\\77 
 
 Z/V\ 
 
 National Series of Standard School Books, 
 
 
 -; 
 
 »//.\\! //v\ 
 
 .1 'OM.1 
 
 A COURSE OF MATHEMATICS, 
 
 BY CHARLES DAVIES, LL.D. 
 
 This Course, combining all that is most valuable in tho various methods 
 of European instruction, improved and matured by the suggestions of 
 nearly forty years’ experience, now forms the only complete consecutive 
 Course of Mathematics. Its methods, harmonizing as the works of one 
 ' mind, carry the student onward by the tame analogies and the same laws 
 of association, and are calculated to impart a comprehensive knowledge oi 
 the science, combining clearness in the several branches, and unity and 
 proportion in the whole. Being the system so long in use at West Point, 
 and through which so many men eminent for their scientific attainments 
 have passed, it may be justly regarded as our National Ststem or Mathe¬ 
 matics. 
 
 ! nV '"•// 
 
 :'« ' 
 
 ’"jCmpsvJ 
 
 . * « ! 
 
 m m 
 
 2 . 
 
 mm , 
 
 "'mm 
 
 m i 
 
 
 Dtuiics’ Qlritl)metical QTablc-Cook, Designed for 
 
 Beginners. 15 cts. 
 
 Danics Primary Qlrit!)metic: Containing the Oral 
 
 Method with the Mothod of Teaching the Combination of Figures 
 by Sight. 20 cts. 
 
 Dames’ SuteUertnal Qtritfymeti^, Containing a large 
 
 Number of Practical Example*. 25 ets. 
 
 4. Dantes’ QVrit!)metic, Designed for the use of Schools and 
 
 Academies. Revised Ed. 45 cts. 
 ta Saties’ JScijool ■Srit?jnutu for 5Ttarl)ft*. 45 Cts. 
 
 Dailies’ Hnioereitj) Slritljmelic, Embracing the Science 
 
 of Numbers, and their numerous Applications. 75 cts. 
 
 Ctejj to tBsixf*’ JHnittrsitj) Srittmrtic for Cractim. 50 cts. 
 
 Datnea’ Gfkmentani Algebra, Being an Introduction 
 
 to the Science, and forming a connecting link between Arithmetic 
 and Aloebua. 75 cts. 
 
 sfefe to Satin' Elementary aigrbr* fpr Ctatljrr*, 50 cte. 
 
 Datiics’ (Elements of (Bieomctrji aub Grrigonomctrr}, 
 
 with Applications ru Mensuration. This work embraces the clo 
 mentary principles of Geometry and Trigonometry. The reasoning 
 is plain and concise, but at the same time strictly rigorous* New and 
 
 Enlarged Edition 
 
 \t/^ V//v 
 
 $1.00. 
 


 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2020 with funding from 
 Getty Research Institute 
 
 https://archive.org/details/lecturesonprogreOOunse 
 


>r 
 
 
RESULTS OF THE GREAT EXHIBITIONS 
 
 I 
 
LECTURES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PROGRESS OF ARTS AND SCIENCE, 
 
 RESULTING FROM THE 
 
 GREAT EXHIBITION IN LONDON, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 SOCIETY OF ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE, 
 
 AT THE SUGGESTION OF 
 
 H. R. H. PRINCE ALBERT, 
 
 BY 
 
 DR. WHEWELL, SIR HENRY T. DE LA BECHE, PROF. OWEN, JACOB 
 BELL, ESQ., DR. LYON PLAYFAIR, PROF. LINDLEY, PROF. SOLLY, 
 PROF. WILLIS, JAMES GLAISHER, ESQ., HENRY HENSMAN, 
 
 E8Q., PROF. ROYLE, AND CAPT. WASHINGTON, E. N. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 A. S. BARNES & CO., 51 JOHN-STREET. 
 
 CINCINNATI: H. W. DERBY. 
 
