Account of 

 Dr Roebuck. 



(82) HISTORT of the SOCIETT, 



ing to the proje6lor and promoter of the eflabHfhment at Car- 

 ron, that Scotland is, at this moment, benefited to the amount 

 of many hundred thonfand pounds, in working up the raw ma- 

 terials of that manufadure found in the country itfelf, and 

 which, previous to that eflablifhment, was of no value what- 

 ever. Such are the pre/ent^ but fcarcely any idea can be formed 

 of the future advantages to this country, which may be derived 

 from the extenfion of the iron manufadlure. About 60,000 

 tons of iron have been annually imported into Great Britain 

 for more than twenty years pafl, and though there has been, 

 for fome time, about 20,000 tons of bar iron made in Britain 

 by pitcoal, yet the foreign imported iron has fufFered little or 

 no diminution in quantity. This great confumption of iron, 

 no doubt, is owing to the various improvements of late years, 

 and the general extenfion throughout all Europe of commerce 

 and the arts. The manufadture of iron mull therefore conti- 

 nue to increafe, and Scotland, abounding every where in iron- 

 ftone, pitcoal, and in command of water for machinery, has 

 the profpe6l of obtaining the largefl fliare of it. 



To the eftablifliment of the Carron works, and to the confe- 

 quences of that eftablifliment, may be afcribed alfo the exift- 

 ence of other public works in Scotland of great importance 

 and utility. The opening of a communication by water be- 

 twixt the Forth and the Clyde had long been projedled, and 

 frequently the fubjedl of converfation in Scotland, but nothing 

 in fa(5l had been attempted. The eftablifliment of the iron- 

 works at Carron foon called forth fufiicient intereft and enter- 

 prife to bring about the execution of this grand defign. Some 

 of the partners of the Carron Company, forefeeing the advan- 

 tages they would derive from fuch a communication, propofed, 

 at their own expence, to execute a fmall canal; and, after taking 

 the preparatory fteps, atflually applied to Parliament to obtain 

 authority for that purpofe. But the projed: of the fmall canal 



not 



