The native American., 1838-01-20


until counermaDded and it will accordingly be contn-
ued at the option Of the publisher.
Il t Eriyads from The Southern Literary Messenger
THE MECHANIC ARTS, AND EvERET'S
apsaasf 4 ADDRESS,
In September last, the Massachusetts Charita-
BILE Mechanic Association held, in Boston, an
exhibition Of machines, implements, and fabrics,
recently produced by the mechanic arts; and at
the same time held fair, at which many arti-
cles made for the occasion, were sold: the profits
Of the exhibition and fair being applied to the
charitable uses for which, mainly, the Associa-
ton was formed. In variety, richness, and depth
Of interest, no exhibition Of the kind, probably,
ever surpassed, if any ever equalled, this one.
more than fifteen thousand articles, in almost
every department of art were displayed to the
wonder-stricken eye. Specimens Of manufacture
the most rare, Of machinery the most ingenious,
courted attention on every hand. Agricultural
implements, the tools proper to hundred differ
ent trades, steam engines all presenting some
useful or curious invention or Improvements
filed the most knowing beholder with new ad-
miration for fertility of mind and cunningness
Of hand, which seemed here to have been well
nigh superhumanly creative. Foremost of Won
ders, was the model Of Davenporfs electro-mag-
netic engine; applying the power of the loadstone
to drive machinery. The model was OF suffi-
cient force to work turner's lathe; and judicious
observers, after examining its principles Of action,
deemed it easily susceptible Of such increase in
power, while it might remain SO portable and
cheap, as 10 be far superior to those hitherto
matchless agents, water and steam. The throng
Of spectators was proportioned to the attractive
ness Of the sight. Daily, for eight OF ten days,
thousapds crowded the immense halls Of the
exhibition. The city, and the neighboring vii
lagos and towns, poured out almost their entire
population. BY the fifth or sixth day, sixty
thousand people were supposed to have been adj
mitted; and the sum received for. admittauces
alone, was reckonsd at twelve or fifteen thousand
dollars. sRii4@e ea
The occasion was seized, to elicit the Address
mentioned above. Its objects were, 70 swell the
charity fund flor each auditor paid an admittance
fee.) and 70 Impress mechanics and all others
with just sense Of the dignity and importance
Of the mechanic arts. But there is one circum-
stance, especially worthy Of notice. The author
Of the Address, ,-who, from the manner in which
the title page mentions him Edward Everett, an
Honorary member &C.. might be taken for
merely some retired master mechanics the
distinguished Governor Of Massachusetts and
even less distinguished by that title, than as an
enlightened member of Congress, an eloquent
orator, and an accomplished scholar: confessedly,
one Of the foremost men Of that State itself among
the foremost in this confederacy.
The following paragraph displays the wonder
full increase Of mans power, from the use ofma-
chimes, and other material agents:
ssMan, with his unaided strength, can lift but
one or two hundred weight, and that but for a
moment; with his pulleys and windlasses, ne sets
an obelisk upon its base, IA shaft OF solid granite
a hundred feet high. The dome of st. Peters
is one hundred and twenty feet in diantctets als
sides are twenty-five feet in thickness, and u ~
suspended in the air at an elevation Of three hum
dred and twenty feet from the ground, and It
was raised by hands as feeble as these. The un-
aided force Of the muscles Of the human hand is
insufficient to break fragment Of marble, Of any
sire, in pieces; but on recent visit to the beaut-
ful auarries in Sheffield from which the columns
of the Girard College at Philadelphia are taken,
/ saw masses Of hundreds of tons, which had
been cleft from the quarry by very simple ar
tificial process. Three miles hour, for any
considerable space Of time, and with ample in
tervals for recreation, food, and sleep, are the
treme limit of the locomotive capacity Of the
strongest frame, and this confined to the land.
The drfs step in: by the application of one por-
ton Of them to the purposes Of navigation, man
is waited, night and day, alike waking and Sleep
ing, at the rate Of eight ten miles hour, over
the unfathomed ocean; and by the combination Of
another portion of the arts, he flies at the rate of
fifteen or twenty miles an hour, and, if need be,
with twice that rapidity, without moving muscle,
from city to city. The capacity Of imparting
thought, by Ineligible signs, to the minds Of
other men,---the capacity which lies at the foun-
dation Of all our social improvements s,--whle
una;ded by art, was confined within the limits OF
oral communication and memory. The voice oi
wisdom persisted, not merely with the sage by
whom il was uttered, but with the very breath Of
air ON which it was borne. .4rt came to the
aid Of the natural capacity; and after long series
Of successive improvements, passing through the