades, where there are few fluctuations in price, the
former gain may perhaps be the most important ; in more specu-
lative trades the latter.

112 POLITICAL ECONOMY

There is yet a third source of gain to the manufacturing
community: the labourer who produces the goods earns his
wages by the manufacture, and this is an advantage to him. In
the diagram, the area 0 P'D'D" represents the wages paid for
labour alone. The length of the lines between 0 Y and P'D'
represents the wages of labour per unit of goods, increasing as
the quantity of goods required increases. This is lost to the
community if the manufacture is stopped. Thus the whole sum
paid by the consumer is the area 0 M D D" ; and this is made up
of three parts, one of which is the profit to the trader, one the
interest to the capitalist, and one the wages of the labourer ; all
these advantages are lost if the manufacture ceases.

The gain of the labourer does not resemble the profit of the
trader, or the interest of the capitalist. The profit of the trader
is the difference between his valuation of the goods and what he
gets for them. If he does not sell his goods he still has his
goods, he only loses the profit. Similarly, if the capitalist does
not sell his capital, he still has his capital. Now, the area P'P D D'
represents the profit made by the capitalist on the particular
employment of his capital, and this is all that he loses if unable
to sell that capital ; but the area 0 P'D'D'' represents the whole
sum received by the labourers, not their profit. The profit
of the labourer may perhaps be considered as the excess of
wages which he earns in a particular trade, over that which
would just tempt him to work rather than starve or go into the
workhouse.

If the consumer purchases the article for simple unproductive
consumption, then the loss to him is only represented by the
area D M N. If, however, a community purchases goods, and
consumes them productively, then, by the cessation of the trade,
they in their turn lose the interest on the capital they employ,
and the labourers of the community lose their wages ; so that, in
that case, the loss to the buyer, who cannot be classed as an
immediate consumer, is made up of three parts, similar to those
enumerated in the case of the seller.

Taxes on Trade.

Having distinguished between the three distinct advantages
given by trade, I will now consider the incidence of a tax on

THE INCIDENCE OF TAXES

113

trade, levied as a fixed sum per unit of goods, as one pound per
ton, or one shilling per gross.

The effect of such a tax is to produce a constant difference
between the price paid by the buyer and the price received by
the seller. The market prices are determined in the diagram of
the supply and demand curves, by the points between which a
line parallel to 0 X, and equal in length to the tax, can be fitted
between the two curves.

Thus, if in Fig. 3, F N be the demand curve, and P E the
supply curve, and if the length of the line C C be the amount of
the tax per unit of goods, then 0 M is the market price to the

r £

Fig. 3

supplier, 0 M' the market price to the buyer, and the difference
M M' is equal to the tax.

The total amount raised by the tax from the transactions
represented in the diagram, is measured by the area M 0 CM'.
The portion paid by the seller is measured by the area CC"M"M.
The portion paid by the buyer is measured by the area C'O'M'M''.
The whole loss entailed by the tax on the two communities is
measured by the area MOD CM' ; the loss to the sellers is mea-
sured by the area C D M"M ; the loss to the buyers by the area
M"D CM' ; both buyers and sellers suffer a loss beyond the tax
they pay. This excess of loss is represented by the area C ^"Ti
for the sellers, and CC'D for the buyers.

If the tax be large, the line C C will approach the axis O X,
the tax will be unproductive, and the area C CD representing the
VOL. II. I

114 POLITICAL ECONOMY

excess of injury to the buyers and sellers will be large, compared
with the produce of the tax. This fact is one justification of
free trade.

There is a certain magnitude of tax which will produce the
maximum revenue or value for the area M C CM'. The ratio in
which the tax falls, in one sense, on sellers and buyers is simply
the ratio of the diminution of price obtained by the sellers to the
increase of price paid by the buyers.

It is absolutely clear that this is the proportion in which the
tax is actually -paid by the two parties, although this may by no
means correspond to the relative suffering inflicted on the two
parties, nor is it even the proportion in which the two parties
lose by the loss of trade profit. The whole loss of either party
is, as the diagi'am shows, always greater than the tax they pay.
The relative total losses of the two communities as traders, are
in proportion to the areas MOD M'' and M'C'D M'' ; and these
areas might approximately, at least, be ascertained by experi-
ments for this purpose ; treating C D and CD as straight lines,
we only require to know the quantity and price of the goods
before the imposition of the tax, and the quantity and price
afterwards.

Thus, if a tax of 2c^. per pound were imposed on the trade
in cotton between ourselves and America, if before the tax we
imported 500 million lbs. at one shilling, and after the tax 300
million lbs. for which we paid \Z\d.^ and the Americans re-
ceived ll^f^., the total loss to the two communities as traders
would be 600 + 200 = 800 million pennies, the produce of the
tax 600 million pennies.

England would pay of the tax 450 million pennies.
England's total loss would be 600 million pennies. America
would pay of the tax 150 million pennies. America's total loss
would be 200 million pennies. The incidence would be the
same whichever government levied the tax.

It follows from the above principles, that if a holder sells
nnreservedl}^, trusting to the competition between the buyers to
produce the market, the whole tax falls on the seller; the
supply curve becomes a vertical straight line. If a buyer buys
unreservedly, the whole tax falls on him ; in this case the
demand curve becomes a vertical straight line.

THE INCIDEXCE OF TAXES 115

Thus, if sales by auction were subject to a tax (.id valorem or
otherwise, and if sales were quite unreserved, the number of
transactions not being altered, the prices would be unaltered,
but the sellers would only get the prices minus the tax.

This case does not practically arise, because, if auctions were
really so taxed, although in each auction that occurred the sale
might be unreserved, auctions would, as a whole, be checked ;
fewer people would put up their goods for sale in that way, —
the prices would rise, the number of transactions would l^e
diminished, and the tax would really be borne in part by the
buyers and part by the sellers.

If the trade between two countries really consists in the
exchange of goods, effected by the agency of money as a unit
for expressing value, but not involving the actual transfer of
coin, the above principles show the whole gain by the exchange
to be the sum of two gains which each party would make by
each trade if it alone existed.

If by duties one portion of the trade be extinguished or
much diminished, both parties lose, but if the other portion of
the trade remain uninjured, then, although there may be no
exchange of commodities other than of goods for actual money,
nevertheless the full gain on that which is untaxed remains
intact. Thus, although the French may tax our goods, and so
inflict a loss on themselves and on us, this is no reason for our
inflicting an additional loss on the two communities by taxing
the import of their goods.

House Rent.

I will next consider the effect of a tax on house rent.

Landlords are here the sellers, and tenants the buyers of
what may be termed a commodity ; not the house, but the loan
of a house for a term of years — the tenant buys what might be
called, by the extension of a suggestion of Professor Jevons, a
house-year from his landlord.

The difference between the house and other commodities
such as food or dress is, that the house remains, whereas they
are consumed. The house-year is consumed year by year, but
it is reproduced year by year without material fresh expenditure

I 2

Ii6 POLITICAL ECONOMV

on the part of the landlord. This permanency alters the incidence
of taxation.

If the demand falls off the landlord cannot remove his house
— he cannot cease to produce his house-year, which therefore he
must dispose of. Hence, in a stationary or declining community,
where no new houses are being built, but where year after year
a sensible proportion remains unoccupied, the landlord must sell
his house-year unreservedly, and any tax imposed on house rent
would fall on him alone ; that is to say, he would receive a rent
diminished by the full amount of the tax, and the tenant would
pay no more rent for a house of a given class than if no tax
were imposed. The supply curve becomes a straight horizontal
line, and is unaffected by the tax ; the demand curve is equally
unaffected by the tax ; the number of houses let is unaltered by
the tax, but the landlords lose as rent the whole amount raised
by taxation.

This reasoning is based on the assumption that the supply
curve has become a straight horizontal line unaffected by the
tax. This condition is altered in any prosperous or growing
community. There new houses must be built, and a consider-
able number of houses are always unlet, not because they are
not required by the community, but because the speculative
builders are holding out for higher terms. This produces a
supply curve of the kind common to all other kinds of goods.
At higher prices more goods are forthcoming. A newly-imposed
tax will then be distributed between sellers and buyers, landlords
and tenants in a manner depending on the form of these curves.
A sensible check will be given to the letting of houses, tenants
will be content with somewhat less good houses, and landlords
with rather smaller rents. This is the immediate effect of the
tax — the greater portion would probably fall on the landlords
at first, at least in the new houses where fresh contracts are
being made. But after a few years the conditions would have
altered. New houses are only built because the builders obtain
the usual trade profit and interest on their capital — the check
to letting consequent on the imposition of the tax will therefore
diminish the supply of new houses until, owing to diminution
in supply, rents have risen to their old average. Then builders
resume their operations. The whole tax by that time will be

THE INCIDENCE OF TAXES n?

borne by the tenants ; that is to say, if there were no tax they
would get their houses cheaper by the precise amount of the
tax, because rents so diminished would suffice to induce specu-
lative builders to supply them. The rents through the whole
town are ruled by those of the new districts. There is a certain
relative value between every house in the town, and if the rents
of new houses are dearer, the rents of the old houses are in-
creased in due proportion. In fact, when new houses need to
be supplied year by year, houses are commodities which are
being produced, and the tax falls on the consumers.

The above principles determine the incidence of a tax,
whether nominally levied on the landlord or tenant, but in their
application account must be taken of the mental inertia of both
landlords and tenants, as well as of the fact that many contracts
for houses are not immediately terminable. These two condi-
tions will for the first few years after the imposition of a,ny
new tax cause it to fall on the party from whom it is nominally
levied.

Precisely as a tax on trade not only falls on the traders, but
injures capitalists and labourers, a tax on house rents injures
the capitalists who build houses and the labourers they employ
— not that the capitalist pays the tax, but he is prevented from
finding a useful investment for his money owing to the diminu-
tion in the number or quality of houses required.

Taxes on Land.

The question of the incidence of taxes on land is peculiarly
interesting. Land differs from all other commodities, inasmuch
as the quantity of it does not depend on the will of any producer.
The number of houses in a flourishing community does depend
on the will of speculative builders ; but land can only be in-
creased in quantity by such processes as enclosing commons, or
breaking up private pleasure grounds. We will neglect these
small disturbing influences, and assume that all the land in a
country is available for cultivation, where such cultivation is
profitable ; and that the absence of profit is the only reason for
neglecting to cultivate any portion of it.

It is well known that the rent of each acre of

ii8 POLITICAL ECONOMY

tlie excess of annual value of that acre over the annual value of
the poorest land which tenants think it worth while to cultivate.
We may classify all land according to the total return which it
will yield per acre upon capital invested in its cultivation ; and
we mav draw a supply curve of land such that the ordinates will
be the total quantities of land which will return each successive
percentage on the capital required to cultivate it. The supply
diminishes as the rate of percentage increases, that is to say,
there is less land which will return ten per cent, on the capital
than will return five per cent., and still less land which will
return twenty or thirty per cent.

If, therefore, tenants as a body, considered as capitalists, will
not cultivate any land which does not yield twenty per cent.,
there will be far less land in the market than if they will be
just satisfied with ten per cent.

Again, all tenants are not of one mind, and we may construct
a demand curve in which the ordinates are the total quantities of
land which would be let, if the land paying no rent be fixed at
each successive percentage. The actual quantity of land let will
be determined by the intersection of the two curves, and is repre-
sented by the height M D, Fig. 4.

If we now build a solid on the base OD'DN, such that its height
all along each ordinate x is the number of hundreds of pounds
of capital per acre required to give the percentage corresponding
to the length cc, then we shall have a volume standing on 0 D'D N,
the contents of which will measure the total annual returns from
all the land cultivated.' The rent is the volume standing on
M D N, the profit received by the farmers is the volume standing
on O D' D M, and this is in excess of what would have just
tempted them to cultivate by the volume on M D P. We may,
therefore, considering the farmer as a capitalist and a trader, call
the volume on M D P his trade profit, and the volume on O D' D
the interest on his capital.

The eflFect of any tax on the land is to reduce the interest
which each class of land is capable of returning on the capital

' If loOZ. per acre are required to give the percentage x of any one class
of goods, the height of the ordinate perpendicular to the plane of 0 D ' D N
will be 1-5.

THE INCIDENCE Oh TAXES

119

employed. This it will do in very different ways according to the
manner in which the tax is levied.

If the tax be an ad valorem duty on rent, it will modify the
supply curve only between D and N. There will remain just as
much land as before capable of paying rates of interest less than
O M, but the quantity of land capable of paying the higher rates
will be diminished ; in other words, the rate of interest which the
poorest land worth cultivating pays will not be affected, for this
land pays no rent and remains untaxed — hence no land will be
thrown out of cultivation, but the supply curve will be altered from
D N to D N' , diminishing the volume representing rent, but leaving
the other quantities untouched ; hence any tax assessed on rent
V

Fig. 4.
is paid wholly by the landlord. The amount of the tax is the
volume standing on D N N'. It is curious to remark that this
tax in no way falls on the consumer. The tax on rent simply
diminishes the excess of value which some land has over others ;
no land is thrown out of cultivation, and no less capital employed
in production than before ; no one suffers but the landlord. If,
instead of being assessed on the rent, the tax is assessed on the
produce of the cultivation, the incidence of the tax will be greatly
modified. The cultivation of land will no longer be so profit-
able ; i.e. the returns from capital employed on the land will
be less ; in other words, the whole supply curve of the land will
be modified, falling everywhere if the produce taxed be that
which is produced on all qualities of land. Some land will fall

POLITICAL ECONOMY

out of cultivation, and only part of the tax will be borne by the
landlord ; part will fall in the first instance on the tenant, but
he, like any other manufacturer, will recover almost the whole
of his portion from the consumer. Tenants will be injured by
the limitation of the number of transactions, and labourers by the
diminution in the amount of work required. This is the effect
of an octroi duty.

Sometimes a tax is assessed not on the rent, but on an assumed
value per acre. Such a tax can never be raised on land which
pays no rent, for the owner would rather abandon possession of
the land than pay the tax. It might, however, lead to the aban-
donment of the cultivation of poorer soils ; it would then injure

Fig. 6.

tenants and consumers, although they would not pay one penny
of the tax ; for taxes cannot be paid out of lands which lie waste ;
assuming that the tax is always less than the rent, as it cer-
tainly always should be, it will be paid wholly by the landlords.
The tax in this case does not diminish the supply of land.

A cognate question of great interest is. Who reaps the benefit
of any improvements in agriculture, making land return more
than it previously did ? This improvement may require, and
probably will require, increased investment of capital. The
whole supply curve will be raised ; assuming the demand to re-
main the same. Fig. 5, M''D" will be the new increased number
of acres in cultivation, but land will be left uncultivated which
would have returned the interest 0 M on capital. The volume

THE INCIDENCE OF TAXES I2i

standing on D' D'' N'' will be much greater than that on D' D N,
for the third dimension will also have increased ; the average
rate of interest and the trade profit of the tenant will have in-
creased, and it is highly probable that the volume standing on
D" M" N" may be greater than that which stood on D N M ; but
this is by no means certain. It might at first be actually smaller.
In all probability, however, the demand curve is very nearly
vertical, a small increase of profit tempting a largely increased
investment of capital in farming. If this be so, then the land-
lord also reaps considerable benefit from the improvement, for if
the farmers were contented with nearly the same rate of interest
as before, the solid standing on D E, N N'' Yi" which he gains
would be larger than the solid on D K M" M which he loses ;
moreover, the volume on R NM'', which he retains, is increased.
Labourers and consumers also gain.

POLITICAL ECONOMY

THE TIME-LABOUR SYSTEM:

OR HOW TO AVOID THE EVILS CAUSED BY STRIKES.'

Many people think that strikes are due either to wickedness or
to ignorance ; that men on strike are endeavouring by illegi-
timate means to obtain higher wages than they are entitled to
by the law of demand and supply ; others consider that strikes
are the only means by which the men can ascertain what wages
this much-quoted law entitles them to claim. All, however,
will admit that the process is singularly barbarous and clumsy,
entailing much loss on all concerned. The first step in looking
for a remedy is to ascertain as clearly as possible the cause of
the evil. Why should a strike be required to ascertain the state
of the labour market when no analogous action is required to fix
the price of otlier goods ? Some deny that the strike is neces-
sary. Let us therefore examine in what way the law of demand
and supply does fix the price of goods in general, and then we
shall easily see whether the process be or be not applicable to
the determination of the price of labour.

We all know that when the demand exceeds the supply
prices rise and vice versa, but let anyone who thinks that this
statement closes the question consider how, if he were appointed
arbitrator, he would decide what rise of wages should follow a
given increase of demand ; nay, how he would measure the
increased demand. This is the difficulty. The common answer
would be that no arbitrator can decide any point of this kind,
which must be settled by the operations of nature. This is
done so far as it goes ; but nature does not act by supernatural
methods. Her methods can be examined, and in some cases
new and better methods may be set in operation than those
which have crept in unwatched, as when we substitute emigra-
tion and sanitary science for famine and pestilence. Now a strike
' From uniiublislied MS., 1879-81.

THE TIME-LABOUR SYSTEM 123

is the famine and pestilence of trade. Even famine and pesti-
lence serve useful ends, and so does a strike ; but instead of
submissively accepting strikes as the only means by which, in the
present state of the body politic, wages can be determined, let us
examine carefully how prices of other commodities are determined
by nature, with the hope that when the special difficulty in the
case of labour is clearly understood, we may find the means of
evading or overcoming that difficulty.

The price of any one article, say eggs, in a given market is
that at which the number of eggs required by the buyers is
equal to the number offered by the sellers ; there is no such
thing as a definite demand or a definite supply irrespective of
price. We can only think of demand as definite when we name
a given price : at that price buyers would be willing to take,
say 100,000 eggs ; but perhaps at this price sellers would only
supply 90,000 ; if so, the given price is below the true market
price. At some higher price 100,000 eggs may be ready for
sale, but at this price buyers decline to take more than 90,000 ;
this price then is above the market price.

There is some intermediate price at which perhaps 95,000
could be disposed of by sellers and 95,000 also bought by the
buyers. This price would be the market price and this number
the number sold on that market day — provided— and this is a
very material point, buyers and sellers could accurately ascertain
one another's minds. But there is no mysterious law of nature
bringing this price to light without visible agency — an approxi-
mation to this theoretical market price is actually formed by a
tentative process. Some one offers eggs at what he guesses or
wishes the market price to be. Then one of two things happens ;
either this offer is snapped up at once, and buyers crowd round
him, or buyers shake their heads, and say that they will wait.
If sales at this price are numerous the market is said to be brisk
and the sellers raise their prices ; if there are few transactions
the sellers lower their prices. By this power of trial they find
out roughly a price at which the number of eggs for sale and
the number required are about equal. This process of deter-
mining the price of an article will hereafter be called the marliet
l?rocess^ and the price thus ascertained, the marJcet pice.

Price in a market varies in a manner so resistless as to

124 POLITICAL ECONOMY

suggest that it must really be determined by some process
which is independent of the xviil whether of purchasers or
sellers : but this is not so. Each transaction shows that one
man is willing to part with some goods at a given price and
that another man is willirig to purchase goods at that price.
The briskness or slackness of sales simply brings into evidence
the condition of the wills of the traders. In a market there is
never any serious discontent, you are free to offer your eggs to
a hundred buyers at what you think a fair price — you find that
not one will buy — you see eighty or ninety neighbours willing
to sell for a lower price than yours — you go home with your
eggs unsold, disappointed no doubt, but feeling no suspicion
that injustice has been done you, believing on the contrary that
next day in another town you will get a still better price, when
you will rejoice at your foresight ; your state of mind would be
wholly different if you saw that all the buyers had agreed that
they would not compete with one another but would simply
give sixpence a dozen. They would no doubt get a supply even
at this price, perhaps 20,000 eggs instead of 95,000, the
number which would have changed hands if the price had been
settled by the market process, but every seller, even those who
sold their eggs, would feel sore. Men see that when buyer
competes with buyer, or seller with seller, a natural tentative
operation settles the price ; sellers are revolted by any attempt
on the part of buyers to fix a price arbitrarily, just because they
have money. Buyers feel the same thing if sellers combine to
say they won't sell their eggs for less than a shilling a dozen.
They must have some eggs ; they buy perhaps 20,000, and see
80,000 rotting taken home. Monstrous of the sellers to try to
fix an arbitrary price just because they have got eggs and we
have none !

Nor are matters a bit improved when buyers and sellers
both combine — the sellers will not sell under a shilling a dozen,
the buyers will not give more than sixpence a dozen; each
party abuses the other and all the eggs rot. This is a strike.
After some dozens of market days spent in this way one of the
two parties finds out that it is more inconvenienced than the
other ; perhaps that a substitute for eggs is in the market ; that
eggs are coming from Timbuctoo, and they come to an agree-

THE TIME-LABOUR SYSTEM 125

ment fixing some intermediate price. But what a wretched
way of finding out the market price as compared with the usual
one where every egg that changes hands helps to determine
what the true price ought to be, the price which all can give
and receive without rancour.

How does it come then that the price of labour cannot be
settled by the simple natural process which fixes the price of
eggs ? In some cases it can be and is. Domestic servants'
wages are settled by the market method. There is a continual
market open. Employers give different wages ; not only do
various degrees of merit command various rates of pay, but the
same degrees of merit are paid for at different rates ; above all,
there is no combination among masters not to give more than a
certain rate for a housemaid ; nor among housemaids not to
work for less than a certain rate of pay. Competition is free
and incessant. The condition of the market is patent to all :
either there is or is not a difficulty in procuring the labour at
the old rate of wages and the price rises or falls accordingly.
The rise or fall stops when the supply and demand are equal.
The reason why the price of labour in factories cannot be
settled in a similar way is obvious enough.

When a hundred men are working side by side at weekly
wages, doing work of the same quality, they will never be con-
tented unless they are paid at equal rates. When B. gives 18Z.
to a housemaid this does not entail a rise in the wages paid by
A. to his housemaid of equal merit, engaged six months before
at IQl. Not only are the housemaids engaged for longer periods,
but there is a tacit understanding that the agreement, though
nominally for a quarter, really is intended to apjDly for much
longer. But this state of things is only possible under the
condition that the housemaids are not in the same house or
hotel, working for the same master. Now this is at the root of
the whole matter. A master wanting more workmen than he
can get at the actual rate of wages, cannot have recourse to the
natural plan of offering a slight advance in the wages of new
hands, unless he is prepared to raise the wages of the thousand
workmen he is already employing — a much more serious affair.
It is as if a buyer having bought a thousand eggs at sixpence
a dozen and wanting a hundred more, could not offer sevenpence

126 POLITICAL ECONOMY

a dozen for the extra lot, without going back on his old bargains
and paying sevenpence for all.

Now this peculiarity of the labour market does not arise from
any defect either in men or masters. There has been far too
much uncalled-for asperity on this subject, which the Press has
rather fomented than allayed. The difficulties of the case are
inherent not accidental. No set of men can be expected when
doing work of equal merit to work side by side at different
iveekly wages. If they had bargained to stick to certain wages
for a year, they would hold to their bargains, but to consent to
work for 30s. a week when another man is getting 31s., is to
confess your inferiority, and if you are not inferior you will not
do it and I have no right to ask you.

Let no one here go off on the side issue that unions insist
that good and bad shall be paid alike ; that is a separate and
important question, but has no relation to what is now being
spoken of. Grant as a postulate a hundred men of average
merit working at 30s., the master wants a few more of the
same sort; he cannot offer these 31s. without raising the
wages of all the others. He could not do it whether unions
existed or not, and this essential difficulty distinguishes the
labour market from other markets. We thus find ourselves
precluded from applying the tentative process by which the rate
of wages could be ascertained at which demand and supply are
equal. To make the labour market like the egg market, we
must imagine week after week all labour of a particular kind
standing ready to be hired ; no combination among the sellers ;
all buyers equally uncombined. An employer says, ' I want
a thousand men at 30s. ; ' only 900 come forward. They are
booked ; then the employer says, ' I will take another hundred at
31s.' Ninety come forward, and he says, ' Well, I don't mind
giving 32s. for ten more.' The market price of labour would
obviously be rising.

This ideal state of things can, of course, never obtain. The
workman to be useful must not be changed week by week, he
must work on year after year in the same shop ; we cannot
fling all labour on to the market every week ; an ai^proach to
the true market method would be made, if week by week the
master could say ' I want ten hands more, if I can get them at

THE TIME-LABOUR SYSTEM 127

such a price, or I must discliarge you ten men unless you will
work for less.' The men, as sellers of labour, could also employ
the tentative process, saying ' We ten will leave, unless you raise
our wages,' or ' We ten unemployed will come at lower wages.' In
theory this would give a tentative method by which the market
price of labour could be ascertained, but neither method is con-
ceivable because of the natural and laudable self-respect of the
men. There is no disgrace in selling eggs at a lower price than
your neighbour got ; the market is falling and you may regard
it as a misfortune, but there is no question of shame. You are,
however, disgraced if you sell your own labour for less than that
of your neighbour, knowing it to be as valuable and as good as
his. In consequence of this feeling of pride, any change in
men's weekly wages must occur unnaturally at a bound instead
of gradually. No system at present exists by which the change
can occur gradually, but one may perhaps be found. Just as
there is no competition among the men and can be none among
men of equal merit, so there is and can be very little competition
among masters. One master will now and then offer a slight
advance of wages beyond his fellows, if he finds a diflaculty in
getting hands, but there is not and never has been such a brisk
competition with a continual fluctuation in prices as will enable
a market price to be tentatively determined.

A very large number of writers, especially in the Press, fre-
quently insist on the fact that if men would compete with one
another this would settle a market price. If men of equal merit
would consent to work at different wages, this would be so, as
explained above, but the writers alluded to often speak as if
the competition were to be between men of different degrees of
merit, which is a totally different thing and beside the question.
The market price of a certain quality of goods is in the main
settled by competition between the buyers and between sellers of
that particular quality ; not by the competition of one quality
of goods as against another quality. It is certainly desirable
that the best men should be paid more than the worse, but
supposing masters and men were to agree in ranking the men in
categories, each of which was to be paid five per cent, more than
the one below it, this would do nothing to settle the rate of
wages of the whole mass. Even if there were a keen competition

128 POLITICAL ECONOMY

as to the category in which a man was to be classed, this would
not ascertain the rate of wages of any one category. You cannot
tell how tall a child is by learning that he grew an inch last year-
The fact that in consequence of competition Tom is to get five per
cent, more than Jack, does not settle the wages of either. The
fallacy may perhaps be seen by considering whether it is the least
necessary in an egg market that in order to determine the market
price there should be many qualities of eggs. It may be, and is de-
sirable that good and bad eggs should be sorted and sold separately,
but if they were not, but were simply all mixed, the average merit
would be quite well known, and a market price fixed quite as
easily as if the eggs were sorted in lots each containing eggs
of one quality. It is not competition between different qualities
that is required, but competition in the case of each quality.

The fallacy on this subject is so wide-spread that space will
not be thrown away in endeavouring to explain it. The fallacy
lies in using the word ' competition ' in two different senses, in
some such way as the following. Without free competition
between individual men, the market price for labour cannot be
ascertained ; there is no competition when men belong to a
trade-union, because all its members receive equal wages.
Therefore trade-unions prevent the market rate of wages from
being ascertained by the natural tentative process. The first
proposition may be accepted as true, or at least true enough for
our present purpose. The first part of the second proposition is
also true, but the reason given, ' because they receive equal
wages,' is false, inasmuch as it treats competition as a competi-
tion in respect of excellence of work, whereas ' competition ' in
the first clause is used to denote readiness on the part of men
to undersell one another. Competition in excellence and com-
petition in price are two different ideas, which have got entangled
together because buyers and sellers who are competing in price
also compete in excellence, urging that two apparently similar
qualities are really different. Moreover, the tentative process by
which the price of each quality of a thing is fixed serves to
arrange the goods in categories of excellence, but the mental
process of judging the relative merits of two classes is a different
one from that of fixing how much you will give for either ; you
may fix in your mind that one article is worth ten shillings more

THE TIME-LABOUR SYSTEM 129

than another and yet be quite undecided what price you will
give for either.

Again, this question may be looked at from a purely practical
point of view. Let us try to imagine a competition in excel-
lence used to settle wages in a case where men of equal merit
will not undersell one another. A man shall come forward and
say, ' I am worth a shilling a week more than you are giving the
hands generally ; give it me or I leave.' Let us suppose that
the master admits it and grants his advance, then comes the
effect on the mind of his mates. If the man is really, obviously
better, and the men are just, they acquiesce ; but then he will
have done absolutely nothing towards changing the rate of
wages for men of other degrees of merit. If a hundred or a
thousand men so improve themselves as to get this advance, they
would not have changed the wages of the workmen who possess
the former degree of merit. If in sufficient numbers, they might
diminish the demand for the other class of labour, and so,
indirectly, lower the wages of men of the old average quality,
but their demands have done nothing to ascertain by any ten-
tative process whether the market is rising or falling. It may
indeed be said that masters would be more willing to allow the
claim when trade was brisk and less willing when trade was
slack, so that by watching how many men got their advance and
how many were allowed to leave, the necessary information
could be got. When trade was brisk numerous individuals
would make their claim and get it allowed and so a market
price would be obtained tentatively, but this would be no com-
petition in excellence, this would really be a competition
between equals, some being willing to remain at the old wages,
others not, and this would be the true underselling competition.
Moreover, the merit of artisans differs little from a general
average, except in a few exceptional cases, and employers know
well enough that when the form of payment by wages is
adhered to very few men can claim more than the average pay,
and very few are employed who are not worth their wages.
The better workman makes a better average throughout his life
by being employed more constantly, the inferior workman is
continually thrown out of work, but this is quite beside our
present point.

VOL. II. K

I30 POLITICAL ECONOMY

The fact that one article at 35s. may really be underselling
an inferior article which is offered at oOs. is true, and in this
sense competition between different qualities helps to determine
prices, but not otherwise. It is the underselling which is the
point, and workmen think this inadmissible.

Much might be written as to the propriety of the feeling
which is finding an expression in the law restricting the im-
migration of Chinese labour to Queensland, but the considera-
tion of this would lead us far afield into the question of what
ultimately determines wages and prices in general over a long
period, whereas, in this article, the one question for consideration
is how the market price of goods at any one time and place is
actually discovered. We see that underselling and outbidding
are essential to the process, that these methods are practised
with material goods, because there is no idea of pride or disgrace
attached to the labour obtained, but that with labour these pro-
cesses are opposed by very strong human feelings — men's pride
will not let them work along with an equal but at lower wages ;
men's generosity will not let them try to turn an equal out of
his place by offering to work for less than he is getting : outbid-
ding by masters is prevented by the feeling of common interest
amongst employers and by the fact that it cannot be done
gradually and tentatively for a few hands, but must be done
suddenly for all the men they employ. If these facts were once
understood there would be some hope that a remedy might be
found.

The remedies hitherto proposed do not meet the case.
Courts of arbitration are merely a device, useful enough in its
way, for allowing disputing parties to give way with a better
grace, but would be as ridiculous when applied to settle wages
permanently, as a committee would be, employed weekly to
decide the price of corn after hearing arguments from counsel
employed by importers and purchasers. Sliding scales by which
an agreement is made that wages shall bear some relation to the
price obtained for the manufactured article, may in some cases
be convenient and serve to render men contented when prices
are rising ; but they afford no solution of the general problem.
The workmen if discontented can as easily ask that the whole
scale should be raised, as that a single rate should be altered.

THE TIME-LABOUR SYSTEM 131

Employers can as easily insist that, owing to changed circum-
stances, the whole scale must be lowered. Payment by a share
in profits, besides being extremely inconvenient, is liable to the
same objection as the sliding scale. The workman remains at
liberty to demand a larger share — the employer to offer him a
smaller share. The question for solution is not what is the best
form of wages, but what is the amount which a given state of
the market will entitle the workman to claim. Payments by
sliding scale or by shares in profits are changes in the form of
payment, convenient or inconvenient, but leaving the main
question ' how much ' absolutely untouched. Co-operation need
not be spoken of here. The cases in which it is possible are
unfortunately rare. Piece-work is a good enough mode of pay-
ment, but is not very generally applicable. Employers like it
because men will compete under this form of contract, inasmuch
as the underseller can frequently say with justice that it is ■
because of his excellence as a workman that he can afford to
undersell his competitor ; so that the low price at which he
tenders may actually be a subject of boasting, if his gains at
the end of the week are large. Trade-unions do not like it,
because upon this system no general rate of wages can be fixed
or known, and because it tends to introduce uncomfortably hard
work. Whether piece-work be in the main good or not, need
not be argued here, for it is evident that piece-work does not
settle the rate of weekly wages, the problem with which we are
now occupied. There remains so far the one solution of strikes,
which do settle wages, but at a great loss to workmen, employer
and consumer.

The object of the present article is to suggest that under a
new system of contract between employer and workman, a true
labour market would be established : a market in which day by
day the demand and supply could be watched and in which
wages might tentatively rise and fall so as at all times to secure
an approximate equality between supply and demand. More-
over, the system suggested is one which calls for no sacrifice of
self-respect either by man or master. Recurring to an original
description of the process by which prices are determined in a
market, we see that underselling only occurs when buyers buy
few goods at the price first quoted : outbidding occurs only

K 2

132 POLITICAL ECONOMY

when sellers part with few goods at the original price. It is
the briskness or slackness of the market which precedes the
underselling or outbidding. The underselling and outbidding
are tentative processes by which the extent of the change neces-
sary to equalise supply and demand is determined ; the necessity
for the change is apparent beforehand. Similarly in the labour
market the fact that more hands are wanted, or that hands are
being discharged, is, even now, notorious enough ; what is re-
quired is the tentative process by which we can ascertain
what rise or fall of wages will eqvialise the supply and demand.
Now suppose that men, instead of being engaged at weekly
wages, were engaged say by the year ; not from term-day
to term-day, but from every day or any day at which they
happened to be wanted, and suppose that, trade being good,
more men were wanted ; it being seen that extra hands were
being engaged, it would be quite open to applicants to say ' We
will not engage ourselves except at an increase of pay.' Masters
might very easily be led to engage a few men, if they wanted
them much, at this higher rate, involving a very trifling increase
on their total expenditure, but they would not engage so many
as they would have taken if no increase had been asked. More-
over, as the old engagements gradually came to an end, of course
the men would not re-engage except at the new rate. When
the masters found it no longer their interest to engage fresh
hands at this advance they would decline to do more than simply
re-engage old hands at the new rate. There would then be an
equilibrium between supply and demand. If the new rate were
too high to allow all the old hands to be re-engaged with profit,
the masters would decline to receive some of the old hands, the
numbers employed would fall off, the labour market would be
seen to be falling ; when the refusal of the masters had been
ascertained to be genuine by its permanence, the men might
tentatively lower their wages and re-engage until a fresh equi-
librium was found between supply and demand ; that is to say,
until there was neither increase nor decrease in the number of
hands employed. There would be no disgrace in working at
different rates in the same factory when the difference was
clearly seen to be due to the state of the market when the
engagement was entered into, and thus the plan suggested would

THE TIME-LABOUR SYSTEM 133

entirely save the self-respect of the men. The plan is quite
compatible with the action of trade-unions : they could by using
this method ascertain tentatively exactly the wages which kept
the average number of their members employed. Of course they
would resist every decrease in wages until they saw by the
gradual, but persistent decrease in the re-engagements, that
trade was really against them. Of course masters would never
offer an advance till they failed to get men enough at the old
rate, and if trade was obviously good, men, whose engagements
expired, would refuse to re-engage at the old rate. Masters
again would give way with perfect self-respect, if, after trying
to lower the rate of wages, they found they could not get all the
men they wanted. They could at any moment return to the
old rates, saying ' We used to employ a thousand men at the old
wages ; we cannot employ that number and so discharged those
unwilling to work at a lower price, but we can find profitable
work for eight hundred at the old rates, so we will return to
them : only you will see that we shall permanently employ fewer
hands than before,' The plan would allow the course of the
labour market to be watched with just the same precision,
though not with the same speed, as any other market, and
provides for continual fluctuation, so that the rates might even
differ week by week. Every order received would produce its
effect on the market, as it ought ; every depression in trade
would be instantly felt in the labour market, as it ought. All
violent and sudden changes would be avoided, and it is these
violent, unforeseen and often unjustifiable changes that do all
the mischief. The method suggested does not introduce compe-
tition between workmen waiting to be engaged, but when we
examine the action of the sellers of any kind of goods, we see
that competition is not wanted, because of the struggle it in-
volves between those who compete, but simply because it allows
different prices to be tried tentatively until the price is found at
which demand and supply are equal. The new method does
this without competition since, week by week, or day by day, a
new rate might be tried, gradually raising or lowering the rate
until the balance was reached. The action would be slower than
that of a common market with competition, but there is no need
of extreme rapidity.

134 POLITICAL ECONOMY

Of course it may be said tliat men engaging at different rates
in different months are competing, but if they are, this would
be competition with the sting taken out. The plan does give
different rates of wages for the same degree of merit, wliich is
the one essential thing required to determine a market vakie.

It is not in the least necessary that all engagements should
be for equal times. If an employer takes a contract which he
thinks will require twenty men for six months, let him engage
them for that time. Even weekly engagements are compatible
with the method, but the bulk of engagements must be for much
longer. Engagements for different periods might be at different
rates ; sometimes short engagements and sometimes long ones
would be most highly paid : there would be a true market with
all its sensitiveness and all its convenience. Of course by
coalitions attempts would from time to time be made to force the
market one way or the other, but the futility of these attempts
would soon be experimentally proved. Men are not monsters,
and when they have recourse to such rude methods as strikes or
lock-outs, it is because no other action is open to them.

It has now been shown that engagements for long periods,
starting at all periods of the year, would provide a real market
determining wages by the same process as the price of other com-
modities is fixed ; but the objection will inevitably occur tliat
even this benefit may be purchased at too dear a rate. Masters
would have no control over their workmen if they were unable to
dismiss them at a week's notice. Workmen might be subjected
to annoyance, inconvenience, even oppression if they were bound
to work in a particular shop for a whole year. This brings me
to the second feature of the new proposal.

Each engagement ought not to be a contract with a man to
keep him individually for a whole year or other period, but
should provide on the one hand that the master shall employ one
competent hand for the given time at the given rate, and on the
other hand that the workman shall not leave without providing
a competent substitute who will work until the end of the given
time at the given rate. This system might be called ' the time-
labour system ' of engagement as contrasted with the ' personal
system.' An employer would on the new system buy a unit of
lubour for a definite time, instead of, as at present, buying the

THE TIME-LABOUR SYSTEM 135

labour of one individual for an indefinite time as is really the
case now, for although wages are paid weekly it is well under-
stood that they are not to change weekly.

Let us now consider what disadvantages might be alleged as
inherent to the novel system of purchasing labour. The first
objection would probably bo that men are not units and that an
engagement must necessarily be personal. This objection will
probably be made by those who are not familiar with large
factories. A personal servant could not be engaged on the plan
suggested, but hands at a spinning frame or fitters at a vice are
really very nearly of equal merit and for practical purposes are
already treated as of exactly equal merit. A substitute coming
forward to replace a man wishing to leave would be bound as at
present to satisfy the foreman that he was of the same class as
the workman leaving. Disputes would of course arise under
this as under every other kind of contract, but large employers
of labour will be the first to admit that, even now, they engnge
labour units rather than men whose personal peculiarities are
important.

In some trades the number of men required fluctuates so
greatly that it may really be necessary to limit the term of
engagement to a very short period such as a week, but these
hands are few in number. Most employers would only be too
glad if they could feel certain that the labour they required was
secured for the next six months or year. Even if they did not
care to enter into so long an agreeirient with the whole of their
workmen they might safely do so with the majority. Long
engagements are shunned by employers only because they pr(^-
vent dismissal in case of incompetence or negligence, and by the
workman because they limit his freedom of leaving a shop when
for any reason he may desire to do so. When the engagement
is no longer personal as regards the workman, but is merely a
contract to employ a labour unit, both these objections fall away.
The employer, if dissatisfied with A, may dismiss him with no
cause assigned ; he is simply bound to take another workman, B,
C, D or Z at the same pay for the unexpired period of the con-
tract, even should wages meanwhile have fallen. If they have
risen, he will have to pay the extra rate for a new hand. On
the other hand a workman would be at liberty to quit a shop

136 POLITICAL ECONOMY

without reason assigned, on the simple condition that he found
a substitute who would work for the same pay during the un-
expired period of the contract, even should wages meanwhile
have risen. The plan could be worked with or without trade-
unions, but in all probability better with their assistance than
without it, as they could always readily find a substitute for a
man who was discharged, or who was anxious to leave his
employment. If the man did not belong to a trade-union he
might inform the gatekeeper of his shop that he desired a
substitute, and under the new system applicants for employment
would make it their first business to inquire whether any time-
labour berths were open, for what periods, and at what rates.
If the market-rate happened to be falling, the man who wished
to leave would have no difficulty. If the market was rising he
would have to supplement the payment made by the master,
paying a kind of smart money or premium to his substitute.

Long engagements dating from a term-day would be objec-
tionable in most employments. Employers do not as a rule know
on any one day of the year how many men they will require for
that year, and moreover if all hands were free to leave on one
and the same day, the whole merit of the proposed system would
vanish. The labour-market could then no longer be watched
and each term-day would involve something very much like a
strike or a lock-out. If however men were engaged, as they
now are, from every day in the year, there would be no danger-
ous period of the year and no pressure put on any employer to
make up his mind on any one day as to the number of men he
might require.

The greatest objection is perhaps the novelty of the plan, but
on consideration it will perhaps be found to be less novel than
it seems and the novelty, such as it is, might be adopted gradu-
ally and tentatively.

After strikes, agreements are not uncommonly made, that
a given rate of wages shall last for a year or even two years.
This is a much more violent interference with general custom
than is now proposed. It implies that whatever number of
people are employed, wages are, for the given time, to remain
constant. This may be most inconvenient if the state of trade
alters. If trade becomes brisk, the employer is not sure to find

THE TIME-LABOUR SYSTEM 137

his old, or average number of men at the covenanted rate, for his
workmen may emigrate to other towns. Again if trade be dull
the men are not sure of finding work ; they may be dismissed
one by one although their wages can not be lowered, and thus
by the attempt to enforce a constant rate when the labour-
market would give a varying rate, both parties suffer. If to
this it be answered that there is a tacit understanding in such
cases, that workmen are not to emigrate and that masters are
to employ the full number of hands, then I say this is the time-
labour system imperfectly developed ; imperfect in so far as ifc
does not allow the labour market to be watched, since the
engagements of all the hands end on one day. The compromise,
by which wages are maintained constant for all during a long
period, flies in the face of natural laws and may make bad worse,
but the complete time-labour system enforces no unreal con-
stancy ; the labour-market under that system might fluctuate
day by day and although each unit might be engaged for a year,
it would be bought at its true value on the day of sale.

Two seemingly contradictoiy objections may be made. 1st,
that the plan diminishes the power of the workman by mitigating
the pressure which a sudden strike inflicts : 2nd, that it dimin-
ishes the power of the masters by mitigating the pressure which
a lock-out inflicts. Both objections are well founded ; the new
plan would mitigate evils which neither side has any right to
inflict on the other, and which can not be justly inflicted on the
community by traders in any commodity ; but while the suffer-
ing inflicted by strikes and lock-outs would be mitigated and
indeed perhaps abolished, the legitimate objects of these opera-
tions would be attained more perfectly. Wages would rise rapidly
and certainly when trade was good ; they would fall gradually
but certainly when trade was bad, and in all states of trade the
maximum number of men would be employed that could be
properly employed profitably both to masters and men. This is
not the case under the present convulsive system. Wages often
remain lower than they ought to be, because no action short of a
convulsion can raise them. They often remain higher than they
should be for the same reason ; but in this latter case employers
retain a much smaller number than they could usefully employ,
if wages followed the market. Both employers and workmen

13^ POLITICAL ECONOMY

would benefit by the proposed p]an, wliicli is nothing more than
a contrivance for letting them see the course of the market and
ascertain tentatively the true market rate. It affords new and
better machinery for ascertaining the market rate than exists
now and it gives time for the process. Neither party would,
by adopting the time-labour system, gain the smallest advantage
over the other ; a fact which may, for some time, prevent it
from finding an advocate.

The writer is however not without hope that it may ulti-
mately find its way into use, inasmuch as it may be adopted
gradually and tentatively, being worked by the side of the
existing plan. A single master in any trade might put up a
poster stating that he was willing to engage men on the terms
suggested.

Here is such a notice.

'A. B. is prepared to engage competent fitters for a term
of six months from the date of engagement at the rate of 35s.
per week of 54 hours. Each man engaged will be liable to
dismissal as if engaged as hitherto week by week, but A. B.
undertakes to receive as substitute any competent workmen at
the same wages for the unexpired period of the engagement.
Each man engaged will be at liberty to throw up his employ-
ment as if engaged week by week, but only on condition of
finding a competent substitute willing to work during the
unexpired period of the engagement at the same wages.'

Similarly any trade-union might offer to adopt the plan as a
mode of terminating a strike. Their offer might run as follows :
' The strike shall be at an end if 500 hands are given work at
35s, per week of 54 hours. Of these 500 hands, not less than
100 shall be engaged for one year, not more than 100 shall be
engaged for six months and the rest shall be engaged for inter-
mediate periods to suit the convenience of both parties; the
employer shall be at liberty to dismiss any hand so engaged
on condition of receiving an efficient substitute from the union
at the same wages for the unexpired period of his engagement.
Similarly any hand shall be at liberty to quit his employment
on finding a substitute.'

There are numerous questions connected with wages which
have not been alluded to in the course of this article. The most

THE TIME-LABOUR SYSTEM T39

interesting of tliem is the question what ' cost of production '
means, when the article to be produced is a skilled workman.
Cost of production determines the cost of all commodities in the
long run. The law of demand and supply is limited in its
action to each successive market and each successive day. The
scope of the present proposal is neither to raise wages nor to
lower them. Neither this, nor any other system of ascertaining
a market price will in the long run determine the average rate
of wages or the average price of any article. The higgling of
the market ascertaining the result of the relative demand and
supply in that market does not in the long run determine the
price of either eggs or tea ; it simply finds out the price which
has really been determined by quite different means. To state
what these are would require long explanations not wanted here.
This article aims at no more than showing that no higgling of
the market exists for labour nor can exist with the present form
of contract between employers and workmen. Higgling de-
termines the market price by showing the briskness or slackness
of sales at a particular price. This information could be
obtained in a true labour market by changing the form of con-
tract in the mode proposed. Wages could then be settled with
as little difficulty as the price of any other commodity.

I40 POLITICAL ECONOMY

JH ONJ'J MAi\'>S GAIN ANOTHEH MAN'S hOSS'r

Tjiutii ciui iiiko good care of herself in most sciences, for in
tliese no Immun longing for the impossible disturbs our vision.
l>ui, ill political economy the most natural and universal desire
is nlvviiys combating the truth. Not ono man or woman or
(^liild is {viid from the wish to obtain what lie, wa,nts without
|);iyiiig for it. I'olitical economy proclaims that this shall not
be. Its sayings are intended to make clear how we can best
ohtiiiii what we want by paying for it. Other modes of acqui-
silion may have more artistic charm and be morally preferable,
but of these we will not speak to-diiy. We only propose to up-
hold the thesis that under some circumstances a man may become
rich without incuiring any moral stain. We hav(! btum moved
to this daring attcimpt by some words which Mrs. Oliphant has
put into the mouth (;f a clever lad who has been reading poli-
tical economy.

Wo fancy that a large number of people share Jack's opinion
and think that what is one man's gain must be another man's
loss, but in this matter pol itical economy for once sends a gracious
message of peace. Buying and selling are simply modes of
barter ; coin or cheques are merely pieces of machinery facili-
tating the exchange of what we have for what we want. After
each exchange freely and honestly conducted, each party is richer
thiiti bc-forc. IJotli have made a profit, no man a loss. If I
hiivc, ii dog and you have a cat, but I want the cat and you
uiinl the dog — we shall both be richer for swopping. It may be
horribly selfish to swop, though even that seems doubtful since
I please the other man as well as myself, but we are clearly both
richer aft(T the b.'irgain is concluded. I prefer the cat to the
(log which 1 h;ul, t herelore I would not sell her for the sum
' J''i(jiii uii)nibli.sliu(l iMS., 1881.

75 ONE MAN'S GAIN ANOTHER MAN'S LOSS 141

which woukl have bought the dog, slie went up in vahio the
moment she became mine ; so did the dog the moment he became
my neighbour's. So that if tlio live stock of the country were
valued before and after the transaction, it would be clear that
the aggregate wealth of Great Britain had been increased by
the transaction. To believe this you must of course admit that
there is nothing valuable but thinking makes it so. Some people
try to draw distinctions between a necessary and a luxury —
sheer nonsense. Necessaries are only necessary when we want
them and luxuries have no value when we don't. Circumstances
however may force a sale upon you which shall leave you poorer :
for instance— you may be ten miles from a house and very
hungry — you may meet a man carrying a good luncheon — he
may decline to give you a share unless you give him your signet
ring, and being very hungry you may do it. This is a forced
sale. You know very well that in three hours' time when you
have reached town, you will consider the ring of much more
value than the food. Your preference of the food was temporary
and you knew it. This transaction enriched one man to the
detriment of the other, being destitute of thajt element of per-
manent preference which confers additional value on goods
freely bartered. Esau's was a case in point, and men who say
that the wages of labour are not determined by a free sale of that
commodity, deserve an answer. But one proposition is enough at
a time, so let wages wait awhile and let us hold to the question
whether a free exchange of goods can ever make anyone poorer.
If at every sale every one grows richer, where does poverty
hail from ? Poverty is no child of Commerce. She is the un-
welcome offspring of that Physical Necessity which Sir William
Thomson calls the Dissipation of Energy. We may paraphi-ase
this law by saying that everything wears out. Everything we
want requires continual renewal, continual production as we
term it. Everything we have is for ever losing value by decay.
We call the use we get of things Consumption, and this con-
sumption ends them so far as their use is concerned. Consump-
tion makes us poor — Production makes us rich ; that is clear
enough, but barter adds to the wealth which production creates
and it does this without taking anything from any one ; simply
by letting each man get that which he wants most by giving

142 POLITICAL ECONOMY

that whicli he wants least. This is merely a paraphrase of the
free-trade maxim often quoted now as if it were the ne plus ultra
of cynical egotism — buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest
market.

If commerce were confined to direct simple barter between
producer and consumer the word ' profit ' would never be appli-
cable. A man cannot become rich in the ordinary sense by
direct barter. He reaps a benefit. He does not make a profit.
This profit is a word derived from money transactions with the
help of middlemen who neither produce nor consume the articles
in which they trade. Let us not think of them to-day but ex-
amine how men might be rich and become rich if all men were
simply producers and consumers dealing with one another by
exchange. Let us see whether under these very simple con-
ditions wealth would of necessity be gained only by the loss of
others.

It is not possible to show in a short article any clear picture
of the vastly complex system of trade which has taken the place
of simple barter, but it may be possible to show how by simple
barter in a limited community every one is better off" than he would
be without it, and that nevertheless even in this primitive state of
things we might have rich and poor though no man ever gave
anything without receiving that which he deliberately preferred.

Let us conceive a little elementary community of say five
families, isolated in a little fertile island, all honest people and
each taking up a distinct branch of production — farmers — fishers
— hunters — weavers — and carpenters. They can read and write
and keep accounts, using bits of slate for the purpose. They are in
easy circumstances because each family can with moderate labour
turn out considerably more of its own produce than is required
by the whole community. One sixpence is the whole coin of
that realm. They reckon prices in pence and in early days con-
ducted their business in rather a clumsy fashion. The weaver
bought six-pennyworth of grain, the farmer six-pennyworth of
fish, the fisherman six-pennyworth of cloth, and round went the
sixpence, starting from the weaver and coming back to hirh.
But the weaver wanted more grain and had to begin again at
once, buying another six-pennyworth. The farmer this time
bought six-pennyworth of venison, and the hunter six-penny-

IS ONE MAN'S GAIN ANOTHER MAN'S LOSS? 143

worth of cloth, the circuit was again complete and the sixpence
flew round it in one direction while the goods went round the
other way. By maintaining a sufficiently rapid circulation the
sixpence sufficed for very large transactions, but there could be
no hoarding of money and no money profit. They soon learned
better. They invented credit— locked up the sixpence in the
national bank — kept accounts and had a sort of clearing-house
where from time to time balances were struck and carried to
the new account. So long as the transactions were all con-
ducted on the cash down principle, it was abundantly clear that
the whole process of buying and selling must come to a stand-
still if the sixpence did not continually return to each person
who paid it. A closed circuit (as we might say, borrowino- a
metaphor from electrical science,) was necessary, round which
the sixpence travelled from consumer to producer while the
goods went the other way from producer to consumer. The
simplest circuit was that of two people, as when grain was
exchanged directly against cloth, but not unfrequently all five
producers were in the circuit at once. The weaver wanted grain,
the farmer fish, the fisher venison, the hunter wood, the car-
penter cloth. The order in which they took the goods could be
varied as much as the laws of permutation would allow but
ultimately each family got for the purposes of consumption an
amount of goods of exactly the same value as that which they
■produced for sale. The laws of supply and demand were in full
force and fixed the prices which rose and fell in open market.
Property was divided on principles of the strictest egotism, and
yet no one could make a profit of one half-penny though all
reaped great benefit from the mutual interchange of produce.

When the sixpence was locked up, these closed circuits of
trade became much less obvious, nevertheless a little thought
will show that they were still a necessary feature of the trade.
A made what B used, B could buy it, because he made what 0
used, and he could buy it because he made what A used and so
each got the worth of his work. Even in this state of thino-s
there were rich and poor. The rich man was he who could pro-
duce most, that most corresponding to a perfectly definite idea
being measurable in fact in pennies, though no pennies ever
passed. If we imagine all our closed barter circuits drawn as

144 POLITICAL ECONOMY

lines from man to man with arrow-lieads to show which way
the goods travelled, every man would have as many lines coming
into him as went out, but the rich man would have many lines
running through him, and the poor man few. Not only were
there rich and poor, but whole classes might become poor by no
fault of theirs and by no visitation of Heaven, Even a so-cdled
improved mode of production would do the harm.

As a matter of fact in course of time the Hunters became
wretchedly poor. It happened this way. The farmers bred
their cattle judiciously and improved their modes of cultivation,
and with very little trouble to themselves they produced much
meat and corn. They consequently let the weavers, fishers, and
carpenters have beef very cheap. Simultaneously game went
out of fashion. The hunters killed as many deer as ever, but,
alas, there was no demand for venison. So they could not buy
the beef, cheap as it was, nor indeed anything else. The
circuits round- which the credited sixpence travelled, never
included the poor hunters. They could produce as much as ever
in mere bulk of meat, but nobody wanted their produce.
Nothing was taken away from them, the whole wealth of the
community was apparently increased, for they could produce as
much as ever and the farmers could produce more, yet the
hunters were ruined, and had to live on the charity of the four
other families, who were sorry for them and good to them, but,
in the beaten way of barter, were unanimous in declining game
of any sort. Every now and then they went through a pretence
of buying a little antelope, which they threw to the cat, who,
comically enough, also refused to touch it, but these purchases
were only too obviously charitable —a mere pretence and not the
real thing.

The island was in a great puzzle. They all loathed game :
even the hunters themselves felt that they were degraded by
eating it. What was to be done ? After much discussion it
was settled that as the farmers appeared to be richest of the
families, the hunters should take to farming. This did not
answer well. The two families could now produce twice as much
meat and grain as was wanted. But no matter how much they
produced they could not induce the other families to give them
more fish, clothes and shelter than the single family of farmers

IS ONE J/AJV'S GAIN ANOTHER MAN'S LOSS ^ 145

got before. Indeed, owing to the large production the price
of farm-produce fell, so that the hunters and farmers were now
both very badly off. The hunters had gained something at
the expense of the farmers ; but the farmers lost more than the
hunters gained. The community was poorer now than it was
before and yet no national wealth had been taken from it. It
had lost nothing but a want. The game was there and the
hunters were there, but the consumers had vanished and the
whole community was the poorer because it had lost its relish
for wild fowl. Redistribution of the produce helped some and
harmed others. Moreover, there was much idleness among the
farmers and hunter-farmers, and this led them into mischief.

One day time was hanging very heavily on young George
Hunter-Farmer's hands. He was a lad with a taste for pretty
things and he took to executing a sort of embroidery with shells
and feathers on his hat. Charlie Weaver, passing, said ' Awfully
jolly hat, that.' ' Glad you like it,' said poor George. ' I say, I'll
buy that hat from you,' quoth Charlie, and this was a turning-
point in the history of the island.

The Hunter-Farmers proved to be possessed of very superior
taste. They gave up farming and, taking to the production of
ornamental clothes, rapidly became the richest people in the
island. The farmers again got as much fish, cloth and carpen-
tering as they ever had, and the spirits of the whole island rose
materially as a result of their new and tasteful costume.

Now let us get back to Jack's question and see what answer
is given by the facts in our little community. In the ideal
island one class or one man could only be richer than another
in virtue of producing goods of more value : the value being
measured in that commonplace but definite measure of which
one penny is the unit. The question of one man in a given
class differs from that of one class relatively to another. Let
us take the single man first. The strong clever farmer would
be richer than the weak stupid one with equal opportunities.
Represented in our diagram of bai-ter circuits, he would have a
large number of lines flowing out to the consumers of his pro-
duce and the same number coming back from those whose pro-
duce he consumes. His productions benefit all those who receive
them and the goods he consumes are enhanced in value by his
VOL. II. L

146 POLITICAL ECONOMY

demand for them. He benefits those who buy from him and
those who sell to him, but the goods which he receives might
have gone to his competitors if he had been less strong and
clever. He does not get rich at the expense of the weavers or
carpenters ; to them he is a pure benefit, but he is a nuisance to
the weak and stupid farmers. They receive less clothes and
carpentry than they would if he were no better than they. If
the productions of those with whom he trades be a fixed
quantity, then the whole excess of wealth which one producer
of a given class obtains beyond that reaped by his competitors
must be at their expense.

It is the knowledge of this which makes workmen of one
class agree to work at one rate of wages. The clever strong man
takes his advantage in ease of work and certainty of employ-
ment, not in extra wealth. This is commonly thought very
wicked — by those who are not workmen.

If we now pass from the individual to the class, we may
easily suppose one class, say that of the farmers, to be richer
than the others at the outset of our story. Were they rich at
the expense of their neighbours ? No. Their riches benefited
all their neighbours : as a class they would have more barter
lines going out and coming back than any other class ; that is
to say, they could have plenty of the productions of all other
classes, whereas the fishers might have to do without game and
to be content with poor clothes. Nevertheless the fishermen
would be the richer for being able to barter their fish for plenty
of meat and corn. It seems pretty clear that the rich might
exist as a useful class on two conditions ; that they shall only be
rich in proportion to the value of what they produce ; and that
their productions shall not compete with those of any other
class. A stickler for equality might even under these circum-
stances insist that the poorer members of the community ought
to take to the business of the rich until these are brought down
from their eminence, but we found that the plan did not answer
for the hunters and it would not have answered for the poor
weavers either. This plan only benefits the poor at the expense
of the rich, and injures the whole community besides.

We found that an improvement in production did not neces-
sarily act well in an otherwise stationary community. It ruined

IS ONE MAN'S GAIN ANOTHER MAN'S LOSS f

147

one class of competitors in the food market. This is the same
case as that of the strong and weak individual competing in the
same class. If the improvement in production had occurred in
a class which could not compete with any other, say the weavers,
the improvement would have been pure gain. All the com-
munity would have become sensibly richer. But if the rest of
the community had been stationary the weavers would not have
become relatively richer than before — or if they did — must have
done so at the expense of others, giving the fishermen for instance
better clothes, but depriving them of some corn or carpentiy.
Eemark, moreover, that the fishermen might not prefer the better
clothes to the corn and meat which they might lose. They
might be out-bid by the prosperous weavers.

How is it then that in one community, one class may he rich
and benefit all the others, and yet can not get rich otherwise
than at the expense of others ? The explanation is that the gain
in wealth of certain classes can take place without injuring the
others during any period of general advance. Some may advance
farther than others and so come to be relatively rich, but when
all are becoming richer, it would be an abuse of tenns to say
that those who are advancing fastest are gaining wealth at the
expense of their neighbours. The general advance was shown
in its simplest form when, simultaneously with the improvement
of agricultural methods, we had a new general want discovered
and supplied by those who were thrown out of work in conse-
quence of the diminution in the number of hands required to
supply food. Under these circumstances every one might have
as much cloth, carpentry or fish as before, but the farmers might
have more of their corn and of the new produce than any one
else. The hunters and all the others might have food which
they preferred to the old food and also handsome clothes. So
every one was richer and no one poorer ; but remark that the
two improving classes, farmers and hunters, got no more from
the other classes than before. Yet they benefited those other
classes.

The extension is quite easy. In a rapidly advancing com-
munity those who make improvements may become rapidly rich
relatively to those who make none, but they nevertheless benefit
the stationary classes. Their own benefit is wholly derived

148 POLITICAL ECONOMY

from their own productions and from the productions of those
who, like themselves, make improvements. The relative gain
of various classes may be very different, but it is clearly possible
that one class may gain much more than others if its goods are
much desired. That class may then become rich and remain
rich and injure no one, but benefit all. If then any youthful
Jack asks us whether a man who gets rich does so at the expense
of others, we must answer he may ; and again he may not. We
must ask him to read this article and then to remember that
the existing state of society with limited land, with capitalists
and classes who are commonly called non-producing, is far more
complex than that of our ideal island. Nevertheless, if he
follows us so far, we may venture to tackle the complications
introduced by these additions to the problem. The closed barter
circuit, as a graphic conception, is a useful device for disen-
tangling this complexity.

Poverty, take it as you will, must be hard to bear, but much
harder if we think we have been robbed ; — that the rich fellows
have got our share of the world's goods by some hocus-pocus which
is morally theft. Now this conception of poverty would be im-
possible in our ideal island. No hunter was robbed. There were
no monopolies. There was land enough. And yet the hunter
was poor till that lucky chance of the embroidered cap turned
up. Vice, idleness, sickness and infirmity, all cause poverty.
Bad laws, bad government, an over-population may cause poverty,
and have caused poverty, but the main cause of this great evil
is the same in our Great Britain as in the little fancied island.

The bulk of our poor are poor because they produce the wrong
things. What then are the right ones ? Trade is always working at
this problem, solving it ill or well as our traders are wise or foolish.

The question whether one man really could under a system
of pure barter be rich at the expense of his neighbour is altogether
of secondary importance and greatly a matter of words. The
man who produced much would be rich, but his produce would be
enjoyed by all who gave him what they valued less. Neverthe-
less if by producing much he threw others out of work, herriight
be said to be rich at their expense ; but this would be a very
unfair way to word it, since when they found out new right
things to make, they would all be rich and be richer than before.

IS OXE MAX'S GAIN ANOTHER MAN'S LOSS? 149

It is absolutely false to suppose that the well-beiug of one man
must entail the ill-being of another, but it may produce it.

What does all this mean ? It is an attempt to show that
poverty might be found where all men laboured, where the
fertile soil was no monopoly, where no capitalist claimed a share
of produce and where no profit was made by trade. These
things may or may not cause poverty, but let us put them on
one side for the moment. When they are all removed, we can
still picture to ourselves a state where a whole class of men
might be poor with no injustice, no moral blame attaching either
to the poorer or richer classes.

In order to show this two assumptions were necessary : 1st.
l)ur labourers were not self-sufficing ; a division of labour was
treated as inevitable : 2nd. Some men produced the wrong thing
by their labour. Why was the thing wrong ? Both when our
bunters still hunted and when they gave up hunting for farming,
they produced food, which at first seems not only a right thing,
but the most right of all things, being a universal need. Their
produce of vBuison was a wrong thing, because othei-s wanted
that special food either not at all, or so little that they did not
care to purchase it by giving what cost them continual labour.
To avoid poverty a man must not only produce what another
may want, he must produce what is wanted by a second man
who is both able and willing to give in return something which
the first wants more than his own produce. There is no re-
anarkable selfishness involved in this law. No socialistic
reformer would propose that all men should be condemned to
•eat a food they did not like in order that the producers of that
food should be richer. They would at once admit that the
hunters, when venison became unpopular, should be set to
produce a right thing instead of a wrong one ; and the right
thing is something which others would be willing and able to
buy. Even food may be a wrong thing to produce when there
is plenty of other preferable food for every one in the market.
We found that matters were mended very little by setting the
hunters to produce preferable food. A right thing was produced,
but too many men were employed in its production. This is a
second cause of poverty wholly independent of all the stock
bogies nursed by social agitators. If ten men can grow all the

ISO

POUTICAL ECOSOMY

wheat reallv" needed by a comtntmitv. and twenty are employed
to do it. they will be poor. They could afford to be idle no
doubt, but you can have too much even of idleness, especially
when you are po^r. And what was the remedy against these
two modes (A poverty ? Xot an improvement in agriculture ;
that would make the twenty poorer than ever, five men then
could grow wheat enough for all. and putting twenty men to do
it would be worse than before. The one conceivable remedy is
to put the surplus hands not really required for the food pro-
duction to produce a new light thing. That is to say. to produce
something satisfying a new want felt by those who can give
back ti^t which the produc-ers need : or that which will get
them what they need by exchange. \\ hen this new want was
f jund and the equilibrium, between production and consumption
re-established, then indeed the improvement in agriculture was
found to be a real gain. The community had more wants
satisfied than before.

Direct barter was not in the least nec-essary. prcvided the
barter circuit was closed in the wav described. The easiest wav

r\i

oi representing this condition to tn ^ mind is by a diagram. Let
the reader sketch five little rudimentary people standing upright :
let lines going out of the strr>kes to the right indicate pro-

/5 OXE MAX S GAIX AXOTHER MAX S LOS:

i;i

duce, vrhich each has to sell — one line representing the unit of
produce per annum. Similarly let a line arriving at his left
hand represent the goods which each man consumes, one line
representing one unit of consumption per annum. Xovr if any
two join hands by means of a line, this line forms a closed circuit
showing that produce of equal value has been intcrchansred.
All the lines that go out from a man's right hand must be
followed home to his left without using the same line twice.
This indicates that all the produce has been sold. On a svstem
of pure barter he never could get rid of any produce until one
of these imaginary circuits was closed. But the circuit misrht
be a very long one. By the introduction of the system of credit
under which the coin of the realm was all in the national bank,
a man might sell his produce and get nothing for it. One of
the lines would not come home, he would never be paid his due.
But excluding this in our ideal community we see that riches
and poverty may exist where there are no capitalists — no bad
j>?ople — no money. Further, that it does not arise by any pro-
cess analogous to robbery or even profit. If a man can make
nothing wanted by other pereons able to give him back aji
equivalent, he is thereby reduced to his own resources. He
iuL?st in that case make his own food, clothes and shelter. That
will always mean that he is poor. We may further see that
the way to make him rich is not to teach him to produce that
which is already produced in quantity sufficient for the com-
ixiuuity, but to teach him how he may produce that which
will be consumed by those who already produce what he
wants iu greater quantities than they require for their own
use. If the weavers, fishers, farmers and carpenters had onlv
just been able to make what they required, the hunters' lucky
cap would never have started a new industiy. Xow the
actual condition of the world with capital and wages is not so
very diffei^nt from that of our ideal island. The poor people
are those who make the wrong things, and the right thino-s
it will pay them to make aiv? the things which the rich
want. We have sho^n that poverty and riches may co-exist
whei-e the conditions of existence are very primitive and where
no man makes a profit either in money or in kind : that even
under these primitive conditions an increase of production bv

152 POLITICAL ECONOMY

one class, as by the farmers, may benefit some classes and impo-
verisli others, and that on the other hand the introduction of a
new industry may, by supplying a new want, restore wealth,
making every one richer all round. On the other hand it might
be the bread out of the mouths of one or more classes. There
is no general rule.

In this primitive community with no capital, no wages, no
money in circulation, consisting wholly of producers and con-
sumers, we nevertheless see that many of the difficulties arise
which we meet with in our complex body commercial. There
were rich and poor; the rich w^ere those who could produce
much that was wanted by others, who in their turn produced
what the rich desired. The poor were those who could produce
little for any one able to repay them with what they considered
necessary. It is not enough to say that in our imaginary
island the rich are those who produce most. It is not enough
even to say that the rich are those who produce most of those
commodities that are wanted. We have to go farther and
remember that want felt by a man who can not pay is useless to
the producer, and that the only real payment is the return of
something which he can consume. Nevertheless, when we so
arrange the conditions as to make the bartering obvious, we
still find that a change in taste or in the method of production
may result in a completely new distribution of wealth. More-
over, it can not be affirmed as an absolute truth that an improve-
ment in manufacture must benefit the whole community. When
the farmers improved their agriculture they ruined the hunters.
They took no goods from them, but they deprived them of that
demand which gave their goods value. This truth is extremely
Vinpalatable to the political economist, who dearly loves to think
that every increase in output must be an increase of wealth
benefiting all. The elementary case chosen shows how an in-
creased output of an absolutely necessary production may never-
theless ruin ajriother class of producers.

