2 Lange, Bessemer, Goransson and Mushet. 



1894, and this was then added to by my father-in-law 

 who, by reason of his honourable position, was in close 

 touch with the affairs of the iron and steel world, but up 

 to the time of his death in 1905, we had neither of us 

 worked up the material thus available into the form of a 

 complete argument. 



Since that year, I have frequently considered the 

 feasibility of presenting this in the form of a Paper before 

 one of the learned Societies, but the small amount of 

 leisure which I have, afforded little opportunity for the 

 necessary preparation. However, in response to pressure 

 on the part of some of my friends, and in remembrance 

 of the fact that this year is the centenary of Henry 

 Bessemer's birth, I have more recently endeavoured, in 

 what spare time I could find, to fashion my notes into a 

 condensed but readable sequence, and in asking this 

 Society to do me the honour of allowing me to present 

 them within the walls sacred to the memory of Dalton 

 and Joule, I feel that the subject matter of my discourse 

 which is intimately, indeed principally, concerned with 

 the application of the exact sciences to the service of 

 industry, will be appropriate to the surroundings. 



Henry Bessemer was born on January 19th, 1813, 

 at Charlton, near Hitchin, in Hertfordshire. From his 

 father, Anthony Bessemer, he seems to have inherited his 

 love of science and mechanical skill. Anthony Bessemer 

 was undoubtedly a man of genius. He was born in 

 London, and, at an early age, emigrated with his parents 

 to Holland. Here he was brought up as a mechanical 

 engineer, and, at the age of twenty-one, he went to seek 

 his fortune in Paris. We find that five years later he was 

 elected a member of the P^rench Academy of Sciences, 

 for improvements in the microscope. Later he was 

 employed at the Paris Mint, where he made and worked 



