735 



STODART, JAMES, F.U.S. 



STOFFLER, JOHN. 



736 



with Dr. Pearson in this inquiry, by which it was ascertained that 

 wootz was in fact steel of a particular kind. Among these was the 

 subject of the present article. "That ingenious artist, Mr. Stodart," 

 Dr. Pearson states in the paper alluded to, "forged a piece of wootz at 

 the desire of the president, for a penknife, at the temperature of 

 ignition in the dark. It received the requisite temper" [" at the tem- 

 perature of 450 of Fahrenheit's scale," Dr. Pearson adds in a note 

 from Mr. Stodart's letter to Sir Joseph .] "The edge was as fine, 

 and cut as well as the best steel knife. Notwithstanding the difficulty 

 and labour hi forging, Mr. Stodart from this trial was of opinion that 

 wootz is superior for many purposes to any steel used in this country. 

 He thought it would carry a finer, stronger, and more durable edge 

 and point Hence it might be particularly valuable for lancets and 

 other chirurgical instruments." Wootz subsequently received the 

 appellation of Indian steel, further information showing it to be a 

 vari ty of cast-steel. The observations thus made appear to have 

 constituted the germ of its future application to the manufacture of 

 surgical instruments, and others in which great perfection and 

 durability of edge was required, and which, for a long period, re- 

 warded Mr. Stodart's skill and sagacity. It is a remarkable illustration 

 of the manner in which intellectual endowments are distributed among 

 different minds, that his contemporary, Mr. Pepys, who also had an 

 opportunity of making himself acquainted with wootz, though pos- 

 sessing equal professional skill, and probably greater scientific 

 qualifications, failed to recognise its superiority. 



Like other artists practically experienced in the production and use 

 of certain substances, or skilled in the conduct of peculiar processes 

 and operations, Mr. Stodart at various periods gave valuable assistance 

 to experimental philosophers. Thus, the kuife-edges of Capt. Rater's 

 [KATER, HENRY] original invariable pendulum were forged by him. 

 from a piece of fine wootz. Dr. Thomas Thomson and Sir. H. Davy 

 having united in concluding that the changes of colour produced by 

 heat on the surface of polished steel, probably did not depend on the 

 oxidation of the metal, Mr. Stodart, who had made many accurate 

 experiments on the tempering of steel, and was therefore familiar with 

 those changes and their relations to the temperatures at which they 

 occur, sent specimens to Sir Humphry Davy, indicating that when the 

 air was excluded the colour of the steel did not change. On receiving 

 these, the great chemist invited him to assist in some new trials on the 

 subject, in which it was found that when polished steel was heated 

 in pure hydrogen or azote, or in pure olive-oil, no change of colour 

 took place. This proved the correctness of Mr. Stodart's previous 

 opinion, that the changes of colour produced during the tempering of 

 steel are owing to the formation and increase of a plate of oxide. 

 Sir H. Davy's letter describing the experiments was inserted by Dr. 

 Thomson in the 'Annals of Philosophy' for February 1813, vol. i., p. 

 131. Sir H. Davy records Mr. Stodart's assistance, with that of Messrs. 

 Pepys, Allen, and Faraday, in the experiments made at the Royal 

 Institution and at the London Institution, which are in his paper on 

 the magnetic phenomena produced by electricity, forming part of the 

 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1821. On the 7th of June in that 

 year Mr. Stodart was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. 



Mr. Stodart was one of the earlier appreciators and friends of Mr. 

 Faraday [FARADAY, MICHAEL], who, when chemical assistant in the 

 Royal Institution, was engaged with him in a series of experiments on 

 the alloys of steel, which were pursued for several years in the 

 laboratory of that establishment, of which Mr. Stodart was an active 

 member. In the earlier part of these researches, Mr. Faraday analysed 

 a specimen of the Indian steel cut from one of the cakes which had 

 been originally presented to Mr. Stodart by Sir Joseph Banks. Besides 

 iron and carbon (the well-known constituents of steel), it yielded nothing 

 but very minute proportions of the earths, silica, and alumina, to the 

 presence of which, or rather that of their bases, silicon and aluminium, 

 its peculiar excellence has accordingly been referred. The results of 

 the united researches of the cutler and the chemist were first pub- 

 lished in the 'Quarterly Journal of Science' for July 1820 (voL ix.), 

 pp. 319-330, in a paper entitled 'Experiments on the Alloys of Steel, 

 made with a View to its Improvement.' The authors, in the course 

 of these experiments, formed artificial wootz, at a time when this was 

 not the object of research, and also succeeded, by the addition of 

 alumina to pure steel, in producing a specimen which had all the 

 appreciable characters of the best Bombay wootz. " Together with 

 some others of the metals, the following," it is stated, " have been 

 alloyed with both English and Indian steel, and in various propor- 

 tions : platinum, rhodium, gold, silver, nickel, copper, and tin." The 

 alloy of steel with a minute portion of silver d&gth) was found to be 

 decidedly superior to the very best unalloyed steel; that with rhodium 

 was superior in a still higher degree, but as the scarcity of that metal 

 would operate against its introduction to any great extent, it is 

 probable, the authors conclude, that the alloy of silver with steel is 

 the most valuable of those they had made, and they announce intended 

 trials with that metal in the large way. In the year 1822 they pro- 

 duced another paper 'On the Alloys of Steel,' which was communi- 

 cated to the Royal Society, printed in the 'Philosophical Transactions' 

 for that year, and reprinted in the ' Annals of Philosophy ' for 1823. 

