Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ivii. (191 3), No. 17. 43 



mer's long, fruitless and costly experiments during the 

 period of 1856- 1858, how infinitely useful would have 

 been to him and his advisers a polytechnic, or sort of 

 technical clearing-house, of information bearing upon the 

 problems with which they were contending. 



A new era, however, was to dawn before the advance 

 of technical education, and the widespiead publicity given 

 to theoretical and experimental research work furnished 

 to a would-be inventor a ready knowledge of what had 

 been already accomplished and, to some extent, of what 

 remained to be done. 



The union of theory and practice is a modern de- 

 velopment, for the fact remains that most of the great 

 inventions of the past owed their creation to men whose 

 qualifications were mainly practical, and who were guided 

 by instinct and intuition rather than by scientific know- 

 ledge. Bessemer was no exception to this. He, himself, 

 is reported to have said that had he been a metallurgist, 

 lie would not have come to the idea of his steel process. 

 This saying expressed a half truth only, for the romance 

 of industry, as of art, abounds in examples of genius 

 bursting its bonds and following an apparently irresistible 

 impulse towards new and unexpected achievements. 



It has, however, become more and more recognised 

 that Science is the indispensable hand-maiden of In- 

 dustry, and that the most rapid industrial developments 

 of recent years have been found where the highest tech- 

 nical training has been employed. 



Technical science is, to-day, the greatest factor in 

 industrial progress, and is destined to become the greatest 

 leveller of nations. 



Note 5. Tlie Future of Bessemer Steel. 



Whilst it is true that in 19 12 more Bessemer steel was 



