POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
of furnaces and the construction of the necessary works, — and 
after all the cost of fuel, flux, and labour, iron is made at less 
than £3 the ton. By every movement this price is, of course, 
considerably increased, and by certain processes of manufacture 
it is augmented in a remarkable manner. The best iron, for 
example, costs rather more than 3d. per pound, and out of this, 
50,000 hair pendulum-springs for watches, can be made, at 
2 cl. each ; thus raising the value of the pound- weight of iron 
to upwards of £400 ! The skilled labour of the ornamental 
iron-caster so increases the value of the crude grey iron, in the 
manufacture of articles of use and ornament, that it reaches, in 
many cases, to ten thousand times the original cost of the 
material. These curiosities of manufacture, — upon which an 
interesting essay might be written, — represent the value of 
man’s creative power in rendering the productions of nature 
the means for improving the condition of the human race. 
They are the outward and visible signs of the moulding power 
of the mind of man ; and although we are forbidden to worship 
the work of a mortal, yet a due appreciation of his handiwork 
leads to a more perfect understanding of that Immortal Power, 
from whom creation springs. The Britannia Tube, the Tamar 
Bridge, the Crumlin Viaduct, the Suspension-bridge of the 
Menai Straits, or the High-Level Bridge across the Tyne, are 
the works of Titanic minds, and as such, they possess the power 
of elevating every human being’ who looks on those examples 
of engineering skill. The Great Eastern, the Warrior, and the 
Black Prince, are evidences of power, which morally give 
strength to the men of the country to which they belong*. The 
thousands of miles of iron bars which are laid over our Island 
do more than enable us to pass with celerity from place to place. 
They are breaking down the barriers of prejudice, they are 
destroying the walls which separated the town and the country ; 
and both are gainers thereby. 
Man begins to ascend towards Heaven, the moment he 
seriously exerts liis mental gifts. The breath of life which was 
given to him by his Creator, was an influence of a far more 
exalted character than any of the Physical Forces, which are so 
terrible in action, but which are subjugated to human will. By 
the might of mind, man takes the dust of the earth, and he seizes 
the spirits of the air ; he brings one to act in force upon the 
other, and the result is a creation for good ! What Teutonic god, 
what Oriental Enchanter, ever performed so vast a work as that 
of rearing across a strait of the sea, a tube to endure for ages 
the rushing to and fro of a Behemoth of man’s creation, whose 
“ bones are as strong pieces of brass ; his bones are like bars 
of iron,” — which draws after him in safety hosts of men ? What 
Celtic Sprite ever fabricated from the crude masses of “ the 
