There is nothing in the art of weaving, or working in metals, or in any other material for common use, that is of such difficulty but that any man, with a common capacity, may do it nearly as well as any other man. The habits and manners of mankind, their disposition to labour, and the nature of the government under which they live, may encourage or discourage manufacturing; but both the strength and capacity of any of the natives of Europe, taking them on an average, are fully sufficient to enable them to excel in any work.
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{172} Where machines are very expensive, new improvements, that require other machinery, are sometimes crushed and rejected on that account. To adopt them, a man must sometimes begin by sacrificing half his fortune, by destroying his old machinery.
There have been several instances of this seen, particularly in the making of iron, when it was proposed to convert the rough gueze into good malleable iron bar, by rolling it at a welding heat, instead of hammering it by a forge-mill.
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{Here appears at page 212 the third chart, entitled
"Chart
Shewing the Amount of the