This result followed the improvement because the two classes

really supplied the same want, that of food. The increased

wealth of the farmers and of the other producers was therefore

• gained to some extent at the expense of the hunters. These

-^^ere thrown out of work and could only get their living by

IS ONE MAN'S GAIN ANOTHER MAN'S LOSS? 153

learning a fresh business. Tliey naturally made the mistake of
taking up what seemed a profitable trade, but more people were
still employed in producing food than were really required for
that purpose. Hence they simply shared their poverty with the
farmers, and gained at their expense. In the end the whole
community did benefit, but only after a new want had been
discovered, and the surplus labour was employed to supply this
new want. Then the improvement in farming and the supply
of a new enjoyment made them all better off than before. Thus
we see that a benefit resulting from barter may or may not be
obtained at the expense of others. An improvement in produc-
tion may or may not be followed by increased comfort all
round. It would not be difficult to distinguish between the
cases, but these distinctions when written out would make tedious
reading. Our present contention is merely this. In a commu-
nity of honest people, all producers, with no capitalist and even
with no money, there would still be rich and poor classes, and
improvements in production might result in suffering to some
classes ; but this suffering is not necessarily the result of any
profit made out of the process of buying and selling ; it was due
to one of two causes. Either some producer was making a
wrong thing, something which no one able to pay for it wanted ;
or else too many producers were engaged in the production of a
right thing. The consumers were only willing to give so much
of their own produce for meat as would support a limited number
of meat-producers. When however a new want is discovered,
those who supply it become rich and enrich othei-s.

No one suffers if the new supply competes with nothing
else. The old things are wanted in the same quantity as before,
and if, as we assume, they can be supplied in sufficient quantity
for all by the number of hands actually employed, the new want
can be supplied and enjoyed with absolute benefit to every one.
The danger is that with complex wants, men may be tempted to
work too hard. In civilised communities our wants are innu-
merable : they are satisfied in a very remarkable way. Even
the very poor consume more produce than the very rich in un-
civilised communities, where the wants are few. But the
savages have most leisure. Each savage works moderately and
supplies his own wants, which are few. The increase of civilisa-

154 POLITICAL ECONOMY

tion enables comparatively few men to supply tlie wants of the
whole community as regards any one ai'ticle. This sets large
numbers free to supply new wants. This process goes on
gradually, for reasons. In the first place, the improvements in
manufacture which increase the output per man in a given
industry come gradually. And in the second place, the new
wants to which the surplus labour can minister are only gradu-
ally developed and gradually discovered. In the third place, the
channels of distribution by which what we have termed the
closed circuits of barter are established can only be discovered
tentatively and by slow degrees. But progress in wealth and
its distribution by barter are both compatible with increased
comfort all round. In trade one man's gain is not of necessity
another man's loss,

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
EDUCATION

TECHNICAL EDUCATION.'

The resolutions arrived at by the Conference on Technical
Education, and the able address of your President, prove that
this Society is fully alive to the necessity for improved scientific
instruction throughout the country. I will not, therefore,
detain you with any arguments upon general principles which
have been affirmed by every class of society, but taking it for
granted that we are all of one mind in believing that the educa-
tion of our artisans, our manufacturers, and our engineers should
be improved by the improved and extended teaching of science,
I purpose to-night to confine myself chiefly to practical sugges-
tions of steps which I think might be immediately taken towards
the object which we have all in view.

I well know the difficulty and danger of making practical
suggestions. The man who confines himself to general prin-
ciples, and the critic who assails existing abuses, is sure to
carry a large portion of his audience with him. The abuses
are often palpable, and the general truths soon become popular
truisms ; but the man who brings forward new proposals for
definite action, cannot and ought not to expect an equally ready
adhesion to his schemes. They must in their turn run the
gauntlet of criticism, and be subject to many successive amend-
ments, before any large body will consent to put them in prac-
tice ; but a man who will thus subject himself to criticism, with
the object of attaining an avowedly good end, may at least ask
for an indulgent hearing before the criticism begins, and this
indulgence I ask from you to-night.

Probably the general improvement in the scientific education
of the community at large can only be effected by the adoption
of some such scheme as that proposed by the Schools Inquiry
Commission, having for its result a complete system of schools of
' An address read before the Royal Scottish Society of Arts in Edinburgh,
Jan. 11, 1869.

158 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

different grades under local management, but subject to general
regulations laid down by a department of the government. The
Commission have shown how the necessary funds for such a
system can be obtained, and have proposed a definite scheme
for the administration of these funds. If schools, of several
grades systematically arranged, were once established, it would
be an easy matter to insist on the introduction into a given
number of each grade such distinctly scientific training as would
warrant the appellation of science schools, as distinguished from
classical schools, and results would soon show whether science
does or does not afford an excellent material for mental culture,
besides that merely useful information which it is not the chief
object of education to impart. If a system of graded schools
existed, we could apply towards their improvement the masses
of information which have been collected as to foreign courses
of study. Now, even when we know our own wishes, what
bodies are we to attack ? It is hopeless to expect that a suc-
cessful experiment on any great scale can be made so long as
the schools of the country are under an infinite number of
different trustees, corporations, and committees wholly incapable
of combined action.' I do not purpose to-night to examine the
proposals of the Commission, but will direct your attention, in
connection with this part of the subject, to the report of the
Sub-Committee on Technical Education appointed by the London
Society of Arts.

I fear, however, that we shall have to wait some years before
a complete system of graded schools can be established ; and it
is most desirable that even if a complete system of scientific in-
struction cannot be created offhand, something should be done
to remedy our deficiencies at once. I will therefore make a few
suggestions as to means by which the scientific education of
artisans and foremen, on the one hand, and manufacturers and
engineers, on the other hand, might be improved under existing
institutions.

Workmen and teachers of workmen now receive some scien-
tific instruction from teachers in schools, assisted by the Science
and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education;
and in the Report for 1866, on Science Schools and Classes,
Captain Donnelly says, that ' the various modifications and en-

TECHNICAL EDUCATION

159

largements made from time to time in the system of aid to
science instruction have now rendered it a system which may
fairly be said to meet the requirements of the country, as far as
elementary science is concerned.' From that assertion I most
thoroughly dissent, but I am not prepared to join the ranks of
those who think that no good thing can come out of South
Kensington. South Kensington has done something for ele-
mentary scientific instruction ; it has established a system of
examinations and rewards, which have stimulated the study of
the elements of science. Although I do not approve of all that
has been done, although I think that much remains to be done,
I will not therefore refuse such assistance as is given, but will
rather endeavour to state how I think the value of that assistr-
ance can be greatly increased and the sphere of its action greatly
enlarged. If therefore, in what I am about to say, 1 criticise
freely the acts of the Science and Art Department, I beg you
will consider that the criticism is not hostile, but is made with
a view to the improvement, not to the injury, of the depart-
ment.

Now, I will draw your attention to what has been done by
the department in support of mechanical drawing, and you will
thus understaud better why I dissent from Captain Donnelly's
opinion that the system meets the requirements of the countr3^
I choose mechanical drawing, because I think that a knowledge
of the elements of this art is the most useful of all to the work-
man. Why do we think reading, writing, and arithmetic so
useful and essential ? Because, without a knowledge of these,
little accurate knowledge of any kind can be acquired. These
are the tools we put into all men's hands with which to work at
the mine of learning, and the knowledge of mechanical drawing
is almost as essential a tool as the three others for the working
man. Without a knowledge of this art he cannot represent his
own mechanical ideas ; worse still, he cannot understand the
ideas of others, which he is called upon in his business, as a
mason, mechanic, carpenter, joiner, fitter, erecter, and so forth,
to carry out ; perhaps, worst of all, he is debarred from learnino-
any of the principles of his special business from books or
journals, because he cannot understand the diagrams. So true
is this that most skilled artisans and all foremen do contrive,

i6o SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

after infinite labour, somehow to pick up such a knowledge of
drawing as allows them to understand the simpler representa-
tions of machinery and construction. Not a few teach them-
selves how to draw a little ; but they have to teach themselves,
or at least to learn in little classes, where the appliances and
assistance received is almost pitiable. The men requiring this
knowledge are the whole class of skilled workmen ; and so im-
portant is this knowledge to them that the French Government
Commission on Technical Education came to the conclusion,
that for the working classes technical education meant instructio7i
in mechanical drawing ; and I entirely agree with this conclusion
because, as I have said before, it is a tool or key with which the
able and energetic can for themselves open fresh paths to know-
ledge, and because experience has shown that it can be taught,
and taught successfully, to men who have only learnt how to
write, read, and cipher.

Which is really the most important to the working classes
in Great Britain, such a power of representing objects by free-
hand drawing as can be given to workmen, coupled with such
an appreciation of the fine arts as they can be expected to
acquire ; or the power of representing the elements of machinery
and constructive details, coupled with the power of understand-
ing the representation of mechanism and structures ?

The first branch of knowledge will be useful to all those
classes engaged in the design and execution of artistic produce.
The second branch of knowledge will be useful to all engaged
with those productions which require the use of machinery or
structures. Can we doubt which is the most important class in
England or in any country ? The whole agricultural population
of this country, and the whole manufacturing population except
the artists, using this word in its largest sense, require a know-
ledge of mechanical drawing, and the artists would be the better
for having it.

Now, let us compare what Government does for mechanical
drawing, as compared with artistic drawing —for art as com-
pared with science.

There are 99 Government schools of art in which free-hand
drawing is taught, and aid is given to 560 other schools. 1 7,210
students learn free-hand drawing in the Government scliools ;

TECHNICAL EDUCATION i6i

and altogether, in 1866, 105,695 were taught drawing through
the agency of the department — an admirable result, and one
which probably does meet the requirements of the people. 2,306
teachers were examined, and 1,583 of these obtained certificates
of competency. Turning to mechanical drawing, the contrast
is very great. 16 teachers were examined, and 13 passed. 13
as compared with 1,583 for free-hand drawing. 20 schools receive
some assistance, because they give some instruction in mechanical
drawing, 20 as compared with nearly 700 for free-hand draw-
ing. The total number of persons receiving instruction in me-
chanical drawing in Great Britain and Ireland is 1,207. This is
the number we must contrast with 106,000 taught free-hand
drawing. Lastly, turning to the payments for results, we find
34,851Z. paid to encourage free-hand drawing, and about 340L
paid for the encouragement of mechanical drawing. I ask, Does
this proportion of one hundred to one correspond to the relative
importance of artistic and scientific drawing ? Is this sum of
340^. such a sum as can fairly be said to encourage mechanical
drawing in such a way as to meet the requirements of the country ?
Why, the total payments on results for the 23 branches of
scientific instruction under the patronage of this department is
5,000L, about one-seventh of the sum spent in encouraging
free-hand drawing ! About 7,000 students learn these 23 branches
of science, as compared with 105,000 learning the elements of
free-hand drawing. The department has not yet, I think, earned
the right to sit down complacently, satisfied that the requirements
of the country are met.

But you may fairly ask me, how it is possible, if mechanical
drawing be really so important to us as a manufacturing
nation, that it is so little taught ? Does not the number of art
students prove that there is a demand for artistic training, and
the small number of mechanical schools show that there is no
demand for the scientific branch ? The answers to these questions
are, I think, simple. Our countrymen have so great a natural
aptitude for all matters connected with mechanics, that all who
need this special knowledge do, by hard labour under sheer
necessity, acquire it. Only those plants and trees which are not
indigenous to the soil require costly apparatus and careful
watching. Art is, not indigenous here, but science is, and
VOL. II. M

i62 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

above all, the science of mechanics; therefore, while under the
fostering care of governments and academies, onr fine art lan-
guishes, though pampered with wealth, mechanical arts flourish
wherever two or three men in fustian combine to work together.
But what should we think of the farmer who neglected the pro-
duce for which his soil was fit in favour of exotic plants, which
could only be coaxed into feeble life with infinite care and ruin-
ous expenditure ?

Another reason for the neglect of mechanical drawing in fa-
vour of free-hand drawing is to be found in the dilettante interest
which the more cultivated classes take in art. The patrons of
schools, squires, clergymen and their families, can sketch a little,
or at least know what a free-hand drawing looks like, while they
are generally utterly ignorant of the meaning of a cross section
or an elevation. But when the schools and classes are initiated
by workmen, then we see a class of mechanical drawing invari-
ably instituted as of the first necessity; and if any one will question
workmen and foremen as to their desire for a knowledge of
artistic drawing as compared with mechanical drawing, they will
soon cease to doubt the existence of a real demand, although in
all Scotland there were only 61 persons in 1866 who received
this kind of instruction through schools assisted by Government
through Captain Donnelly's department.

I hope you are convinced of the importance of this branch of
elementary scientific education, and will now proceed to discuss
remedies whicli ought at once to be adopted.

It is quite insufficient to pay teachers on results, for the fol-
lowing reasons : —

1st. The persons really competent to teach mechanical draw-
ing cannot be professional teachers, but must be practical draughts-
men. The knowledge which the workman wants cannot be given
him at a school where the master teaches reading, writing,
arithmetic, geography, and has just managed to get a certificate
that he understands geometrical projection. The knowledge
the workman wants is the knowledge acquired by the draughts-
man from long familiarity with practical constructions. To this
man plans, cross sections, and elevations of machinery are all as
real and as natural as the' things themselves. He does not look
upon them as results of geometrical propositions — he generally

TECHXICAL EDUCATION 163

does not know the ineainng of an ortliogonal projection, and is
wholly ignorant of the scientific part of descriptive geometry ;
but he is familiar with the methods of representing the most
complete structures in such a way that the most accomplished
mathematician shall have no fault to find with his work, while
it will be intelligible to the workman of average experience.
These draughtsmen cannot be had in parish schools, and to offer
those in towns a few shillings a head for such of their students
as may pass an examination is a farce. These small payments
are of great use to the professional teacher, whose business it is
to teach, and who can send up men for examination in many
classes, but payment b}' I'esults will hardly ever induce draughts-
men to forin classes. Then, for mechanical draughting, a large
space is required for each pupil, a good light, at least two hours'
continuous work at each lesson, a collection of somewhat ex-
pensive drawings and much more expensive models, and all
these things cannot be paid for out of the 340^. allotted to this
branch of science in Great Britain, nor out of any increased sum
earned on the same plan. Lastly, the instruments used are ex-
pensive, and such as young mechanics can rarely afford to buy.
On all these grounds, which distinguish this branch from most
of the other branches of mechanical science, it must be separated
from these, and encouraged on a wholly different plan.

I therefore propose that eueri/ Gocernment school of art or
design, of tvhich there are about 100., should he required to open
classes of mecha,nical drawing, and that these classes should he
taught hy jirofessional draughtsmen — who should receive a
salary such as would make it well worth while for the leading
men in each town to compete for the appointment — in addition,
the teacher should receive a portion of the fees paid by all
classes of students, for I am no believer in gratuitous in-
struction.

Some classes are even now open for this branch of drawing,
and the students in these do not seem to be counted in Captain
Donnelly's Report, nor do I find any special mention of them
in the general report of the department. I will refrain from
criticising the work done in these classes, taught by men who
are really good masters of artistic drawing, and who might,
perhaps, teach elementary geometrical projection, having ob-

i64 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

tained certificates of competency in this respect, but tbey are
not professional mechanical draughtsmen, and cannot teach
things with which they are unacquainted. The contrast
between the artistic work done in our schools of design, and
the mechanical work, is as glaring as the discrepancy between
the 340Z. and 35,000L paid for the encouragement of the two
branches.

Instead of the one little heterogeneous class taught by a
certificated teacher, there should be in each school four distinct
departments — one for mechanical drawing proper, one for the
drawing of buildings, one for plans and surveys, and one for
geometrical projection. In each department there should be an
elementary and an advanced class, and each class should be
taught by men acquainted with the special work.

There should be prizes given upon the plan adopted for
artistic drawing, and these prizes should be equal in importance
to those given for excellence in the fine arts.

In each school there would therefore be prizes —
1st, For highly-finished shaded and coloured drawings.
2nd, For linear drawings, neither coloured nor shaded.
3rd, For large scale detail drawings, boldly coloured in the
style required for use in the machine shop or in the field.
4th, For plans and surveys.

5th, For drawings of the constructive details of buildings.
6th, For writing and printing.
7th, For geometrical projections.

In the larger schools I would add prizes for perspective
drawings, accurately corresponding to given plans and ele-
vations.

There should be an annual exhibition of the work executed
by the students, and there should be a national exhibition of
the prize drawings and national prizes for the whole of Great
Britain. This would be encouragement on a very different
scale from the prizes now offered for little linear drawings, five
of which are to be executed in four hours, and which test the
power of the draughtsman to enlarge little lithographed sketches.
I am convinced that every one of the above classes would fill
in every considerable town ; but if, instead of teaching the
practical work, geometrical projection and the French form

TECHNICAL EDUCATION 165

of descriptive geometry be taught, hardly a student will be
found.

Another objection maybe, that mechanical draughting ought
to be taught in connection with scientific establishments rather
than through schools of art, inasmuch as it is more closely re-
lated to mechanics and mathematics than to anything sesthetic.
My answer is, that the arrangements in schools for fine arts are
adapted for drawing both as to space and light ; that Govern^nent
establishments for the fine arts exist already all over the country,
to which the new classes can be affiliated, whereas the schools
of science do not exist ; and lastly, that the scientific part of
mechanical drawing is wonderfully small. There are excellent
draughtsmen who are wholly ignorant of Euclid and guiltless of
algebra. The very fact that our workmen do come to under-
stand the drawings of the work they have to execute is a proof
that no scientific training is required to render these intelligible.
I have known a smith who, taught in a mechanics' institute by
a locomotive draughtsman, learned in a very little while to make
an admirable set of drawings of the smith's shop in which he
worked, with the building, roof, forges, blowing-machinery, etc.,
in full detail. I have seen a whole class of lads of thirteen and
fourteen executing excellent mechanical drawings — so good that
I could have afforded to pay them to work in my office ; and I
am therefore certain that no considerable scientific training is
required to enable lads and men thoroughly to understand
mechanical drawing, and to represent accurately any ordinary
structure. So far am I from thinking that it requires previous
scientific training, that I believe mechanical drawing to be the
one form of elementary science which practically can be taught
in all schools. If we had in our Government schools of art such
classes as I have suggested, we should soon find that native
draughtsmen would replace the French, Germans, and Swiss,
who, to our shame, now fill our drawing offices.

I will now for a time take leave of the Science and Art
Department, and consider what should be done in primary schools
to carry out the second resolution of the Conference, that ele-
mentary science should be taught in all schools. I often see
proposals that drawing should be taught in all the primary
schools of the country, and the proposition is supported by the

1 66 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

argument, that drawing educates the faculties of observation. If
this be true to some extent of ordinary perspective drawing, how
much more is it true of what I call mechanical drawing ? The
greater or less accuracy of a perspective sketch of any object is
a matter of appreciation. The accuracy of a plan, elevation,
and section are matters of certainty. I hold that a child who
has acquired the power of measuring the simplest forms, and
representing these by a plan and elevations on which the dimen-
sions can be written, has acquired a faculty which will be of use
to him in every calling of life, and will have had mental powers
awakened which no mere copying would ever awaken, and which
will lie dormant even if he learn to represent actual objects by
free-hand drawing, a degree of proficiency which cannot be hoped
for in primary schools.

It may seem to many tliat the plans and elevations of
natural objects are more difficult of execution than the per-
spective sketch. This I wholly deny, in Great Britain at least.
A child of seven or eight years old can be taught to understand
and make the plan of a room, to measure the dimensions, and
write them correctly on the plan. The very fact that children
understand maps shows the readiness with which the mind
receives this simple geometrical conception.

A plan and elevations of any object are only the maps of
the top and two sides. The apparatus absolutely necessary
to teach the elements of this branch of drawing, is a small
collection of simple geometrical wooden models. The figured
hand sketch of these on a slate would be all that would be
expected from the youngest or poorest scholars ; add to this
some paper scales and set squares for the older boys, and the
parish school would be completely equipped with all that iis
necessary for the elements of this branch of education — except
the teacher. This, then, is the elementary science which, in
accordance with the resolution of the Conference of this Society,
might, I think, be introduced into every school. When ele-
mentary science is mentioned, some think of botany, physiology,
the laws of health, political economy, geology, mineralogy,
astronomy, and so forth. I hold the unpopular opinion that
not one of these things should be taught in any primary school.
The sciences may be divided into two classes — the mother, or

TECHNICAL EDUCATION 167

fundamental sciences, and the derived sciences. Mathematics,
physics, and chemistry as a branch of physics, may be called
the mother or fundamental sciences. Without a knowledge of
these it is useless to attack the derived sciences, except in
the most superficial manner as mere sciences of classification.
Mathematics and physics, including chemistry, should therefore
be the basis of a scientific education, as Latin and Greek have
formed the basis of a literary education. Again, the simpler
branches of mathematics must precede the study of chemistry
or the other branches of physics. Arithmetic is the first branch
of mathematics ; and the representation by plan, section, and
elevation of simple structures may conveniently form the second
branch of applied mathematics. What algebra is to arithmetic,
geometry is to mechanical drawing, and it is not only possible
to give a fair knowledge of practical arithmetic and drawing in
primary schools without algebra or geometry, but it is the only
way in which w^e can hope to give that knowledge. Physics
and chemistry require comparatively costly apparatus and highly
trained teachers ; very little that is woi'th knowing could pos-
sibly be learnt in any primary school on these subjects, and,
unpopular as the opinion is, I would not make the attempt.
Much that will interest the intelligent and awaken new ideas,
may be learnt in after life from lectures such as are now
being delivered in connection with our admirable museum. I
heartily hope that similar lectures will be given in all large
towns, but they will rather be a healthy form of intellectual
recreation than a means of giving scientific education ; and in
our primary schools for the working classes I see only one pos-
sible branch of science open for our adoption, namely, the
scientific representation of mechanical and other simple struc-
tures. In making the attempt, we shall start with the support
of the whole artisan class, which would be delighted to see its
children acquiring precisely those elements of knowledge which
as skilled workmen they will have to apply ; and we shall start
with a strong national bias or talent for the work, whereas in
the cultivation of artistic representation the work is impecleu oy
frequent natural incapacity.

The second suggestion which I have, therefore, to press upon
your attention is, thai the form of elementary science which ?*.->'

1 68 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

best adapted for introduction into lyrimanj schools, is the repre-
sentation of bodies of simple form by plans, sections and elevations
draivn to scale, or ivith figured dimensions. To carry out these
views ill England, it would be necessary that the Committee of
Council on Education should add clauses to the Revised Code,
under which they should, out of the annual grant made by
Parliament, undertake to aid inspected schools giving instruc-
tion in elementary mechanical drawing, by annual capitation
grants conditional on the attainment of a certain standard of
proficiency as attested by the insiDector ; in other words, this
first and most elementary branch of science should be put on the
same footing as reading, writing, and arithmetic. It would also
be necessary that the teachers trained in normal schools should
be required to take up this special study. By these simple
regulations the new study would gradually but surely be intro-
duced throughout the primary schools of the country.

I regret that I am not yet sufficiently familiar with the
machinery by which the primary schools in Scotland are
managed, to be able to make any practical suggestion as to how
and where the experiment should here be first tried, but one
application will suggest itself to all our minds — I allude to the
great charitable hospitals with which Edinburgh is surrounded.
Some, at least, of these are devoted to the education of artisans,
and all are intended for the instruction of the productive
classes — the classes which use machinery if they do not make
it. I believe there is no attempt to teach mechanical drawing
in any one of these, and I assert that it should be taught in all.

But when a suggestion of this kind is made, it is continually
met with the question. How are we to find time ? the boys
are already fully occupied, and what can we give up ? As an
answer to this, I will read what was the programme of a well-
managed Edinburgh hospital and that of a Prussian industrial
school.

Scotland. — Latin, French, English, writing, drawing, sing-
ing, dancing, drilling.

Prussia — 1st Course. — Mathematics, chemistry, physics,
German, arithmetic, drawing, architectural drawing, machine
drawing, modelling.

The Latin, French, dancing, singing, and drilling have dis-

TECHNICAL EDUCATION 169

appeared, none but the mother or fundamental sciences are
taught, and the three forms of drawing have one-third of the
whole school time allotted to them. Architectural drawing is
no doubt a misnomer ; by this is meant the drawing of ordinary
buildings.

In the higher course lessons are added in the knowledge of
machinery and in mechanics — two very different things — in
chemical technology, physical technology, the construction of
buildings, the knowledge of materials, and chemical analogy ;
but drawing has still one-third of the whole school time given
to it.

In the Edinburgh hospital only the least useful form of
drawing was taught ; it got two hours a week, and all the
inspector could say of it was, that the course was well adapted
to develop any power in this direction which a boy might

Can any Englishman doubt which of these two courses of
study is best adapted to train either foremen or manufacturers ?
who does not know that the little Latin will vanish without
leaving even a tincture of literary training ? that the French
will never be learned in any form whicj can be practically used,
and will never be required by nineteen out of twenty pupils.
What foreman has any need of French ? Who really thinks
that dancing and singing are to be compared in value with any
one of the subjects in the Prussian course ? Why, then, do not
our great industrial schools boldly throw off these traditional
bonds, and follow the well-tried course of the German schools ?
At one time Latin was the one thing which could be accurately
taught, and was therefore the one means of mental culture.
Long after this ceased to be true it remained a necessary pass-
port to a rise in social position ; but except for the Church, who
now can suppose that a knowledge of Latin is likely to aid an
ambitious youth to rise in life as a knowledge of physics and
chemistry would aid him ?

I am" the last man to decry literary cultivation, but Latin,
as taught in middle-class schools, gives no literary culture ;
French gives still less ; and I call, therefore, on all interested
in middle-class education to give literary culture through tlie
mother tongue, and mental culture through natural science,

I70 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

which would be learned with an avidity only to be equalled by
the distaste with which scraps of dead Latin and imperfect
French are rejected by a lad who knows that not a grown
man of his class retains any knowledge of either, or cares to
acquire it.

Let me not be mistaken. For the highest class of education
I look on the dead and foreign languages as essential, but they
are useless unless pursued until the student has them well
under command, and can forget the instrument through which
he communes with the thoughts of men of other nations, and of
all ages. I am no fanatic, who would destroy a great instru-
ment of culture by which many generations have been trained,
but I say, that for workmen, foremen, and the smaller class of
manufacturers and tradesmen, such mental provender as is
afforded by a little Latin, French, music, dancing, and drilling,
is garbage as compared with the healthy food in the Prussian
school.

I will now draw your attention to what can be done in a
charitable institution in Paris, worthy of imitation in many
respects, although managed by a Catholic religious body called
the Freres Chretiens, who are by no means universally popular.
I allude to what is called the school of St. Nicolas in the Rue
Vaugirard. This is a boarding-school for the poorer classes,
administered and taught by the religious body, the members of
which live in the school, and receive their food, and about lOL
annually out of the profits of the school. About 1,700 workmen's
sons are boarded and clothed in this establishment, and they pay
1/. 4s. per month during ten months in the year ; the school is
slightly assisted by charitable bequests, and the average cost of
each pupil is Vll. per annum, the total revenue being 28,000^.
The boys are received between the ages of seven and ten, and
some do not leave till about eighteen or nineteen. The
mechanical drawing executed by boys of thirteen or fourteen
in this school is wonderfully good. There were plans of the
kitchens to a large scale, showing the details of the cooking
apparatus, steam-boiler, and so forth, executed from dimensions
taken by the pupils themselves. T saw the drawings in all stages
of progress, and each drawing differing in colour and arrange-
ment according to the disposition of the draughtsman, showing

TECHNICAL EDUCATION J71

that the work was really that of the pupil, and not merely a
dead transcript from the teachers' work.

The average cost of a pupil in a Scottish hospital is 41L 10.^.
per annum. Exclusive of bursaries, each pupil in Donaldson's
Hospital costs 24Z. 15s. per annum. The cost of each pupil in
the French establishment being only 17^., may be considered
wonderfully small ; perhaps the economy will be best understood
when I remark, that the Scottish hospitals, for 44,000^., educate,
board, and clothe 1,004 scholars, while the French school, for
28,000^., boards, clothes, and educates 1,700 boys and youths.
The dormitories and arrangements for cooking appear excellent,
and the youths contrast very favourably in appearance with the
pupils in the great French Lycees. The French establishment
is also remarkable for a curious and excellent device by which
the Freres Chretiens teach their pupils trades while retaining
them within their walls. The plan is devised with the object of
retaining moral control over the youths up to a late period in
life, and is probably not worthy of imitation in our hospitals,
since I believe that a youth of ordinary morality is better fitted
to do his duty by mixing in the world than by semi-monastic
training ; the plan might, however, perhaps be applied to our
industrial and refoi-matory schools. I will, therefore, so far
digress as to sketch the system.

The school provides a series of workshops, fitted for the pro-
duction of numerous articles made by various trades in the town.
Thus, in Paris there are workshops for mathematical instruments,
levels, lenses, musical instruments, bronze statuettes, packing-
boxes, the design of shawls, etc. The school then allows a
manufacturer, say of optical instruments, to use one of these
workshops with the tools it contains. The manufacturer employs
as apprentices, or rather as workmen, as many pupils of the
school as the workshop will accommodate, introducing one skilled
workman into the shop to teach and direct the lads, who remain
for four years as apprentices, receiving nothing for their labour.
The master makes a profit by these apprentices, but is bound to
accept any lad the authorities choose to give him. The school
receives each year from the apprentice the monthly payment
of \l. 4.S., and continues to board and clothe him. The ap-
prentice works nine hours per diem in the shop, has classes in

172 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

the evening, and learns to make exactly the articles required in
the trade, so that on leaving the workshop he is able to command
the full wages of a workman, and, indeed, in some departments,
as in shawl-designing, a pupil in the fourth year may be worth
70?. or 80L to the master. I saw 140 apprentices thus occu-
pied, and there is no doubt that the plan is thoroughly suc-
cessful. It might be applied to reformatories, so as to give lads
a real trade education, and interest them by allowing them to
make things which they know are of real use ; but my chief
object in drawing your attention to the Ecole St. Nicolas was
neither to insist on its economy nor its successful industrial
education, but to the admirable mechanical drawing which is
executed by lads at a very early age. I fear that I must have
wearied you by ringing continual changes on those two words,
and I will endeavour to justify the high value which I have
attached to this branch of elementary education by quoting the
following passage from the report of the French Commission on
Technical Education : —

' Draiuing, luith all its apiMcatioyis to the different industrial
arts, shoidd be considered as the principal means to he emploi/ed in
technical education. '

Granting the great importance of drawing, you may fairly
ask me what analogous proposals I have to make as to mathe-
matics, mechanics, chemistry, and physics ? I may remind you
that I have already expressed the opinion that these great studies
will not be successfully prosecuted without a great reform in all
our middle-class schools, effected by parliamentary legislation
of a very difficult nature. I fear the elementary schools, in-
spected and aided by the Council on Education, can do nothing
to forward these studies, except by improving the foundation on
which they ought to be built ; and I am certain that the grants
administered by the Science and Art Department can do very
little to meet the requirements of the country as to these great
studies. Indeed, I am not prepared to hand over the scientific
training of the country to that department. The subject of the
introduction of public graded schools, with classical and scien-
tific courses fit for this great country, is too vast a subject to
•be treated of as part of an address. I am not propoundiug a
complete scheme for the scientific regeneration of the country,

TECHNICAL EDUCATION

173

but onl}' endeavouring to make some practical suggestions, which
might be carried into effect without extensive parliamentary
legislation, and, omitting any reference to what may be called
the secondary schools, I will now make some remarks on profes-
sional and scientific education of the higher grades.

I am opposed to the creation of special colleges for the edu-
cation of special professions. In my introductory lecture deli-
vered at the University I explained at some length my reasons
for preferring that our universities should be developed so as
to train men for the new learned professions. It is said, and
said truly, that the universities will never be able to train so
fully for any one profession as a special school would, and this
with me is a reason for preferring the university. A special
college will attempt to teach a man to be an engineer, and I
hold that it will necessarily fail in doing this, for that practice
is the only training which can ever give a man that knowledge
which is essential before he can be called an engineer. I
apprehend that what is true of engineering, civil and mechan-
ical, is also true of the cognate professions of architecture,
building, and of the management of large factories. These
things cannot really be taught in classes ; and a personal
inspection of the very excellent special colleges abroad only
convinced me that they were (so far as a great portion of pro-
fessional training is concerned) merely passable makeshifts,
replacing the English plan of apprenticeship by an inferior
system.

But while the business or profession can only be taught by
practice, the preparation for that practice can and ought to be
given in schools. This preparation is admirably given in the
foreign colleges, but here again the special college labours under
a special disadvantage. The preparation for the learned pro-
fessions should consist in the acquirement of the fundamental
sciences of mathematics, chemistry, and physics, with some
derived or secondary sciences, such as mechanics, geology, etc.
Now all these things are already taught at universities, and
the universities command the very best men as j^rofessors. It
is better that all the architects, engineers, and manufacturers
should learn their mathematics, chemistry, and physics from
one man in one olass-roora, for thev will then learn from the

174 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

very best man who can be found ; and, abroad, those special
colleges are the best which act on this principle, becoming
really universities in all but the name. Another disadvantage
of the special school is, that they are led to carry this preparatory
training much too far. A glaring instance of this is to be found
in the Polytechnic School in Paris, where every Government
engineer receives a mathematical training such as would fit him
to be a wrangler at Cambridge, and very generally unfits hira
to be an engineer. Moreover, I desire for every engineering
student a liberal education. It is probable that wide differences
of opinion would be found among us if we were called upon to
define a truly liberal education ; and the liberal education of to-
dav will not be the liberal education of to-morrow. But we may
all agree that the general course of education given in a univer-
sity, where men of all professions and every turn of mind mix
together, is more likely to be liberal and wide in its scope than
the education given in a college devoted to any one profession,
be that profession law, physic, or divinity itself. I am quite
aware that, as subordinates, comparatively uneducated men are
often as useful and trustworthy as their more showy competitors ;
but in the higher walks of the profession, a good general educa-
tion is of great use in dealing with all forms of business, and it
is of incomparable value to its possessor, by directing his intellect
and his tastes to the purest and noblest food.

I hope, therefore, that our professional men will continue to
pass through our universities. But in order that this may be
the case, the universities must be developed, so as to meet the
requirements of old professions as they extend, and new pro-
fessions as they arise.

Dr. Lyon Playfair drew my attention to the fact that exist-
ing universities almost all arose as professional schools of law,
medicine, and divinity, for a long time the only learned profes-
sions. Now that there are new learned professions (I may
surely claim that title for engineering at least), the universities
should recognise the fact, and provide the necessary curriculum,
and the necessary degree or attestation that this curriculum
has been profitably followed. We boast in Great Britain that
our institutions grow ; whereas foreign institutions are too often
shackled by such bonds, that, unable to develop, they grow old

TECHNICAL EDUCATION 175

and die. This fate has actnall}^ befallen the scientific faculty
of the University of Paris. The class-rooms are deserted, the
professorships are despised sinecures, and the whole scientific
training of France is given in the new special schools, such as
the Polytechnic School and Ecole Centrale. I hope we may
never see our ancient universities wither in like manner ; but
to avoid a similar fate, they must avoid similar conduct.

Edinburgh at least has incurred no reproach as yet. The
foundation of the chair which I have the honour to fill is a proof
of the munificence of the patrons of its University. The recep-
tion I have met with proves, not my merit, but the interest with
which this new development is regarded in the city ; and there-
fore I am emboldened to urge those measures upon you which I
think the University should be encouraged to adopt.

The system of pupilage for an engineer must be maintained,
and pupilage should begin at the age of eighteen or nineteen.
The student has, therefore, no time to acquire the higher mathe-
matics, or to follow any large number of courses on special
engineering subjects. If our young engineers could enter the
ofiices and workshops as pupils possessing a competent know-
ledge of geometry, the elements of algebra, trigonometry,
physics, chemistry, mechanics, and drawing, they would be able
during their pupilage to make a really good use of their time,
instead of, as at present, too often employing these years in
learning, in a very rude way, projection, mensuration, tracing,
and such other elementary branches as they should have mas-
tered before entering the office.

For engineers, at least, no other courses of lectures are
required than are now open. What is really necessary is, that
parents and intending students should be induced to take advan-
tage of the facilities which already exist. No pass or com-
petitive examination bars the entrance to our profession, and a
goo:l fee and some personal knowledge of the candidate are the
inducements which lead engineers, in the south at least, to accept
pupils. Now I cannot urge too strongly on the profession that
the improvement of the education of the younger members
lies in their hands. If they will require a real preparation from
their pupils, if they will show a real preference to the well-pre-
pared pupil, the cause of scientific education will be won. How

176 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

can they practically show this preference ? So long as there is
no recognised curriculum leading to no recognised examination,
they can at most ask if the candidate has attended certain classes,
such as my own, and with what success. The profession cannot
institute a sort of matriculation examination, and a mere general
inquiry as to previous training will lead in future to no better
results than hitherto ; but if the University institutes a recog-
nised examination, conferring a recognised degree or diploma,
the profession can then select their pupils by asking a perfectly
definite question, Has he or has he not passed this degree ? and
if so, with what credit ? This is one reason why I think it is
incumbent on all universities professing to prepare engineers
that they should institute definite engineei-ing degrees. The
particular examination which should be employed to test the
fitness of a pupil to enter an engineer's office or workshop should
embrace only the elements of those subjects which 1 have named
above ; but these would ensure that the pupils in engineers'
offices who had passed that examination should be very differ-
ently prepared from the pupils with which I have come in
contact (in the south).

/ call^ iJierefore^ on my professional bretJiren to select their
pupils with reference to their previous training, and I call upon
the University to organise such a curriculum, and to institute such
an examination, as ivill enable pupils to be thus selected.

In course of time, should the engineering instruction prove
successful, it will be necessary to institute some new chairs, such
as that of architecture, and possibly to divide engineering into
two branches, with lectureships on special subjects ; but every
step should be justified by the success of each previous advance.

The University can, however, at once do more than simply
test the fit preparation of engineering pupils by the institution
of a degree corresponding to that of Bachelor of Arts. It might
also offer to test how far, at the end of his pupilage, each pupil
has benefited by his practical training, and then give a real
diploma attesting his capacity in the particular branch which
he has studied. This was the proposal contained in the Univer-
sity Calendar, but abandoned for the present, owing to legal
informalities attending its adoption.

Some disapprobation has been expressed at the proposal to

TECHNICAL EDUCATION

177

institute new degrees, and the opposition has come from men of
different classes — for instance, from Conservatives, who object to
new degrees because they are new, and who fear a degradation
of academical distinctions. To these opponents I would point
out that engineers now form a real new learned profession, as
much entitled to academical recognition as the older pi'ofessions
were when the old degrees were instituted. To institute new
degrees in the old universities is to carry on the old traditions
unbroken ; and if this be not done, then the new professions
will create schools and distinctions of their own, and the old
institutions will fall as old trees fall when their growth is
ended. The strictest watch should, however, be kept, to ensure
that the new degrees are, if anything, harder to attain than the
old ones.

The second class of opponents are those who say that no
examinations can test the proficiency of a professional man. I
have very little doubt that this was the feeling of some of the
older medical men when degrees in medicine were first insti-
tuted ; but if engineers could only be examined after the fashion
of some recent examinations the papers of which I have read,
I should cordially agree with the opponents of the measure I
now support.

As an illustration of my meaning, I will take the liberty of
criticising one point in the examination which is to be held for
the Whitworth scholarships, under the management of the
Science and Art Department. This examination might be ex-
pected to correspond with that which all should take before enter-
ing an engineers office or workshop. Its object is to select those
youths who, by two or three years of additional study, are likely
to become useful engineers. Consequently, we find a list of
subjects closely agreeing with that which I proposed for our
University examination ; and among these subjects is ' Applied
Mechanics.' The French and Professor Rankine mean by
Applied Mechanics the application of the purely theoretical
mechanics to the problems which occur when dealing with
material bodies. Thus Professor Rankine's book on Applied
Mechanics treats of the principles of statics, the theory of
structures, the strength of materials, kinematics, the theory of
mechanism, and the pi'inciples of dynamics — all things which
VOL. II. N

178 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

the pupil entering on practical work should know. But the
examiner of the Science and Art Department has understood
Applied Mechanics to mean a knowledge of machinery — a know-
ledge which no man can acquire except by long practice, and
which a pupil entering a workshop can by no means have
acquired ; indeed, no man in his whole lifetime ever acquires it
thoroughly except in certain branches of machinery.
One question asked is —

15. In the older vertical saw frames a ratchet wheel was em-
ployed to urge the timber forward for the cut ; in modern frames a
similar arrangement is employed, but with this difference, that the
teeth of the ratchet wheel are dispensed with, and a frictional grip,
adjustable to any rate of feed motion, is substituted. Make a pen-
and-ink sketch of any such contrivance by which the object can be
effected.

Another is as follows : —

16. Lathes for boring guns are now being constructed, in which
the power is to be accumulated by worm gear instead of spur or
bevel gear. The accumulation of power is 150 to 1 ; a worm wheel
is fixed on the main spindle, and the worm works in oil. Make a
sketch of the head stock only, showing the driving pulleys and the
gear.

Now, unless a man be told beforehand, ' You will be examined
in sawing machinery, and in machinery for the manufacture of
ordnance,' I hold that his knowledge or state of preparation
cannot be tested by questions like these. If I am to be at
liberty to pick any details from any class of machinery, and ask
men to make a sketch of it, the merest accident will determine
who would give me the best answer. Probably, if I were to ask
the examiner to sketch the form of break employed in retarding
submarine cables during submersion, and describe its principles,
he would be as much puzzled as I should be to sketch a detail
in gun-boring machinery. The questions require no particular
knowledge of the principles of mechanics, but an absolutely
unlimited knowledge of the details of machinery ; and to my
mind it is absurd to ask from pupils about to enter on a course
of practical study any but the most elementary knowledge of
the elementary parts of machines.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION 179

This, then, I take to be an example of an examination,
devised by a very competent engineer, who has not sufficiently
considered what examinations can be expected to do. He
might defend his paper by observing that the Science and Art
examinations were meant to test the proficiency of teachers, and
for this purpose the examination is only faulty in requiring
superhuman knowledge. I sincerely hope that no similar paper
will be put before young students.

On the other hand, neither in theoretical nor in Applied
Mechanics is there a single problem as to the strength of
materials and the stability of structures, the proportions of
which ought to exist between firebar surface, heating surface,
the dimensions of cylinders, etc., in steam-engines. Nothing is
said of the geometrical methods which engineers find so con-
venient for solving the problems of strains on framework, nor
are there any questions testing the capacity of the student to
understand the graphic representation of results by diagrams ;
whereas I hold that to those points the student's attention
should be directed before he enters the workshop, and that he
cannot possibly be expected to make a pen-and-ink sketch of
a ten-ton hydraulic crane, of a steam hammer, of a turbine in
equilibrium adapted to secure the best results from a fall of
sixteen feet, or even of a hydraulic accumulator.

I wholly disbelieve in any attempt to ascertain a man's
mechanical knowledge by shutting him up for four or five
hours without any books of reference, and asking him to answer
eight such questions as these, ranging over every variety of
machine. The best men in the country could not pass such an
examination ; and a man who, in after life, attempted to design
machines of which he had only a general knowledge, without
referring to all the drawings he could find of similar contri-
vances, and without giving the subject a day or two's considera-
tion, would be an exceedingly bad engineer.

Then, you may ask, to what kind of examination would you
subject your candidate for an engineering degree ? First, I
would subject him to an examination in some one or two
branches of theoretical knowledge, allowing him to choose the
branch, but then making the examination one which would
entitle the successful candidate to honours in that branch.

i8o SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

Next, in the practice of his profession, I would also allow the
candidate to choose his department. Thus, he might elect to be
examined in railway machinery, or in marine engineering, or in
tools, or in telegraphy. Then I would set him a real piece of
work to do, giving him perhaps a month or two months to com-
plete the work. At the end of that time he would bring up his
designs, calculations, estimates, precisely as if I were his chief
engineer and he were a resident or head draughtsman. He
should have free reference to all books and persons whatever ;
but when the designs were laid on the table he should be sub-
jected to a searching cross-examination as to his reasons for
adopting the given dimensions, materials, and forms ; he should
be called upon to justify his estimates and explain the motives
which guided him in drawing each clause of his specification ;
and I venture to say that a man who passed such an examination
as this, before a board composed in part of professors and partly
of practical engineers specially acquainted with the branch of
engineering in question, would prove a really competent engi-
neer in that branch ; and I also think that there are hundreds
of men in England who would be willing to purchase a diploma
by undergoing such a real test as this, who would laugh at
cramming themselves with undigested pen-and-ink sketches for
a three hours' examination in machinery at large.

I have drawn no fancy sketch. The examination I recom-
mend is simply the form of examination actually held in Germany
with great success. It is usually taken by men who have been
some years in practice, and is, I believe, a sure passport to
advancement.

A degree given in this way would be a degree worth having
in England also ; nay, it would be especially valuable to the
young engineer, who at present has no way of gaining any dis-
tinction except in the very limited circle of the shop or office in
which he works. The public credit due to all works goes to the
chief engineer or the responsible manager of the firm ; nor is
this essentially unjust, though young men sometimes rebel at it.
The responsible man must reap the shame or glory, but owing
to this very fact young engineers would be peculiarly glad of an
opportunity of gaining real distinction.

Another motive for giving degrees in engineering is, that the

TECHNICAL EDUCATION i8i

want of such an official diploma subjects Englishmen abroad to
a serious disadvantage. The French or German candidate for
work pulls out his official diploma for inspection, while our
Englishman has nothing to show but an informal note from
somebody saying he is an excellent man in a general way.
What wonder if the duly accredited engineer be preferred, so
that we find the French and Germans boasting that foreign
Powers now always send to them for engineers, and no longer to
England ! I believe this is a fact, and that the absence of
degrees to a great extent explains it. I hope, therefore, that
this Society will give its hearty support to the institution of
these new and much-wanted academical distinctions.

I will now very briefly review the several recommendations
which I have ventured to make.

After approving the report of the Schools Inquiry Commis-
sion, by which real public schools of all grades would be esta-
blished throughout Great Britain, I drew especial attention to
mechanical drawing as the branch of elementary scientific edu-
cation which I thought most important to our workmen and
foremen ; I suggested that the Government schools of fine art
should be extended so as in all cases to include a series of classes
for instruction in all the branches of draughtsmanship ; I re-
commended that these classes should be taught by practical
draughtsmen, not by men whose profession it was to teach ; that
prizes should be offered for each branch of drawing, with
national exhibitions and national prizes ; and that the more
costly and permanent articles required in the class should be
provided for the student.

I further suggested that this branch of elementary scien-
tific knowledge is peculiarly well adapted for introduction into
primary schools, because it stimulates accurate observation,
giving a boy the means of expressing his ideas accurately, and
of acquiring information from books and periodicals, and because
it is suited to the genius of this country ; I endeavoured to show
that this important step could be made at once, by putting this
kind of drawing on a par with reading, writing, and arithmetic,
in the payment for results.

Passing to the higher professional training, I deprecated the
establishment of special colleges, but, on the one hand, called

1 82 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

upon the universities to institute new chairs and new degrees,
to meet the requirements of new professions ; and, on the other
hand, I called on these professions to support the universities,
by according a real preference to the men who were well pre-
pared over those who declined to take advantage of the facilities
given them.

I have now the great pleasure of informing you that I have
to-day received a proof of the preference for educated pupils felt
by one of the leading firms of mechanical engineers in Edin-
burgh. I cannot better explain my meaning than by reading
the following extract from minutes of a meeting of the directors
of T. M. Tennant & Co., Limited, held on Tuesday, January 5,
1869:—

'Mr. R. W. Thomson moved, audit was unanimously agreed,
that to encourage the new mechanical engineering class in the
Edinburgh University, this company will grant a free pupilage,
once in three years, to the most meritorious student of the
class.'

This valuable endowment has, I think, been given in a form
peculiarly well suited to stimulate the scientific education of
our young engineers, by showing that the professional men
consider that the road to practice should lie through the college
gates.

i83

ON SCIENCE TEACHING IN LABORATOBIES}

The thesis which in the present paper I propose to develop will
not, I trust, arouse much opposition, inasmuch as my intention
is simply to record that which I believe to be the best existing
practice. I have no striking novelty to propose for discussion.
I hope, however, that I may be able to explain certain facts in
connection with laboratory teaching in such a manner as may be
of some use to those who, not being themselves teachers of
science, nevertheless endow or control the teaching in labora-
tories. The manufacturer or commercial man who desires to
benefit technical education is almost invariably anxious that the
teaching which he is willing to promote by giving time or money,
or both, should be of a practical character, and, for my own part,
I believe this desire to be perfectly justified. What is called
pure science has, and should have, devoted followers, but it is
also desirable that applied science should be fostered, and, as an
engineer, I have a natural sympathy with those branches of
science-teaching which tend to be more immediately fertile.
Hence I am disposed to enforce this doctrine, that practical
teaching in the experimental laboratory is that which, of all
others, deserves and requires endowment ; but in asking for
practical or technical teaching, a disposition is sometimes shown
to expect that our universities and colleges should teach matters
which shall be not only ultimately, but immediately, useful in a
given trade or manufacture. It is even thought that the teacher
ought to lead the way in improving the practical methods used
in the factory ; that the college may, in fact, become a model
factory, or contain many model factories. On the other hand,
the teacher of pure science is sometimes tempted wholly to

' ' Read at a Conference at the International Heailh Exhibition, London,
1884.

1 84 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

disregard practical teaching, trusting that if the principles of
science are correctly understood sound application will follow as
a matter of course. Placed between these two extremes, I would
side rather with the man of science than with the man of trade.
The principles of each science are few, positive, permanent, and
such as can be learnt from lectures and books. The applications
are innumerable ; their results cannot be made the subject of
absolute calculation. The methods vary from year to year and
from month to month ; they can neither be learnt nor taught in
the lecture-room. I say these things dogmatically, having no
fear that any teacher of experience will contradict me. Are we
to conclude, then, that no practical teaching of importance can
be given in our universities ? Far from it. There is no teaching
more practical, more immediately fertile in results than that
which can be given by the man of science in his laboratory.
This teaching is of two kinds — each valuable. That which is
most popularly known and most appreciated is practical instruc-
tion in research. The teacher is himself engaged in the research
of some scientific truth, and he finds in the best of his students
a willing band of workers, ready to devote their whole energies
and time to the prosecution of minute and prolonged inquiry ;
the young men are inspired by the teacher with his own ardour ;
they imitate his methods, sympathise with his aims, and emu-
late his success. In a few years these generous and unknown
assistants will themselves be leaders. The process is natural,
healthy, and successful, but it is incomplete. It reaches only
rhose who are born with a great natural aptitude for scientific
inquiry. The rank and file of the students cannot be employed
in this manner by the teacher ; they would waste their time,
spoil an indefinite amount of apparatus, hinder the advanced
student, occupy the attention of the teacher unworthily, and
perhaps try his temper ; and yet the rank and file — the ordinary
well-meaning student who will never become a leading light in
science — is worthy of our attention. If he is well educated he
may become a successful manufacturer, contractor, engineer, or
farmer, and sensibly increase the power and wealth of our
country. It seems to me that this student is not so well provided
for in our scientific teaching as is desirable. And the main
question I propose for discussion is, how we are to improve the
education of this second-best young man. My own answer put

ON SCIENCE TEACHING IN LABORATORIES 185

briefly, is that we "can teach him systematically the art of
measurement. We cannot give him the hunger for knowledge,
the acute logical discrimination, nor the imaginative faculty
required for research ; but we can teach him how to ascertain
and record facts accurately ; we can bring home to him the truth
that no scientific knowledge is definite except that based on the
numerical comparison which we call measurement ; we can teach
him the best modes of making that comparison in respect of a
vast number of magnitudes, and in teaching this we shall teach
him to use his hands and eyes. This practical teaching gives
clear conceptions to the minds of many who receive a verbal
definition as a mere string of dead words. I should be glad if it
were generally proclaimed that the elementary training in all our
science laboratories should be a training in the art of measure-
ment. I wish that the classes were called measurement classes.
Then a student of ordinary intelligence would know that by
entering a given class he would learn how to measure those mag-
nitudes with which he will have to deal in after life. The
attempt to measure them will lead him to consider their nature,
and he will approach scientific study in the class-room with a
faith in the reality of science which no verbal exhortation will
ever give him. You may define the absolute unit of electrical
resistance as accurately as you will, and your definition shall
affect the average brain to no perceptible extent ; but a young
man of very ordinary education and intelligence can learn to
measure resistances in ohms, and having learnt this, an ohm
becomes a reality to him. Not only does the knowledge he has
acquired make him a more valuable assistant to the engineer and
contractor, but having acquired a working faith in the existence
of ohms, he is prepared to take some trouble to understand the
scientific definition.

Let me again repeat that I am here urging no new thing. I
am merely, as I believe, stating the practice of all well-arranged
laboratories — they are schools of measurement — a fact long since
recognised by the chemist, but less explicitly recognised in other
branches of physical science. The student of heat or light may
come to the laboratory thinking vaguely that he is to make
experiments — and to him an experiment does not imply a
measurement. I have heard a young man describe as a very
interesting experiment, performed by his teacher, the blowing-up

i86 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

of a horse pond by an imitation torpedo. Now if in that college
the elementary practical class of physics had been called a class
for measurement, this so-called expei-iment would not have been
shown, and the young man would not have been wholly misled
as to what physical science meant. The teacher would not have
thought of blowing up the pond until his pupils were capable of
measuring the resistance of the leads, their insulation, the elec-
tromotive force of the battery, and other magnitudes.

The use of the word ' measurement ' in naming a class would
be in itself a safeguard against the peepshow style of teaching
which at one time was far more common than is now the case.
Moreover, it would allow examinations to be held of a practical
kind, in which students in the same or different colleges might
ascertain their relative skill. It is possible definitely to group
students in the order of their merit by comparing the measure-
ments which they make. The range and accuracy of their know-
ledge as to what instruments they should employ can also be
tested by examination, and although an abuse of competitive ex-
aminations is certainly an evil, nevertheless one test of what can
and what cannot be taught is to be found in the consideration
whether an examination paper can or cannot be set. In quanti-
tative analysis this mode of examination is universally adopted,
but practical examinations in electrical and thermal measure-
ments are not so common in our universities as they might be,
and practical examinations in the measurement of velocity, force,
or work are even rarer.' Is it expecting too much to ask that,
wherever physical science is taught, the students should have an
opportunity of systematically learning how to measure every
magnitude which can be expressed in numbers ? The distinct
recognition of measurement as a thing to be taught would serve
as a guide in the purchase of apparatus — it would serve to
distinguish the toy from the scientific instrument.

Let me not be misunderstood. There are innumerable ex-
periments of the highest interest to the trained physicist which
are mere magic-lantern slides to the student, and even the
magic-lantern slide has its place. A lecturer may with propriety
use a mere spectacle to give his audience a more concrete view

' Examinations precisely such as are here recommended are held in the
Cavendish and many other laboratories.

ON SCIENCE TEACHLXG IN LABORATORIES 187

of the subject on which he discourses ; he may even sometimes
employ a mere spectacle to afford relief from overstrained atten-
tion. I will go further, and say that measurement classes are
not, in my opinion, suitable for secondary schools. They require
in the student an interest in accuracy, and a belief in the im-
portance of detail rarely found in boys or girls. It is sufficient
for the boy to learn that a magnetised needle may move to the
right or left under the influence of an electric current. The
commonplaces of science are at one time of life interesting
novelties ; but there comes an age when the young man feels
that he knows nothing of electricity unless he can predict the
force which will be exerted on a given magnet under given
circumstances, which are themselves capable of being defined
accurately by the aid of numbers ; and he can only learn this
knowledge by the aid of practical classes in the laboratory.

Another advantage of the measurement class is this ; it brings
the teacher of science into direct contact with the practical man.
It even enables the practical man to some extent to control the
teaching of the man of science.

If a practical engineer comes into a scientific laboratory, he
can tell whether lengths, areas, angles, forces, and so forth, are
being well measured, or whether the class is being taught in an
antiquated or perfunctory manner. It will be obvious to the
least educated of our practical men, that measurement is required ;
and they can judge what measurements are required. Hence,
we may expect that measurement classes, boldly so called, will
readily find endowments ; and, as an incidental advantage, they
may help to extinguish the popular fallacy of college workshops.
Having worked for three years at the bench in a Manchester
locomotive shop, I have always protested against the endeavour
to set up in colleges or universities workshops, with the object
of giving students any considerable practical knowledge of any
art. In the secondary school I believe a workshop may be
useful as an adjunct, providing certain boys with the means of
acquiring a little skill in a pleasant way. There is much pleasure,
and some profit, to be got from tinkering among models when
we are boys, but when a young man has chosen a trade or art,
he can only learn that trade or art by working at it, and by
working under the actual conditions of the trade or art : little

1 88 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

girls may pleasantly and usefully dress their dolls, but no woman
could in two or even three college terms learn to be a successful
milliner by cutting out dolls' clothes for an hour three times a
week ; and yet I sometimes hear what is no better than this
advocated as a necessary adjunct to engineering teaching at a
university. The young professional engineer does not simply
learn in the works how to file and chip. He learns the time
required for all manner of jobs, the finish required in each class
of work, the way the various parts are handled, the forms which
are convenient, the routine of the shop, the character of the men
— the system of storage, the materials and sizes to be bought in
the market, and hundreds of other facts, which can only be made
his own after contact with manufacture on a full scale. We
cannot imitate this in college.

But the workshop, in connection with the measuring class,
is a legitimate and almost necessary complement. The work
done in this workshop is not the same as that of any trading
concern, although it bears some similarity to that of the prac-
tical optician. In such a workshop, the student may be usefully
occupied in adjusting, repairing, and modifying the apparatus
he requires ; he may thus learn to use both hand and eye, and
he may gain some practical knowledge of materials ; he can, in
fact, acquire such skill in a number of the minor arts as will be
of much use to him in experimental work ; used in this way, the
laboratory workshop may teach him much which he cannot
easily learn in large engineering or manufacturing works.

Scientific research for the most advanced and best endowed
students ; measurement classes open to all in all branches of
exact science, and a common laboratory where apparatus of all
kinds can be repaired, adjusted, modified, with the help of highly
skilled workmen. This is the general picture which I have
endeavoured to draw of a college fully equipped for practical
scientific teaching. I have not touched on the study of theory,
which must precede or accompany the practical training. This
lies outside my subject. I have laid most stress on measure-
ment classes, because it has seemed to me that while the import-
ance of this teaching is patent both to men of science and men
of practice, the organisation of these classes admits of consider-
able improvement and great extension.

ON SCIENCE TEACHING IN LABORATORIES 189

In order to bring out more definitely what I mean by a
measurement class, and to emphasise the fact, that these
measurements are not so fully or systematically taught as is
to be desired, I will conclude by giving a list of some of the
measurements which might be usefully taught at college to a
student who looked forward to becoming an engineer : —

1. Measurements of Length. — These would range from micro-
metrical measurements for standard gauges up to the modes
employed in measuring the base lines of surveys. They would
include rough workshop methods and the practical methods
used in ordinary surveying and navigation, so that the student
might learn not only the maximum accuracy attainable, but the
degrees of accuracy required in practice. The methods would
include indirect measurements by optical apparatus as well as
direct methods — lineal measurement for valuation would be
included.

2. Measurements of Surface. — These would range from the
smallest plane area to be perceived in the microscope up to the
areas measured in geodetical operations. The various drawing-
office methods of computing plane areas, or measuring these by
special instruments, would be practised. Curved surfaces of all
degrees would be measured, and various classes of integrators
applied. Superficial measurement for valuation would be in-
cluded.

3. Cubic Contents. — These measurements would range from
determinations of great accuracy, such as are required in scien-
tific research, up to the measurement of earthworks, the contents
of barrels, tanks, timber.

I may here remark that these three kinds of measurements
alone would require a very large collection of apparatus, and
that this collection would require to be extended year by year.
I also venture to think that all this information can be far better
given in college than during a practical apprenticeship. No
single workshop or engineering office contains nearly enough
apparatus, nor is it the duty of any one to teach the use of such
instruments as may be found there.

In the following list of heads I abstain from pointing out
the large range of measurement required in each. I simply give
the subject-matter of that measurement :

I90 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

4. Angles.

5. Time.

6. Velocity, including angular velocity.

7. Acceleration, including angular acceleration.

8. Mass : under this head I would teach measurement of
weight and density.

9. Force.

10. Intensity of force, including the pressure of gases and
fluids.

11. Work and energy.

12. Power.

13. Friction. Solid on solid; fluid on solid, and fluids in
themselves.

14. Strength of materials in various forms, including their
elasticity and distortion.

15. The efficiency of gearing.

16. The efficiency of motors.

17. The flow of fluids.

In addition to the above subjects for measurement, the
engineer requires to know how physical measurements are made
ia heat, optics, electricity, and magnetism. The measurement
classes in each of these subjects would embrace a range even
exceeding that sketched out above for applied mechanics.

There are, I am glad to say, laboratories in this country
where the student can learn many of the measurements of which
I have spoken. It almost seems to me as if, of all the subjects
spoken of, the fundamental measurements in engineering had
been most neglected. The object of this paper will have been
attained if it in any degree leads to an increase in the opportu-
nities given to students of studying that which is surely the
basis of all exact science as well as all practice,' namely, measure-
ment.

APPLIED SCIENCE

PREFATOBY NOTE.
By Professor J. A. Ewing, F.R.S.

Three papers, each in its way representative, have been chosen
for republicatioa from amongst Fleeming Jenkin's technical
writings. The first gives, in popular form, an account of the
scientific development of submarine telegraphy, a work in which
he took a large share during the earlier part of his professional
life. Apart from its historical and personal interest, this paper
is still valuable as a description of present-day practice in cable
making and cable laying. In the second paper, on ' Telpherage,'
Jenkin introduced to the public the invention on which his later
years were spent : at the date to which the paper belongs he had
satisfied himself, by trial on a large scale, that his ideas were
practicable, and he was then busy in elaborating the details,
The third paper is a somewhat abstruse but most important
contribution to engineering theory in a department ah-eady
occupied by Jenkin in an earlier work. Though of no popular
interest it is second in value to none of his writings, and only
needs wider publicity to be more generally appreciated by
engineers. The papers are reprinted without substantial
change ; only a few obvious clerical errors have been corrected.
Following the three reprints is an abstract of Fleeming
Jenkin's other scientific writings, which has been prepared with
the purpose of showing, in some detail, the character and place
of his contributions to science, and of facilitating reference to
the original papers.

VOL. II.

195

(d^

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY.'

At a time when the first successful submarine cable has been
laid across the Atlantic, and a second has been recovered from
depths once thought unfathomable, many persons will probably
be led to consider how far these great achievements, following on
failures almost as great, have been due to mere good fortune, or
to a real progress in knowledge. The object of this article is
shortly to explain the advances which have lately been made in
theory and practice by those who carry out the manufacture and
submersion of telegraph cables. To make this explanation in-
telligible to the general reader, it will be well first to describe
what a submarine cable is, and what are the functions it has to
perform, although probably few who read this article will be so
entirely ignorant of the subject as to suppose, with an ingenious
correspondent of the ' English Mechanic and Mirror of Science '
that the copper conductor is a long rope which slips backwards
and forwards inside a gutta-percha tube, so as to ring a bell in
America when pulled by the clerk in England.

The electrical conductor in a cable really is a copper rope in
almost all cables now made, though a single wire is still some-
times used ; when small, three wires generally form the strand ;
when larger, seven wires are used. Single wires were first em-
ployed, but they sometimes broke at a brittle part, and when
large were inconveniently stiff, tending to force their way out
through the insulating sheath of gutta-percha. The seven wires
of the strand never break all at one point, and the fracture of
any one produces no sensible effect on the conductor as a whole ;
for although the strength of a chain is limited by that of its
weakest link, the conducting power of a wire or strand is in no
way limited by that of its smallest section. The large Atlantic
' From the A^'ortk British Reviem, December 1866.

o 2

196 APPLIED SCIENCE

strand miglit be cut in two and joined by a sliortfine wire barely
visible to the eye, without any difference being felt in the
rapidity with which signals could be transmitted, or in the mag-
nitude of the currents observed in the cable. The thin wire
would produce no sensible effect, unless the length over which it
formed the exclusive conductor bore some sensible proportion to
that of the whole cable. Six, therefore, of the seven wires of a
conductor may be broken in a thousand places without any
injury to the cable, provided any one wire at each spot remains
not wholly broken ; nor is it, of course, necessary that this one
wire should always be the same. Of course the seven wires
forming the strand act as one conductor, and transmit only one
message at a time.

The interstices between the several wires are filled with an
insulating varnish known as Chatterton's Compound. The
object of this varnish is to prevent the percolation of water
along the strand, should any water ever reach it, and also to
produce a more perfect adhesion between the strand and the
gutta envelope, so that it becomes very difficult to strip off the
insulator, even should it be cut or abraded. In older cables it
was by no means difficult to pull the insulator off the copper in
the form of a gutta-percha tube, and in great depths water was
very generally found to have penetrated to the copper through-
out its entire length. This was not necessarily fatal to the cable,
for the water inside might be quite well insulated from the water
outside, owing to the extreme minuteness of the pores by which
it had gained access to the interior ; but this water was the
cause of serious difficulty and danger in joining a fresh piece of
cable to an old one during repairs, and it was also probably
dangerous by its tendency to produce an oxidation of the copper
conductor. In cables as now made, there is no space for the
water to lodge, and no water is ever found between the insulator
and the copper.

The insulator employed in every cable of importance hitherto
laid has been gutta-percha. The copper strand is passed into
a vat of semi-fluid percha, and is drawn through a die of such
size as to allow a convenient thickness of insulator to be pressed
out round it. This first layer of gutta-percha receives a coat of
Chatterton's Compound, and the process is repeated until the

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY

197

copper is covered to the specified thickness by a succession of
alternate layers of gutta-percha and compound. Three or four
coats of each material are generally used ; the largest wires with
their insulating cover are nearly half-an-inch in diameter, the
smallest in practical use for cables are about a quarter of an inch
in diameter ; but it is quite possible to cover in this way copper
wire no thicker than a hair. The dangers encountered in this
part of the manufacture are, impurities in the gutta-percha ;
eccentricity of the conductor in the insulator, leaving a danger-
ously thin coating of the latter ; and, lastly, air-bubbles which
may lodge in the insulator unperceived, and do serious injury.
In time, water is certain to penetrate to these air-bubbles ; it
becomes partly decomposed, the gas generated bursts the bubble,
and exposes the copper to the water. The slight leak thus
formed is, by the action of the battery used in signalling, easily
developed into a very serious fault. Fortunately, the manu-
facturers have been able almost, if not wholly, to prevent the
occurrence of these dangerous cavities.

If the cable is to have only one conductor, as is the case in
most long lines, the insulated wire is served or wrapped with
hemp or jute, which acts as a padding between the gutta-percha
and the outer iron wires used to give strength. This serving
used to be tarred, but Mr.W. Smith pointed out that the tar was
occasionally squeezed into small faults, and was a sufficiently
good insulator to prevent their detection during manufacture,
though not sufficiently good to prevent these flaws, under the
action of the battery, from developing into serious faults. Since
then, wet tanned hemp has been generally used. Outside the
hemp serving come the iron wires, laid round and round the
core, so as to give the whole the appearance of a simple wire
rope.

These iron wires are very generally galvanised to prevent
rust. In many cases they are further covered by a double
serving of hemp, and a bituminous compound of mineral pitch,
Stockholm tar, and powdered silica, patented by Messrs. Bright
and Clark. This compound is used in the Persian Gulf Cable,
the Lowestoft-Norderney (Hanover) Cable, and several less im-
portant lines, and seems to answer well. In other cases, as in
the present Atlantic Cables, each iron wire is separately covered

I9S APPLIED SCIENCE

with a liempon servina;, and the served wires are then laid round
the core as before : the cable in this case looks like a hemp
instead of an iron rope. Many other forms have been proposed
and a few adopted, but before these can be discussed, the duties
which the cable has to perform, as a rope, must be understood ;
and before entering on this subject, which is purely mechanical,
it will probably be better to return to the insulated conductor
and its electrical properties. Its form and nia'erials have
nominally undergone hardly any change since the manufacture
of the first cable laid from Dover to Calais in 1851. The copper
strand was substituted for the single wire in the Newfoundland
and Cape Breton Cable, laid in 1850. Chatterton's Compound
was used in the cable between England and Holland, laid in
1858. The interstices in the copper strand were filled with
compound in the Malta-Alexandria Cable, laid in 1861 ; and
since that time absolutely no chnnge has nominally been effected
either in the form or materials used. Now, inasmuch as an
overwhelming proportion of the cables laid in deep seas have
failed, have we any right whatever to expect that cables will be
permanently successful, of which the vital portion is nominally
identical with that of the old Atlantic, the Red Sea, the
Sardinia-Malta and Corfu, Sardinia- Africa, the Toulon-Corsica,
the Toulon-Algiers Cables, which, in the aggi'egate, represent
about 8,000 statute miles of wire, which, after a more or less
brief period of working, became wholly useless, as may be sup-
posed chiefly from electrical defects ? Did it not seem almost
madness to attempt to cross 2,000 miles, in depths exceeding
2,000 fjithoms, at a time when the only cable which could be
cited as having worked satisfactorily for any considei'able time
in deep water, was a short length of the ]\Ialta- Alexandria Cable,
lying in -i-20 fixtlioms of water ? To the public, and to many
engineers, it did seem hopeless ; but the fact that it was pre-
cisely those persons who knew most of the subject that risked
their reputatioii and their money, should prepare us to believe,
that, although the name of the materials and the form of the
insulated conductor remained unchanged, other changes had
taken place which fully justified the confidence of the Atlantic
projectors. The methods by which the perfection or imper-
fection of the cables were examined — the methods of testing,

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 199

as it is called — have in fact made enoi-mous progress, and it is to
the discoveries and inventions in this branch of science that we
owe both those improvements in the quality of the materials
employed, and that certainty of detecting the smallest fault,
which led so many practical engineers and electricians to a con-
viction of the feasibility of the great undertaking now so hap-
pily completed. It is on these electrical tests that a reasonable
belief may be based of the probable permanence of the two
Atlantic Cables, and it is to these improvements that attention
will now be directed.