 1856. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 2Sm 
 
 
 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Lectuee I.—Dr. Whewell on the general bearing of the Great Exhi¬ 
 bition on the Progress of Art and Science. 3 
 
 “ II.—Sir Henry T. De la Beche on Mining, Quarrying, and 
 
 Metallurgical Processes and Products. 29 
 
 “ III.—Professor Owen on the Baw Materials from the Animal 
 
 Kingdom. 59 
 
 “ IV.—Jacob Bell, Esq., on the Chemical and Pharmaceutical 
 
 Processes and Products. 101 
 
 “ Y.—Dr. Lyon Playfair on the Chemical Principles involved 
 
 in the Manufactures of the Great Exhibition. 119 
 
 “ VI.—Professor Lindley on Substances used as Pood. 159 
 
 “ VII.—Professor Solly on Vegetable Substances used in the 
 
 Arts and Manufactures. 185 
 
 “ VIII.—Professor Willis on Machines and Tools for working in 
 
 Metal, Wood, and other Materials. 221 
 
 “ IX.—James Glaisher, Esq., on Philosophical Instruments and 
 
 Processes, as represented in the Great Exhibition... 243 
 
 “ X.—Henry Henssnan, Esq., on Civil Engineering and Ma¬ 
 chinery generally. 305 
 
 “ XI.—Prof. Boyle on the Arts and Manufactures of India- 338 
 
 “ XII.—Captain Washington, E. N., on the Progress of Naval 
 
 Architecture, and on Life-Boats. 405 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
DR. WHEWELL 
 
 ON THE 
 
 GENERAL BEARING OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 
 
 It seems to me as if I were one of the persons who have 
 the least right of any to address an audience like this on the 
 subject of the Great Exhibition of the Art and Industry 
 of All Nations, of which the doors have so lately closed ; in¬ 
 asmuch as I have had no connexion with that great event, 
 nor relation to it, except that of a mere spectator — one of 
 the many millions there. The eminent and zealous men in 
 whose wide views it originated, by whose indomitable energy 
 and perseverance the great thought of such a spectacle was 
 embodied in a visible, material shape; those who, from our 
 own countries or from foreign lands, supplied it with the 
 treasures and wonders of art; those who, with scrutinizing 
 eye and judicial mind, compared those treasures and those 
 wonders, and stamped their approval on the worthiest; those 
 who can point to the glories of the Exhibition, and say, 
 “ quorum pars magma fui —those persons may well be 
 considered as having a right to express to you the thoughts 
 which have been suggested by the scenes in which they have 
 thus had to live: but of these I am not one. I have been 
 in the Exhibition, as I have said, a mere spectator. Never¬ 
 theless, the Council of the Society of Arts have doue me the 
 honour to express a wish that I should offer to you such 
 reflections as the spectacle of the Great Exhibition has sug- 
 
 (D 
 
6 THE GENERAL BEARING OF THE EXHIBITION 
 
 tive power are, after having had so great a manifestation of 
 what they do. 
 
 To discover the laws of operative power in literary works, 
 though it claims no small respect under the name ot Criti¬ 
 cism, is not commonly considered the work of a science. 
 But, to discover the laws of operative power in material pro¬ 
 ductions, whether formed by man or brought into being by 
 Nature herself, is the work of a science, and is indeed what 
 we more especially term Science; and thus, in the case 
 with which we have to do, we have, instead of the Criticism 
 which naturally comes after the general circulation of 
 Poetry, the Science which naturally comes after a great ex¬ 
 hibition of Art: two cases of succession connected by a very 
 close and profound analogy. That this view of the natural 
 and general succession ot science to art, as of criticism to 
 poetry, is not merely fanciful and analogical, we may easily 
 convince ourselves by looking for an instant at the progiess 
 of art and of science in past times. For we see that, in 
 general, art has preceded science. Men have executed great, 
 and curious, and beautiful works before they had a scientific 
 insight into the principles on which the success ot their 
 labours was founded. There were good artificers in brass 
 and iron before the principles of the chemistry of metals 
 were known; there was wine among men before there was 
 a philosophy of vinous fermentatiou; there were mighty 
 masses raised into the air, cyclopean walls and cromlechs, 
 obelisks and pyramids—probably gigantic Doric pillars and 
 entablatures—before there was a theory of the mechanical 
 powers. The earlier generations did; the later explained 
 that it had been possible to do. Art was the mother of 
 Science: the vigorous and comely mother of a daughter ot 
 far loftier and serener beauty. And as it had been in the 
 period of scientific activity in the ancient world, so was it 
 again in the modern period in which Science began her later 
 growth. The middle ages produced or improved a vast 
 body of arts. Parchment and paper, printing and engrav¬ 
 ing, glass and steel, compass and gunpowder, clocks and 
 watches, microscopes and telescopes, not to speak of the 
 marvels of architecture, sculpture, and painting, all had 
 their origin and progress, while the sciences of recent times 
 were in their cradle or were unborn The dawn of the six- 
 
ON THE PROGRESS OP ART AND SCIENCE. 
 
