MANTLE

(Fr. manteau.) In Architecture, the piece lying horizontally acro from one jamb of a chimney to the other. In Malacology, the external fold of the skin of the moUusks. MANUAL (Lat. manus, the Aflwd), was applied originally to the Roman Catholic service book, from its convenient size (being such as might be carried in the hand); but it now signifies any small work used chiefly for the purpose of reference. MANUFACTURE, (Lat. manus, a hand, andfacio, / make. ) In Political Economy, a term employed to designate the changes or modifications made by art and industry in the form or substance of material articles, in the view of rendering them capable of satisfying some want or desire of man. Hence the perfection of manufacturing consists in the being able to effect the wished-for changes in the raw material with the least expenditure of labour, or at the least cost. With the exception of fishing, hunting, mining, and such branches of industry as have for their object to obtain po e ion of material products in the state in which they are fashioned by nature, all other branches may, in fact, be comprised under the term manufacture. Generally, indeed, it is applied only to those departments of industry in which the raw material is fashioned into desirable articles by art and labour without the aid of the soil. But there is no really good foundation for any such limitation; which, unle explained, is apt to make it be supposed that busine es which are substantially identical not only differ from, but are opposed to, each other. It is obvious, indeed, on the slightest consideration, that agriculture in nothing but a manufacture; for the busine of the agriculturist is so to dispose of the soil, seed, manure, and other materials, that they may supply him with other and more desirable protlucts. Manufacturing industry consists, in fact, in II. Physical Circumstances contributing to the Progre of Manufactures 1. Supplies of the raw material may be cla ed among the more prominent of this description of circumstances. Those who reflect on the value and importance of our manufactures of wool; of the useful metals, such as iron, tin, lead, copper, .; of leather, flax, and so on, — will readily admit that our succe in them has been materially facilitated by our po e ing abundant supplies of the raw material. It is of le consequence, when the material of a manufacture po e es considerable value hi small bulk, whether it be furnished from native sources or be imported from abroad; though even in that case, the advantage of having an internal supply, which cannot be withdrawn through the jealousy or hostility of others, is far from immaterial. But no 712 nation can make any considerable progre in the manufacture of bulky and heavy articles, the conveyance of which to a distance nece arily occasions a large expense, unle she have supplies of the raw material within herself. Had we been destitute of iron ore, lead, and tin, we could never have distinguished ourselves by the magnitudd and value of our manufactures of these articles; and any one who reflects on the signal advantage resulting to every branch of manufacturing industry from being able to procure abundant supplies if iron at the cheapest rate, will be convinced that we are under any thing but slight obligations to our exhaustle stores of this mineral. 2. But of all the physical circumstances that have contributed to our extraordinary progre in manufactures and industry, none have had so n^uch influence as our po e ion of the most valuable coal mines. These have conferred advantages on us, not enjoyed in an equal degree by any other country. Our extraordinary succe in the manufacture of iron, copper, . is not owing so much to our po e ing the ores, as to our po e ing the coal by the aid of which they have been smelted and refined. The paramount importance of coal as a manufacturing agent has, however, been principally manifested since the invention of the steam-engine. Without a cheap and abundant supply of fuel, the engine, as now constructed, would be of comparatively little use. It is, as it were, the hands by which the most gigantic results are effected; but coal is the muscle by which the hands are set in motion, and without which their all but illimitable power and dexterity could not be called into action, or made subservient to any useful purpose. Our coal mines may thus, in truth, be regarded as vast magazines of hoarded or warehoused power; and unle some such radical change should be made on the steam-engine as should very decidedly le en the quantity of fuel required to keep it in motion, or some equally serviceable machine, but moved by different means, be introduced, it is not at all likely that any nation should come into succe ful competition with us in those departments of manufacturing industry in which steam-engines, or machinery moved by steam, may be advantageously employed. 3. The advantageous situation of a country for commerce, and the nature of its climate, have also a powerful influence over manufacturing industry. Owing to the facilities afforded by the insular situation of Great Britain for maintaining an intercourse with all parts of the world, our manufacturers have been able to obtain supplies of foreign raw materials on the easiest terms, and to forward their own products wherever there was a demand for them. Had we occupied a central or internal situation in any quarter of the world, our facilities for dealing with foreigners being so much the le , our progre would have been comparatively slow; but being surrounded on all sides by the sea, that is, by the great highway of nations, we have been able to deal with the most distant as well as with the nearest people, and to profit by the peculiar capacities of production enjoyed by each. Under such circumstances, it would have been singular had we not shot ahead of most of our competitors in the race of improvement; and it will require some powerful counteracting agoncyto neutralize or overcome these advantages. 4. Our climate is peculiarly favourable for all sorts of exertion and enterprise: without being too severe, it is sufficiently so to render comfortable clothing and lodging indispensable; and consequently gives rise to wants that are either unknown, or le sensibly felt, in more genial regions. Its inequality too, by requiring ince ant care and attention on the part of the husbandmen, or manufacturers of corn, makes them vigilant and active, as well as industrious; and the qualities that are thus naturally impre ed on this great cla are, through their example, universally diffused. The author of a valuable article on English statistics in the Edinburgh Enct/cloptBdia, when enumerating the causes of our extraordinary succe in manufactures, lays the greatest stre on the superiority of our machinery, the magnitude of our capital, and the extent to which the division of labour is carried amongst us. But this is to mistake effects for causes. These, in fact, are the means and instruments by whicli manufacturing industry is immediately carried on; and the real inquiry is, what are the circumstances that have rendered us so abundantly supplied with these means? We have endeavoured briefly to answer this inquiry, by stating what appear to be the most prominent causes of that extraordinary accumulation of capital, and of that universal employment of improved and powerful machinery and subdivided labour, which mark our eminence as a manufacturing people. Still, however, we are inclined to think that a good deal must in these matters be ascribed to chance, or to some lucky contingency, that could not li prior i be looked for. Had Hargreaves, Ark wright, Watt, or Wedgwood not existed, or been born abroad, it is impo ible to say how much it might have affected the state of industry here; but there seem to be sufficient grounds for thinking that it [s. 723]