654 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUxM, 1889. 



forged iron over 16 inches in diameter and nearly 60 feet high, supposed 

 to have been erected in the third century. 



But these methods must be included among the lost arts — arts lost in 

 the great abyss of the middle ages, which swallowed up so many of the 

 results of the skill and ingenuity of the ancient world. 



But among the Greeks and the ancient nations of the Orient, as we 

 learn from Homer, the early historians, and the latest inscriptions and 

 archaeological discoveries, iron was once regarded as a precious metal. 

 Homer's elaborate description of the shield of Achilles, forged by Vul- 

 can, undoubtedly shows that the art of working iron was fully under- 

 stood in that semifabulous epoch.* 



Iron first came into use in the arts and manufactures when Spain 

 flourished under the Visigoths, who are said to have derived it from 

 their ancestors, the Scythians, of whose history so little is definitely 

 known. Spanish iron brought high prices for many years. 



THE IRON INDUSTRY IN ENGLAND. 



Early in the fifteenth century many blast furnaces were in existence 

 in France, and soon afterward they were introduced in Sussex, Kent, 

 and Surrey, in England, and this gave impetus to the iron industry of 

 England. As the processes of extracting iron from various ores be- 

 came more fully understood, the demand increased, and in order to 

 keep up the supply great inroads were made each year upon the forests 

 for fuel. 



During the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603) the iron industry 

 increased so rapidly that the consumption of wood became a most seri- 

 ous matter, as iron was then smelted exclusively by charcoal. 



The destruction of the forests was so rapid that Parliament passed 

 acts in 1558, 1581, and 1584 restricting the cutting of wood for char- 

 coal, and thus the iron industry languished for over a century. 



In the mean time thought had been directed to the processes of smelt- 

 ing iron with pit coal. Sturdevant's method, although patented in 1611, 

 was not practicable; and Dudley, who eight years after solved the prob- 

 lem with some success, was so much abused by the charcoal smelters, 

 that fearing bodily injury he too abandoned the business. Nothing 

 further seems to have been done toward using coal for smelting iron ore 

 in England during the seventeenth century. 



THE IRON INDUSTRY IN AMERICA. 



As early as 1621 a considerable quantity of iron was produced in Vir- 

 ginia, and that colony led the industry until 1628, when Massachusetts 

 forged ahead. 



As wood fuel was plenty in America the industry grew so rapidly 

 that Parliament passed an act in 1660 prohibiting the exportation of 



* Manual of Oriental Antiquities, Ernest, Babelen, p. 125. 



