The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-06-24
Our @lio.
The Human Hand.

| lueu MS curious ana WOnueflul exnlDlLlOt
of skill and ingenuity, adapting it to ii
position upon the body, and enabling it Il
supply the wants of the body. We propose
to leave all such things to philosophy
where it properly belongs, and examine
the human hand merely as an implement
for generating, or using, or trasmitting
power.
Look at the hand as an implement fol
grasping objects of all sizes. The mos
difficult, as well as the most useful tool
used in mechanism, is the pincers, too
to pick up and grasp and hold work while
in process Of construction, They are Of
all sizes and shapes, each fitted to do ii
own particular piece of work. But the
thumb and either one, or all Of the foul
fingers are so arranged opposite to each
as to form pair Of pincers for picking W
and holding a greater number of articles
Of different sizes than any dozen pairs Of
pincers ever made. Attempt to pick uI
q needle from any plane surface with any
pincers, even the most delicately made, and
the thumb and forefnger of child will
do it far better. From the minutest tC
the greatest object capable Of being grasp
ed, the human hand will grasp greater
number, will hold to them with greater
tenacity. will adapt itself to them with
more aexibility, and will manipulate them
with greater dexterity than any halfscore
of the best implements ever made to do the
same work.
Look at the human hand as a lifting
machine. 'Taken together with the arm
and its muscular attachments, if the arm
be extended horizontally, aud 10-pound
weight laid upon the palm of the hand,
the muscular power needed to support it
is equal to the support of several hundred
pounds, if applied to it with the least me.
chanical disadvantage.
Take the hand and arms as a pushing
and pulling machine. Nearly all machine
movements are resolyable into two-the
"push" and "pulp' movement. In how
many thousand ways, at every conceivable
angle, in oil directions, up, down and hor-
izontal, does this little machine do its work,
and do it rapidly and perfectly. To sim
ply enumerate them would be to give a
catalogue Of human industries from the
beginning of time to the present hour.
As an example Of the vast amount Of
work which it is capable Of doing in a
given time, take the familiar example Of
an ordinary laborer shoveling sand into a
cart-if the sand be mellow and free from
impediments it would not be difficult to
throw ten shovels full, Of five pounds each,
each minute through ten hours, As the
left hand must give as much resistance
at the handle as there is weight upon the
blade, and the right hand must sustain the
weight of both, the right hand lifts and
carries through not less than six feet about
sixty thousand pounds or thirty tons,
which is more than equal to raising two
hundred tons one foot perpendicular by
the unaided hand for one days work. As
an implement of simple power, the hand
is worth the study which we ask for it.
Take the hand as selflubricating ma
chine. Friction is the great drawback on
machinery. How to get rid of it, or reduce
it to minimum, has been the study Of
ages. To produce some other substance
between surfaces brought into contact is
considered the best method, and oil is the
best substance yet discovered for that pur-
pose. But, to every joint in the hand is
attached a separate arrangement for sup
plying this necessary fabrication, and day
and night through half century the little
cup Of oil never runs dry, and not joint
fails for want of it. The famous "Widow's
Crust" which kept the Prophet alive, in
good old Bible times, is nothing to this.
When this begins to fail, as it does in old
age, it is the sign that the machine has
finished its work and is ready for long
rest.
But, once more, look at the almost inf
mite variety and perfection of the work
done by the human hand. All other ma
chimes do but one thing-a sewing machine
does nothing but sew; it does not knit, or
spin, or weave printing press only prints;
it does not fold, or bind the papers or books;
a plough does not plant, or reap, or thresh
out, or transport the grain. And the same
is true Of every other machine, except one.
They never do but one thing unless two
distinct machines are Joined for double
purpose, and then they arc really two ma
chimes. But the human hand does many
things, and does all equally well. 1t cuts,
it hammers, it saws, it planes, it polishes,
it paints, it grinds, it bores, it drills, it
mortises, it carves, it engraves, II pulls, it
pushes, it rows, it swims, it digs, it prints,
it binds, il plants and reaps, aud threshes,
and winnows, and grinds, and carries, and
molds, and bakes, it sews, and knits, and |
weaves, and sweeps, and washes--in indeed,
win not some one render this long enumer-
alton unnecessary by just naming some
one thing which it has not done in all the |
lists Of human industries done we'll |
And when it has done all this, and more,
it goes to work aud constructs separate
machine for doing each piece of its own
work, and for doing it more rapidly, and,
perhaps, more accurately, and then rest
while its own work goes endlessly onward.