 It commences with the information, that, "the alloys of steel, made on 

 a small scale in the laboratory of the Royal Institution, proving to be 

 good, and the experiments having excited a very considerable degree 



of interest both at home and abroad, gave encouragement to attempt 

 the work on a more extended scale, and we have now the pleasure of 

 stating," say the authors, " that alloys similar to those made in the 

 Royal Institution, have been made for the purpose of manufacture ; 

 and that they prove to be, in point of excellence, in every respect 

 equal, if not superior, to the smaller productions of the laboratory. 

 Previous however, to extending the work, the former experiments were 

 carefully repeated, and to the results were added some new combina- 

 tions, namely, steel with palladium, steel with iridium, and osmium, 

 and latterly steel with chromium." The principal results of these 

 extended researches, as well philosophical aa practical, are then 

 minutely described, and in the conclusion it is announced that the 

 alloys of silver and platiua with steel had been to some considerable 

 extent in use at the Royal Mint, and that several of the alloys had 

 been diligently and successfully made on the Continent. Before a year 

 however had expired after the publication of this paper, Mr. Stodart 

 died. Hia private residence was in Russell-square, London, but his 

 decease took place at Edinburgh, on September 11, 1823, at the age 

 of sixty-three. He bequeathed a portion of his collection of philo- 

 sophical apparatus to Mr. Faraday. The further improvements in 

 the manufacture of steel, in the direction they had taken, would 

 appear to have been stopped by his demise. 



STODDART, SIR JOHN, KNIGHT, was born in 1773 in the parish 

 of St. James's, Westminster, but his father, who was a lieutenant in 

 the navy, residing in Wiltshire, he received his early education in the 

 grammar-school at Salisbury under Dr. Skinner. His proficiency in 

 Greek at this school occasioned his being sent to the University of 

 Oxford, where he was entered at Christchurch College in 1790, and 

 graduated as B.A. in 1794. He at first studied divinity, but feeling 

 an inclination for the law he proceeded B.C.L. in 1793, and D.C.L. in 

 1801. In the meantime he had not neglected general literature, and 

 in 1796 and 1798 he had published translations of Schiller's two 

 dramas of ' Fiesco ' and ' Don Carlos,' in conjunction with Dr. Noehden, 

 but to which only their initials appeared on the title-page. At tins 

 period he took a favourable view of the French revolution, and in 

 1797 published a translation from the French, entitled ' The Five 

 Men; or a View of the Proceedings and Principles of the Executive 

 Directory of France, with the Lives of the present members.' In 1801 

 he was admitted a member ot the College of Advocates, and published 

 'Remarks on Local Scenery and Manners in Scotland, during the years 

 1799 and 1800,' in 2 vols. 4to. In 1803, on the recommendation of 

 Sir William Scott, he was appointed king's advocate and admiralty 

 advocate in Malta, in which situation he remained nearly four year.?, 

 when he returned to England, and resumed his practice in the courts 

 of Doctors' Commons. In 1810 he commenced writing on political 

 subjects hi the ' Times ' newspaper, his contributions being marked 

 J. S., and this led to his becoming the political editor in 1812. His 

 writings in this paper were distinguished by great energy, the pos- 

 session of much varied knowledge, a clear style, with a power of fulmi- 

 nation, too often founded on mere prejudice, that occasioned his 

 receiving the sobriquet of Dr. Slop, and as such he was burlesqued by 

 George Cruikshauk in the parodies and satires published by Hone. 

 Dr. Stoddart is said to have taken Burke as his model, but he failed 

 in reaching to any greater similarity than that arising from their 

 dislike to the course taken by the French revolution, which, iu the 

 doctor's case, displayed itself in his rancorous denunciations of Bona- 

 parte and his policy. He held this important post till the close of 

 1816, when, in consequence, it is said, of the disapproval of the pro- 

 prietors of the continued violence of his attacks on the now imprisoned 

 emperor, his connection with the ' Times ' was dissolved, and iu 1817 

 he started an opposition paper called ' The New Times." It was 

 unsuccessful, and in a short time he left it, retired to private life, and 

 to his practice as an advocate. In 1826 he was appointed chief-justice 

 and judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court of Malta, being knighted at the 

 same time, and in that office he distinguished himself by the able 

 and conscientious manner hi which he discharged his duties, until 

 his return to England in 1839. From that time till his death he 

 led a private life, in which he was much and widely esteemed ; but 

 occasionally published pamphlets on legal subjects, and took con- 

 siderable interest in the reform of the law, being one of the earliest 

 members of the Law Amendment Society. He also wrote ' An 

 Introduction to General History,' and a ' Universal Grammar ; or 

 Science of Language,' which were printed in the ' Encyclopaedia 

 Metropolitana," but have likewise appeared as separate works. A 

 'Statistical, Administrative, and Commercial Chart of the United 

 Kingdom, compiled from parliamentary and other authentic docu- 

 ments,' was another of his productions. He died at Bronipton-square, 

 near London, on February 16, 1856 ; and on the first meeting of the 

 Law Amendment Society after his death, Lord Brougham pronounced 

 a warm eulogium on his memory. 



STOFFLER, JOHN, a celebrated German astronomer, who was 

 born December 10, 1452, at Justingen in Swabia. He was appointed 

 professor of mathematics in the University of Tubingen (in Wirtem- 

 berg), where, besides pure mathematics, he taught astronomy and 

 geography, and he appears to have been successful in gaining the 

 esteem of his numerous pupils, among whom are said to have been 

 Melancthon and Sebastian Munster. In the year 1530 he made a 

 journey to Vienna, in order to be present at the installation of a pro- 