The electrical tests employed for the first cables made were
simple enough. It was necessary to ascertain that the copper
conductor in the cable was unbroken, and fit to transmit an
electric current. This was tested by placing a galvanometer in
a simple circuit formed by the battery, the copper conductor of
the cable, and the wire of the galvanometer. If the conductor
was unbroken, a current passed from one battery pole to the
other through the cable, and in its passage through the instru-
ment deflected a needle. The stronger the current, the more
the magnetised needle was deflected. If the conductor failed at
any point, no current passed. It was also desirable to know
that the conductor was insulated, so that no considerable portion
of the current entering one end of the cable would be lost before
arriving at the other end, where it would be required to produce
a signal ; to ascertain this the metallic circuit was broken — one
pole of the battery remained connected with the conductor of
the cable through the galvanometer wire ; the other pole was
connected with a plate buried in damp earth, the cable was put
under water, and its far distant end was insulated. Thus the
battery was ready to send a current into the cable, and would
do so if the cable were at any point connected with the earth.
When the cable was well insulated, no current passed ; if there
was a fault, that is to say, a connection between the copper inside
the cable and the earth or water outside, a current passed and
deflected the galvanometer needle. The test consisted simply in
trying whether a current would pass through the conductor, and
would be stopped by the insulator ; the galvanometer being
an instrument which showed the presence or absence of a current
by its effect on a magnetised needle. Staunch conservatives

200 APPLIED SCIENCE

may still be heard to sigh for the good old times -when a cable
was good if a needle stood upright, and bad if it leant to one
side ; when there were neither complications nor calculations to
perplex or mislead any one.

These simple tests, when applied to long cables, had serious
defects. Sir W. Thomson was the first to insist on the import-
ance of ascertaining not only that some current would pass
through the conductor, but that the greatest possible current
did pass which could be expected with a conductor of given
dimensions and material. The current which a given battery will
produce depends not only on the length and size of the con-
ductor, but on the material of which it is composed ; roughly
speaking, a given battery will produce a six-fold greater current
in a long wire of good copper than it will in an equally long
wire of iron of the same diameter. The property of the conductor,
determining the amount of current which will pass through it
under given coustant circumstances, is termed its resistance.
The greater the resistance the less the current, and vice versa,.
Each metal and each alloy has its specific resistance, from which
the resistance of any given wire may easily be calculated. It
further happens that various specimens of commercial copper
differ exceedingly in this electrical property, so that one copper
wire will transmit double the current transmitted by a second, in
similar circumstances, although to the eye the two wires do not
differ. To this fact Sir W. Thomson drew attention in 1857.
It might seem of little importance what the resistance of a
conductor is, since the current can always be increased by
increasing the power of the batteries employed ; but Sir W.
Thomson pointed out that the rapidity with which a succession
of distinct currents, such as are required to produce signals,
could be made to follow one another through a long submarine
cable, was, cceteris jparihus^ inversely proportional to the resist-
ance of its conductor, so that the commercial value of that
cable as a speaking instrument depended on this resistance,
which could be diminished only by (at increased cost) increasing
the dimensions of the conductor and insulator, or, without any
sensible increase of cost, by simply selecting that copper which
possessed the smallest specific resistance. This point is clearly
explained in the following extract from a paper by Sir W.

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 201

Thomson, published in the ' Proceedings of the Royal Society,'
June ]5, 1857:—

It has only to be remarked that a submarine telegraph, con-
structed with copper wire of the quality of the manufacture A, of
only 2T of an inch in diameter, covered with gutta-percha to a dia-
meter of a quarter of an inch, would with the same electrical power,
and the same instruments, do more telegraphic work than one con-
structed with copper wire of the quality D, of -^^ of an inch diameter,
covered with gutta-percha to a diameter of a third of an inch, to
show how important it is to shareholders in Submarine Telegraph
Companies that only the best copper wire should be admitted for
their use.

As soon as it came to be understood that the value of a cable
might be enhanced forty per cent, by a judicious selection of
the copper employed, tests were adopted which should not only
show that the conductor would transmit a current, but also
that it was the best conductor which could be procured of the
dimensions and material chosen. In other words, the resistance
of the conductor was measured.

Measurement implies comparison with some unit. The
resistance of some special j)iece of wire at a given temperature
may be taken as a standard ' one unit,' and the resistance of all
other wires or conductors may be referred to this unit. This
comparison was rendered possible by the discoveries of Ohm,
published in 1827 ; measurements were made by him and his
followers, Lenz and Fechner, in terms of arbitrary units, and
Professor Wheatstone in 1843 published an elegant method of
making these measurements, and then proposed the adoption of
a fixed standard or unit of resistance. When, therefore, it was
found desirable to measure the resistance of conductors, the
means were not wanting, and were soon very generally adopted.
For these measurements ' resistance coils ' are required ; these
consist in a graduated series of fine wires of known resistance,
which can be combined at will so as to give any multiple of the
standard or unit that may be required \ they are arranged in
boxes, and fitted with stops, slides, or handles, so that the
required additions or subtractions of resistance may be easily
made. As early as 1847 or 1848, the Electric and International
Telegraph Company in England, and Dr. Siemens in Berlin,

APPLIED SCIENCE

used resistance coils for practical experiments connected with
telegraphy; but it was not till 1857, during the manufacture
of the last seven or eight hundred miles of the Atlantic Cable,
that the copper was systematically selected. This example was
followed in the Red Sea Cable, when the resistance of the con-
ductor was regularly tested by Mr. Fleeming Jenkin at Birken-
head, and by Messrs. Siemens during the laying. The copper
of the first portion of the Atlantic Cable was not selected in this
manner, and was of very indifferent quality. Since then the
improvement has been continual. Dr. Matthiessen reported to
the Joint Committee appointed by the Board of Trade, and the
Atlantic Company, in 1 858, that chemically pure copper was
superior to all alloys, and that the best copper for electrical pur-
poses was to be obtained from Lake Superior and Burra-Burra, the
worst from Demidoff and Rio Tinto. The gradual improvement
since that date may be gathered from the following table : —

Date

Name of Cable

Specific Resistance at 24° C. in
British Association units

1859

Red Sea . . .

0-270

1861

Malta-Alexandria

0-264

}5

Persian Gulf

0-247

1865

Atlantic

0-242

1866 1

Lowestoft-Norderney .

0-240

Pure Hard Copper .

0-231

Pure Soft Copper

0-226

The smaller the figure in the last column the better the
material; the last figure represents perfection. The specific
resistance is the resistance of a foot of wire weighing one grain.
The unit in which it is measured is that selected by a Committee
appointed by the British Association in 1861, from whose
yearly reports may be learnt the reasons for preferring this to
other rival standards— for it is by no means a matter of indif-
ference what unit is employed.

The improvements in the methods and instruments used to
measure resistance have far more than kept pace with the prac-

' The writer believes that the 1866 Atlantic Cable has better copper than
any of the cables in the above table, but he does not know the exact figure of
merit.

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 203

tical improvement of the material. Resistance coils would now
be considered very bad if their normal values were inaccurate
to the extent of one part in a thousand ; they may be procured
ranging from one unit to 100,000. The standards issued by
the Committee above named profess to be identical in their
resistance, without a greater error than one part in ten thousand.
Still greater accuracy could be obtained if required, but the
precautions necessary are then very numerous, as may be seen
on consulting the various papers by various members of the
Committee on Electrical Standards, published in the British
Association Reports from 1862 to 1865.

A very wide gulf separates the present practice from the old
plan of simply ascertaining the continuity of the conductor.
Every hank of copper wire is tested for resistance even before
it is spun into a strand. The resistance of the strand is measured
by the engineers when 'covered with gutta-percha, and before
being admitted to form part of the cable ; for twenty-four hours
previous to this test it is kept at a stated temperature. The
conductor of the manufactured cable is also daily measured, less
for the purpose of ascertaining its electrical properties than to
ascertain its temperature from its observed electrical resistance,
and also to check the length supposed to be in circuit when
other tests are made. These tests are interfered with by variations
of temperature, by slightly imperfect connections, by the in-
duction of the wire upon itself, and, after the cable is laid, by
earth-currents. But the precautions thus rendered necessary
are well understood, and carefully observed in the case of all
important lines. The quality of the copper enters into the engi-
neer's specification with precisely the same numerical accuracy
as its weight ; it is referred to definite units ; and no more fre-
quent disputes arise between the contractor and engineer as to
these measurements than as to the weights of material supplied.

A further use of these measurements will be spoken of when
ti-eating of repairs ; but for the present let us leave the tests of
the conductor to consider those of the insulator. The conductor
may have more or less resistance, and work worse or better in
consequence, but if the insulation be defective, the cable may
not work at all, and the tests of insulation are therefore the
most important of all. The old rough test was defective in

204 APPLIED SCIENCE

many ways. It was found that if large enough batteries were
used, and care taken to obtain very sensitive instruments, some
current might always be made to pass between the copper and
the outside of the insulator ; in other words, no insulator offers
an infinite resistance to the passage of a current. It was not
difficult to judge roughly whether the amount of leakage, as it
might be termed, was serious enough to damage a cable ; but
unfortunately, small faults are apt with time to become large
faults, and the rough method was quite useless as a means to
detect small faults in long cables. As the cable increased in
length, the leakage even through a good insulator became so
considerable, that two or three bad places would make no very
sensible difference in the deflection observed ; and the galvano-
meters used became less and less sensitive as their deflections
increased, so that the addition caused by a moderate fault be-
came imperceptible. Then the galvanometers were not constant
in their indications, so that the deflection of to-day was a very
imperfect guide as to the deflection to be expected to-morrow.
The galvanometers used by different observers were seldom or
never compared. Moreover, the batteries used varied, and their
properties were not examined ; little attention was paid to the
temperature of the cable, although this has an immense effect on
the leakage to be observed ; finally, and worst of all, the cables
were not immersed in water, and fifty faults might in that case
exist in a cable without producing any sensible effect, either on
this old rough test or on any other. Under these circumstances,
is it surprising that cables were laid which contained many
serious faults, and that, after a short and uncertain period,
depending on many circumstances, they ceased to transmit
messages ? Is it unreasonable to expect that, under a system
by which the existence of any sensible inequality in the insula-
tion of a cable is rendered impossible, the cables recently laid
may continue in perfect working order for an indefinite period ?
All experience has shown that sound gutta-percha retains all its
valaable properties in deep or shallow water, completely unin-
jured by use or time. The only decay ever observed has been
at bad joints, air-bubbles, or impurities.

It is, again, to Sir W. Thomson that we owe the first sug-
gestion of an accurate method of testing the insulation of a cable.

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 205

In 1857, in a lecture delivered to the British Association at
Dublin, he pointed out that a so-called insulator was really a
conductor of enormous resistance ; that this resistance, though
large, was measurable in terms of the same units as measured
the resistance of conductors, and he then gave an estimate that
the gutta-percha of the first Atlantic Cable had a specific resist-
ance twenty million million million times greater than that of
copper at about 24° 0. At his suggestion Mr. Fleeming Jenkin
made systematic measurements of the resistance of the insulating
sheath of the Red Sea Cable ; and, independently, Dr. Siemens
of Berlin had made similar arrangements for those measurements
during the submersion of the cable. Unfortunately this cable
was not tested under water, and these tests were therefore of
little use, except to determine the properties of gutta-percha.
Since 1859, every impoi'tant cable has been tested on a similar
system. The methods used have varied, but they have always
resulted in determining the resistance per knot of the insulator.
Attention has been paid to the temperature, any rise in which
rapidly diminishes the resistance of gutta-percha. The necessary
allowance for the different dimensions of various cables has also
been made, and no test is now counted of any value unless made
under water. The result is that definite numerical results are
obtained, comparable one with another, whatever be the dimen-
sions, length, or temperature of the cable, and whatever be the
variations in the batteries or galvanometers employed. The
work of one day is comparable with that of another ; the re-
sults obtained in various factories, and by various engineers, are
all comparable, and no considerable variation in the resistance
of the insulator, such as would be caused even by a small fault,
can possibly escape detection. The improvements in the tests
have here also been followed by a great improvement in the
quality of the materials, as well as by increased security against
faults. The specific resistance of the gutta-percha of last Atlantic
Cable is twelve-fold that of the Red Sea gutta-percha ; and at
24° C. may be roughly said to be 200,000,000,000,000,000,000
times that of copper (referred to equal dimensions).

It is difficult to find any comparison which will give a
tolerably clear idea of the extraordinary difference between the
electrical resistance of these two materials ; it is about as great

2o6 APPLIED SCIENCE

as the difference between the velocity of light and that of a
body moving through one foot in six thousand seven hundred
years ; yet the measurements of the two quantities are daily
made with the same apparatus, and the same standards of com-
parison. This fact is well calculated to give an idea of the
range of electrical measurements and the perfection to which
the instruments employed have been brought.

Resistance coils and the galvanometer variously combined
allow these measurements to be accurately made in many ways.
Sir W. Thomson's reflecting galvanometer is now almost exclu-
sively used for this purpose. The simple deflection test is still
frequently employed, but it is then reduced by calculation so as
to give the results in resistance.

It would be out of place to attempt to explain in detail the
modes of testing adopted, but it may be interesting to enumerate
the several examinations which each mile of insulated wire
undergoes before it is admitted to a cable.

1. The hank of copper wire is tested for resistance.

2. The resistance of the copper conductor of the insulated
mile of wire is measured after having been kept for twenty-four
hours in water at a constant temperature.

3. The resistance of the insulator is measured under the
same conditions, once with a current from the zinc pole, and
once with a current from the copper pole of the voltaic battery.
The above tests are made by the contractor.

4. 5. The last two tests are repeated by independent observers
acting as the engineers of the company.

6. The coil of wire is again tested for insulation immediately
before being joined to the manufactured cable.

In addition to these tests, in many cases the insulation is
tested in water under a great pressure, to simulate the pressure
occurring at the bottom of the sea. This test was patented by
Mr. Reid, and is probably of considerable service, although in
the vast majority of cases the insulation resistance is increased
by pressure. While a cable is being submerged, it is indeed
customary to expect an improvement of about 7 per cent,
for every 100 fathoms of water, due to this cause only; thus in
2,000 fathoms an improvement of 140 per cent, is expected.

After the cable is sheathed with iron, it lies under water in

^ UB^[A RhXE TEL EGRA PH \

207

large tanks ; the resistance nieasurenients are repeated daily,
and the results compared witli those calculated from the length
and tempei'ature of the cables. The effects of an increase of
temperature in diminishing the resistance of gutta-percha have
been separately examined by Messrs. Siemens, Mr. F. Jenkin,
and JMessrs. Bright and Clark. The results of the various ex-
periments agree very closely. One curious phenomenon de-
serves mention : the apparent resistance of insulators increases
materially while the battery is applied to them, and it is there-
fore necessary to note the time at which the observation is
taken. In the earlier cables even this fact escaped notice. This
extra resistance is said to be due to electrification ; it ceases
gradually after the copper conductor has been discharged by
being maintained in electrical connection with the earth, or
with the opposite pole of the battery, but in the latter case it
reappears as before, increasing as the application of the battery
is prolonged. Its cause is not understood. It seems to be a
kind of electrical absorption, and is first mentioned by Faraday
in experiments on induction.

Enough has been said to explain the care and accuracy with
which the insulation of a cable is now measured. The results
obtained may be understood from the following facts. Not one-
third per cent, of a current entering either the 18G5 or 18G6
Atlantic Cables is lost by defective insulation before reaching
Newfoundland. Such loss as does occur indicates no fault, but
is simply due to the uniform but very minute conducting power
of the gutta-percha.

Again, if one of the cables be charged with electricity, and
its two ends insulated, at the end of an hour more than half
the charge will still be found in the cable. The conductino-
power of the two thousand miles of gutta-percha has been iu-
sufiicient in one hour to convey half the charge from the copper
to the water outside. Those who have tried to insulate the
conductor of a common electrical machine well enouo-h to
retain a charge for a few minutes will appreciate the de^^-ree of
insulation implied by the above statement. Contrast these
facts with the following extract from the lecture delivered before
the British Association by Sir W. Thomson in 1857, at Dublin
and good reason will be seen for believing that the rapid

2o8 APPLIED SCIENCE

failure of the first cable is not likely to be repeated in the case
of those now in use : —

The lecturer proceeded to explain that, when tested by the gal-
vanometer, there was very little difference in the force of a current
sent into 2,500 miles of the Atlantic Cable, whether the circuit was
or was not completed. This seemed rather hopeless for telegraphing
(he continued), where there was so much leakage, that the difference
could not be discovered between want of insulation and the remote
end. But if there were 49-50ths lost by defective insulation, it
would only make the difference between sending a message in nine
minutes instead of in eight. ^

Sir William Thomson did not on this occasion mean to state
that there really was no difference when the farther end was
insulated or put to earth, but the instruments employed showed
very little difference, and on a subsequent occasion only about
one-fourth of the current which started was found to have
arrived at the remote end. The difference now is not one three-
hundredth part, and the current entering the cable when the
remote end is insulated is now, under the most unfavourable
circumstances, not one-hundredth part of that passing when
the remote end is put to earth, or, in other words, when the
circuit is completed.^

' From Professor W. Thomson's lecture before the members of the British
Association at Dublin, 1857, as reported in the Glasgow North British Daily
Mail of September 4, 1857.

2 The following data, supplied by Mr. Latimer Clark, Engineer to the
Anglo-American Companj', will be interesting to those who have made this
subject their special study. The total insulation resistance of the whole 1866
cable, as it lies at the bottom of the Atlantic, is 1-316 millions of British
Association units, or, as Mr. Clark calls them, ohms. This is equal to 2,437
millions of ohms per knot after one minute's electrification. The 1865 cable
does not sensibly differ from the 1866 cable. Both lose half their charge in fi om
60 to 70 minutes The increase of apparent resistance due to electrification is
enormous ; thus, after thirty minutes' electrification the insulation resistance
is more than 7,000 millions of ohms per knot. Mr. Jenkin, in the Red Sea
Cable, did not observe a greater increase than 50 or 60 per cent, due to this
cause, and a similar amount has been generally observed on other cables. An
increase of 200 per cent, for gutta-percha is perhaps unparalleled, although an
even greater increase has been observed with india-rubber prepared by Mr,
Hooper. While the cable was on board the ' Great Eastern,' it behaved like all
other cables as to electrification, rising, for instance, from 681 to 1,051 per knot
during thirty minutes, at 18-3° C, so that the increased effect of electrifica-

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 209

Probably the imperfection of the old cable was due rather to
the joints between the separate miles of wire as manufactured,
than to any extreme inferiority in the gutta-percha employed.
These joints are even now the weak places in the protection of
a cable. When the gutta-pf^rcha has been selected and purified
with care, and applied by mechanical contrivances of proved
excellence, there is little risk of a fault occurring ; but this manu-
facture cannot be so conducted as to produce one unbroken
length of wire, and even if it could, convenience in the other
processes of manufacture would require the division of this wire
into lengths. One-mile lengths are, in practice, usually made
without joint, and are joined together by a skilled workman as
occasion arises. The copper strands are soldered together with
a scarf-joint, two pieces of fine wire are then wrapped over this
joint, so that even if it is pulled asunder, electrical continuity
will be preserved, and so far the operation is one of no great
difiiculty. This cannot be said of the next process, the insula-
tion of the wire by hand, and the welding, as it were, of the
new sheets of gutta-percha, so applied, with the old sheathing
on either side. The gutta-percha is warmed by a spirit-la'-np ;
too much or too little heat is fatal, and the jointer must judge
of the temperature by experience ; the least moisture will spoil
a joint — hence one reason for providing that no moisture can
percolate along the metal strand. A very little dirt or impurity
will also do much injury —hence the rule that a jointer must do
no other work, and that the copper wire must be soldered by one
man, the gutta-percha applied by another. A joint may also be
spoilt by the presence of air under one of the insulating coats,
and as the writer cannot pretend himself to make a joint, other
causes of failure probably exist of which he is ignorant, but
enough has been said to show the difficulty of the process.

tion must be due to the low temperature and high pressure. Mr. C. W.
Siemens, in a paper published in the British Association Report for 1863,
arrives at the conclusion that at 24° C. pressure does not affect the change
produced by electrification. The resistance of the copper conductor of the
1865 cable is 7,604, that of the 1866 cable 7,209, corresponding to 4-009 and
.S-893 per knot respectively. The mean insulation resistance per knot, as
measured in the factory at 24° C, was 379 millions, after one minute's electri-
fication. All the resistance measurements are given in British Association
units.

VOL. II. P

2IO APPLIED SCIENCE

Fortunately, joints can now be tested apart from tlie rest of the
cable. In old times when a joint had been made the whole cable
was tested; if the leak from the new joint was inconsiderable
in comparison with the loss from the whole cable, perhaps some
hundred miles long, the joint was supposed to be good, although,
perhaps, it may have allowed a greater loss in its few inches
of length, than occurred from some miles of sound cable. A
bad joint seldom does more than this at first, but in time it
becomes brittle, cracks, leaves the sound gutta-percha at each
side, and, finally, allows the water free access to the strand.
Joints of this character have been found in considerable number
in old cables, and especially in the old 1857-58 Atlantic
Cable. Some of these present an appearance of extraordinary
carelessness, even the copper strands being imperfectly joined.
It is almost certain that the final failure of the 1858 Atlantic
Cable was due to one of these joints in which the copper was
imperfectly joined ; the wires were pulled asunder when the
cable was being laid, they came together again when the strain
was removed, but the points of contact soon were oxidised, and
all communication ceased. Mere loss of insulation hardly ever
entirely stops signals.

The test now employed shows whether a joint is as good as
any equal length of the wire, and all joints which do not reach
this standard are mercilessly cut out. First the joints to be
tested are allowed to soak in water for twenty-four hours,
then they are placed in an insulated trough of water con-
nected with a Ley den jar of large surface, the cable is charged
with a powerful battery, and a little electricity leaks out
through the joints into the insulated trough. If the joint is
good, this leakage is so small that the current produced by it
could not be shown by the most sensitive galvanometer, but
after a minute or two minutes, the insulated trough and Ley den
jar will be charged by the gradual accumulation of electricity
which has slowly leaked through the joint. If this be now
discharged through a galvanometer, it will produce a sensible
effect, and can be measured. In fact, the leak which was too
small to be directly perceptible is not only perceived, but its
amount ascertained by measuring the quantity which accumu-
lates from it in a given time. The test is due to Messrs.

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 211

Bright and Clark. Other tests of a similar nature have been
proposed, but have been found less convenient. The first test for
a joint, distinct from that of the whole cable, was, it is believed,
proposed by Mr. Whitehouse, No instance has yet occurred of
failure in a joint which has successfully passed the accumula-
tion test above described. There are about two thousand joints
in each Atlantic Cable.

Any further description of the various tests would only be
wearisome. There are tests of charge, of discharge, of the
effects of electrification, of the effects of positive and negative
currents, tests with statical electricity as well as voltaic cur-
rents ; but enough has been said to show that the examination
of a submarine cable, as now conducted, is not guess-work, or
even a matter of experience and skill ; it consists simply of a
long and laborious series of exact measurements, so expressed
in figures that all electricians can understand the results, and
compare them with those obtained from other cables, or by other
observers. In this lies our safety.

Granting that the production of a perfectly insulated con-
ductor 2,000 miles long is no longer a matter of chance, can we
protect and lay this wire with equal certainty in such depths
as the Atlantic presents ? or do we here fall back into a region
of mere good or bad luck ? As to shallow water, the question
need not be asked. No serious strains occur, and the sub-
mersion of the cable depends on a few simple mechanical
arrangements which have long since been perfected. Even in
deep water cables have not broken during the laying nearly
so often as is supposed. Some very early Mediterranean expedi-
tions, a later attempt to join Candia with Alexandria, and the
experimental trip of the first Atlantic expedition, give almost the
only instances where a cable parted suddenly during submersion ;
but it must be allowed that the strains endured in passing over
depths of 2,000 fathoms approached far too nearly to the break-
ing strain of the cables, and it is by no means impossible that
some cables may have been injuriously stretched, although they
were not broken.

In order to lay a cable of any construction taut along the
bottom of the sea, it is necessary to restrain its free exit from
the ship by applying a retarding force, nearly equal to the weight

212 APPLIED SCIENCE

of a length of the cable, hanging vertically from the ship to the
bottom of the sea. Cables of the old form, in which simple iron
wires were laid round its core, would support from 4,000 to 5,000
fathoms of themselves hanging vertically in water. They could,
therefore, be laid fairly taut in depths of 2,000 or 2,500 fathoms,
such as are met with in the Atlantic, but engineers are in the
habit of allowing a very much larger margin than the above.
They make all their structures from six to ten times stronger
than by exact calculation they need be. This figure ' six ' or ' ten
they call the co-efficient of safety. A co-efficient of safety of
' two,' such as was given by these old cables, gave very little safety
indeed. When the cables are not laid taut, but with a certain
slack, the strain need not be quite so great. The friction of the
water tends to relieve the strain, but this relief with the old
smooth cables was small.

Sir W. Thomson was again the first to give the true theory
of the strains which occur, and the curve assumed by the rope
during submersion. The first account of the theory appears in
the ' Engineer ' newspaper of October 1857.

A much more elaborate investigation was, independently of
Sir W. Thomson's theory, made by Messrs. Brook and Long-
ridge, whose able paper was published in the ' Proceedings of the
Institution of Civil Engineers ' for 1858. Dr. Siemens, of Berlin,
independently annved at similar conclusions ; the subject is
nevertheless not a very simple one, for the Astronomer Royal was
misled more than once in his investigations concerning it.

When the ship and cable are both at rest, the latter hangs
in a simple catenary curve, the strains on which are easily com-
puted ; but when the cable is being paid out, it lies in an in-
clined straight line from a point a very little below the surface
of the sea to the bottom (provided, however, the cable as it lies
at the bottom is not strained) ; above the water the cable hangs
in a short catenary ; the angle at which the cable lies in the
water depends on the speed of the ship and the specific gravity
of the cable ; it is independent of the strain on the cable, and
is therefore unaltered whether the cable is being paid out slack
or taut. As the speed of the ship increases, the angle which
the cable makes with the horizon diminishes ; the same effect
is produced by diminishing the specific gravity of the cable —

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 213

that is to say, by increasing its bulk relatively to its weight.
The Atlantic Cable, under the water, probably lay at an angle of
nearly 7° with the horizon ; on leaving the ship the angle was
9^°. In this case, in a depth of two miles, a length of from \^\
miles of cable would lie in the water between the point where
it left the ship and that where it touched the bottom. The
weight of this cable, weighed in water, would be 231 cwt. ;
fortunately, as the cable would break with about 154 cwt., only
a very small' part of this weight is borne by the cable itself as
it leaves the ship. Even if the cable were to be laid absolutely
taut, a restraining force of 28 cwt. only would be necessary.
In practice, 12 cwt. to 14 cwt. was found quite sufficient.

The cable, as it leaves the ship, may almost be said to lie on
a long inclined plane of water ; if it lay on a solid inclined
plane, without friction, it might, by a well-known law of
mechanics, be balanced by a length of itself hanging vertically
from the apex of the inclined plane to the bottom, and this is
almost exactly the strain required to be given by the break on
board ship to balance the cable, or, in other words, to prevent it
from shooting back along the inclined plane, so as to lie slack
in folds at the bottom ; but the inclined plane of water is not at
rest, it yields under the cable at every instant, at every spot ;
yet if the cable were pressed through the water, so that the
water yielded before it, but did not slip along it at all, the ana-
logy of the inclined plane would be quite perfect. The resistance
of the water to displacement would supply the component of the
whole force required, perpendicular to the direction of the cable
exactly as in the case of a solid plane ; but on constructing a
diagram, it will at once be seen that the cable, as it descends,
slips a little along the plane, and the friction of the water op-
posing this slip slightly diminishes the strain required to lay
the cable taut. If, on board ship, this full strain is not pro-
duced by the brakes, the cable slips still faster back along the
inclined plane, and with such a velocity that the friction of the
water on the cable makes up for the insufficient tension given
by the brakes, and equilibrium is again restored, but at the
expense of a waste of cable. It will be clear that, with a
given depth, the greater the length of cable in the water the
less need this waste be, for the friction will be directly propor-

214 APPLIED SCIENCE

tional to the surface ; further, for the same reason, the waste
will be less the more bulky the cable and the rougher the
f>urface. With the old iron cables of small diameter and smooth
surface, very little advantage was gained by diminishing the
strain on the brakes below that due to the full depth of water ;
a very slight relief of strain was followed by a perfect rush of
cable out of the ship, and a loss of twenty or twenty-five per
cent, was followed by a comparatively small diminution in the
risk of fracture. In the cables of the Atlantic class, the bulk
relatively to the weight is very greatly increased by enveloping
each iron or steel wire in a separate covering of hemp before
laying them round the gutta-percha. These cables lie at a much
smaller angle with the horizon, they offer a much larger and
rougher surface than the simple iron cable, and consequently
the friction, as they run back on the inclined water plane, is
\-ery much larger. With cables of that class it becomes prac-
ticable and desirable to diminish the strain produced by the
brake much below that due to the full depth of water. Slack
to the amount of twelve or fifteen per cent, diminishes the
necessary strain on the brakes by more than one-half, and the
importance of this relief can hardly be over-estimated. It
actually becomes practicable to disregard the depth over which
the ship is passing. The brakes may be set to give the strain
thought desirable, and the cable will then take care of itself.
In shallow water less slack will be paid out, in deeper water
more, but the amount is never excessive, and can at any time be
diminished by increasing the speed of the ship, which, by di-
minishing the angle at which the cable lies with the horizon,
augments the effect of the friction of the inclined water-plane.
This effect must not be confounded with the effect that would be
produced by a buoyant substance attached to the cable. The
hemp is no lighter than water, and does not tend by its buoyancy
to carry any part of the weight of the cable, but it increases
the bulk, and therefore increases the resistance of the water to
displacement, and both directly and indirectly increases the
surface friction.

The strain on the new Atlantic Cables during submersion
was from 12 to 14 cwt. ; their strength is 150 or 160 cwt. Here
there is a co-efficient of safety of ten instead of two or four. The

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 215

first cable out of the water weighed little more than half as much
as the new cables ; in water, it weighed more than they do. Its
strength was 80 cwt., and the maximum strain during its sub-
mersion was nearly one ton ; the ordinary strains varied from
1,500 to 1,900 lbs.

From these figures we may learn the progress which has
been made in the mechanical construction of the cables, and the
diminished risk which attends their submersion.

The history of the several attempts to lay the cables helps
to show the progress made in the construction, and bears out
the conclusions as to the improvements effected. In August
1857 a first attempt was made to lay an Atlantic Cable ; 330
knots were laid, starting from Valentia. Then the cable broke,
the indicated strain being about 27 cwt. The retarding friction
on this occasion was produced by two blocks of wood which were
clamped round a small drum. Before the next attempt the
Appold brake had been invented, and with the sanction of Mr.
Penn, Mr. Field, Messrs. Easton and Amos, Mr. Lloyd, Mr.
Everett, and Sir 0. Bright, it was applied to the paying-out
machinery. This brake is an excellent contrivance, by which
the required strain is readily produced and maintained unal-
tered ; the retarding friction being quite independent of the
condition of the rubbing surfaces. This brake was successful,
and has been used ever since. The 1858 expedition began opera-
tions on June 26 by a splice in the middle of the Atlantic, join-
ing the cables contained in the ' Niagara ' and '■ Agamemnon.'
The cable fouled the ' Niagara ' and broke. A second splice was
at once made, and successfully lowered to the bottom. When
the ' Agamemnon ' had paid out 37^ miles, and the ' Niagara '
43 miles, the electrical tests showed that the copper conductor
of the cable was severed. In technical language, there was a
loss of continuity. The ' Niagara ' endeavoured to haul in the
cable, which shortly broke for the third time. On June 28
another splice was made ; but after 111 miles had been paid out
the cable broke for the fourth time, with a strain indicated of
2,200 lbs., or nearly one ton. On July 28 another splice was
made, and this time the cable did not break, but was laid
successfully as a mechanical operation, but unsuccessfully in all
other senses. As before stated, a want of continuity did occur.

2i6 APPLIED SCIENCE

but it ceased after a few hours, and was passed over as of iiisuf-
iicient consequence to stop the submersion.

Much surprise has been expressed at the rupture of a cable
estimated as strong enough to bear four tons, when the indicator
showed only about one ton. It has frequently been suggested that
the ins.trument gave false indications ; but there is really little
reason for supposing this. The cable was covered by 126 small
iron wires, spun into eighteen small strands, the whole cable
being only 5-8ths of an inch in diameter. The wire was not
galvanised, and rusted very readily. It is most probable that in
many places its theoretical strength was very much reduced by
this cause.

In 1865 and 1866 the same brake and indicator, or dynamo-
meter, as it is sometimes called, were used, but the history of
events was widely different. The cable, during submersion,
not only escaped fracture, but was not even once strained
within a tenth part of its supposed strength. In 1865, the
occurrence of a small fault, which would have been far too in-
significant to have been detected in 1857 or 1858, caused an
attempt to haul back the cable, which was broken by chafing
against a projection from the bows of the ' Great Eastern.'
The arrangements in 1865 were by no means perfect. The
picking-up gear was defective and the system of electrical tests
faulty, but the paying-out machinery acted admirably, and the
cable hardly admitted of improvement. In 1866 the picking-up
gear was good, and the electrical arrangements left nothing to
be desired.

The special form of cable adopted, in which each iron wire
is enveloped in hemp, presents various interesting peculiarities.
It is actually stronger than the sum of the strengths of the
hemp and steel employed to make it. This almost incredible
paradox was discovered during experiments made by Messrs.
Gisborne, Forde, and Siemens for the Government, with re-
ference to a proposed Falmouth and Gibraltar Cable. It seems
strange enough that a steel wire can be strengthened by wrapping
hemp or manilla round it ; but this was soon found to be a fact,
and indeed the percentage of elongation undergone by a hempen
strand and a steel wire before breaking ai'e by no means so
different as most people would imagine. By selecting the best

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 217

lay of the hemp round the steel, it was repeatedly found that the
strength of the two combined exceeded the sum of the strengths
of the two separately, and this strange result has been fully con-
firmed by independent experiments conducted by Mr. Fairbairn
and others for the Atlantic and Telegraph Construction Com-
panies. The explanation is simple enough. Neither material
is really homogeneous : each has its weak places ; it is ex-
tremely unlikely that the weak places of both should coincide.
When, therefore, the two are combined, we obtain the sum of
the average strengths of each material ; when they are tested
separately, we get the sum of the strengths of the two at their
weakest points.

This form of cable was first used in 1860 for a cable between
France and Algiers, Messrs. Gisborne and Forde being the
engineers, and Messrs. Glass and Elliot the contractors. The
cable, after some misadventures, was successfully laid, and
behaved well during submersion, but the form fell into some
discredit, owing to the discovery that even in 1,500 fathoms the
hemp was eaten away by a species of teredo after a few months
of submersion. This left a mere cage of loose iron or steel
wires, unfit to be lifted, or relaid if lifted. Fortunately it
appears that these animals, which in the Mediterranean fasten
on every inch of exposed hemp, do not exist in the Atlantic.
Where they have eaten the hemp the gutta-percha appears as
if marked with the small-pox ; but no instance has yet occurred
where they have actually penetrated the gutta-percha to any
serious depth.

The form has other defects. Many persons think that the
two injuries which the 1865 cable received during submersion
were not due to malice, but to short pieces of broken wire,
which would penetrate the soft sheathing of hemp with much
greater ease than the hard mail of the common iron-covered
cable. The arguments used in favour of this view are as fol-
lows : — The hemp conceals a break in the wire which it en-
closes ; a broken wire may be bent out when being coiled, and
penetrate the neighbouring coil ; the injury may not occur,
or not be fully completed, until the coils are disturbed by the
trampling of the large number of men engaged on the coil
when it is being paid out. Pieces of broken wire were found

2i8 APPLIED SCIENCE

actually sticking out in this manner after attention liad been
drawn to the possibility by the faults which occurred. Pro-
bably, however, the great success of the Atlantic Cables will
cause their form to be the type for deep-sea lines for some time
to come.

Cables on board ship are now almost invariably stowed in
water-tight tanks ; from these they pass up to a sheave or quad-
rant over the centre of the coil, and thence to the brake-drum,
and over the stern. A turn or twist is put into the rope by
every turn which it makes round the tank ; that is to say, it is
twisted tighter by the mere action of coiling away ; but this
twist is again taken out when the cable is uncoiled ; so that if
this operation proceeds with regularity, the cable goes into the
sea in the same condition as it left the sheathing machine ; but
if the cable is stiff and springy, or if it is drawn from the hold
by jerks, or if one or two coils stick together and are drawn up
at once, the turn in the cable tends to throw it over into a loop,
which may easily be squeezed or drawn into an ugly-looking
thing called a ' kink.' With circular coils, and experienced men
in the hold, this, hardly ever occurs, and it is rendered next to
impossible if the eye of the coil is filled up by a smooth cone, to
which the rope clings in ascending, and which prevents any coil
from being drawn into a loop. This cone, together with certain
guiding-rings which prevent the cable from flying out under the
action of centrifugal force, forms the subject of a patent taken out
by Mr. Newall, and first used in 1855 for the Varna-Balaclava
Cable. The excellence of the contrivance hardly admits of a
doubt ; but the action of the Patent Laws receives some curious
illustrations from the incidents which this patent has given rise
to. The validity of the patent has been greatly contested ; sub-
stitutes more or less like the thing patented have been devised,
but rival manufacturers have seldom consented to use the thing
patented and pay the royalty. Although the holds were arranged
with contrivances having the same object as Newall's cone and
rings, foul flakes, as they are called, twice came up from the
hold, once on each expedition. These foul flakes are simply
two or more turns of the cable which come up entangled to-
gether, and then get jammed into more or less of a tangle on
tleck, for round the brake-drums they cannot go. The cable

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY

:i9

has to be stopped at once, the ship's engines reversed, and all
hands busied in setting the mischief to rights. The following
extract from a speech delivered at Glasgow by Captain
Hamilton, who accompanied the expedition as a Director of the
Atlantic and Anglo-American Companies, gives a graphic de-
scription of the foul flakes which occurred during the laying of
the 1866 cable : —

This interruption occurred in consequence of the cable, which
was being paid out from the after-tank, bringing up with it a bight
from the next lower flake, and also the lead from the inside to the
outside of the next layer of the coil, so that five cables were running
out from the tank instead of one.

These were carried aft together till they were stopped by the pay-
ing-out machinery ; when, in a very short time, they appeared like
the tangle of a gigantic fishing-line. The ship was immediately
stopped, but the night was pitch dark, rain falling heavily, and a
fresh breeze blowing, the cable over the ship's stern being only visible
by a slight phosphorescent light where it dipped into the water. Sir
James Anderson, however, by great skill, contrived so to handle his
ship of 23,000 tons, which was riding at single anchor in 2,000
fathoms by a mere thread, that the engineers and sailors had time
to reduce this apparent confusion to order, and in about three hours
the paying-out was resumed without the perfect testing of the cable
having been in the slightest degree interfered with.^

160 or 170 miles of cable were paid out daily during the
1865 Atlantic expedition, and from five and a half to six and a
half knots per hour may be considered a good speed in cable-
laying. In 1866 the speed was rather slower, the distance was
generally about 120 miles per diem, and the cable paid out
about 135 miles. The 1865 and 1866 cables are 1,896 and 1,858
nautical miles long respectively. The total distance from shore
to shore is 1,670 nautical miles. The 1858 cable was 2,022
miles long, and it was paid out as fast as in 1865, but more
cable was wasted and the ship went slower. A footnote gives
the principal dimensions and weights of these cables.^

' From the Glasgow Dally Herald, November 5, 1866.

^ First Atlantic. — Length as laid, 2,022 knots ; copper conductor 7-wire
strand, weighing 107 lbs. per knot, diameter 0'08.3 in. ; covered with gutta-
percha, weighing 260 lbs. per knot, diameter 0*38 in. ; served with tanned
hemp, and covered with eighteen strands of seven bright charcoal iron wires

220 APPLIED SCIENCE

There are some popular fallacies connected with cable-laying
which are exceedingly tenacious of life — one is, that inasmuch
as the wires are laid round a cable like a corkscrew, they will
stretch a great deal before supporting the cable, and so the
core will be injured by having to support a considerable part of
the strain. In point of fact, nothing of this kind occurs. The
iron wires abut one against the other, and form a tube which
cannot diminish in diameter as a corkscrew does, or would do,
if made of soft wire ; and experiment shows that an iron-
covered cable stretches very little more than a simple straight
iron wire. Cables of the Atlantic class stretch a little more, for
the soft strands are compressible ; but even in this class of cable
the elongation, with half their breaking strain, is quite insignifi-
cant, and with the strain actually used it is insensible. Then
some people say these cables untwist, and they certainly do a
little, but the cables recovered from great depths prove that the
number of turns which are thus taken out of a cable is quite
insignificant, producing no sensible elongation or change in the
lay. Others think the rise and fall of the ship must cause
sudden jerks and great changes in the strain on the cable as
paid out, and quite a small army of patents stand ready to
defend the right of inserting some elastic contrivance by which
the cable is to have a certain play. Probably the see-saw which
these contrivances might introduce would be far more dangerous
than the evil they are designed to remedy, for in truth the strain
changes very little even in heavy weather, so long as the ship
is going fast enough to let the cable lie at a small angle with
the horizon. When the cable hangs vertically the case is
different, though even then the change of strain is much less
0-028 in. diameter ; total diameter of cable 0*62 in. ; weiglit of cable in air per
knot 21-7 cwt. ; in water 16-3 cwt.

Second, or l%&o Atlmitic.—'Len^h. when complete in 1866, 1,896 knots;
copper conductor 7-wire strand weighing 300 lbs. per knot, diameter 0-114 in. ;
covered with gutta-percha and Chatterton's Compound, weighing 400 lbs.
per knot, diameter C-464 in. ; served with wet tanned hemp covered with
ten bright steel wires, each enclosed in five tarred manilla hemp strands, dia-
meter of each wire 0-095 in. ; diameter of strand 0-28 in. ; diameter of cable
1-125 in. ; weight of cable per knot in air, 35^ cwt. ; in water, 14 cwt.

Third, or \%Q% CaUe.— ljengih as laid, 1,858 knots ; similar to 1865 cable,
except that the steel wires were galvanised and the manilla strands were not
tanned but left white. Weight in air 31 cwt., in water 14| cwt. ; breaking
strain, 8 tons.

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY

ATLANTJC CABLE , 1858.

ATLANTIC CABLE. /86S.

A£W ATLANHC CABl£, 1866.

222 APPLIED SCIENCE

than would bs supposed. With the ' Great Eastern ' as a point
i'appui the variation was hardly sensible. Another array of
patents defends the privilege of laying a cable through a long
auxiliary tube ; four patents for this contrivance were taken out
in 1857. Other gentlemen wish to tack floats on to the cable ;
others, parachutes ; others, gum and cotton, so as to buoy the
cable up for some time ; then the gum or glue dissolves and lets
the cable down quietly. It is both amusing and sad to read
these and many other contrivances. Surely the man who makes
a bad invention, and, believing it to be good, spends his life and
his fortune in the vain attempt to achieve an impossible success,
is almost as fit a subject for commiseration as the real inventor
who fails to reap his just reward ; and then the former class are
much more numerous than the latter.

The machinery now in use for laying cables acts extremely
well ; if the cone and rings were in general use, no further im-
provement would be required. An experiment by Messrs.
Siemens Brothers to use a reel mounted on a turn-table in the
ship's hold and driven by a steam-engine, deserves notice, and
to some extent praise, as, at any rate, an experiment out of the
beaten track ; but the experiment was not successful. Captain
Selwyn has proposed a floating reel, the speed of which would
be regulated by the floats of paddle-wheels ; but contractors who
have achieved success by the old plans will be slow to tempt
fortune by trying these novel contrivances. It will be seen that
very little improvement has been made in the paying-out
machinery of late years, simply because it was not wanted.
The cone and rings date from 1855; the Appold's brake from
1858 ; water-tight tanks were first made in 1858 for the Red
Sea Cable, but first used by Messrs. Gisborne and Forde for the
Malta- Alexandria Cable in 1861. Since then no material
change has been made in the arrangements.

It is far otherwise with the electrical tests during sub-
mersion.

The object of tests during submersion is twofold : first, to
detect instantly any injury which may occur ; and, secondly, to
ascertain the position and nature of the injury. Time is of
extreme importance in these tests. Faults on board almost
always are caused at or near that part of the cable which is in

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 223

the act of leaving the ship. That is the only portion which is
being disturbed, and it is hardly possible that a change can take
place elsewhere. If the fault be instantly detected, the ship
stopped and the cable arrested as speedily as is consistent with
safety, the fault may be retained on shipboard, or if it pass into
the sea, only a short length of cable will have to be hauled back
bef re the faulty portion is recovered. As soon as it is quite
certain that a fault exists, and the necessary steps have been
taken to prevent the cable from running uselessly into the sea,
means must be adopted to ascertain where the fault is. One
rough method is to cut the cable in the hold near the part being
paid out, and then by examining successively the portions in
the ship and in the sea, to determine whether the fault is still
on board ; but electrical methods' 3xist by which, before or after
the adoption of this simple examination, the position of the
fault can generally be fixed with considerable accuracy. Few
statements concerning telegraphy excite more surprise than this
does ; few people know that accurate measurement of electrical
phenomena is possible ; some even think that electricity is an
agent almost capricious in its action ; but those who have learnt
that the electrical properties of a conductor or an insulator are
susceptible of definite numerical expression should feel no sur-
prise on hearing that, when the electrical properties of a sub-
marine cable of uniform construction are observed to undergo a
definite change in virtue of some alteration at some one point,
it is quite possible to make such a series of measurements as
shall fix the position of that point. There are only two un-
known quantities, and whenever by experiment equations can be
obtained, including these unknown quantities, they can be de-
termined. Quitting generalities, let us try to show how this is
done. We will first suppose that the simple insulation test has
shown that the conductor is no longer fully insulated.

A measurement must be made of the resistance of the con-
ductor intervening between the ship and the sea at the fault or
earth, as, oddly enough, it is always technically called. If this
measurement give 40 units, and the resistance of each knot of the
cable is already known to be 4 units, the observer will know
that the fault cannot be more than ten miles off. It has already
been stated that the electrical resistance of a wire or conductor

224 Ar PLIED SCIENCE

can be measured with extreme accuracy, and that, as the resist-
ance is proportional to the length, the length in circuit can be
calculated from the resistance. Still, from our one measure-
ment, we have not got information enough to know certainly
where the fault is — we only know that it cannot be more than
ten miles off ; it may be less, for the fault itself may have a
certain resistance, and about the fault we as yet know nothing.
But suppose we can now obtain a similar measurement from the
other end of the cable, and this gives 600 units, while the whole
length of the cable is 150 miles, we shall then know that the
fault is five miles from our end, and has a resistance equal to 20
units ; the resistance as measured from our end consists of five
miles of conductor and the fault, or 40 units in all, that from the
other end consists of 145 miles of cable and the same fault, or
600 units in all, and no other position or resistance of the fault
will agree with the two observations made. A comparison with
a pipe of water may make this clearer to non-scientifiu reader?.
Let us take a pipe 150 yards long, and suppose that we know
exactly how much water will run through any given length of
a pipe of that diameter from given cisterns at each end. Now,
suppose a leak to occur in that pipe : if we stop up the far end
and let the water run in from our cistern, we find that as much
water runs out as would be allowed to pass by a pipe ten yards
long, we then stop up our end of the pipe and let water run in
from the far cistern. We find as much water is conveyed aw^ay as
would be allowed to pass by a pipe 150 yards long; then, as
in the electrical case, the leak in the pipe must clearly be five
yards from our end, and it must have a resistance equal to that
of five yards of pipe. Thus the position of a leak in a water-
pipe might be discovered, although the leak itself were buried
in the ground. The electrical experiment is quite analogous to
this, and is in practice made much more easily than the ex-
periment with water-pipes could be made, for the laws of the
flow of water in pipes are much less well understood, and less
simple than the laws of the flow of electricity, altliough we may
think we know better what water is than what electricity is.

In cables containing more than one wire, the above test, or
something analogous to it, can always be made, for the faulty
and good wire being joined together at the distant station, can

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 225

be treated as one conductor, of wliicli the observer has two
ends in his possession. He can then arrange his test so that
his observations at both ends are really simultaneous, with the
foult in the same condition when added to the two circuits. In
this case, a test based on the above principle is quite perfect,
and will fix the position of a fault with great nicety. But
where the cable has only one conductor, the two tests must be
made by different observers at different times. Faults have a
disagreeable art of varying very rapidly, so that their resistance
is never the same for two minutes or fractions of a minute, and
then the test becomes inaccurate, though not actually useless.
For instance, the observer in the first case might feel quite
sure that the fault was not more than ten miles off, even if he
got no information from the other end ; if the fault were caused
by a nail joining the cojDper and iron of the cable, it would
have no sensible resistance, and the above test would show it
was exactly ten miles off. Even if the cable were broken,
the observer could guess from the variation of the fault, the
current it returned, and other peculiarities, whether it was
likely that the fault had much resistance, and thus form by
the aid of experience a fair guess at its exact position.

The measurement of resistance is far from being the only test
of which the results can be expressed with numerical accuracy ;
for instance, the statical tension at any point of the wire, its
potential, as it is called, can be measured by electrometers, and
indirectly by various methods. This statical tension is the quality,
in virtue of which one electrified body attracts or repels another
more or less strongly. When a current is flowing from a battery
through a conductor to earth, the potential gradually decreases
from a maximum at the battery to zero at the earth, and de-
creases according to well-known laws. The observation of this
potential at any point gives additional information, therefore,
by which the condition of the conductors may be determined. To
revert to the analogy of the water-pipe, the potential would be
represented by the pressure per square inch, or head, inside the
pipe at each point ; it would be greatest near the cistern, and
gradually decrease to nothing at the mouth of the pipe where
the water was dischai-ged.

Another class of fault is more easy to manage. If by acci-
VOL. II. Q

226 APPLIED SCIENCE

dent the pipe got choked up instead of having a hole in it,
nothing would be easier than to tell where the obstruction lay,
by measuring the quantity of water we could pour into the
pipe before filling it. Then knowing the capacity per unit of
length, we could calculate the distance by simple division.
Exactly so the capacity per unit of length of an electric cable
for electricity can be, and is measured, so that if the conductor
is broken inside the insulating sheath, without a fault of insu-
lation occurring, the distance of such a fault can be obtained
by a simple measurement of the charge which the insulated
conductor will take. In short, we can measure current, resist-
ance, potential, and quantity. What is to be measui'ed depends
on the nature of tlie fault observed ; but from these measure-
ments or some of them, wherever they can be made simul-
taneously at each end, the position of the fault can be fixed.
Unfortunately, no system of tests on one side of a fault can
give its position. A bad fault far off, and a small fault close
at hand, cause all the elements which can be observed to vary
simultaneously, so as to give no clue as to which has occurred.
A bad fault, or one with little resistance, can have its position
fixed on the assumption that it has no resistance ; but a slight
fault absolutely requires the distant test before its position
can, even approximately, be determined. Fortunately, signals
from the distant end can always be sent past such a fault.
We are now in a position to consider the tests hitherto used
during laying and the improvements used on the Atlantic
expedition.

In very early days people were satisfied if they could speak
through a cable whilst it was being laid. Then came the
simple insulation test at definite times. Then more complex
tests, spaced off into five minutes of this, ten minutes of that,
and six minutes of the other, so that each hour was cut up into
complex fractions, during which the ship and shore had simul-
taneously to make more or less complicated changes. If a
fault was detected during one arrangement, perhaps half an
hour would elapse before the time for speaking and either
sending or receiving intelligence would come round. Or, worse
still, a fault might occur and not be detected because the con-
nections at the time were arranged for speaking, or for a mere

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 27

test of continuity, etc. Then blunders would arise from time
not being perfectly kept, or from some of the many changes
having been incorrectly performed, so that probably this plan
was practically inferior to a simple insulation test permanently
maintained. It was, moreover, rigid, and could not be readily
altered to suit the special tests required when a fault did occur.
All these defects were remedied for the first time during the
Atlantic expedition of this year. The end of the cable at
Valentia was not quite insulated ; it was connected with the
earth through an enormous resistance, so great that the insu-
lation test of the cable was hardly sensibly affected by the
small leakage through it ; but this small leakage was easily
perceived by an astatic Thomson's reflecting galvanometer.
When, therefore, an insulation test was being made on board
the ' Great Eastern,' the current used was perceived at Valentia,
where the observer could further judge of the tension or poten-
tial produced by the ' Great Eastern's' battery by observing the
current it would produce through his enormous but known
resistance. Any fault would lower that potential, and reduce
this current at Valentia. More than this, the ' Great Eastern,'
by slightly decreasing or increasing their battery, could cause
such small changes in the current observed at Valentia as should
serve as signals, and this without intermitting their insulation
test. Conversely, Valentia, by drawing off little charges, or
adding them, could produce effects similar to slight changes in
the insulation of the cable, and those effects could be used as
signals from the shore to the ' Great Eastern ;' being of short
duration, and definitely arranged, they could not be mistaken
for faults. Thus simultaneous and continuous tests could be
made on ship and on shore. Nevertheless, conversation could
be carried on in either direction at any time. No fault of
insulation would escape detection, even during conversation, and
as soon as it did occur the instruments were ready arranged to
make those simultaneous tests by which alone its position could
be determined, and then to transmit that intelligence from one
end to the other. The merit of this admirable invention is due
to Mr. Willoughby Smith. The details of the arrangement ac-
tually adopted were worked out by him, in concert with Sir W.
Thomson and Mr. Cromwell F. Varley, whose valuable assistance

228 APPLIED SCIENCE

had been given to the Atlantic Company from the time of the
failure of the 1858 cable.

The above description of Mr. Smith's invention is not strictly
accurate as applied to the arrana^ements used during the expedi-
tion, but the leading idea remained unaltered. Thus the Wheat-
stone balance was used to measure the insulation resistance in
definite units, instead of the simple deflection insulation test.
The bridge was arranged with what Sir William Thomson calls
a potential divider, a set of resistance coils giving 10,000 equal
subdivisions by the mere sliding of two contact pieces. Con-
tinuity is never lost, nor the resistance irregularly changed, in
these slides — a considerable practical advantage. A special
galvanometer was introduced to test continually the constancy
of the ship's battery, without which constancy the potential
tests would have been much diminished in value. On shore
the potential produced by the ship's battery was measured
by two methods perhaps more accui-ate than the deflection
through Mr. Smith's galvanometer and large resistance. One
method, also suggested by Mr. Smith, was by discharges taken
from a condenser charged by the conductor of the cable ; the
second by an electrometer reading, which could compare the
potential of the cable with that of each of the 10,000 sub-
divisions of a slide similar to that used on shipboard. The
battery producing current through the coils of the slide was
on shore also maintained constant, or corrected by observations
on a special galvanometer. By these arrangements the ob-
server could obtain, in a simple form, the various elements
required for the immediate calculation of the distance of a
fault had one occurred.

The speaking arrangements were also modified. Charges were
not actually withdrawn from the cable or put in at the shore.
The withdrawal of a succession of charges would have produced
an appearance alarmingly like a fault. Mr. Varley suggested
the use of a condenser attached to the cable on shore, by which
he induced slight positive or negative charges, which trans-
mitted the signals to the ' Great Eastern.' He, as it were,
instead of at each signal withdrawing a few drops of fluid from
our typical pipe, pushed the water a little way back in it, or
pulled it a little way on, and signalled by these impulses

SUB.\fARINE TELEGRAPHY 229

without withdrawing one drop of the fluid. When messages
were being received on board the ' Great Eastern,' they simply-
caused the slight necessary oscillations in the marine galvano-
meter (an invention of Sir William Thomson's, dating June
1857), which were insufficient to disturb the insulation test.
When the signals were being sent from the ' Great Eastern,' the
rush of current in and out of the cable would have disturbed
the galvanometer unduly, so it was shunted ; that is to say,
a part of the current was derived by a little sliding arrangement
— at the end of each word the slide was moved and a perfect
insulation test made. These various practical improvements
can only be understood by professional men, but the leading
idea of Mr. Willoughby Smith's plan may be grasped by all.
The arrangements worked as well in practice as they were
admirable in theory. Fortunately no fault occurred.

When a fault does occur, stopping the cable is a very trying
and hazardous proceeding. It can only be done gradually.
The ship is perhaps running at six miles per hour, or a mile in
ten minutes. She will not lose her impetus for a considerable
time, even if the engines are reversed ; and when the ship is
stopped, the cable cannot be instantly checked — if it were, the
strain would rapidly become far too great for it to bear. The
twelve or fifteen miles which lay straight on the inclined water-
plane, as before described, w^ould quickly fall into the common
catenary curve, of which the whole weight would have to be
borne ultimately by the cable at the ship's stern ; for when the
cable ceases to sink the resistance of the water ceases to buoy
it up. The strain caused by a flat catenary of this length is
enormous ; thus, if in a depth of two miles only ten horizontal
miles intervened between the ship's stern and the point where
the cable lay on the ground, the strain due to the catenary
would, with the Atlantic Cable, be fourteen tons. In practice,
therefore, the cable is generally restrained by such a force as is
thought safe, and then allowed to run out until it lies in a
catenary short enough to produce only this small strain, or if
the cable must be held, the ship must go astern over the cable.
When the foul flakes occurred during the 18G6 Atlantic ex-
pedition, the ' Great Eastern ' was stopped in two minutes after
the signal was given, and only loO fathoms of cable paid out

230 APPLIED SCIENCE

during that time. The only time which can be safely saved is the
time between the occurrence of the fault and the alarm ; and,
secondly, between the detection of the fault and the decision
of the electrician as to its probable nature and position. The
arrangements of 1866, in both these respects, Avere greatly in
advance of all that had been previously attempted.

By far the most remarkable recent achievement in submarine
engineering was the recovery of the 1865 Atlantic Cable from
a depth of two miles. Cables obviously could be laid in deep
as in shallow water — this was a mere question of mechanical
arrangement — but very few persons possessed an imagination
sufficiently hardy to allow them even to conceive the possibility
of recovering a rope which had sunk to the bottom of the At-
lantic Ocean. It is not true, as is now frequently asserted, that
no one but those engaged in the expedition had any hope of
success ; for so soon as it appeared from the attempts made in
1865 that the cable could be hooked, Mr. Henley, Mr. Fleeming
Jenkin, and a little later Mr. Latimer Clark, publicly expressed
their conviction of the probable success of the undertaking ; but
it is certain that the public, and some even of the directors of
the companies concerned, entirely disbelieved in the possibility
of success, and put no faith in the assurances given, that the
cable really had been found in 1865. Success had attended
similar attempts in considerable depths — this was known to
engineers — and calculation showed that what had been done
in 600 fathoms by Mr. Henley was possible in 2,000 fathoms.
Still the greatest credit must be given to Mr. Canning, now
Sir Samuel Canning, for his courage in making the attempt in
1865. Few men would have had the nerve to begin an ap-
parently hopeless search at the very moment of failure in a
great but comparatively simple undertaking. The admiration
is due not so much to the means adopted either then or in
1866 — they were simple enough — but to the resolution which
prompted the attempt at a moment of great depression. The
result will have, or ought to have, a greater effect in pro-
moting the establishment of deep-sea cables than the suc-
cessful submersion of a dozen cables across the Atlantic. It
had been thought and said that men sharing the risk of a deep-
sea cable were embarked in a desperate or gambling venture ;

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 231

oue accident, and tlicir money was irretrievably lost. Tbis view
liad been especially advocated by ]\Ir. Francis Gisborne with
great sliow of truth. He contended, and many approved of his
opinions, that it was madness to venture across a deep sea,
when a cable could be laid in shallow water, simply because in
shallow water the cable could always be repaired, whereas in deep
water it could no^, and one fault involved the loss of the
whole capital embarked. This argument, if not entirely swept
away, is very much weakened. Deep-sea cables are no longer
gambling ventures, but legitimate speculations.

Nothing can be simpler than the means by which the result
was attained. A grapnel or small anchor with five prongs,
hung to the end of a hemp and steel rope two and a half miles
long, was slowly dragged along the bottom of the sea across
the line where the cable was supposed to be. The strain on
the steel rope was watched ; sometimes it rose and sometimes
it fell, as the ship went a little quicker or slower through the
water, or as the prongs bit more or less deeply into the sand.

Presently the strain rose from 42 cwt. to 80 cwt., and this
strain did not again decrease ; but, had the ship been allowed to
drift further, would have continued to increase. Surely this
increase of strain was due to the cable as it lay on the bottom.
The ship's head was allowed to come round so as to face the
supposed cable ; the steel rope was hauled in ; the ship brought
vertically over this rope. Still the strain increased, instead of
decreasing, even when the length of rope still out of the ship
could not reach to the bottom, and then those on board knew
that the cable hung on the grapnel. If the cable were not
there, the strain would decrease as the weight of steel rope hang-
ing to the bow decreased, but an increase of strain surely proved
that more and more weight was being lifted as the grapnel
approached the ship, and what conceivable object could pro-
duce this efiect except the cable, of which a greater and
greater length was every minute being lifted from the bottom ?
This was the reasoning which, in 1865, proved to all on board
that really on more than one occasion the cable had hung
upon the grapnel. It is needless to say much of the failure to
bring the cable to the surface — a failure caused by weak shackles
and insufficient machinery — but it is quite worth while to attend

232 APPLIED SCIENCE

to the reasoning of many persons who, in 18G5, wrote to prove
that, even if the cable were found again, it could not possibly
be brought to the surface by mere hauling. The argument
used was, that such an enormous length of cable must be
lifted, stretching east and west on either side of the grapnel,
that it would break under its own weight long before coming
to the surface ; as one gentleman put it, there was not a suffi-
cient length of cable to reach to the surface. This argument
had a certain amount of truth in it, but those who urged it
did not generally take the trouble to make accurate calcula-
tions, and some made erroneous calculations. Stretch a piece
of fine chain, 100 inches long, across a floor, lay it straight,
and fasten down the ends ; try to raise it in the middle, and you
will find that, unless it has been pulled very taut indeed, it
will rise an inch or two without difficulty. Even when a
cable is supposed to be laid taut, it can be raised to a surprising
distance; but the 1865 Atlantic Cable was not so laid ; it con-
tained 12 per cent, of slack cable; that is to say, 112 miles
of cable lay on about 100 miles of ground. Now, lay the 112
inches of chain on 100 inches of floor, and fasten the ends as
before. The middle of the chain can now easily be raised 21^
inches from the ground. The chain will then hang on each
side of the point of suspension in catenary curves ; the weight
supported by the string used to lift the chain will simply be
the weight of the chain that is off the ground ; the strain on
the cable at the point of suspension will be equal to %o\ inches
of chain, "^riiis strain is less than the whole weight of the cable
lifted, so long as the angle made by the chain at the grapnel is
less than 120 degrees, as will always be the case when more
than 6 per cent, of slack exists ; it is a minimum, and equal to
half the weight lifted when the cable hangs vertically down on
each side of the grapnel, or when the elack is infinite. The
more the slack the less the strain, for less cable will be lifted
before the grapnel reaches a given height, and the angle at the
gTapnel will also be more favourable. With 12 per cent, slack,
nearly 9| miles must be lifted from the ground to reach to a
height of two miles. The weight of Atlantic Cable so lifted
would be about 6f tons ; the strain on the cable near the
grapnel less than 5^ tons. As the cable would bear 7| tons,

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 233

it. was clearly possible to lift it by mere hauling. Moreover,
tlie strain at the bottom would in this case be four tons, tending
to pull in more slack from either side, and thus diminish the
whole length lifted and consequent strain. By increasing the
length of our expei-imental chain on the floor, and omitting the
fastenings at the end, which in the actual cable only exist as
friction in the sand, this effect may be clearly seen, and if,
instead of tying the chain to the string used to lift it, the
experimenter will fish for the chain from a table with four bits
of wire, bent into a fish -hook shape, with their shanks bound
together, making a mimic grapnel, the illusion will be complete,
and the dredger will be surprised to find with what certainty
he cfin hook the cable on a moderately smooth carpet. In 18G()
the cable was once fairly hauled to the surface by mere brute
force. Calculated from the weight (6^ tons) then on the
grapnel, 9:^^ miles of cable must have been hanging by the rope.
The catenary formed was such as to require 15 per cent, of slack.
The strain at the bottom, of about 3i tons, had therefore pulled
in an extra 3 per cent, along the sand on either side. The
strain on the cable was about 4^ tons, but with this strain, or
little more, it parted shortly after being brought to the surface,
and before, owing to rough water, the necessary stoppers could
be fixed to it from the ship. This simply affords another in-
stance of the very well-known fact that no engineer should
ever depend on obtaining, at all points, the full theoretical or
experimental strength of a cable or other structure. There
must be a margin. The cable was finally secured by the plan
recommended almost unanimously by all who had had experience
in similar undertakings. Suppose the chain on the floor laid too
taut to come up to the level of the table without breaking ; if
we with a pair of nippers cut the chain a few feet to our right,
a little will slip over the grapnel, the two ends will hang down
vertically, and we shall easily land our prize. Just so when the
' Great Eastern ' had hold of the cable. She directed the
' Med way ' to find it, and lift it three miles nearer to America,
she then told the ' Medway ' to haul away as fast as she could
to break the cable, and the ' Great Eastern ' hauled in more
slowly, but fast enough to keep hold of the cable with her own
grapnel. When the ' Medway ' got the cable within 400

234 APPLIED SCIENCE

fatlioms of the surface, it broke at her grapnel. The end fell
clown, and the loose bight was easily hauled on board by the
' Great Eastern.' The strain on this occasion was six tons.
Owing probably to the hemp covering, the cable did not slip
along the grapnel after being cut by the ' Medway.' The only
chance of failure was that the cable might have rusted so much
that, even when hanging vertically, it could not bear its own
weight in two miles of water. On the contrary, little or no
signs of rust were observed, and there is no reason to suppose
that the 1865 cable had materially lost strength during its
year of submersion. Considering the perfect success of this
simple method of recovering the cable, it really is unnecessary
to discuss the many ingenious plans suggested ; probably the
use of a holdfast grapnel in one ship, and a cutting grapnel in
the other, would avoid a few mischances ; but it is clear that
even these appliances are unnecessary. A few accidents from
broken chains, weak swivels, stoppers that slipped, bent
grapnel-prongs, etc., did occur and always do occur, even
when cables are repaired in shallow water ; and, indeed, the
repairs of cables in the English or Irish Channel often last
longer than the three weeks occupied in recovering the Atlantic
Cable. A rocky bottom causes more difficulty and delay than
2,000 fathoms of water.

The cable, when recovered, proved perfect; and on Sep-
tember 2 Sir Samuel Canning telegraphed to Sir Richard
Glass, the able manager of the contracting company, that he
had much pleasure in speaking to him through the 18G5 cable.
It was a noble triumph, well earned. The 1865 cable was
completed on September 8, 1866. It lies about thirty miles
north of the 1866 cable. Those who wish to learn more of the
history of this enterprise will find accurate and clear informa-
tion in 'The Atlantic Telegraph,' by W. H. Russell, LL.D.,
illustrated by R, Dudley ; and in the diary of Mr. Deane, the
secretary of the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, published
in the ' Times.'

The success of the Atlantic Cable was not gained by the
effort of a single genius, but resulted from the co-operation of
many minds and divers kinds of men. Some have followed
the undertaking from first to last ; for instance, Mr. Cyrus Field's

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 235

unflincliiiig faith has carried him on from first to last as an ad
vocate whose zeal never flagged. Sir Richard Glass was a
member of the firm of Glass and Elliot, which made half of the
first cable, and he is the manager of the company which has
successfully completed the task. His work is known to all
who practically were connected with the undertaking. He is
the recognised chief of all, and willingly recognised. Sir
Samuel Canning and Mr. Clifford accompanied the first expe-
dition. Sir William Thomson was on board the ' Agamemnon '
in 1858, and has freely spent time and money in forwarding a
work in which he saw a means of worthily employing the
powers of a mathematician, the experimental skill of a natu-
ralist, and the inventive faculties of a man of genius. His name
has already been frequently mentioned as first to make this
and that invention or improvement ; and not only has he
reaped with his own hand a meet harvest of scientific discovery,
but he has the satisfaction of having prompted others whose
work has been a supplement to his own ; and indeed he may be
said to have founded a new school of practical electricians in
England. Mr. Varley came later into the field, but he too
worked hard, and his assistance during the long period of
depression from 1858 to 18G5, and at Valentia during the last
expedition, together with his additions to the testing and speak-
ing instruments, give him strong claims. Mr. Willoughby
Smith, of whose beautiful system of testing it is difficult to
speak too highly, has only lately been placed in high command,
but indirectly, as electrician to the Gutta-Percha Works, from
first to last he has helped, and helped effectually, in improving
the materials employed. Mr. Chatterton, the manager of those
works, should not be passed by in silence. To these must be
added the well-known names of Captain Sir James Anderson and
Commander Moriarty, C.B., as well as those of the early pioneers.
Sir Charles Bright, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mr. de Sauty, and
last, not least, the Directors and Officers of the Atlantic
Company, the Anglo-American Company, and the Telegraph
Construction and Maintenance Company. The difficulties
these gentlemen have had to contend with do not admit of
being scientifically stated. They can indeed only be known
within a very narrow circle, but those who have been similarly

236 APPLIED SCIENCE

placed, and have had to administer the affairs of a company
heavily involved in a dangerous undertaking, requiring con-
tinually large supplies of fresh capital, will be able to guess at
the work and anxiety they must have undergone. A pair of
baronetcies among them all is really a moderate reward.

