y. C. Dyer. 319 



enough to state briefly Mr. Dyer's loss : — he had 40,000/. 

 in shares, upon which calls in all amounting to 12,000/. 

 were made, making 52,000/. But to meet these calls, Mr. 

 Dyer had to sell real estate in and near Manchester for 

 what it would fetch, and this during the severest com- 

 mercial crisis that had occurred since 1825. The loss 

 upon these sales amounted to more than 40,000/., Mr. 

 Dyer estimating his total loss by the Bank of Manchester 

 at the enormous sum of 96,000/. 



' In 1839 Mr. Dyer removed to the mansion he had built 

 about a mile from his old house in Burnage, on a field 

 called Moldeth.^ Since its sale by Mr. Dyer — to meet 

 calls on his bank shares^ — it had been improperly called 

 Moldeth Hall, though the estate has no manorial privileges 

 to justify the designation. This house may be fairly 

 classed among Mr. Dyer's scientific successes. Intending to 

 make it fireproof, he obtained from his old friend Lieut.- 

 General Wilson, of the Russian Civil Service, the plans of 

 the fireproof imperial factories at Colpino, then just built. 

 General Wilson, having business in England, brought 

 them over himself, but warned Mr. Dyer of the insecurity 

 of long cast-iron beams, as exemplified by an accident 

 that had happened at Colpino. A quantity of bricks being 

 required in the top storey of the building they were brought 

 up by hodmen, in batches commanded by a sergeant, in 

 thorough drill fashion, " shouldering hods," " discharging 

 hods," &c., at word of command, as they manage such 

 matters in Russia. When the heap of bricks has attained 

 a certain magnitude, to complete the job at once, some 

 twenty or more men were ordered up, and at the word of 



' Also called Mauldeth. 'Probably "Mold," or mole, heath; mold, or 

 moldy warp, being an Old English form of the animal's name. ' 



