ured.
Subsequent attempts at combinations were made in England, but all proved
abortive. In the office of the London "Times," castings of entire
words--devised, I think, by Sterling--were used, to a limited extent. It
remained, however, for a New-York 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, indee