But now that the rewards are distributed, and the cables
are laid, how are they being used ? Alas ! very little as yet.
Perhaps no one even believes that a long submarine cable ever
will be laid, and so preparations are never made to meet it.
The Persian Gulf Cable was laid nine months before the land
lines were completed which allowed it to transmit messages.
Until very lately they were so wretchedly bad, or badly managed,
that messages often spent a week in the overland journey, and
arrived so much out of condition as to be unrecognisable by
their friends.

The Atlantic Cables end at Heart's Content, Newfoundland,
and the journey of the messages often ends there too. It is
said that up to the beginning of November, since the line was
opened, the lines from Newfoundland to America have been in-
terrupted for thirty days, or nearly one-third of the whole time.
Through large tracts of desolate country a single wire was
expected to do all the work, and no due arrangement for its
management seems to have been made. The short submarine
line from the island to the mainland, laid in 1856, and eighty-
five miles long, was also out of order when the 1866 cables were
completed, and so we have hitherto reaped comparative little
benefit from those cables, looked on as a commercial speculation.
The high price of 20^. for a twenty-word message, only recently
lowered to 10^., has been justified by the fact that, if many
messages had been obtained from the public, they really could
not have been sent. So in practice one or two hours' work per
diem has been sufficient to send on one cable all the American
and European continents had to say in a hurry. This cannot
last, but it is almost amusing as a commentary on the lively dis-
putes which occurred on the power of the cables to transmit a
large amount of work. In time the outlet from Newfoundland
will be completed, and the cables will then surely be flooded to
such an extent as to test their utmost capabilities.

Engineers and electricians, half alarmed at their own auda-

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY

■22,7

city, gave ccrtincates that seven or eight words per minute mio-ht
be sent along the new cables. New and complex instruments
were devised to insure even this result, and now eighteen or
twenty words per minute have been obtained ; with the omis-
sion of many of these inventions, twelve words per minute is
the fair average speed. Nevertheless, the engineers and elec-
tricians were not to blame. On the contrar}', they deserve
praise for their moderation. To explain how their estimate was
formed, a sketch of the theory of the transmission of submarine
signals is required ; and here again Sir William Thomson must
be named as the first to state that theory, and draw the main
conclusions from it. In a letter to the ' Athena3um,' dated
November 1, 1857, Sir William Thomson pointed out, in oppo-
sition to Mr, Whitehouse, then electrician to the Atlantic Tele-
graph Company, that the number of words which in a given
time could be sent through a long submarine cable varied in-
versely as the square of the length of that cable ; that when
the length of a cable was doubled, only one quarter the number
of messages per diem could be sent through it. In a paper
published in the ' Proceedings of the Royal Society,' Sir William
Thomson gave the complete theory, showing that on all lines a
limit existed to the speed of transmission, and giving an esti-
mate of the probable speed through the 1858 Atlantic Cable as
three words per minute.

The speed of electricity used to be given as 288,000 miles
per second, but in reality Professor Wheatstone's beautiful ex-
periments only proved that this speed might in given circum-
stances be attained. Electricity seems to have no proper speed,
in the usual sense of the word. The speed depends in each case
on the condition of the conductor,' and may on certain conceiv-

' This fact, and the increased retardation o'^served in underground wires
and therefore in submarine cables, is gue&sed, or rather foreseen, in a very-
curious proposal for an electric telegraph, by Francis Ronalds, published in
1823, containing an account of experiments made in 1816, long before the
days of Gauss or Cooke and Wheatstone, before even the discoveries of
Oersted and Ampere, which have rendered our present system of telegraphy
possible. The writer is indebted to Mr. Latimer Clark for the knowledge of
this fact. Mr. Ronalds' proposal, based on actual experiment through eio-ht
miles of wire, deserves to be better known than it is. His book is caUed
Descrijitions of an Electrical Telegraph, and was published for R. Hunter 72
St. Paul s Churchyard, in 1«23.

238 APPLIED SCIENCE

able conditions be treated as infinite, though we have no proof
that the laws now known hold good up to or nearly up to this
limit. When the Valentia end of the Atlantic Cable is joined
to the signalling battery, a current rushes into the cable without
any perceptible loss of time, but no effect whatever can be per-
ceived in America for at least one-tenth of a second ; after say
fifteen-hundredths of a second, the received current begins
rapidly to increase, according to a definite law, and if the battery
contact at Valentia is continued, the current entering the cable
there, and the current flowing out of the cable at Valentia, will
be sensibly equal after say two and a quarter seconds. After this
the currents wou^ld remain equal so long as the battery remained
in action. When the battery contact is broken at Valentia, and
the cable put to earth, the current flows on at Newfoundland
for say one-tenth of a second, as if nothing had hajDpened ; it
then begins rapidly to decrease, and sensibly ends say two and
a quarter seconds after the contact was broken.

Thus the current arrives in gradually increasing waves, and
dies out in a precisely similar manner. (The numbers given are
not the result of direct experiment, but are probably not far
from the truth.) On an average three waves, or arrivals of
waves, are required to indicate a letter of the alphabet, and five
letters are required for each word, so that if on each occasion
the wave had to rise to its maximum and fall to its minimum,
each letter would require twelve seconds for its completion, and
one word per minute only could be sent. With the ordinary
INIorse instruments used on land and short submarine lines, pro-
bably this result would be nearly the limit of the working speed.
On the Malta-Alexandria Cable, which has a larger core, and
one, therefore, better adapted for speed than the Atlantic Cable,
only 3-18 words per minute were obtained through 1,330 knots.
Calculated from this, and allowing for the difference of the
cores, the speed on the Atlantic Cables would be little more
than \\ word per minute ; and be it remarked that until the
present year no other instruments than these ordinary Morse
instruments were in practical use on submarine lines. Our
eno-ineers were therefore bold when they promised seven or
eight times this speed by means of new instruments. More-
over, the New Atlantic, even allowing for the difference in length

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 239

and in copper, can only be about two and a half times as good a
speaking instrument as tlie 1858 Atlantic, on which only two and
a half words per minute had been obtained.

In order to produce a succession of distinct and legible
signals, it is not necessary that the wave should reach its maxi-
mum and fall to its minimum at each signal. If the sendino-
battery contacts are changed or reversed before the full height
of the wave is reached the wave is not obliterated, it is simply
diminished ; if battery contacts, alternately with one and the
other pole of the battery, succeed one another with considerable
rapidity, say three reversals every second, or ninety dot-signals
per minute, the waves will be reduced to say 10 per cent, of
their maximum ; but if we can render these little waves visible
they may be interpreted as legible signals. The old Morse
system, which simply indicated a blunt Yes or No, could not
show these little waves or follow them in any way. Sir
William Thomson's reflecting galvanometer does render these
little waves legible, even when they are no larger than 1 per
cent, of the maximum current. The received cuiTent deflects
a tiny magnet to and fro. A little mirror swinging with the
magnet reflects a spot of light on to a distant scale, where by its
oscillations the spot of light indicates movements of the magnet
too small to be directly seen. The little swinging magnet fol-
lows every change in the received current, and eveiy wave great
or small, produces a corresponding oscOlation of the spot of lio-ht
on the scale. These little oscillations, produced in due order
are easily read by a practised clerk — no one knew how easilv.
The sending arrangements were designed to produce perfect
regularity in these little waves, making them as sharply defined
as possible ; but just as by a practised eye handwriting can be
read in which there is no single clearly formed letter, so it has
been found that a clever clerk will instinctively, as it were dis-
entangle most irregular oscillations of this little spot of light
into the letters and words they should represent, and from this
cause the greater part of the sending gear has been found un-
necessary, and yet the bold estimate of eight words per minute
has been exceeded. The addition of a single simj^le little in-
strument allows four times the number of words to be sent
through the Atlantic that could l:e sent through the Malta-

240 APT LIED SCIENCE

Alexandria Cable, of little more than two-thirds the length.
Here, then, is at least as great an advance as in the other
branches of submarine telegraphy. In future long cables the
speed may be calculated on this new basis, which has long been
advocated by a few, but which had not received practical con-
firmation till now. The speed at which messages can be sent
through a given length of cable is simply proportional to the
quantity of copper and gutta-percha used, provided the rela-
tive proportions of these materials remain unchanged, as is now
practically true in most cases. The new experiment would
therefore allow the engineer to adopt a core of one-eighth the
weight which he could have adopted upon the old system of
telegraphy to obtain the same speed ; or if he be not bold
enough to adopt so small a core as this would sometimes lead to,
he may at least choose the smallest core which on mechanical
grounds he thinks safe to adopt. Here we may catch a glimpse of
possible cheap cables hereafter.

So long as the cable was coiled on board the ' Great Eastern '
it was not possible to transmit more than five or six words per
minute through it, even with the best appliances. The differ-
ence between a coiled cable and a straight one, as a means of
signalling, has long been known, and that difference appeared
from Mr. Jenkins experiment on the Red Sea Cable (' Trans-
actions of the Royal Society, 1862 ') to be possibly great enough
to halve the speed, or even reduce it to a still smaller fraction of
that obtained on the straight cable ; but crucial experiments on
this point were wanting. The extra retardation is produced
partly by the induction of the current on various parts of itself
in neighbouring coils, and partly by the magnetisation and de-
magnetisation of the iron sheathing, which forms a sort of huge
electi'O-magnet. The effect produced by the coiling is analogous
to giving the electric fluid an inertia, and consequent momentum,
an analogy long since pointed out by Sir William Thomson, in
a paper by him and Mr. Jenkin on the discharge from a coiled
cable, published in ' Phil. Mag.,' 1861. A new illustration of tins
analogy was discovered on board the ' Great Eastern ' by Sir
William Thomson, in the fact of an oscillating current flowing
in and out of the insulated cable when first charged. This
phenomenon was described by Mr. Vai^ey in a paper read at

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 241

the meeting of the British Association this year at Nottingham,
and published in the ' AthentBum ' of September 15.

The signaUing arrangements on board ship and on shore
present this peculiarity, that there is no voltaic circuit. The
current is received at Valentia in a Ley den jar or condenser,
which acts as a sort of elastic reservoir. When receiving, it is
alternately charged by the cable, and discharged back into the
cable ; while the galvanometer placed between the condenser and
the cable indicates the alternate forward and backward tide iu
the current. Similarly, when Valentia wishes to send signals, it
charges the condenser positively or negatively by induction from
the battery, and thus causes corresponding movements in the
charge of the cable. This arrangement, already alluded to in
the testing arrangements, is due, we believe, to Mr. Varley, and
prevents to a great extent the action of earth-currents, which
would otherwise be found troublesome with so sensitive a, re-
ceiving instrument as the mirror galvanometer. Much has been
said concerning these earth-currents, and some people thought
they would render signalling across the Atlantic impossible.

Different parts of the earth and sea are found to be at dif-
ferent electric potentials. One part is electro-positive or electro-
negative to another. There is, that is to say, the same difference
between two parts of the eai'th that exists between the two poles
of a battery. If, then, these two points are joined by a wire, a
current will flow through that wire as if from a battery, and
this current is termed an earth-current, to distinguish it from a
current produced by an ordinary voltaic battery. This difference
of potential between two given spots, such as Newfoundland and
Valentia, is not constant, but continually varies. So does the
current it produces. The current, and the variations in the
current, interfere with the signalling current, disturbing the
distinctness of the signals. When no voltaic circuit exists, no
direct current will flow from one end" of the cable to the other,
except that caused by the discharges into and out of the con-
denser ; but a change in the potential of either station will still
have some disturbing effect, b}^ changing the charge in the con-
denser. When very rapid changes take place in the electric con-
dition of the centre, a magnetic storm is said to be taking place,
and this, on all lines, will occasionally put a stop to signalling.

VOL. II. R

242

APPLIED SCIENCE

Very little is yet known as to the cause of earth-cniTents or
their laws. The electro-motive force producing them does not
seem to increase with the distance between the two ends of the
line after the first few miles. No greater force than that due to
ten ordinary Daniell's cells is reported by Sir W. Thomson and
Mr. Varley to have been observed at any time between the two
ends of the cable. Much the same may be said of the Malta-
Alexandria Cable ; but Mr. A^arley has spoken of a force equal
to 400 cells on short land lines in England. Thus submarine
lines appear to have in this respect an advantage over air lines.
The latter are further subject to induction from changes in the
atmosphere, producing effects similar to earth-currents. The
conducting mass of the sea should screen submarine circuits
from all these effects ; but Mr. Varley has informed the writer
that currents were observed from the Atlantic which seemed to
be of this nature. One most singular phenomenon was also
communicated to the writer by Sir W. Thomson and Mr.
Varley. Owing to changes in the potential of the sea, the
capacity of the cable for a statical charge varied. The immense
Ley den jar formed by the cable at times therefore poured out
a current at one end, while the other was insulated, giving
apparently more than infinitely good insulation. Not only did
the battery used to test insulation then fail to force any current
through the gutta-percha of the insulated cable, but a current
was actually forced back on the battery, as if coming through
the gutta-percha into the cable. From this cause, even if the
Atlantic Cables were joined in a metallic circuit, continual
currents would fluctuate to and fro between them, owing to
changes in the difference of potential of the sea in their respective
tracks, thirty miles apart. The two cables afford an unrivalled
opportunity of studying earth-currents, about which really little
is known ; and it is to be hoped the opportunity will not be
neglected. There is not the slightest reason to fear that they
will prove any obstacle to the transmission of messages through
any submarine cable, of whatever length it may be. One method
of avoiding all disturbance from earth -currents is to use so-
powerful a battery as to overpower their effects ; but this plan is
not to be recommended, since the action of a powerful battery
has been known to change small faults into great ones, and
though not even a small fault is believed to exist in either

SUBMARIXE TELEGRAPH V

243

Atlantic Cable, it is well to avoid so powerful a decomposing
agent as is furnished by a large voltaic battery. 400 cells were
used in 1858. For the signals sent in 1866, 12 cells are suf-
ficient, but 20 or 30 is the number in daily use. Mr. Latimer
Clark sent signals through the two cables joined in one, being a
circuit of 3,754 geographical miles, with one small cell formed in
a thimble. In connection with the subject of signalling, it is
interesting to remark that perhaps Sir William Thomson's
connection with the Atlantic Telegraph Cables was due to a con-
troversy between him and Mr. Whitehouse on the subject of
signalling ; the letters are published in the ' Athenteum ' from
August to November 1856, and are extremely curious. Mr.
Whitehouse misinterpreted some careful experiments, and re-
marks in one place that to lay such a cable as he thought Sir
William Thomson's theory demanded would require Mr. Scott
Russell's ' Leviathan.' It is needless to add that subsequent
experiment has confirmed every part of Sir W. Thomson's theory,
although the constants he used have been somewhat modified by
experience.

Attention has so far been chiefly directed to the Atlantic
Cables, because in connection with these almost every late im-
provement has been adopted or invented. Lines in shallow
water remain much what they were in general construction ten
years since. Those of later design are heavier on the avex'age
than the earlier cables, for experience has shown that a saving
of weight and strength results in great ultimate loss. The
average life of a shallow-water cable, weighing less than two
tons per mile, is about five years, whereas no limit can as
yet be assigned to the life of cables weighing eight or ten tons
to the mile. The iron wires are now almost always galvanised,
and frequently covered with hemp, and Bright and Clark's
silicated bituminous compound, which seems very efiiciently to
protect the cables from rust, and to prevent broken wires,
during submersion, from fouling any part of the machinery, a
frequent occurrence some years since, producing what was called
a brush, formed by the one broken wire remaining on board in a
constantly increasing coil or tangle round the axis of the rope,
while the rest of the cable went overboard. The Persian Gulf
Cable made by Mr. Henley, and tested and laid by Messrs,

244 APPLIED SCIENCE

Bright and Clark for the Indian Government, under the super-
intendence of Colonel Stewart, was thus covered. The excellence
of this cable, 1,176 miles long, laid near Kurrachee, in a sea with
the temperature at the bottom of 24'2° C, and at the top of 26°
C, is a proof that gutta-percha may, with due precaution, be
used in tropical climates.

The gutta-percha resistance per mile of this cable varies
From 575 to 268 millions of British Association units per mile,
according to the temperature at the bottom in the various sec-
tions. It was laid from sailing vessels towed by a steamer. The
diameter of the main cable, covered with compound, is 11-
inch, and its weight is about 3-7 tons per mile. The Lowestoft-
Nordemey Cable, 240 miles long, laid in September last, from
England to what was Hanover, is the heaviest, on the whole,
yet laid. It weighs 10^ tons per mile, is 2 inches in diameter,
contains four insulated conductors, is covered with Bright and
Clark's Compound, and would bear a strain of twenty tons. It
has twenty miles of shore end, each mile of which weighs twenty
tons, and would bear a strain of forty tons. The insulation re-
sistance of each mile, as it lies in the North Sea, is 1,100 millions
of British Association units, and the four wires are remarkably
uniform. This cable was laid for Messrs. Renter's Telegram
Company, under the superintendence of Messrs. Forde and
Fleeming Jenkin. The contract was let to the Telegraph Con-
struction Company, and the cable made and laid by Mr. Henley.
The England-Holland Cables are shorter examples of equally
colossal proportions. There are now seven cables at work
between England and the Continent, and three between England
and Ireland. The Malta-Alexandria Cable, 1,330 miles long,
laid for Government in 1861, under Mr. Forde's superintend-
ence, by Messrs. Glass, Elliot and Co., also deserves mention.
Although not designed for shallow water it has done good
service ; but the frequent interruptions which occur will serve
as a warning not again to use a cable weighing less than two
tons per mile in shallow seas. Those who wish for fuller
information concerning the less important lines may consult
the references given in the course of this article. The most
important fact to be stated about shallow sea lines is that
the Dover-Calais Cable, laid sixteen years ago, is still working,
fl.nt] likelv to continue to work for manv years to come.

SUBMARLXE TELEGRArUY 245

It is extremely difficult to obtuin accurate statistics as to tlie
number of miles of cables laid, lost, and now at work. Many
are in the hands of distant Governments, who give no informa-
tion ; and some are so frequently under repair that it is difficult
to know in what category to place them. In 1862, in Mr.
Jenkin's report to the Jurors of the Great Exhibition, 5,345
statute miles of cable, and 9,456 miles of gutta-percha wire,
were said to be in working order ; 9,406 miles of cable were
classed as having been successful for some time, but not then
working ; 557 miles were classed as total failures. These
numbers were avowedly mere approximations.

Mr. Francis Gisborue published statistics in 1865, in which
he put the numbers for working and non-working cables at
5,066 and 11,261 statute miles respectively. Dr. Russell gave
6,842, and 9,407, as the length of cables at work and abandoned.
Since then 3,754 miles have been added to the successful list by
the Atlantic expedition. The Gutta-Percha Company claim
now to have supplied insulated core for 12,100 miles of cable,
which are still at work. Whatever the actual numbers are, it is
incontestable that a large proportion of lines laid have failed
from time to time. The Red Sea, and Batavia-Singapore Cables,
upwards of 4,000 statute miles long, failed from their want of
weight and strength ; they rusted rapidly, and could not be
repaired when faults appeared, or when they chafed through ;
or rather the expense of the continual repairs was such that
they were abandoned, perhaps somewhat prematurely. The
failures of some deep-sea cables have in all probability been due
to lightning. An unaccountable apathy has in many cases led
to the neglect or actual removal of the lightning dischargers
attached to submarine lines, and the writer has seen neglected
dischargers with points fused and burnt away, proving that the
line had been struck repeatedly. Other failures have been
attributed to the tautness of the cable when laid, to friction at
the bottom, to volcanic action, etc. ; but not much is known
about these causes, which are rather hypothetical than proved.
Neglected faults have certainly, in some cases, been much en-
larged, by the use of more and more powerful batteries, added
by ignorant clerks.

These failures need alarm no one ; they simply prove what

246 APPLIED SCIENCE

should be known without proof, that there is a real difference
between ignorance and knowledge, between care and neglect ;
and that supervision after submersion is not less necessary than
during manufacture. The main object of this article has been
to show that the success obtained in late years, as compared
with early failures, is due to no chance, but to a real advance
in every branch of Submarine Telegraphy. If the reader does
not understand or believe in this advance, the writer has failed
in his object. He prefers to think that he has shown good
reason for believing that the success is likely to be permanent.
Much might be written on the proposals for still further
improvements, real and imaginary. Mr. Hooper has succeeded
in preparing india-rubber, so as to be apparently permanent,
while it certainly surpasses gutta-percha in all the electrical
properties which are required for the insulation of cables.
The Indian Government has taken the initiative in employing
this material, which is eminently suited for tropical climates.
Tlie other preparations of india-rubber have very generally
been found subject to decay ; and various newly proposed ma-
terials, such as parkesine and balata, can hardly be said to have
been fairly brought before the public.

Messrs. Siemens have employed for some portion of their
lines lately laid with success in the Mediterranean a very novel
form of cable, formed of hemp bound with strips of copper,
which they believe will be much more permanent than the old-
fashioned cables. The forms proposed, but not yet tested, are
very nvimerous, and little is known of their merits. The cost
of an experiment is so great that engineers hesitate to recom-
mend even what they believe to be well worth a trial. It is
certain that the old forms answer well, but it is equally
certain that their expense w^ill preclude their adoption, except
on the main lines. A cheap light cable, durable in deep water,
would lead to an immense extension of the telegraphic system.
It is by no means certain that a simple gutta-percha-covered
wire would not answer as well as the most elaborate cable.
However this may be, the next advance must be towards
cheapness ; efficiency is attained.

The importance of telegraphic communication is often
claimed on very narrow grounds. The advantages in war and

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 247

diplomacy are to some extent counterbalanced by very obvious
disadvantages. Even the gain to individual merchants admits
of doubt. By diminishing risks, telegraphy is sometimes
thought to diminish profits. The mere convenience of sending
a message quickly is outweighed in many minds by the annoy-
ance of receiving, at all odd hours, scraps of news, often unin-
telligible from their conciseness. But on the broad ground that
with the assistance of the telegraph the wants of one country
can be supplied from the excess of another, in little more than
half the time required for the purpose without the telegraph,
we may claim for that invention a recognition that it is useful,
in the sense that free trade, good roads, or fleet ships, are useful.
The measure of that good is a problem in political economy
which it is not now our business to solve ; it is certainly out of
all proportion with the price paid for the information sent. Up
to the present time full advantage has not been taken of the
power we possess. From a want of organisation and some
political difficulties we cannot at this moment send a message
to any distant part of the world with a certainty that it will be
delivered without considerable delay and probable mutilation.
Mr. Renter, to whom we owe the organisation of the despatch
of public news, has begun to organise a system by which, in
time, the great capitals of Europe may really be placed in
instantaneous communication. A Parliamentary Committee
has been considering proposals of a similar kind extended to
the East ; but, meanwhile, a message sent through the Atlantic
Cable may be delayed five or six days in the wilds of Nova
Scotia, and mutilated messages continue to arrive after a fort-
night's journey from India. So long as this is the case, no
calculation can be made of the employment which would be
found for our great submarine cables if worthily worked. But
the fact that much remains to do, even after the Atlantic Cable
has been laid, need not prevent a just pride in a really great
victory, achieved, not by chance, but by a knowledge resulting
from the patient efforts of many minds for many years.

APPLIED SCIENCE

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 249

ADDENDA.

Explanation of Diagram of Shore Tests — Atlantic Expedition.

S is a switch by which the cable can be connected at pleasure
Avith the studs 1, 2, and 3.

The cable is always connected with Smith's resistance, through
which a feeble current passes, deflecting galvanometer G, and show-
ing by its magnitude the state of insulation of cable, or, more strictly
speaking, the potential at S.

When S is connected with stud 1, as drawn, condenser 1 is
charged by the cable. It can be discharged through galvanometer G,.
This discharge is a second test of the potential at S. It will cause an
onward movement in the current applied by the ship's battery, and a
consequent momentary change of deflection in the ship's galvanometer.
This will be a continuity test for the ship, proving the copper unbroken.
This test might have been used as an arrangement for speaking from
shore to ship. Two condensers of different sizes would have given two
signals, from which an alphabet could be formed.

"When S is connected to 2 and the second switch P to 1, as drawn,
the cable will charge one plate of condenser 2 ; and conversely, if
the potential of the other plate be changed by being connected
through the reversing key, K , , alternately with each pole of the bat-
tery, C Z, this will induce alternate positive and negative charges in
the cable, which, being superadded to or withdrawn from the original
charge produced by the ship's battery, will cause alternately back-
ward and forward currents which will show as signals on the ship's
galvanometer. Similarly, if switch P connect the second plate of
condenser 2 to the galvanometer Gg, any changes of potential in the
first plate of condenser 2 caused by the ship's battery will induce
corresponding changes in the charge of the second plate, and there-
fore currents to and fro through galvanometer Gg, which currents
may be used as signals.

The cable at S may be connected through stud 3 with the electro-
meter, and its potential directly measured by comparison with the
potential of some point of a set of slide resistance coils, through
which a current is flowing from a local battery. This current is main-
tained constant by reducing the resistance in the resistance coils, so
as to maintain a constant deflection in the galvanometer Gg. The
potential at the successive studs of the slide 1 may be called in an
arbitrary unit, 10, 20, 30, . . . . 100 ; and if the electrometer were
directly connected with these studs, it would show with an accuracy
of ten parts in a hundred what was the potential of the cable in the

2SO

APPLIED SCIENCE

^fi

IS

^^

01

1

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY 251

same arbitrary unit. To obtain further subdivision, a second set
of resistance coils, each equal to one-fifth of each of those of the first
slide, are joined so as to bridge over any two of the first set. The
first set consisting of eleven equal coils, the total resistance between
A and B will always be ten units, and the ten studs of slide 2 will
subdivide into ten equal parts the potential between the two studs
of slide 1 which they bridge. Thus, as drawn, calling the total po-
tential of A zero, and of B 100, the potential of X will be 35. Slides
1 and 2 during the test are moved till the potential is found, which
is exactly equal to that of the cable. In reality, there were 101
equal coils in slide 1, and 100 in the second slide, each equal to -^^th
part of those in the first. Thus the potential between A and B
could be subdivided into 10,000 equal parts.

Explanation of Diagram 0/ Tests on hoard Shi]).
The diagram, when connection is made by plugs at Pj and P,,
but broken at P, represents a Wheatstone's balance, the four arms
of which are, 1st, a set of resistance coils No. 1 between Z and W ;
2nd, part of the slide resistance coils between X and Z ; 3rd, the
remainder of the slide resistance coils between X and Y ; and 4th,
the gutta-percha sheath of the cable between the conductor, Y,, and
the earth, Y. Gr is the galvanometer of the balance, arranged with
shunts to diminish its sensitiveness when required. The resistance

XY

of the gutta-percha = resistance coils No. 1 mvdtiplied by -— . Thus

XZ

if the slide reading had the value 67, as shown in the diagram, we should
have gutta-percha resistance = resistance coils No. l-f-(VT ~1)-

In the actual slides with 100 coils each, the resistance in coils
No. 1 was divided by 10,000, divided by the slide reading, and a
unit subtracted. The same formula gives the copper resistance if
the remote end of the copper conductor is put to earth. Resistance
coils No. 2, and galvanometer G,, were used to maintain a constant
current through the slides as described for the shore tests. Y was
usually connected to earth by the bar C which joins a and b, but
when the keys a or b were depressed, they sent signals to the shore
from battery No. 2, but these signals only slightly raised or lowered
the potential of the cable, and did not much disturb the electrifica-
tion. When signals were being sent, the sensibility of the galvano-
meter G was diminished by shunts, which were removed during the
pause after each word to take a perfect insulation test. If anything
had gone wrong with the Wheatstone balance arrangement, the plugs
P2 and P, would have been withdrawn, and connection made at P,
which would have established the old direct simple insulation test
from (I to Z. P, G. W, and Y,.

252

Ar PLIED SCIENCE

TELPHERAGE}

In tlie first place, it is necessary that I should define what is
meant by this word 'telpherage,' and, perhaps, that I should
defend its formation. The word is intended to designate all
modes of transport effected automatically with the aid of elec-
tricity. According to strict rules of derivation, the word would
be ' telephorage ; ' ^ but in order to avoid confusion with ' tele-
phone,' and to get rid of the double accent in one word, which is
disagreeable to my ear, I have ventured to give the new word
such a form as it might have received after a few centuries
of usage by English tongues ; and to substitute the English
sounding ' telpher ' for ' telephore.' In the most general sense
telpher lines include such electric railway lines as were first
proposed by my colleagues, Messrs. Ayrton and Perry. The
word would also describe lines such as I have seen proposed in
the newspapers for the conveyance of small parcels at extremely
rapid rates. But to-night I shall confine myself entirely to the
one specific form in which the telpher line first presented itself
to my mind, and which it has fallen to my lot to develop. In
this form telpher lines are adapted for the conveyance of minerals
and other goods at a slow pace, and at a cheap rate. The problem
which occurred to me was this : Was it not really possible to send
vehicles, by means of electricity, along a single suspended wire
or rod — in fact, to telegraph goods and passengers instead of mes-
sages ? The idea is familiar as a joke, but, on consideration, it
appeared that there might be good grounds for supposing that
the idea was both practicable and useful. I am now able to show
you the realisation of that idea, and the result of experiments on
a large and practical scale has, I think, justified the arguments

' A paper read before the Society of Arts, May 14, 1884.
- The ' o ' is found in all compounds of this root, as in \afj.Tra5r}<p6pos, Kpio-
fp6pos, or, to take a more familiar example, phosphorus.

TELPHERAGE

!53

which have induced me to devote much time and labour to
telpherage.

[Here the model was shown in action. This model con-
sisted of two concentric octagons of wire, the length of each
outer span being 5 feet. On each octagon there was a single
locomotive and train, equal in length to that of the span.
These trains ran well and steadily in opposite directions round
the lines.]

These arguments may be stated as follows. We could not
with steam employ a vast number of little one-horse engines to
pull along a number of small trains or single waggons. There
would be waste in the production of power and great cost in
the wages of the men employed at each engine. But an electric
current of, let us say, 50 horse-power, will, as it circulates through
a conductor of moderate size, drive thirty small engines each of
one horse-power, which require practically no supervision, and
can be made nearly as economical in their action as a sino-le
electro-motor of 30 horse-power could be. But if the power
can be distributed economically along a line, say, ten miles
in length, this allows us to employ thirty small trains, correspond-
ing each to a waggon pulled by one horse, instead of a single
train such as might require 30 horse-jDower. If we further dis-
tribute the weight by making each train of considerable length,
we are able to employ an extremely light form of road, such as a
suspended rope or rod of, say, |-inch diameter. Later on in the
paper I will show the amount of traffic which such a rod can
practically convey. Meanwhile, I simply draw your attention
to the general principles of the subdivision of power and the sub-
division of weights. In distributing the power by means of
electricity it was clear that considerable waste must be incurred,
but the amount of that waste is easily calculated, and is by no
means prohibitory. Moreover, the power, being obtained from
stationary engines, or in certain cases from falls of water, could
be produced at a cheaper rate in comparison with that obtained
from locomotives or traction engines. When I examined the
various forms of possible road by which the distributed power
and distributed load could be conveyed, it seemed to me that
the single suspended rope or rod offered great advantages. The
smallest railway involved embankments, cuttings, and brido-es

2 54

APPLIED SCIENCE

fencing, and tlie purchase of land. A single stiff rail, with
numerous supports, from which the train might hang, seemed
better, and may, in some cases, be employed, but the supports
would require to be numerous — say, one post every ten or fifteen
feet — and even with these spans the girder required to carry
vehicles weighing 2 cwt. each would be costly. With a single
suspended rod or rope we may have supports 60 or 70 feet apart.
A |-inch rod, thus supported, will carry five vehicles, each
bearing 2 cwt., without excessive strain. No purchase of land
is necessary, no bridges, earthworks, or fencing. The line can
be so far removed from the ground that it will not be meddled
with, either by men or animals. A single wheel-path gives the
minimum of friction, and the rolling-stock can be much more
easily managed than if we attempted to let vehicles run on
double swinging ropes. On all those grounds it seemed well
worth while to devise means by which trains could be electri-
cally and automatically driven along the single suspended rod.

Before proceeding further, I had better state how far this
idea has been realised. The Telpherage Company, Limited, was
formed last year to test and carry out my patented inventions
and those of Professors Ayrtonand Perry for electric locomotion.
On the estate of Mr. M. R. Pryor, of Weston, two telpher lines,
on my plan, have been erected. One of these is a mere straight
road, with spans of 60 feet, and various form of rod and rope.
The first full-sized train was run on this line with a locomotive
which we call the ' bicycle- wheel loco ' (Figs. 8 and 9, p. 260).
The line was found inconveniently large and high, and the ex-
periments were continued on a line f-inch diameter, of round
steel rods, with 50 feet span. This line is continuous, that is to
say, it re-enters on itself. It is 700 feet long, and we have run
a train of more than one ton at a speed of five miles per hour on
this line with complete success. The insulation has given no
trouble. It need hardly be said that we see our way to great
improvements in details. Thus, we can make the road more
uniform, and stronger for its weight ; we can lessen the quantity
of material used, and greatly diminish the amount of skilled
labour required in erection. We can improve the design of the
posts. We can improve the trucks and locomotives, so that they
will o'o round sharper angles, and so forth ; but the main object has

TELPHERAGE 255

been practically carried out. We Lave had trains on a scale as
large as I am prepared to recommend, running at the highest
speed I have contemplated.' I trust it will be clear to you,
from this description, that what I have contemplated and real-
ised is not an electric railway destined to compete with steam
railtvays in conveying goods and passengers at high speeds,
neither is it a new form of communication destined for small
parcels and high speeds ; it is simply a cheap means of convey-
ing heavy goods which, like coal or grain, can be carried in
buckets or sacks, each containing two or three hundredweight.
The speed on a telpher line will be that of a cart, and the
object we. aim at is to cart goods at a cheaper rate and more
conveniently than with horses, I assume that you all know
that an electric motor is a machine which will run so as to exert
power whenever an electric current is passed through it. You
also know that a machine called a ' dynamo,' driven by a steam-
engine or other source of power, will produce an electric current
which may be conveyed along a suspended and insulated rod,
and used to drive an electric motor. In describing the details
of my system, the first point to be explained is how the current
produced by the dynamo, and conveyed along a single line, is
taken from that line and directed round the motor.

In endeavouring to realise this idea, the first thought which
occurred to me was that of dividing the line into lengths, equal
to the length of the train, so that, using the train to bridge over
a gap between two sections at different potentials, the current
could be conveyed from the leading to the trailing wheels of the
train round the motor. This idea is employed in the model
now shown ; but, in the first form which suggested itself, the
gaps between the sections were opened by a switch worked by
the front of the train and closed by a switch worked by the end
of the train. The first model, which may have been seen by
some present working in Fitzroy Street, was made on this plan.
Trains driven in that way would all be coupled in series. The
present model is differently arranged ; there are no working

' A form of points for sidings and branch lines has been constructed, and
acts satisfactorily. The trains in the sidings are, at Weston, driven electri-
cally, but when a dangerous electromotive force is used this would be worked
by hand.

256 APPLIED SCIENCE

parts or switches. Let the successive sides of the polygon
be called the odd and even sides ; the odd outer sides are con-
nected with the even inner sides ; and the even outer sides with
the odd inner sides. We thus have two continuous conductors
each going right round the model, but not joined to each other ;
these are connected to the two poles of a battery. So long as
no train bridges a gap no current flows, but whenever the train
bridges the gap a current flows from the positive to the
negative pole round the motor. This plan is called the ' cross-
over system ; ' all the trains are joined by it in parallel arc, and
the current is reversed each time a train passes a gap. This
reversal does not affect the working of the motor. This is the
plan which has been carried out on a large scale at Weston.
Its simplicity leads me to believe that it will be the plan most
usually adopted, but several other methods of driving have been
devised. A spark passes between the wheels and the line each
time the current is stopped, but this spark occurs between large
masses of metal, where it appears to be harmless ; it has given
no trouble whatever at Weston. Moreover, it has been found
very easy to make connection between the line and the train.
The ordinary truck wheels answer admirably, so that no com-
plicated brushes are required. There are some absolute advan-
tages in having interruptions at regular intervals, but the
discussion of these would lead me too far for my present purpose.
Only one of the two continuous conductors requires to be
insulated ; this results in alternate insulated and uninsulated
sections all along each line. Fig. 1 shows a saddle, as we call
it, with an insulated attachment, B, at the one end, and an un-
insulated attachment. A, at the other, as used for a short sample
line which has just been sent to Peru for the Nitrates Railway
Company. The line itself is a |-inch steel rod with forged ends ;
and Fig. 2 sufficiently shows the mode of attachment. The in-
sulation is given by a vulcanite bell insulator, D, carrying a cast-
iron cap, C. All the parts are designed to stand 2-2 tons strain ;
the vulcanite is secured between two layers of Siemens' cement.
The experiments at Weston have shoAvn that vulcanite answers
perfectly, but the material is rather expensive I have here a
small porcelain insulator, which has been subjected to 2*2 tons
strain. I believe porcelain will answer well in all respects, but

TELPHERAGE

257

it has not yet been subjected to the test of actual traflic day by
day. At Weston, the vulcanite was used between layers of
Portland cement, the only objection to which is, that it takes some
time to set. The simple steel rod has been found preferable in all
ways to rope. We find that there is less friction, and less jar
with the rod, and ample flexibility ; it is also much easier to
secure. Moreover, a solid rod, with welded ends, can be made

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

so that the ends, where supported, are, to some extent undercut,
as is shown in the corresponding bulb angle-iron (Fig. 3) used
for rigid parts of the road ; this undercutting allows much
greater freedom of rolling than would be compatible with the
horizontal gripping wheels, especially when gripping wheels are
used which, like those in the model, actually hold on to the line,

Fig. 4.
so as to resist being lifted. A short piece, E, slightly insulated,
prevents the sections from being short-circuited by the wheels.
Fig. 4 shows the post and crosshead supporting the line. In the
1-inch example this design was fully carried out, and the posts
stood the cross strain due to the overhanging load perfectly. In the
five-eighth-inch line an attempt was made to cheapen the construc-
tion, but the posts, in wet weather, work at the foundations ; it is

VOL. II. H

258

APPLIED SCIENCE

well that we are put on our guard against this danger. In the
first design a sort of rocking saddle was employed, to allow the
strain to be transmitted from one span to the next, but the
flexibility of the posts provides amply for this object. Abutment
posts are required at intervals, and these can be made use of to
provide compensation for changes of temperature, and to limit
the stress on the rods. In straight lines I reckon four abutment
posts per mile.

In the short South American line, curves of 45 degrees at
the posts will be employed, as shown in the model. At the
stations where goods are to be handled, a rigid rod will be more
convenient than the flexible rod. A bulb angle-iron, like that
shown in Fig. 3 (p. 257), supported every 10 feet, answers well at

7

Fig. 5. Fig. 6.

Weston, and a siding, leading the trucks ofi" this line, has been
satisfactorily carried out. The siding leads back to the line at
a point between two flexible spans. In fine, it may be said
to-night that the problem of the continuous line, whether
straight, curved, rigid, or flexible, has been completely solved.
Drawings and specifications can be put, without further delay
or experiment, into the hands of contractors. Trucks used on
ordinary rope lines are designed to be pulled by ropes on a
road which is necessarily straight. When trucks of this de-
scription, with wheels 8 inches diameter and 22 inches wheel-
base (Fig. 5), were tried at Weston, arranged in trains, some
new difiiculties presented themselves. Any sudden check to
the motion was followed by a rearing action, throwing the

TELPHERAGE

259

truck off tlie line ; similar results followed tlie application of any
sudden pull. Moreover, trucks, with two rollers, on a rigid
frame, even with so great a wheel-base as 22 inches, require
curves of considerable radius if we are to avoid serious binding
at the flanges. Notwithstanding these difficulties, the trains at
Weston, with a little care, run well and lightly, but the trucks
which have gone to South America are on the plan adopted in
the model ; they run much more safely, and turn much sharper
curves. They have two peculiarities — first, each wheel, 7 inches
diameter (Fig. 7), is pivoted on an axis, B, vertically over the
centre of the wheels, A : this allows the truck to run with the

freedom of a bicycle round curves ; secondly, the weight carried
is hung on a swinging arm, D, pivoted to the frame at a point, P,
on a level with the line. The result is that any force applied in a
plane containing the line acts as if applied at the line itself,
and will neither lift the wheels in front nor behind. In the
model, the coupling, as you see, is on one line attached to the top
of the swinging arm (L, Fig. 7), where the coupling rods are well
out of the way. In the other line, the coupling is below the
road. The swinging arm relieves the locomotive from all jerk
at stopping or starting. The truck is completed by a small hook
or catch embracing the rod. In case of an}^ accident causing

s 2

26o

APPLIED SCIENCE

the wheels to leave the line, this hook will prevent the truck
from falling. The weight of the two-wheel stiff truck, shown in
Fig. 5 (p. 258), with wrought-iron buckets, is 75 lbs. The weight
of the two-wheel pivoted trucks, with wooden bucket, is 63 lbs.
They are both adapted to carry 2 cwt. Fig. 6 (p. 258) shows
a one-wheeled truck tested ; the results were not favourable.
A special form of bucket must be designed to suit each kind
of traffic. Simple iron hooks for sacks will, in many cases, be
available, and these hooks can be so contrived that on being
struck they will drop the sack.

Fig. 8. Fig. 9.

The first type of locomotive which was tried on a large scale is
shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The motor lies nearly horizontally across
the line, and is connected by a form of frictional gearing, which
I term * right angle nest gearing,' with the edge of a bicycle wheel,
W. The shaft of the bicycle has on it two discs, B B, one of
which is fixed on the shaft, while the other can slide longitu-
dinally on the shaft. These two discs are pressed together by a
spring, D. Their edges bear on the horizontal gripping rollers,
A and A, which seize the line. These rollers are supported in
such a way as to be free to come together under the pressure of

TELPHERAGE

261

the spring transmitted by tlie discs A and B. By tightening
the spring, any required grip can be obtained with no injurious
friction, either on the cross shaft or on the spindles of the rollers.
This grip is a form of right angle nest gearing. The weight of
the locomotive was taken by wheels, C 0, fore and aft. The
following defects were observed : — The frictional surfaces, both
in the upper and lower nests, were too small, and the materials
too soft, so that rapid wearing resulted with a consequent in-
crease of friction. Moreover, the grip was so powerful, that the
rollers, A A, were capable of supporting the weight, and thus a
small inclination of their vertical axis was enough to cause the

Fig. 10.

F G. 11.

locomotive to rise and even run off the line ; moreover, the
vertical curvature in the rope, or at the posts, required the
rollers, A A, to be deep, thus limiting the extent to which rocking
was admissible ; moreover, very broad pulleys, fore and aft,
would be required even for moderate horizontal curves. Never-
theless this locomotive ran sufficiently well on the 1-inch line
during an exhibition to the shareholders last autumn. The weight
for a five-eighth-inch line of a somewhat improved form of this
type, to exert one-half horse-power, on the average, is 200 lbs. ;
an extra half-hundredweight would give one horse-power. The
driving wheels, A A, of this example are 6^ inches diameter.
The motor makes 9-23 revolutions for one of the driving wheels.

262 APPLIED SCIENCE

One mile per hour corresponds to 473 revolutions per minute of
the motor. 35'21 inch pounds at the motor spindle are re-
quired for a pull of 100 lbs. at the rail. Figs. 10 and 11 show
a locomotive designed by Mr. A, C. Jameson, when I was per-
sonally unable to attend to work. This locomotive, which is
called the ' belt locomotive,' shows a great advance on its pre-
decessor. The general arrangements of the upper nest grip is
retained, but a most ingenious modification has been intro-
duced, by which the discs, 0 C, run on one path on the rollers,
A A, while the rod runs on another. In this way the dirt from
the line is never conveyed to the driving disc surface between
A and C. Moreover, these frictional surfaces, which are points in
the first form, have become lines in the second. This type answers
admirably. The weight is carried by a roller, B, between the
gripping discs, an arrangement contained in one of my first
small models, and wrongly rejected in the first large locomotive.
With this subdivision of weight, the gripping wheels are much
less likely to rise, and can be made very shallow. In the actual
locomotive, these gripping wheels are of an open inverted A shape,
which has certainly run very well, although I prefer at present
the upright V shape, which closes under the rail, as used in the
model before you.' Both of the gripping rollers drive, as in
the first type. The cross shaft is driven by a belt on a 20-inch
pulley, D ; the other end of the belt runs on a 2-inch pulley,
E, on the motor spindle. The friction due to the pull of this
belt on the motor spindle is relieved by friction rollers. This
locomotive runs extremely safely and steadily on the line ; in-
deed I am not aware that it has' ever been thrown oflT. The fol-
lowing are particulars of its construction : — Weight, with a 96 lb.
1 horse-power motor, 269 lbs. ; wheel-base, 2 ft. 6 in. ; diameters
of driving rollers, 6 in. ; 4-94 revolutions of motor per one re-
volution of driving wheel. A couple of 60-6 inch lb. on the motor
is required for 100 lbs. pull at the rail ; 276 revolutions of motor
correspond to one mile per hour on the rail. The only improve-
ments I have to suggest in this design are — first, the addition
of gear which will give a higher speed of motor for the normal

' It has been suggested in an article in the Engineer that this grip is less
powerful than the form first described. The suggestion can only be due to
some misunderstanding ; the grii)ping action is identical in the two cases.

TELPHERAGE

263

speed of four miles per hour, which we contemplate ; secondly,
the addition of a swivel or bogie arm, such as is used in the
model before you ; thirdly, improvements in the belt connection.
Moreover, the machine requires strengthening in some places.
It will, however, be seen that none of these points touch the
essential features of the design, which might at once be adopted
in practice. Worked with motors of the Gramme type, the
additional gear would not be required.

Before the belt locomotive had been completed it was neces-
sary to design a locomotive for the South American line, which I
have several times mentioned. I had, meanwhile, constructed
the model which is now before you ; and this little locomotive

ELltTPn MOTOR

Fig. 13.

t

in which the power is transmitted by ordinary spur-wheels, ran
so extremely well that I adopted the general arrangement for
the next example on a large scale. This arrangement is shown
in Figs. 12 and 13. The grip (C C and B B) is a third variety of
the right angle nest, simpler than that in the belt locomotive.
In this form also we have line contacts, and two paths for the
discs and rod. Where it is desired to drive from both sides, this
arrangement is less powerful than that in the belt locomotive.
In the South American locomotive I drive from one side only,
leaving the off-side roller free to revolve as it pleases. This

264 APPLIED SCIENCE

avoids gi-iuding at rapid curves, aud the adhesion given by one
wheel will be ample in a dry country, such as that where this
1 jcomotive is to work. The arrangement of the gearing, E and
F, is obvious. It allows the locomotive to lie fore and aft instead
of across the line, and this design has some advantages in the
adjustment of the weights. The surface of the gripping wheels
are arranged like an upright V, so as to hold on under the line.
This makes it very difficult for the wheels to leave the line, both
because of their absolute hold, and because the inclination of the
V is such as to favour the action of gravitation in overcoming the
friction of the grip, instead of opposing it, as in the inverted V.
Another feature of this machine is the arm pivoted at P, and
carrying the leading wheel, which is again pivoted at M in the
arm, as in the case of the trucks. The construction allows the
locomotive to traverse curves of six-feet radius — a very remark-
able result. The full-sized locomotive has only just been com-
pleted, and run on three spans at Messrs. Easton and Anderson's.
So far as I am able to judge from the trial, it is likely to be a
complete success. It will be immediately shipped for its desti-
nation, so that its performance cannot be more fully tested in
this country. The following particulars will show that it is
much more powerful than the belt locomotive, but it is con-
siderably heavier : — Wheel base, 2 ft. 6 in. ; weight, about 3 cwt.
14 lbs. ; 15 revolutions of motor per revolution of driving- w^ieels ;
diameter of driving-wheels, 10 in. ; 33*3 in. lb. per 100 lbs. pull
at rail ; 504 revolutions of motor per minute for one mile per
hour. 1 am in doubt at this moment whether to adopt the belt
locomotive or the spm'-wheel locomotive for the next example ;
it is simply a question of cost, weight, and durability. Either
will do the work. In all the arrangements it is essential that
the second bearing-wheel at M (Fig. 13, p. 263) should lead, not
follow, the drivers in regular work. The reverse arrangement
lets the rope lead on at an angle with the plane of the roller,
causing an injurious grinding action. Details of couplings have
been well worked out, but space fails for their description.

As general features of the train running on the line, I may
mention that the deflection of the rod within reasonable limits
has very small influence on the resistance. When the deflection
on a 50-foot span was about 2*4 feet, the resistance for a train
of trucks, weighing in all 1 ,260 lbs., was 22 lbs. ; and no sensible

TELPHERAGE 265

difference could be detected wlien the deflection was materially-
reduced. This resistance was measured by pulling a train along,
span after span, by one end of a rope passing over a pulley on
the leading truck, and having a weight hanging vertically from
the other end of the rope. The weight thus limited the pull.
This pull differs extremely little as the train moves along, for
when one part of the train is descending the curve the other
part is ascending. It should be noted that during this experi-
ment no special care had been taken to oil the bearings, and I
have no doubt this pull can be materially reduced. I have
ventured to dwell at some length on the mechanical problems
involved in this form of telpherage, because the experiments
made so far have chiefly borne on questions of mechanics. The
makers of dynamos can put at our disposal apparatus which
Mill generate day after day, with perfect certainty and regularity,
currents of electricity such as will transmit the horse-power
generated by powerful steam-engines. These makers have
already solved the chief electrical problems which present them-
selves in connection with telpher lines. They can give us at will
constant current or constant electromotive force, high or low, as
we may choose. They are now able to arrange their apparatus
so that any number of incandescent lamps may be turned off" or
on, without disturbing the regularity with which other lamps
are supplied ; and by the same arrangement we are enabled to
start or stop any number of telpher trains without disturbing
the running of others. The electrical problems of the telpher
line and those of electric lighting run in absolutely parallel lines.
The electric motor, although it rpay be termed a mere inversion
of the dynamo, has not as yet been brought to equal perfec-
tion ; but month by month improved designs, proportions, and
materials are being introduced, and the result already attained
is suflScient for our purpose. It is all the more encouraging
to feel that these results will certainly be surpassed — and far
surpassed — in the immediate future.

The following short summary of the problem of the trans-
mission of power by means of electricity may interest those who
have not studied the subject. There are three steps in this
transmission — 1st, we convert mechanical power into electricity
by means of a dynamo ; in doing so we incur a loss of from 10
to 20 per cent. ; ■2ud, this electricity, in flowing along a con-

266 APPLIED SCIENCE

ductor, generates heat, representing a further loss, analogous to
that resulting from friction in mechanical gearing. This loss,
depending on the distance of transmission, the size of the con-
ductor, and the electromotive force employed, is easily com-
puted. 3rd, we re-convert the electricity into mechanical power
by means of an inverted dynamo, which we term an ' electric
motor.' With motors in which large weights of iron and copper
are employed, the loss in re-conversion need not exceed 20 per
cent., but with light motors, weighing from 70 lbs. to 100 lbs. per
horse-power, such as we must employ in the locomotives, I could
not undertake with certainty at this moment to effect the re-
conversion without a waste of one-half. The effect of all these
sources of loss is, that at the stationary engine I must exert
about 3 horse-power for every single horse-power which is em-
ployed usefully on the line. I look forward confidently to the
time when 2 horse-power at the engine will be sufficient to give
1 horse-power to the motor. To put these conclusions in a more
scientific form, I may assume the efficiency of my dynamo aa
80 per cent., that of my small motor as 50 per cent.* The waste

by heat expressed as horse-power is equal to — — where C is

the current in amperes, and R the resistance in ohms. The
horse-power represented by the current is equal to — — • where E

is the electromotive force in volts and C the current in amperes.
It follows from the last expression that I may increase the horse-
joower in three ways, by increasing either E or C, or both. If
I increase E, leaving 0 the same, I do not increase the loss
during transmission along the line (except by leakage), no
matter what horse-power the given line may transmit, A prac-
tical limit is set to the application of this law by the difficulty
met with in dealing with electromotive forces above 2,000 volts.
Marcel Deprez, taking advantage of this law — first pointed out
by Sir William Thomson — has transmitted seven or eight horse-
power over seven or eight miles, through an ordinary telegraph
wire, and he obtained a useful duty of 63 per cent., taking into
account all three sources of loss which I have enumerated. With
small motors I cannot yet promise a result so good as this, and I

' The last motor tested, weighing 117 lbs., made by Mr Reckenzaun, gave
1'72 hoise-power with 54 per cent, efficiency.

TELPHERAGE 2(37

merely meution it to let you understand that in speaking of
three horse-power at the generator for one at the locomotive, I am
leaving a very ample margin. Quitting generalities, I will give
some details as to the electrical and other conditions necessary,
in two examples, for what may be considered as typical telpher
lines.

First Lime. — Length, five miles. Length of circuit, out and
in, ten miles. Twenty-five trains running at once, spaced one-
fifth of a mile apart ; speed four miles per hour. Let each re-
quire 1 horse-power on the average ; let the motor take on the
average two amperes of electric current ; let the electromotive
force near the stationary engine be 840 volts ; the electromotive
force at the end of five miles will be about 746 volts.^ The total
current entering the line will be 50 amperes at the near end of
the line. Fifty amperes and 840 volts represent 56-5 horse-
power; of this, 6'5 horse-power will be wasted in heating the
line ; the remaining 50 horse-power will do work in the motors
equivalent to 25 horse-power. In order to give this current of
50 amperes with 840 volts, the stationary engine will require to
exert lo x 56'5 horse-power, or roughly, 70 indicated horse-power,
or somewhat less than three times the useful horse-power. Let
us now examine the economical results to be obtained from such
a line as this. Mr. Dowson, in an interesting comparison be-
tween the cost of horse-power obtained from coal and gas, reckoned
the cost per horse-power for a 100 horse-power engine, at the
rate of 3^. 6s. 9d. per annum, to include wages, coal, oil, and
depreciation. Mr. Dowson would naturally be led to put the
cost of steam power obtained from coal rather high than low. I
will, however, adopt a much higher figure, and assume that the
power may cost as much as 6^. 10s. per horse per annum ; this
gives 455^. as the cost of the 70 horse-power required for my
telpher line. Let the twenty-five trains each convey a useful
load of 15 cwt. In a day of eight hours the line will have con-
veyed a traflic which we may express as 600 ton-miles — i.e. it
will be equivalent to 600 tons conveyed one mile, or 60 tons on
each line conveyed from end to end daily. If we count 300

' It has been suggested that this fall of potential would be inconvenient.
For electric lighting, it would be too great ; but in telpherage it would simply
cause a decrease in the speed of the train at the far end, and as all trains
would be equally affected, none would overtake the other, and no inconvenience
whatever would arise.

£2,500

1,400

1,000

2,500

600

268 APPLIED SCIENCE

working days in the year, the sum of 455/. gives \l. 10s. 4<d, per
diem, and the 600th part of this is about 0'61 of a penny as the
cost of the power required to carry a ton one mile. In Great
Britain we ought easily to be able to reduce this below a half-
penny per ton per mile, which proves that the apparent great
waste, even of two-thirds of the power in transmission, does not
involve prohibitory expense. In calculating the whole cost of
transport, we must further take into consideration the cost of
installation. Taking the spans at 70 feet, I estimate this cost
as follows : —

Line 500^. per mile .......

Engine, boiler, and shed, at 20^. per indicated horse-poW(
Dynamo and fittings ......

Twenty-five trains .......

Contingencies ........

Total cost • . £ 8,000

Allowing 12-^ per cent, for interest and depreciation, this repre-
sents an annual cost of 1,000Z. Allowing 100/. as the salary of
an electrician or young engineer, and adding 455/. as the cost of
the power, this gives a total annual expenditure of 1,555/. for a
daily duty of 600 ton-miles. If we continue to assume the year
as containing 300 working days, the total cost of conveying one
ton one mile will be found equal to 2 •07c/. If goods are to be
transmitted for long distances, the same calculation applies. We
should simply have stations ten miles apart, working lines five
miles long on each side of them. This, then, is the practical out-
come of the general principles stated at the beginning of this
paper. We may expect with great confidence that it will pay
investors to convey goods for any distance at the rate of 2d.
per ton per mile, by the agency of the suspended telpher line.

Second Line. — Matters are somewhat modified when the traffic
is smaller. Making similar calculations for a line one mile long
instead of five, with only four trains running at once, we might
employ an electromotive force as low as 100 volts; the loss by
heating would be insignificant ; we should require about 12 horse-
power ; the work done in eight hours would be 96 ton-miles.
I estimate the cost of installation at 1,600/., and the annual cost
of working 344/. without the annual salary of an electrician.

TELPHERAGE 269

This corresponds to 2-875fZ., or less than 3c?. per ton per mile.
One very important feature in respect to the cost of telpher lines
is the fact that the larger part of that cost is due to plant, such
as locomotives, trains, and dynamos. This plant can be in-
creased in proportion to the work required ; thus there is a very
moderate increase of cost in the rate per mile for a small traffic
as compared with a large one, and, on the other hand, a line laid
down for a small traffic will accommodate a much larger traffic
with no fresh outlay on the line itself.

There are numerous minor electrical problems involved, but
time does not permit me to enter into the consideration of these
to-night. It will be sufficient for electricians when I say that
I see my way to governing, blocking, and breaking the trains,
without ever interrupting the current used to work the motor,
except between the line and rolling wheels. We already know
that the interruption at this point, although accompanied by a
spark, does no injury whatever. I have often been asked whether
the frequent reversals involved in the cross-over system do not
tend either to injure the dynamo or the motor. I made special
experiments on this very point lately with a compound wound
Crorapton dynamo and Mr. Reckenzaun's motor with thirty-six
coils. I was unable at the commutator of the motor to detect
the_^smallest change in the motion due to the most rapid reversal.
At the dynamo commutator I could just see when the reversal
occurred, but there was no change of a character to cause the
smallest alarm. At the same time I may state that, when from
any cause reversals may be thought undesirable, we are in pos-
session of apparatus which we call ' step-overs,' which, without
diminishing the simplicity of the permanent way, enable us to
send a continuous and unreversed current. These and similar
electrical questions, such as the performance of Messrs. Ayrton
and Perry's excellent motors, might possibly have had greater
interest for electricians than some of the mechanical details dis-
cussed to-night ; but I have felt that the main point to establish,
in bringing this invention before the public, is that we have in
telpher lines a means of conveying goods in an economical manner,
by lines, locomotives, trucks, dynamos, and motors, which have
undergone their preliminary trials with success, and can be at
once applied to the more searching test of performing work for the

270 APPLIED SCIENCE

public. If I have established this fact, I think you will have no
difficulty in believing that the subsidiary electrical problems have
been, or will be brought before you in detail on many occasions
by many men. In conclusion, I will enumerate some of the uses
to which telpher lines may be put. They will convey goods,
such as grain, coals, and all kinds of minerals, gravel, sand, meat,
fish, salt, manure, fruit, vegetables ; in fact all goods which can
be divided conveniently into parcels of two or three hundred-
weight. If it were necessary, I should feel no hesitation in de-
signing lines to carry weights of 5 or 6 cwt. in each truck. The
lines will carry even larger weights, when these, like planks or
poles, can be carried by suspension from several coupled trucks.
The lines admit of steep inclines ; they also admit of very sharp
curves. Mere way leaves are required for their establishment,
since they do not interfere with the agricultural use of the ground.
They could be established instead of piers, leading out to sea,
where they would load and unload ships. With special designs,
they could even take goods from the hold of a ship and deliver
them into any floor of a warehouse miles away. When esta-
blished in countries where no road exists, the line could bring
up its own material as a railway does. Moreover, wherever these
lines are established, they will be so many sources of power,
which can be tapped at any point, for the execution of work by
the wayside. Circular saws, or agricultural implements, could be
driven by wires connected with the line, and this without stop-
ping the traffic on the line itself. In fine, while I do not believe
that the suspended telpher lines will ever compete successfully
with railways, where the traffic is sufficient to pay a dividend on
a large capital, I do believe that telpher lines will find a very
extended use as feeders to railways in old countries, and as the
cheapest mode of transport in new countries. In presenting this
view to you, I rest my argument mainly on the cost of different
modes of transport, which may, I believe, be stated approxi-
mately as follows: — Eailway, \d. per ton per mile; cartage \s.
per ton per mile ; telpher lines, Id. per ton per mile ; and let it
be remembered that, in taking the cost of cartage at Is. per
mile, the first cost and maintenance of the road is left wholly out
of account ; whereas, in my calculations for the telpher line, allow-
ance has been made both for establishment and maintenance.

271

ON TEE APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS TO
THE DETERMINATION OF THE EFFICIENCY OF
MACHINERY.'

Part I.

1. The object of the present paper is to show how, by-
graphic methods, we may find the relation between the effort
exerted at one part of a machine in motion, and the resistance
overcome at another part ; the solution found is rigorous for all
motions in one plane, and takes count of the friction, weight,
and inertia of the parts. I-t also takes into account the stiff-
ness of ropes or belts.

The paper shows that we may represent any machine, at
any given instant, by a frame of links, the stresses in which are
identical with the pressures at the joints of the machine. This
self- strained frame is called the dynamic frame of the machine,
and may be so drawn as to represent the machine either rigor-
ously, taking into account friction, weight, inertia, and rigidity,
or approximately, omitting some of the conditions under which
the machine works.

Moreover, it is shown that for all machines (in which the
motions can be represented as in one plane) the dynamic frame
is of one type, either simple or compounded. The dynamic
.analysis of machinery into parts represented by this simple
frame is believed by the author to be novel. It is consistent
with the kinematic analysis of Reuleaux.

The driving effort and the resistance are in the frame repre-
sented by stresses in links, and reciprocal figures afford an easy
method of determining the relation between those stresses so
soon as the frame has been drawn. Incidentally, the method
also gives the resultant pressure at every joint in the machine, a

> From Transactions of the Royal Society of Ediniurgli, vol. xxviii., 1877

272 Ar PLIED SCIENCE

result of considerable practical value. When the relation between
the stresses due to effort and resistance has been found, it is easy
to calculate the efficiency of a machine by taking into account
the spaces through which these stresses act in equal times, so
as to show any loss of energy which may arise from deformation,
such as may be due to the stretching of ropes.

W. J. Macquorn Rankine introduced the word ' efficiency '
to denote the ratio of the useful work done by a machine to the
vjhole work done. He showed that the efficiency of a train of
mechanism is measured by the continued product of the effi-
ciencies of all the successive pieces or combinations, and he gave
methods by which the efficiency of certain elementary pieces
and modes of connection could be ascertained. These methods
assume that in each case the effort is known in magnitude,
position, and direction ; also that the position and direction of
the resistance are known. The weight of the piece is taken
into account, but no mention is made of the resistance due to
inertia, which could, however, be treated in the same manner as
the forces due to weight.

Rankine did not carry his explanation of the subject so far
as to show how to find for any actual complete machine the
direction of the successive efforts and resistances ; nor does he
draw attention to the fact that they are interdependent. We
cannot determine the efficiency of a whole machine by calcu-
lating the efficiency of each part separately without regard to its
position in the machine, for it is this position which determines
the directions of the driving and resisting efforts. These direc-
tions cannot be found by mere kinematic analysis, but depend
not only on the form of the neighbouring parts, but also on their
friction, weight, mass, and rigidity. In many cases the chief
difficulty in determining the efficiency of a machine consists in
determining the direction and point of application of the effort
and resistance to the motion of each part. These directions are
found by the dynamic frame. The writer has endeavoured to
take up this subject where Rankine left it, and to give a general
method by which the efficiency of the great majority of actual
machines can be practically calculated. In doing this, he has
found the graphic method convenient.

Since the method adopted is based on a novel analysis of

APPLICATIOX OF GRAPHIC METHODS 273

machines, it has been found necessary to begin by some ele-
mentary definitions.

2. Elements of Machines. — All machines consist of parts so
joined that any change in the force with which one part presses
against another will produce some change in the force with
which the other parts are pressed or held together. This con-
dition obviously holds good when the parts are rigid, and it
constitutes the test whether flexible ties or elastic fluids form
part of a given machine.

A loose coil of rope cannot by this definition form part of a
machine, but a rope is part of a machine, whenever a change in
the tension of the rope changes the pressures or tensions between
other parts of that machine. Similarly, steam or water forms
part of a given machine whenever a change in the pressure of
that steam or water changes the force exerted between other parts
of that machine. This relation between the parts of a machine
is dynamic, and is more general than the kinematic relation
which exists between the rigid or inextensible parts of a machine.
A definite position or motion of one part of a machine is not in
every case accompanied by a definite motion or position of
another part, irrespective of the forces in action, neither does
the same relative position of all the parts of a machine neces-
sarily imply the same forces between the parts, but a change in
the force exerted between any two parts always implies a
change in the forces between the other parts.

The word element will in this paper be used to designate the
continuous parts of machines. Each solid element is a part
which is continuous in respect that no portion can slide upon or
break away from another portion in immediate contact with it.
Any rigid bar or structure in a machine is an element, as, for
instance, the connecting rod of an engine, the cylinder and bed
plate, the crank and fly-wheel. A belt between two pulleys, or
a rope on an axle, when these form parts of machines, are sepa-
rate elements. A slack belt or a slack rope forms no part of a
machine, since it does not fulfil the first condition of altering
the force at one end when the tension is altered at the other.
A continuous fluid forming part of a machine will be called a
fluid element. A portion of fluid is continuous when a change
of pressure at one place is transmitted by the fluid so as to change

VOL. II. T

274 APPLIED SCIENCE

the pressures tlirougliout the element. Thus the steam in tlie
cylinder of a steam-engine is a fluid element, and, strictly speak-
ing, this element comprises the steam in the pipes and in the
boiler, as well as the water in the boiler. Generally, we need
only consider the steam enclosed in the cylinder cut off and
bounded by the side valve. Wherever discontinuity of motion
occurs, a solid element will be considered as terminated or
bounded. Thus two rigid bars joined by a flexible tie will be
treated as three distinct elements. The flexibility of the tie
replaces the sliding motion at a joint which would otherwise be
required. The discontinuity of motion here insisted upon as indi-
cating the surface of separation between elements is the property
by means of which we shall be enabled to determine the relative
forces with which separate elements press on one another. Two
elements are treated as separate when at any part they are dis-
continuous, and also in certain limiting cases when the relative
motion at the surfaces of contact is infinitely small.

The elements of a machine as now defined correspond closely
with Professor Keuleaux' kinematic links. All Professor
Reuleaux' links are elements, but the definition now given of a
dynamic element would embrace certain parts of machines which
can hardly be called kinematic links, as, for instance, the steam
and water mentioned above. Each element of a machine will in
what follows be designated by a single small italic letter.

3. Joints. — The name of joints will be given to the surfaces
of separation between two elements. When the elements are
rigid, joints can occur only where there is sliding or rolling con-
tact between the elements. A surface of separation between a
flexible tie and a rigid bar will also be treated as a joint, inasmuch
as discontinuity of motion may occur at this surface similar to
that which occurs at a service of separation between rigid ele-
ments. A joint in the sense in which the word is here used is
essentially a joint between two elements. There can be no
common joint between three or more elements. In ordinary
phraseology, we speak of three or more members of a frame as
jointed at one place, and speak of the joint there as a single
joint, meaning that they all abut against a single pin; but,
in the present paper, each portion of the surface of such a pin as
bears against a single element will be spoken of as a single joint.

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 275

We shall always assume that a pin of this kind is fixed relatively
to one of the elements, so as to reduce the elements of the
machine to the smallest number. A joint will be designated by
two italic letters, being the names of the elements between which
it occurs. Thus in Fig. 1 (p. 279) there are two joints, ah and oc,
the pin being fixed on a. All actual joints are surfiices of greater
or less extent. They may be divided into three classes : — 1st.
Joints between a solid and hollow sphere ; this case includes that
of a plane resting on a plane. 2nd. A solid prismatic cylinder
inside a hollow cylinder. When the cylinder has a circular
cross section, relative turning and sliding are both possible. 3rd.
A solid screw inside a hollow screw. When the pitch is infi-
nite we have one form of case second in which only translation
is possible. When the pitch is zero we have a joint which only
allows of rotation and is the joint or bearing most commonly met
with in machinery. The third case is the most general, and may
be considered as including the two others as special forms. The
solid and hollow cylinder, which allow simple rotation of one
element relatively to another, will be called the pin and eye of a
joint.

