408 Blast Fiuiiace. — Foymaiion of Phimhago. 



my motive is, to exhibit the different iron-making counties of 

 that time : and should it appear that there have been since the 

 invention of blast furnaces, iron-making districts in England 

 in which a greater number of furnaces have been established 

 than in Dean Forest — then to that quarter I should be inclined 

 to look for information on the history, rise, and progress of 

 the blast furnace: — 



Furnaces. Furnaces. Furnaces. 



Brecon ... 2 Gloucester 6 Salop 6 



Glamorgan 2 Hereford... 3 Stafford ... 2 



Carmarthen 1 Hamiishire 1 Worcester 2 



Cheshire... 3 Kent 4 Sussex 10 



Denbigh... 2 Monmouth 2 Warwick ... 2 



Derby 4 Nottingham 1 York 6 



It would appear from this account, tliat the counties of 

 Sussex and Kent alone contained in the early part of the 

 eighteenth century 14 blast furnaces: and as it is probable 

 that the woodlands in the vicinity of the metropolis would 

 sooner disappear than in the moi'e distant counties, it is equally 

 probable that a century before, the number of blast furnaces 

 might have been considerably greater in that district. The 

 only other iron-making district that will at the time now spoken 

 of bear a comjiarison with Sussex and Kent, is that of Dean 

 Forest, in which I include the furnace of Tintern Abbey in 

 Monmouthshire, not included in the list ; Gloucestershire 6, 

 and Herefordshire 3, making in all, ten blast furnaces. 



The nature of this inquiry I feel to be highly interesting ; 

 and I hope that this paper will excite investigation in those 

 counties where documents may still exist. In this neighboui*- 

 hood the change of residence and property has been soen- 

 tire, as to leave no memorial behind. 



Were it necessary to excite attention to a subject so inter- 

 esting in a national point of view, I might state, by way of con- 

 trast to the former yearly make of 17,350 tons, that there are 

 now manufactured annually in Britain, nearly half a million 

 of tons of pig-iron ; in the various manipulations attending 

 which, at least five millions of tons of pit-coal are consumed. 



In the last published Number of Dr. Brewster's Philosophi- 

 cal Journal, there is a curious account, by Dr. MacCuUoch, of 

 a transmutation — shall I call it — of cast iron into plumbago. 

 I am at a loss, from the perusal of the paper, to learn whether 

 Dr. M. considers that a total change has taken place, and 

 that a pound or any other given quantity of cast iron may 

 by this species of disorganization be absolutely and positively 

 converted into an equal weight of plumbago, — a characteristic 



of 



