Enquire within upon everything by Robert Kemp Philp

of even so slight a point, or pause, as the comma, will often alter the meaning of a sentence. The contract made for lighting the town of Liverpool, during the year 1819, was thrown void by the misplacing of a comma in the advertisements, thus: "The lamps at present are about 4,050, and have in general two spouts each, composed of not less than twenty threads of cotton." The contractor would have proceeded to furnish each lamp with the said twenty threads, but this being but half the usual quantity, the commissioners discovered that the difference arose from the comma following instead of preceding the word _each_. The parties agreed to annul the contract, and a new one was ordered.