17 
naval architecture.| In some instances our progress is 
still more striking. Gen. Hamilton in his masterly report 
on manufactures states, that in the year 1790, there were 
imported into the United States 1,800,000 pounds of nails.f 
In 1810, (though we still imported this article in considera¬ 
ble quantity,) there were manufactured in this state alone, 
nails to nearly the same amount. The making of cut nails 
is claimed as an American invention* ; if this be the case 
the nation possesses the honor, as well as the advantage of so 
useful an improvement. It appears to have originated in 
the state of Massachusetts as early as the year 1787.§ 
Steel is manufactured in several states|J from our own 
iron, where its quality will allow it to be done. From 
causes already mentioned, foreign metal is principally used. 
We are still indebted to England, and probably will be so 
a number of years, for our cutlery, and the finer species of 
hardware. The toy shop of Europe , as Mr. Burke styles it, 
must for a length of time furnish us with those articles that 
require many hands, and great labor in their construction. 
It has been suggested by several distinguished chemists, 
and among others,' by the venerable Nicholson,IF that it 
would be highly advantageous, if the ore of iron could be 
immediately formed into steel, by expelling some of its su- 
^ Among the documents accompanying the report of the naval 
committee made at the present session of congress, there is an 
estimate of the expense of building a 74 gun ship, by Mr. Hum¬ 
phreys, a ship builder. The whole amount of cost is estimated 
at $342,700. Of this $39,100 is put down for smiths’ works, 
anchors, &c. more than 1-9 of the whole expense. 
f Page 83. Williams and Whiting’s edition. 
* By Gallatin, vide report. 
§ In the town of Cummington, (Berkshire) they were first made 
from hogshead hoop. For these and several other important 
facts I am indebted to Mr. S. Stafford, one of the proprietors of 
an extensive iron furnace in this vicinity. [Since delivering 
the address I have been informed by Mr. Benjamin Peck, of 
Milton, (Saratoga county) that the credit of the invention is due 
to Mr. Josiah Waterman, of the town of Cumberland, in the state 
of Rhode-Island. It was commenced as early as the year 1776, 
and the first use to which they were appropriated was the mak¬ 
ing of cards—Mr. Peck is now a partner in the iron trade with 
the inventor’s son.] 
|| New-York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Delaware. 
If Dictionary of Chemistry. Art. Iron. 
B 