 7 
 
 teenth century presented, as it were, a Great Exhibition of 
 the works which men had been producing from the time of 
 the downfall of Roman civilization and skill. There, too, 
 might he seen, by him who travelled from land to land, 
 beautiful textures, beautiful vessels of gold and bronze, of 
 porcelain and glass, wonderful machines, mighty fabrics; 
 and from that time, stimulated by the sight of such a mass 
 of the works of human skill,—stimulated still more by the 
 natural working of those powers of man from which such 
 skill had arisen,—men were led to seek for science as well 
 as art; for science as the natural complement of art, and 
 fulfilment of the thoughts and hopes which art excites;— 
 for science as the fully developed blossom, of which art is the 
 wonderfully involved bud. Stimulated by such influences, 
 the scientific tendencies of modern Europe took their start¬ 
 ing impulse from the Great Exhibition of the productions of 
 the middle ages which had accumulated in the sixteenth 
 century; and have ever since been working onwards, with 
 ever-increasing vigour, and in an ever-expanding sphere. 
 
 As the successful scientific speculations of the last three 
 centuries have been the natural sequel to the art-energies 
 of the preceding ages, so must the newest scientific specula¬ 
 tions of our contemporaries and their successors, in order to 
 be successful, be the result and consequence of the powers, 
 as yet often appearing in the undeveloped form of art alone, 
 which exist among us at the present day. And thus a 
 great spectacle of the works of material art ought to carry 
 with it its scientific moral. And the opportunities which 
 we have lately had of surveying the whole of the world in 
 which art reigns, and of appreciating the results of its sway, 
 may well be deemed too valuable to be let slip for the pur¬ 
 poses of that scientific speculation which is the proper se¬ 
 quence of such occasions. So it has seemed to those who 
 have from the beginning taken a lofty, and comprehensive, 
 and hopeful view of the great undertaking of which the first 
 act is now completed; and especially to that mind which 
 has always taken the most lofty, and comprehensive, and 
 hopeful view. 
 
 And in order to carry into effect this suggestion, it has 
 been determined that persons well qualified to draw from 
 the spectacle the series of scientific morals which it offers, 
 
8 THE GENERAL BEARING OF THE EXHIBITION 
 
 should present them to you here;—that critics should 
 analyze for you some of the fine compositions with which 
 you have become acquainted;—that men of science should 
 explain to you what you ought to learn from such an ex¬ 
 hibition of art. And it has been thought that it Might 
 not be useless that you should be reminded, in the first 
 place, how great and unique the occasion is, and how pecu¬ 
 liar are some of the lessons which even the most general 
 spectator, unfit to enter into the details of any of the special 
 arts, may draw from it. 
 
 For indeed it is obvious, at a glance, how great and un¬ 
 exampled is the opportunity thus given to us, of taking a 
 survey of the existing state of art in every part of the world. 
 I have said, that if, in the sixteenth century, an intelligent 
 spectator could have travelled from land to land, he might, 
 in that way, have seen a wonderful collection of the works 
 of man in many different countries; and combining all these 
 in his thoughts, he would have had in his mind a repre¬ 
 sentation of the whole progress of human art and industry 
 up to the last moment, and a picture of the place which 
 each nation at that moment occupied in the line of that 
 progress. But what time, what labour, what perseverance, 
 what hardships, what access to great and powerful men in 
 every land, what happiness of opportunity, would be im¬ 
 plied in the completion of such a survey! A life would 
 scarcely suffice for it; a man could scarcely be found who 
 would achieve it, with all appliances and means which wealth 
 and power could give. He must, like the philosophers of 
 ancient days, spend all his years of vigour in travelling; 
 must roam in the varied regions of India; watch the artisan 
 in the streets of the towns of China; dive into the mines 
 of Norway and of Mexico; live a life in the workshops of 
 England, I ranee, and Germany; and trace the western tide 
 of industry and art as it spreads over the valley of the 
 Mississippi. And when he had done all this, and however 
 carefully he had done it, yet how defective must it be at 
 least in one point! How far must it be from a simultaneous 
 view of the condition of the whole globe as to material arts! 
 During the time that he has been moving from place to 
 place, the face of the world has been rapidly changing. 
 When lie saw Tunis it was a barbarous state; now that he 
 
