I R O 
of which fubftance there is not one particle. The main 
couples are made in three pieces, the collar or tie-beam of 
which forms part of a circle, thereby giving much more 
head-room than is poflible with wood; and holes are left 
in the lame for the purpofe of fixing ceiling-joills, mak¬ 
ing a handfome covered ceiling; it requires neither fide- 
pieces nor rafters, the wrought-iron laths being a fubfti- 
tute for both. The whole roofing, after being fitted to¬ 
gether, and taken to pieces again, at Aberdare iron-works, 
was put into one waggon, and conveyed to Tredagar 
iron-works, there unloaded into a train-waggon, and 
taken down the Sirrovvy tram-road, through fir C. Mor¬ 
gan's park, to Newport, in twenty-four hours, a diftance 
of thirty-fix miles. It was then fitted together again, 
and fixed on the walls completely ready for the tiler in 
lefs than five hours, who, having no laths to prepare or 
nail on, can tile a roof in half the time it could be done 
on one conftrufted of wood. They are applicable to 
buildings of all fizes, can be put up at a much lefs expence 
per fquare than any other, and are, of courfe, far more 
durable. In a large public building in Leeds, the Coloured- 
Cloth Hall, confiding of five ftreets, averaging one hun¬ 
dred yards each, call-iron is fubftituted for wood in the 
main beamings ; which renders the buildings fire-proof. 
Wrought-iron has been propofed as an advantageous 
fubltitute for the materials now in ufe for many purpofes 
in (hipping. A maft of this metal, the cylinder being 
hg If an inch thick, and the fame height and diameter as 
a wooden mail, will not be fo heavy, will be confidcrably 
Itronger, much more durable, lefs liable to be injured by 
Ihot, and can be eafily repaired, even at fea. It will weigh 
only 12 tons, and at 45I. per ton will not cod more than 
540I. while its (Length will be nearly fifty per cent, above 
that of a wooden maft, that weighs 23 tons, and cofts 
nearly 1200I. This maft is made to ftrike nearly as low 
as the deck, to eafe the (hip in a heavy fea. Ships fur- 
nilhed with wooden malls are in fuch circumftances 
obliged to cut them away. Ships furniftied with iron 
marts will not, like others, be expofed to the rifle of re¬ 
ceiving damage from lightning, the iron malt being 
itfelf an excellent conductor; by ufing an iron bolt from 
the bottom of the maft through the kelfon and keel, the 
eleftric matter will be conducted through the bottom 
of the (hip into the water, without injury to the (hip. 
Yards and bowfpirits may alfo be made of wrought- 
iron, at the fame proportion of (Length, and expence as 
the maft; and chain-ftirouds and (fays of iron, which may 
be ufed with thole malls, will not colt half the expence 
of rope, while they will alfo prove ten times more dura¬ 
ble. Even the whole hull may be made of wrought-iron. 
Iron, made in this kingdom, or brought into England 
and fold, is not to be exported, ,on pain of forfeiting the 
value; and juftices aftigned by the king have power to 
inquire of fuch as fell iron at too dear a price, and punilii 
them. 28 Edw. III. c. 5. None (hall convert to coal or 
other fuel, for the making of iron metal, any trees of.fuch 
a ftze, or within a certain compels of London, under 
penalties by ftatute ; nor (hall any new iron-mills be fet 
up in Suflex, Surrey, or Kent. 1 Eliz.c. 15. 23 Eliz.c. 5. 
27 Eliz.c. 19. By 4 Geo. II. c. 32, to deal, or fever with 
intent to (teal, any lead or iron, fixed to a houfe, or in 
any court or garden thereunto belonging, is made felony, 
liable to tranl'portation for (even years. As to the im¬ 
porting and exporting of bar-iron, lee Navigation Acts. 
I'RON, f. Any inftrument or utenfil made of iron : 
as, a flat iron, box iron, or fmoothing iron. In this fenfe 
it has a plural.—Can’ll thou fill his (kin with barbed iro/is, 
or his head with fiflifpears ? Job, xli. 7. 
O Thou ! whofe captain I account myfelf. 
Look on my forces with a gracious eye: 
Put in their hands thy bruifing irons of wrath. 
That they may crufh down with a heavy fall 
Th’ ufurping helmets of our adverlaries. Shakefpeare. 
