90 Report of the Select Committee 
the wrought iron is used, and it is both the fluid and the material 
which does the mischief when the cast iron bursts; the effect in 
cast metal is, to carry the pieces of the metal to a considerable 
distance, which is seldom the case in the wrought, unless where 
there is any cold shut in the metal; the cast bursts like a shell, 
projecting the particles of the metal to a considerable distance. 
If an accident of that nature happens to a wrought-iron boiler, 
the mischief would probably be confined to the room in which 
the boiler was placed?—-No, I do not conceive that to be the 
ease; I have no doubt, if it had been a wrought-iron boiler in 
this case, the deck of the vessel would have been blown off; the 
pressure would have been in all places alike; but here it was only 
in a lateral direction, and the end of the boiler was blown into 
the river, and by its re-action the boiler itself was thrown into 
the river on the other side. 
You have said, that you have frequently seen wrought-iron 
vessels burst ?—Not frequently in our own experience ; I have 
seen copper frequently that has burst. 
Have any fatal or serious accidents happened on those occa- 
sions?—I have heard of some, but have not witnessed one; the 
accidents I have observed have chiefly arisen where cast-iron 
boilers have been used. 
In the first instance, when wrought-iron boilers are used, the 
injury is sustained by individuals by the fluid escaping ?—Yes. 
Where cast-iron boilers have been used, it has been by the ex- 
plosion of metal ?— Yes; I do not mean to say it may not be by 
the explosion of wrought-iron boilers ; it is very difficult to ob- 
tain a boiler of perfect metal; and if there are any cold shuts, 
or other defects in it, it may explode in the same way. 
Is copper subject to the same evils ?—No ; I think itis gene- 
rally in a purer state; iron is very impure at the best. 
Mr. Joun Taytor’s Evidence. 
What is your profession ?—My principal pursuit is that of a 
manufacturing chemist, at Stratford in Essex; but I have the 
control of a district of copper mines near Tavistock. ¥, 
Have those engagements made you perfectly conversant with 
the nature and application of steam-engines?—I have attended 
to that subject to a certain extent ; of late my attention has been 
called to high pressure steam particularly, being concerned with 
my brother in a patent for applying high pressure steam to the 
boiling of liquids, and using it extensively in our own manufac- 
tory, both in steam-engines and for the purpose of boiling. 
Are you acquainted with the accident which. lately happened 
to the steam-boat at Norwich ?—By report only. 
What do you know of that transaction ?—I have heard that 
the 