ON THE PROGRESS OE ART AND SCIENCE. 
 
 9 
 
 has to make up his account, it is the first which asks for a 
 leading place among the civilized communities of the indus¬ 
 trial world. When he visited the plains of Iowa and Wis¬ 
 consin, they were wild pi’airie; they are now the fields from 
 which the cereal harvest is swept by the latest improved 
 reaping machine. When he was at the antipodes, the naked 
 savage offered the only specimen of art in his rude club and 
 frail canoe; now there is there a port whose lofty ships 
 carry regularly to European markets* multiplied forms of 
 native produce and manufactures. Even if his picture be 
 complete as to surface, what anachronisms must there be in 
 it! How much that expresses not the general view of the 
 earth, but the accidental peculiarities of the traveller’s 
 personal narrative! And then, how dim must be the 
 images of the thing seen many years ago compared with 
 that which is present to the eye! How impossible to com¬ 
 pare the one with the other—the object now seen in age 
 with a similar object remembered in youth ! And after all, 
 when we have assumed such a traveller—such a one as never 
 has been—the Ulysses of modern times—seeing the cities 
 of many men, and knowing their minds—seeing the work¬ 
 shops of all nations, and knowing their arts—we have but 
 one such. His knowledge is only his. He cannot, in any 
 clear or effective manner, communicate any large portion of 
 it to others. It exists only for him—it perishes with him. 
 And now let us, in the license of epical imagination, sup¬ 
 pose such an Ulysses—much-seeing, much-wandering, much- 
 enduring—to come to some island of Calypso, some well- 
 inhabited city, under the rule of powerful and benignant, 
 but plainly, he must believe, superhuman influences, and 
 there to find that image of the world and its arts, which he 
 had vainly tried to build up in his mind, exhibited before 
 his bodily eye in a vast crystal frame;—true in every 
 minutest thread and hue, from the sparkle of the diamond 
 to the mighty bulk of the colossus; true to that which 
 belongs to every part of the earth; and this, with the effects 
 which the arts produce, not at the intervals of the traveller’s 
 weary journey, but everywhere at the present hour. And, 
 further, let him see the whole population of the land— 
 thousands upon thousands, millions upon millions, streaming 
 to this sight, gazing their fill, day after day, at this wonder- 
 
10 THE GENERAL BEARING OF THE EXHIBITION 
 
 ful vision, inviting the men of neighbouring and of distant 
 lands to gaze with them; looking at the objects, not like a 
 fairy picture in the distant clouds, but close at hand; com¬ 
 paring, judging, scrutinizing the treasures produced by the 
 all-bounteous earth, and the indomitable efforts of man, from 
 pole to pole, and from east to west; or, as he would learn 
 more truly to measure, from east to east again. When we 
 have supposed such a vision, do we not seem to have gone 
 beyond 
 
 “Quicquid Grecia mendax 
 Audit in kistoria 
 
 all the wonders of that wondrous ancient Odyssean tale? 
 And yet, in making such a supposition, have we not been 
 exactly describing that which we have seen within these few 
 months ? Have not we ourselves made part of the popula¬ 
 tion of such a charmed isle,—of the crowds which have 
 gazed on such a magic spectacle ? 
 
