globe revolves on the meridian ring, and of course it is absolutely
necessary that the poles should be exactly parallel. This is effected by
a little machine which drills each extremity at one and the same
instant; and the operation is termed poleing the meridian.

The mounting of the globe--the completion of a pair of globes--is now
handed over to the cabinet-maker. The cost of the material and the
elaboration of its workmanship determine the price.

Before we conclude, we would say a few words as to the limited nature
of the demand for globes. Our imperfect description of this manufacture
will have shown that experience, and constant application of ingenuity,
have succeeded in reducing to the lowest amount the labor employed in
the production of globes. The whole population of English globe-makers
does not exceed thirty or forty men, women, and boys. Globes are thus
produced at the lowest rate of cheapness, as regards the number of
laborers, and with very moderate profits to the manufacturer, on account
of the smallness of his returns. The _durability_ of globes is one great
cause of the limitation of the demand. Changes of fashion, or caprices
of taste, as to the mounting, new geographical discoveries, and modern
information as to the position and nomenclature of the stars, may
displace a few old globes annually, which then find their way from
brokers' shops into a class somewhat below that of their original
purchasers. But the pair of globes generally maintain for years their
original position in the school-room or the library. They are rarely
injured, and suffer very slight decay. The new purchasers represent that
portion of society which is seeking after knowledge, or desires to
manifest some pretension to intellectual tastes. The number of globes
annually sold represents to a certain extent the advance of education.
But if the labor-saving expedients did not exist in the manufacture the
cost would be much higher, and the purchasers greatly reduced in number.
The contrivances by which comparative cheapness is produced arise out of
the necessity of contending against the durability of the article by
encouraging a new demand. If these did not exist, the supply would
outrun the demand; the price of the article would less and less repay
the labor expended in its production; the manufacture of globes would
cease till the old globes were worn out, and the few rich and scientific
purchasers had again raised up a market.