f the world upon it. The nicest
application of his individual skill, and the most careful employment of
his scientific knowledge, would have been wasted upon those portions of
the work in which the continued application of common routine labor is
the most efficient instrument of production.

Let us contrast the successive steps of Ferguson's first experiment in
globe-making with the processes of a globe manufactory.

A globe is not made of "a ball turned out of a piece of wood." If a
solid ball of large dimensions were so turned, it would be too heavy for
ordinary use. Erasmus said of one of the books of Thomas Aquinas, "No
man can carry it about, much less get it into his head;" and so would it
be said of a solid globe. If it were made of hollow wood, it would warp
and split at the junction of its parts. A globe is made of paper and
plaster. It is a beautiful combination of solidity and lightness. It is
perfectly balanced upon its axis. It retains its form under every
variety of temperature. Time affects it less than most other works of
art. It is as durable as a Scagliola column.

A globe may not, at first sight, appear a cheap production. It is not,
of necessity, a low-priced production, and yet it is essentially cheap;
for nearly all the principles of manufacture that are conditions of
cheapness are exhibited in the various stages of its construction. There
are only four globe-makers in England, and one in Scotland. The annual
sale of globes is only about a thousand pair. The price of a pair of
globes varies from six shillings to fifty pounds. But from the smallest
2-inch, to the largest 36-inch globe, a systematic process is carried on
at every step of its formation. We select this illustration of cheapness
as a contrast, in relation to price and extent of demand, to the lucifer
match. But it is, at the same time, a parallel in principle. If a globe
were not made upon a principle involving the scientific combination of
skilled labor, it would be a mere article of luxury from its excessive
costliness. It is now a most useful instrument in education. For
educational purposes the most inexpensive globe is as valuable as that
of the highest price. All that properly belongs to the excellence of the
instrument is found in combination with the commonest stained wood
frame, as perfectly as with the most highly-finished frame of rose-wood
or mahogany.

The mould, if we may so express it, of a globe is turned out of a pie