 But now that we have had the spectacle before us, let us 
 consider for a moment what the vision was, and what were 
 the reflections which it excited. We had, offered to our 
 review, the choicest productions of human art in all nations; 
 or, at least, collections which might be considered as repre¬ 
 senting all nations. Now in nations compared with nations 
 there is a difference; in a nation compared with itself at an 
 earlier time, there is a progress. There may not always be 
 a progress in good government; there may not necessarily 
 be, though we would gladly hope that there is, a progress 
 in virtue, in morality, in happiness. But there always is, 
 except when very adverse influences roll back the common 
 course of things, a progress in art, and generally in science. 
 In the useful and ornamental arts nations are always going 
 forwards, from stage to stage. Different nations have 
 reached different stages of this progress, and all their 
 different stages are seen at once, in the aspect which they have 
 at this moment in the magical glass, which tli£ enchanters 
 of our time have made to rise out of the ground like an 
 exhalation. The infancy of nations, their youth, their 
 middle age, and their maturity, all appear, in their simul¬ 
 taneous aspect, like the most distant objects revealed at the 
 same moment by a flash of lightning in a dusky night:—or 
 
ON THE PROGRESS OP ART AND SCIENCE. 11 
 
 we may compare the result to that which would be pro¬ 
 duced, if we could suppose some one of the skilful photo¬ 
 graphers whose subtle apparatus we have had exhibited 
 here, could bring within his field of view the surface of the 
 globe, with all its workshops and markets, and produce 
 instantaneously a permanent picture, in which the whole 
 were seen side by side. But it is not a mere picture of 
 things which are found standing together that we have had 
 presented to us; the great achievement was the bringing 
 them together. You have most of you probably heard of 
 the careful and economical critic, who proposed to reduce 
 the extravagance of the wish of the impatient separated 
 lovers, that the gods would annihilate space and time; and 
 who remarked that it would answer the end desired if one 
 of the two were annihilated. By annihilating the space 
 which separates different nations, we produce a spectacle in 
 which is also annihilated the time which separates one stage 
 of a nation’s progress from another. 
 
 An ingenious speculator of our own day, clothing these 
 metaphysical abstractions in the form which modern science 
 assigns to them, has shown how we might, theoretically 
 speaking, be, in a few instants, actual spectators, bodily and 
 contemporaneous eye-witnesses, of all the events which have 
 passed since man lias existed upon earth. For, if we only 
 imagine that, as the visual impressions on the vehicle of 
 light, by which alone vision can take place, travel away 
 from the scenes by the occurrence of which their configura¬ 
 tion was given to them, we also travel after this moving 
 vision, and go but a very little faster than light itself, we 
 shall overtake successively the visual images of all suc¬ 
 cessive events, and see them as truly as a distant spectator 
 (and what spectator is not more or less distant?) sees what 
 passes before his eyes. We might thus see now what is 
 passing around us, and the next minute, by rushing to the 
 borders of the solar system, where the images are still 
 travelling outwards, see the first inhabitant of this island 
 placing his foot upon its coast; and in the intermediate 
 distances we should successively overtake and see, with our 
 bodily eyes, in inverted order, the events of the English, 
 Norman, Saxon, Roman, and British times; and we might 
 mark, at each period, the food, the clothing, the arms, the 
 
12 THE GENERAL BEARING OP THE EXHIBITION 
 
 tools, the houses, the machines, and the ornaments of the 
 various times. 
 
