_Proof of Sword Blades_ (Vol. iv., pp. 39. 109.).--Without wishing to
detract from the merits of an invention, which probably is superior in
its effects to old modes of testing sword blades, I object to the term
_efficient_ being applied to _machine_-proved swords.
Because, after such proof, they frequently break by ordinary cutting;
even those which have been made doubly strong and heavy--and hence unfit
and useless for actual engagement--have so failed. And because
machine-tried swords are liable to, and do, break in the handle.
For many reasons I should condemn the machine in question as
inapplicable to its purposes. By analogous reasoning, it would not be
wrong to call a candle a good thrusting instrument, because a machine
may be made to force it through a deal plank.
The subject of testing sword blades is a very important one, although it
has not received that degree of attention from those whom it more nearly
concerns which it seems to demand.
The writer's experience has been only _en amateur_; but it has satisfied
him how much yet remains to be effected before swords proved by a
machine are to be relied upon.