A dynamic joint occurs wherever pairing occurs, the word
' pairing ' being used in the sense given it by Professor Reuleaux.
The kinematic pair as defined by him differs from the dynamic
joint in respect that complete pairing implies closure or complete
restraint except in one direction. Moreover, Professor Reuleaux
is able to classify pairs with reference to the mode of closure.
A dynamic joint implies no restraint other than that given by
the force exerted in the line of bearing pressure. All portions
of the pair might be cut away, except a surface of sufficient
strength round the bearing point ; distinctions between force
closure, pair closure, link closure, have no dynamic signification ;
and restraint, such as that afforded by collars on bearings, is of
no importance dynamically when the machine is properly de-
signed. A short distinction may be made between a dynamic
joint and a kinematic pair, by saying that the latter might be
self-strained by imperfect fitting, while the former cannot be
self-strained.

In certain cases the surface in contact may approximately
be represented by lines, as in what Professor Reuleaux calls

276 APPLIED SCIENCE

the liiglier pairs, and we may even conceive a class of joint
wliicli requires only points of the elements to be in contact, as
where a sphere is pressed against a plane. In connection with
geometrical diagrams, the word 'joint' will be applied to points
round which intersecting lines may be said to turn relatively to
one another. Geometrical joints of this kind will generally be
designated by a single capital letter.

4. Definifion of a ComjMe MacJiine. — The object of ma-
chinery, considered dynamically, is the application 'of energy,
or, in more popular language, power, to the performance of use-
ful work, and the name complete machine may be given to any
combination of elements so joined that the energy developed in
one element, or between two elements, is, by the relative motion
of the elements, enabled to do useful work in overcoming a re-
sistance exerted either by one element or between two elements.
A complete machine is self-contained, and the internal^ action
between its parts can change neither its momentum nor its
angular momentum. Most actual machines have one portion
fixed relatively to the eai-th, which then becomes part of one
element of the machine.

5. Lines of Bearing Pressure.— The elements of a complete
machine are so held together at the joints by the forces which
are in play when the machine is in action, that each element of
the machine occupies a determinate position relatively to all the
others, and presses against its neighbours at each joint with a
force determinate in magnitude, direction, and position. A given
position of the parts does not necessarily imply constant forces
at the joints, but it does imply a determinate relation between
the forces at the joints. A line indicating the direction and
position of the equal and opposite resultant forces at a joint will
be called a line of bearing pressure. In consequence of friction,
a line of bearing pressure where it cuts the joint, must, when
the machine is in motion, make an angle with the common
normal to the surfaces equal to the angle of repose, or angle of
which the tangent is equal to the coefficient of friction for
the surfaces at the joint, and must be so inclined that the
force exerted by the one element on the other has a tangential
component directly opposed to the sliding of the second ele-
ment relatively to the first. This condition will hereafter be

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 277

frecjuently referred to, and will, for brevity, be spoken of as the
condition that the bearing jDressure shall make the stated angle
with the joint.

6. Driving Element and Resisting Element — Driving Llnlc and
Resisting LinJc. — The source of power in a machine is often con-
tained in a single element, which is usually so combined with
the others as to exert equal and opposite forces in two directions,
and only in two directions. The steam in a cylinder of a steam-
engine affords one example of this kind of element, which will
be called a driving element. If the directions of the equal and
opposite forces exerted by the driving element lie in the same
straight line, the power tends to lengthen or shorten the element
in a definite direction. The two forces in this case tend to
separate or draw together the other elements with which the
first is jointed, as a straight elastic link would do if extended or
compressed so that its line of action coincided with the direction
of the forces exerted by the driving element. We may there-
fore conceive an actual driving element as replaced by an ideal
elastic link producing the same force at the above-named joints.
Some machines have no material driving element, but are ac-
tuated by an attraction or repulsion between two of their ele-
ments, as, for example, when a machine is driven by a w^eight.
In this case, as in the former case, we may conceive the machine
as driven by an ideal elastic link between two elements. This
link is as well suited to replace the equal and opposite forces
due to gravitation as the equal and opposite forces due to steam.
If the two opposite and equal forces exerted by a driving element
do not lie in one straight line, these forces exert a couple between
the elements with which the driving element is jointed ; a
similar couple may be exerted by the forces of attraction or re-
pulsion between two elements. In either case, the machine
may be considered as actuated by an ideal couple due to the
elastic reactions of two links. What has been said of the driv-
ing power applies mutatis mutandis to the useful work done by
a machine. In some cases the work is actually done in lengthen-
ing or shortening a separate resisting element, as when a bale
of cotton is compressed. In other cases an attraction or re-
pulsion is overcome between two elements, as when a weight
is lifted. In both these cases we may conceive the resistance

278 APPLIED SCIENCE

as represented by an ideal elastic link exerting definite, equal,
and opposite forces in a definite position and direction. This
ideal resisting link is equally suited to express the resistance
by which cohesion, friction, or inertia opposes the relative
motion of two elements. When the resisting element, or the
resistance due to the united action of two elements, gives rise to
a resisting couple, this resistance may be represented by two
ideal links between two elements. Thus, we see that in every
machine where there is only one sdurce of power, we may re-
present that source by one ideal link (or two ideal links) con-
necting two elements, and acting on these elements as one
member (or two members) of a strained frame acts on the rest
of the structure. The name of driving link will be given to
ideal links of this kind. The name of resisting linh will simi-
larly be given to ideal links used to represent the useful resist-
ance in a machine. In all cases the cause of motion and the
useful resistance must be considered as an action between two
elements. We cannot properly speak of a driving point or
resisting point, but only of driving or resisting links.

7. Linls. — Di/nainic Frame. — Any actual material element
might at any' instant be removed from a machine without
altering the stresses on the other elements, if at each joint thus
laid bare, force could be applied corresponding in position, mag-
nitude, and direction wath the pressure supplied at that instant,
and at that joint by the element removed. The series of forces
supplied by any one element are necessarily such as would, when
balanced by equal and opposite forces, leave the element in equi-
librium. If, therefore, an element has only two bearing joints
and is without weight or inertia, the forces it supplies must
lie in one straight line, and either push or pull, as the member
of an actual frame does, when under simple tension or compres-
sion ; the element, in fact, acts like one link of a frame, as
shown in Fig. 2, where the element a might be replaced' by the
link ], shown by the line on which arrow-heads are placed.
The ideal link replacing the actual element does not necessarily
or generally lie in the geometrical axis of the element. When

' The writer has iu this paper ventured to use the verb 'to replace ' as it is
usually emplo.yed by writers on chemistry, namely, as the translation of the
P'r(>nch word rrmphiccr.

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS

79

tliere are three bearing joints in an element having no weight
or mass, the tliree lines of pressure must lie in one plane, and
either be parallel or intersect in one point. Any one of the

forces supplied may be looked upon as the equilibraut of the
two others. The forces which this element supplies might
therefore be replaced by three ideal half links, each coinciding
in position and direction with the line of bearing pressure at the

28o APPLIED SCIENCE

three joints, and all counected by an ideal geometrical joint
without friction at the point of intersection (which, in the case
of parallel forces, will be at an infinite distance). Thus element
A, Fig. 3, may be replaced by the half links 1, 2, 3, intersecting
at the geometrical joint B, Fig. 3a ; links 1 and 3 would be
half links in tension, link 2 a half link in compression. The
direction of the arrows shows the direction of the stress in the
links replacing h. The directions of the links 1, 2, and 3 do
not coincide with those of the geometrical axes of a, c, and d ;
indeed, these elements may be stiff bars having many other
joints; but if we know that the element h is moving relatively
to a, c, and ci5, as shown by the arrow, then one condition deter-
mining the directions of links 1, 2, 3 is given us, for these
directions must make the stated angle with the surfaces of the
joints 6a, fee, hd. In Fig. 3a the links 1, 2, and 3 are therefore
shown, not passing through the centres of the circles at the
joints, but passing on that side of the centre on which the force
represented in the link would resist the motion of the pins sup-
posed to be fast on h. The small arrows. Fig. 3a, show the
direction of rotation of these pins, and these arrows are lettered
h to indicate that they represent the motion of element h rela-
tively to a, c, and d. This plan of indicating the relative motion
of the surfaces at joints will be followed in future diagrams. It
will always be assumed that the pin is fixed in the element in-
dicated by the letter at the arrow. When there are more than
three joints, the forces supplied at each joint are such as would
be given by a series of half links, one for each joint, correspond-
ing with each line of bearing pressure, and themselves joined
by other links, so as to form a frame which would be in equili-
brium under the action of external forces equal to those in the
half links. ^ Thus any one of these forces may be looked upon
as the equilibrant of the others, and as acting upon them
through a series of links which are subject only to compression
or tension. In Fig. 4, p. 281, if the member 6 is jointed with
members a, c, d, and e by four parallel pins, we might replace h
in any machine by the four half links, in Fig. 4a, 1, 3, 4, and
5 and a complete link 2, joining the intersection of 1 and 5 with

' Jn this frame it might be necessary to include at least one stiff bar or
frame to meet oppotsite and equal couples.

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS

281

tliut of 3 and i ; this hist liuk will be iu equilibrium under the
action of the forces acting on />, as shown in the half links. In
a more complicated example the link 2 might be replaced by a

complete frame, or by a rigid plate. Since the forces acting on
one element either intersect at one point or in a series of points
which may be joined by other links, we may always designate
the point or points in question by the same letter of the

282 APPLIED SCIENCE

alphabet as is used to denote the element. The geometrical
intersections will be marked by capital letters, whereas the ele-
ments are marked by italics. When there are several geome-
trical joints for one element, these joints will be denoted by the
same letter, but distinguished from each other by sufhxes. The
substitution of links or half links for an actual element may
be effected even when forces are parallel, if we admit joints at an
infinite distance. If, now, all the elements of a machine, in their
relative positions at any one instant, be removed in succession,
and replaced by their equivalent links or half links, we shall
substitute for the original machine a self-strained frame of links
such that the stress in each link passing through a joint will be
in all respects equal to that on the joint, while the stresses in
the driving and resisting links will rejDresent the effort and use-
ful resistance in the machine. Each half link at a joint of one
element is necessarily met and completed by the other half link
in the same line, due to the reaction of the second element.

The self-strained frame, composed of links, as described
above, will be called the dynamic frame of the machine with its
elements in the given relative position.

8. Example. — An example will probably assist in showing
what is meant by the dynamic frame. Let a machine be com-
posed as the six elements, a, b, c, d, e,f, joined as in Fig. 5, p. 279.
Let e be the driving element, and / the resisting element. We
will suppose in this and in the following examples that the
resulting forces all lie in one plane, although the figures may
not show the split joints necessary to ensure this result. For
the present, the effect of weight and inertia will be neglected.
The machine shown is a complete machine ; the element d has
two joints, the elements a and c have three joints, and the ele-
ment h has four joints. The dynamic frame may be drawn as-
suming the friction at the joints to be insensible, or it may be
drawn taking friction into account. In the former case it will
be represented as in Fig. 5a, which is obtained as follows : —
Link 1 may first be drawn through the axis of e, for we know
that the half links at the joints ae, eh must lie normally to the
surface of these joints (being frictionless), and must therefore lie
in one straight line, passing through the centre of the pins at
ae and eh. For similar reasons we draw 5 and 6 throuo'h the

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 283

axes of elements A and /. The forces exerted by the elements d
and e on the element a must be balanced by the force due to
the third joint at, therefore the direction of this balancing force
must pass through the intersection of 1 and 5, and must be
normal to the surface of the pin at ah. We therefore are now-
able to draw the link 2. For similar reasons we must draw the
link 4 through the centre of the pin at c&, and through the inter-
section of the lines 5 and 6. The element h is in equilibrium
under the action of the four forces acting at the four joints ; in
other words, the resultant of 2 and 4 must be equal and opposite
to the resultant of 1 and 6, so that we may complete the dynamic
frame by drawing the link 3 as shown ; this last link, however,
W'Ould be equally well placed as shown in Fig. hh^ where it joins
the intersection of 2 and 6 with that of 1 and 4. Both the
frames shown in Fig. 5ft or Fig. hh are kinematically equivalent
to the actual machine shown in Fig. 5 in the following sense : A
given small contraction of the element e would, supposing all
the other elements to be rigid, produce a definite extension of
the element/ in the actual machine. A small contraction in
link 1 equal to that in element e would, supposing all the other
links of the frame inextensible, produce an extension in link 6
equal to that produced in /in the machine. We may calculate
the relation between the stresses in e and / by the relative rates
of their contraction and extension, that is to say, by the principle
of virtual velocities, or we may calculate the relative stresses
between links 1 and 6 of the frame by the ordinary principles
of statics, for instance, by a ' reciprocal figure.' ' The ratio
between the stresses in e and / and that between the stresses in
1 and 6 would be identical, whichever method were adopted.
It need hardly be said that the method by virtual velocities
would be much the simpler. It is not until we wish to take
friction into account that the utility of the dynamic frame
becomes apparent. In order to take friction into account we
have to change the form of the frame only in this respect, that
the links, instead of being normal to the surface of each joint,
must be inclined so as to make the angle of repose with the
normal to that joint, and must be so placed that the reaction due

' Vide J. Clerk Maxwell on Reciprocal Figures, Phil. l\fag., April 1864 ;
nd Fleeming Jenkin, Trans. lio;/. Soc. Ed.,vo\. xxv. 1869

284 APPLIED SCIENCE

to the elasticity of the link — or, iu other words, the stress in the
link — may oppose the motion of rotation of the pin in the eye
of the link ; in brief, the link must make the stated angle with
the surface of the joint. In the present example, where all the
joints are made by circular pins and eyes, this is readily done
by making the directions of the links tangent to, and on the
proper side of, circles drawn with their centres at the centres of
the pins, and having each a radius equal to r sin (j), where r is
the radius of the pin in question, and ^ is the angle of which the
tangent is equal to the coefficient of friction for the surfaces in
.question.

These circles will, iu what follows, be called friction circles.
The following mnemonic rules w^ill be found useful in selecting
the side of the circle to which any given link must be tangent.
Case 1. When the link represents an element with only two
joints, and therefore does not end in any geometrical joint named
by the same letter as an element. Consider the link as termin-
ating in an eye which rotates on a pin fastened to the other
element. Mark by an arrow the direction of rotation of the pin
inside the eye. Mark also by an arrow the direction of the
force exerted by the link at the joint, then place the tangent so
that the force indicated by the arrow in the link appears to
oppose the motion of the pin. It must be remembered that the
arrow indicating the direction of the force exerted by the link
may, in the diagrams, frequently be found at the end of the link
furthest from the joint. Case 2. When the link ends in a
geometrical joint marked with the letter denoting the element
in which any pin is fast, then the arrow on the half link next
that geometrical joint must point as if opposing the motion of
the pin relatively to the other element.

Fig. 5c, p. 279, shows the dynamic frame when the friction at
the joints has been taken into account, or, as it may be called,
the dynamic frame ivith friction. Eight friction circles are first
drawn, arrows are placed on the links, as in Fig. 5ci, to indicate
whether these are in tension or compression ; the directions of
stress are by hypothesis known in links 1 and 6, and we easily
see what must be the direction of stress in the other links to
keep links 1 and 6 in equilibrium. We uext put arrows at
each friction circle in Fig. 5c, showing the motion of each pin

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 2S5

relatively to its eye when e contracts, and /' is lengthened ;
before doing this, we must choose in which element the pin is
to be fixed. The links of the dynamic frame are then drawn
tangent to the friction circles, so as to make the stated angle
with the surface of each joint. The point w^here the pin bears
against the eye, marked by a dot on the surface of each pin
will aid in showing the meaning of the diagram, as explained in
§ 7. The italic letters near the arrows denote the element in
which the pin is fast, and the arrows show the direction of
rotation of that element relatively to the other element of the
joint. If/ were made the driver the direction of these rotations
would all be reversed, and consequently the links would all have
to cross over to the other sides of the friction circles. This
would materially alter the form of the diagram, and in many
machines would result in an impracticable diagram, showino-
that the machine cannot be driven backwards.

9. Modification of the Dynamic Frame- — Couples. — When any
element of a machine is in equilibrium under the forces applied
at two joints the dynamic link will in direction and position
correspond more or less closely with the direction in which the
element of the machine lies between the joints. Thus, when
the machine constitutes a material frame in one plane, as in
Fig. 6, p. 281 the dynamic frame, Fig. 6a, will have a general
resemblance to the machine. The similarity between the actual
frame composed of material links and the ideal dynamic frame
in this case must not lead the reader to expect that he will
always be able to identify a link in the dynamic frame as cor-
responding to an element in the actual machine. Half a dyna-
mic link corresponds to each joint of the machine, and there
may be dynamic links which, like link 3 of Fig. 5, have no cor-
responding joint in the machine, but the dynamic link will only
correspond with an actual element when the number of joints
in the latter is limited to two. Since a two-jointed element has
a link resembling it, we may sometimes name this link by the
letter of the element ; thus, all the links of 6a might be called
indifferently by the letter of the element or the number assigned
to the link ; but in Fig. hh or 5c, we can name only the link 5 by
the letter of an element. In fact, the capital letter always signifies

286 APPLIED SCIENCE

au ideal joint, but in cases like tliat of link 5 this ideal joint is any
point in a given straight line. When the dynamic joints are at
an infinite distance owing to the parallelism of certain links
it is convenient to substitute ideal stiff frames, bars, or plates
joining the parallel links and acting as the actual rigid elements
or stiff frames would do, with the exception that the joints be-
tween the ideal bars and links are frictionless ; this substitution
may also be made when the links are nearly parallel. It is clear
that, by the ordinary method of statics, we might calculate the
relative stresses in all the links of the frame in Fig. 5, if
we were to imagine links 1, 2, 5, and 4 joined by a stiff
bar or triangular frame to which they were jointed without fric-
tion ; this gives a modified dynamic frame, as shown in Fig. hd.
The position of this stiff bar is unimportant, but when used to
connect parallel links, it is conveniently drawn perpendicular to
these. When the links are not all in one plane, these bars
become imaginary rigid plates or stiff frames. The rigid bars
will be shown in the diagram by thicker lines than the links.

A couple in an actual machine can only be exerted between
hico elements which are acted upon in opposite directions.
There is no such thing as ' a solitary couple ' in nature ;
we always find a pair of equal and opposite couples, as we find
a pair of equal and opposite forces. Two equal and opposite
couples require two rigid elements between which they are
exerted, and these elements appear in the modified dynamic
frame as two rigid bars, perpendicular to the forces producing
the couples. Fig. 7 shows a simple machine in which the
driving link of Fig. 6 is replaced by a driving couple between the
elements a and 6. The driving couple is indicated by the two
springs e and e,, which it is assumed are producing exactly equal
and opposite stresses between a and h in two parallel directions.
Fig. la shows the dynamic frame for this machine with friction.
First we draw the links 1 and la tangent to the friction circles
for the joints ea, e&, e,a, e^^. The distance between the links 1
and \a shows the arm of the driving couple as diminished by
friction ; next we draw links 4 and 5 by the rules already given,
then, remembering that the force in link 5 at joint ad must pro-
duce an equal and parallel bearing pressure on the pin at the
joint (//, we draw this bearing pressure tangent to the friction

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 287

circle, so as to make the stated nngle with the sni-face of the
joiut ; we also draw the bearing pressure due to element ?;, on
another part of the same pin. The intersection of these lines of
pressure gives the djmamic joint through which the pull of link
6 must be exerted ; this link is now drawn, and the diagram
completed by the two bars drawn perpendicular to links 4 and 5
respectively. Let P, be the force of the original couple, and D the
distance between links 1 and la. Let A be the distance between
the lines of bearing pressure on element a ; then P^, the

P D

stress in link 5, is given by the expression P^ =—5 — . Similarly

A.

P D
P4 = -J^. The stresses in links 4 and 5 being known give the

stress in link 6 by the simple composition of forces. ' The
portion of Fig. 7 referring to the material means of producino-
the two couples does not necessarily belong to the diagram ; the
couple between a and h may in certain cases be produced by
some other machine, being, in fact, the resisting couple of that
other machine, and in that case the efficiency of the means of
producing the couple must be determined by an examination of
the first or driving machine. This case is, in fact, one case of
compound machinery, and will be treated hereafter. Li what
follows, a driving couple may be occasionally described as ex-
isting between two elements, without reference to the mode
in which it is applied ; a resisting couple may be spoken of in
the same manner.

10. Assumptio^i that the Linls of Frame lie in one Plane. — One
object of our investigation is to find a means of ascertaining the
efficiency of any mechanical arrangement — the word ' efficiency '
being understood in the sense given it by Rankine — as the
ratio of the useful work done in a machine to the whole work
or energy expended. Now Rankine (' Millwork,' § 371 A) has
pointed out certain conditions which must be fulfilled to give
the highest efficiency in any design, viz. : First, that the useful
resistance to the motion of any element, the effort to move it
and the force due to the weight of the part must lie nearly in
one plane, or else act in directions parallel to one another • and
secondly, that the acting parts must not overhang the bearino-g.
Injurious couples are introduced if these conditions are not

288 APPLIED SCIENCE

fulfilled. Rankine's conditions are, however, generally fulfilled
in all important designs of machinery, and when this is the case
we may, without serious error, assume all the actions to take
place in one plane parallel to the plane of action in the machine,
and this hypothesis will be adopted in all that follows when the
contrary is not stated.

11. Simple and Compound Dynamic Frames. — The dynamic
frame of a complete machine must contain a driving link or
couple and a resisting link or couple, together with the links
necessary to connect the driving and resisting links or couples
in such a way as to form a self-strained frame. A complete
machine may be either simple or compound. Simple machines
are those having dynamic frames which cannot be decomposed
into two or more self-strained frames, such that the resisting
link or couple of the one becomes the driving link or couple of
the other. Compound machines have dynamic frames so formed
that they can be decomposed into the frames of simple machines
so connected that the resisting link of one becomes the driving
link of the next. If we exclude rigid bars as members, there is
only one frame which can be self-strained, and which is yet in-
capable of analysis into two distinct self-strained frames. This
frame has been already described, and consists of a quadrilateral,
with two diagonals, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, p. 281 . There is no
essential difference between those two figures, which each consist
of a quadrilateral figure 2, 3, 4, 5, having opposed angles joined
by the two links 1 and 6. This simplest self-strained frame will be
shown to be the dynamic frame of many elementary combinations
in machinery. The driving and resisting links may in this
frame be arranged in two ways. 1 . They may, as in the examples
hitherto given, be represented by two links, such as 1 and 6,
2 and 4, or 3 and 5, which are not joined together ; any one of
these pairs may be considered as diagonals of a quadrilateral
ioined by the four remaining links, and each pair may be called
coniugate links. For the convenience of description, when these
link are placed as 2 and 4, or 1 and 6, Fig. 8, they may be called
opposite links. 2. The driving and resisting links may be ad-
jacent ; that is to say, they may, as in the case of 1 and 4, or 2
and 6, have a common intersection or joint. When the driving
and resisting links are adjacent, as 1 and 4, those links which

APPLICATIOy OF GRAPHIC METHODS 289

do not abut at the intersection of the two adjacent links' need
not represent bearing pressures at working joints, as will be seen
by considering an actual machine coiTesponding to the dynamic
frame, as, for instance, that of Fig. 11, p. 292 ; the three elements
corresponding in this case to links 2, 5, and 6 will then simply
constitute a stiff system or frame, which might be replaced by a
single rigid element. When this is the case the machine will
belong to class 2, the dynamic frame of which is that of Fig. 1 0,
p. 281, in which a bar is substituted for links 2, 5, and G. When
treating of compound machines, we shall find reason to consider
machines of class 2 rather as half machines than complete simple
machines. When couples are admitted in place of drivino- and
resisting links, the dynamic frame necessarily includes two stiff
bars, between which the couple or couples act. We then have
three cases : — 1. The resisting and driving couples may act
between the same pair of stiff bars. This gives a dynamic frame of
merely two bars, with the two pairs of links by which the couples
are exerted. 2. A driving or resisting couple between two bars
may be combined with a resisting or driving link between the
same bars. 3. A resisting couple or a driving couple may, in
the quadrilateral of Figs. 8 and 9, be substituted for any link,
the couple being exerted between two bars replacing two links,
which, together with the link removed, form a triangle. When
we examine the usual combinations of elementary parts forming
actual machines, we shall in all cases find that these combinations
may be represented by a dynamic frame of one of the classes
described.

12. Efficiency of Elements. — The relation between the energy
exerted and the useful work done in a machine is affected by a
loss of energy in transmission through the elements, as well as
by a loss in transmission past the joints. At each joint we may
say that only a certain fraction of the energy received is trans-
mitted, the remainder being wasted in overcoming useless

' In the frame of the machine shown in Fig. 45, p. 323, links 1 and 6
might be drawn so as to appear adjacent, by placing link 4 so as to join the
intersection of 1 and 6 with that of 2 and 5. The links 2, 3, 5, do not, however,
in this example, form a stiff frame, and the machine belongs to class 1. This
is obvious when link 4 is placed so as to join the intersection of 1 and 5 with
that of 2 and 6. Machines of class 2 have only 5 working joints.

VOL. II. U

290 APPLIED SCIENCE

friction ; the fraction transmitted is the measure of the efficiency
of the joint (Rankine). Let this fraction be called /. Similarly,
let the ratio between the energy received and that transmitted
by each element be called e, then the efficiency of the whole
machine consisting of a linear train of joints and elements will
be the product J^JJ^ . . . . x e,e^Q^ .... This formula is,
however, of little practical use, because the values of J,^J^^ etc.,
are materially influenced by the directions of the forces at each
joint, and these cannot be assumed for one joint independently
of the others. In other words, the values of / are not inde-
pendent of one another. The value of the product J^J^J^, . .
. . etc., can only be found by solving a large number of trouble-
some simultaneous equations, or by means of the dynamic frame.
With respect to 616263 .... we must distinguish between two
cases. 1. Those in which the element is in equilibrium under
the external forces independently of any progressive change in
its own form. 2. Those in which the element is not in equilibrium
under the forces applied at the joints. As an example of the first
class, I may take a straight rope used to transmit power. Al-
though the rope stretches, yet the whole pull at one end is trans-
mitted to the other end, but there is a loss of work, because the
distance traversed by the driving end is greater than that
traversed by the following end. In all cases of this kind the
values of e are not only independent of one another, bat do not
affect the values of /. They do not alter the relation between
effort and resistance, and their aggregate effect is easily taken
into account ; e for each element is a constant fraction, which
can be independently determined, and the fraction expressing
the efficiency of the machine will be the product of two factors — -
first, the efficiency as found by the dynamic frame, and secondly,
a coefficient obtained by multiplying together all the values of
6,6363, etc., for the elements concerned. When the energy thus
employed acts against a reciprocating resistance in the elements,
as where it bends the beam of an engine, it is without influence
on the whole efficiency for a complete cycle of operations, such
as a whole revolution of the crank. It simply alters the
relative efficiency at different periods of the stroke, and may,
therefore, generally be neglected. Where, however, the lost
work is done against a non-reciprocating force, as in stretching

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 291

a rope, it cannot be safely neglected, and leads to sensible dimi-
nution of efficiency, as where power is transmitted by belts and
pulleys. Coming to the second class of cases, it is clear that when
a heavy element is being lifted, lowered, accelerated, or retarded
it is not in equilibrium under the action of the external forces
at the joints calculated in the manner hitherto described ; we
shall, however, hereafter include the forces due to these causes
in calculating the forces at the joints, and there remains only
one mode in which a loss of energy occurs in the course of its
transmission by an element, namely, its dissipation in over-
coming an internal couple. This case finds an illustration in the
case of a rope wound on to a pulley, or unwound from one ; the
pull on the rope is not transmitted in a direct line, as we have
hitherto supposed, but in consequence of the couple required to
bend or unbend the rope, the line of action is shifted sideways

through a length — , where m is the moment of the couple, and

F the force transmitted. This translation of the force affects the
values of / for all the subsequent joints. It can be represented
in the dynamic frame by showing the line of action of the
force shifted parallel to itself in a disadvantageous direction.
If in the given problem we knoAV the useful resistance, we must,
in constructing the diagram, shift the force at the driving end ;
vice versa, if the driving effort is known, we must shift the force
at the resisting end. The fraction expressing the loss of efficiency
due to this cause is not, like that due to friction or stretching,
independent of the magnitude of the forces involved, but will, on
the contrary, always involve complete inefficiency when the
force is very small, and implies a gradually increasing efficiency
as the force transmitted increases. Thus, a small force exerted
on a stiff rope passing over a pulley produces no effect on the
further side, because it is insufficient to bend the rope. The
loss by an internal couple always diminishes the resistance which
a given driving effort can overcome, whereas the loss of internal
work done in overcoming a single force has not this effect. The
case of the transmission of power by fluids in pipes will be ex-
amined in a subsequent paper, after machines composed of solid
parts have been analysed.

13. Simjile Machinef<. — Lever. — het a, Fig. 11, be a lever to

292

APPLIED SCIENCE

which a driving effort is applied by the spring e, and a resist-
ance by the spring /. Let the lever have a fulcrum or bearing
in the element h to which the elements e and / are jointed,

■ Fi^lZ

1

u

^

%

1©

>•

fy

Fig J4

making a complete or self-contained machine. This system is
a self-strained frame, with one stiff bar, namely, the lever. The
bar in this, as in the other drawings, may be regarded as the
symbol of a stiff frame, the form or design of which is unim-

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 293

portant in the given question.' The relation between the
longitudinal stresses in the elements e, /, ?>, is given by the
dynamic frame, Fig. 11a, which takes the friction into account at
all the joints. The friction circles are drawn for joints ae, afc, a/,
he, and l)f\ the circle for the joint hf is, for clearness in the
diagram, supposed to be a little larger than that for he. Arrows
are placed at each friction circle to denote the motion of one
part relatively to the other at the joints ; each arrow is marked
with the letter of the element, the motion of which it denotes ;
thus, at the joint ae the arrow marked a shows that, when the
driving element e moves the lever, the rotation of a is left-handed
relatively to e. Similarly, the arrow marked h at the joints he
and hf denotes that, relatively to e and /, the rotation of h is
right-handed. The letter h also denotes that the pin is fixed in
h ; (it is not a matter of indifference in which element this pin
is fixed). Links 1, 3, and 4 can now be drawn, each tangent to
their two friction circles. We choose the side on which to draw
them as follows : — The forces acting on A balance one another,
and therefore meet in one point marked A (Fig. 11a) ; the
directions of the forces acting on a are marked by three arrow-
heads near A, and the equal opposite forces by opposite arrow-
heads near B. The links 1 and 4 appear as compression links
in the dynamic frame, whereas they are tension links in the
machine. The direction of the stress is also reversed in link 3.
In explanation it must be remembered that the point A repre-
sents the lever, while the bar B^BBj,, which may be drawn
anywhere between the links, represents the element h. The
links must be placed on that side of the circles where the arrow-
heads of the forces acting on a (shown near A) oppose the
motion of the arrows a, while the arrow-heads of the forces
acting on h (shown near B) oppose the motion of the
arrow h. The manner of drawing the figure for this ex-
ample has been described in fuller detail than will in future
be thought necessary. The relation between the driving
effort in link 1 and the resistance in link 4 can be found from
Fig. 11a by the ordinary graphical or trigonometrical methods.

' "When the method of reciprocal figures is used to find the stresses in the
links, it will be necessary in all cases to substitute a stifE frame of 3 links for
the bars shown in the diagrams.

294 APPLIED SCIENCE

l^he conception of a complete machine lias not been recognised
by any writer on mechanics as necessary for the statement
of problems connected with the lever. If, however, these
problems are to be practical, and not confined to abstrac-
tions, such as ' forces applied to points,' they do require the
consideration of a complete machine, as here drawn. The fric-
tion at ah is usually taken into account ; that at ae and af is
more generally neglected, and the friction at he and hf has
perhaps never been thought of as an essential part of the
problem. The reason of the neglect is clear. The forces re-
presented by links 1 and 4 are in many problems due to at-
traction between some parts of elements a and ?>, as, for instance,
when these forces are due to weights actually forming part of
the element a, and attracted by the earth which supports, and
is indeed part of, the element h. In this case the joints ae, a/,
he^ and hf are frictionless, or may be said to disappear as joints.
When the weights are hung by pins at ae and aj\ the friction at
those pins must be taken into account, and whenever the forces
represented by links 1 and 4 are due to another machine, to
springs, or any other material element, the problem requires all
the circumstances to be takea into account which are indicated
in \h.Q dynamic frame as shown.

14. Wheel and Axle. — The wheel and axle, with its driving
element, resisting element, and bearing, forms a complete
machine when the parts are connected, as shown in Fig. 12.
The wheel and axle constitute the element a, and the other
elements have names given to them corresponding to those for
the lever. The dynamic frame is shown in Fig. 12rt. When
the wheel and axle are circular, there is no friction at joints eb
and f/> ; moreover, the pins and eyes which form the joints at ea
and fa are replaced by the flexible rope. There is no friction at
the joint eft, since e does not rotate relatively to i, and we may
therefore assume that the force in the tie e is uniformly dis-
tributed relatively to its cross section : the resultant force, there-
fore, will pass through the centre of the pin at e6, and similarly
the resultant of the resistance will pass through the centre of
the pin at fh. If the ropes were perfectly flexible we might,
in Fig. 12a, draw links 1 and 4 from the centres of the pins at
eh and/&, tangent to the dotted circles drawn with the effective

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 295

radii of the wheel and of the axle ; from their intersection link
3 would be drawn tangent to the friction circle for the joint ah.
The stiffness of the rope must, however, be taken into account,
and this can be done by drawing links 1 and 4 as broken links,
of which the lower halves are drawn as above described, while
the upper halves represent the lines of action of the forces shifted
sideways. The driving link is brought nearer the centre of a, and
the resisting link removed further from this centre. The dis-
tances d and fZj, by which each half link is shifted, are given by

the expressions d=-~^ d^ = — i, where m orm^ is the moment of

^ ^ 1

the couple required to bend the given rope to the given radius,
and P or Pj is the stress in the link. It must be remembered
that this stress is not the same in the driving and resisting
links, and that if we are given the stress in e we must proceed,
by ti'ial and error or simultaneous equations, to find the stress
in / before we can determine exactly the distance by which the
link 4 is shifted. When the ropes are long, their efficiency
must also be taken into account, when our object is to com-
pare energy exerted with work done. When we simply wish to
compare effort and resistance, the loss of energy due to the
stretching of the rope may be neglected. Inasmuch as the
axes of elements e and / are assumed to lie in parallel planes,
perpendicular to the axis of a, the forces in the elements e and
/(unless parallel) give rise to an injurious couple on the bear-
ings, which, except when these are very far apart relatively to
the distance between the planes of e and/, sensibly diminishes
the efficiency of the machine.

15. Inclined Plane. — The idea involved in problems on the
' inclined plane ' is that one element, sliding on another with
a plane joint between them, shall be employed to maintain
equilibrium between forces applied to the sliding element in a
plane perpendicular to the joint. We may embody this idea
in a simple complete machine, as shown in Fig. 13, where h is a
fixed element, e a driving element jointed to ?>and a, the sliding
piece having a plane joint with h ; / the resisting element
jointed with h and a; the axes of e and /are in a plane j)erpen-
dicular to the joint ah. We have here a self-strained combination
fulfilling all the required conditions. The dynamic frame with

296 APPLIED SCIENCE

friction is shown in Fig. \oa. Links 1 and 4 are drawn tangent to
tlie friction circles, and link 3 is drawn from tbeir intersection
A, making the stated angle with the plane joint ah. The bar 2
may be drawn anywhere, but is conveniently shown parallel
to the joint «&. When link 1 coincides with link 3 or makes a
greater angle with the joint ah than link 3 does, the mechanism
will not work.

16. Die Hanging Fulleij. — The hanging pulley becomes a
complete simple machine, when the driving element and resist-
ing element are attached to a common element, as shown in
Fig. 1.4 ; & is the fixed element, e the rope by which the effort is
exerted, a the pulley, / the element on which useful work is
done. Links 1 and 4 are drawn for the dynamic frame in two
parts as shown ; the moment of the couple dividing the parts
being that required to bend and unbend the rope, and its force
the force exerted on the rope. The pulley will take up a posi-
tion in which the link 3 drawn tangent to its two friction circles
cuts the intersection of 1 and 4 at A.

It is curious to observe that while Professor Eeuleaux has
very properly rejected the lever, inclined plane, hanging pulley,
and wheel and axle, as elements of kinematic analysis, neverthe-
less these so-called mechanical powers do furnish the character-
istic features of four simple machines of class 2 in which the
number of elements is restricted to four. We shall find that
the wedge is a characteristic feature in a simple machine with
six dynamic links of class \. These considerations show that
dynamical and not kinematical reasoning guided the mecha-
nicians who selected the so-called ' powers.'

17. Exam^de of a com^olete Mad uine having a Dynamic Frame
of Six Linlxs. — A steam-engine with an oscillating cylinder,
steam piston and piston rod to represent element e, and a pump
to represent element /, as sketched in Fig. 15, affords an
example closely approximating to a simple machine of class 1 ;
the typical dynamic frame of this engine has already been shown
in Fig. 6, and is here repeated with the slight variation that the
pins are supposed to be fastened to h and d instead of e and /.
It must be observed that the stress cannot be axial either in the
driving or resisting elements ; indeed, these parts are not true
elements, for there is a joint between two elements in each of

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS

297

them. They, in fact, with the links of the quadrilateral, con-
stitute a machine working a machine such as will be discussed
when treating of compound machines ; similarly, when we re-

present the driving and resisting element by springs, as in the
foregoing cases, we might have observed that in an actual
spring the stress would not be strictly axial. In most practical
cases, however, the stress will be so nearly axial that for the

298 APPLIED SCIENCE

present we may neglect these considerations, and assume that
we know the stress in the driving or resisting link.' We then
have the frame shown in Fig. 15ft.

If the same engine, Fig. 16, were employed to overcome or
transmit a couple substituted for link 6 or element /, the
dynamic frame would become that shown in Fig. 16ft. The
engine is shown with the piston rod in tension ; links 2 and 5
must be first drawn tangent to their friction circles, then the
bearing pressures parallel respectively to 2 and 5, and tangent
to the friction circles for eh and ec. The line of pull in the
element e is given by the line joining the intersection of the
bearing pressures with that of 2 and 5 ; the diagram is completed
by the bar perpendicular to 5 and that perpendicular to 2 ;
these bars are mere indications of the arms of the equal and
opposite couples exerted on elements c and h. These elements
must be stiff, and their rotation relatively to one another is, by
hypothesis, resisted by a couple such as would be produced by
friction exerted on a wheel forming part of h revolving between
clips or rubbers forming part of c. The diagram supposes that
the frictional resistance thu.s obtained is so exactly equal at
opposite ends of a diameter of the friction wheel as to constitute
a couple which does not directly affect the pressures on the
joints e/;, ec.

18. Ordinary Direct-acting Steam-Engine. —The ordinary
direct-acting steam-engine with a single cylinder gives another
example of a simple complete machine. Fig. 17 shows a sketch
of an engine of this type with the resistance exerted as if by a
link between the periphery of a fly-wheel and the fixed element
or bed-plate. We will assume that the position and direction
of this resistance is known, being that shown by the arrow on /
in Fig. 17. The elements are: a, the piston rod and block
sliding on the guide bars ; 6, the connecting rod ; c, the crank,
axle, and fly-wheel ; d, the bed-plate, including the cylinder ; e,
the steam in the cylinder. This element is jointed with ft. and

* The steam, piston, and cylinder constitute, with the resisting link, a
simple inclined plane machine, vide § 15, and this machine drives the second
machine, constituted hy the piston rod, connecting rod, crank, bed plate, and
resisting link ; the piston rod and bed plate are common to the two machines,
vide §§ 24, 25.

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 299

d ; the position and direction of the force exerted are in this
case determinate ; for the cylinder does not oscillate and the
piston with its rod are subject to no stress that is not axial ; the
element a is in equilibrium under the force due to e, and those
due to the joints ah and ad. In Fig. 17a link 1 is drawn coin-
ciding with the axis of the cylinder, and represents the bearing
pressure produced by e on its joints ; the link 2 may next be
drawn tangent to the friction circles for ah and he. The third
force under which a is in equilibrium is that due to the joint
ad ; the link 5 is drawn through the dynamic joint A, making
the stated angle with the guide bars. This diagram corre-
sponds to an engine in which the slide block is as usual fast on
the piston rod.^

We next observe that element c has three joints — first at cj\
secondly at ho, and lastly at cd. The resisting link must, in
order that the machine may be complete, abut at its other end
against the bed-plate d ; it may be due to actual friction, as
when the fly-wheel is, for experimental purposes, fastened be-
tween two friction blocks secured to d. We know, by hypo-
thesis, the place and direction of its application, and therefore
the position and direction of link 6. The intersection of 6 and 2
gives the dynamic joint C ; the third force acting on c must
pass through this joint, and make the stated angle at the joint
cd ; we therefore draw link 3 from C tangent to the friction
circle for cd. Lastly, we observe that the element d is in equi-
librium under the following forces : — 1st, that due to the joint ed^
equal and opposite to that on ae ; 2nd, that due to the joint ad ;
3rd, that due to the resisting link/; 4th, that due to the joint,
cd. We have already, on the Fig. 17a, the position and direction
of all these forces. They do not, however, all meet in one joint,
and we must, therefore, to complete the dynamic frame, add a
link which shall receive the equal and opposite resultants of the
forces compounded in two pairs ; this we may do by joining the
intersection between links 5 and 6 with that between 1 and 3,

' If, however, there were a joint between these parts, snch that the pressure
from the guide bars must pass very near the centre of the pin at that joint,
then links 5 and 2 would be first drawn, and link 1 drawn cutting their
dynamic joint ; this arrangement would cause the effort exerted by the piston
to pass a little way from the axis of the cylinder, as shown in Fig. lib.

300 APPLIED SCIENCE

giving the complete diagram of Fig 17a. The diagram Fig. 17c
will help to explain the significance of the several links. The
element d^ which is the bed-plate, is here shown by itself ; it is
in equilibriiTm under four external forces, indicated by arrows
numbered as the links in the frame are numbered ; and as this
plate is itself in equilibrium, the resultant of 1 and 3 will be
opposite and equal to the resultant of 5 and 6. The forces at
the joints may therefore be represented by the stresses in the
four half links, 1, 5, 6, and 3, joined as in the diagram by a link
4, in which the stress will be that due to the resultant of 1 and
3, or 5 and 6. The frame, if drawn on the hypothesis of no
friction, will be kinematically equivalent to the actual engine ;
that is to say, the infinitesimal compression of link 6, resulting
from a given infinitesimal expansion of link 1, will be equal in
length to the actual travel of the fly-wheel at its rim past the
friction-block, when the piston advances by an amount equal to
the given expansion of link 1. The diagram, independently of
its value as a means of estimating the relation between effort
and resistance, is of use in showing clearly the direction and
magnitude of the stresses to which the bed-plate is subject.
As the revolution of the crank continues the dynamic frame
changes. Figs. 17 to 20a, show four positions of the engine
with four dynamic frames; the bearing-points are marked in
each case by dots on the circles representing sections of the
pins. The changes in the direction of the stress in the con-
necting rod, relatively to its axis, should be observed, as well as
the sudden changes which take place in the points of bearing
pressure as the crank-shaft revolves. It is these sudden changes
which give rise to ' knocks ' in the engine when the shafts or
pins and bearings or eyes do not fit. At joint ah four sudden
changes occur — two due to changes of relative motion between
the pin and eye, and two to changes in the direction of the
stress in the link ; at joints he and cd there are only two
changes. It must be understood that the whole dynamic frame
is modified by any change in the direction or position of the
resisting link. It will be found easy to construct diagrams
showing the modifications — resulting from a change of this kind
or from the substitution of a couple between c and d for the
resisting link ; this latter case corresponds to the arrangement

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS

301

of an engine employed to drive a long shaft with separate
bearings co-axial with the crank-shaft.

19. Wedge. — When a wedge is employed to form a complete

f'S «

machine we find a dynamic frame of class 1, similar to that given
by the direct-acting steam machine. Fig. 21 shows a complete
wedge machine. The letters on the parts indicate the elements,
where e is the driving, and /the resisting element. Dotted lines

302 APPLIED SCIENCE

on the same figure show the simple dynamic frame without fric-
tion. The dynamic frame with friction is given in Fig. 21ft ; links
1 and 6 are determined by being made tangent to the friction
circles for joints ec, ea, /6, and /c. Links 2 and 5 must inter-
sect link 1 at the same point. If the wedge has plane joints,
the position of this point is indeterminate, but with fair fitting
it may be expected to lie at or near the centre of the joint.
The direction of the links 2 and 5 is fixed by the condition that
they shall make the stated angle with the joint, and their pos;'fio7i
is without influence on the relative proportions of the links of the
frame. The intersection of links 6 and 5 gives the joint B; the
intersection of link 6 with 2 determines the joint C. Link 4 is
drawn making the stated angle with joint &c, and by its intersec-
tion with 1 gives joint Cj. The frame is completed by drawing
the link 3 from C to Cj. The element c has four joints, the
pressures on these joints are the stresses in the links 1, 4,
and 2, 6. The equal and opposite resultants of these two pairs
are met by the link 3, supplied in the original machine by the
rigidity of c. The machine will cease to work when the joint Oj
falls inside the triangle CAB. The diagram suggests another
arrangement of the wedge machine in which the wedge might
be employed to open a pair of jaws corresponding to links 3 and
4, hinged at Oj. The analogy between the wedge machine and
the direct-acting engine is curious. The connecting rod acts
like a wedge, opening or closing the jaws, represented by the
crank and bed-plate.

20. Sfur Wheeh. — A simple complete machine can be made of
two spur-wheels h and c with bearings in the same element ft,
and having a driving link e between a and 6, and a resisting
link / between c and ft. The simplest type of this machine is
shown in Fig. 22, and its dynamic frame is given in Fig. 22ft;
the frame is drawn as follows : — Links 1 and 6 are tangent to
the friction circles for elements e and e. Link 5 passes through
the pitch-point of the spur-wheels, and makes the stated angle
with the surface of the teeth ; in other words, it makes an angle
equal to ^ with the normal, which is called by Rankine the line
of connection. <^ here as elsewhere signifies the angle whose
tangent is ft, the coefficient of friction. The intersection of 5
with 1 and 6 gives the joints B and C ; from B and C links 2

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 303

and 4 are drawn tangent to the friction circles for ah and mc,
and the frame is completed by joining AAj. Each wheel is an
element having three joints, and therefore t^ives three half links
to the frame. These three half links for wheel h meet at B, and
represent the pull of the spring e, the push from the joint where
the teeth meet, and the reaction from the bearing ah. Wheel c
gives the three corresponding half links at C ; the frame is
completed by link 3, so placed as to receive the equal and
opposite resultants of the second halves of the links 1 and 4,
2 and 6. This link 3 lies in the direction of the stress on the
element a. A practical example of this machine is afforded by
a man e. Fig. 23, turning a winch handle &, and lifting a weight
/ by the rope on an axle c, driven by a spur-wheel gearing with
a pinion on the shaft of the winch handle. The man stands on
the element o-, which also supports the bearings of the spur-
wheels. The dynamic frame. Fig. 23rr, for this example is drawn
precisely as for the previous typical examj^le. As before, we
know the directions of the effort in link 1 and of the resistance
in link 6 (the latter is shown shifted outward to allow for the
stiffness of the rope). The effort of the man need not be
perpendicular to the crank, but must be exerted between
elements a and h ; the resisting link is the attraction between
the weight and the earth, that is to say, as before, it is a link
between C and A. Links 5, 2, and 4 are di-awn as before, and
link 3, supplied by the rigidity of element «, completes the frame.
The friction between the man's hand and the handle is impor-
tant. A friction circle is accordingly shown at the joint he. A
handle which the man can grasp firmly, and which turns easily
round a well-oiled axis, makes the machine more efficient than
when the man's hands must slip round the handle.

One of two spur-wheels may be driven by a couple, and the
other resisted by a couple ; this is a case frequently arising in
practice, when one wheel is driven by a shaft, and the other
drives a shaft, both shafts having such additional bearings as
prevent the ultimate driving effort or ultimate resistance from
having any effect on the bearings of the simple machine. Fig.
24a shows the dynamic frame for this case. There are three
bars, as we have two couples ; the bars are lettered as elements.
Two friction circles are drawn with their centres at the centres

304 APPLIED SCIENCE

of the bearings ab and he. The bent arrows show the direction
of rotation of pins fixed in the element «-, relatively to h and c.
Link 5 is drawn as before through the pitch-point, and making
the stated angle with the surface of the teeth ; the directions of
the equal and parallel pressures on the pins form part of links 2
and 4, which no longer cut link 6 ; the other halves of links 2
and 4 are the reactions from the bearings shown as dotted lines.
The diagram is completed by drawing bars to represent a, h, and
c. The position of these bars is really immaterial, but B and C
may be conveniently shown perpendicular to the direction of
link 5, and these letters will now be used to signify the perpen-
dicular distances between these links. When the couple M° is

applied between h and a, it produces two forces equal to — i''

B

the one acting to compress link 5, and the other to force the

bar B against the pin in the direction shown by the full arrow

2. The first force is resisted by the tooth and wheel, as if these

formed part of a link under compression, the other force by the

element a in the direction of the dotted arrow 2. The force

M

-~, is transmitted through the tooth to act on c ; it produces

an equal force at the distance C, forcing c down on its pin in a,

as shown by the full link 4. This force is resisted by an equal

and opposite force, as shown by dotted link 4. Thus the couple

M C
produced in c is ° , and this is the resisting couple M^,
B

which the driving couple Mj, can overcome. The forces and
couples are the same as would be produced if we could con-
struct a material frame of the link 5 and the bars ABC of the
dimensions shown, and having the driving couple between B and
A, with the resisting couple between A and C.

21. Rolling Contact. — The simple machine, made with two
wheels which transmit power by a rolling contact between
them, has a dynamic frame of the same character as that corre-
sponding to spur-wheels. This arrangement is shown in Fig. 25,
where the parts have the same names as were given in the case
of spur-wheels. The directions of links 1 and 6, Fig. 25a, are
known ; the direction of link 5 is also known, if the machine is
running with its maximum efficiency ; that is to say, if there is

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 305

no more teusiou on element a than is necessary. In that case,
the line of pressure at the point of contact will make the
stated angle with the surface of contact. Link 2 is drawn from
the intersection of 5 and 1 to the friction circle at the centre of
h. Link 4 is drawn from the intersection of 5 and 6 to the
friction circle at the centre of c. The intersection of 4 and 1 is
then joined by link 3 to the intersection of 6 and 2. The three
lines meeting at B show the positions of the three forces under
which h is in equilibrium, and the arrows show the directions of
those forces. The three lines meeting at C show the forces
under which the second wheel c is in equilibrium, and the arrows
at C show the directions of those forces. The rules given in
§ 8 will enable the draughtsman to determine on which side of
each friction circle the link is to be tangent. Fig. 25& shows
the manner in which the diagram becomes modified when the
directions of links 6 and 1 make smaller angles than link 5
makes with the normal to the joint he. Fig. 256 also shows the
effect of rolling friction at this joint, which, however, may
generally be neglected. At the point of contact the material is
continually being crushed, and the material is not perfectly
elastic. We have, therefore, a resisting couple analogous to
that met with in the case of ropes, and the effect is to shift in a
disadvantageous direction one part of link 5 by a distance equal -
to the arm of this couple. If excessive tension is employed in
a, the direction of link 5 will be found by compounding that
tension with the force transmitted at the periphery. The
diagram where one roller is driven by a couple and the other
roller resisted by a couple, is easily deduced from that for spur-
wheels.

22. Belt and Pulley. — The complete belt and pulley machine
is shown in Fig. 26, p. 306. It is composed of the pulleys h and c ;
the element a in which their bearings run, the flexible belt d, the
driving element 0, and the resisting element /. The dynamic
frame without friction is given in Fig. 26a.. Link 5 is the direc-
tion of the resultant of the tensions on the two bands, which
may be considered as together forming one split link. When
we assume that no more tension is used than is necessary, the
ratio between the tensions on the tight and slack side of the
bands is determined by the arcs round which the belts are in
VOL. II. X

3o6

APPLIED SCIENCE

contact with the pulley, and by the coefficient of friction
between the belt and the pulley. Consequently, the position of
link 5 may be taken as known. The intersection of the driving
link 1 with 5 gives joint B ; the third force acting on h is the

resultant of the two others, and must pass through the centre
of the pulley 6; this determines the direction of link 2. Simi-
larly, C is given by the intersection of 5 and 6 ; link 4 is drawn
from their intersection to the centre of the pulley c; the

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 307

cliagrani is completed by drawing link 1. The forces which
keep the pulley h in equilibrium are shown in position and
direction at the joint B. Similarly, the forces which balance c
are shown at 0, but the driving and resisting links, as well as
link 6, appear as if under compression. Before proceeding to
draw the frame with friction, it may be well to show how the
stiffness of the belt may be taken into account. In Fig. 26 the
arrows show the direction of the motion of the belt. The puller
h at the lower side has to exert a force P in the direction of the
arrow on the belt, and also a right-handed couple m to bend the
belt ; the resultant of this force and couple is an equal force

shifted to the left or downwards by a distance — ; we might,

therefore, represent the actual belt by a perfectly flexible belt
placed as shown by the dotted line d^ d.^. The effect of the
stiffness of the belt at the other places where it is bent and un-
bent, is also to shift the line of application of the force as shown
by the dotted lines d^, d^, rf^, d^, d^ d^. Thus the resultants of
the forces due to the tension of the belt on each pulley will not
be opposite each other ; the resultant will be shifted outwards on
the driving pulley, and inwards on follower, or disadvantage-
ously in both places. The actual amount of shifting cannot be
ascertained until P and P, , the tensions on the belt, are known ;
but the nature of the change is. easily apprehended, and is
therefore included in the dynamic frame. Fig. 26b. This frame
is drawn as for the case without friction.

23. Co7n]^ound Maclunes. — It is evident that the resisting
link of one complete simple machine may be used as the driving
link of another simple machine. This combination gives rise to
what may be called a compound machine. If the two machines
have no element in common, they must be connected by two
joints in the manner of which Fig. 27 gives a typical example,
In this figure the lines may be considered to represent either
the links of a dynamic frame, or the axes of a series of material
elements, jointed without friction. The contraction of element
e would cause an expansion of the line joining the joint he with
da. This line would indicate the position of the resisting link
of the machine ahcde, if this machine were a simple one. This
same line lies between the joints h^ a, and d^ Cj in the position

3o8 APPLIED SCIENCE

required to enable the effort produced by the first machine ahcd
to drive the second o-j h^ Cj d^fy In fact, the Avhole first
machine may be considered as a somewhat complex driving
element, relatively to the second machine ; or the whole of the
second machine may be looked on as a rather complex resisting
element, relatively to the first machine. The two machines may
obviously be treated as entirely separate. Let the first machine
drive the second by contact between the elements h and 6j and
between d and d^. Then it is necessary that at these joints the
direction of the lines of bearing pressure shall be in one straight
line. This line is the direction of the resisting link for one
machine, and the driving link for the next. The joints &&j, and
ecj, between two successive machines, will be called transmitting
joints. They do not themselves belong to either machine.
Distinct elements may be introduced between the two machines
as in the typical example, Fig. 28. Here the second machine is
tied to the first by two links, each lettered / and e,. These
elements, which must represent forces in one straight line, may
be considered as equivalent to the driving element of the second
machine, and the resisting element of the first. In the example
given it would be necessary to make / a tie, so that the machine,
as drawn, would only work when element e was expanding. In
another case, one part of the link / might be omitted as between
he and aj}^, and replaced by a transmitting joint between h and
fej as above. An element placed between two machines and
serving to transmit the power, will be called a transmitting
element. We see then that the communication of power can be
made from one complete machine to another, either by two
joints, by two elements, or by a joint and element. We may,
with perfect propriety, give the name of complete machine to
any one of a series, each of which drives its successor ; for we
may regard the driving system simply as a more or less complex
driving element, and the driven system as a more or less com-
plex resisting element. We are not concerned with the complex
play of forces which produces the driving or resisting effort, but,
so far as each complete machine is concerned, only with the fact
that its elements are driven or resisted in a manner which may
be represented by a single driving or resisting link.

24. Componyid Machines with one common elememt. — The

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 309

compound machines described in the last paragraph have no
elements common to two simple machines, but we may have
compound machines in which either one or two elements are
common to two successive machines. The examples most com-
monly met with in engineering practice are those in which there
is one common element, namely, the framework or support
which is continuous and common to a series of successive com-
plete machines. The common element is necessarily in equi-
librium under the whole series of stresses to which it is subject,
but this equilibrium is not a matter of great interest. The
driving link of the first machine usually abuts at one end
against the common element. If the first simple machine stood
alone, one end of its resisting link would abut against the same
element ; when it drives a series of machines, the resisting link
of each must be so placed that in each case, if that particular
machine were the last of the series, the resisting link would
also abut against the common element. The common element
takes the place of one transmitting joint or one transmitting link
in the types given in the last paragraph. A practical example
will serve to show the connection between successive complete
machines, having one element in common. In Fig. 29, p. 310,
a horizontal engine is shown driving a train of machinery.
The engine consists of the elements ahcde. The element cZ is a
fixed bed-plate ; the element c comprises a fly-wheel and spur-
wheel, which drives the pinion which is part of g ; the spur-
wheel of g drives a pinion which is part of A. A pulley, which
is also part of h, drives a belt Z, which, in its turn, drives a
pulley 7n ; a second pulley, also part of m, drives a second belt
and pulley n and 0. A piece of wood, forming part of 0, is
being turned by a tool which forms part of d. We have here
three complete machines — 1st, the engine ; 2nd, the machine
ghd, driven by two transmitting joints and gdcg, and driving a
transmitting link I ; 3rd, the machine mnod, driven by the
transmitting link I and the joint mc?, and overcoming the useful
resistance at the joint od. All these machines have the element
d in common. The dynamic frame of the compound machine is
shown in Fig. 29a, and the reciprocal figure for that frame in Fig.
296. The driving element of the first machine is the steam
which abuts against d, the bed plate or support. The resisting

3IO APPLIED SCIENCE

eleuient is the whole series of driven machines in the last of
which a resistance is overcome between an element of the
machine and the bed plate d. The resisting element is not

complete unless we take into account the force it exerts at both
ends ; the one end of the resisting link of the first machine
pushes up the periphery of the fly-wheel c, the other end
pushes down the element d. ; this is precisely the action we

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 311

sliouM have, if the first machine liad been completed b}' a
single resisting link ; the circuit must in either case be com-
pleted, so that the resisting link may abut against the common
element d^ against which the first driving link also abuts. The
driving link of the second machine ghd is in the line of the
resisting link of ahcde. The direction of this link is for both
machines determined by the transmitting joint eg — i.e., by the
form of the teeth of the wheels. The driving link of the machine
mnod is in the line of the resultant tension due to the band 7,
which is here a transmitting element. The di'iving or resisting
link of each successive machine, if taken by itself, would abut
against the common element d. The first driving and last trans-
mitting element do abut against this common element. In any
machine it will be found easy to analyse the series of parts so as
to divide the whole structure into a series of complete machines,
each joined to its neighbour by a transmitting joint or link.
Each machine can then be treated as a separate whole. We see
in the example given that the dynamic frame consists of three
distinct quadrilaterals with diagonals. The connecting links
may be considered as double links in each case. Thus we may
consider the joint C, Fig. 29a, as connected by one link with the
joint G which it drives, while at the same time the joint D^ is
connected by a link with D,,. Thus, when the reciprocal figure
for the whole frame is drawn, as in Fig. 29/), it forms one con-
nected whole. The stress corresponding to each connecting
link is used twice as in all reciprocal figures. In Fig. 296 each
link is numbered from 1 to 6 for each successive machine. The
length of the first line 1 corresponds to the driving effort. The
length of the last small line G corresponds to the resistance
which that effort can overcome at od. The diagram is drawn
without taking friction or stiffness into account, so that the
frame shown is kinematically equivalent to the machine. It
would be easy in a drawing on a large scale to show the complete
effect of friction and stiffness, for we have already learnt to take
these into account for each component simple machine. We
see, therefore, that in any simple train of machinery' there can
be little difiiculty in estimating the true relation between effort
and resistaiice (neglecting weight and mass) ; this difficulty

312 APPLIED SCIENCE

never exceeds that met with in analysing a simple machine, and
all simple machines are of one type.

25, Half Machines Gompomided. — In certain cases two suc-
cessive machines have two elements in common, as well as the
driving or resisting link. In this case w^e may consider the
addition as in reality only half a machine. The typical example
of this arrangement is given in Fig. 30, where links h and c are
common to two complete machines — 1st, ahcde, with its resisting
link ; and 2nd, hchgi, with its driving link. It will be seen that
the half machine hig has a certain analogy Avith the machines of
class 2, only it is here the stiff bar which acts as a driving
element by an alteration in its length ; h, i, or g might repre-
sent the final resisting element. We are never driven to adopt
this subdivision of a machine, except at one or other end of a
train of machines which may not be divisible into a series of
complete machines with joints or elements of transmission.
Thus, if we (Fig. 31) have a steam-engine with a spur-wheel on
its crank shaft, driving a single pinion from the shaft of which
a weight is hanging, we cannot divide the train into two distinct
complete machines, each having a quadrilateral with diagonals
as its dynamic frame. We ma}", however, draw two distinct
dynamic frames, as shown in Fig. 31a, where 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and
12 are the links of a complete spur-wheel machine, similar to
that of Fig. 22a, driven by a link 7, but link 7 is in the same
line as link 2 of the well-known engine frame. Links 8 and 3,
6 and 11, are also common to the two frames. The diagram
shows that we might analyse the machine in two ways, calling,
for instance, the steam-engine a complete machine, and the
extra spur-wheel, with its weight, a half machine ; or we migh':
call the two spur-wheels a complete machine, and the piston,
steam, and connecting rod a half machine.

It is a matter of no consequence how we subdivide a train.
The relative stresses in the first and last links will be the same,
whether we use half machines with two common elements, or
successive machines with one common element. This example
shows us that the machines of class 2 may very properly be
regarded as only half machines. This view is supported by the
observation that when one machine of class 2 drives another of
the same class, we get for the system a single complete dynamic

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 313

frame, namely, tlie quadrilateral with two tliagonrJs. As an
example, we may take the hanging pulley and fixed pulley
combined, as in Fig. 32, on which is shown the dynamic frame
of the combination. When the ropes are neai-ly parallel, as in
Fig. 32a, the bars shown by thick black lines may be considered
as jointed to the six links, which would otherwise meet at the
joints B, A, and A,.

26. Reduplication of Cords. — When a series of fixed and
hanging pulleys are employed as in the ordinary blocks and
tackle, it is found that, with the usual stiff ropes, no advantage
can be obtained by using more than 5 or 6 plies of rope. The
reason of this is shown clearly by the dynamic frame for a com-
pound machine of this class. Fig. 33, p. 315. In this frame the suc-
cessive pulleys and plies are arranged in one plane, so that the
diagram may be better followed than could be the case if the
pulleys were placed so as to be co-axial. Let the driving link
act between the rope a and the fixed support d, and let the force
applied by the driving link be called E, and the effective radius
of each sheave R. The effect of the rope a is to produce a
couple m diminishing R on the driving side by a length depend-
ing on the stiffness of the rope, and inversely proportional to
the diameter of the pulley and to the tension on the rope. The
effect of this is shown in the diagram by a shifting of the line of
action of the force towards the centre of the pulley by a distance

s equal to — . Let Fj be the tension on the second rope. The
L

couple required to unbend the roj^e has an effect which may be

represented by shifting the line of action outwards to an amount

Sy, equal to .p^ ; at each pulley a similar effect is produced, and

^ 1
as the value of the tension in the rope diminishes at each pulley,
so the value of s increases at each pulley. The effect of friction
at the axle is shown by shifting the joint in the bar representing
each pulley towards the driving rope by a distance r sin ^,
where r is the radius of the shaft. We then have the equation

E (R-t sin cf>~)=FjUi-r sin <^ + |^)

or E(R-r sin </>)=Fi(R + r sin (f))-}-2m.

3'4

APPLIED SCIENCE

could from this obtain Y^^ etc. 2F:=Wj tlie weight which can
be raised. The result is after a few turns to reduce F„ to nil,
after which no more plies can be of any service. The gradually
diminishing efficiency of successive jxilleys is very well shown
by the diagram, Fig. 33.

27. Loaded Dynamic Frame icitJiont Friction. — Let us now
consider the effect of the mass and weight of the elements of a
machine. We may feel sure that the effect of weight and
inertia may be shown by means of a dynamic frame, for this
frame consists of lines indicating bearing pressures at the joints,
and the direction and magnitude of these bearing pressures are
always determinate. In the case of a material element sup-
ported by two joints, the lines of bearing pressure will no longer
be directly opposite, or in the same straight line, but will inter-
sect in a point on the line which indicates the resultant of the
forces due to the weight and inertia of the element. Let the
resultant of all the forces exerted on a given element other than
those exerted at the joints be called the load on the element.
This includes the equilibrant of the force producing accelera-
tion. Then the action of an element with two joints, as in Fig.
34, might be supplied by three forces represented by three half
links 1, 2, and 3, Fig. 34, showing in position and direction the
bearing pressures at the joints, and the load on the element ;
this mode of representing a loaded element is commonly in use
where the equilibrium of arches is discussed. The load 3 is
here called a half link, for in the complete self-contained machine
an equal and opposite load necessarily exists in some other ele-
ment. This equal and opposite load is in general supplied by
the reaction of the foundations, or more strictly by the reaction
due to the mass of the earth.

Where an element has more than two joints, it will be found
that the arrangement or form of the joints is generally, if not
always, such as to render determinate the single joint or pair of
joints by which it is supported. The effect of the load in modi-
fying the direction of the bearing pressure can for these cases
be as easily taken into account as in the simple case just cited.

Let us now consider the effect of four loads L„ Lj, Lc and L^, on
the four elements aJjcd of the elementary machine. Fig. 35. We
may, for the present, suppose the driving and resisting element

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS

3'5

to have no weight or inertia ; the effect of these elements may
then be treated as equivalent to the effect ol' four external forces,
la lyS, and Ota G^. The dynamic frame for this case will be a
polygon of eight sides, Fig. 35, 2a 2/S, oa o/9, la 4/3, oa 5/3,

having its angles on the lines of load, and so inclined as to be
in equilibrium under these loads. The stresses in each link are
the pressures at each joint. The reciprocal figure for this frame
is shown in Fig. 35a. The inclinations of the links are no longer

3i6 APPLIED SCIENCE

independent of the magnitudes of the forces acting in the ele-
ments e and /, as was the case when we neglected weight and
inertia. The effort in e or in the resistance in / must therefore
be given, as well as the loads, before the frame can be drawn.
Let the effort in e or in link 1 be known, the frame and its re-
ciprocal may then be drawn as follows, so as to solve the pro-
blem of finding the resistance which a given effort in e will
overcome in /, neglecting the effect of friction, but taking into
account the weight and inertia of the parts.

We know the position of four of the angles of the polygon,
viz., the centres of the pins at the four corners of the machine.
Let the loads be referred to these four points in the manner
practised for the distributed loads on the actual rafters of a roof
or members of a bridge ; that is to say, let each load be replaced
by two components acting at these four points. These compo-
nents are lettered ?„ r„, Ij, V , etc. The stress in element / will be
the same as would be produced by the effort in e acting on the
quadrilateral frame abcd^ loaded at the joints in this manner.
This stress in / is found by drawing the Fig. 35a, beginning
with the polygon d, l^, la, Z'„, a. The directions of all these
are known, and the magnitude of the stresses in all except a and
d. The polygon serves to determine these stresses. To find
the stress in h we require to draw the polygon a, ^„, Qa, l\, 6, in
which there are only two unknown stresses — those in 6a and h,
the directions of which are, however, given. We cannot draw
the polygon directly with the lines arranged in the manner
shown in full lines, because 6a and b are not contiguous. If,
however, the lines are drawn as dotted, we obtain a polygon
which determines the stress both in 6a and in h, after which the
lines may be rearranged in their natural order. By a similar
process we find 6/3 and c, and can complete and check the draw-
ing by adding the lines l'^, 1/3, and ?,,. It is almost unnecessary
to remark that la and 1^ are equal, and that 6a and 6/3 are
also equal. The sides of the polygon in Fig. 35a represent the
loads on the elements of the machine in Fig. 35, taken in their
natural order. The lines ahcd in Fig. 35a represent the stresses on
the links abed, or 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the machine in Fig. 35. Let
0 be the point where a, b, c, and d intersect (Fig. 35a), and let
lines be drawn from o to the angles of the polygon ; now, draw

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 317

the lines 2(.i tiad 2/3 in Fig. 35, parallel to the lines of the same
name in Fig. 35a, and so placed that they abut against the ends
of link a, and intersect in the line L„ ; draw 3a and 3yS, 4a and
4/5, 5a and 5^ by a similar rule. The octagonal frame thus ob-
tained, and shown by a broken dotted line, is a frame which will
be in equilibrium under the four given loads and the two stresses
in e and /. It is easy to see that this will be the case. The
load L„ and the two stresses in 2a 2yS of the frame form a
polygon in the reciprocal figure. The same relation obtains
between the other loads and the links supporting them. More-
over, the links 2a and 5/3 in the reciprocal figure give a closed
polygon with the line la, representing the stress in e. The lines
abutting against the ends of/ also give closed polygons with the
stress 6, as shown in the reciprocal figure. The links 2tt, 2yS,
etc., of the octagonal frame do therefore represent the directions
of bearing pressures at the joints on the hypothesis that there is
no friction. The frame found by the method described will be
called the loaded dt/namic frame ivWiout friction.

