Surgical instruments made included straight and
curved knives and probes, lancets, scissors, spatulas, trepans
(for cutting bone), and cupping cases. Optical instruments made
included eyeglasses, telescopes, and microscopes. In 1727
eyeglasses were held in place by frames that went over the ears,
which replaced unreliable cords over the ears and leather straps
tied behind one's head. Also made were nautical instruments,
quadrants, sundials, sectors, globes, scales, orrerys [a model
solar system], and air pumps.
In London, the old distinction between craftsmen and laborers was
blurred by the existence of trades which employed workmen under a
skilled foreman instead of journeymen who had served an
apprenticeship. These trades were, on a large scale, new. Among
the most important of these trades were the distillers and brewers
of liquors, the tobacconists and snuff makers, the sugar refiners
and soap boilers, the vinegar makers, and makers of varnish, of
glue, of printers' ink, and of colors. The latest chemical
theories and the chemical explanation of dying brought about the
invention of new colors and new processes in dying cloth. Workers
in these trades were considered as laborers, but their wages were
high and their positions relatively secure. They learned their
jobs by doing them. The older trades of a similar character, such
as tallow melters and chandlers, wax chandlers, fellmongers, and
the tanners, employed journeymen.
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