222 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
trade is thought to be in a distressed state if less than a million of tons 
are produced in a year. 
Trom the time of the general adoption of Dudley's patent for smelt- 
ing iron with pit-coal in 1740, the spread and rapid growth of this 
manufacture in other districts where coal was raised, caused the Forest, 
from ranking first among smelting localities, gradually to decline into 
comparative insignificance, from which, however, during the present 
century, it has in a great measure recovered ; and, without tracing in 
detail the changes which have occurred, I append the following table, 
compiled from reliable statistical sources, which will afford a com- 
mercial summary showing the yield from the Forest mines and furnaces, 
commencing with the year 1828 : — 
Years. 
Tons of Ore raised from 
the Mines. 
Tons of Iron manufactured from 
the furnaces. 
1828 
9,800 
2,600 
1836 
20,408 
5,327 
1839 
72,800 
18,200 
1855 
92,600 
19,500 
1850 
100,208 
24,132 
In the commencement of this paper I adverted to the fact that the 
ore, the fuel, and the flux exist as associated minerals in the Forest of 
Dean, thus constituting an important iron-making centre ; and when 
the central line of railroad, now in progress, and the extension-line 
from Coleford to Monmouth, shall have been completed, there cannot be 
the least doubt but that the Forest will soon take rank again with rival 
districts, espcciiilly when it is considered that the finest quality of iron 
can be produced at the lowest competitive cost. 
The physical geography of the Forest of Dean presents us with an 
irregular elliptical basin, approaching somewhat to a triangle, two sides 
of which are bounded by the rivers Severn and Wye ; the greatest 
length being in the direction of north and south, about 12 miles, and 
the shorter axis from east to west spanning about seven miles. The 
high lands take a north-easterly bearing through ti e centre of the area, 
where tliey are chiefly the result of valle5's of denudation, and then run 
ridge- wise — the consequence of upheaval — round, at leastj two-thirds of 
the basin, forming a mountain-group of which the highest point is 
Yorkley Iliil, the average elevation being upwards of 800 feet above the 
