Page:Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 1.djvu/631

1832.] an inferior quality of workmanship. 6th. The improved means by which the same effect ivas produced by diminished labour.

In order to afford the means of estimating the influence of these several causes, the following table is subjoined : —

Average Price of Gold per oz Value of currency per cent / Price of 3 per cent. 1 consols / Wheat, per quarter. English pig iron a Birmingham. . . English bar iron at do. . Swedish bar iron in London, excluding duty of from £± to £6 10*. per ton Hard-ware manufac- tured ?} Anvils per cwt Locks for doors, 6-inch, Iron wire, No. 6 Brass wire 1812 L 4 79 5 3 59| 5 10 16 10 100 s. d 25 per doz. bund, lb. 1818 £ s. d 4 97 6 10 78 i 4 1 6 7 10 10 17 10 on an s. 20 38 16 1 1824 £ s. d 3 17 6$ 100 93f 2 1 10 10 14 average s. 20 32 13 1 1828 £ s. 3 17 100 86 3 11 10 5 10 7 15 14 reduced s. 16 15 9 1 1330 1832 £ s. d- 3 17 9| 100 8H 3 14 6 4 10 6 13 15 to 13 13 7

£ 3 1710$ 100 82£ 2 19 3 ») 5 13 2 40 d.

6

9

The most influential of these causes has undoubtedly been the invention of cheap- er modes of manufacturing. The extent to which this can be carried, and yet a profit be realized at the reduced prices, is truly astonishing, as the following fact which rests on good authority, will prove. Twenty years since a brass knob for the locks of doors was made at Birmingham, the price, at the time being 13*. Ad. per dozen. The same article is now manufactured, having the same weight of metal, and an equal or in fact a slightly superior finish, at 1*. 9|rf. per dozen. One cir- cumstance which has produced this economy in the manufacture is, that the lathe on which these knobs are finished is now turned by a steam engine ; so that the workman, relieved from that labour, can make them twenty times as fast as he did formerly. — Babbage's Economy of Manufactures.

We regret to learn from the newspapers, that Monsieur Victor Jacquemont, the distinguished Naturalist, who was travelling through India on the part of the Aca- d£mie of Paris, died at Bombay on the 7th instant. He commenced his tour through India at Calcutta in 1829 5 he proceeded through the Jungle Mehals to Benares ; thence to Rewah and Bundelkhand ;and through the Doab to the Hills ; whence, after obtaining permission, through the intervention of the Governor Ge- neral, from Maharaja Ranjit Sinli, he pursued his journey into Kashmir, and even penetrated a short distance within the limits of the Chinese territory. He returned across the continent to Bombay, where a lingering affection of the liver, brought on by constant exposure to severities of climate, put a period to his existence. Mon. Jacquemont had never communicated the results of his researches to any one of his many friends in India, but we know that he had been most actively employ- ed, and we shall look anxiously for an account of all he has done, in the French scientific journals.