PRACTICAL PAPERS—PRODUCTION OF IRON. 
339 
PRODUCTION OP IRON. 
Prom the Government Report of 
ABRAM S. HEWITT, Esq., 
United States Commissioner to the Paris Exposition cf 186 t. 
Originally the geographical position of the ore, and the 
natural avenues of transportation, determined the establish¬ 
ment of iron works, when the fuel employed was wood, which 
was found everywhere. But the demands of modern civiliza¬ 
tion soon outran the narrow bounds imposed by the supply of 
charcoal, and in our day the controlling element in the pro¬ 
duction of iron is the possession of mineral coal. And throw¬ 
ing out of consideration the moderate quantity of iron still 
produced by charcoal, the iron business in Europe is found to 
be developed substantially in proportion to the quantity of 
coal possessed by the respective countries,. A glance at the 
geological map of the world shows that within the limits of 
temperature favorable to active industry, the deposits of coal 
are widely distributed through Great Britain and the United* 
States. In France there is but a limited area, and of irregular 
formation. In Belgium, there is a larger coal field but in 
veins of very moderate size. In Prussia, in the neighborhood 
of the Rhine, there is a small out very valuable deposit of 
coal, while in Russia, there is a considerable carbonifer¬ 
ous area, the ultimate value of which is not yet very well 
determined. The productive powers of these several coal 
fields are now pressed to limits approaching verv nearly, if 
not quite, to their ultimate capacity. In Great Britain the pro¬ 
duction in 1866 reached 101,630,500 tons; in France, between 
11,000,000 and 12,000,000 tons; in Belgium more than 