 Now, that which this scientific dream thus presents to us 
 in imagination, the Exhibition of the Industry and Arts of 
 All Nations has presented as a visible reality; for we have 
 had there collected examples of the food and clothing and 
 other works of art of nations in every stage of the progress 
 of art. From Otaheite, so long in the eyes of Englishmen 
 the type of gentle but uncultured life, Queen Pomare sends 
 mats and cloth, head-dresses and female gear, which the 
 native art of her women fabricates from their indigenous 
 plants. From Labuan, the last specimen of savage life with 
 which this country has become connected, we have also 
 clothes and armour, weapons and musical instruments. 
 From all the wide domains which lie within or around our 
 Indian Empire wo have rich and various contributions; 
 from Sincapore and Ceylon, Celebes and Java, Mengatal 
 and Palembang. The ruder and more primitive of these 
 regions send us their native food and clothing, their fishing 
 nets and baskets; but art soon goes beyond these first 
 essays From Sumatra we have the loom and the plough, 
 lacquered work and silken wares; and as we proceed from 
 these outside regions to that central and ancient India, so 
 long the field of a peculiar form of civilization, we have end¬ 
 less and innumerable treasures of skill and ingenuity, of 
 magnificence and beauty. And yet we perceive that, in 
 advancing from these to the productions of our own form of 
 civilization, which has, even in that country, shown its 
 greater power, we advance also to a more skilful, powerful, 
 comprehensive, and progressive form of art. And looking 
 at the whole of this spectacle of the arts of life in all then- 
 successive stages, there is one train of reflection which can¬ 
 not fail, I think, to strike us; namely, this:—In the first 
 place, that man is, by nature and universally, an artificer, 
 an artisan, an artist. We call the nations, from which such 
 specimens came as those which I first mentioned, rude and 
 savage, and yet how much is there of ingenuity, of inven¬ 
 tion, ot practical knowledge of the properties of branch and 
 leaf, of vegetable texture and fibre, in the works of the 
 rudest tribes! IIow much, again, of manual dexterity, 
 acquired by long and persevering practice, and even so, not 
 
ON THE PROGRESS OF ART AND SCIENCE. 
 
 13 
 
 easy! And then, again, not only how well adapted are 
 these works of art to the mere needs of life, but how much 
 of neatness, of prettiness, even of beauty, do they often 
 possess, even whrni the work of savage hands ! So that man 
 is naturally, as I have said, not only an artificer, but an 
 artist. Even we, while we look down from our lofty 
 summit of civilized and mechanically-aided skill upon the 
 infancy of art, may often learn from them lessons of taste. 
 So wonderfully and effectually has Providence planted in 
 man the impulse which urges him on to his destination,— 
 his destination, which is, to mould the bounty of nature 
 into such forms as utility demands, and to show at every 
 step that with mere utility he cannot be content. And 
 when we come to the higher stages of cultured art—to the 
 works of nations long civilized, though inferior to ourselves, 
 it may be, in progressive civilization and mechanical power, 
 how much do we find in their works which we must admire, 
 which we might envy, which, indeed, might drive us to 
 despair! Even still, the tissues and ornamental works of 
 Persia and of India have beauties which we, with all our 
 appliances and means, cannot surpass. The gorgeous East 
 showers its barbaric pearl and gold into its magnificent 
 textures. But is there really anything barbaric in the skill 
 and taste which they display ? Does the Oriental prince or 
 monarch, even if he coniine his magnificence to native 
 manufactures, present himself to the eyes of his slaves in a 
 less splendid or less elegant attire than the nobles and the 
 sovereigns of this our Western world, more highly civilized 
 as we nevertheless deem it? Eew persons, I think, would 
 answer in the affirmative. The silks and shawls, the em¬ 
 broidery and jewellery, the moulding and carving, which 
 those countries can produce, and which decorate their palaces 
 and their dwellers in palaces, are even now such as we can¬ 
 not excel. Oriental magnificence is still a proverbial mode 
 of describing a degree of splendour and artistical richness 
 which is not found among ourselves. 
 
 What, then, shall we say of ourselves ? Wherein is our 
 superiority? In what do we see the effect, the realization, 
 of that more advanced stage of art which we conceive our¬ 
 selves to have attained? What advantage do we derive 
 from the immense accumulated resources of skill and capital 
 2 
 
14 THE GENERAL BEARING OF THE EXHIBITION 
 
 —of mechanical ingenuity and mechanical power—which 
 we possess? Surely our imagined superiority is not all 
 imaginary; surely we really are more advanced than they, 
 and this term “advanced” has a meaning; surely that 
 mighty thought of a progress in the life of nations is not 
 an empty dream; and surely our progress has carried us 
 beyond them. Where, then, is the import of the idea in 
 this case ? What is the leading and characteristic difference 
 between them and us, as to this matter ? What is the broad 
 and predominant distinction between the arts of nations rich, 
 but in a condition of nearly stationary civilization, like Ori 
 ental nations, and nations which have felt the full influence 
 of progress like ourselves ? 
 
