422 
NATURE 
[March 30, 1871 

THE TRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE 
OTWITHSTANDING the pre-eminent scale on 
which the mineral and metallic industries of Great 
Britain are conducted in practice, it must nevertheless be 
admitted that, as a rule, we have hitherto been long and far 
behind our continental neighbours in respect to possessing 
institutions calculated to aid in developing or advancing 
the scientific or practical bearings of such subjects, or to 
afford the means of intercommunication between those 
occupied or interested in such pursuits. To this rule, 
however, we now have, at least, one honourable exception 
in the case of the Iron and Steel Institute, now holding 
its second annual meeting in London, and the establish- 
ment of which, in 1869, must be looked upon by all 
interested in the application of science to the arts, not 
only as a decided step forward in the right direction, but 
may even be regarded as inaugurating a new era in the 
history of the so important iron and steel manufactures 
of Great Britain. 
It has been often the fashion, possibly also with some 
show of justice, to represent the British manufacturer as 
a narrow-minded individual surrounded by and, as it 
were, isolated from even the rest of his own class by a 
sort of atmosphere heavily loaded with trade jealousy and 
manufacturing secrets. The experiment of the last two 
years, however, has amply proved, at least in the iron 
trade, that it only required the establishment of such an 
association as the Iron and Steel Institute, to present him 
in a very different and more favourable light ; for the 
mere fact of bringing together from different parts of the 
country men all deeply interested in similar pursuits, 
has at once dissipated the petty jealousy inseparable from 
a previous state of isolation, and has, besides indicating 
how much can be effected by combined action, convinced 
the majority at least, that the interests of the individual 
manufacturers are intimately bound up with the advance- 
ment of the country at large. 
The Iron and Steel Institute now numbers some four 
hundred or more members, including the principal iron- 
masters and others practically engaged in the production 
or working of iron and steel, or connected more or less 
directly with those manufactures by reason of their 
scientific attainments in metallurgy or the allied sciences ; 
so that, taking into consideration that the Institute has as 
yet been barely two years in existence, this rapid progress 
must be regarded as the most convincing proof that a real 
want for such an association had been very generally 
felt. 
The consideration of what may be termed commercial 
in contradistinction to technical, questions, such as, for 
example, those connected with wages, trade regulations, 
&c., do not come within the sphere of the Institute ; the 
objects of which, besides affording a means of communica- 
tion between its members, are restricted to the acquisition 
and dissemination of information, and the discussion of 
all scientific and practical subjects bearing upon the pro- 
duction and manufacture of iron and steel. 
The methods by which these objects are sought to be 
attained are threefold—viz., by the publications issued by 
the Institute ; the formation of committees to examine 
into and report upon subjects of special interest ; and by 
general meetings of the members, two at least in each 



year, one of which is held in London in the spring, 
whilst the other or autumn meeting is located in the 
country, in some one of the manufacturing districts, as 
may be determined by the Council. 
The excellent attendance at both the London and 
the country meetings at Middlesborough and Merthyr 
Tydvil, under the able presidency of the Duke of Devon- 
shire, as well as in the sustained interest which has been 
kept up in the proceedings of the Institute, have already 
proved it to be a success, besides showing how much 
may be effected by bringing from all parts, into personal 
contact, those interested in the same occupations, whereby 
a mutual interchange of ideas and a spirit of generous 
rivalry is established, which cannot fail to do good to the 
individual, as well as tend to the progress of the industry 
of the country at large, 
An examination of the publications issued by the In- 
stitute up to the present date, will amply justify the assertion 
that they fully maintain the high position which it aspires 
to, whether they be judged from a strictly scientific or 
technical point of view, and that they are entitled to rank 
alongside any which emanate from even the best institu- 
tions of like character on the Continent. For the years 
1869 and 1870 they appeared in the form of Transactions ; 
in all seven numbers, which contained the proceedings of 
the Institute, prefaced by an able inaugural address de- 
livered by its first president, the Duke of Devonshire, 
who himself is largely interested in iron mines and 
smelting works, along with a series of well-illus- 
trated papers on various subjects relating to iron 
and steel-making communicated by members of the 
Institute. 
At the commencement of the present year, however, 
the Council decided that these Transactions should give 
way to the more convenient form of a Quarterly Journal, 
and the first number made its appearance on the rst of 
February as a volume of 276 pages, copiously illustrated by 
well got-up plates, and containing numerous valuable 
communications to the Institute; as, for example, by Mr. 
J. L. Bell, on the chemical phenomena of iron smelting ; Mr. 
Siemens on pyrometers ; Mr. Kohn on alloys of iron and 
manganese, &c., whilst in addition to the usual proceedings 
of the Institute a new and important feature was intro- 
duced in the shape of quarterly reports from the two 
secretaries ; the general secretary giving a summary of 
what has been done in Great Britain in connection with 
these subjects outside the Institute, whilst the foreign 
secretary communicates a report on the progress of the 
iron and steel industries abroad, being an attempt to 
supply a long-acknowledged desideratum by keeping the 
public here informed as to what is being done in con- 
nection with the production and manufacture of iron and 
steel in foreign countries. 
The present meeting opened on Tuesday with an 
address from its new President, Mr. Henry Bessemer, so 
well known in cennection with the process which now has 
effected a world-wide revolution in the manufacture of 
steel ; whilst on the two following days various communica- 
tions were to be brought forward by Messrs. Bell, Ferrie, 
Kohn, Tate, Walker, and others, besides a lecture by 
Prof. Roscoe, F.R.S., on Spectrum Analysis, with special 
reference to the manufacture of iron and steel. 
DAVID FORBES 
