605 
straight works. I should rather make the sixteen yards 
twenty, and the bank posts five or six yards each as may be 
deemed necessary. This would ensure safety from being 
crushed, and the principle in all respects remain precisely 
the same. The danger, however, is not so great as some 
of the gentlemen present seem to apprehend. The roof 
comes down very differently, and the pressure is much 
less on the rise than on the dip board. Another mode 
by which the apprehended danger may be avoided would 
be to work out all the banks on each side of the mine at 
once, leaving only the back board-gates on each side, and 
two banks, one on each side of the pit board. This would 
prevent crushing but not be so perfect in ventilation. The 
objection that the plan extends to 120 acres only, does not 
amount to anything. The diagram, according to the scale 
on which it is laid down, extends to about 115 acres, but it 
is merely for illustration, and not meant to represent the 
extent to which the mine may be wrought. 
ON THE REMAINS OF AN ANCIENT BLOOMERY, AT LOCH- 
GOILHEAD, ARGYLE SHIRE. BY MR. KYLE. 
The exact period when the ancient inhabitants of Great 
Britain first practised the art of metallurgy, as applied to 
the manufacture of iron, must ever remain a matter of 
uncertainty and dispute. We have the authority of Caesar 
for stating that when the Romans under his command 
invaded the British Isles, they found the inhabitants 
making use of iron rings, or tallies, (taleae ferreae) as 
a substitute for coins, but which it is possible the aborigines 
may have obtained in exchange for tin, which at that time 
they employed during the process of bartering with the 
Phoenicians for different commodities. 
Though then, it may be an open question whether the 
knowledge of smelting iron was possessed by the Britons 
prior to the time of the Roman invasion, or was introduced 
