288 THE WEDGWOODS. 



i 



know that, after me death of the "great Josiah," these 

 pictures, being consigned to the care of some one, were lost 

 to the family. 



In 1783 Mr. Wedgwood* communicated to the Royal 

 Society t6 Some Experiments on the Ochra Friabilis Nigro 

 Fusca of Da Costa (Hist. Fos., p. 102), and called by the 

 miners in Derbyshire Black Wadd" which, like the former, 

 was printed in the " Philosophical Transactions." At the 

 same time Wedgwood exhibited to the Society several 

 specimens of the products of these experiments. 



Continuing, in midst of all his manufacturing operations, 

 and his experiments in other branches of philosophy, his 

 researches into heat, Wedgwood, in 1784, communicated to 

 the Royal Society (printed in the Philosophical Transac- 

 tions), "An attempt to compare and connect the Ther- 

 mometer for strong fire with common mercurial ones;" 

 and this he supplemented two years later by " additional 

 observations on a Thermometer for measuring the higher 

 degrees of heat." His observations on thermometers were 

 also published respectively as pamphlets, in the French and 

 in the Dutch languages. 



In 1785 a " Chamber of Manufacturers " (or Chamber of 

 Commerce) was established in London " to watch over their 

 interests at large, as one aggregate." The meeting at which 

 this " Chamber of Manufacturers " was established was 

 presided over by Sir Herbert Mack worth. The first point 

 of importance which this chamber had to consider and 

 which it considered immediately on its formation was the 

 then all-engrossing subject of the commercial negotiations 

 with Ireland as to the admittance of Irish linens into Great 

 Britain duty free, without a corresponding admittance of 



inscription : "This portrait, painted for the late Josiah Wedgwood, 

 Esquire, by ' Wright, of Derby/ was presented to the Committee of the 

 Manchester Eoyal Exchange by Edmund Buckley, Esquire, to be placed 

 in the Publick Hoom, as a memorial to his fellow-citizens of one who, by 

 his important discoveries and persevering energy, mainly contributed to 

 the great extension and success of Cotton Spinning. June, 1853." 