The elements e and / have been represented as without mass ;
if their weight and inertia are to be taken into account, their
load is to be referred to the joints in a manner similar to th?t
indicated for the other elements. Links 1 and 6 would then be
broken lines in the frame, with loads at their angles. It may
be well to remind the reader that by hypothesis the machine is
in equilibrium as a whole, and therefore in the reciprocal figure
lines representing the loads necessarily form a closed polygon.

28. Loaded Bynainic Frame with Friction. — The method by
which we were enabled to draw the octagonal polygon described
in the last paragraph depended on our knowledge of the four
points which determined the position of four angles of the
polygon, or one point on each of the eight lines. When we try
to ascertain the actual lines of bearing pressure, taking into
account the friction of the machine in motion, we find that the
conditions determining their direction are more complex, since
now we do not know any fixed point in any line. The conditions
are, however, only changed to this extent, that the lines of
bearing pressure must make the stated angle with the joints,
instead of being normal to the surfaces of those joints. By
trial, an octagon is easily found fulfilling this condition as well

3i8 APPLIED SCIENCE

as the general condition of being in equilibrium under tlie force
applied at tlie joints. The manner of proceeding wliicli seems
most easy is to draw, first the polj^gon without friction, and
then to sketch a modified poh'gon having its sides tangent to
the friction circles, or making the stated angle with the joints.
The sides of this trial polygon intersect at certain points which
may be called tfiol foinU. When the friction circles are not
very large, it is easy, by the exercise of a little judgment, to
draw the trial polygon so as to make these Irial ^points agree
very closely with the true points of intersection, even at the
first attempt. Then, referring the loads to the trial points, we
draw a new polygon and reciprocal figure. Figs. 36 and 36(1, as
for the frame without friction. If this second polygon has sides
which make the stated angle with the joints, the problem is
solved. Otherwise, a second selection of corrected trial points
must be made, and a third trial polygon drawn : it will seldom
if ever be necessary to make a third trial. We thus get a
dynamic frame which truly represents the directions of the
forces at every joint in the actual machine, and this frame will
be called the coni'plete di/namic frame of the machine, or the
loaded dynamic frame with friction. The resistance which can
be overcome by a given effort 1 in the driving link, is shown by
the line 6 in the reciprocal figure 36a, which has been used as
an auxiliary in drawing the loaded dynamic frame, and this
resistance will be the actual resistance which could be overcome
by the given effort in the giv^en machine, under the given con-
ditions as to speed, friction, mass, and weight.

29. Application of the Method to an ordinari/ Horizontal
S ingle-acting Steam-Entjine. — In Fig. 37, p. 321, let the lines b and
c represent the centre lines of the connecting rod and crank of an
engine, while the line a. represents the direction of the motion
of the piston. Let the line / represent the direction and position
of the resistance overcome ; and let this I'esistance be represented
as in previous examples by a stress between d and c. Let the
lines L„, Lft, Lc, and L^ represent the loads on the elements a,
h, c, and d of this engine, where d is the bed-plate, it being re-
membered that these loads must be such as would balance one
another ; in other words, L^, the resultant reaction due to the
foundation, must be the equilibrant of the tliree others ; L,. is

APPLICATION 01 GRAPHIC METHODS

319

the weight of the balanced fl^'-wheel and crank-shaft, acting
dii'ectly through the centre of the main bearing ; L^ is the
resultant of the weight of the connecting rod, compounded with
the equililjrant of the force required to give the rod the acceler-

!

%

-^'

\y

c>

/ V

/\>

\

//^V^

/

'Z' \

y

Sd=

Fy

36.

Fi^ 36"

A

^ y^\

^ik

X ^-^^

r^

Hf

--^ — ■ — 7

J /

vV

]///

\

\ /

</

\ /^^

ation (in respect of rotation and translation) which it actually
has at the given instant, L„ is the resultant of the weight of
the piston compounded with the resistance to acceleration. The
loads shown in the figure have been calculated for an actual

r-o APPLIED SCIENCE

small direct-acting engine, making 1 turn per second. To draw
the dynamic frame without friction we proceed as follows : — Lj
is represented by two components ?j and l\^ acting at the joints ah
and he. L^ is wholly borne by the one joint, and the actual
point of its application is a matter of indifference ; L^ is wholly
drawn by the joint cd. The treatment of L,; will be explained
hereafter. The simple dynamic frame without load or friction
is shown by lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 in Fig. 37a., which also shows
the loads referred to the proper points. Let it be remarked
that l\ is referred not to a joint in the simple frame, but to the
point through which the actual bearing pressure 2yS must pass.
We may now begin the reciprocal figure 375 by drawing the effort
la of the steam against the piston, the load L„ the load L,, and the
directions of the reaction 5, and the resistance Qa. The load L,,
is then subdivided into its two components 7(, and I' , and the line
2 is drawn from the point which subdivides Lj into its two com-
ponents If, and l\ parallel to the line h in Fig. 37 or 2 in Fig. 37a.
Let the point where line 2 intersects 5 be called o; then the polygon
la, L,„ ^ft, 2, 5 (Fig. 37fc) represents the forces in equilibrium at
the joint ah ; now, returning to Fig. 37a, we are able to draw
lines 5, 2a and 2/3 : the direction of 2a is given by the line of
the same name in Fig. 37&, drawn from o to the intersection of
L„ with Lft ; the line 2/3 is drawn in Fig. 37rt parallel to the line
of the same name which in 37& joins o with the intersection of
&a and L,, ; the lines 2a and 2/3 abut against the joints at the
end of link 2 (Fig. 37a), and meet in the line Lj. The element c
is in equilibrium under the action of the resistance Qa, the
driving force 2/8 which we have just found, the weight L<, and
the reaction of the main bearing. The load L^ is wholly borne
by the joint cd, and therefore the direction of the remaining
component of the reaction at the bearing is given by the full
line 3a, Fig. 37a, passing through the centre of the joint cd, and
the intersection of 6 with 2/3. From o draw 3a in Fig. 37?>, parallel
to 3a in Fig. 37a, and it will cut off a length Qa measuring the
resistance which the effort is able to overcome ; the polygon 2/3
Qa Jjc and 3^ represents the four forces under the action of which
c is in equilibrium. 3/3 is the resultant pressure on the joint
cd. We may here complete the reciprocal figure by drawing the
force 1^, the load L^, and the forces Q^, 4a, and 4,8. We may

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS

321

also complete the loaded frame in Fig. 37a by drawing 4a and 4y8
parallel to the lines of the same name in Fig. 37ft ; a line from 0
parallel to link 4 of Fig. 37ft will subdivide L,|,in the ratio in
which L(2 would be subdivided if referred to the two frame joints

between links at the ends of link 4. The problem is rather
simpler than that described in the last paragraph, inasmuch as
link 5 of the dynamic frame is not loaded.

We will now consider how this figure is modified by the
VOL. II. Y

322 APPLIED SCIENCE

introduction of friction. Beginning with link la in Fig. 38?), we
can draw line 5 making the stated angle with the surface of the
guide bars, and lines L„ Lj which are identical with the lines of
the same name in Fig. 37a. We must, hoAvever, subdivide Lj in
a new ratio, for it is clear that the line of bearing pressure 2a
will pass over the friction circle, and so that the trial point
where it intersects line 5 will be some distance to the right ; 2/3
must pass under its friction circle, and the point which 2y8 must
pass through on the left must obviously be near the bottom of
its friction circle. Draw the line 2, joining two trial points,
refer L^ to the two ends of link 2, or, in other words, subdivide
Lft, Fig. 386, in the ratio in which L^ subdivides link 2 ; from the
point of subdivision in Fig. 386, draw 2 parallel to 2 in Fig. 38a.
The intersection of 2 and 5 gives the point o. The piece c is
held in equilibrium by four forces L^, ^a^ 2^, and the reaction
from the bearing : the intersection of 2/3 with 6 (Fig. 38a) gives
one point through which the loaded link 3 must pass, and our
trial point for the other end must obviously be a little to the
left of the friction circle at the main bearing, where the tangent
3/3 cuts line 1, and this tangent 3yQ must be a little less steep
than the line 3/3 in Fig. 376. The load L,. is now to be subdivided
between the two ends of the loaded link 3, the two components
being l^ and V ^ ; the polygon of the forces in equilibrium at the
upper right-hand end of 3 can now be drawn in Fig. 386, these
are 2/3, l„ ^a and 3 ; the two former are known and the directions
of the two latter ; the polygon can therefore be drawn with the
lines arranged in the order named, and thus the magnitude of
^a can be determined. The problem is now solved, but if we
wish to complete our drawing of the frame, we must rearrange
the last drawn polygon, so that the forces in the reciprocal
figure come in their natural order as shown by the full lines in
Fig. 386, then finishing L^ we can, as in Figs. 37a and 376,
complete the reciprocal figure and frame without difficulty. If
we have chosen our trial points well, the lines of the frame will
be tangent to the friction circles. If they cut these or do not
touch them, we must correct our choice of the trial points until
the desired figure is found. As the friction circles are generally
very small, a single trial is generally sufficient for a draughtsman
who has mastered the theory. The result is really remarkable.

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS

323

When the loads have been determined a reciprocal figure of nine
lines enables us to ascertain the true relation between effort and
resistance in a horizontal direct-acting steam-engine, taking into

account the weight, inertia, and friction of every part of the
simple train of joints and elements.

30. Loaded Dynamic Frame when neither e nor f are
attached to the Extremities of other Members of the Machine. —
This case presents some geometrical peculiarities. Let the

324

APPLIED SCIENCE

elements of the frame be the four lines a, h, c, d, shown as thick
black lines in Fig. 39, p. 323, and let the elements e and / be
joined to these at points intermediate between their extremi-
ties. Each element is then in equilibrium under the action of
three forces, and the simple dynamic frame is the quadrilateral
2-, 3, 4, 5, having its angles on the prolongations XX and YY
of the directions of the stress in e and /, and having its sides so
placed as to pass through the joints a&, 6c, cc^, da, denoted by the
letters MNPQ. It is not quite obvious how this quadrilateral
may be drawn. It may be proved that all quadrilaterals of
which the angles lie in the lines XX and YY and of which
three sides pass through M, N, and P, have their fourth sides so
placed as to intersect at one point E ; the point E can therefore
be found by drawing two trial quadrilaterals, and this point
can then be joined with Q and so give the direction of one side
of the desired quadrilateral ABCD. Professor Tait, who
pointed out this fact to the writer, also showed that the point
E might be more simply found as follows : — Produce MN until
it intersects e prolonged in X, join X with P : similarly, produce
NP until it intersects / prolonged in Y, and join YM ; the point
E lies in the intersection of XP with YM ; the line QB gives
the direction and position of one side of the quadrilateral ABCD.
A second quadrilateral has been drawn on the figure for the
sake of illustrating the form which it assumes when the fourth
point is g, chosen outside the angle XEY.

When, as in Fig. 40, the four members a, 6, c, and cZ, are
all loaded, the problem becomes still more complex. The octa-
gonal equilibrated polygon for the four loads and two stresses
in e and/, otherwise named 1 and 6, are shown in Fig. 40, with
lettering analogous to that employed for the simpler cases.
This polygon was formed in a somewhat indirect manner, and it
is probable that a simpler geometric method may be found if
the case should arise frequently in practice. (1) The relation
between a stress in e and one in / was found by a simple frame
and reciprocal figure. Fig. 41 . (2) The same process was repeated
for a stress in e, and a stress L„ between the elements a and c?,
Fig. 42. (3) The process was repeated for a stress Lj between
fe and d, Fig. 43, (4) The process was repeated for a stress L^
between c and c?, Fig. 44. (5) By addition the stress in e was
found which was required to overcome the given stresses due

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS

32s

to/ and to the four loads. (6) The several loads were referred
to the joints. (7) Polygons of force were drawn for each point,
and by these polygons the inclinations of 2/3, 3/3, 4/3, and
5/3, Fig. 40, were found, the intersections of these lines with

the loads (including e and/) gave the eight angles of the polygon.
(8) The reciprocal figure. Fig. 40a-, was drawn, by which the
work was checkerl, and the inclinations of the sides of the polygon
verified.

326 APPLIED SCIENCE

Part II.

THE HORIZONTAL STEAM-ENGINE,

31. In a previous paragi-aph (29) the loaded dynamic frame
(Fig. 38) for one position of a direct-acting horizontal steam-
engine has been described, and the mode of dravviag that frame
explained, on the assumption that the loads L„, Lj, L^, L^ are
known : it was stated that these loads had been calculated for
one particular engine. The present paper gives the varying
effort which this engine is capable of exerting at each part of its
stroke with given pressures (both constant and varying) in the
cylinder, and given constant velocities of the crank-axle. The
same calculations show the efficiency of the engine at each part
of the stroke, and its total efficiency under the same circum-
stances. This problem has, it is believed, never hitherto been
solved so as to take into account all the circumstances of mass,
weight, and friction.

32. No pains have been taken in the choice of the particular
examjole. The object of the paper is not so much to draw
general conclusions as to all steam engines — which, indeed,
differ too much in arrangement to make this feasible — as to
show how, by a method of no great complexity, full information
can be obtained as to any particular engine or class of engines.

The following are the particulars of the engine : — Stroke,
16 in.; diameter of cylinder, 8 in.; length of connecting rod,
41 in. ; centre of gravity of connecting rod, 20 in. from the
crank pin ; mass of connecting rod 34 lbs. ; mass of piston and
piston rod, 46 lbs. ; mass of balanced crank and that jDart of the
fly-wheel which is borne by the main bearings, 200 lbs. ; the
mass of the frame fixed to the earth is indefinitely large ; dia-
meter of crank-shaft in bearings, 4^ in. ; diameter of crank pin,
2-4'''; diameter of pin at crosshead, I'S". The position of the
resistance overcome (Fig. 17, Part I.) is that of a tangent to
an imaginary circle of 18 in. radius, concentric with the crank

FIG 46 . A. Speed 1 Eev.per Second^ Uniform efifectiye pressin-e g^p -2 lbs. per sqJn .

AjUnloadedTioIrictiDn^ A^unloajded nnH Triftion^ AjjloadednoIKctioniAjload.edandFrictioii.

so

^

1^

r7

^

=^

\,

N

^^

p

^HZ

-^

\

50

//

^

//

/

hH.^

\\

-^

^^.

-^

//

y

/

/

^^■^

.<^

■^

\

^

//

/

/

\

\r^

^

;^

^

\

/

A

y

V1^

t W ffl i,0 2|. ^ ^ V«

w..

-^

V

Cuto

fF

r

'■

'

'

'

^-4^4«--

|b j

*"

j

1

1

off

1

r~-i

I//

■■n

y

///

/

^^Vt^

'"

1

//

//

^'

-^

//

Z

-^

\

\

/

/

\&

^

-^

~-^

^

/

^

-^

///

^

y

-^

^^^

^

//f

^

^

\

k\

g

/

*^

c»

~-~

:::^

>\

///-

^

\^

k

H

\

K

V

i"

X

y

^-

,^

^

/7

a

:^->.N\

^

' r

4

*

"

'

"

9 3

Podt

Lnrf

'Cran

S 1

1

s ^

' ^

4 -1 ^fj^.

^

-«o

1

L_

_

_

_

_

-tn

F1G48. C.SpeedlKcv.per Sec.,p£l01bs.r-12-8 ; p^ 0-51G, giving j\j^p3=2Ibsper 3q^.m.

C,mlDadednorriction< C, unloaded andriiction; Cjloadedaio R-lctioiii C^loaded and-Triction..

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 327

shaft, the tangent being so inclined as to cut the centre line of
the engine 19-2" from the crank-shaft centre on the side
towards the piston. This line may be regarded as the direction
of the resistance exerted at the teeth of a spur-wheel. The
position of this line exercises a very material influence on the
results obtained, which must not, therefore, as was said before,
be considered as applicable to engines genez'ally. The coefficient
of friction has been taken as = jL..

33. Eight distinct cases have been investigated. In these
examples the action of the engine has been studied on four
different assumptions — 1st, neglecting weight, mass, and fric-
tion ; 2nd, neglecting weight and mass ; 3rd, neglecting friction,
but taking mass and weight into account ; 4th, taking mass,
weight, and friction into account. A comparison of the results
shows the influence of each element of the problem on the final
result. These processes are obtained by what in the first part
of the paper are called — 1st, the simple dynamic frame ; 2nd, the
dynamic frame with friction ; 3rd, the loaded dynamic frame ;
4th, the loaded dynamic frame with friction. The examples will
be called A, B, C, IJ, E, F, G, and H ; the four assumptions will
be indicated by the suffixes 1, 2, 3, 4, and it must be borne in
mind that the suffix 4 corresponds to the complete solution, in
which all the elements of the problem are taken into account.
The results are graphically shown in a series of curves which
will be called ' Effort curves.' These were drawn to a very large
scale and have been reduced by a photographic process.

34. Example A. — Speed of engine, 1 revolution per second ;
effective pressure on cylinder, 2 lbs. per square inch — uniform
throughout the stroke. This example has been chosen to indi-
cate the effect of running the engine with a very low pressure
and no expansion. The vertical ordinates of curve A,, Fig. 46,
indicate in pounds the total effort which the engine could
exert along the assumed line of resistance, the total pres-
sure on the cylinder being 100-5 lbs. The horizontal co-
ordinates indicate the arc which the centre of the crank-pin
has traversed, measured from the position in which the crank-
pin is, at the end of its stroke, nearest to the cylinder. The co-
ordinates of all the other curves have a similar signification.
The ordinates for each curve have been calculated by separate

32S APPLIED SCIENCE

figures fur 2 L evenly spaced positions of the crank, numbered as
shown in Fig. 46«, when the piston and connecting rod lie to the
left of the crank. The portion of the curve corresponding to
the forward or front stroke, between the positions 0 and 12, will
be called the front branch ; the portion corresponding to the
backward or back stroke, between 12 and 24, will be called the
back branch. In Aj the front and back branches are symme-
trical relatively to ordinate 0 or 12, The relation of the ordin-
ates of this curve to the total pressure 100*5 lbs. on the piston
depends wholly on the relative velocity of the piston and a point
on the circumference of a circle 3 feet diameter concentric with
the crank shaft. There are two dead points at 0 and 12, where,
for an infinitely short arc, no resistance could be overcome.

In curve Ag the front and back branches are sensibly
symmetrical in the present example, although not rigidly so.
Instead of a mere dead point we have now two dead arcs of
different lengths, the longest being at the end of the front and
beginning of the back strokes. These dead arcs together last
for about 2-7 per cent, of each revolution. The negative or-
dinates throughout these dead arcs indicate that the engine,
instead of driving, must be driven. The area enclosed by the
curves above the line OY measures the work which the steam
can do. The area enclosed below the line OY in Ag measures
the work which must be done (not by the steam) to pull the
engine through the dead arcs. This work, in practical cases, is
done by the fly-wheel, which, if large enough, might do the
necessary work without allowing the speed to fluctuate sensibly
— a condition assumed throughout the calculations.

The whole work done by the steam is 100-5 x 16 x 12, or
3,216 inch lbs. The area of Aj was found to be 3,210 inch lbs.,
showing the error due to defective drawing to be very trifling ;
the area of Aj (being the arithmetical difference between the
positive and negative areas) is 2,974 inch lbs. The efficiency

on assumption 2nd is therefore ' '' = 0-927.
0,210

In curve A3 the front and back branches are no longer even

approximately symmetrical to one another. There is no dead

point at the end of the front stroke, and there is a long dead arc

at the end of the back stroke. The maximum effort is greater

1

1 .

?

I

1

1 ;

1 !

\

1

?

S J

\ I

3

X '

5 ;

1 ?

1 f ;

^

J

^

^

;

1

1

_— ::

==

==

"""^

s

^

^

:=^

::==

=^

<

<

V

:::-

~

==

^^

^^^

______

"^

^^

=::::-__

s-^ — ~

^

==^

===

:::-_.

:>—-

^

\

).)

.-S

^^

^

^

^

rf^

^

^

-^

--^

::>-'

' ^

^

^

^1
"1

1^

:^

'

Ci

/■

\\

V

^

M

=ss=

,,^

==

====J

-==

^

h-

^

==^

==

:^

Sr^_

^S

r^

__^

^

^

-^

f^

1

1

\

\

\ f

t

s

8 S

urpaq

Jccx;

[

" 1

•"-^

"^

1

^

M

^

^

1

1

^

'

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS pg

in the front than in the back stroke. These effects are due to
the weight and mass of the connecting rod. A counterbalance
might be so placed as to make the front and back branches
resemble one another much more closely. The area of the curve
A3 (calculated as for A2) is 3,212 inch lbs., the total error due
to imperfect draughtsmanship being only 4 inch lbs.

Curve A4 resembles A3 in its general outline, and when
these are compared v/ith Aj and Ag they show the effect of the
weight and mass of the parts in increasing friction. The in-
crease in the loss due to friction is not even approximately
constant throughout the stroke, but is much greater when the
crank is nearly at right angles to the centre line of the engine.
The loss is greatest during the back stroke, producing inequality
between the useful work done during the back and front strokes.
The causes of each departure from symmetry in all these curves
can be followed on the diagrams of the dynamic frames, but this
paper would be unduly extended if these were all to be printed.
Moreover, such directions have already been given for drawing
these as will enable any one to investigate the cause of each
effect now described or shown on the curves. The area of A^ is
2,602 inch lbs., so that the true efficiency of the engine running at

2 G02
this speed, and with this low pressure of steam, is ' "^ = 0-810.

o,2iZ

35. JExo.m'ple B, Fig. 47. — The effect of the resistance of

the masses to acceleration as distinguished from the effect of

the weights of the parts might have been exhibited by drawing

effort curves — 1st, on the assumption that although the parts

resisted acceleration they had no weight ; and, 2nd, on the

assumption that although the parts had weight they offered

no resistance to acceleration, or were moving at an infinitely

slow speed ; then, comparing these curves with A^, we should

have seen the effect of each element of the problem. This,

however, was thought unnecessary, because the effect of the

resistance of the masses to acceleration is strikingly shown by

the curves B3 and B^, being the effort curves of the same

engine, with the same pressure in the cylinder, but running

four times faster. When making one revolution per second, the

resistances to acceleration are smaller than the weights of the

elements in motion, as may be seen in Table I. of the Appendix,

330 APPLIED SCIENCE

where these forces are given for each position. When the speed
is increased to 4 revolutions per second, these forces are mul-
tiplied by sixteen, and their effect is then much greater than
that of the weight of the parts and suffices completely to change
the character of the effort curve. The negative portion of the
curve lasts for nearly half the revolution of the crank, so that
for nearly half of each revolution the fly-wheel would have to
pull the engine round. This is true both for B3 and B^ — for the
curves without and with friction — and is simply due to the fact
that during the first half of each stroke the reciprocating masses
are being positively accelerated. The positive ordinates during
the period when the engine is driving of course exceed those
during which the engine is being driven ; so that for curve Bg
the balance of positive area ought to be 3,216 inch lbs. It
actually is, on the drawing, 3,256, the excess being due to
small errors in drawing and computation. The area of B^ is
only 1,744 inch lbs.

The efficiency, therefore, has sunk to 0'536 ; almost half
the power of the engine is taken up in driving itself ; the pres-
sures on the joints caused by resistance to acceleration have at
this high speed greatly increased the loss due to friction. The
inequality between back and front strokes is also very great,
the area of the front branch being 953 inch lbs., that of the
back branch only 791. The loss due to friction sinks, however,
almost to nothing at one point of the front stroke, very near the
place where, in Example A^, it was a maximum. This may
serve as a warning against hasty generalisations. In curve B^
there are sensible sudden changes of efficiency at points 0 and
12, due to a sudden change in the position of the points where
the elements bear on one another.

36. Exam2)le C, Fig. 48. — Example C was selected with
the object of ascertaining how far the efficiency is affected by
using the steam expansively instead of admitting it throughout
the stroke. There is a very general idea that the sudden
shock, as it is called, of admitting steam at a much higher
pressure for a short time at the beginning of the stroke must
diminish the efficiency of an engine. This is not so in the
present example. An imaginary indicator diagram was selected
for Example C, drawn on the supposition that the steam was

i

g

1

I

! .

1

1 ,

\

I

1 •

1 i

?

i 1

5 «

^

5

0 1

§

\

\ %

%

___

^=

=^

==

=^

^

r::^^

(

«"

>-

--^

:^

=

=-=

==

^

"^

^==

===

"^=

=^

-:-^

"))

^

-^

^

'^

^
A7

=-=

^^

Q /

//

/

^

-^

^

^=^

=^

r^ d

--^

^

^

^

z::^

,-^

■'i

(^

^

.1

^

^

•0

.p8

^^

^==^

=^

"^

^

=^

«

■-*

^^

^

s

^

)

^

/

--^

^

1

1

1 \

i i

1 1

1 1

:

^

i

? S

eqin

^1

1

J =

s ;

3 1

. J

5 %

i

a

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 331

first admitted at a constant pressure of 10 lbs. per square inch ;
that r, the reciprocal of the fraction of the stroke during which
steam enters at a constant pressure, was 12-8 ; that the steam
expanded, according to an adiabatic curve, and was suddenly
released at the end of the stroke, and that during the return
stroke the back pressure was 0-516, These data give a total
effective initial pressure of 476*7 lbs. ; a total effective final
pressure of 3-7 lbs. ; and a mean effective intensity of pressure
of 2 lbs. per square inch, as in Examples A and B. The work
done by the steam per stroke is, therefore, as before, 3,212 inch
lbs. The speed of the engine is taken, as for curve A, at 1
revolution per second. Curves Cg and C^ give the effects with
and without friction ; the area of C3 is 3,223 inch lbs., showing a
very small error of execution ; the area of C^ is 2,640 ; the
ratio of these values gives 0-819 as the efficiency of the engine
worked in this way. This efficiency is actually a little higher
than that of curve A, which is repeated in this figure to allow
it to be more readily compared with 0. A similar result is to
be observed in curve D, Fig. 49, constructed from the same data,
but at the high sijeed of 4 revolutions per second. The area
of D3 is 3,270 inch lbs., that of D^ 1,965 inch lbs., giving
an efficiency of 0-601 — a value sensibly higher than that de-
rived from curve B when the steam was admitted throughout
the stroke. The errors due to imperfect drawing have generally
the result of slightly increasing the effort, and the error in curve
D3 for this particular drawing (3,270 over 3,216) is nearly 1-7
per cent. The liability to error is much increased when, as
here, a large portion of the area is negative. If this percentage
were reckoned on the arithmetical sum of the areas, instead of
on their difference, it would be insignificant. Notwithstanding
this inevitable imperfection, there is every reason to expect that
the errors in curves D3 and D^ resemble one another ; and w©
have the less reason to suspect the accuracy of the conclusion,
because we can see that since the tendency of resistance to
acceleration during the beginning of each stroke is to diminish
the effort, while that of a large initial pressure is to increase it,
the two tendencies counteract one another without causing
pressure on the main bearings or crank pin. Thus, in curves
B3 and B4 we found that the loss due to friction at positions 5

332 APPLIED SCIENCE

and 18 was much reduced from this cause. In curves C3 and
C4 we have this useful result of the mass of the moving parts
without the reversal of the stresses which brings down the effi-
ciency in B3 and B^. Similarly, in curves D3 and D^ the effect
of the high initial pressure is to prevent the negative parts of
the curve from falling so low as in Example B. The extremely
low efficiency of A^, B^, and C^ illustrates the evil effect of using
a large and heavy engine running with small mean pressures of
steam. We not unfrequently see large engines ordered for fac-
tories, mines, or water-works to allow for subsequent extension,
or for large variations in the work required at different times.
The above cases show how very serious the loss may be when an
engine is habitually worked much below its power. The cases
are no doubt extreme, but they show the tendency of the practice.

37. Example E, Figs. 50 and 51. The four cases hitherto
analysed are not, strictly speaking, practical cases : they were
chosen so as to bring into prominence the effects of friction
and high speed, separately and combined. These effects are
obviously most marked when the engine is running lightly
loaded. We will now consider a more practical example. The
curves E correspond to a speed of 1 revolution per second,
and to an indicator diagram drawn as follows : — Initial inten-
sity of pressure, 50 lbs. per square inch, r= 5-93 ; back pres-
sure, 3 lbs. per square inch; mean effective pressure, 18-095
lbs. per square inch ; work done by steam, 30,640 inch lbs.
per revolution.

Ej is the effort curve, neglecting mass, weight, and friction.

Eg is the effort curve, taking the friction into account which
results from effort and resistance, but neglecting that due to
weight and mass ; the area of Ej is 30,590 inch lbs., the error
being 50 inch lbs. The area of E, is 28,400 inch lbs., making
the efficiency 0-928 on this hypothesis.

E3 is the effort curve, taking the mass and weight into
account, but neglecting friction. The area is 30,700, the error
being 110 inch lbs. in the drawings.

Ej is the effort curve, taking mass, weight, and friction into
account — in other words, the true effort curve. Its area is
28,030 inch lbs., giving an efficiency of 0-913, or a little less
than that ctilculated for Ej. Now tluit the steam pressures are

i

1

1

3

i

I

1

1

1 :

?

1

1

I

U

? 1

-/^

y

f

y

^

^

^s^

^^^

=^^

-^

=^=^

^=^

'

H^

"^

i-i

"^^

^==

=^.^

~

===

^==^

:^^

rr'«

//

ri

//

;i

//

'/

X

^■^

^-^

.^

3U

rT

s*^

M

1

===^

r

■•

3 _

"~~~~

-

""^^^^

==

=

i

1 1

^

I

\ \

i s

1

i

-cn-1

»™i

..J

1

i

\

i §

i i i

1 §

i i 1 1 i i 1 s

5

9

1 s

, ? 1

/^

a

y^

^

^'^

^

^"

^,^:^

^^

^^

=^

*§

^:=^

"^'^

^

r^

k— ^

==

•*

~^==

=^=

=r=^

'4

^-^

===

===::-

_____

J

/

- 'S

/

J

Z'

^

y

00

^

',^^^'^

,;==^===*

in

^

A^

1

1

_

==

===

""^ '

" -

==

;^

-~^=:

^^""^

--

==

%

i

s 1

I

1 I

§ !

\

1 \

1 1

^

1

§

? 1

i

i

1

I 1

^ 1 i i

§

1 § § S ,

5^ s 1

-:==;=

==='

^;^=:

^^^

/

7^

<

^'

\\

\

^^

1

^<:^

^

%
f

__

_^

^

=>^

^

^~^=^

^=^

___

^^

=^^

^^^^

'*a

=:^==r

^;___

^ ,

^

;:^=-^

i 1

^^

"

J

^^

^"

y^

'^

/

\

\

)

)

^

y^y

■J

1 .

-^=^

==^

^^^

"""""^

..^^^^

^

==.

^^^

-==^

=^

==,,^

1 I

'

\ \

^

1

1

luipap

ax3 aoxc

1

S 1

s

=

s

§

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS :,y:>

large, the loss due to the weight and mass of the pai-ts is at this
speed comparatively insignificant. The total inevitable loss due
to friction in the machine alone, even excluding the accidental
friction due to tightness of piston and glands, and the power
required to work the valve gear, is nearly 9 per cent, of the
v/hole indicated horse-power. This example shows the complete
fallacy of the experimental method sometimes adopted with the
object of testing the efficiency of an engine. The engine is run
with no resistance, and the indicated H.P. observed. This is
assumed approximately to represent the loss due to the engine
itself when doing useful work against a large resistance ; but
from Example A we see that the power required to overcome the
friction in the engine when a small resistance was being over-
come was only 3,210-2,974 inch lbs., or 236 inch lbs. ; whereas
in Example E the power required is 1,190 inch lbs., or nearly
five times as much. This ratio would be somewhat diminished
by the constant accidental resistances in glands, etc., and by the
power required for valves and pumps. It must, however, always
remain very large.

In Ej and E2 the discontinuity of the curves at positions 0
and 12 is very marked. There must also be a slight break near
positions 6 and 18, due to the change in the bearing-points on
the crosshead pin ; but the frictional loss at this point is so in-
significant that the break in the curve is not sensible. There
is very little difference in general character between curves Ej
E2 and Eg E^. Mass and weight play a very small part in the
general result.

38. 'Example F, Fig. 52.— Example F is important and
instructive, showing the result of running the engine at 4
revolutions per second instead of 1 revolution per second, but
maintaining the same indicator diagram as in Example E,
the mean effective pressure being 18-905 lbs. as before. We
might expect this high speed to diminish the efficiency, as in
Examples B and D, but this is not the case. Curves Fj and Fg
are identical with Ej and Eg, and are therefore omitted ; curves
Fg and F^ are, however, very different in character from Eg and
E4. The resistance to acceleration causes the effort to be much
more uniformly distributed. It greatly diminishes the maximum
pressure, and largely increases the pressure during the second

334 APPLIED SCIENCE

half of each stroke. The resistance to acceleration is not, how-
ever, so large relatively to the steam pressure as to produce
negative ordinates, such as were found in cases B and D. The
action of the reciprocating masses is, therefore, on the wh< le,
beneficial, and we find the efficiency of the engine to be 0-917,
or somewhat higher than in Example E. Much care has been
taken in the computations to check this rather remarkable result,
but there seems no reason to doubt its accuracy. The impor-
tant conclusion to be drawn does not, however, depend on trifling
differences — such as that between 0-917 and 0-913. It is that
high speeds do not necessarily entail low efficiency, so that by
judicious arrangement of the masses we can have small engines
running rapidly with high expansion which, so far as friction al
resistances are concerned, may be at least as efficient as the same
engines running slowly, and necessarily more efficient than larger
engines doing the same work.

39. Examjyles G and H, Figs. 53 and 54. — The unexpected
results obtained rendered it desirable to investigate the case of
infinitely slow speed, or that in which the effect of inertia was
wholly disregarded. Curves G3 and G^ show the efforts with
and without friction for the practical distribution of steam
assumed in cases E and F. The total work done by the steam is
30,770 inch, lbs., the useful work 28,120, and the efficiency 0-914
— a result hardly differing sensibly from that obtained with the
high speed of 4 revolutions per second.

40. Example H. — Lastly, curves Hgand H^ show the efforts
with and without friction when the engine is modified so as
to make the connecting rod only 28 in. long, or 3^ times the
stroke. The weight of the new rod is taken as 28 lbs., and its
centre of gravity 14" from the crank end, and its radius of
gyration about the crosshead 18-83 inches. The speed assumed
was 1 revolution per second.^ As calculated from the areas of
the curves the whole work done by the steam is 30,740 inch lbs.,
the useful work 27,920 inch lbs., and the efficiency 0-908. •

This result is of considerable practical value, showing that
the efficiency of the engine is hardly diminished by shortening
the connecting rod to this, extent.

' The initial steam pressure, the ratio of expansion, and the back pressure
were assumed to be the same as in Example E.

1 1

1

t

I

I

1

i

1

1

1

s

1

i

s

1

s

g

u ?

I 1

X

^

^'

z:::::^

::==^

,:^:^

^

■n

__p=

-=s:5

Sfi^

e.

^^^^^==

::r-_

=

=^-_

^ pg

» rg

~^=

===

==^

-__

11

/

/

'J

//

//

^

„<?=

^==^

::^S==^

;;-:?^

^

_^

=^^

g

^=

==

""^"^^^^

==:

=^

. ^__

^

'==

===

=:^--_

"■""=

=

=

,,,,^_

i

1

1

i

•sqiu.

1
paviaxa

? 1

1

3

J

i

1

i

i

1 s

I

5 s

^

5

; 1

t

^

\ I

1 1

S

^ s

^

V

^^

.^

^-^

u-^

1^

,;::^

?>"

:=^

^^

1

__^;^

==^^^

^i:::-

-^1_

==:

=

^^

r=:__

' i

' ■

^==

==;

-

^1

/

- §

//

:l

^

/

/-

^

,^<

^

cS

^^^

^

^

^

__:^

^^^

^^

1

==

^

—&

— "^

==

"""=

==

=:^^

_____

==

==

.

1

1 '

« 1

5

I

I '

1 .

pa^aeoc

^

§

\

1

1

a

'

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS

335

&

> - O

t^ o

t- C5

t^ — 1

CO 0?

CO t-

00 '^^

CO

c

CI ro

C — '

c 0

CI -H

CI —1

0 -^

0

05 CO

9 'P

05 00

0=0

0 71

<T. C5

C5 05

Oi

si

H

■~^

'"'^

"~"^

^"^

■~"~

--r—

^'^

^.

O

%

~

"

'

"

-

j_,

<u

p.

'g

d

s

a

s

c

S

d

s

.2

o

.2

0

.2

0

0

0

p.

■3

d

^

"§

&

^

o

'0

'o

3

"o

^

"o

>

>

>

£

2

2

2

£

t>>

£

i-H

^

rH

Tt<

,—1

^

a>

,_!

^"^

^'

^"^

-J-

&

'3

^^

O

S

fa

fa

0

m

2

i

•- '^ 5rl

.^ a> !-

<U M

1

^ ci -S .

^lS|^.

.CO
^ 05

•^ s^-

g^

i"

1^ g -d

'- S .-g

lib

8 £ «• "

d

a

SE « S

^ g J

•-'

6

S.

%

i

^3

^--S

»■:-?,

1 a li 1

1 i..i

fl fto

p

5 g

-.3
ci

0

a 2

g^

^

£

.

.

s

,

.

|l^

a

£3

fl

fl

r]

d

a

a

.2

_o

.2

.2

•i

s

t*-i

pj

fl

Q

3

d

d

s

c«

CS

nS

S

;5

^

e^

t«!

a

K

^

p

p

W

w

H

fa

fa

fa

1

1

2

hq

1^

a

<H"-ar

pq'aT

d'a

d'p'

KW'

fa'fa"'

eo'

H

H

-<"<?

w'm

o'd*

q'p"

w"h

fa'fa"

cTcT

a

^

'

TJ

.sl«

II 5

5d ^^ 075

fa o.S

336 APPLIED SCIENCE

41. General Condusiryns. — The most important conclusion to
be drawn from the foregoing examples is, that the investigation
of the efSciency of any given direct-acting engine is rendered
comparatively easy by the new method. Next in importance
may be ranked the warning not to judge hastily as to the result
of any given modification in proportions or speed. The differ-
ences introduced by a change of speed are especially remark-
able, and show how futile reasoning must be as to relative
efforts and resistances or to stresses on the various parts of the
engine, or to the eiBBciency of any design when the inertia of the
masses is left out of the calculation.

Further conclusions may be drawn as follows : — 1st, that
high speeds do not necessarily involve small efficiency ; 2nd, that
a short connecting rod is not very disadvantageous ; 3rd, that
expansive working, even when carried to great lengths, does not
necessarily involve a loss of efficiency.

Table I. gives an abstract of the numerical values obtained
with this particular engine, but the reader must be warned
against considering these results as generally applicable to other
engines of different proportions.

The necessary calculations and drawings for this paper have
been made by my assistant, Mr. J. A. Ewing, to whom I am
much indebted both for the accuracy with which the work has
been done, and for the interest he has shown in adopting the
novel method of investigation.

The Appendix contains data which will allow the reader
to verify the results arrived at without going through all the
calculations.

This Appendix has been drawn up by Mr. EwiNG.

APPENDIX TO PART II.

On the Application of Graphic Methods to the Determination of the
Efficiency of Machinery.

To determine the forces required for the acceleration of the
piston and connecting rod in each position of the engine, we must
know the acceleration of the piston, and the angular velocity and

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS

337

angular acceleration of the connecting rod. If A C be the crank,
and CB the connecting rod, and if AB be called .r, then - is the

Fig. .55

acceleration of the piston ; and if the angle C B A be called 6, is

dt

the angular velocity of the connecting rod, and -~ is its angular

acceleration.

da. .

If the angle which the crank makes with A B be called a, — - is

d t
the angular velocity of the crank.

Then, calling the crank radius r, and the length of the connect-
ing rod /, we have

• _i CN . _, I'r sin a\

CB

dO r cos a

dt ^/2_,

^a' dt

d~a

Differentiating again, and remembei-ing that -—.^ = Q, we obtain
finally

d^J
dt^

dx
dl

r sin a {P — r"^) fdaV^

(^2Z:^^iir2a)f \d~t) '

AB = AN + BN,

r = r cos a-\-l cos 0,

—r sin a -— — I sin
dt

and

(Px

dt'

-= —r cos

dO

dO
dt'

'dOV

/day J Afd^Y 7 • n
a f -— 1 — ^ cos ^ ( -— I — / sin ^
\dtj \dtj

Substituting for '-t^ and ^^^

dt'''

, „ their values as determined above, and
dt dt^

putting r sin a for I sin 0, and ^'P — /- sin -a for ^ <^os 6, we obtain

finally

dy

di

d^x rdayf , r/2 cos 2a +r^ sin <al

d¥=-''[dt) 1^^^"+ (/-^-r^ sin -'a)a f

VOL. II.

338 APPLIED SCIENCE

The forces required to accelerate the piston and the connecting
rod may now be calculated as follows : —

For the piston. — If M be the mass of the piston and piston rod
in lbs., the force in lbs. is

M cPx
9 dt'^'

When this quantity is negative, the force acts towards the centre of
the crank shaft.

For the connecting rod. — The motion may be looked at as a
translation of the whole rod in the direction of motion of the piston,
combined with a rotation of the rod about the crosshead. Hence
the force producing acceleration is the resultant of three compo-
nents : — F], the force required for the linear acceleration in the
direction of motion of the piston ; F2, the force required for rotation
about the crosshead at the angular velocity which the rod has at

the instant under consideration. This acts towards the centre of
rotation, and is equal and opposite to the so-called 'centrifugal
force ; ' and, lastly, Fg, the force required to give the rod the angular
acceleration which it has at the given instant.

Let M' be the mass of the connecting rod in lbs., and G its centre
of mass, distant l^ from the crosshead B ; also let k be its radius of
gyration about B. Then the first component mentioned above, or
F„ is

M' ^
9 de'

and acts through G para-lel to the path of the piston.
The second component, Fj, is

MTp (dO^"
^ U ' '

(^Note.—la. Figs. 55 and 56 the engine has been represented as seen from
behind, if the engine in the previous figures be considered as viewed from the
front.)

APPLICATION OF GRAPHIC METHODS 339

and acts along the line of the rod towards B. The third component,
F3, is

g dt'^'
and acts at right angles to the rod through the centre of the per-

Jf.2

cussion H, which is at a distance — from B.

These three forces may be most conveniently compounded by shifting
F3 to G, and introducing a couple whose moment is Fg-HG, or

M'(F-^,l) d'^e I dW

■ '' !L: , or — ,

g dt'^ g dt'^

where I is the moment of inertia of the rod about G.

Forces equal and opposite to those components form the several
parts of the whole resistance to acceleration, and when these are
combined with the weight, the resultant is the whole load on the
element. (See Part I., § 27.) This composition is effected graphi-
cally, and a single force is obtained acting through G, which has
then to be shifted parallel to itself to such a distance as to give rise

to the moment . This process gives a single force of determi-

g df~ Jr o o

nate magnitude and position, as the load on the element in each
position of the engine.

The following tables show the component parts of the accelera-
tion and force in the cases which have been actually examined. In
Table II. the connecting rod is 41" long, and its mass is 34 lbs. ; Iq is

k-
20", and is .34-08 inches. In Table III. the connecting rod is 28''

'0

long, and its mass is 28 lbs. ; Iq is 14", and is 25'32 inches. In

^0
both cases the crank i^adius is 8", the mass of the piston and piston
rod 46 lbs., and the speed is 1 revolution per second, whence

^,'^=2 7r.

dt

The positions of the ci-ank in column 1 are numbered thus : — Posi-
tions 0 and 24 are the same, and correspond to a = 0. Position 12
corresponds to a = 180'^. The movement in Fig. .56 is contrary to
that of the hands of a watcb, and the interval between two succes-
sive positions is 15°. Looked at from the other side, as in earlier
figures of the engine, the movement would be in the direction of the
hands of a watch.

340

APPLIED SCIENCE

l?'%§l

i-cMio.-iccsocr:rtio<Mt- t^c^ior^cccoco— i«n<Mt-

t-n:c»:tbi^4t<b-occri;t- i^«j^!bt--*t^i;cY:p:t-

O'*5iC0«0CC3i00C0Cr:C5^O-*CiC0!0C0Slcr«CCC5-*O

^--|.S

1 i7777777 i i

5

o
>*

*\„

CDlOlCCOt^— 't-COlO»C«0 COlilOOOt-^t-OOlOia^

>

%i^ .

ic 05 05 CO Oi 'f: a-. CO Ci OS lO >.-:-. ss co ot lo 3-. c;: os os »o

1

Oa55b6:Nc«-*cbci6i«bcoccoi>6iO'>co-*coo-iOi5bcoo

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

-2 -^

S

ul

^

';^

00OOlM^C5 CSrH-MOO^OOCM— 'OS Oi^MOOQO

*'^ .

l:-»--^t-— 1 rtt-'*— i«ct-«Drt-*t-rH ,-(t-Tt— icor-

II

fe ^1

e^(j^o<r^o6ooO'^cNi(N5'i(i^(NrH6oo6o'^5>ii'i6i

-^-^ a

§

^°i

•|h»

S

^sl"

"S «

TS

o

g

° oT

1^

^

— i^co— i05(McoiMOOt-oot-oot-oO(Mco(M03^r:-j^

^^k .

cq«oo5t~eo-*ioineoeo<MOcr:c(Mto50ioio-t<tot^c;«;iM

2j

1

M-^<i6iON>b(fi«bd;'^<fi-fjif^'^J:«5c^»be^o65eb.^cb

i\

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

CO

g

r-'

2

r-,

bo

§^

lOOSlOS^It-rHt-COiOOlO UOOSiaC^t^-^t-IMlOOilO

iNiocootcioutOaoioiM (MioaoOin»oinOoo»C(M

1

^41

a5t-coi-»OGO«ai-cot~05 O5t-cot-»aco»ot-cot-a3
0'^cbib!bb-t^t-«bibcbTHOiHcb»b«bt-t-«>«b>bcrs.^C

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

It

° 8

■3

a ,j,

CO«Ot^!r><MCO C0 5-1'^l-tO«DCCt-tDlMrO CC(M-Jt-eO«0

l3 !-•

<M CO «C t^ (M "M 0<) :M 1^ «D CO 'M 00 » t~ !M <M IM (M 1^ CO 00 0-1

^hil

(M— IOOO«OCO COCCOOO^C^-^OOOCOCO C050000"IM

r^-^-^OOOOOOO-^^-^-^^OOOOOOO-^-^r^H

1"

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

00 -43

^-^

11

-r~»-

ooi^coeDcct-oc«D50(Meot-i^t-cciMecc£oot~cowcct-ao

CCt--*O.-^(M-r)<C0TtH>0t-00(M00t-l0^CC^<M-H«0^t-Q0

^

-^ys

^(^tb«biacfot-ioq«b«CT5oa5c<ocb(fi<it-M>b5b?bc-i-^

li 'S

aU-

^-*"COC<J^ rt'?5C^J(M(MC0<rqiM<MC<»'-l -HC-ICO^-*
1 1 1 I I I 1 1 1 1 1 1

'*' P.

I"

!^

II

bD

a

•a M

»0-*01:-OC5^«0(MtO-*-Ha5— i-)4ccc<IO'^0>Ot-0-#0

"■3

g

«1%|1

■^O5»«<»tO(M(M00t~lQr^O5.-ia5^»nt-0D(M0-)5OCOinO5-*

1

.^6s>bao6(fiibA(ibdoo6'^66aoib'^>boio<x)>b3-. Ai

fl

CCN'N^r-l pH,-lf-H(MC^S^<MC^r-lrt.-l rtrHWWCO

a
o

V g

O

£

1.1

Op^<Ne(S-*»0«0t-00CDO-<<MC0^iffeOt-000iC;^(MC0'*<

o 5

APPLCAT ^ON OF GRAPHIC METHODS

341

1"

O M !0 00

'" co5<i— ioo5r>eoOco!OaOrH(Mco!Nr^aDtomo

CC-*iCC— iT-HNiO lONi— l-HCi5-^c<5r-l>-H<Mir5

tr~ t- O C t~ '^ •* t^ O O t-l- t;- O O t- -* ^ t- O O t~ t-

-sl^-g g

l^i

W C<1 !N ^

00 t^ « b- O ^ *■! 'i* W -* W —

CM-r— ioo-*^c^cc — c^aaOooC'OicO'-Hrcc-l---^oo — coi^i

I I I I I I I I I I I I

:vt^i3D650i^w:eicibiDooooooxcc--C

-* "C 00 •

'S CO c ■
M «^ 6 35 I

— I <>) c^ :-5

,_; jh" "o
"^ I op

a .S S

ABSTRACTS OF
FLEEMING JENKIN'S SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

WITH A LIST OF HIS BBITISH PATENTS

ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS.

I. On Gutta-Fercha as an Insulator at various Tetnperatures. ' British

Association Report for 1859,' p. 248.

II. On the Insulating Properties of Gutta-Percha. ' Proceedings of

the Royal Society,' 1860, vol. x. p. 409.

These papers contain abstracts of experiments made at the works
of Messrs. R. S. Newall and Co., to determine in absolute measure
the insulation resistance of the gutta-percha coating of submarine
cables, and the eifect of temperature on that resistance. The author
draws attention to the phenomenon of ' polarisation ' or the apparent
increase which the resistance of the insulator undergoes for some time
after the application of the testing battery. Tables are given show-
ing the specific resistance of the gutta-percha used in the Red Sea
Cable after one and after five minutes' electrification ; also of the
specific resistance of pure gutta-percha, at temperatures ranging
from 50° to 80° Fahrenheit.

[An account of the same experiments was printed as an Appendix
to the Report of the Committee on Submarine Cables, 1859, in
connection with evidence submitted to the Committee by Professor
Jenkin.]

III. On Permanent Thermoelectric Currents in Circuits of one Metal.
'British Association Report for 1861,' p. 39 ; 'Chemical News,'
October 26, 1861, vol. iv. p. 222.

After referring to experiments by Seebeck and Magnus, on the
production of transient thermoelectric currents in circuits of one
metal by bringing together cold and hot ends of a wire, the author
announces the discovery that he had obtained permanent currents
by looping the two ends of a wire together and heating one of the
two loops, and that these currents were usually much greater when
there was a loose contact between the wires than Avhen the loops
were tightly drawn together. He first ol^served that if one loop
was heated when both were held tightly together, and then the loops

346 ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

were separated, a transient current was produced in the same direc-
tion as the current produced when the hot and cold ends were
suddenly joined. This led him to conclude that the currents in
question were due to the nearness of the ends, and that by main-
taining a state of loose contact a permanent current might be esta-
blished^a conclusion which was verified by the experiments. Trial
was made of the comparative amounts of the effect in iron, copper,
and platinum. Experiments with joints between two metals showed
that the thermoelectric difference at a joint was often greatly in-
creased by substituting loose contact for tight contact, and even the
direction of the current was sometimes reversed.

IV. On the True and False Discharge of a Coiled Electric Cable.
By Pi'ofe^sor W. Thomson and Mr. Fleeming Jenkin ; ' Philo-
sophical Magazine,' September 1861.

Mr. Jenkin had communicated to Professor Thomson, in 1859,
experimental results which showed that when a battery had been
applied to the near end of a coiled cable whose distant end was con-
nected to earth, if the near end were suddenly disconnected from the
battery and put to earth through a galvanometer, the deflection of
the galvanometer showed a ' false discharge,' that is, a current still
entering the cable from earth, in the same direction as the current
formerly supplied by the battery. In communicating this fact to
the British Association in 1859, Professor Thomson had explained
it as a result of the electromagnetic induction between different
portions of the coil, and had anticipated that no such false discharge
would be observed in a straight cable. The paper describes and
discusses Jenkin's experiments which, on being repeated, showed
that when the near end was put to earth the very first deflection of
the galvanometer there showed a back-flow or true discharge from
the cable, but this was quickly followed by a much larger opposite
deflection, forming the false discharge. The theoretical conclusion
that the false discharge would not be observed in submerged cables
was verified by Mr. Jenkin in experiments on the Bona Cable ; and
still more conclusively by Mr. Webb, whose letter on the subject (to
the Engineer of August 26, 1859) is appended to the paper.

[This paper is reprinted as Article LXXXIII. in vol. ii. of Sir
W. Thomson's Mathematical and Physical Papers.]

V. On the Retardation of Signals through long Submarine Cables.
' British Association Report,' 1859, p. 251.

[Abstract of a part of Art.VI. below.]

ABSTRACTS OF SCIEA'TIFJC PAPERS 347

VI. Experimental Researches on the Transmission of Electric Signals
through long Submarine Cables. Part I. ' Laios of Transmission
through various Lengthsof one Cable;"'Phi\oso])hiciilTransa.ctions
of the Royal Society,' 1862 ; Abstract in 'Proceedings of the
Royal Society,' June 19, 1862, vol. xii. p. 198.
In 1855 Sir W. Thomson had published the mathematical theory
of the transmission of electric signals, and had exhibited the retard-
ing effect of electrostatic capacity and resistance by a curve showing
the gradual rise — with respect to time — of the current in the remote
instrument when the end operated on was put and kept in connection
with the battery. By experiments on the Red Sea Cable while
stored in Messrs. Newall's works in 1859, Mr. Jenkin verified the
form of this ' curve of arrival,' using as the receiving instrument the
marine mirror galvanometer of Thomson, whose quickly vibrating
needle allowed it to respond accurately to the variations of current.
' When the key was pressed down the spot of light remained appa-
rently motionless for a short but sensible time, then shot along the
scale, moving rapidly at first but gradually losing speed, until at last
it moved very slowly to a maximum deviation, at which it remained
quite still : these movements truly showed the gradual change of
the received current from nothing to a maximum, a change requiring
50 seconds for its completion.' This was with a length of 2,168
knots, and experiments with other lengths of cable verified Thomson's
law that the retardation varies as the square of the length. The
results also demonstrated that, in accordance with the theoiy, the
retardation is independent of the electromotive force employed to
transmit signals, and that if after contact with the battery the
sending end of the cable be put to earth, the rate of decrease of
current at the remote end is the same after any interval as the rate
of increase in the arrival curve after an equal interval from the
beginning of contact with the battery. The experiments were further
directed to supply practical data with regard to the possible speed of
signalling through cables, a subject then attracting attention esj)ecially
as bearing on the scheme for a new Atlantic line. Observations
were made of the amplitude of fluctuation in the received current
produced by the sending of dots and dashes (short and longer apjali-
cations of the sending battery), the amplitudes being expressed as
percentages of the whole strength which the received current would
reach if the sending battery were kept in contact with the line for a
time long enough to allow the current to become sensibly steady.
A limit to the possible speed of signalling was demonstrated by

348 ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

sending clots so rapidly that no variation in the received current
could be detected, notwithstanding the sensibility of the receiv-
ing instrument. When dots and dashes were sent alternately,
and sufficiently slowly to be separately observed, the end of the dot
curve was found to go lower than the end of the dash curve, a
fact which limited very much the speed of sending possible with
an instrument of the Morse type. This was when the interval of
connection to earth was the same after both dot and dash, and it
was pointed out that this defect in the signals could be remedied by
making the interval of earth contact after the dash longer than that
after the dot, in a definite ratio. Further, to prevent the received
current from sinking during the longer intervals required for spaces,
it was suggested that each of these should be produced by a number
of very rapid short applications of the battery, with short earth
contacts between. To carry out these ideas automatic sending
became necessary, and Mr. Jenkin showed that the suggested system
was practicable by an experiment in which, in place of an ordinary
sending key, a strip of paper was used as sender, perforated with
long and short holes which allowed electric contacts to be made for
the desired lengths of time. By this means common Morse signals
were successfully transmitted through the cable with much greater
rapidity than would have been possible in the ordinary mode of
sending. [This ingenious system of automatic sending was developed
in much detail and formed the chief subject of a joint patent of Sir
W. Thomson and Mr. Jenkin in 1860. The system did not, how-
ever, come into use. It was rendered less necessary by the adoption
on all long submarine cables of Sir W. Thomson's mirror galvano-
meter, and subsequently of his Siphon Recorder, with the result that
any sensible fluctuation in the received current could be followed
and interpreted as a signal, irrespective of its amplitude and of its
position on the curve.] A mathematical investigation by Sir W.
Thomson of the relation which the amplitude of fluctuation in the
received current bears to the period of the sent currents, when
these are sent at regular intervals with earth contacts between, is
given as an appendix to the paper. The experiments included
observations of the speeds of sending of uniformly spaced short
currents on various lengths of cable, at which the amplitude of the
signals became (1) so small as to escape detection and (2) just capable
of being received without confusion. The results agreed very exactly
with the deduijtions from Sir W. Thomson's theory.

ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS 349

VII. On the Construction of Submarine Telegraph Cables. 'Pro-
ceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers,' July 1862,
p. 211.

After naming the essential features of a submarine cable, the
author points out that ' for every given ratio between the cost of the
materials of the insulator and of tlie conductor there exists a corre-
sponding ratio between the diameters of the conductor and insulator
which will give the maximum efficiency at a minimum cost ; and
practically the thickness of the gutta-percha is almost always in ex-
cess of this theoretical thickness ; and if a constant ratio is main-
tained between the diameters of the conductor and insulator the
number of words per minute which can be sent through a given
length of core is simply proportional to the quantity of the materials
used.' The process of manufacture is described ; namely, the twist-
ing of several copper wires into a conducting strand, the filling of its
interstices with Chatterton's compound, the coating of it with suc-
cessive layers of gutta-percha, the serving of the core with hemp or
jute yarn ; the sheathing with iron or steel wires— sometimes sepa-
rately covered with hemp and laid on spirally but without twist in
the individual wires ; and the final basting of the cable with Clark's
bituminous compound. The relative merits of gutta-percha and
india-rubber as insulators for submarine lines are discussed ; the
most important point in favour of india-rubber being its lower
specific inductive capacity. A number of actual cables are described,
and exhibited by diagrams, and certain novel proposed forms are
mentioned. Reference is made to the tendency which the spiral
lay in the sheathing has to make the cable, if laid too slack, form
bights which are drawn into kinks if the cable is picked up.
Tables are given with particulars of the dimensions and weights of
the principal submarine cables working at the date of the paper, the
depth of water in which they were laid, and the time during which
they had been in use. In a discussion following the paper, the
author refen-ed to the failure of cables through faults in the insulated
covering, or through the destruction of the sheathing : in either case
the failure was, in general, complete only when the copper conductor
parted. The electrical currents did not initiate faults in the insulatoi',
but where small faults existed previously they were developed by
the currents. The faults would be partially sealed for a time by
the use of positive currents, but this was done at the expense of
the copper, which was gradually eaten away until at last it was
severed, and signals then failed. This he believed had been what

350

ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

had taken place in almost all failures where the cable itself had not
been broken.

VIII. Report on Electrical Instruments. 'Jurors' Report on the
International Exhibition, London, 1862.'

The Report describes and discusses the exhibits under the
following heads :— I. Introduction. II. The Construction of Tele-
graphic Lines. III. Instruments employed in the Transmission of
Messages. IV. Philosophical Instruments, or Instruments used in
Experimental Research. V. Practical Applications of Electricity
other than Telegraphic. Chapter II. contains comprehensive sta-
tistics of submarine cables laid up to the date of the Report.

The following sentences may be quoted from the Introductory
chapter for the sake of their historical interest : —

'The electrical instruments now exhibited are numerous and
excellent, whereas, in 1851, the Jury Report states that they were
but few in number. . . . The past eleven years have not been
marked by any great discovery in electrical science, nor by any very
important novelty in the practical application of its principles. We
have to register no such marvellous invention as the electric telegraph
nor any new motive power superseding steam. On the contrary, it
must be acknowledged that many sanguine anticipations in this
direction remain unfulfilled. We have on the other hand to record
a great extension of the telegraphic system, and especially the intro-
duction of submarine cables. . . . The absence of useless though
specious inventions is illustrated by the fact that electromotors, or
machines for the production of motive power by the voltaic current,
are few in number and quite unimportant. The researches of Dr.
Joule have shown that with the present prices of materials it would
be utterly vain to expect that the power to be obtained from the
conversion of zinc into its sulphate should compete economically with
that resulting from the combustion of coal. Let a battery be in-
vented in which a cheap material only is consumed, and it will then
be time to consider which is the best arrangement for converting the
voltaic current into mechanical effect.

' One by one the causes of failure [in submarine cables] have been
discovered and eliminated, with such success that the cables lately
laid have thus far been uniformly successful. The electrical tests
have especially been brought to great perfection, and indeed these
researches into the electrical properties of the materials used as con-
ductors or insulators, and into the phenomena accompanying the
transmission of signals, have been prosecuted with such diligence and

ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

35T

success, that they may almost be said to form a new branch of elec-
trical science. The whole subject has been rescued from empiricism,
and made the matter of accurate measurement and calculation.

' The measurement of resistance has perhaj^s hitherto attracted
more attention than that of the other electrical quantities ; and re-
sistance coils, based on different arbitrary units, are sent by exhibitors
from France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy, as well as by English
makers. No two of those sent even from the same country are
alike ; a state of things attended with much the same inconvenience
to electricians as would be felt by engineers if every man chose the
length of his own footrule. Except those founded on the so-called
absolute measure, none of the units have been chosen with any refer-
ence to the other electi'ical quantities, and still less with any regard to
the units of force and work.' After referring to ' the beautiful and
coherent system of Weber and Thomson for the expression of these
quantities in absolute units, chosen with reference to their relations
with each other and with the units of force and work which must
henceforth be looked on as the connecting link between all physical
measurements,' the author continues — 'This admirable system,
which cannot fail of ultimate adoption, is not yet so generallv known
as to have produced many instruments intended specially for its
illustration or practical application. . . .'

' Next may be mentioned the instruments used for the automatic
regulation of the carbon electrodes of electric lamps. No less than
eight distinct contrivances are shown for this purpose : some more
suitable for optical experiments, some for signals, and some for
lighthouses or similar practical applications. Faults mioht still be
found with each instrument, but it is impossible to watch the quiet
steady flame of Mr. Holmes' light, or to see M. Serrin's lamp extin-
guished and relighted at a distance twenty times a minute by the
simple interruption and re- establishment of the electric current
without feeling that on future occasions electric lamps will be classed
rather among the practical applications of electricity than amon^
philosophical instruments. . . . The magneto-electric light is a novelty
of great importance, in which steam power is substituted for the
voltaic battery as the generator of the powerful current required.
It is probable that this invention will enable the electric light to be
extensively used in lighthouses and elsewhei^e.'

[' Rapport sur les Appareils Electriques, Exposition de Londres,
1862 ; ' ' Annales Telegraph.' vii. 1864, and viii. 1865.]

The next group of papers, IX. to XVI., relate to the work done by

352 ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

Professor Jenkin as a member of the British Association Committee on
Standards of Electrical Resistance, 1862-1869. Besides taking an
active share in the classical experiments of the Committee, Avhich esta-
blished the absolute system of electrical measurements as a practical
method and fitted it for general adoption. Professor Jenkin, as the
Committee's Secretary, drafted the Reports, and afterwards edited a
volume in which they were republished,' along with Articles XIII.
and XX. below. The following articles are parts of the Reports
with which his name is specially connected.

IX. Appendix H to the First Report of the Committee on Electrical
Standards. ' Description of the Electrical Apparatus arranged
by Mr. Fleeming Jenkin for the Production of exact Copies of the
Standard of Resistance.' ' British Association Report for 1862 ; '
Reprint, p. 35.

The apparatus is a modification of Wheatstone's Bridge in which
the two arms forming the ' ratio ' of the bridge are made adjustable
by connecting them through a short length of wire furnished with a
sliding contact. The two portions into which the contact piece divides
this resistance of the wire supplement, respectively, the resistance
coils of the two arms of the bridge which form the ' ratio.' Provision
is also made for interchanging the known and unknown resistance
in the other two arms of the bridge, so as to eliminate error due to
inexactness in the ratio — a pi'ocess analogous to double weighing in
the use of a balance. The apparatus includes a key which closes
first the battery circuit and then the galvanometer circuit by a single
motion of the finger. [The arrangement of bridge described in this
paper is discussed in Maxwell's ' Treatise on Electricity,' vol. i. § .350.]

X. Appendix C to the Second Report of the Committee on Electrical

Standards. ' On the Elementary Relations between Electrical
Measurements.' By Professor J. Clerk Maxwell and Mr. Fleem-
ing Jenkin. 'British Association Report for 1863,' p. 130 ; Re-
print, p. 59 ; ' Philosophical Magazine,' 1865, vol. xxix.

This important paper forms a concise and comprehensive treatise
on Absolute Magnetic and Electric Units and the theory and methods
of electrical measurements. Its scope is best shown by the following
Table of Contents : —

' Reports of the Committee on Electrical Standards appointed hy the
British Association for the Advancement of Science. Edited by Professor
Fleeming Jenkin, F.R.S. E. & F. N. Spon: London and New York, 1873.

ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

353

Part I.— Introductory.

Objects of treatise.

Derivation of units from fundamental
standards.

Standard mechanical units.
Dimensions of derived units

Part II. — The Measurement of Magnetic Phenomena.

Magnets aird magnetic poles.
Magnetic field.
Magnetic moment.
Intensity of magnetisation.
Coefficient of magnetic induction.

Magnetic potentials and equipotential

surfaces.
Lines of magnetic force.
Relation between lines of force and

equipotential sm-face.s.

Part III.

-Measure-ment of Electric Phenomena by their
Electromagnetic Effects.

Preliminary.

Meaning of the words ' electric quan-
tity.'

Meaning of the words ' electric cur-
rent.'

Meaning of the words ' electromotive
force.' [ance.'

Meaning of the words 'electric resist-

Measurement of electric currents by
their action on a magnetic needle.

Measurement of electric currents by
their mutual action on one an-
other.

Weber's Electro-dynamometer.

Comparison of the electromagnetic
and electrochemical action of cur-
rents.

Magnetic field near a current.

Mechanical action of a raa,t;netic

field on a closed conductor convey-
ing a current.

General law of the mechanical ac-
tion between electric currents and
oiher electric currents or magnets.

Electromagnetic measurement of elec-
tric quantity.

Electric capacity of a conductor.

Direct measurement of electromotive
force.

Indirect measurements of electromo-
tive force.

Measurement of electric resistance.

Electric resistance in electromagnetic
units is measured by an absolute
velocity.

Magneto-electric induction.

On material standards for the mea-
surement of electric magnitudes.

Part IV.

-Measurement of Electric Phenomena by
Effects.

Statical

Electrostatic measure of electric
quantity.

Electrostatic system of units.

Ratio between electrostatic and elec-
tromagnetic measures of quantity.

Electrostatic measure of currents.

Electrostatic measure of electromotive
force.

Electrostatic measure of resistance.

Electric resistance in electrostatic
units is measured by the recipro-
cal of an absolute velocity.

Electrostatic measure of the capacity
of a conductor.
VOL. n.

Absolute condenser — practical mea-
surement of quantity.

Practical measurement of currents.

Practical measurement of electromo-
tive force.

Comparison of electromotive forces by
their statical effects.

Practical measurement of electric re-
sistance.

Experimental determination of the
ratio V between electromagnetic
and electrostatic measures of quan-
tity.

A A

354 ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

PAr.T v.— ELlCteical Measukements derived from the Five
Elementary Measurements.

Electromotive force of chemical affi-
nity.

Tables of dimensions and other con-
stants.

No e to the table of dimensions, by
Professor Clerk Maxwell. (Omitted
in reprint.)

Magnitude of units and nomencla-
ture.

Electric potential.

Density — resultant electric force-
electric pressure.

Tension.

Conducting power, specific resistance,
and specific conducting power.

Specific inductive capacity.

Heat produced in a conductor by a
current.

Electrochemical equivalens.

XI. Appendix D to the Second Eeport of the Committee on Electrical
Standards. ' DescrijJtion of an Experimental Measurement oj
Electrical Resistance, made at King's College.' By Professor
J, Clerk Maxw^ell and Messrs. Balfour Stewart and Fleeming
Jenkin. Part II. ^ Description of the Apparatus,' by Mr. Jenkin.
'British Association Report for 1863,' p. 163 ; Reprint, p. 96.

This paper describes and illustrates the apparatus constructed by
the Committee to carry out Sir W. Thomson's method of finding in
absolute measure the resistance of a coil of known dimensions by
spinning it with known velocity about a vertical axis and observing
how a magnet suspended at the centre of the coil is deflected by the
currents which the earth's horizontal magnetic field induces in the
revolving wire. The B. A. unit of resistance was determined by means
of this apparatus. The paper includes a notice of a modified Wheat-
stone Bridge in which a group of coils arranged in multiple arc
form a means of adjusting the resistance in one arm of the bridge.
It is added that the idea of using large coils combined with small ones
in multiple arc to obtain extremely minute differences of resistance
had been suggested to the writer by Sir W. Thomson.

