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the ores. The bloomery or open hearth was probably at first employed, the crude product being made malleable under the hammer. This simple process has been in use for thousands of years, and is still practised in Africa, Asia, and even in Spain, wherever the rich specular ores are found. At what period the bloomery gave place to the blast furnace it is impossible to determine: but we find that the process of smelting by the latter had arrived at considerable perfection in the seventeenth century, and castings made antecedent to that date are still preserved : at that time and up to. 1740, charcoal was the only fuel employed in smelting, and the consumption of wood for this purpose so threatened the destruction of the forests that prohibitions were issued, and the production of the furnaces reduced from 180,000 to 17,350 tons per annum, The introduction of pit coal for smelting, however, changed entirely the aspects of the iron trade, and from that time it has steadily progressed to its present enormous rate of production.

In 1783-4 Mr. Cort, of Gosport, introduced the now universal processes of puddling and rolling in the manufacture of wrought from cast-iron. When mentioning his name I cannot refrain from adverting to the gross neglect to which some of the greatest benefactors of mankind seem to be doomed, as their only reward for discoveries which have raised their country to a degree of opulence hitherto unknown in the annals of history. Cort, the pioneer of the iron trade, is one of the latest and most flagrant examples of this want of sympathy on the part of a highly favoured nation.

The following returns illustrate better than any comments the steady increase of the iron trade:

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At the present time the annual produce cannot be less than 3,200,000 tons.

Such has been the advance of one of the most important branches of industry, the support of almost all other trades, and one which united to coal has afforded this country treasures more valuable than a thousand Californias.

In closing this part of my subject, I must not omit to notice Mr. Neilson's application of the hot-blast and the facilities which it has afforded for the reduction of the ores and the greatly increased production of the furnace. Our iron trade has permanently taken a position which, above all other countries, is distinguished for the skill, economy, and magnitude with which its operations are carried on; and we have reason to be grateful to an Allwise Providence, for having entombed in the bosom of our little island such immense and inexhaustible treasures, for the use of its inhabitants and the glory of its name in every part of the globe. Without the advantages of coal and iron, which we possess in such abundance, this country would never have become the cradle of inventive genius nor the workshop of the world.

Another benefactor to his country was found in Josiah Wedgewood, the founder of the porcelain or Staffordshire ware manufacture, so well known for its cheapness and beauty in every part of the globe. To the son of a poor potter at Burslem we are indebted for an entirely new branch of industry, and the many benefits we have derived in our domestic homes from the use of Wedgewood's pottery can only be appreciated by recollections which

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carry us back to the days of pewter plates and trenchers. Before Wedgewood's time the earthenware produced in this country was of the coarsest and meanest description, and the quantity produced, even bad as it was, totally unequal to the demand. In this state of the manufacture we were dependent upon Holland and other countries for our supply, until the genius of Wedgewood effected a complete change in the character of the trade, and thus induced not only an ample supply for home consumption, but a large and growing export into the bargain.

It might be interesting to trace the early career, and enumerate the troubles and difficulties he had to encounter in his experiments on earths containing silica; his process of calcination, and his process of vitrifaction in producing a transparent glass, effected a complete revolution in the manufacture, and ultimately produced those splendid specimens of stone and earthenware which, through his skill, industry, and that of the late Mr. Minton, have raised the manufacture of English porcelain to its present high state of perfection.

Other branches of manufacturing industry have advanced at a similar rate, and I might instance the improvements which have taken place in the machinery for spinning and weaving our woollen, silk, and linen fabrics, many of which had their origin in the latter part of the last century; and the real source of which is to be found in the various inventions employed in the manufacture of cotton; to these improvements, however, I cannot now advert, and I must leave for another evening the consideration of the further development of these branches of industry which have left their impress upon the face of the country and on the character of the present generation of men.

211

LECTURE IV.

ON THE PROGRESS OF CIVIL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY.

IN taking up again the subject of the progress of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, I must be permitted to explain that a number of the distinguished men who contributed to its advancement in the eighteenth century, continued at the head of their profession during the first twenty to thirty years of the nineteenth. Rennie, Telford and Watt were still living when Bramah, Brunel, Maudslay and Donkin rose to a high position in their respective professions. For nearly forty years between 1790 and 1830, this phalanx of engineering talent had the field to themselves, and scarcely any work of importance was accomplished without one or other of them having been consulted.

I well remember that in the early part of my own career, when I first entered London, forty-seven years ago, a young man from the country had no chance whatever of success, in consequence of the trade guilds and unions. For myself, I had no difficulty in finding employment, as it was granted me at once by Mr. Rennie: but before I could commence work, I had to run the gauntlet of the trade societies; and after dancing attendance for nearly six weeks, with very little money pocket, and having to "box-Harry" all the ti ultimately declared illegitimate, and sent adrift

fortune elsewhere. There were then three millwright societies in London-one called the old society, another the new society, and a third the independent society. These societies were not founded for the protection of the trade, but for the maintenance of high wages, and for the exclusion of all those who could not assert their claims to work in London and other corporate towns. Laws of a most arbitrary character were enforced, and they were governed by cliques of self-appointed officers, who never failed to take care of their own interests. It is true that in those days mechanical science was at a comparatively low ebb. Millwrights and mining engineers were in those days the only men calculated to execute a sound piece of mechanical work; there were no mechanical engineers, and most of the steam-engines, pumps, mills, and other similar constructions were executed by that class; and it is only doing them justice to say, that throughout the whole of the three kingdoms, they were the only men on whom the country could rely for the efficient discharge of these important duties."

In those days a good millwright was a man of large resources; he was generally well educated, and could draw out his own designs and work at the lathe; he had a knowledge of mill machinery, pumps, and cranes, and could turn his hand to the bench or the forge with equal adroitness and facility. If hard pressed, as was frequently the case in country places far from towns, he could devise for himself expedients which enabled him to meet special requirements, and to complete his work without assistance. This was the class of men with whom I associated in early life proud of their calling, fertile in resources, and aware of their value in a country where the industrial arts were rapidly developing. It was then that the millwright in his character of "jack-of-all-trades" was in his element; all the great works of the country connected with

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