On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures | Page 4

workshops and factories,
both in England and on the Continent, for the purpose of endeavouring
to make myself acquainted with the various resources of mechanical art,
I was insensibly led to apply to them those principles of generalization
to which my other pursuits had naturally given rise. The increased

number of curious processes and interesting facts which thus came
under my attention, as well as of the reflections which they suggested,
induced me to believe that the publication of some of them might be of
use to persons who propose to bestow their attention on those enquiries
which I have only incidentally considered. With this view it was my
intention to have delivered the present work in the form of a course of
lectures at Cambridge; an intention which I was subsequently induced
to alter. The substance of a considerable portion of it has, however,
appeared among the preliminary chapters of the mechanical part of the
Encyclopedia Metropolitana.
I have not attempted to offer a complete enumeration of all the
mechanical principles which regulate the application of machinery to
arts and manufactures, but I have endeavoured to present to the reader
those which struck me as the most important, either for understanding
the actions of machines, or for enabling the memory to classify and
arrange the facts connected with their employment. Still less have I
attempted to examine all the difficult questions of political economy
which are intimately connected with such enquiries. It was impossible
not to trace or to imagine, among the wide variety of facts presented to
me, some principles which seemed to pervade many establishments;
and having formed such conjectures, the desire to refute or to verify
them, gave an additional interest to the pursuit. Several of the
principles which I have proposed, appear to me to have been unnoticed
before. This was particularly the case with respect to the explanation I
have given of the division of labour; but further enquiry satisfied me
that I had been anticipated by M. Gioja, and it is probable that
additional research would enable me to trace most of the other
principles, which I had thought original, to previous writers, to whose
merit I may perhaps be unjust, from my want of acquaintance with the
historical branch of the subject.
The truth however of the principles I have stated, is of much more
importance than their origin; and the utility of an enquiry into them,
and of establishing others more correct, if these should be erroneous,
can scarcely admit of a doubt.
The difficulty of understanding the processes of manufactures has
unfortunately been greatly overrated. To examine them with the eye of
a manufacturer, so as to be able to direct others to repeat them, does

undoubtedly require much skill and previous acquaintance with the
subject; but merely to apprehend their general principles and mutual
relations, is within the power of almost every person possessing a
tolerable education.
Those who possess rank in a manufacturing country, can scarcely be
excused if they are entirely ignorant of principles, whose development
has produced its greatness. The possessors of wealth can scarcely be
indifferent to processes which, nearly or remotely have been the fertile
source of their possessions. Those who enjoy leisure can scarcely find a
more interesting and instructive pursuit than the examination of the
workshops of their own country, which contain within them a rich mine
of knowledge, too generally neglected by the wealthier classes.
It has been my endeavour, as much as possible, to avoid all technical
terms, and to describe, in concise language, the arts I have had occasion
to discuss. In touching on the more abstract principles of political
economy, after shortly stating the reasons on which they are founded, I
have endeavoured to support them by facts and anecdotes; so that
whilst young persons might be amused and instructed by the
illustrations, those of more advanced judgement may find subject for
meditation in the general conclusions to which they point. I was
anxious to support the principles which I have advocated by the
observations of others, and in this respect I found myself peculiarly
fortunate. The reports of committees of the House of Commons, upon
various branches of commerce and manufactures, and the evidence
which they have at different periods published on those subjects, teem
with information of the most important kind, rendered doubly valuable
by the circumstances under which it has been collected. From these
sources I have freely taken, and I have derived some additional
confidence from the support they have afforded to my views. *
Charles Babbage Dorset Street Manchester Square 8 June, 1832
[*Footnote: I am happy to avail myself of this occasion of expressing
my obligations to the Right Hon. Manners Sutton, the Speaker of the
House of Commons, to whom I am indebted