XII. Appendix A to the Third Report of the Committee on Electrical
Standards. ' Description of a further Experimental Measure-
ment of Electrical Resistance, made at King's College.' By
Professor J. C. Maxwell and Mr. Fleeming Jenkin, with the
assistance of Mr. Charles Hockin. ' British Association Report
for 1864 ;' Reprint, p. 115.

This paper gives the results of a second gi'oup of experiments by
which the B.A. unit of resistance was again determined by the same
method as had been used the year before. The Committee made
this and the former set of determinations (Art. XL) the basis of

ABSTRACTS OF SCIEXTIT/C PATERS 3:5

their Standard of Resistance, of which they issued copies during tlie
following year.

XIII. Rejwrt \to the Royal Society] on the Neiv Unit of Electrical
Resistance proposed and issued by the Committee on Electrical
Standards appointed in 1861 hy the British Association. 'Pro-
ceedings of the Royal Society,' 1865, vol. xiv. ; ' Philosophical
Magazine,' 1865, vol. xxix. ; 'Reprint of Reports on Electrical
Standards,' p. 191 ; ' Annal. Phys. Chem.' 1865.

In this Report Professor Jenkin gives an historical account of the
early and arbitrary units of resistance suggested or used before the
matter was taken up, at the suggestion of Sir W. Thomson, by a
Committee of the British Association. The report goes on to men-
tion the system of absolute electromagnetic units, first distinctly
proposed by W. Weber in 1851, and accepted and extended by
W. Thomson immediately on its appearance, which the Committee
adopted as the basis of their practical electrical units. The numerical
relation of the practical to the absolute electromagnetic unit of
resistance is defined, and the experiments made to determine the
unit are shortly referred to. The question of permanence of the
standard is discussed in connection with Matthiessen's researches on
the electrical permanency of metals and alloys, and with the system
adopted by Werner Siemens of definiiig a standard of resistance by
the length and section of a column of mercury. A table is given
showing the relative values of the B.A. and other units, and another
table shows the degree of agreement in the several determinations
made by the Committee.

XIV. Reply to Dr. Werner Siemens's Paper ' On the Question of the
Unit of Electrical Resistaiice.' ' Philosophical Magazine,' Sep-
tember 1866.

In the 'Philosophical Magazine' for May 1866, Dr. Werner
Siemens had criticised the action of the British Association Com-
mittee in selecting a unit of resistance based on the absolute electro-
magnetic system, and had advocated as unit the resistance at 0° C.
of a column of mercury 1 metre long and 1 square millimetre in
cross section — a unit actually employed by him before the Committee's
labours began. He had also complained that the Committee had
not done justice to his work. Professor Jenkin replies that the
scientific point in dispute involves two distinct questions, namely (1)
What is the best unit of electrical resistance 1 and (2) What is the
best method of making and reproducing any unit ? He contends

A A 2

356 ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

that there is no reason to adopt Dr. Siemens's definition more
than any other ; and that, on the other hand, the absolute system
of units is of great convenience in dealing with the relations of
electrical magnitudes to one another and to other quantities in
dynamics. He then points out that as regards reproduction it had
not been shown that a mercury unit could be reproduced with
greater accuracy than the B. A. unit, and that as regards permanency
tl e method practised by the Committee gave all the guarantees that
Dr. Siemens's plan could give, and more. The last part of the paper
refers at length to the historical and personal question raised by
Dr. Siemens, and in it Mr. Jenkin, while acknowledging fully the
independent invention by Dr. Siemens of many methods in electrical
measurement and his successful reduction of them to practice, claims
' for Professor Thomson the honour of having been the first to insist
on a measurement of the conducting-power of the copper in sub-
marine cables, and to express the quality of the insulation in terms
of resistance,'

XV. On a Modification 0/ Siemens's Besistance-Measureo'. Appendix
II. to the Fifth Report of the C omnnittee on Electrical Standards.
'British Association Report for 1867,' p. 481; 'Reprint of
Reports on Electrical Standards,' p. 144.

The Resistance-Measurer of C. W. Siemens (described in Ap-
pendix I. to the same Report) was a species of differential galvano-
meter with two coils, one on either side of the magnet, and capable
of being moved so that one receded from the magnet while the other
approached it. In Jenkin's modification the two coils are set at
right angles to each other, the magnet being at the centre of both,
and the coils are capable of being turned together on a horizontal
plane. A current is divided through them, and through the known
and unknown resistance respectively, and the coils are turned until
their electromagnetic effects on the needle neutralise one another.

XVI. £xperijne7its on Cajyacity. A2jpe7idix IV. to the Fifth Report
of the Committee on Electrical Standards. ' British Association
Report for 1867,' p. 483 ; ' Reprint of Reports on Electrical
Standards,' p. 146,

This paper is interesting as an account of the earliest attempt
to form a standard of electrostatic capacity, based on the electro-
magnetic system of units. Practical electricians had previously
constructed condensers of arbitrary capacity, equal to that of a knot

ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS 357

of some submarine cable, out of sheets of tinfoil separated by
paraffined paper, gutta-percha, or mica. Mr. Jenkin adopted Mr.
Latimer Clark's construction, in which mica formed the insulator,
and made a condenser whose capacity he adjusted so that it should
be approximately equal to 10"^'* absolute electromagnet'c me';re-
gramme-second units. He points out that a tenfold multiple of this
standard [or what is now known as a Microfarad] would be a con-
venient unit in submarine telegraph work. The capacity of the
condenser was measured by comparing the discharge from it through
a ballistic mirror galvanometer, whose needle was weighted for the
purpose, with the steady deflection produced when the battery used
to charge the condenser was placed in circuit with the galvanometer
through a known large resistance. Reference is made to the absorption
and residual discharge phenomena exhibited by mica in common with
other solid dielectrics, and to their influence in causing the capacity
of a mica condenser to be somewhat indefinite. The experiments
are recorded in full.

XVII. On the Retardation of Electrical Signals on Land Lines.
' British Association Report for 1864 '; ' Philosophical Magazine,'
June, 1865.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the application of Sir
W. Thomson's theory of the transmission of electric signals to land
telegraphs, in the light of certain experiments published by M.
Guillemin in 1860. The author gives a short statement of the results
of Thomson's theory, and quotes, on the authority of Mr. Chai'les
Hockin, the following series as a convenient expression to be used
in drawing the ' curve of arrival : ' —

Where

X is the current at the receiving end, after any interval t from

the time of application of the battery.
C is the current at the receiving end after an indefinitely long

application of the battery.

k being the resistance of the conductor, per unit of length ; c the
capacity per unit of length, both in absolute electrostatic measures

358 ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

and I the length. The series quoted above applies to the case of
perfect insulation : another expression is given, applicable to wire
whose insulation is imperfect.

Guillemin's experiments had apparently been made without regard
to the theory of Thomson, but with reference to an equation for the
establishment of the electric current given by Ohm as early as 1827,
where an unknown coefficient appears instead of the quantity c, the
place of which in the theory was pointed out by Thomson. The results
of Guillemin's experiments were however, as was to be expected, in
accordance with the completed theory. His method of determining
the curve of arrival was to cause a periodic variation of potential to
occur at the sending end, by means of a revolving cylinder which
connected the line there alternately to battery and to earth at regular
short intervals. The circuit was a loop line with its ends near
together, and the same mechanism which sent the currents was
employed to connect the receiving end with a galvanometer for an
excessively short interval once for every current sent into the line.
The successive impulses thus given to the galvanometer needle pro-
duced a steady deflection which served to measure the potential at
the receiving end at the particular epoch in the curve of arrival
when momentary connection with the galvanometer was made.
Px'ofessor Jenkin proceeds, using the data supplied by Guillemin's
results, and assuming a value for the resistance of the line, to apply
Thomson's formula to calculate the capacity c, and finds for it a
value nearly twice as great as the calculated capacity of a perfectly
insulated wire suspended at a uniform distance from a conducting
1_

plane, namely, 4/(, where h is the height and d the diameter of

2 1og-^'

the wire. He ascribes the difFei'ence partly to the approach of the
posts to the wire, partly to the capacity of the insulators, and pos-
sibly to the eftects of polarisation at the points of support. He adds
that an additional retardation (which has the effect of making the
capacity as calculated for M. Guillemin's results appear larger than
its actual value) is produced by the electrodynamic induction from
Avire to wire. He concludes with an estimate of the rate at which
signals can be sent by instruments such as the Wheatstone automatic
ti-ansmitter, where a limit of speed is set by the retardation discussed
in the paper.

XVIII. Lectures on the Construction of Telegraph Lines. Royal
Engineers Institute, Chatham, 1863.

ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS 359

XIX. Lectures on the Maintenance of Efficiency of Telegraphic
Lines. Royal Engineers Institute, Chatham, 1863.

XX. Cantor Lectures on Stibnmrine Telegraphy, delivered before
the Royal Society of Arts (January to February 1866). ' Journal
of the Society of Arts,' 1866 ; ' Reprints of Reports on Electrical
Standards,' p. 200.

Lecture I. is on the insulated conductor and its properties, and
deals with the mechanical and electrical qualities of copper, gutta-
percha, india-rubber, and Hooper's material ; the question of perma-
nency and of absorption of water ; the manufacture of the core, and
its mechanical properties when completed.

Lecture II., on shallow and deep water cables, describes the
serving and sheathing of the core, and treats of the strength of the
sheathing ; the mechanical properties of the completed cable ; the
maintenance of cables in shallow seas ; returns from cables ; statistics
of deep and shallow water cables ; and concludes with abstracts of a
number of specifications.

Lecture III., on laying and repairing cables, gives an account of
the stowage on board ship, the use of tanks, the precautions against
fouling during the running out, the Itrakes and other paying-out
gear ; the theory of submersion, as sketched by Sir W. Thomson
and independently elaborated by Messrs. Brook and Longridge, with
applications of the theory 5 the lifting and repairing of cables in
shallow and deep water.

Lectures IV. and V., on electrical tests, define the terms used,
and describe the ordinary tests of the conductor and insulator during
and after manufacture ; the tests at sea ; the tests of short lengths by
the electrometer ; the tests of joints ; capacity tests ; tests for faults,
namely the loop test, for a cable in the factory or on board ship, and
the potential test for a submerged cable, both of which, although
first used by other electricians, had been independently devised by
the lecturer.

XXI. Lectures on Electrical Measurements, delivered at the Royal
Engineer Establishment, Chatham (February 1867). Written
by Captain R. H. Stotherd, R.E., and revised by the lecturer.

In these three lectures an account is given of the theory of
electrical units and the relation of electrical quantities to one another ;
the principles and practice of measurements of resistance, permanent
currents, transient currents, and currents of periodically varying

36o ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

magnitude ; of capacity and specific inductive capacity ; of potential ;
of the division of potential by resistance slides, and the combination
of two slides to give minute subdivision ; of the measurement of
potential by electrometers. The lectures conclude with a detailed
account of the tests employed during the laying of the 1866 Atlantic
Cable, with diagrams showing the electrical arrangements on shore
and on the ship.

XXII. On the Submersion and Recovery of Submarine Cables.
'Proceedingsof the Royal Institution,' May 21, 1869 (Abstract).

This lecture describes the general construction of deep-sea cables,
with special reference to the French Atlantic Cable of 1869, parti-
culars of which are stated numerically in full. An account is given
of the arrangements for coiling on board the ' Great Eastern,' and for
paying out the cable. It is shown how the strains to be expected
during the laying are calculated. The cable, while sinking, meets
with a resistance in a direction normal to its length, equal (for the
Atlantic Cable) to 0*154 w^ per foot of length, v being the velocity of
sinking, measured in a direction normal to the length of the cable.
Its weight being 0-2575 lbs. per foot the velocity of settling is given
by the equation

0-154y2=0-2575.

The result of this resistance is that the cable lies in a straight line,
the inclination of which depends on the velocity of the ship and on v.
A formula for the inclination is given, and it is mentioned that the
rough Atlantic cable, when the ship was going at the speed of six knots
per hour, lay at an angle of 6|°, so that the inclined plana was seven-
teen miles long, and each piece of the cable took nearly three hours to
reach the bottom. The stress on the cable at the top is less than the
weight of a length hanging plumb from the surface to the bottom, by
the resistance which the rope meets in slipping down along the plane
— a quantity depending on the amount of slack paid out. A formula
and coefficient, applicable to the Atlantic Cable, are given for this
resistance, and the stresses are calculated in particular examples.
The process of grappling is described. Figures are given for the
stresses which occur during the recovery of cables laid with assumed
percentages of slack ; and the conclusion is stated that the strength
of the cable is from three to four times greater than the strain which
in fair weather need come on the cable when being picked up from
a depth of two miles.

ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS 361

XXIII. On the Constmction and Submersion of Subtnarine Tele-
graph Cables. ' Journal of the Society of Telegraph Engmeers,'
1872, vol. i. p. lU.

This pa,per, which appears in the section of the Journal devoted
to ' Abstracts and Extracts,' and is marked ' Communicated by G. E.
Pi'eece,' is substantially an abstract of (1) tlie first and second of the
Cantor Lectures (Art. XX. above), and (2) the Royal Institution
Lecture (Art. XXII.).

XXIV. On a Method of Testing Short Lengths of Highly Insulated
Wire in Subninrine Cables, ' Journal of the Society of Telegraph
Engineers,' 1873, vol. ii. p. 169.

The paper describes an electrometer method of testing insulation,
introduced by Sir W. Thomson and Professor Jenkin during the
manufacture of the Western and Brazilian Company's cables, and
since then generally adopted in shore tests of submarine Cable core.
The method consists in putting the cable, charged to the full potential
of the battery, in connection with one pair of quadrants of a Thom-
son's electrometer, while the battery itself is applied to the other
pair. The loss of potential which the cable suifers by leakage is
then seen by the gradually increasing deflection of the electrometer
needle ; and when this becomes excessive the potential of the other
pair of quadrants is lowered, by the use of a resistance slide which
allows any convenient proportion of the battery potential to be
applied, instead of the whole potential. This brings back tJie needle
of the electrometer, and observations of the rate of leakage can then
be continued. The method has many advantages, in expedition,
accuracy, and convenience, over the direct process of testing by
means of a sensitive galvanometer ; and it has the further merit of
being equally applicable to cores or cables of all lengths. Several
cables can be tested at once, since it is only necessary to connect
each to the electrometer a few seconds before its potential is to be
observed, after which it can be disconnected and allowed to go on
losing charge while readings of other cables are being taken. The
formula for the reduction of the observations is given in the paper ;
the electrical connections ai-e exhibited by a diagram ; and an example
of an actual test is quoted in full.

362 ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

XXV. Note on the Electrification of an Island. ' Nature,' May 5,
1870, vol. ii. p. 12 ; 'American Journal of Science,' 1870.

This note describes a curious observation made by Mr. Gott, the
superintendent of the French Cable Company's station on the Island
of St. Pierre Miquelon, that the Morse signals sent from another
station on the island could be read on the Siphon Recorder of the
French Company, when that instrument was placed between an
earth plate at the station and another earth three miles out at sea.
A sample of recorder slip with a Morse message stolen in this way
is reproduced in the paper. The author explains the result by de-
scribing the potential of the ground in the neighbourhood of both
stations as alternately raised and lowered by the l)attery used to
send Morse signals, so that the island discharged itself through the
short insulated line which connected the French Company's station
with their distant sea ' eartli.' He adds that the action could be
avoided by the exclusive use of sea ' earths,' according to the plan
introduced by Mr. C. F. Varley to eliminate natural earth-currents.

XXVI. On the Practical Afjilication of Recijrrocal Figures to the
Calculation of Strains on Framework. ' Transactions of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh,' 1869, vol. xxv. p. 441.

The scope of this paper is best shown by quoting the introductory
paragraphs : —

' The theory of reciprocal figures used as diagrams of forces was
first completely stated by Professor J. Clerk Maxwell, in a paper
published in the "Philosophical Magazine," April 1864 The follow-
ing definition of reciprocal plane figures, and their application to
statics, are there given as follows : —

' " Two plane figures are reciprocal when they consist of an equal
number of lines, so that corresponding lines in the two figures are
parallel, and corresponding lines -which converge to a point in one
figure form a closed polygon in the other."

' " If forces represented in magnitude by two lines of a figure be
made to act between the extremities of the corresponding lines of
the reciprocal figure, then the points of the reciprocal figure will all
be in ec[uilibrium under the action of these forces."

' The demonstration of this statement is given. The conditions
under which stresses are determinate, and some examples of reci-
procal figures, are also given in the paper, which leaves nothing to
be desired by the mathematician.

* Few engineers would, however, suspect that the two paragraj)hs

ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS 363

quoted put at their disposal a remarkably simple and accurate
method of calculating the stresses in fi'amework ; and the author's
attention was drawn to the method chiefly by the circumstance that
it was independently discovered by a practical draughtsman, Mr.
Taylor, working in the office of the well-known contractor, Mr. J. B.
Cochrane. The object of the present paper is to explain how the
principles above enunciated are to be applied to the calculation of
the stresses in roofs and bridges of the usual forms.'

The construction of reciprocal figures for various typical forms of
bridge and roof trusses, under vertical and horizontal loads, is then
explained fully and illustrated by a large number of diagrams.
[In this connection reference may also be made to §§ 52-56 of Pro-
fessor Jenkin's article on Biud(!ES in the ' Encyclopjedia Britannica,
where the use of Reciprocal Figures as a practical method in Graphic
Statics is again explained, with the advantage of the simplified system
of lettering introduced by Mr. R. H. Bow.]

After discussing a great variety of examples, the author points
out the advantages which the method of reciprocal figures has over
graphic processes formerly in use and over algebraic methods of
calculating stresses, and concludes by repeating that the merit of
discovering the method is entirely due to Professor Maxwell and
Mr. Taylor, the object of his paper having been to put the tlieoiy in
a form intelliiifible to the engineer.

XXVII. On Braced Arches and Suspension Bridges. 'Transactions
of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts,' 1870, vol. viii.

The author explains the difference between an ordinary beam or
bridge-frame, in which the reactions of the supports are vertical, and
a braced arch or braced suspension bi'idge, in which the forces at the
supports are indeterminate until account is taken of the stifTness of
the rib and yield of the abutments. He had perceived in 18G1 that
the true form of a stifTrib or stiff chain would be that in which two
members would be braced together like the top and bottom members
of a girder ; that in the arch both members might be in compression,
and in the chain both might be in extension, whereas in a girder
one is compressed- and one extended. He had found, however, that
he was unable to calculate, except on unproved assumptions, the
distribution of stresses, being unable to find the force at the sup-
ports. He drew Professor Clerk Maxwell's attention to the problem,
and Maxwell publislied ('Phil. Mag.,' May 18G4) a method by which
all stresses in framed structures could be positively determined.
Professor Jenkin then gives an abstract of the method, which is based

364 ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

on the assumption that no horizontal force is applied at the abutments
except what results from the load on the bridge. The calculations
referring to a practical example are detailed in full in an appendix
to the paper. They show that, for a uniform load, the chain of a
braced suspension bridge, the figure of which is described in the paper,
should be tapered at the middle to nearly one-tenth of its cross
section at the piers ; and the bottom member, which like the chain is
in tension throughout, should have its section increased in the ratio of
8 to 1 from the piers to the centre, where its section should be nearly
equal to that of the chain at the piers. A similar design applies to
the braced arch : and this distribution of material, slightly modified
to suit practical requirements, was patented by the author. A com-
parison is made between the weight of a braced arch or suspension
bridge built on this plan and the weights of bridges of other types,
to illustrate the advantage of the proposed design : and it is pointed
out that the braced arch has the further merit that none of its parts
are exposed to any considerable tension, a point of special importance
when the material is cast-iron or timber.

The calculations proved the possibility of constructing a suspen-
sion bridge which should be as stiff as a girder without any com-
pressive members except some light diagonals, and showed that a
braced arch might be made stable under unsymmetrical loads, both
arch and suspension bridge being much lighter than the equivalent
girders.

For an abstract of the theory of braced arches, identical in sub-
stance with that given in the above paper, reference may be made
to § 56 of the article Bridges in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica.'

XXVIII. On the Application of Graphic Methods to the Determina-
tion of the Efficiency of Machinery. ' Transactions of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh,' 1877, vol. xxviii. p. 1. Ditto, Part II.,
' The Horizontal Steam- Engine.^ ' Transactions of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh,' 1878, vol. xxviii. p. 703,

This very important paper, the scope of which is much wider than
the title indicates, has been reprinted in full (pp. 271-341). It
describes a novel process of performing what may be termed a dyna-
mical analysis of machines, which allows the method of Reciprocal
Figures (explained in an earlier paper) to be applied in determining
the forces that act throughout the mechanism. The investigation of
frictional efhciency is one use to which this analysis may readily be
applied. The Keith Gold Medal for the period 1877-9 was awarded to
Professor Jenkin for this paper by the Royal Soc^ty of Edinburgh.

ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS 365

XXIX. Siir rApplication de la Alethode Grapldque a la Determina-
tion de Veffet utile des Machines. ' Association Fran9aise poui'
ravancement des Sciences, Congres de Rheims,' August 1880.

[An abstract of the preceding paper.]

XXX. On a Constant Flmo Valve/or Water and Gas. 'Transactions
of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts,' March 1876.

The paper describes a regulator, invented and patented by Pro-
fessor Jenkin, by which the flow of fluid past an orifice is maintained
constant notwithstanding great variations of pressure on either side
of the orifice. An inlet pipe discharges into a chamber through an
equilibrium throttle valve. Above this is a partition which divides
the chamber into two parts. Part of the partition is constituted by
a piston, which is free to rise and fall, and is connected to the equi-
librium throttle valve below. The fluid passes into the upper part
of the chamber through an adjustable hole in the partition, and thence
to the delivery pipe. When the pressure of supply is excessive
the piston rises and throttles the entering fluid ; when the pressure
of supply is reduced the piston rises and opens the throttle valve.
The effect is to maintain a constant difference of pressure on the two
sides of the piston, and so to maintain a constant flow through the hole
in the partition, notwithstanding variations in the pressure against
which the fluid is delivered or in that under which it is supplied.
Several forms of the regulator are figured in the paper for the supply
of gas and water. The drawing of a large form, for use on water
mains, is reproduced by Professor Unwin in the article Hydro-
mechanics in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica.'

XXXI. On Friction between Snrfaces moving at Low Speeds. By
Fleeming Jenkin and J. A. Ewing. ' Philosophical Trans-
actions of the Royal Society,' 1877, vol. 167, Part II., p. 509.
bstract, 'Pro c. I . S.,' No. 179, 1877.)

This paper describes an experimental investigation of the influence
of velocity on friction at very low speeds, undertaken with the view
of seeing whether there is continuity between the friction of rest
and the friction of motion, when solid bodies rub against one another.
Under certain conditions the coefficient of friction between surfaces
at rest exceeds the coefficient between the same surfaces in relative
motion, and the authors looked for evidence of a possible continuity
between the two values in a rise of friction when the speed became
reduced. The friction of a steel axle in bearings of steel, brass,

366 ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAJ'ERS

wood and agate, was examined at speeds ranging from about
0*01 ft. per second as an upper limit, down to 0"0002 ft. per second.
The axle carried a massive disc, which, once set spinning, was
brought to rest by the friction which it was the object of the
experiments to measure. The rate of retardation of the disc was
determined by means of a pendulum, which swung over against its
circumference and traced a sinuous line on a strip of paper
fixed to the disc. To avoid friction between the pendulum and
the paper, the former was provided with a frictionless marking
pointer on the plan invented by Sir W. Thomson for use in his
Siphon Recorder for submarine telegraph signals. A fine siphon
of capillary glass tube, fixed to the pendulum, and supplied with ink
from an insulated cistern, was kept electrified by a small inductioiT
machine, and its point was thereby maintained in a continuous state
of oscillation towards and from the paper, on which it deposited a
particle of ink at every contact.

When the rubbing surface of the axle and journals was dry no
change could be detected in the coefficient of friction throughout
the range of velocities experimented on, but when the journals
were of wood, and lubricated with water or oil, an increase of fric-
tion at the lower limit of velocity was found, amounting to about
20 per cent, of the value at the higher limit of velocity. Out of all
the sets of circumstances examined a distinct increase of friction
with reduced velocity was observed in those, and only in those,
cases in which the friction of rest was notably greater than the
friction of motion — a result which made the hypothesis probable
that there is continuity between the two kinds of friction. The
method of experiment and the numerical results obtained are detailed
fully in the paper.

XXXII. Remarks on the Phonograph. By Fleeming Jenkin and
J A. Ewing. ' Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,'
1878, vol. ix, p. 579.

XXXIII. On the Wave Forms of Articulate Sounds. By Fleeming
Jenkin and J. A. Ewing. (1) ' Proc. R. S. E.,' 1878, vol. ix.
p. 582. (2) ' Proc. R. S. E.,' 1878, vol. ix. p. 723.

XXXIV. The Fho7iograph and Vowel Theories. By Fleeming
Jenkin and J. A. Ewing. (1) 'Nature,' 1878, vol. xvii. p. 423.
(2) ' Nature,'' 1878, vol. xviii. p. 167.

XXXV. The Phonograph and Vowel Sounds. By Fleeming Jenkin
and J. A. Ewing. (1) T'he Voviel Sound o, 'Nature,' 1878, vol.
xviii. p. 340. (2) ' Nature,' vol. xviii. p. 394. (3) ' Nature,'
vol. xviii. p. 454.

ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS 367

XXXVI. On the Harmonic Analysis of Certain Vowel Sounds. By
Fleeming Jenkiii and J. A. Ewing. ' Transactions of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh,' 1878, vol. xxviii. p. 745.

This group of papers (XXXII. -XXXVI.) refers to an experi-
mental investigation of the wave-forms of articulate sounds, under-
taken with the aid of the phonograph, which had then been newly in-
vented by Mr. T. A. Edison. In experimenting with the phonograph
the authors had observed that the quality of vowel sounds spoken by
the instrument did not vary so much as Helmholtz's theory led
them to expect, when the barrel of the phonograph was turned faster
or slower than its normal rate. This led them to undertake an
extensive analytical examination of records embossed on the tinfoil
of the phonograph, in the hope of finding that common feature in
the wave-forms corresponding to any one vowel sound, by virtue of
which the vowel is recognised when spoken or sung by different
voices or at different parts of the scale. The phonograph records
were magnified for the purpose of analysis by a system of light
levers terminating in a pen formed of an electrified capillary tube
which worked like the siphon of Sir W. Thomson's recorder, and
traced a magnified version of the wave forms on a moving strip of
paper. This magnified transcript was taken without injuring the
original tinfoil records, which were still available for reproducing
the spoken sounds. The wave-forms traced on paper were then
subjected to harmonic analysis to determine the amplitudes of the
constituent simple tones. By this means tables were constructed
showing the relative amplitude of the prime tone and the first five
overtones in the vowel sounds o, a, a°, and u, sung at various pitches
by several voices. The results were compared with Helmholtz's
theory of vowel sounds as depending on the reinforcement of certain
overtones by the oral cavity. They showed that the quality of a
vowel sound does not depend either on the absolute pitch of rein-
forcement of the constituent tones alone, or on the simple grouping
of relative partial tones independently of their absolute pitch. The
authors' conclusions are stated at length in the last paper, where the
method of experiment and the numerical results arrived at ai-e also
fully described and a number of the magnified traces of sound waves
are reproduced by photo-lithography. The other papers are for the
most part preliminary notices of the last paper, but contain some
incidental observations regarding the reproduction of other sounds
than vowels by means of the phonograph. Amongst these is the
curious observation that any single element of spoken sound, whether
vowel or consonant, is phonetically reversible, as nearly as the

368 ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

phonograph allows the character of the sound to be determined
(' Nature,' vol. xvii. p. 423).

XXXVII. Nest Gearing. ' Repoi't of the British Association for
1883,' p. 387.

Under this name Jenkin describes a number of forms of friction
gear of his invention, for the transmission of power by rolling con-
tact. The chief peculiarity of ' nest gears ' is that the rollers com-
posing them are so grouped that their mutual pressures are balanced,
to avoid producing thrust against the bearings. This invention was
the subject of several patents, and was employed in some of the
early forms of telpher locomotives, which are illustrated in the
paper on ' Telpherage,' p. 262.

XXXVIII. Gas and Caloric Engines, being one of the series of
Lectures on Heat and its Mechanical Applications delivered at
the Institution of Civil Engineers, February 21, 1884.

The lecturer discusses the general theory of hot-air and explosive-
o'as engines, and gives particulars of the results obtained by various
makers. The gas-engines of Otto and Clerk are described in some
detail, and experiments on efficiency and on the nature of the explo
sion are cited. The use of a regenerator is referred to, and the
original patent of Dr. Stirling is quoted in full in an appendix to
the lecture. Modern hot-air engines of the Stirling type are men-
tioned and their construction described by the aid of diagrams.
Attempts by Sir W. Siemens to apply the regenerator to internal-
combustion engines are alluded to ; and in this connection the author
wives a short account of an experimental engine constructed by
himself and Mr. A. C. Jameson, and of his own unsuccessful efforts
to introduce gas-engines of a novel type. The author concludes by
referring to the fact that Dowson gas allows the gas-engine even
now to compete on favourable terms, as regards economy of fuel,
with the steam-engine. ' Since this is the case now, and since theory
shows that it is possible to increase the efficiency of the actual
was-eno'ine two- or even three-fold, the conclusion seems irresistible
that o-as-engines will ultimately supplant the steam-engine. The
steam-engine has been improved nearly as far as possible, but the
internal-combustion gas-engine can undoubtedly be greatly improved,
and must command a brilliant future.' The lecture is followed by a
number of appendices giving (1) a more extended account of the theory
of the subject : (2) examples of calculated theoretical indicator dia-
grams for air- and gas-engines of various types : (3) description of the

ABSTRACTS OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS 369

engines referred to, and a full illustrated account of the operation
of the valves of Otto's engine : (4) a Report by Dr. Slaby in which
the Lenoir and Otto engines are compared and experimental data sup-
plied : (5) an excerpt from Dr. F. Gi-ashof's work on the Mechanical
Theory of heat, giving physical constants relating to coal-gas and its
combustion : (6) particulars of Mr. J. E. Dowson's cheap gas as fuel
for gas engines : and (7) the Patent Specification of R. and J. Stirling
for air engines (1827).

XXXIX. Telpherage, being the introductory address to the Class of
Engineering in the University of Edinburgh for the Session
1883-4, October 30, 1883. ' The Electrician,' November 3, 1883 ;
*La Lumiere Electrique,' November 10, 1883.

XL. Telpherage, being the substance of a lecture delivered at the
School of Military Engineering, Chatham, on March 13, 1884.

XLI. Telpherage. A paper read before the Society of Arts, May
14, 1884. 'Journal of the Society of Arts,' May 16, 1884.

These papers refer to the invention the development of which
formed Professor Jenkin's last work. Arts. XL. and XLI. are
substantially identical. A i-eprint of the latter is given at p. 252.

VOL. 1].

370

LIST OF
PROFESSOR JERKIN'S BllITISII PATENTS.

1. Telegraphic Communication (with Sir W. Thomson). No. 2,047,

1860.

2. Bridges. No. 667, 1861,

3. Electric Tell-tale Compass. No. 1,553, 1863.

4. Machinery for Manufacturing Telegraph Cables. No. 2,155,

1865.
6. Winding in Telegraph Cables. No. 1,218, 1866.

6. Apparatus for producing Electric Light. No. 390, 1869.

7. Bridges. No. 3,071, 1869.

8. Submarine Telegraph Cables. No. 3,236, 1869,

9. V-PULLEYS for the TRANSMISSION OF POWER (with Mr. F. H.

Ricketts). No. 1,886, 1873.

10. Telegraphic Apparatus (with Sir W, Thomson). No. 2,086, 1873.

11. Obtaining Motive Power. No. 2,441, 1874.

12. Telegraphic Apparatus (with Sir W, Thomson). No. 1,095, 1876.

13. Transmitting Sound by Electricity (with Mr. J. A. Ewing).

No. 4,402, 1877.

14. Caloric Motor Engines (with Mr. A. C. Jameson). No. 1,078,

1881.

15. Caloric Motor Engines (with Mr. A. C. Jameson). No. 1,130,

1881.

16. Caloric Motor Engines (with Mr. A. C. Jameson). No. 1,160,

1881.
. Mechanism for Transporting Goods and Passengers by means
op Electricity. No. 1,830, 1882.

18. Regulating Speed in Machinery driven by Electricity.

No. 3,007, 1882.

19, Mechanism for Transporting Goods and Passengers by means

of Electricity. No. 4,548, 1882.

20, Machinery for Spinning and Winding (with Professor Ewing).

No. 26, 1883.

21. Driving Gear. No. I'MS

LIST OF BRITISH PATENTS 371

22. Geaeing. No. 4,481, 1883.

23. Driving Gear called ' Nest Gear.' No. 4,754, 1883.

24. Gas Engines. No. 2,635, 1884.

25. Telpherage. No. 3,795, 1884.

26. Trucks and Locomotives for Telpher Lines. No. 3,79G, 1884.

27. Contact Arms for Telpher Trains. No. 4,167, 1884.

28. Telpherage. No. 5,020, 1884.

29. Transporting Goods and Passengers by means of Electricity

(with Mr. A. C. Elliott). No. 8,460, 1884.

30. Telpher Locomotive. No. 8,751, 1884.

31. Regulation of Currents in Telpher and other Electric

Motors. No. 8,906, 1884,

32. Underground Electric Haulage. No. 10,907, 1884.
33 "Water Motors (with Mr. H. Darwin). No. 11,038, 1884.

31. Mechanism for the Transmission of Power (with Professor

Bwing). No. 12,479, 1884.
35. Governors. No. 15,111, 1884.

PRINTED BY

SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STUEET SQUARE

LONDON

July \X

Catalogue of ^oofes

PUBLISHED BY

MESSES. LOIGIAIS, GEEEI, & CO.

39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.G.

Abbey. — T//e English Church and
ITS Bishops, i 700-1800. By Charles
J. Abbey, Rector of Checkendon. 2
vols. 8vo. 24^.

Abbey and Overton.— T//^ Eng-
lish Church av the Eighteenth
Century. By Charles J. Abbey,
Rector of Checkendon, and John H.
Overton, Rector of Epworth and
Canon of Lincoln. Crown 8vo. 7j. 6^/.

Abbott. — The Elements of Logic.
By T. K. Abbott, B.D. i2mo. 3^-.

Acton. — Modern Cookery for
Private Families. By Eliza Acton.
With 150 Woodcuts. Fcp. 8vo. 45. 6d.

.^schylus. — The Eumenides of

MscHYLUS: a Critical Edition, with
Metrical English Translation. By JOHN
F. Davies, M.A. Professor of Latin in
the Queen's College, Galway. 8vo. -js.

A. K. H. B. — The Essays and Con-
tributions OF A. K. H. i5. — Uniform
Cabinet Editions in crown 8vo.

Autumn Holidays ofa Country Parson, y.dd.

Changed Aspects of Unchanged Truths,
3^. 6d.

Commonplace Philosopher, 3i'. dd.

Counsel and Comfort from a City Pulpit,
3^. U.

■Critical Essays of a Country Parson, y. 6d.

Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson.
Three Series, 3^. 6d. each.

Landscapes, Churches, and Moralities,
2,s. 6d.

Leisure Hours in Town, 3^'. 6d.

Lessons of Middle Age, 3^'. 6d.

Our Little Life. Two Series, 3^. 6d. each.

Our Homely Comedy and Tragedy, y. 6d.

Present Day Thoughts, 3^-. 6d.

Recreations of a Country Parson. Three
Series, 35. 6d, each.

Seaside Musings, 3^. 6d.

Sunday Afternoons in the Parish Church of
a Scottish University City, 3J'. 6d.

Amos. — Works by Sheldon Amos.
A Primer of the English Con-
stitution and Government. Crown
8vo. 6^.
A Systematic View of the
Science of Jurisprudence. 8vo, i8j.

Aristophanes.— The Acharnians

of Aristophanes. Translated into
English Verse by Robert Yelverton
Tyrrell, M.A. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.

Aristotle. — The Works of.

The Politics, G. Bekker's Greek
Text of Books I. HI. IV. (VH.) with
an English Translation by W. E.
Bolland, M.A. ; and short Introductory
Essays by A. Lang, M.A. Crown 8vo.
7^. 6d.

The Politics ; I itroductory Essays.
By Andrew Lang, (From Bolland and
Lang's ' Politics.') Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d,

The Ethics ; Greek Text, illustrated
with Essays and Notes. By Sir Alexan-
der Grant, Bart. M.A. LL.D. 2 vols.
8vo. 3 2 J.

The Nicomachean Ethics, Newly
Translated into English, By Robert
Williams, Barrister-at-Law. Crown
8vo. 7^. 6d.

Armstrong. — Works by George

Francis Armstrong, M.A.
Poems : Lyrical and Dramatic. Fcp.

8vo. 6s.
King Saul. (The Tragedy of Israel,

Part I.) Fcp. 8vo. 5^-.
King Da vid. (The Tragedy of Israel,

Part II.) Fcp. 8vo. ds.
King Solomon. (The Tragedy of

Israel, Part III.) Fcp. 8vo. 6j-.
Ugone: a Tragedy. Fcp. 8vo. ds.
A Garland from Greece ; Poems.

Fcp. 8vo, gs.
Stories of Wickloiv; Poems. Fcp.

8vo, gs.
Victoria Regina ft Imperatrix:

a Jubilee Song from Ireland, 1887. 4to.

5.f. cloth gilt.
The Life and Letters ofEdmund

J. Armstrong. Fcp. 8vo. 7^-. 6d.

Armstrong.— Works by Edmund
J. Armstrong.
Poetical JForks. Fcp. 8vo. 5-^.
Essays and Sketches. Fcp. 8vo. 5^.

A

Catalogue of General and Scientific Books

Arnold. — Works bv Thomas
Arnold, D.D. Late Head-master of
Rugby School.

iNTJiODUCTORY LECTURES ON MO-
DERN History, delivered in 1841 and
1842. 8vo. 7^. dd.

Sermons Preached mostly in
THE Chapel of Rugby School. 6
vols, crown 8vo. 30^-. or separately, 5^. each.

Miscellaneous Works. 8vo. 75. 6d.

Arnold. — A Manual of English
Literature, Historical and Critical.
By Thomas Arnold, M. A. Crown 8vo.
Is. 6d.

Arnott. — The Elements of Phy-
sics or Natural Philosophy. By
Neil Arnott, M.D. Edited by A. Bain,
LL.D. and A. S. Taylor, M.D. F.R.S.
Woodcuts. Crown 8vo. \2s. 6d.

Ashby. — Notes on Physiology
for the Use of Studeats Rreparing
FOR Examination. With 120 Wood-
cuts. By Henry Ashby, M.D. Lond.
Fcp. 8vo. 5J-.

Atelier (The) du Lys; or, an Art

Student in the Reign of Terror. By the
Author of ' Mademoiselle Mori.' Crown
8vo. 2s. 6d.

Bacon. — The Works and Life of.

Complete Works. Edited by
R. L. Ellis, M.A. J. Spedding,
M.A. and D. D. Heath. 7 vols. 8vo.

Letters and Life, including all
HIS Occasional Works. Edited by J.
Spedding. 7 vols. 8vo. £i^. 4^.

The Ess a ys ; with Annotations. By
Richard Whately, D.D., 8vo. loj-. dd.

The Essays; with Introduction,
Notes, and Index. By E. A. Abbott,
D.D. 2 vols. fcp. 8vo. price 6j. Text
and Index only, without Introduction
and Notes, in i vol. fcp. 8vo. 2.s. 6d.

Bentley.— ^ Text-Book of Organic
Materia Medic a. Comprising a De-
scription of the Vegetable and Animal
Drugs of the British Pharmacopceia,
with some others in common use. Ar-
ranged Systematically and especially De-
signed for Students. By Robt. Bentley,
M.R.C.S.Eng. F.L.S. With 62 Illus-
trations. Crown 8vo. 7j. 6d.

The BADMINTON LIBRARY,

edited by the Duke of Beaufort, K.G.
assisted by Alfred E. T. Watson,
Hunting-. By the Duke of Beau-
fort, K.G. and Mowbray Morris.
With Contributions by the Earl of Suffolk
and Berkshire, Rev. E. W. L. Davies,
Digby Collins, and Alfred E. T. Watson.
With Coloured Frontispiece and 53 Illus-
trations by J. Sturgess, J. Charlton, and
Agnes M. Biddulph. Crown 8vo. los. 6d.

Fishing. By H. Cholmondeley-

Pennell. With Contributions by the
Marquis of Exeter, Henry R. Francis,
M.A., Major John P. Traherne, and G.
Christopher Davies.

Vol. I. Salmon, Trout, and Grayling.
With 150 Illustrations. Cr. 8vo. ioj. dd.

Vol. II. Pike and other Coarse Fish.
With 58 Illustrations. Cr. 8vo. los. bd.

Racing and Steeplechasing. By

the Earl of Suffolk, W. G. Craven,
The Hon. F. Lawley, A. Coventry,
and A. E. T. Watson. With Coloured
Frontispiece and 56 Illustrations by J.
Sturgess. Cr. 8vo. \os. 6d.

Shooting. By Lord Walsingham
and Sir Ralph Payne - Gallwey,
with Contributions by Lord Lovat, Lord
Charles Lennox Kerr, The Hon. G.
Lascelles, and Archibald Stuart Wortley.
With 21 full-page Illustrations and 149
Woodcuts in the text by A. J. Stuart-
Wortley, Harper Pennington, C.Whymper,
J. G. Millais, G. E. Lodge, and J. H.
Oswald-Brown.

Vol. I. Field and Covert. Cr. 8vo. loj-. 6d.

Vol. II. Moor and Marsh. Cr. 8vo. lOJ-. 6d.

Cycling. By Viscount Bury,
K.C.M.G. and G. Lacy Hillier. With
19 Plates and 61 Woodcuts in the Text,
by Viscount Bury and Joseph Pennell.
Crown 8vo. ioj. 6d.
*^.* Other volumes in preparation.

Bagehot. — Works by Walter
Bagehot, M.A.

Biographical Studies. 8vo. 12s.

Economic Studies. 8vo. 105. 6d.

Literary Studies. 2 vols. 8vo.
Portrait. 28J.

The Postulates of English Po-
litical Economy. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d.

Bagwell. Lr ELAND under THE

TuDORS, with a Succinct Account of
the Earlier History. By Richard Bag-
well, M.A. Vols. I. and II. From the
first invasion of the Northmen to the year
1578. 2 vols. 8vo. 32J.

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. LONGMANS, GrEEN, &= CO.

Bain. — Works by Alexander

Bain, LL.D.
Mental and Moral Science; a

Compendium of Psychology and Ethics.

Crown 8vo. \os. 6d.
The Senses and the Intellect.

8vo. \^s.
The Emotions and the Will.

Svo. 1 5 J.
Practical Essays. Cr. Svo. 4^. (yd.
Logic, Deductive and Inductive.

Part I, Deduction, 4J. Part II. In-
duction, 6s. 6d.
James Mill; a Biography, Cr. 8vo. 5^-.
John Stuart Mill; a Criticism,

with Personal Recollections. Crown

Svo. 2s. 6d.

Baker. — Works by Sir Samuel

W. Baker, M.A.
Eight Years in Ceylon. Crown

Svo. Woodcuts. 5J-.
The Rifle and the Hound in
Ceylon. Crown Svo. Woodcuts. 5^-.

Ba.\\.— The Reformed Church of
Ireland (I S37-i^^6). By the Right Hon.
J. T. Ball, LL.D. D.C.L. Svo. 75. 6d.

Barrett. — English Glees and
Fart-Songs. An Inquiry into their
Historical Development. By William
Alexander Barrett, Svo. 'js. 6d.

Beaconsfield. — Works by the
Earl of Beaconsfield, K.G.
Novels and Tales. The Hugh-
enden Edition, With 2 Portraits and 1 1
Vignettes. 1 1 vols. Crown Svo, 42^'.
Endymion.
Lothair, Henrietta Temple,

Coningsby. Contarini Fleming, &c,

Sybil, Alroy, Ixion, &c,

Tancred. The Young Duke, &c.

Venetia, Vivian Grey,

Novels and Tales. Cheap Edition,
complete in II vols. Crown Svo. \s.
each, boards ; \s. 6d, each, cloth.
The Wit and Wisdom of the
Earl of Beaconsfield. Crown Svo,
IJ-. boards, is. 6d. cloth.

Becker. — Works by Professor

Becker, translated from the German by

the Rev. F. Metcalf.
Callus; or, Roman Scenes in the

Time of Augustus. Post Svo. "js. 6d.
Charicles ; or, Illustrations of the

Private Life of the Ancient Greeks.

Post Svo. Is, ()d.

Boultbee. — A Commentary on the
39 Articles of the Church of England.
By the Rev. T. P. Boultbee, LL.D.
Crown Svo. 6^,

Bourne. — Works by John
Bourne, C.E.

Catechism of the Steam Engine
in its various Applications in the Arts, to
which is now added a chapter on Air and
Gas Engines, and another devoted to
Useful Rules, Tables, and Memoranda.
Illustrated by 212 Woodcuts. Crown Svo.
•js. 6d.

Handbook of the Steam Engine;
a Key to the Author's Catechism of the
Steam Engine. With 67 Woodcuts. Fcp.
Svo. 9^.

Recent Improvements in the
Steam Engine. With 124 Woodcuts.
Fcp. Svo. 6s.

Bowen. — Harrow Songs and
OTHER Verses. By Edward E.
Bowen. Fcp. Svo. 2s. 6d.; or printed
on hand-made paper, ^s.

Brabazon. — Social Arrows: Re-
printed Articles on various Social Subjects.
By Lord Brabazon. Crown Svo. is.
boards, $s. cloth.

Brabourne. — Friends and Foes
FROM Fairyland. By the Right Hon.
Lord Brabourne. With 2olllustrations
by Linley Sambourne. Crown Svo. 6s.

Brassey. — Works by Lady
Brassey.

A Voyage in the ^ Sunbeam,^ our
Home on the Ocean for Eleven
Months.

Library Edition, With 8 Maps and

Charts, and 118 Illustrations,Svo,2iJ'.

Cabinet Edition. With Map and 66

Illustrations, crown Svo. "^s. 6d.
School Edition, With 37 Illustrations,
fcp, 2s. cloth, or 3J-, white parchment
with gilt edges.
Popular Edition . With 60 Illustrations,
4to. 6d. sewed, is. cloth.

Sunshine and Storm in the East.

Library Edition. With 2 Maps and
114 Illustrations, Svo. 2 1 J'.

Cabinet Edition. With 2 Maps and
114 Illustrations, crown Svo. 7 J, 6d.

Popular Edition. With 103 Illustra-
tions, 4to. 6d. sewed, is. cloth.

{Continncd on next page.

Catalogue of General and Scientific Books

Brassey. — Works by Lady
Bra sse y — cotitinued.
In the Trades, the Tropics, and
THE ' Roaring Forties.^

Library Edition. With 8 Maps and

Charts and 292 Ilhistrations, 8vo. 2IJ.

Cabinet Edition. With Map and 220

Illustrations, crown 8vo. 7^-. 6d.
Popular Edition. With 183 Illustra-
tions, 4to. 6d. sewed, is. cloth.

Three Voyages in the ' Sunbeam'
Popular Edition. With 346 Illustrations,
4to. 2s. 6d.

Browne. — An Exposition of the
39 Articles, Historical and Doctrinal.
By E. H. Browne, D.D., Bishop of
Winchester. 8vo. 16s.

Buckle. — Works BY Henry Thomas
Buckle.

History of Civilisation in Eng-
land AND France, Spain and Scot-
land. 3 vols, crown 8vC). 24J.

Miscellaneous and Posthumous
Works. A New and Abridged Edition.
Edited by Grant Allen. 2 vols, crown
8vo. 2 1 J.

Buckton. — Works by Mrs. C. M.
Buckton.

Food and Home Cookery. With
1 1 Woodcuts. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.

Health in the House. With 41
Woodcuts and Diagrams. Crown 8vo. 2s.

Our Dwellings. With 39 Illustra-
tions. Crown 8vo. 3J. 6d.

Bull. — Works by Thomas Bull,
M.D.

Hints to Mothers on the Man-
agement OF their Health during the
Period of Pregnancy and in the Lying-in
Room. Fcp. 8vo. \s. 6d,

The Maternal Management of
Children in Health and Disease.
Fcp. 8vo. is. 6d.

Bullinger. — A Critical Lexicon
AND Concordance to the English
AND Greek New Testament. To-
gether with an Index of Greek Words
and several Appendices. By the Rev.
E. W. Bullinger, D.D. Royal 8vo. \^s.

Burnside and Panton.— Tt/^

Theory of Equations. With an In-
troduction to the Theory of Binary
Algebraic Forms. By William Snow
Burnside, M.A. and Arthur William
Panton, M.A. 8vo. I2i-. dd.

Burrows. — The Family of Brocas
OF Beaurepaire and Roche Court,
Hereditary Masters of the Royal Buck-
hounds. With some account of the English
Rule in Aquitaine. By Montagu
Burrows, M.A. F.S.A. With 26
Illustrations of Monuments, Brasses,
Seals, &c. Royal 8vo. 42J-.

Cabinet Lawyer, The ; a Popular

Digest of the Laws of England, Civil,
Criminal, and Constitutional. Fcp.8vo.9j,

Caddy. — Through the Fields
WITH LiNN^us.— By Mrs. Caddy.
With 6 Illustrations and 2 Maps. 2 vols,
crown 8vo. l6s.

Jane

Carlyle. — Thomas and
Welsh Carlyle.

Thomas Carlyle, a History of the
first Forty Years of his Life, 179S-1835.
By J. A. Froude, M.A. With 2 Por-
traits and 4 Illustrations, 2 vols. 8vo. 32J.

Thomas Carlyle, a History of his
Life in London : from 1834 to his death
in 18S1. By J. A. Froude, M.A. 2 vols>
8vo. 32i'.

Letters and Memorials of Jane
Welsh Carlyle. Prepared for pub-
lication by Thomas Carlyle, and edited
by J. A. Froude, M.A. 3 vols. 8vo. 36J.

Cates. — A Dictionary of
General Biography. Fourth Editionj
with Supplement brought down to the
end of 1S84. By W. L. R. Gates. 8vo.
28^. cloth ; 35^-. half-bound russia.

Cicero. — The Correspondence op
Cicero : a revised Text, with Notes and
Prolegomena. By Robert Y. Tyrrell,
M.A. Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.
Vols. I. and II. \2s. each.

Q\tx\i.—THE Gas Engine. By
Dugald Clerk. With loi Illustrations
and Diagrams. Crown 8vo. "js. 6d.

Coats. — A Manual of Pathology.
By Joseph Coats, M.D. Pathologist
to the Western Infirmary and the Sick
Children's Hospital, Glasgow. With 339
Illustrations engraved on Wood. 8vo.
3IJ-. 6d.

Colenso. — The Pentateuch and
Book of Joshua Critically Ex-
amined. By J. W. Colenso, D.D.
late Bishop of Natal. Crown 8vo. 6^-.

Comyn. — Atherstone Priory: a

Tale. By L, N. Comyn. Crown 8vo.
2s. 6d.

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. LOXGMAXS, GrEE.Y, 6^ CO.

Conder. — A Handbook to the

Bible, or Guide to the Study of the Holy
Scriptures derived from Ancient Monu-
ments and Modern Exploration. By F.
R, Conder, and Lieut. C. R. Conder,
R. E. Post 8vo. 7J. 6d.

Conington. — Works by John

CONINGTON, M.A.

The ^Eneid of Virgil. Trans-
lated into English Verse. Crown 8vo. 9^-.

The Poems of Virgil. Translated
into English Prose. Crown 8vo. <js,

Conybeare & Howson. — The

Life and Epistles of St. Paul.

By the Rev. W. J. Conybeare, M.A.

and the Very Rev. J. S. Howson, D.D.
Library Edition, with Maps, Plates, and

Woodcuts. 2 vols, square crown 8vo.

2IJ-.
Student's Edition, revised and condensed,

with 46 Illustrations and Maps. I vol.

crown 8vo. 7^^. bd.

Cooke. — Tablets of Anatomy.
By Thomas Cooke, F.R.C.S. Eng.
B.A. B.Sc. M.D. Paris. Fourth Edition,
being a selection of the Tablets believed
to be most useful to Students generally.
Post 4to. Is. 6d.

Cox. — The First Century of
Christianity. By Homersham Cox,
M.A. 8vo. I2J-.

Cox. — A General History of
Greece : from the Earliest Period to the
Death of Alexander the Great ; with a
Sketch of the History to the Present
Time. By the Rev. Sir G. W. Cox,
Bart, M.A. With 11 Maps and Plans.
Crown Svo. 7j. 6d,

*^* For other Works by Sir G. Cox,
see ' Epochs of History,' p. 24.

Creighton. — History of the
Papacy During the Reformation.
By the Rev. M. Creighton, M.A.
Svo. Vols. L and II. 1378-1464, 32J. ;
Vols. in. and IV. 1464-1518, 24J.

Crookes. — Select Methods in
Chemical Analysis (chiefly Inorganic).
By William Crookes, F.R.S. V.P.C.S.
With 37 Illustrations. Svo. 24^^.

Crump. — A Short Enquiry into
the Formation of Political Opinion,
from the Reign of the Great Families to
the Advent of Democracy. By Arthur
Crump. Svo. 7^. 6d.

Culley. — Handbook of Practical ■
Telegraphy. By R. S. Culley,
M. Inst. C.E, Plates and Woodcuts.
Svo. i6j-.

Dante. — The Divine Comedy of
Dante Alighieri. Translated verse for
verse from the Original into Terza Rima.
By James Innes Minchin. Crown
Svo. 155.

Davidson. — An Introduction to
THE Study of the New Testament,
Critical, Exegetical, and Theological.
By the Rev. S. Davidson, D.D. LL.D.
Revised Edition. 2 vols. 8vo. 30^.

Davidson. — Works by William
L. Davidson, M.A.
The Logic of Definition Ex-
plained and Applied. Crown Svo. 6j.
Leading and Important English
Words Explained and Exempli fibd.
Fcp. Svo. 35. 6d.

Decaisne & Le Maout. — A

General System of Botany. Trans-
lated from the French of E. Le Maout,
M.D., and J. Decaisne, by Mrs.
Hooker ; with Additions by Sir J. D.
Hooker, C.B. F.R.S. Imp. Svo. with
5,500 Woodcuts, T,is. 6d.
De Salis. — Works by Mrs. De

Salis.
Savouries a la Mode. Fcp. Svo.

\s. boards.
Entries A la Mode. Fcp. Svo.
is. 6d. boards.

De Tocqueville. — Democracy in
America. By Alexis de Tocque-
ville. Translated by Henry Reeve,
C.B. 2 vols, crown Svo. 16^.

D'Herrisson.— 2"/^^ Black Cabi-
net. By M. le Comte d'Herrisson.
Translated from the French. Crown Svo.
Ts. 6d.

Dickinson. — On Penal and
Urinary Affections. ByW. Howship
Dickinson, M.D.Cantab. F.R.C.P. &c.
With 12 Plates and 122 Woodcuts. 3
vols. Svo. £2,. 45. 6d.

Dixon. — PuRAL Bird Life ; Essays
on Ornithology, with Instructions for
Preserving Objects relating to that
Science. By Charles Dixon. With
45 Woodcuts. Crown Svo. 5.?,

Dowell. — A History of Taxa-
tion AND Taxes in England, from
the Earliest Times to the Present
Day. By Stephen Dowell, Assistant
Solicitor of Inland Revenue. 4 vols.
Svo. 48^.

Catalogue of General and Sciextific Books

Dublin University Press Series

(The) : a Series of Works, chiefly

Educational, undertaken by the Provost

and Senior Fellows of Trinity College,

Dublin :
Abbott's (T. K.) Codex Rescriptus Dublin^

ensis of St. Matthew . 4to. 2ij-.
, Evangeliorum Versio Ante-

hieronymianaexCodiceUsseriano(Dublin-

ensi). 2 vols, crown 8vo. 2\s.
Burnside (W. S.) and Panton's (A. W.)

Theory of Equations. 8vo. 12^-. 6a'.
Casey's (John) Sequel to Euclid's Elements,

Crown 8vo. 3^. 6d.
Analytical Geometry of the

Conic Sections. Crown 8vo. 7j. 6d.
Davies's (J. F.) Eumenides of .^schylus.

With Metrical English Translation. 8vo.

Dublin Translations into Greek and Latin

Verse. Edited by R. Y. Tyrrell. Svo.

\2s. 6d.
Graves's (R. P.) Life of Sir William

Hamilton. (3 vols.) Vols. I. and IL

8vo. each 15^-.
Griffin (R. W.) on Parabola, Ellipse, and

Hyperbola, treated Geometrically. Crown

8vo. 6s.
Haughton's (Dr. S.) Lectures on Physical

Geography. Svo. 15^.
Hobart's (W. K.) Medical Language of St.

Luke. Svo. i6s.
Leslie's (T. E. Cliffe) Essays in Political

and Moral Philosophy. 8vo. los. 6d.
Macalister's (A. ) Zoology and Morphology

of Vertebrata. Svo. los. 6d.
MacCullagh's (James) Mathematical and

other Tracts. Svo. i^s.
Magulre's (T.) Parmenides of Plato, Greek

Text with English Introduction, Analysis,

and Notes. 8vo. 7^. 6d.
Monck's (W. H. S.) Introduction to Logic.

Crown Svo. ^s.
Purser's (J. M. ) Manual of Histology. Fcp.

Svo. Si-.
Roberts's (R. A.) Examples in the Analytic

Geometry of Plane Curves. Fcp. Svo. 5^.
Southey's(R.) Correspondence with Caroline

Bowles. Edited by E. Dowden. Svo.

I4J-.
Thornhill's (W. J.) The ^neid of Virgil,

freely translated into English Blank

Verse. Crown Svo. "js. 6d.
Tyrrell's (R. Y.) Cicero's Correspondence.

Vols. I. and II. Svo. each 12s.
The Acharnians of Aristo-
phanes, translated into English Verse.

Crown Svo. 2s, 6d.
Webb's (T, E.) Goethe's Faust, Transla-
tion and Notes. Svo. 1 2s. 6d.
The Veil of Isis : a Series

of Essays on Idealism. Svo. los. 6d.
Wilkins's (G.) The Growth of the Homeric

Poems. Svo. 6s.

Doyle. — The Official Baronage
OF England. By James E. Doyle.
Showing the Succession, Dignities, and
Offices of every Peer from 1066 to 1885,
Vols. I. to III. With 1,600 Portraits,
Shields of Arms, Autographs, &c. 3 vols.
4to. £S- 5'.

Doyle. — Reminiscences and
Opinions, 1813-1SS5. By Sir Francis
Hastings Doyle. Svo. 16s.

Doyle. — Works bv J. A. Doyle,

Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

The English in America : Vir-
ginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas.
Svo. iSj.

The English in America : The
Puritan Colonies. 2 vols. Svo, 36^. ^

Edersheim. — Works by the Rev.
Alfred Edersheim, D.D.

The Life and Times of Jesus
the Messiah. 2 vols. Svo. 24^-.

Prophecy and History in rela-
tion to the Messiah: the Warburton
Lectures, delivered at Lincoln's Inri
Chapel, 1880-18S4. Svo. \2s.

Ellicott. — Works by C. y,

Ellicott, D.D. Bishop of Gloucester

and Bristol.
A Critical and Grammatical

Commentary ON St. Paul's Epistles.

Svo.
I. Corinthians. i6s,
Galatians. 8s. 6d.
Ephesians. 8s. 6d.
Pastoral Epistles, ios. 6d.
Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon,

los. 6d.
Thessalonians, js. 6d.

Historical Lectures on the Life
OF Our Lord Jesus Christ. Svo. 12s.

English Worthies. Edited by An-
drew Lang, M.A. Fcp. Svo. 2j. 6a'. each.

Darwin. By Grant Allen.

Marlborough. By G. Saintsbury.

Shaftesbury {The First Earl). By
H.D.Traill.

AdmiralBlake. By David Hannay.

Raleigh. By Edmund Gosse.

Steele. By Austin Dobson.

BenJonson. By J. A. Symonds.

Canning. By Frank H. Hill.
*^f* Other Volumes are in preparation.

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. LONGMANS, GreEN, & Co.

Epochs of Ancient History.

10 vols. fcp. 8vo. 2s. bd. each, 6't.vp. 24.

Epochs of Church History. Fcp.

8vo. 2s. 6d. each. See p. 24.

Epochs~of English History. See

p. 24.

Epochs of Modern History.

18 vols. fcp. 8vo. 2s. 6d. each. See p. 24.

Erichsen. — Works by John- Eric
Erichsen; F.R.S.

The Science and Art of Sur-
gery: Being a Treatise on Surgical In-
juries, Diseases, and Operations. "With
984 Illustrations. 2 vols. 8vo. 42^.

On Concussion of the Spine, Ner-
vous Shocks, and other Obscure Injuries
of the Nervous System. Cr. 8vo. loj. 6d.

Evans. — The Bronze Implements,
Arms, and Ornaments of Great
Britain and Ireland. By John
Evans, D.C.L. 540 Illustrations. 8V0.25J.

Ewald. — Works by Professor
Heinrich Ewald, of Gottingen.

The Antiquities of Israel.
Translated from the German by H. S,
Solly, M.A. 8vo. \2s. 6d.

The History of Israel. Trans-
lated from the German. 8 vols. Svo.
Vols. I. and II. 24^. Vols. III. and
IV. 2IJ. Vol. V. i8j. Vol. VI. 16s.
Vol. VII. 2is. Vol. VIII. with Index
to the Complete Work. iSs.

Fairbairn. — Works by Sir W.
Fairbairn, Bart, C.E.

A Trea tise on Mills and Mill-
work, with 18 Plates and 333 Woodcuts.
I vol. Svo. 25^.

Useful Information for Engi-
neers. With many Plates and Wood-
cuts. 3 vols, crown 8vo. 3IJ-. dd.

Farrar. — Language and Lan-
guages, A Revised Edition of Chapters
on Language and Families of Speech. By
F. W. Farrar, D.D. Crown Svo, bs.

Fitzwygram. — Horses and

Stables. By Major-General Sir F,
FiTZWYGRAM, Bart, With 19 pages of
Illustrations. Svo. 5^.

Ford. — The Theory and Practice
OF Archery. By the late Horace
Ford. New Edition, thoroughly Revised
and Re-written by W. Butt, M.A. With
a Preface by C. J. Longman, Senior
Vice-President Royal Toxophilite Society.
Svo. 14J.

Fox. — The Early History of
Charles James Fox. By the Right
Hon. Sir G. O. Trevelyan, Bart.

Library Edition, Svo. iSj-.

Cabinet Edition, cr. Svo. 6s.

Francis. — A Book on Angling;

or. Treatise on the Art of Fishing in every
branch ; including full Illustrated Lists
of Salmon Flies. By Francis Francis.
Post Svo. Portrait and Plates, 15^.

Freeman. — The Historical Geo-
graphy OF Europe. By E. A. Free-
man, D.C.L. With 65 Maps. 2 vols.
Svo. 3U. 6d.

Froude. — Works by James A.
Froude, M.A.
The History of England, from
the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the
Spanish Armada.

Cabinet Edition, 12 vols. cr. Svo. ^3. \2s.
Popular Edition, 12 vols. cr. Svo. £2. 2s.

Short Studies on Great Sub-
jects. 4 vols, crown Svo. 24^-.

Cmsar : a Sketch. Crown Svo. 6^.

The English in Ireland in the

Eighteenth Century. 3 vols, crown

Svo. iSj.
Oceana ; or, England and Her

Colonies. With 9 Illustrations. Crown

Svo. 2s. boards, 2s. 6d. cloth.

Thomas Carlyle, a History of the
first Forty Years of his Life, 1795 to
1S35. 2 vols. Svo. 32^.

Thomas Carlyle, a History of His
Life in London from 1834 to his death in
1881. With Portrait engraved on steel.
2 vols, Svo. 32^-.

Ganot. — Works by Professor
Ganot. Translated by E. Atkinson,
Ph.D, F,C.S,
Elementary Treatise on Phy-
sics. With 5 Coloured Plates and 923
Woodcuts. Crown Svo. 15^.
Natural Philosophy for Gene-
ral J?eaders and Young Persons.
With 2 Plates and 471 Woodcuts. Crown
Svo. p. 6d.

Catalogue of General and Scientific Books

Gardiner. — Works by Samuel
Rawson Gardiner, LL.D.

History of England, from the
Accession of James I. to the Outbreak of
the Civil War, 1603-1642. Cabinet
Edition, thoroughly revised. 10 vols,
crown 8vo. price 6^. each.

A History of the Great Civil
War, 1642-1649. (3 vols.) Vol. I.
1642-1644. With 24 Maps. 8vo. 2\s.

Outline of English History,
B.C. 5S-A.D. 1880. With 96 Woodcuts,
fcp. 8vo. 2s. 6d.

*^* For other Works, see ' Epochs of
Modern History,' p. 24.

Garrod. — Works by Alfred
Baring Garrod, M.D. F.R.S.

A Treatise on Gout and Rheu-
MA TIC Gout [Rheum a tow Arthritis).
With 6 Plates, comprising 21 Figures
(14 Coloured), and 27 Illustrations en-
graved on Wood. 8vo. 2ls.

The Essentials of Materia
Medica and Therapeutics. New
Edition, revised and adapted to the New
Edition of the British Pharmacopoeia,
by Nestor Tirard, M.D. Crown 8vo.
12S. 6</.

Gilkes. — Boys AND Masters : o.?>torY
of School Life. By A. H. Gilkes, M. A.
Head Master of Dulwich College. Crown
Svo. 35. 6d.

Goethe. — Faust. Translated by T.
E. Webb, LL.D. Svo. 12s. 6d.

Fa ust. a New Translation, chiefly in
Blank Verse ; with Introduction and
Notes. By James Adey Birds, B.A.
F.G.S. Crown Svo. \2s. 6d.

Faust. The German Text, with an
English Introduction and Notes for Stu-
dents. By Albert M. Selss, M.A.
Ph.D. Crown Svo. 5^.

Goodeve. — Works by T. M. Good-
eve, M.A.

Principles of Mechanics. With
253 Woodcuts. Crown Svo. 6^.

The Elements of Mechanism.
With 342 Woodcuts. Crown Svo. ds.

A Manual of Mechanics : an
Elementary Text-Book for Students of
Applied Mechanics. With 138 Illustra-
tions and Diagrams, and 141 Examples.
Fcp. Svo. 2S. 6d.

Grant. — The Ethics of Aristotle.
The Greek Text illustrated by Essays
and Notes. By Sir Alexander Grant,
Bart. LL.D. D.C.L. &c. 2 vols.
Svo. 32J-.

Gray. — Anatomy, Descriptive
AND Surgical. By Henry Gray,
F.R.S. late Lecturer on Anatomy at
St. George's Hospital. With 569 Wood-
cut Illustrations, a large number of
which are coloured. Re-edited by T.
Pickering Pick, Surgeon to St. George's
Hospital. Royal Svo. 36^.

Green. — The Works of Thomas
Hill Green, late Fellow of Balliol
College, and Whyte's Professor of Moral
Philosophy in the University of Oxford.
Edited by R. L. Nettleship, Fellow
of Balliol College, Oxford (3 vols.)
Vols. I. and II. — Philosophical Works.
Svo. i6j-. each.

Greville. — Works by C. C. F.

Greville.
A Journal of the Reign of Queen

Victoria, from 1S37 to 1852. 3 vols.

Svo. 36^-.
A Journal of the Reign of Queen

Victoria, from 1852 to i860. 2 vols.

Svo. 243-.

Grove. — The Correlation of
Physical Forces. By the Hon. Sir
W. R. Grove, F.R.S. &c. Svo. 15^.

Gwilt. — An Encyclopedia of
Architecture. By Joseph Gwilt,
F.S.A. Illustrated with more than 1,100
Engravings on Wood. Revised, with
Alterations and Considerable Additions,
by Wyatt Papworth. Svo. 52^. 6d.

Haggard. — Works by H. Rider
Haggard.

She : A History of Adventure.
Crown Svo. 6s.

Allan Quatermain. With 31 Illus-
trations by C. H. M. Kerr. Crown
Svo. 6y.

HalHwell-Phillipps.— (9i77-z/iv^^5'0ir

THE Life of Shakespeare. By J. O.
Halliwell-Phillipps, F.R.S. 2 vols.
Royal Svo. \os. 6d.

Hamilton.— Z/i^£ of Sir William
R. Hamilton, Kt. LL.D. D.C.L.
M.R.I. A. &c. By the Rev. R. P.
Graves, M.A. (3 vols.) Vols. I. and
II. Svo. i$s. each.

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. LOXGMANS, GrEEN, &> CO.

Harte. — Novels by Bret Harte.
In the Carquinez Woods. Fcp.

8vo. \s. boards ; \s. 6d. cloth.
Ojst the Frontier. Three Stories.

i6mo. IS.
By Shore and Sedge. Three

Stories. l6mo. is.

Hartwig". — Works by Dr. G.

Hartwig.
The Sea and its Living Wonders.

With 12 Plates and 303 Woodcuts. 8vo.

