(72) HIST'ORr of the SOCIETV. 



Dr Roebuck chanical fkill, neceflary in the execution, were expeded from 

 Dr Roebuck. It fell to his fhare alfo to fix upon the beft and 

 moft favourite iituation for eredling their intended works. With 

 that view, Dr Roebuck examined many different places in 

 Scotland, particularly thofe on both fides of the Frith of Forth ; 

 and, after a careful and minute comparifon of their advantages 

 and difadvantages, he at length made choice of a fpot, on the 

 banks of the river Ccirron, as the moft advantageous fituation 

 for the eftablifhment of the iron manufadlure. There, he found, 

 they could eafily command abundance of water for the neceffary 

 machinery ; and in the neighbourhood of it, as well as every 

 where both along the north and fouth coafts of the Frith, were 

 to be found inexhauflible quarries of ironftone, limeftone, and 

 coal. From Carron, alfo, they could eafily tranfport their ma- 

 nufaiftures to different countries by fea. The communication 

 with Glafgow, at that time, by land-carriage, which opened up 

 to them a ready way to the American market, was fhort and 

 eafy. 



Many other things, which need not be here enumerated, fell 



to Dr Roebuck's fhare in preparing and providing for the in- 



trodu(flion of this new manufa6lure into Scotland, particularly 



with refpedl to the planning and ere(5lion of the furnaces and 



machinery. To infure fuccefs, in that department, nothing 



Was omitted which ability, induftry, and experience could fug- 



geft. With this view,' he called to his afliftance Mr Smeaton, 



' then by far the firft engineer in England. It was from him he 



received plans and drawings of the water-wheels and blowing 



apparatus, which, notwithftanding all the mechanical improve- 



meiits which have been made fince, remain unrivalled in 



any of the other ironworks eredled in Britain. This was 



the firlt introdu<51ion of: Mr Smeaton into Scotland, and 



•^'Was the occafion of various other difplays of the fkill and ex- 



' perience of that celebrated engineer in that part of the ifland. 



With 



