Nov. 1st, 1887.] 



SCIENTIFIC NE^VS. 



213 



I would here, in connection with the steel trade, refer very 

 shortly to a question of local interest. As those acquainted with 

 the properties of iron know, phosphorus unfits the pig containing 

 it for either of the new modes of manulacture. So hurtful is this 

 element, that its presence to the extent of one part in one 

 thousand of the metal would cause its rejection by the steel 

 manufacturer. Now, our local iron from the Cleveland Hills 

 usually contains seventeen times more phosphorus than the 

 quantity just named; thus we have been compelled to supple- 

 ment the purer hematite of the west coast by large importations 

 of ore from abroad, chiefly from Spain, in order to supply the 

 constantly increasing demands for Bessemer and Open- hearth 

 steel. It was proved by M. Griiner, of Paris, that it was the 

 acid properties of the silica in the slag which prevented a second 

 acid, like the phosphoric, being carried off in this siliceous slag, 

 generated during the operation. By neutralising the acid pro- 

 perties of the silica by means of lime, the obstacle to the forma- 

 tion of a compound containing phosphoric acid was removed. 

 This constitutes what is well known as the Basic process ; but 

 this adaptation of pig-iron containing phosphorus for steel- 

 making may, however, have an importance beyond that of a 

 purely metallurgical character. This element has long been 

 recognised as an indispensable ingredient for animal life ; its 

 presence, therefore, in our food is a necessity from which there 

 is no escape. The proper vehicle through which this phos- 

 phorus can be conveyed to the animal kingdom is through the 

 vegetable. Continuous crops removed from the soil in time 

 exhausts its store of phosphorus, and this needs renewal, which 

 is done by the familiar use of manures. It is alleged that the 

 phosphorus contained in the " Basic slag " is capable of being 

 assimilated by plants, so that we have a substance which depre- 

 ciates the market value of the phosphoric pig-iron of our 

 country to the extent of ten shillings per ton converted into a 

 source of positive wealth. It has been my endeavour in what I 

 have said to bring under your notice how our abundance of coal 

 and our great resources of ore have enabled us to produce cheap 

 iron. Incidentally I referred to the date of the substitution of 

 pit coal for charcoal for smelting the ore, to the invention of 

 the puddling process, to the introduction of the hot blast, to the 

 great enlargement of our blast furnaces, and to the discovery of 

 new processes for making steel. Let me now add that not only 

 have these changes greatly reduced the cost of the metal, raised 

 its value, and enabled its production to be continued in Great 

 Britain after increased population would have rendered this im- 

 possible, but the improvements themselves, with the exception 

 of the Open-hearth process, were originated on British soil by 

 British minds. 



In France and Germany the coal has to be conveyed to the 

 iron ore, or the ore to the coal, over greater lengths of railway 

 than intervene between the two minerals in England or Scot- 

 land. In the United States this prevails to a striking degree, for 

 there we often hear of journeys of 500 and even 1,000 miles 

 having to be performed in order to bring these raw materials to- 

 gether, and almost everywhere the distances of the manufac- 

 turing centres from the sea are usually very much greater than 

 with us. In the United Kingdom those distances are sometimes 

 only thirty miles, and rarely exceed 100 miles. In like manner 

 the improvements connected with the production of iron have, 

 as we have seen, been accompanied by great economy in the 

 consumption of coal — a change which, for the reasons just 

 given, has proved of greater advantage to foreign manufacturers 

 than to our own. On similar grounds there is no doubt that the 

 Basic process for making steel has proved much more beneficial 

 to France and Germany than it has been to us in the country 

 where it was invented. The long-continued depression in our 

 trade generally, accompanied by a retrograde movement in the 

 volume of some branches of it, has given rise to much apprehen- 

 sion among political economists, as well as among others more 

 directly concerned in our commerce. This feeling has naturally 

 been aggravated by the knowledge that, while our products were 

 declining in amount, those of certain foreign countries were ad- 

 vancing. Among the conclusions arrived at is an inferiority in 

 point of education to that of our competitors of other nationalities. 

