IRON 211 



obtaining iron was to heat iron ore and carbon together in 

 a furnace. The carbon then joined with the oxygen of the 

 iron ore, and the molten iron, united with some of the carbon, 

 flowed out from the bottom of the furnace. 



In some such primitive fashion as this the Romans smelted 

 iron in the Forest of Dean, but so imperfect were their methods 

 that, after they had extracted all the iron they could, the 

 great heaps of refuse left by them supplied iron ore in later 

 times to numerous factories worked under more modern 

 conditions. 



The carbon used in smelting was always charcoal (made by 

 charring wood under turf), and as a consequence of this 

 practice the forests of England were to a great extent destroyed. 

 It is true, of course, that wood was almost exclusively used 

 for house fuel ; still, the amount used in smelting iron was 

 enormous. 



To obtain one ton of pig-iron four loads of timber were 

 required, and so serious was the destruction of forests that in 

 1581 an Act was passed making it penal to convert wood into 

 fuel within fourteen miles of London, to erect new ironworks 

 within twenty-two miles, or to increase the number of Sussex, 

 Surrey, and Kent furnaces beyond certain limits. The Sussex 

 industry never recovered from this blow, and by 1790 had died 

 out altogether. 



The din of the iron hammer was hushed, the glare of the 

 furnace faded, the last blast of the bellows was blown, and 

 the district returned to its original solitude. Some of the 

 furnace ponds were drained and planted with hops and willows, 

 others formed beautiful lakes in retired pleasure grounds.' 1 



At last, in 1619, James I granted to Dud Dudley, the son of 

 Lord Dudley of Wolverhampton, a monopoly ' of the mystery 

 and art of smelting iron ore and of making the same into cast 

 works or bars with sea-coals or pit-coals in furnaces with 

 bellows '. 



One of the chief difficulties of the early smelters was 



1 Dr. Smiles. 

 02 



