MULL. ECONOMY. 537 



the antiquary, is interesting to the political economist, 

 since it presents the germ of a town destined probably 

 to remain for some time a warning proof, if fond 

 experimenters in this science could take warning, of 

 the difficulty of counteracting the habits of a people, 

 or of hastening by forced means the natural progress 

 of a country in arts and commerce. This town was 

 commenced in 1789 under the auspices of the Society 

 for the Encouragement of Fisheries, but it has remained 

 nearly stationary since its first establishment. The 

 causes of this have been sought in the grant of un- 

 improved land which was attached to each house, the 

 whole being given to the settler at an extremely low 

 price. Hence the idle rather than the industrious flocked 

 to occupy the new settlement, while the want of industry 

 and ambition too characteristic of the Highlanders, 

 combined with their agricultural habits, made them 

 bestow on the improvement of their lots of land the 

 little labour they were inclined to exert; neglecting the 

 fisheries and manufactures which were the objects in 

 the contemplation of the Society. But the premature 

 nature of the speculation was the leading error, since 

 if a town was to be created at any rate, it must be 

 admitted that without such grants of land no houses 



and no combustion takes place on pouring off the fluid. Although 

 the metal of plumbago has not been produced, there is no reason 

 to doubt that in this case it is that substance which is combined 

 with the iron, and that the produce under consideration is a compound ; 

 an oxyde or something analogous to that. This is indeed rendered 

 certain from a comparison of the specific gravities of the two. That 

 of pig iron is about 7,6 and that of plumbago about 2,0 or less ; 

 while the bulk of solid plumbago produced is equal to that of the 

 iron exposed to solution. It is plain that it must be combined in 

 some state in which its sp. gr. is not far different from that of 

 iron, and that it must therefore be a metal. I may add that artificial 

 solid black-lead can be thus produced ; but it is doubtful if it 

 could be effected on such terms as to render it an object of 

 economy. 