 This I believe to mean a deficient scientific education on the 

 part of those connected with the direction of our industrial 

 operations. Well, there is no denying that Germany in parti- 

 cular recognised sooner than we did the importance of education 

 among all classes as the only safe ground upon which 

 national progress could be founded. We have only to 



consult the dates of the literature on mining and metal- 

 lurgy to learn how much earlier than ourselves, not only 

 the Germans, but the Swedes, French, and Belgians occupied 

 themselves with a scientific consideration of the questions 

 involved in the cultivation of these arts. We have, it is true, 

 made considerable progress in this direction in recent years ; 

 but I am not prepared to say that the same amount of importance 

 is attached to, and the same general proficiency in scientific 

 knowledge prevails with us as are to be found elsewhere. From 

 this state of comparative indifference and from this condition of 

 comparative ignorance, if they exist, we must emancipate our- 

 selves with the least possible delay. We have harvested all the 

 fruit we can calculate on gathering in the absence of that guide 

 which science can alone supply, and for the maintenance of our 

 industrial position we must turn to scientific instruction or be 

 content to remain behind in the race. It cannot, however, I 

 would submit, be maintained with any justice that British manu- 

 facturers — at all events, those whose work is of a kind with which 

 we are familiar in the north of England — are now indifferent to 

 scientific education. How can we, were it otherwise, account 

 for the existence and flourishing career of such societies as the 

 Institution of Civil and that of Mechanical Engineers ; of the 

 Institutes of Iron and Steel ; of Chemical Industry ; and, nut 

 least among the number, the Institute of Mining and Mechanical 

 Engineers of the North of England, the oldest among several in 

 other parts of the kingdom devoted to the science of mining, etc. ? 



Besides the fears which have been expressed with regard 

 to the ability of those who direct our workmen, some alarm 

 appears to be felt respecting a supposed decline in the proficiency 

 of the artisans themselves. I shall leave the defence of those 

 engaged in branches of industry with which I am but imperfectly 

 acquainted to others ; but in regard to those connected with the 

 use of iron and steel I would invite a careful inspection of the 

 workmanship displayed in the objects to be found in our local 

 exhibition, as an unanswerable proof of the groundlessness of 

 these apprehensions we have to listen to from time to time. I 

 am not going to deny that I have myself heard, IVom judges of 

 undoubted capacity, of the high class of foreign workmanship as 

 compared with some of British origin ; but it has always been a 

 question in my mind whether inferior work, purchased here at a 

 low price under the influence of excessive competition, has not 

 been contrasted with that of a better paid description produced in 

 foreign workshops. The official statistical abstract of our exports, 

 however, furnish the best answer to this imaginary decadence of 

 skill on the part of our workmen. In 1870 the value of the 

 machinery sent to foreign countries from our shores amounted to 

 ^5,273,273. In 1S80 it had risen to ^9,263,526, and in 18S3 to 

 ^"13,433,081; theaverage of the five years ending 1885 being 

 ^11,696,574 ; and all sold in markets in which the competition 

 of the whole world had to be met. The arguments made use of 

 in reference to the undoubted manner in which our position as a 

 manufacturing nation is being contested by other countries, 

 seems to proceed too much on the assumption that we possess 

 an intuitive genius for industrial work not found in other nations ; 

 and, relying on this, we are losing our rank by a neglect of those 

 educational measures which may end in our having to resign to, 

 or at least to share with others, the honours we have for some 

 years enjoyed. 



As a matter of fact, the Dutch, Flemish, Germans, and French, 

 a couple of hundred years ago, were to a great extent our 

 teachers in the manufacturing arts. Even in iron, which owes 

 so much to British enterprise for its subsequent development, 

 the Germans, up to the middle of the last century, taught us 

 nearly all we knew, including the use of the blast furnace itself 

 The possession and early knowledge of the existence of large 

 deposits of fossil coal enabled us to revive our moribund manu- 

 facture of this metal upon which all other industries depend. 

 While the four nations named above were distracted by the pre- 

 sence of large bodies of armed men, engaged in almost incessant 

 conflict, our manufactories, unhampered by actual war in our 

 midst, made rapid progress. This progress, after the establish- 

 ment of peace in 1815, with almost the entire world for our 

 customers, was continued for many years. In the meantime, 

 fresh coal discoveries were being made on the Continent of 

 Europe as well as in America, and eventually any difficulties in 

 rendering these new resources available, by reason of situation, 

 were overcome, as we have seen, by the introduction of railways 

 and other improvements. The manufacturing energy was revived 

 in the Teutonic and Latin races in Europe, and that of the 



