y increased
it, while extending the sale of a superior, and superseding an inferior,
class of goods.

Although for all ordinary articles, such as forks, spoons, teapots, etc.,
there are, no doubt, many manufacturers in Birmingham quite equal to Messrs.
Elkingtons, their manufactory is especially worth visiting; because, in the
first place, the whole manufactory is open, and conveniently arranged for the
inspection of visitors; and, in the next place, the firm pay great attention
to the artistic merit of their more expensive work. They spare no expense to
obtain copies from the best antique models, and original designs from living
artists, beside keeping up a staff of draughtsmen and modellers.

In the manufactory may be seen the whole history of a plated dinner service,
from the pickle fork to the epergne, or vase, which crowns the centre of the
table at a grand banquet.

In one room men are at work in cutting out forks and spoons from flat sheets
of white metal, which is afterwards shaped, ornamented, engraved, and then,
if to be covered with silver, subjected to the action of a current of
electricity, produced by an immense pair of magnets--if to be coated with
gold, to the action of galvanic batteries; this process requires explanation
which must be sought in works, like Mr. Alfred Smee's, especially devoted to
the subject. Then comes the burnishing, by the action of leather-covered
wheels and wire brushes, in steam-driven motion, and then the burnishing by
hand, which is chiefly performed by young girls and women. And an agreeable
and profitable occupation it seems to be.

The manufacture of such articles as teapots is equally interesting. In the
process of joining such parts as the handle and spout by hard solder, that is
to say, solder as difficult to melt as the main body of the object, one of
the most valuable inventions for chemical processes, the blow-pipe, is
employed with the aid of two other great scientific aids of modern times. The
flame of the blow-pipe is made by a stream of gas, and driven, instead of by
a man's breath, by a steam blast, so that the mechanic has a power and a
facility of manipulation which would be unattainable under the old system of
working with a lamp and puffed out cheeks. There is great matter for
reflection in the sight of the hundreds of ingenious industrious workmen and
workwomen under one roof, employed mainly through the agency of three powers,
which, if not discovere