“And, indeed, even in one who could not boast of belonging to the land in which printing was invented, the universal and mighty effects of this art, when rightly considered, would produce almost a corresponding enthusiasm. It is difficult to look upon the great changes that have been effected during the last four centuries, and which are still in progress everywhere around us, and not connect them with printing and its inventor. The castles on the Rhine, under whose ruins we travelled back from Mentz, perished before the powerful combinations of the people of the towns. The petty feudal despots fell when the burghers had acquired wealth and knowledge. But the progress of despotism on a larger scale could not have been arrested, had the art of Gutenberg not been discovered. The strongholds of military power still frown over the same majestic river. The Rhine has seen its petty fortresses crumble into decay. Ehrenbreitstein is stronger than ever. But even Ehrenbreitstein will fall before the powers of the mind. Seeing, then, what, under God, intellect has done and is doing, we may well venerate the memory of Gutenberg of Mentz.” [Illustration] [Illustration] XXI. Modes of making Type.--Varieties of Type.--Cylindrical Ink-distributor.--A Modern Printing Establishment.--Composition Room.--Cases.--Proof-reading. Let us now glance at the Art of Printing in modern times. In the making of types, formerly each letter was cast, and then finished one at a time, by hand. Now there is a process of manufacturing the copper face by machinery, the operation being effected by the pressure of a sharp die upon copper. And it is said that a small steam-engine can produce one type a second, or thirty-six thousand in ten hours. By the more ordinary process, types are made by casting type-metal in a mould, though some of the larger sizes are manufactured from maple, mahogany, or box-wood. The process of casting type, which is the business of the type-founders, requires great skill. In the first place, a punch is cut, of the letter to be formed, except that it is in reverse. The punch being of hardened steel, and having this letter on its point, is then struck into a small piece of copper, which is called the _matrix_, or form of the letter to be cast. The matrix is now fixed in a curiously contrived instrument, termed the mould, attached to a compact hand machine, having in the centre a small furnace of burning coal to keep the vessel of type-metal over it liquid. The workman turns a wheel, thus forcing melted metal into the mould, which quickly shapes and drops one after another the types, perfect, save polishing. In some foundries there are twenty of these machines. In this way not only every letter, but every figure, hyphen, comma, or other mark, must have its punch and matrix, as well as its separate casting. One machine will cast one hundred types a minute. [Illustration: Metal Type.]