ON THE PRESENT STATE O? THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON. 41 



production of this metal has increased immensely in late years, but this is duo 

 to circumstances entirely disconnected with any greater comparative pro- 

 ficiency than that possessed in former days. During the ■\yholc of the period 

 named, the existing iron-works were equal to similar establishments of our 

 own, and certainly those which have been constructed of late have no pre- 

 tensions whatever to be otherwise considered. 



The present depressed state of our own iron trade and its recent extension 

 abroad, have probably countenanced the idea that the distress here has some 

 connexion with the nature of the progress of the continental manufactures. 

 It becomes, therefore, not unimportant to ascertain upon wliat grounds such 

 a supposition is based. 



The first question to which an investigator would address himself in such 

 an inquiry, is the powers possessed by dififerent localities for obtaining the 

 raw materials required in the works themselves. Immediately connected 

 with tliis matter is the right of ownership in the minerals. In foreign 

 countries gCDcrally, this charge is one of trifling extent, which is far from 

 being the case Avith ourselves, where, on a ton of pig iron worth about 4-oh., 

 the manufacturer will contribute about 4s. for royalty to the owner of the 

 soil; while on the continent one-fourth of this sum wiU sometimes cover 

 all that is levied for the right of working the coal and ironstone for the same 

 quantity of iron. In spite, however, of these disadvantages, and of others 

 related to the extraction of coal in Britain, the purity of the produce of our 

 collieries and the favourable conditions under which it occurs, conduce to 

 place this country, so far as fuel is concerned, in a position rarely approached 

 by that of any European nation. "When the ores themselves have to be con- 

 sidered, much greater difficulty meets us than is experienced in the case of 

 coal. In addition to price we have to look to the percentage of iron they 

 contain, and also to the widely diff'erent qualities of the metal they yield. 

 Any verj- lengthened exposition of facts, however, would not only bo tedious, 

 but would lead to some confusion. We must therefore content ourselves 

 with the statement that the advantages in cost and quality of iron ore pos- 

 sessed by Scotland, Staffordshire, Wales, and the West of England, are all to 

 be severally met with on the continent, and from this general statement we 

 cannot even except the Cleveland ironfield, for a similar dejjosit is extensively 

 wrought in the Moselle district, and at a price fully below that paid in North 

 Yorkshire. 



Conditions, however, immediately connected with the economy of producing 

 pig iron, obtain in this kingdom which are seldom met Avith abroad. The ore 

 which has to be smelted is here either often got from the same strata which 

 furnish the coal, or the space of country which separates the two is incon- 

 siderable. The distances, on the other hand, which as a rule intervene 

 between the coalfields and the iron mines on the continent, are so great as 

 to prove a source of considerable outlay for conveying the produce of the one 

 to the other. 



With regard to the application of science to those sections of our operation 

 which are dependent on chemical action, viz. the blast-furnace and the pud- 

 dling process, the iron-master in other coiintries, as here, can only lament 

 liov/ little chemistry has hitherto been able to eftect for either. The labours 

 of Karsten, Schcerer, Bunsen, Tunner, and others, have thrown great light 

 on the intricate and interesting problems connected with the working of oui* 

 blast-furnaces. We have been informed by means of their investigations, 

 and those of philosophers in this country and clsoAvhcre, that differences we 

 know to exist between certain qualities of iron were due to minute quantities 



