Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ivii. (19 13), No. 11. 41 



Continent. His attempt to close all markets to England 

 — the so-called "Continental blockade" of 1806 — led, 

 eventually, to Russia leaving the coalition in 18 10 and 

 joining England, thus setting in motion a train of events 

 that led ultimately to Napoleon's downfall. This blockade 

 did the most harm to the Continent, as England, owing 

 to her insular position, had got a great start in the iron 

 and steel and allied engineering industries, and was really 

 the teacher of all Europe. The blockade merely served 

 to delay similar industrial developments on the Continent ; 

 thus it was that Napoleon's political intrigues reacted on 

 himself, and that England, in the end, achieved that 

 " Gold and Iron " necessary for victory and subsequent 

 peace, but not as Napoleon had planned. 



To David Mushet's services to Great Britain in respect 

 of metallurgical research, I have already alluded. In 

 1 8 10 the great Swedish chemist, Berzelius, determined 

 the exact composition of the oxides of iron ; along with 

 Thompson, Wollaston, and Davy, he had done most to 

 advance Dalton's views, first brought before this Society 

 in 1803. In 1 82 1 Karl Karsten was given the highest 

 official position related to mining in the Ministry of the 

 Prussian King, Frederick William, under his well-known 

 Minister, Von Stein. He can be said to have been the 

 first to have put the Silesian iron industry on a sound 

 footing, and in addition to an immense activity and 

 practical knowledge, he was the most important author of 

 his period on the metallurgy of iron and steel. The three 

 editions of his great work on " Eisenhiittenkunde," pub- 

 lished in 1 816, 1827 and 1841 respectively, give the most 

 complete survey of the progress of iron and steel manu- 

 facture over that period. The researches of Berthollet 

 and Stunckel on spathic ores appears to have led that 

 indefatigable Lancashire ironmaster, John Wilkinson, into 