 If I am not mistaken, the difference may be briefly ex¬ 
 pressed thus :—That in those countries the arts are mainly 
 exercised to gratify the tastes of the few; with us, to supply 
 the wants of the many. There, the wealth of a province 
 is absorbed in the dress of a mighty warrior; here, the 
 gigantic weapons of the peaceful potentate are used to pro¬ 
 vide clothing for the world. For that which makes it suit¬ 
 able that machinery, constructed on a vast scale, and em¬ 
 bodying enormous capital, should be used in manufacture, 
 is that the wares produced should be very great in quantity, 
 so that the smallest advantage in the power of working, 
 being multiplied a million fold, shall turn the scale of profit. 
 And thus such machinery is applied when wares are manu¬ 
 factured for a vast population;—when millions upon mil¬ 
 lions have to be clothed, or fed, or ornamented, or pleased, 
 with the things so produced. I have heard one say, who 
 had extensively and carefully studied the manufacturing 
 establishments of this country, that when he began his sur¬ 
 vey he expected to find the most subtle and refined machinery 
 applied to the most delicate and beautiful kind of work—to 
 gold and silver, jewels and embroidery : but that when he 
 came to examine, he found that these works were mainly 
 executed by hand, and that the most exquisite aud the most 
 expensive machinery was brought into play where operations 
 on the most common materials were to be performed, because 
 these were to be executed on the widest scale. And this is 
 when coarse aud ordinary wares are manufactured for the 
 many. This, therefore, is the meaning of tho vast and 
 
ON THE PROGRESS OP ART AND SCIENCE. 
 
 15 
 
 astonishing prevalence of machine-work in this country:— 
 that the machine with its million fingers works for millions 
 of purchasers, while in remote countries, where magnificence 
 and savagery stand side by side, tens of thousands work for 
 one. There Art labours for the rich alone; here she works 
 for the poor no less. There the multitude produce only to 
 give splendour and grace to the despot or the warrior whose 
 slaves they are, and whom they enrich ; here the man who 
 is powerful in the weapons of peace, capital and machinery, 
 uses them to give comfort and enjoyment to the public, 
 whose servant he is, and thus becomes rich while he enriches 
 others with his goods. If this be truly the relation between 
 the condition of the arts of life in this country and in those 
 others, may we not with reason and with gratitude say that 
 we have, indeed, reached a point beyond theirs in the social 
 progress of nations ? 
 
 I have, perhaps, detained you too long with these general 
 reflections, suggested by the mere general aspect of that 
 great display of the works of nations in every stage of pro¬ 
 gress, which we have had lately before our eyes. But I 
 hope you will recollect, that I began by claiming the privi¬ 
 lege of speaking as a mere spectator, who had not had occa¬ 
 sion to study the objects there assembled in a special and 
 official manner. There is, however, one view of the sub¬ 
 ject, perhaps a little less obvious, which I should wish to 
 endeavour to bring before you : I mean, the view suggested 
 by the Classification of which such a collection has been 
 found to be capable. Perhaps, at the first thought, it might 
 be supposed to divide any collection of things, however 
 numerous and various, into classes, is a work of no great 
 difficulty, though when the collection is great it may require 
 much time. For, it might be said, You have only to de¬ 
 termine according to what resemblances and what differences 
 you will make your classes, and then to go through the 
 work, sticking to these. But any one who has attended a 
 little more to the science of classification, or even who has 
 made the attempt on any considerable scale, knows that 
 this is not so: and that except the scheme of classes be 
 very skilfully and very happily devised, it lands us in into¬ 
 lerable incongruities and even in impossibilities. Indeed, 
 without seeking any exemplification of this remark in the 
 