For this your locks in paper-durance bound ? 
For this with tort’ring iron wreath’d around ? Pope. 
3 
I R O 579 
Chain; (hackle; manacle: as, He was put in irons. —The 
iron entered into his foul. Pfalms. Com. Prayer. —His feet 
they huft with fetters: he was laid in irons. pfalms. 
I'RON, adj. Made of iron.—Pole-cats and wealels do 3 
great deal of injury to warrens; the way of taking them 
is in hutches and iron traps. Mortimer. 
Get me an iron crow, and bring it ftraight 
Unto my cell. Shakefpeare. 
Refcmbling iron in colour.—A piece of ftone of a dark 
iron-grey colour, but in lome parts of a ferruginous co¬ 
lour. Woodward. —Some of them are of an iron- red, and 
very bright. Woodward. —Harfli 5 fevere; rigid ; miferable.; 
calamitous : as, the iron age for an age of. liardfliip and 
wickednefs: 
O virgin, that thy power 
Might bid the foul of Orpheus ling 
Such i(btes as, warbled to the firing. 
Drew iron tears from Pluto’s cheek, 
And made hell grant what love did feek. 
Jove crufti the nations with an iron rod. 
And ev’ry monarch be the feourge of God. 
Indifloluble; unbroken: 
Ra(h Elpenor in an evil hour 
Dry’d an immeafurable bowl, and thought 
T’ exhale his furfeit by irriguous deep, 
Imprudent: him death’s iron deep oppreft. 
To I'RON, v. a. To fmooth with an iron. To (hackle 
with irons. 
I'RON BANK'S, a trafl of land on the'eaft fide of the 
Miffiftippi, below the mouth of the Ohio. 
I'RON CAS'TLE, one of the forts of Porto Bello, in 
South America, which admiral Vernon took and deftroyed 
in 1739. The Spaniards call it St. Philip de todo Fierra. 
I'RON-HEAR'TED, adj. Hard-hearted.—Did (he mi¬ 
tigate thefe immitigable, thefe iron-hearted, men ! Harris. 
I'RON I'SLAND, a Email ifland in the Eaitern Indian 
Sea, near the coaft of Siam. Lat. 12. 35. N. Ion. 98. E. 
I'RON-MONGER, /. A dealer in iron. 
I'RON-MOUI.D, /. A fpot on linen occafioned by the 
ruft of iron ; a lump of hard yellow earth found in chalk 
pits. Iron-moulds or (pots of ink in linen, may be taken 
out by moiftening the (tained part in a folution of oxalic- 
acid in diftilled water, and then w a filing it out in pure 
water. 
To I'RON-MOULD, v.a. To daub linen with fpots re- 
fembling ruft of iron. 
I'RON MOUN'TAINS, in the State of TennefTee, 
North America, extend from the river TennefTee to that 
of French Broad from fouth-weft to north-eaft:; farther 
to the north-eaft the range has the name of Bald Moun¬ 
tain, and beyond the Nolachucky that of Iron Mountains; 
but Iron Mountains feems to be the name generally ap¬ 
plied to the whole range. It conftitutes the boundary 
between the (fate of Teneflee ; and that of North Carolina 
and extends from near the lead-mines on the Kanhaway, 
through the Cherokee country, to the fouth of Chota, 
and terminates near the fources of the Mobile. The ca¬ 
verns and cafcades in thefe mountains are innumerable. 
I'RON-ORE, f. The ore that produces iron. 
I'RON-SICK, adj. in the fea-language, is Laid of a fhip 
or boat, when her bolts or nails are fo eaten with ruft, 
and fo worn away, that they occaiion hollows in. the planks, . 
whereby the veffel is rendered leaky. 
I'RON-WIT'TED, adj. Hard of underftanding : 
I will converfe with iron-wit led fools,. 
And unrefpeiftive boys : none are for me 
That look into me with conliderate eyes. Shakefpeare. 
I'RON-WOOD. See Facara and Sideroxylon. 
- I'RON-WORK, f That part of any thing which eon- 
lifts of iron. 
I'RON-WORKS, f. Manufactories where iron is fmelt- 
ed, and wrought into various forms. 
I'RON-WORT. See Galeqpsis and Sideritis. 
IRON'DEQUAT, 
Miltor\. 
Pope.- 
Phillips. 
