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A certain quantity of materials, and the labour of a certain

number of workmen, both of which might have been immediately

employed to augment the food, clothing, and lodging, the

subsistence and conveniencies of the society, are thus diverted

to another employment, highly advantageous indeed, but still

different from this one. It is upon this account that all such

improvements in mechanics, as enable the same number of workmen

to perform an equal quantity of work with cheaper and simpler

machinery than had been usual before, are always regarded as

advantageous to every society. A certain quantity of materials,

and the labour of a certain number of workmen, which had before

been employed in supporting a more complex and expensive

machinery, can afterwards be applied to augment the quantity of

work which that or any other machinery is useful only for

performing.