Variations in Productive Power.
53
The dexterity of the workman is increased.The greatest influence no doubt is produced by the first of these causes, namely, the increase of dexterity of the workman. The effect of continuous practice in performing both mental and physical operations is most strikingly exhibited in the increased quickness obtained. By practice the eye and hand may learn to work in perfect unison, and the hand and eye are made to obey with intuitive quickness the behests of the will. The glass-blower appears to give a casual glance at a decanter, wishing to make one like it. He places some molten glass upon his blow-pipe, and after a few minutes of blowing and twisting a decanter is made, and between it and its model the nicest eye can detect no difference in size or shape; yet science can scarcely analyse or explain the marvels of this extraordinary handiwork. No rule but the eye has been employed to measure, the eye looks at the decanter, and the hand is thus directed. The shape of the decanter is produced by a combination of different forces, which the most refined analysis of the mathematician could scarcely investigate; there is the force of expansion caused by the blowing, and centrifugal and other forces are brought into action by the twirling and twisting. Many of the operations of industry need a dexterity which can only be acquired in childhood; the pliant fingers of youth must be moulded to the work. When, therefore, the distinct operations of any industry are performed by different workmen, then each of these operations may become a separate trade, for which men may be separately trained. If all the processes of pin-making were performed by one man, he would not have sufficient practice to acquire the requisite dexterity in any single operation, and, therefore, if there was no division of labour in pin-making, all the labour employed must be, comparatively speaking, unskilled, and consequently very inefficient. The precision and quickness acquired by practice are not in any way confined to the mechanical operations of trade. What can be more extraordinary than the precision and quickness of the accomplished and practised musician? If the theory of violin-playing is explained, it seems to require a skill beyond the reach of man. The fingers appear to move with careless rapidity over the strings, yet the accuracy of each note
