Page:Miscellaneous Papers on Mechanical Subjects.djvu/72

64 measure. It is of great importance to the manufacturer who makes parts of machines in large quantities to have the means of referring to an accurate fixed measure: it will enable him to reproduce at any time a facsimile of what he has once made, and so preserve a system of sizes of the fitting parts unaltered. The greatest care should be taken to make standards of size correctly at first, and to preserve them unaltered. Errors in the standards are not only propagated in the copies, but are superadded to the errors in the workmanship, which will occur in the course of manufacture; and this is especially likely to occur in cases where one manufacturer supplies parts of machines for the use of another.

My argument is shortly this:—If we had a better system of notation for our measures, in which small differences in size were expressed in terms conveying their value to the mind, the importance of minute and accurate measurements would become more familiar, more appreciated, and more generally applied. Many operations would by that means be more easily and effectually performed, and in some cases greater safety will be the result. Take for instance the present method of proving guns, which are proved by firing them with a considerable charge of powder and shot. If the barrel