mechanic to make the idea of combination-type a practical success.  Mr. John H. Tobitt, being a stenographer as well as a compositor, was enabled to make a systematic selection of the syllables most frequently occurring in our language; and thus it happens that his combinations have stood a practical test.  His improved cases, with combination-type, were shown at the London Exhibition, in 1851, when a medal was awarded to the inventor.  These cases have now been in use upwards of ten years, and have demonstrated a gain of twenty per cent over the ordinary method of composition.  It should be mentioned that Mr. Tobitt’s invention was entirely original with himself.  When he made it, he had never heard of Earl Stanhope, nor of any previous attempt at this improvement.

It is evident, when we reflect upon the intricate construction of language, that this method of saving labor, though it may be made still more useful than at present, must always be restricted within a limited circle of operations.  Nor would any number of combination-letters obviate the necessity of composition by hand.  The printer would still be obliged to stand at the case, picking up type after type, turning each one around and over, and so arranging the words in his “stick.”  Every one knows this process,—­a painfully slow one in view of results, although individual compositors are sometimes wonderfully expert.  But it is only when a great many men labor actively during more hours than ought to be spent in toil, that any considerable work is accomplished by this method.  The composing-room of a large daily paper, for instance, presents, day and night, a spectacle of the almost ceaseless industry of jaded operatives.  The need of relief in this respect was long ago recognized.  The attempt at combination-letters was not less a precursor of reform than an acknowledgment of its necessity.  It remained for American inventive genius, in this generation, to conceive and perfect the greatest labor-saving device that has ever been applied to the art of printing,—­the last need of the operative,—­the Type-Setting Machine.

It was inevitable that this should come.  The only wonder is that it did not come before.  Perhaps, indeed, the idea was often conceived in the minds of skilful, though dreamy and timorous inventors, but not developed, for fear of opposition.  And opposition enough it has encountered,—­alike from inertia, suspicion, and conservative hostility,—­since first it assumed a practical position among American ideas, some ten years ago.  But I do not care to dwell upon the shadows.  Turn we to the sunshine.  There are two strong points in favor of the invention, which, since they cover the whole ground of argument, deserve at least to be stated.  I assert, then, without the fear of contradiction before my eyes, that the Type-Setting Machine, besides being a universal benefactor, is, in a double sense, a blessing to the mechanic.  It spares his physical health, and