2. The qualifications of a finished cabinet-maker are numerous and of difficult acquisition; so that they are seldom concentrated in any single individual. He requires not only a correct taste, but also a knowledge of drawing, architecture, and mechanics, besides the abilities of a good practical workman. 3. A knowledge of drawing is especially useful in designing new articles of furniture, or in improving the form of those which have been already introduced. It also enables the artist to determine with accuracy what would be the general effect of furniture, were different pieces of it placed in any proposed apartment; and, combined with architectural knowledge, it enables him to adapt the style of his wares to that of the building for which they may be designed. 4. In general, the principles of this business are fixed, so far as relates to the mode of operating in the execution of the work; yet continual changes are made in the form and construction of its various articles, so as to keep pace with the advancement of correct taste, or with the caprices of fashion. In fact, the shapes of furniture are almost as changeable as those of female dress; and this causes many expensive pieces to fall into disuse, while others are introduced, which, for a time, are considered indispensable to comfort, and which in turn enjoy but a temporary favor. 5. The cabinet-maker uses various kinds of wood in the manufacture of his wares; but those which are most frequently employed in the United States are pine, maple, poplar, cherry, black walnut, white oak, beach, mahogany, and rose, all of which are abundant in this country, except the last two. Mahogany is brought in great quantities from the West Indies and South America; rose-wood is obtained chiefly from the West Indies and Brazil, although it was first introduced into notice from the island of Cyprus. 6. The applicability of mahogany to the manufacture of cabinet-ware, was accidentally discovered in London, about the year 1724. A physician, named Gibbons, received a present of some of the planks from his brother, a sea-captain, who had brought them from the West Indies, chiefly as ballast. The doctor was, at that time, erecting a house, and, supposing them to be adapted to the purposes of building, gave them to his workmen, who, on trial, rejected them as being too hard to be wrought with their tools. 7. A cabinet-maker was next employed to make a candle-box of some of it, and he also complained of the hardness of the timber; but, when the box was finished, it outshone in beauty all the doctor's other furniture. He then required a bureau to be made of the same kind of material; and this, having been finished, became the subject of exhibition to his friends, as a piece of remarkable beauty. The wood was immediately taken into general favor, and it soon became an article of merchandise of considerable importance.