IOJ-. dd.
The Tropical World. With 8 Plates,

and 172 Woodcuts. 8vo. loj. (>d.
The Polar World. With 3 Maps,

8 Plates, and 85 Woodcuts. 8vo. ioj-. bd.
The Subterranean World. With

3 Maps and So Woodcuts. 8vo. ioj-. 6^.
The Aerial World. With Map,

8 Plates, and 60 Woodcuts. 8vo. ioj-. bd.
Sea Monsters and Sea Birds.

Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.

cloth extra, gilt edges.
Denizens of the Deep. Fully-
Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. cloth

extra, gilt edges.

The following books are extracted from the

above works by Dr. Hartwig : —
Dwellers in the Arctic Regions.

Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.

cloth extra, gilt edges.
Winged Life in the Tropics.

Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.

cloth extra, gilt edges.
Vol ca noes a nd Ea r thq ua kes.

Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.

cloth extra, gilt edges.
Wild Animals of the Tropics.

Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. t,s. 6d.

cloth extra, gilt edges,

Hassall. — The Inhalation Treat-
ME XT OF Diseases of the Organs of
Hespiration, including Consumption.
By Arthur Hill Hassall, M.D.
With 19 Illustrations of Apparatus. Cr.
8vo. l2S.6d.

Haughton. — Six Lectures on
Physical Geography, delivered in 1876,
with some Additions. By the Rev. Samuel
Haughton, F.R.S. M.D. D.C.L. With
23 Diagrams. 8vo. 15^,

Havelock. — Memoirs of Sir
Henry Havelock, K.C.B. By John
Clark Marshman. Crown 8vo. 3^. bd.

Hearn. — The Government of Eng-
land ; its Structure and its Development.
By William Edward Hearn, Q.C.
8vo. 16^-.

Helmholtz. — Works by Pro-
fessor Helmholtz.

On the Sensations of Tone as a
Physiological Basis for the Theory
OF Music. Royal 8vo. 28j-.

Popular Lectures on Scientific
Subjects. With 68 Woodcuts. 2 vols.
Crown 8vo. i5j-. or separately, 7j. 6d, each.

Herschel. — Outlines of Astro-
nomy. By Sir J. F. W. Herschel,
Bart. M. A. With Plates and Diagrams.
Square crown 8vo. I2J.

Hester's Venture : a Novel. By

the Author of ' The Atelier du Lys.'
Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.

Hewitt. — The Diagnosis and
Trea tment of Diseases of Women,
including the Diagnosis of Preg-
nancy. By Graily Hewitt, M.D.
With 211 Engravings. 8vo. 245.

Historic Towns. Edited by E. A.

Freeman, D.C.L. and Rev. William

Hunt, M.A. With Maps and Plans.

Crown Svo. 35. 6d. each.
London. By W, E. Loftie.
Exeter. By E. A. Freeman.
Bristol. By W. Hunt.
Oxford. By C. W. Boase.

*^* Other Volumes in preparation.

Hobart. — Sketches from My Life.
By Admiral Hobart Pasha. With
Portrait. Crown 8vo. "js. 6d.

Hobart. — The Medical Language
OF St. Luke: a Proof from Internal
Evidence that St. Luke's Gospel and the
Acts were written by the same person,
and that the writer was a Medical Man. By
the Rev. W. K. Hobart, LL.D. 8vo. i6s.

Holmes. — A System of Surgery^

Theoretical and Practical, in Treatises by
various Authors. Edited by Timothy
Holmes, M.A. and J. W. Hulke,
F.R.S. 3 vols, royal Svo. £^. 4^-.

Homer. — The Iliad of Homer,
Homometrically translated by C. B. Cay-
ley. Svo. 12s. bd.
The Iliad of Homer. The Greek
Text, with a Verse Translation, by W. C,
Green, M.A. Vol. I. Books L-XIL
Crown Svo. bs.

Catalogue of General and Scientific Books

Hopkins. — Christ the Consoler;
a Book of Comfort for the Sick. By
Ellice Hopkins. Fcp. 8vo. 2s. 6d.

Howitt. — Visits to Remarkable
Places, Old Halls, Battle-Fields, Scenes
illustrative of Striking Passages in English
History and Poetry. By William
Howitt. With 80 Illustrations engraved
on Wood. Crown 8vo. 7j. 6d.

Hudson &Gosse.—r//5 Rotifera

or '■Wheel-Animalcules.'' By C. T.
Hudson, LL.D. and P. H. Gosse,
F.R.S. With 30 Coloured Plates. In 6
Parts. 4to. \os. dd. each. Complete in
2 vols. 4to. ^3. loy.

H llah. — Works bv John Hul-
LAH, LL.D.

Course of Lectures on the LIis-
TORY OF Modern Music. 8vo. 2>s. 6d.

Course of Lectures on the Tran-
sition Period of Musical History.
8vo. loj-. 6d.

Hume. — ThePhilosophical Works
OF David Hume. Edited by T. H.
Green, M.A. and the Rev. T. H.
Grose, M.A. 4 vols. 8vo. 56^. Or
separately, Essays, 2 vols. 28^-. Treatise
of Human Nature. 2 vols. 285.

In the Olden Time : a Tale of

the Peasant War in Germany. By the
Author of 'Mademoiselle Mori.' Crown
8vo. 2s. 6d.

Ingelow. — Works by Jean Lnge-

LOW.

Vols. I and 2.

Poetical Works.
Fcp. 8vo. 12s.

Lyrical and Other Poems. Se-
lected from the Writings of Jean
Ingelow. Fcp. 8vo. 2s. 6d. clothplain ;
■^s, cloth gilt.

The LLigh Tide on the Coast of
Lincolnshire. With 40 Illustrations,
drawn and engraved under the super-
vision of George T. Andrew. Royal
8vo. 10s. 6d, cloth extra, gilt edges.

Jackson. — Aid to Engineering
Solution. By Lowis D'A. Jackson,
C.E. With III Diagrams and 5 Wood-
cut Illustrations. 8vo. 21s.

Jameson. — Works by Mrs. Jame-
son.

Legends of the Saints and Mar-
tyrs. With 19 Etchings and 187 Wood-
cuts. 2 vols. 3IJ-. 6d.

Legends of the Madonna, the
Virgin Mary as represented in Sacred
and Legendary Art. With 27 Etchings
and 165 Woodcuts. I vol. 21s.

Legends OF THE Monastic Orders.
With II Etchings and 88 Woodcuts.
I vol. 21S.

History OF THE Saviour, His Types
and Precursors. Completed by Lady
Eastlake. With 13 Etchings and 281
Woodcuts. 2 vols. 42^.

Jeans. — Works by J. S. Jeans.

England's Supremacy: its Sources,
Economics, and Dangers. 8vo. 8^. 6d.

Railway Problems : An Inquiry
into the Economic Conditions of Rail-
way Working in Different Countries.
8vo. I2s. 6d.

Johnson. — The Patentee's Man-
ual ; a Treatise on the Law and Practice
of Letters Patent. By J. Johnson and
J. H. Johnson, 8vo. 10s. 6d.

Johnston. — A General Diction-
ary OF Geography, Descriptive, Physi-
cal, Statistical, and Historical ; a com-
plete Gazetteer of the World. By Keith
Johnston. Medium 8vo. 42^.

Jordan. — Works by William
Leighton Jorda n, F. R. G. S.

The Ocean: a Treatise on Ocean
Currents and Tides and their Causes.
8vo. 2IJ-.

The New Principles of Natural
Philosophy. With 13 plates. 8vo. 2\s.

The Winds : an Essay in Illustration
of the New Principles of Natural Philo-
sophy. Crown 8vo. 2s.

The Standard of Value. Crown
8vo. s^.

Jukes. — Works by Andrew Jukes.

The New Man and the Eternal
Life. Crown 8vo. 6^.

The Types of Genesis. Crown
8vo. 7J-. dd.

The Second Death and the Re-
stitution of all Things. Crown 8vo.
y. ed.

The Mystery of the Kingdom.
Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. LONGMANS, GrEEN, &> Co.

Justinian. — The Institutes of
Justinian ; Latin Text, chiefly that of
Huschke, with English Introduction,
Translation, Notes, and Summary, By
Thomas -C. Sandars, M.A. 8vo. \%s.

Kalisch. — Works by M. M.
Kalisch, M.A.

Bible Studies. Part I. The Pro-
phecies of Balaam. 8vo. \os. 6d. Part
II. The Book of Jonah. 2>\o.ios.6d.

Commentary on the Old Testa-
ment; with a New Translation. Vol.1.
Genesis, 8vo. iZs. or adapted for the
General Reader, 1 2J-. Vol.11. Exodus,
15^. or adapted for the General Reader,
12s. Vol. III. Leviticus, Part I. 15^. or
adapted for the General Reader, 2>s.
Vol. IV. Leviticus, Part II. i^s. or
adapted for the General Reader, Sj.

Hebrew Grammar. With Exer-
cises. Part I. 8vo. I2s. 6d. Key, 5^.
Part II. I2J-. 6d.

Kant. — Works byEmmanuelKant.
Critique of Practical Reason.
Translated by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott,
B.D. 8vo. \2s. 6d.
Introduction to Logic, and his
Essay on the Mistaken Subtilty
OF the Four Figures. Translated by
Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, B.D. With
a few Notes by S. T. Coleridge. 8vo. 6s.

Killick. — Handbook to Mill's
System of Logic. By the Rev. A. H.
Killick, M.A. Crown 8vo. 3^. 6d.

Knowledge Library. (6"^^ Proctor's

Works, p. i6.)

Kolbe. — A Short Text-book of
Lnorganic Chemistry. By Dr. Her-
mann Kolbe. Translated from the
German by T. S. Humpidge, Ph.D.
With a Coloured Table of Spectra and
66 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 7^. 6d.

Ladd. — Elements of Physiolo-
gical Psychology: a Treatise of the
Activities and Nature of the Mind from
the Physical and Experimental Point of
View. By George T. Ladd. With 113
Illustrations and Diagrams. 8vo, 2\s.

Lang. — Works by Andrew Lang.
Letters to Dead Authors. Fcp.

8vo. 6s. 6d.
Books and Bookmen. With 2

Coloured Plates and 17 Illustrations. Cr.

8vo. 6s. 6d.
Custom AND Myth; Studies of Early

Usage and Belief. With 15 Illustrations.

Crown 8vo, Ts, 6d.

Latham. — Handbook of the Eng-
lish Language. By Robert G.
Latham, M.A. M.D. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Lecky. — Works by W.E.H. Lecky.
History of England in the
Eighteenth Century. 8vo. Vols.
I. & II. 1700-1760. 36J. Vols. Ill,
& IV. 1 760-1 784. 36i-. Vols. V. &VL
1 784-1 793. 36J.

TheHistor yof European Morals
from Augustus to Charlemagne.
2 vols, crown 8vo. \6s.

History OF the Rise and Influ-
ence OF THE Spirit of Rationalism
IN Europe. 2 vols, crown 8vo. 16^.

Lewes. — The History of Philo-
sophy, from Thales to Comte. By
George Henry Lewes. 2 vols, 8vo. jaj-.

Liddell & Scott. — A Greek-

English Lexicon. Compiled by Henry
George Liddell, D.D. Dean of Christ
Church ; and Robert Scott, D.D. Dean
of Rochester. 4to. 36^^.

Liveing. — Works by Robert Live-
ING, M.A. and M.D. Cantab.

Handbook on Diseases of the
Skin. With especial reference to Diag-
nosis and Treatment. Fcp 8vo. ^s.

Notes on the Treatment of Skin
Diseases. i8mo. 3^-.

Lloyd. — A Treatise on Magnet-
ism, General and Terrestrial. By H.
Lloyd, D.D. D.C.L. 8vo. los. 6d.

Lloyd. — The Science of Agricul-
ture. By F. J. Lloyd. 8vo. 12^.

Longman. — History of the Life
AND Times of Edward LLL. By
William Longman, F.S.A. With
9 Maps, 8 Plates, and 16 Woodcuts. 2
vols. 8vo. 28j'.

Longman. — Works by Frederick
W. Longman, Balliol College, Oxon.

Chess Openings. Fcp. 8vo. 2s. 6d.

Frederick the Great and the
Seven Years' War. With 2 Coloured
Maps. 8vo. 2s. 6d.

A New Pocket Dictionary of
the German and English Lan-
guages. Square l8mo. 2s. 6d.

Longman's Magazine. Published

Monthly. Price Sixpence.
Vols. 1-9, Svo. price ^s. each.

Catalogue of General and Scientific Books

Longmore. — Gunshot Injuries ;

Their History, Characteristic Features,
Complications, and General Treatment.
By Surgeon-General Sir T. Longmore,
C.B., F.R.C.S. With 58 Illustrations.
8vo. 3 1 J'. 6d.

Loudon. — Works BY /. C.Loudon,
F.L.S.

Encyclopedia of Gardening ;
the Theory and Practice of Horticulture,
Floriculture, Arboriculture, and Land-
scape Gardening. With 1,000 Woodcuts.
8vo. 2\s.

Encyclopedia of Agriculture ;
the Laying-out, Improvement, and
Management of Landed Property; the
Cultivation and Economy of the Produc-
tions of Agriculture. With I,I00 Wood-
cuts. 8vo. 2IJ-.

Encyclopedia of Plants; the
Specific Character, Description, Culture,
History, &c. of all Plants found in Great
Britain. With 12,000 Woodcuts. 8vo. a,2s.

Lubbock. — The Origin of Civili-
zation and THE Primitive Condition
OF Man. By Sir J. Lubbock, Bart.
M.P. F.R.S. With Illustrations. 8vo.
18^.

Lyra Germanica ; Hymns Trans-
lated from the German by IMiss C.

WiNKWORTH. Fcp. 8V0. $5.

Macalister. — An Introduction
TO the Systematic Zoology and
Morphology of Vertebrate Ani-
mals. By A. Macalister, M.D.
With 28 Diagrams. 8vo. lOs. bd.

Macaulay. — Works and Life of
Lord Ma ca ula y.
History of England from the

Accession of James the Second:
Student's Edition, 2 vols, crown 8vo. I2s.
People's Edition, 4 vols, crown 8vo. \6s.
Cabinet Edition, 8 vols, post 8vo. 48i'.
Library Edition, 5 vols. 8vo. £i\.

Critical and Historical Essa ys,
Tvith Lays of Ancient Rome, in i
volume :

Authorised Edition, crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. or
3^'. 6d. gilt edges.

Popular Edition, crown Svo. 2s. 6d.

Critical and Historical Essays:
Student's Edition, i vol. crown 8vo. 6^-.
People's Edition, 2 vols, crown Svo. 8j-.
Cabinet Edition, 4 vols, post 8vo. 24^-.
Library Edition, 3 vols. 8vo. 36^-.

Macaulay — Works and Life of
Lord Macaulay— continued.
Essays which may be had separ-
ately price dd. each sewed, is. each cloth :

Addison and Walpole.

Frederick the Great.

Croker's Boswell's Johnson.

Hallam's Constitutional History.

Warren Hastings. (3;/. sewed, M. cloth.)

The Earl of Chatham (Two Essays).

Ranke and Gladstone.

Milton and Machiavelli.

Lord Bacon.

Lord Clive.

Lord Byron, and The Comic Dramatists of
the Restoration.

The Essay on Warren Hastings annotated

by S. Hales, \s. 6d.
The Essay on Lord Clive annotated by

H. COURTHOPE BOWEN, M.A. 2s. 6d.

Speeches :
People's Edition, crown 8vo. 35. 6d,

Miscellaneous Writings:
Library Edition, 2 vols. Svo. 2\s.
People's Edition, i vol. crown Svo. /[s. 6d.

La ys OF Ancient Rome, 6^^.
Illustrated by G. Scharf, fcp. 4to. \os. 6d.
Popular Edition,

fcp. 4to. 6d. sewed, is. cloth.
Illustrated by J. R. Weguelin, crown Svo.

35. 6d. cloth extra, gilt edges.
Cabinet Edition, post Svo. y. 6d.
Annotated Edition, fcp. Svo. is. sewed,

is. 6d. cloth, or 2s. 6d. cloth extra, gilt

edges.

Selections from the Writings
of Lord Macaulay. Edited, with Oc-
casional Notes, by the Right Hon. Sir
G. O. Trevelyan, Bart. Crown Svo. 6s.

Miscellaneous Writings and
Speeches :

Student's Edition, in One Volume, crown
Svo. 6s.

Cabinet Edition, including Indian Penal
Code, Lays of Ancient Rome, and Mis-
cellaneous Poems, 4 vols, post Svo. 24^.

The Complete Works of Lord
Macaulay. Edited by his Sister, Lady
Trevelyan.

Library Edition, with Portrait, 8 vols.
demy Svo. ^5. $s.

Cabinet Edition, 16 vols, post Svo. ^^4. l6s.

The Life and Letters of Lord
Macaulay. By the Right Hon. Sir
G. O. Trevelyan, Bart.
Popular Edition, i vol. crown Svo. 6s.
Cabinet Edition, 2 vols, post Svo. 12s,
Library Edition, 2 vols. 8vo. 36^.

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. LOXGMANS, GREEX, &= Co.

13

Macdonald. — Works by George
Macdonald, LL.D.

Unspoken Sermons. First Series.
Crown 8vo. 3^. 6d.

Unspoken Sermons. Second Series.

Crown 8vo. ■^s. 6d.
The Miracles of Our Lord.

Crown 8vo. 3^. 6d.

A Book of Strife, in the form

OF The Diary of an Old Soul:
Poems. i2mo. 6j-.

Macfarren. — Lectures on ILar-

MONY, delivered at the Royal Institution.
By Sir G. A. Macfarren. Svo. 12^-.

Macleod. — Works by Henry D.
Macleod, M.A.

Principles of Economical Philo-
sophy. In 2 vols. Vol. I. Svo. I5J-.
Vol. II. Part i. 12s.

The Elements of Economics. In
2 vols. Vol. I. crown Svo. 7^-. 6d. Vol.
II. Part i, crown Svo. 7j. 6d.

The Elements of Banking.
Crown Svo. $s.

The Theory and Practice of
Banking. Vol. I. Svo. 12s. Vol. II. 14J.

McCulIoch. — The Dictionary
OF Commerce and Commercial Na vi-
GATiON of the late J- !<• McCulloch,
of H.M. Stationery Office. Latest Edi-
tion, containing the most recent Statistical
Information by A. J- Wilson, i vol.
medium Svo. with 1 1 Maps and 30 Charts,
price 63^-. cloth, or 70J-. strongly half-
bound in russia.

Mademoiselle Mori : a Tale of

Modern Rome. By the Author of ' The
Atelier du Lys.' Crown Svo. 25. 6d.

Mahaffy. — A History of Clas-
sical Greek Liter a tube. By the Rev.
J. P. Mahaffy, M.A. Crown Svo.
Vol. I. Poets, 7J. (id. Vol. II. Prose
Writers, 7:-. dd.

Malmesbury. — Memoirs of an

Ex-Minister : an Autobiography. By
the Earl of Malmesbury, G.C.B. Crown
Svo. 7J-. 6d.

Manning. — The Temporal Mis-
siON OF THE Holy Ghost ; or, Reason
and Revelation. By H. E. Manning,
D.D. Cardinal-Archbishop. Crown Svo,
Ss. 6d.

Martineau— Works by James
Martineau, D.D.

Hours of Thought on Sacred
Things. Two Volumes of Sermons.
2 vols, crown Svo. "js. 6d. each.

Endeavours AFTER the Christian
Life. Discourses. Crown Svo. ']s. bd.

Maunder's Treasuries.

Biographical Treasury. Recon-
structed, revised, and brought down to
the year 1S82, by W. L. R. Cates.
Fcp. Svo. 6^.

Treasury of Natural History ;

or, Popular Dictionary of Zoology. Fcp.
Svo. with 900 Woodcuts, 6j.

Treasury of Geography, Physical,
Historical, Descriptive, and Political.
With 7 Maps and 16 Plates. Fcp. Svo. ds.

Historical Treasury : Outlines of
Universal History, Separate Histories of
all Nations. Revised by the Rev. Sir G.
W. Cox, Bart. M.A. Fcp. Svo. ds.

Treasury of Knowledge and
Library of Reference. Comprising
an English Dictionary and Grammar,
Universal Gazetteer, Classical Dictionary,
Chronology, Law Dictionaiy, «S:c. Fcp.
Svo. 6^.

Scientific and Literary Trea-
sury: a Popular Encyclopaedia of Science,
Literature, and Art. Fcp, Svo. 6s.

The Treasury of Bible Know-
ledge ; being a Dictionary of the Books,
Persons, Places, Events, and other matters
of which mention is made in Holy Scrip-
ture. By the Rev. J. Ayre, M.A. With
5 Maps, 15 Plates, and 300 Woodcuts.
Fcp. Svo. 6s.

The Treasury of Botany, or
Popular Dictionary of the Vegetable
Kingdom. Edited by J. Linuley, F.R.S.
and T. Moore, F.L.S. With 274 Wood-
cuts and 20 Steel Plates. Two Parts,
fcp. Svo. \2S.

May. — Works by the Bight Hon.
Sir Thomas Erskine Ma y, K. C.B.

The Constitutional History of
England since the Accession of
George IIL. 1760-1S70. 3 vols, crown
Svo. iSj-.

Democracy IN Europe ; a History.
2 vols. Svo. 32J.

14

Catalogue of General and Scientific Books

Melville. — Novels bv G.J. Whyte

Melville. Crown 8vo. \s. each, boards;
is. 6d. each, cloth.

The Gladiators. Holmby House.

The Interpreter. Kate Coventry.

Good for Nothing. Digby Grand.

The Queen's Maries. General Bounce.

Mendelssohn. — The Letters of
Felix Mendelssohn. Translated by
Lady Wallace. 2 vols, crown 8vo. los.

Merivale. — Works by the Very
Rev. Charles Merivale, D.D.
Dean of Ely.

History of the Romans under
THE Empire. 8 vols, post 8vo. 48^.

The Fall of the Roman Repub-
lic : a Short History of the Last Century
turyofthe Commonwealth. i2mo. "js. 6d.

General History of Rome from
B.C. 753 to a.d. 476. Crown 8vo. 'js. 6d.

The Roman Triumvirates. With
Maps. Fcp. 8vo. 2s. 6d.

yi\\\.— Analysis of the Pheno-
mena of the Human Mind. By
James Mill. With Notes, Illustra-
tive and Critical. 2 vols. 8vo. 28^.

Mill. — Works by John Stuart

Mill.
Principles of Political Economy.

Library Edition, 2 vols. 8vo. 30^.

People's Edition, i vol. crown 8vo. 5^.
A System of Logic, Ratiocinative

and Inductive. Crown 8yo. ^s.
On Liberty. Crown 8vo. is. 4//.
On Representative Government.

Crown 8vo. 2s.
Autobiography. 8vo. 7^. 6d.
Utilitarianism. 8vo. 55,
The Subjection OF Women. Crown

8vo. 6j.
Examination of Sir William

Hamilton's Philosophy. 8vo. 16^.
Nature, THE Utility of Religion,

AND Theism. Three Essays. 8vo. 55.

Miller. — Works by W. Allen

Miller, M.D. LL.D.
The Elements of Chemistry,

Theoretical and Practical. Re-edited,

with Additions, by H. Macleod, F.C.S.

3 vols. 8vo.
Vol. I. Chemical Physics, i6j.
Vol. II. Inorganic Chemistry, 24J.
Vol. III. Organic Chemistry, 31^-. dd.
An Introddction to the Study

OF Inorganic Chemistry. With 71

Woodcuts. Fcp. 8vo. 3^-. 6d,

Mitchell. — A Manual of Prac-
tical Assaying. By John Mitchell,
F.C.S. Revised, with the Recent Dis-
coveries incorporated. By W. Crookes,
F.R.S. 8vo. Woodcuts, 31J. 6d.

Molesworth. — Marrying and
Giving in Marriage: a Novel. By
INIrs. Molesworth. Fcp. 8vo. 2s. dd.

Monsell. — Works by the Rev.
J. S. B. Monsell, LL.D.

Spiritual Songs for the Sun-
days and HOLYDAYS throughout THE
Year. Fcp. 8vo. 5^. i8mo. 2s.

The Bea titudes. Eight Sermons.
Crown 8vo. 3^. 6^.

His Presence not His Memory.
Verses. i6mo. is.
Mulhall. — Histor y of Prices since
the Year 1850. By Michael G.
Mulhall. Crown Svo. ds.

Miiller. — Works by F. Max

MULLER, M.A.

Biographical Essays. Crown Svo.
7^. U.

Selected Essays on Language,
Mythology and Religion. 2 vols,
crown 8vo. l6s.

Lectures on the Science of Lan-
guage. 2 vols, crown 8vo. 16s.

End I A, What Can it Teach Us?
A Course of Lectures delivered before the
University of Cambridge. 8vo. 12s. 6d.

HiBBERT Lectures on the Origin
AND Growth of Religion, as illus-
trated by the Religions of India. Crown
8vo, ^s. 6d.

Lntroduction to the Science of
Religion: Four Lectures delivered at the
Royal Institution. Crown Svo. 7^. (>d.

The Science of Thought. Svo. 2 \s.

A Sanskrit Grammar for Be-
ginners. New and Abridged Edition,
accented and transliterated throughout,
with a chapter on Syntax and an Ap-
pendix on Classical Metres. By A. A.
MacDonell, M. a. Ph. D. Crown 8vo. 6j-.

Murchison. — Works by Charles

MuRCHisoN, M.D. LL.D. 6^<r.
A Treatise on the Continued
Fevers of Great Britain. Revised
by W. Cayley, M. D. Physician to the
Middlesex Hospital. Svo. with numerous
Illustrations, 255.
Clinical Lectures on Diseases
OF the Liver, Jaundice, and Abdom-
inal jDropsy. Revised by T. Lauder
Brunton, M. D. and Sir Joseph Fayrer,
M.D. Svo. with 43 Illustrations, 24^.

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. LONGMANS, GrEEN, &• Co.

Napier. — The Life of Sir Joseph
Napier, Bart. Ex-Lord Chancellor
OF Ireland. From his Private Corre-
spondence. By Alex. Charles Ewald,
F.S. A. With Portrait on Steel, engraved
by G. J. Stodart, from a Photograph.
8vo. 1 5 J.

Nelson. — Letters andDespa tches
OF Horatio, Viscount Nelson. Selected
and arranged by John Knox Laughton,
M.A. 8vo. i6s.

Nesbit. — Lays and Legends. By

E. Nesbit. Crown Svo. 55.

New Testament (The) of our

Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Illus-
trated with Engravings on Wood after
Paintings by the Early Masters. 4to. 2IJ.
cloth extra.

Newman. — Works by Cardinal
Newman.

Apologia pro VitA SuA. Crown
8vo. 6^-.

TheLdea of a University defined
AND illustrated. Crown Svo. Ts.

LListorical Sketches. 3 vols,
crown Svo. 6s. each.

Discussions and Arguments on
Various Subjects. Crown Svo. 6s,

An L:ssa y on the Development of
Christian Doctrine. Crown Svo. 6^-.

Certain Difficulties felt by
Anglicans in Catholic Teaching
Considered. Vol. i, crown Svo. 7^-. 6d.;
Vol. 2, crown Svo. f^s. 6d.

The Via Media of the Anglican
Church, illustrated in Lectures
(Sr=c. 2 vols, crown Svo. 6s. each.

Essays, Critical and Historical.
2 vols, crown Svo. 12s.

Ess A Ys ON Biblical and on Eccle-
siastical Miracles. Crown Svo. 6s.

An Essay in Aid of a Grammar
OF Assent, p. 6d.

Noble. — Hours WITH a Three-inch
Telescope. By Captain W. Noble,

F. R. A. S. &c. With a Map of the Moon,
Crown Svo. 4^. 6d.

Northcott. — Lathes and Turn-
ing, Simple, Mechanical, and Ornamen-
tal. By W. H. Northcott. With 338
Illustrations. Svo. iSj.

CHagan. — Selected Speeches and
Arguments of the Right Hon.
Thomas Baron O'Hagan. Edited by
George Teeling. Svo. \6s.

Oliphant. — Novels by Mrs. Oli-

PHANT.

Madam. Crown Svo. is. boards ;

IJ-. 6d. cloth.
In Trust. — Crown Svo. is. boards;

IS. 6d. cloth.

Outlines of Jewish History. —

From B.C. 5S6 to C.E. 18S5. By the
Author of ' About the Jews since Bible
Times.' Revised by M. Friedlander,
Ph.D. With 3 Maps. Crown Svo. t,^. 6d.

Overton. — Life in the English
Church (1660-1714). ByJ. H.Over-
ton, M.A. Rector of Epworth. Svo. 14^-.

Owen. — The Comparative Ana-
tomy AND Physiology of the
Vertebrate Animals. By Sir
Richard Owen, K.C.B. &c. With 1,472
Woodcuts. 3 vols. Svo. £^. 13^. 6d.

Paget. — Works by Sir James
Paget, Bart. F.R.S. D.C.L. d^c.

Clinical Lectures and Essays.
Edited by F. Howard Marsh, Assistant-
Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital.
Svo. 15^-.

Lectures on Surgical Patho-
logy. Re-edited by the Author and
W. Turner, M.B. Svo. with 131
Woodcuts, 2 1 J.

Pasteur. — Louis Pasteur, his Life

and Labours. By his Son-in-Law.
Translated from the French by Lady
Claud Hamilton. Crown Svo. 7j. 6d.

Payen. — Lndustrial Chemistry ;
a Manual for Manufacturers and for Col-
leges or Technical Schools ; a Translation
of Payen's ' Precis de Chimie Indus-
trielle.' Edited by B. H. Paul. With
698 Woodcuts. Medium Svo. 42^.

Payn. — Novels by James Payn.
TheLuckoftheDarrells. Crown

8vo. is. boards ; \s. 6d. cloth.
Thicker THAN Water. Crown Svo.

\s. boards ; \s. 6d. cloth.

Pears. — The Fall of Constanti-
nople: being the Story of the Fourth
Crusade. By Edwin Pears, LL.B.
Barrister-at-Law, late President of the
European Bar at Constantinople, and
Knight of the Greek Order of the
Saviour. Svo. i6i-.

i6

Catalogue of General and Scientific Books

Perring. — Hard Knots in Shakes-
peare. By Sir Philip Peering, Bart.
8vo. Ts. dd.

Piesse. — The Art of Perfumery,
and the Methods of Obtaining the Odours
of Plants ; with Instructions for the
Manufacture of Perfumes, &c. By G.
W. S. Piesse, Ph.D. F.C.S. With
96 Woodcuts, square crown 8vo, 2IJ.

Pole. — The Theory of the Mo-
dern Scientific Game of Whist.
By W. Pole, F.R.S. Fcp. 8vo. 2s. 6d.

Proctor. — Works by R. A. Proc-
tor.

The Sun ; Ruler, Light, Fire, and
Life of the Planetary System, With
Plates and Woodcuts. Crown 8vo. 14J.

The Orbs Around Us ; a Series of
Essays on the Moon and Planets, Meteors
and Comets. With Chart and Diagrams,
crown 8vo. 5^.

Other Worlds than Ours ; The

Plurality of Worlds Studied under the
Light of Recent Scientific Researches.
With 14 Illustrations, crown 8vo. 5^.

The Moon ; her Motions, Aspects,
Scenery, and Physical Condition, With
Plates, Charts, Woodcuts, and Lunar
Photographs, crown 8vo. 6s.

Universe of Stars; Presenting
Researches into and New Views respect-
ing the Constitution of the Heavens.
With 22 Charts and 22 Diagrams, 8vo.
10 J. dd.

Larger Star Atlas for the Library,
in 12 Circular Maps, with Introduction
and 2 Index Pages. Folio, l^s. or Maps
only, 12s. 6d.

New Star Atlas for the Library,
the School, and the Observatory, in 12
Circular Maps (with 2 Index Plates).
Crown 8vo. 5^.

Light Science for Leisure Hours;
Familiar Essays on Scientific Subjects,
Natural Phenomena, &c. 3 vols, crown
8vo. 5J-. each.

Chance and Luck ; a Discussion of
the Laws of Luck, Coincidences, Wagers,
Lotteries, and the Fallacies of Gambling
&c. Crown 8vo. ^s.

Studies of Venus-Transits ; an
Investigation of the Circumstances of the
Transits of Venus in 1874 and 1882.
With 7 Diagrams and 10 Plates, 8vo. 5^-.

The 'KNOWLEDGE' LIBRARY. Edi-
ted by Richard A. Proctor.
How to Play Whist: with the
Laws and Etiquette of Whist^
By R. a. Proctor. Crown 8vo. 5^.

Home Whist: an Easy Guide to
Correct Play. By R. A. Proctor. i6mo.ij.

The Poetry of Astronomy. A
Series of Familiar Essays. By R. A.
Proctor. Crown 8vo. 6^.

JVa ture Studies. By Grant Allen,
A. Wilson, T, Foster, E. Clodd, and
R, A, Proctor. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Leisure Readings. By E. Clodd,
A.Wilson, T, Foster, A. C, Runyard,
and R. A. Proctor, Crown 8vo. 6j.

The Stars in their Seasons.
An Easy Guide to a Knowledge of the
Star Groups, in 12 Large Maps. By R.
A. Proctor. Imperial 8vo. 5^.

Star Primer. Showing the Starry
Sky Week by Week, in 24 Hourly Maps.
By R. A. Proctor. Crown 4to. 2s. 6d.

The Seasons Pictured in 48 Sun~
Views of the Earth, and 24 Zodiacal
Maps, &c. By R. A. Proctor. Demy
4to, SJ-,

Strength and Happiness. By
R, A, Proctor, Crown 8vo, 5^,

PouGH Ways Made Smooth. Fami-
liar Essays on Scientific Subjects. By
R. A. Proctor. Crown 8vo. 6^.

Our Place Among Lnfinities. A
Series of Essays contrasting our Little
Abode in Space and Time wiih the Infi-
nities Around us. By R. A. Proctor.
Crown 8vo. 5^.

The Expanse of Heaven. Essays
on the Wonders of the Firmament, By
R, A, Proctor, Crown 8vo, 5^,

Pleasant Ways in Science. By
R, A. Proctor, Crown 8vo, 6s.

Myths and Marvels of Astro-
nomy. By R. A, Proctor, Cr. 8vo. 6s.

Pryce. — The Ancient British
Church : an Historical Essay. By John
Pryce, M.A. Canon of Bangor. Crown
8vo. 6^-.

Quain's Elements of Anatomy.

The Ninth Edition. Re-edited by Allen
Thomson, M.D. LL.D. F.R.S. S. L. & E.
Edward Albert Schafer, F.R.S. and
George Dancer Thane. With up-
wards of 1,000 Illustrations engraved on
Wood, of which many are Coloured.
2 vols. 8vo. 185. each.

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. LOXGMAXS, GrEEX, &^ Co.

ir

Quain. — A D/cr/o.VAJiy of Medi-
cine. By Various Writers. Edited by R.
Quain, M.D. F.R.S. &c. With 138
Woodcuts. Medium 8vo. 31^. 6^/. cloth,
or ips. half-russia ; to be had also in
2 vols. 345. cloth.

Reader. — Works by Emily E.
Reader.
The Ghost of Brankinshaw and
other Tales. With 9 Full-page Illustra-
tions. Fcp. Svo. 2s. 6d. cloth extra, gilt
edges.
Voices from Flower-Land, in
Original Couplets. A Birthday-Book and
Language of Flowers. i6mo. 2s. 6d, limp
cloth ; 3^. 6d. roan, gilt edges, or in vege-
table vellum, gilt top.
Fairy Prince Follow-my-Lead ;
or, the Magic Bracelet. Illustrated
by Wm. Reader. Crown Svo. 2.s. 6d.
gilt edges ; or t,s. 6d. vegetable vellum,
gilt edges.
The Three Giants &=€. Royal

l6mo. IS. cloth.
The Model Boy drc. Royal i6mo.

IS. cloth.
Be Yt Hys who Fynds Yt. Royal
i6mo. \s. cloth.
Reeve. — Cookery and House-
keeping. By Mrs. Henry Reeve. With
8 Coloured Plates and 37 Woodcuts,
Crown Svo. 7^-. dd.
Rich. — A Dictionary of Roman
AND Greek Antiquities. With 2,000
Woodcuts. By A. Rich, B.A. Cr. Svo.
7^. 6d.
Richardson. — Works by Benjamin
Ward Richardson, M.D.
The Health of Na tions : a Review

of the Works— Economical, Educational,
Sanitary, and Administrative — of Edwin
Chadwick, C.B. With a Biographical
Dissertation by Benjamin Ward Rich-
ardson, M.D. F.R.S. 2 vols. Svo. 28^-.
The Commonhealth : a Series of
Essays on Health and Felicity for Every-
Day Readers. Crown Svo. 6^-.

Riley. — Athos, or the Mountain
OF THE Monks. By Athelstan Riley.
With Map and numerous Illustrations.
Svo.

Rivers. — Works by Thomas
Rivers.
The Orchard-House. With 25

Woodcuts. Crown Svo. 5^.
The Miniature Fruit Garden;
or, the Culture of Pyramidal and Bush
Fruit Trees, with Instructions for Root
Pruning. With 32 Illustrations. Fcp.
Svo. 4J.

Robinson. — The New Arcadia,
and other Poems. By A. Mary F.
Robinson. Crown Svo. 6^^.

Roget. — Thesaurus of English
IVORDS AND Phrases, Classified and
Arranged so as to facilitate the Expression
of Ideas and assist in Literary Com-
position. By Peter M. Roget. Crown
Svo. IOJ-. 6d.

Ronalds. — The Fly-Fisher's
Entomology. By Alfred Ronalds.
With 20 Coloured Plates. Svo. 14?.

Saintsbury. — Manchester : a Short
History. ByGEORGE Saintsbury. With
2 Maps. Crown Svo. 3^-. 6d.

Schafer. — The Essentials of
Histology, Descriptive and Practi-
cal. For the use of Students. By E.
A. Schafer, F.R.S. With 281 Illus-
trations. Svo. 6;-. or Interleaved with
Drawing Paper, Zs. 6d.

Schellen. — Spectrum Analysis
IN ITS Application to Terrestrial
Substances, and the Physical Constitu-
tion of the Heavenly Bodies. By Dr.
H. Schellen. Translated by Jane and
Caroline Lassell. Edited by Capt.
W. De W. Abney. With 14 Plates
(including Angstrom's and Cornu's Maps)
and 291 VVoodcuts. Svo. 31^-. 6d.

Seebohm. — Works by Frederic

Seebohm.
The Oxford Reformers — John

COLET, Erasmus, and Thomas More;

a History of their Fellow- Work. Svo. 14J.
The English Village Community

Examined in its Relations to the Manorial

and Tribal Systems, &c, 13 Maps and

Plates. Svo. i6i-.

TheEra of the Protestant Revo-
lution, With Map. Fcp. Svo. 2s. 6d

Sennett. — The Marine Steam
Engine ; a Treatise for the use of Engi-
neering Students and Officers of the
Royal Navy. By Richard Sennett,
Engineer-in- Chief of the Royal Navy.
With 244 Illustrations. Svo. 2\s,

Sewell. — Stories and Tales.
By Elizabeth M. Sewell. Crown 8vo.
\s. each, boards ; is. 6d. each, cloth plain ;
2s. 6d. each, cloth extra, gilt edges : —

Amy Herbert.
The Earl's Daughter.
The Experience of Life.
A Glimpse of the World.
Cleve Hall.
Katharine Ashton.

Margaret Percival.
Laneton Parsonage.
Ursula.
Gertrude.
Ivors.

i8

Catalogue of General and Scientific Books

Shakespeare. — Bowdler's Fa-

MiLY Shakespeare. Genuine Edition,
in I vol. medium 8vo. large type, with
36 Woodcuts, I4J-. or in 6 vols. fcp. 8vo.
2 1 J.

Outlines of the Life of Shake-
speare. By J. O. Halliwell-Phil-

Lipps, F.R.S. 2 vols.
\os. 6d.

Royal 8vo.

Shilling Standard Novels.

Bv the Earl of Beaconsfield.

The Young Duke, &c.

Vivian Grey.
Venetia.
Tancred.
Sybil.
Coningsby.
Alroy, Ixion, &c.
Price \s. each, boards ; \s. 6d. each, cloth.

By G. J. Whyte-Melville.

Contarini Fleming, &c.
Henrietta Temple.
Lothair.
Endymion.

The Gladiators.
The Interpreter.
Good for Nothing.
Queen's Maries.

Holmby House.
Kate Coventry.
Digby Grand.
General Bounce.

Price \s. each, boards; \s. 6d. each, cloth.

By Elizabeth M. Sewell.

AGlimpse of theWorld.

Ivors.

Katharine Ashton.

Amy Herbert.
Gertrude.
Earl's Daughter.
The Experience

of Life.
Cleve Hall.
Price 15. each, boards

Margaret Percival.
Laneton Parsonage.
Ursula.
\s. 6d. each, cloth,

plain J 2s. 6d. each, cloth extra, gilt edges.

By Anthony Trollope.

The Warden. | Barchester Towers.
Price is. each, boards ; is. 6d. each, cloth.

By Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Dynamiter.

Strange Case of Dr. Tekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Price is. each, sewed ; is. 6d. each, cloth.

By Bret Harte.

In the Carquinez Woods, is. boards ;

IS. 6d. cloth.
On the Frontier (Three Stories), is. sewed.
By Shore and Sedge (Three Stories), is.
sewed.

By Mrs. Oliphant.
In Trust. | Madam.

By James Payn.

Thicker than Water.

The Luck of the Darrells.
Price IS. each, boards ; is. 6d. each, cloth.

Short. — Sketch of the History
of the Church of England to the
Revolution of 1688. By T. V. Short,
D.D. Crown 8vo. 'js. 6d.

Smith, H. F. — The Handbook for
Midwifes. By Henry Fly Smith,
M.B. Oxon. M.R.C.S. late Assistant-
Surgeon at the Hospital for Sick Women,
Soho Square. With 41 Woodcuts.
Crown 8vo. 55.

Smith, R. Bosworth. — Car-
thage AND the Carthaginians. By
R. Bosworth Smith, M.A. Maps,
Plans, &c. Crown 8vo. 105. 6d.

Smith, Rev. Sydney.— r^^^ Wjt

AND Wisdom of the Rev. Sydney
Smith. Crown 8vo. is. boards ; is. 6d.
cloth.

Smith, T. — A Manual of Opera-
tive Surgery on the Dead Body.
By Thomas Smith, Surgeon to St.
Bartholomew's Hospital. A New Edi-
tion, re-edited by W. J. Walsham.
With 46 Illustrations. 8vo. 12s.

Southey. — The Poetical Works
OF Robert Southey, with the Author's
last Corrections and Additions. Medium
8vo. with Portrait, 14J.

Stanley. — A Familiar History
OF Birds. By E. Stanley, D.D.
Revised and enlarged, with 160 Wood-
cuts. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Steel. — A Treatise on the Dis-
eases OF the Ox; being a Manual of
Bovine Pathology specially adapted for
the use of Veterinary Practitioners and
Students. By J. H. Steel, M.R.C.V.S.
F.Z.S. With 2 Plates and 116 Wood-
cuts. 8vo. 155.

Stephen. — Essays in Ecclesias-
tical Biography. By the Right Hon.
Sir J. Stephen, LL.D. Crown 8vo.
"Js. 6d.

Stevenson. — Works by Robert
Louis Stevenson.

A Child's Garden of Verses.
Small fcp. 8vo. $s.

The Dynamiter. Fcp. 8vo. i^. swd.
IJ. 6d. cloth.

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde. Fcp. 8vo. is. sewed ; is. 6d.
cloth.

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. LONGMANS, GrEEN, &= CO.

19

' Stonehenge.' — The Bog in

Health and Disease. By 'Stone-
henge.' With 84 \Yood Engravings.
Square crown 8vo. 7^. (>d.

The Greyhound. By 'Stonehenge.'

With 25 Portraits of Greyhounds, &c.
Square crown 8vo. 15^.

Stoney. — The Theory of the
Stresses on Girders and Similar
Structures. With Practical Observa-
tions on the Strength and other Properties
of Materials. By Bindon B. Stoney,
LL. D. F. R. S. ]\I. I. C. E. With 5 Plates,
and 143 Illustrations in the Text. Royal
8vo. 36J.

Sturgis. — Thraldom: a Story. By
Julian Sturgis. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Sully. — Works by James Sully.

Outlines of Psychology, with
Special Reference to the Theory of Edu-
cation. 8vo. \2s. 6d.

The Teacher's Handbook of
Psychology, on the Basis of ' Outlines
of Psychology.' Crown 8vo. 6^. 6d.

Supernatural Religion ; an In-
quiry into the Reality of Divine Reve-
lation. Complete Edition, thoroughly
revised. 3 vols. 8vo. 365.

Swinburne. — Picture Logic; an
Attempt to Popularise the Science of
Reasoning. By A. J. SwiNBURNE,B.A.
Post 8vo. Sj.

Taylor. — Student's Manual of
THE History of India, from the Earliest
Period to the Present Time. By Colonel
Meadows Taylor, C.S.I. Crown Svo.
7j. ()d.

Text-Books of Science : a Series

of Elementary Works on Science,
adapted for the use of Students in Public
and Science Schools. Fcp. 8vo. fully
illustrated with Woodcuts. See p. 23.

Thompson. — Works by D. Green-
leaf Thompson,

The Problem of Evil : an Intro-
duction to the Practical Sciences. 8vo.
los. 6d.

A System of Psychology. 2 vols.
8vo. 36J.

Thomson's Conspectus. — Adapted

to the British Pharmacopoeia of 1885.
Edited by Nestor Tirard, M.D. Lond.
F.R.C.P. New Edition, with an Ap-
pendix containing notices of some of the
more important non-ofiicial medicines
and preparations. i8mo. 6j-.

Thomson. — An Outline of the
Necessary Laws of Thought; a
Treatise on Pure and Applied Logic. By
W. Thomson, D.D. Archbishop of
York. Crown Svo. 6s.

Three in Norway. By Two of

Them. With a Map and 59 Illustra-
tions on Wood from Sketches by the
Authors. Crown Svo. 2s. boards ; 2s. 6d.
cloth.

Todd. — On Parliamentary Go-
vernment IN England: its Origin,
Development, and Practical Operation.
By Alpheus Todd, LL.D. C.M.G.
Librarian of Parliament for the Dominion
of Canada. Second Edition, by his Son,
In Two Volumes^ Vol. I. Svo. 24?.

Trevelyan. — Works by the Right
Hon. Sir G. O. Trevelyan, Bart.

The Life and Letters of Lord

Macau LAY.

Library Edition, 2 vols. Svo. 36^.
Cabinet Edition, 2 vols, crown Svo.

\2S.

Popular Edition, i vol. crown Svo.

The Early History of Charles
James Fox. Library Edition, Svo. iSj.
Cabinet Edition, crown Svo. 6s.

Trollope. — Novels by Anthony
Trollope.

The Warden. Crown Svo. is.
boards ; is. 6d. cloth.

Barchester Towers. Crown Svo.
is. boards ; is. 6d. cloth.

Twiss. — Works by Sir Tr avers

Twiss.

The Rights and Duties of Na-
tions, considered as Independent Com-
munities in Time of War. Svo. 21s.

The Rights and Duties of
Nations in Time of Peace. Svo.
lis.

Catalogue of General and Scientific Books

Tyndall. — Works by John Tyn-
DALL^ F.R.S. ^'C.

Fragments of Science. 2 vols,
crown 8vo. 165-,

Heat A Mode of Motion. Crown

8V0. I2J.

Sound. With 204 Woodcuts.
Crown 8vo. \os. 6d.

Essays on the Floating-Matter
OF THE Am in relation to Putrefaction
and Infection. With 24 Woodcuts.
Crown 8vo. "js. 6d.

Lectures on Light, delivered in
America in 1S72 and 1873. With 57
Diagrams. Crown 8vo. 5^^.

Lessons in Electricity at the
Royal Institution, 1875-76. With
58 Woodcuts. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d,

JVoTES OF A Course of Seven
Lectures on Electrical Pheno-
mena AND Theories, delivered at the
Royal Institution. Crown 8vo. is. sewed,
IS. 6d. cloth.

Notes of a Course of Nine Lec-
tures ON Light, delivered at the Royal
Institution. Crown 8vo. is. sewed, is. bd.
cloth.

Faraday as a Discoverer. Fcp.
8vo. 3^. 6d.

Ville. — On Artificial Manures,
their Chemical Selection and Scientific
Application to Agriculture. By Georges
ViLLE. Translated and edited by W.
Crookes, F.R.S. With 31 Plates.
8vo. 2lS.

Virgil. — PuBLi Vergili Maronis
BucoLiCA, Georgica, ALneis ; the
Works of Virgil, Latin Text, with
English Commentary and Index. By
B. H. Kennedy, D. D, Crown 8vo.
loj. dd.

The yENEiD of Virgil. Translated
into English Verse. By J. Conington,
M.A. Crown 8vo. 9^.

The ^neid of Virgil freely
Translated into English Blank
Verse. By William J. Thornhill,
B.A. Crown 8vo. ^s. 6d.

The Poems of Virgil. Translated
into English Prose. By John Coning-
ton, M.A. Crown Svo. <)s.

Vitzthum. — St. Petersburg and
London in the Years 1852-1864:
Reminiscences of Count Charles Fred-
erick Vitzthum von Eckstoedt, late
Saxon Minister at the Court of St. James'.
Edited, with a Preface, by Henry Reeve,
C.B. D.C.L. 2 vols. Svo. 305.

Walker. — The Correct Card ;

or. How to Play at Whist ; a Whist
Catechism. By Major A. Campbell-
Walker, F.R.G.S. Fcp. Svo. 2J-. 6d.

Walpole. — History of England
FROM THE Conclusion of the Great
War in 1815. By Spencer Walpole.
5 vols. Svo. Vols. I. and II. 1815-1832,
2,6s. ; Vol. HI. 1832-1S41, iSj.; Vols. IV.
and V. 1841-1858, 36J.

Waters. — Parish Pegisters in
England: their History and Contents.
With Suggestions for Securing their better
Custody and Preservation. By Robert
E. Chester Waters, B.A. Svo. ^s.

Watts. — A Dictionary of Chemis-
try and the Allied Branches of
other Sciences. Edited by Henry
Watts, F.R.S. 9 vols, medium Svo.
;^I5. 2s. dd.

Webb. — Celestial Objects for
Common Telescopes. By the Rev.
T. W. Webb. Map, Plate, Woodcuts.
Crown Svo. 9^'.

Webb. — The Veil of /sis : a
Series of Essays on Idealism. By Thomas
W. Webb, LL.D. Svo. 10s. bd.

Wellington. — Life of the Duke
of Wellington. By the Rev. G. R.
Gleig, M.A. Crown Svo. Portrait,
6s.

West. — Works BY Charles West,
M.D. &=c. Founder of, and formerly
Physician to, the Hospital for Sick
Children.

Lectures on the Diseases of Ln-
fancy and Childhood. Svo. iSj-.

The Mother's Manual of Chil-
dren's Diseases. Crown Svo. 2s. bd.

Whately. — English Synonyms.
By E. Jane Whately, Edited by her
Father, R. Whately, D.D. Fcp. Svo.
3^-

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. LOXGMAXS, GrEEX, &> Co.

Works by R. Whately^
Crown 8vo.
Crown

Whately.

D.D.
Elements of Logic.

4J. dd.
Elements of Rhetoric.

8vo. 4^. dd.
Lessons on Reasoning. Fcp. 8vo.

IS. ed.

Bacon's Essays, with Annotations,
8vo. los. 6d.

White and Riddle.—^ La tin-Eng-
lish Dictionary. By J. T. White,
D.D. Oxon, and J, J. E, Riddle, M.A.
Oxon. Founded on the larger Dictionary
ofFreund. Royal 8vo. 2IJ'.

White. — A Concise Latin-Eng-
lish Dictionary, for the Use of Ad-
vanced Scholars and University Students
By the Rev. J. T. White, D.D. Royal
8vo. 1 2 J.

Wilcocks. — The Sea Fisherman.
Comprising the Chief Methods of Hook
and Line Fishing in the British and other
Seas, and Remarks on Nets, Boats, and
Boating. By J. C. Wilcocks. Pro-
fusely Illustrated. Crown 8vo. bs.

Wilkins. — The Growth of the
Homeric Poems : a Discussion of their
Origin and Authorship. By George
Wilkins, M.A. late Scholar, Trinity
College, Dublin. 8vo. 6j.

Wilkinson. — The Friendly So-
ciety Movement: Its Origin, Rise, and
Growth; its Social, Moral, and Educational
Iniluences. — The Affiliated Orders.
— By the Rev. John Frome Wilkinson,
M.A. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.

Williams. — Manual of Tele-
graphy. By W. Williams, Superin-
tendent of Indian Government Telegraphs.
Illustrated by 93 Wood Engravings. 8vo.
los. 6d.

Willich. — Popular Tables for
giving Information for ascertaining the
value of Lifehold, Leasehold, and Church
Property, the Public Funds, &c. By
Charles M. Willich. Edited by
H. Bence Jones. Crown 8vo. 10s. 6d.

Wilson. — A Manual of Health-
Science. Adapted for Use in Schools
and Colleges, and suited to the Require-
ments of Students preparing for the Ex-
aminations in Hygiene of the Science
and Art Department, &c. By Andrew
Wilson, F.R.S.E. F.L.S. &c. With
74 Illustrations. Crown Svo. 2s. 6d.

Witt. — Works by Prof. Witt.
Translated from the German by Frances
Younghusband.

The Trojan War. With a Preface
by the Rev. W. G. Rutherford, M.A.
Head-Master of Westminster School.
Crown Svo. 2s.

Myths of Hellas; or, Greek Tales-
Crown 8vo. 3J-. 6d.

The Wanderings of Ulysses.
Crown Svo. 3^-. 6d.

Wood. — Works by Rev. J. G.

Wood.

Homes Without Hands ; a De-
scription of the Plabitations of Animals,
classed according to the Principle of Con-
struction. With 140 Illustrations. Svo.
los. 6d.

Lnsects a t Home ; a Popular
Account of British Insects, their Struc-
ture, Habits, and Transformations. With
700 Illustrations. Svo. los. bd.

Lnsects Abroad ; a Popular Account
of Foreign Insects, their Structure,
Habits, and Transformations. With
600 Illustrations. Svo. \os. 6d.

Bible Animals; a Description of
every Living Creature mentioned in the
Scriptures. With 112 Illustrations. Svo.
los. 6d.

Strange Dwellings ; a Description
of the Habitations of Animals, abridged
from 'Homes without Hands.' With
60 Illustrations. Crown Svo. 5^. Popular
Edition, 4to. dd.

Horse and Man: their Mutual*
Dependence and Duties. With 49 Illus-
trations. Svo. 14J.

Lllustrated Stable Maxims. To-
be hung in Stables for the use of Grooms,
Stablemen, and others who are in charge
of Horses. On Sheet, /^s.

Out of Doors; a Selection of
Original Articles on Practical Natural
History. With il Illustrations. Crowtt
Svo. 5^.

CommonBritish Lnsects: BEETLESy
Moths, and Butterflies. Withi 13a
Illustrations. Crown Svo. 3^. 6(/.

Petland Revisited. With 33,

Illustrations. Crown Svo. Is. dd.

{Cc7iti!!i:Cii on next page.

Catalogue of General and Scientific Books

Wood. — Works by Rei\ J. G.

Wood — continued.

The following books are extracted from other
works by the Rev, J. G. Wood i^see p. 21) :

The Branch Builders. Fully

Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. cloth

extra, gilt edges.
Wild Animals of the Bible.

Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 3^-. dd.

cloth extra, gilt edges.
Domestic Animals of the Bible.

Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 35. bd.

cloth extra, gilt edges.
Birds of the Bible. Fully Illus-

Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 3i-. dd. cloth

extra, gilt edges.
Wonderful Nests. Fully Illustrated.

Crown Svo. 3J-. dd. cloth extra, gilt edges.
Homes Underground. Fully Illus-
trated. Crown Svo. 3^. (yd. cloth extra,

gilt edges.

Wood-Martin. — The Lake
Dwellings of Ireland: or Ancient
Lacustrine Habitations of Erin, common-
ly called Crannogs. By W. G. Wood-
Martin, M.R.I. A. Lieut. -Colonel 8th
Brigade North Irish Division, R.A.
With 50 Plates, Royal Svo. 25^'.

Wright. — Hip Disease in Child-
hood, with Special Reference to its Treat-
ment by Excision. Bv G. A. Wright,
B.A. M.B.Oxon. F.R.C.S.Eng. With
48 Original Woodcuts. Svo. lOi-. dd.

Wylie. — History of England
under Henry THE Fourth. By James
Hamilton Wylie, M.A. one of Her
Majesty's Inspectors of Schools. (2 vols. )
Vol, I, crown Svo, los. 6d.

Wylie. — Labour, Leisure, and
Luxury; a Contribution to Present
Practical Political Economy. By

Alexander Wylie, of Glasgow. Crown
Svo. IS.

Youatt. — Works bv William
Youatt.

The Horse. Revised and enlarged
by W. Watson, M.R,C,V.S. Svo.
Woodcuts, 7^, 6d.

The Dog. Revised and enlarged.
Svo. Woodcuts, 6s,

Younghusband. — The Story of
Our Lord, told in Simple Language
FOR Children. By Frances Young-
husband. With 25 Illustrations on Wood
from Pictures by the Old Masters, and
numerous Ornamental Borders, Initial
Letters, &c. from Longmans' Illustrated
New Testament. Crown Svo. 2s. 6d. cloth
plain ; 2,^. 6d. cloth extra, gilt edges.

Zeller. — Works by Dr. E.
Zeller.

History OF Eclecticism in Greek
Philosophy. Translated by Sarah
F, Alleyne. Crown Svo. ios. 6d.

The Stoics, Epicureans, and
Sceptics. Translated by the Rev, O.
J, Reichel, M,A. Crown Svo, 15^,

Socrates and the Socratic
Schools. Translated by the Rev, O, J.
Reichel, M,A. Crown Svo. lo;-. 6d.

Plato and the Older Academy.
Translated by Sarah F, Alleyne and
Alfred Goodwin, B,A. Crown Svo.
iSj.

The Fre-Socra tic Schools ; a His-
tory of Greek Philosophy from the Earliest
Period to the time of Socrates, Trans-
lated by Sarah F. Alleyne, 2 vols,
crown Svo, 30J.

Outlines of the History of
Greek Philosophy. Translated by
Sarah F. Alleyne and Evelyn
Abbott. Crown Svo, lo^, 6d.

PUBLISHED BY MESSRS. LO.VGMAiVS, GREEN, &= CO.

23

TEXT-BOOKS OF SCIENCE.

Photography. By Captain W. De Wive-

LESLIE Abney, F.R.S. late Instructor in Chemis-
try and Photography at the School of Military
Engineering, Chatham. With 105 Woodcuts, ^s.td.

On the Strength of Materials and

Stntctitres : the Strength of Materials as depend-
ing on their quality and as ascertained by Testing
Apparatus : the Strength of Structures, as depend-
ing on their form and arrangement, and on the
materials of which they are composed. By Sir J.
Anderson, C.E. 3^. td.

Introduction to the Study of Organic

Chemistry : the Chemistry of Carbon and its Com-
pounds. By Henry E. Armstrong, Ph.D.
F.C.S. With 8 Woodcuts. 3^. 6d.

Elements 'of Astronomy. By Sir R. S.

Ball, LL.D. F.R.S. Andrews Professor of Astro-
nomy in the Univ. of Dublin, Royal Astronomer
of Ireland. With 136 Woodcuts. 6s.

Railway Appliances. A Description of

Details of Railway Construction subsequent to the
completion of Earthworks and Masonry, including
a short Notice of Railway Rolling Stock. By J.
W. Barry. With 207 Woodcuts. 3^. 6d.

Systematic Mineralogy. By Hilary

Bauerman, F.G.S. Associate of the Royal School
of Mines. With 373 Woodcuts, ds.

Descriptive Mineralogy. By the same

Author. With 236 Woodcuts. 6j.

Metals, their Properties and Treat-

7nent. By C. L. Bloxam and A. K. Hunting-
ton, Professors in King's College, London. With
130 Woodcuts. 5^.

Practical Physics. By R. T. Glaze-
brook, M.A. F.R.S. and W. N. Shaw, M.A.
With 62 Woodcuts, ds.

Physical Optics. By R. T. Glazebrook,

M.A. F.R.S. Fellow and Lecturer of Trin. Coll.
Demonstrator of Physics at the Cavendish Labora-
tory, Cambridge. With 183 Woodcuts. 6s.

The Art of Electro-Metallurgy, in-
cluding all known Processes of Electro-Deposition.
By G. Gore, LL.D. F.R.S. With 56 Wood-
cuts. 6s.

Algebra and Trigonometry. By the Rev.

William Nathaniel Griffin, B.D. sj. 6d.

Notes on the Elements of Algebra

and Trigonometry. With Solutions of the more
difficult Questions. By the Rev. W. N. Griffin,
B.D. 3^. 6d.

The Steam Engine. By George C. V.

Holmes, Whitworth Scholar; Secretary of the
Institution of Naval Architects. With 212 Wood-
cuts. 6s.

Electricity and Magnetism. By Fleem-

ING Jenkin, F.R.SS. L. & E. late Professor of
Engineering in the University of Edinburgh. 3^. 6d.

Theory of Heat. By J. Clerk Maxwell,

M.A. LL.D. Edin. F.R.SS. L. & E. With 41
Woodcuts. 3^. 6d.

Technical Arithmetic and Mensura-

tion. By Charles W. Merrifield, F.R.S.

3^. 6d.

Key to Merrifield' s Text-Book of

Technical A rithtnetic and Mensuration. By the
Rev. John Hunter, M.A. formerly Vice-Prin-
cipal of the National Society's Training College,
Battersea. 3^. 6d

Introduction to the Study of Inor-

ganic Chemistry. By William Allen Miller,
M.D. LL.D. F.R.S. With 71 Woodcuts. 3^. 6d.

Telegraphy. By W. H. Preece, C.E.

and J. SiVEWRiGHT, M.A. With i6o Wood-
cuts. 5J.

The Study of Rocks, an Elementary

Text-Book of Petrology. By Frank Rutley,
F.G.S. of Her INIajesty's Geological Survey. With
6 Plates and 88 Woodcuts. 4s. 6d.

Workshop Appliances, including Descrip-
tions of some of the Gauging and Measuring In-
strurnents— Hand Cutting Tools, Lathes, Drilling,
Planing, and other Machine Tools used by Engi-
neers. By C. P. B. Shelley, M.I. C.E. With
292 Woodcuts. i,s. 6d.

Structural and Physiological Botany.

By Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thom^, Professor of
Botany, School of Science and Art, Cologne.
Translated by A. W. Bennett, M.A. B.Sc.
F.L.S. With 600 Woodcuts. 6s.

Quantitative Chemical Analysis. By

T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S.E. Ph.D. Professor of
Chemistry in the Andersonian University, Glasgow.
With 88 Woodcuts. i,s. 6d.

Manual of Qualitative Analysis and

Laboratory Practice. By T. E. Thorpe, Ph. IX
F.R.S.E. Professor of Chemistry in the Ander-
sonian University, Glasgow; and M. M. Pattison
MuiR. 3^. 6d.

Introduction to the Study of Chem-

ical Philosophy; the Principles of Theoretical
and Systematical Chemistry. By William A.
TiLDEN, B.Sc. London, F.C.S. With 5 Wood-
cuts. 3i. 6d. With Answers to Problems, 4^. 6d.

Elements of Machine Design; an Intro-
duction to the Principles which determine the
Arrangement and Proportion of the Parts of
Machines, and a Collection of Rules for Machine
Designs. By W. Cawthorne Unwin, B.Sc
Assoc. Inst. C.E. With 325 Woodcuts, dr.

Plane and Solid Geometry. By the Rev.

H. W. Watson, formerly Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge. 3^. 6d.

.24 Catalogue of General and Scientific Books published by Longmans &> Co.

EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY.

r

Edited by the Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, Bart. M.A. and by C. Sankey, M.A. io Volumes,
fcp. 8vo. with numerous Maps, Plans, and Tables, price 2s. 6d. each volume.

By

The Gracchi, Marius, and Sulla.

A. H. Beesly, M.A.

The Early Roman Empire. From the

Assassination of Julius Caesar to the Assassination
of Domitian. By the Rev. W. Wolfe Capes, M.A.

The Roman Empire of the Second Cen-

tury, or the A^e of the Antonines. By the Rev.
W. Wolfe Capes, M.A.

The Athenian Empire. From the Flight

of Xerxes to the Fall of Athens. By the Rev.
Sir G. W. Cox, Bart. M.A.

The Greeks and the Persians. By the

Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, Bart. M.A.

The Rise of the Macedonian Empire.

By Arthur M. Curteis, M.A.

Rome to its Capture by the Gauls.

By WiLHELii Ihne.

The Roman Triumvirates. By the Very

Rev. Charles Merivale, D.D.

The Spartan and Theban Supremacies.

By Charles Sankey, M.A.

Rome and Carthage, the Punic Wars.

By R. Bosworth Smith, M.A.

EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY.

Edited by C. Colbeck, M.A. i8 vols, fcp
The Normans in Europe. By Rev. A.

H. Johnson, M.A.

The Crusades. By the Rev. Sir G. W.

Cox, Bart. M.A.

The Beginning of the Middle Ages.

By R. W. Church, D.D. Dean of St. Paul's.

The Early Plantagenets. By W.

Stubbs, D.D. Bishop of Chester.

Edward the Third. By the Rev. \\.
Warburton, M.A.

The Houses of Lancaster and York.

By James Gairdner. ^ t-

The Early Tudors. By the Rev. C. M..

Moberlv, M.A.

The Era of the Protestant Revolu-

tion. By F. Seebohm. «

The First Two Stuarts and the Puri-

tan Revolution, 1603-1660. By Samuel Rawson
Gardiner.

8vo. with Maps, price 2s. 6d. each volume.
The Age of Elizabeth. By the Rev. M.

Creighton, M.A. LL.D.

The Fall of the Stuarts ; and Western

Europe fro7n 1678 to 1697. By the Rev. Edward
Hale, M.A.

The Age of Anne. By E. E. Morris,

M.A.

The Thirty Years' War, i6i 8-1648. By

Samuel Rawson Gardiner.

The Early Hanoverians. By E. E,

Morris, M.A.

Frederick the Great and the Seven

Years' War. By F. W. Longman.

The War of American Independence,

1775-1783. By J. M. Ludlow.

The French Revolution, 1789-1795. By

Mrs. S. R. Gardiner.

The Epoch of Reform, i 830-1 850. By

Justin M'Carthv, M.P.

EPOCHS OF ENGLISH HISTORY.

Edited by tlie Rev. Mandell Creighton, M.A
Early England to the Norman Con-

quest. By F. York Powell, M.A. xs.

England a Continental Power, 1066-

1216. By Mrs. Mandell Creighton. grf.

Rise of the People and the Growth of

Parliament, 1215-1485. By James Rowley,
M.A. gd. _

Tudors and the Reformation, 14^5-

1603. By the Rev. Mandell Creighton. gif.

Struggle against Absolute Monarchy,

1603-1688. By Mrs. S. R. Gardiner, gti.

Settlement of the Constitution,

from 161.9 to \y^^. By James Rowley, M.. A., gd.

England during the American and

European Wars, from 1765 tn 1820. By the
Rev. O. W. Tancock, M.A. gd.

Modern England from 1820 to 1S74.

By Oscar Browning, M.A. gd.

•»» Complete in One Volume, with 27 Tables and Pedigrees, and 23 Maps Fcp 8vo s^.

Thp Shilling History of England; being an Introductory Volume to the Scncs of

^^ <Epofks T^Sish History: By the Rev. Mandell Creighton. M.A. Fcp. 8vo. x..

epochs" OF churchThistory.

M.A. Fcp. 8vo. price 2s. 6d. each volume.
The Evangelical Revival in the

Eighteenth Century. By the Rev. John Henry
Overton, M.A.

The History of the University of

Oxford. By the Hon. G. C. Brodrick, D.C.L.

The Church and the Roman Empire.

By the Rev. Arthur Carr, M.A.

Edited by the Rev. Mandell Creighton
The English Church in other Lands;

or, the Spiritual -Expansion of England. By

Rev. W. H. Tucker, M.A.

The History of the Reformation in

England. By George G. Perry, M.A.

The Church of the Early Fathers. Ex-

ternal History. By Alfred Plummer, U.\. D.D. |
*a* Other Volumes

I preparation.

Spottiswoode is'

Co. Printers, Neiv-street Square, London.

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 9999 05494 280 8

Boston Public Library
Central Library, Copley Square

Division of
Reference and Research Services

The Date Due Card in the pocket indi-
cates the date on or before which this
book should be returned to the Library.

Please do not remove cards from this
pocket.

(Mar,, 1887, 20,000)

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY.

le^IIowed at a tim

card ;

and juveni

iK^t U> be renew

days, who will colicr ( _

incliidinjj Sundays ana

borrower's household, and not t/j bfc transft

turned at this Hall.

tt4 ohtained only by

' ase of fiction

vithout fine;

ri;^er after 21

■! cents a day,

t / r.e lent out of the

■«red: trj be re-

n ,-r

this hffok mutilated or unwarrantably
report it ; and also any undue delay

faWIshed becatfSe-oLth^iii^iye^
e I,ibrar>-, through the mail, .

Tie rsjjTi rslsTr si:

rt IS aadj or ahsrsd 1:7