16 THE GENERAL BEARING OF THE EXHIBITION 
 
 classificatory sciences, winch, can throw on this subject only 
 a distant and doubtful light, we have experimental evidence 
 of the difficulty of classifying a great collection of the pro¬ 
 ducts of art and industry, in the attempts which were made 
 to perform that task on the occasions of the French Expo¬ 
 sitions in 1806, in 1819, in 1827, in 1834, and in 1844. 
 On the first occasion, the distribution adopted was entirely 
 geographical; on the second, it was what was called an 
 entirely material or natural system, dividing the arts into 
 thirty-nine heads,, the consequence of which is said to have 
 been great confusion. In 1827 a purely scientific arrange¬ 
 ment . was attempted, into five great divisions, namely, 
 chemical , mechanical, physical, economical, and miscella¬ 
 neous^ arts. But this was deemed too artificial and abstract, 
 and in 1834 M. Dupin made the division depend on the 
 lelation of the arts to man, as being alimentary, sanitary, 
 vestiary, domiciliary, locomotive, sensitive, intellectual, pre¬ 
 parative, social. This analysis was also adhered to in 
 1839. In 1844 an attempt was made to unite some features 
 of the previous systems, and the objects were classified as 
 woven, mineral, mechanical, mathematical, chemical, fine 
 arts, ceramic, and miscellaneous ; which was still complained 
 of as confused, but which was, on the whole, retained in 
 1849. 
 
 I do not think there is any presumption in claiming for 
 the classification which has been adopted in the Great Ex¬ 
 hibition of 1851 a more satisfactory character than we can 
 allow to any of those just mentioned, if we ground our 
 opinion either upon the way in which this last classification 
 was constructed, or upon the manner in which it has been 
 found to work. And there is one leading feature in it 
 which, simple as it may seem, at once gives it a new recom¬ 
 mendation. In the systems already mentioned there were 
 no gradations of classification. There were a certain num- 
 bei, thirty-nine or five, nine or eight, of co-ordinate classes, 
 and that was all. In the arrangement of the Great Exhi- 
 ltion of 18t)l, by a just and happy thought, a division was 
 adopted of the objects to be exhibited into four great Sec¬ 
 tions, to which other Classes, afterwards established, were 
 to be subordinate; these sections being Raw Materials, 
 Machinery, Manufactured Goods, and the works of the Fine 
 
ON THE PROGRESS OF ART AND SCIENCE. 
 
 17 
 
 Arts. The effect of this grand division was highly bene¬ 
 ficial, for within each of these sections classes could be 
 formed far more homogeneous than was possible while these 
 sections were all thrown into one mass: when, for instance, 
 the cotton-tree, the loom, and the muslin, stood side by side, 
 as belonging to vestiary art; or when woven and dyed goods 
 were far removed, as being examples, the former of mecha¬ 
 nical , the latter of chemical processes. Suitable gradation 
 is the felicity of the classifying art, and so it was found to 
 be in this instance. 
 
 But within this limit how shall classes be formed ? Here, 
 also, it appears to me, simply as a reader of the history of 
 the Exhibition, which any one else may read, that the pro¬ 
 cedure of those who framed the classification was marked with 
 sound good sense and a wise rejection of mere technical rules. 
 For by assuming fixed and uniform principles of classifica¬ 
 tion we can never obtain any but an artificial system, which 
 will be found, in practice, to separate things naturally re¬ 
 lated, and to bring together objects quite unconnected with 
 each other. It was determined, that within each of the 
 four sections the divisions which had been determined by 
 commercial experience to be most convenient should be 
 adopted. “ Eminent men of science and of manufactures in 
 all branches were invited to assist in drawing each one the 
 boundaries of his own special class of productions.”* And 
 it was resolved, for the general purposes of the Exhibition, 
 to adopt thirty broad divisions; of which Classes, 4 were 
 of Raw Materials; 6 of Machinery; 19 of Manufactures; 
 and 1 of the Fine Arts. And these thirty Classes may be 
 considered as having been confirmed by their practical ap¬ 
 plication to the collection, and to the work of the juries in 
 dealing with it; except that, in some instances, it was found 
 necessary to subdivide a class into others. Thus Class X., 
 which was originally described as Philosophical Instruments, 
 was found to consist of materials so heterogeneous, that there 
 were separated from it three classes, of Musical, of Horo- 
 logical, and of Surgical Instruments. And to Class V., 
 Machines, was added an Accessory Class, Y a, Carriages. 
 And, on the other hand, Classes XII. and XV., Woollen 
 
 * “Illustrated Catalogue,” Introd. p. 22. 
 
18 THE GENERAL BEARING OF THE EXHIBITION 
 
 and Worsted, it was found could be advantageously thrown 
 into one. 
 
 Within these Classes, again, were other subdivisions, 
 which were marked in the Catalogue by letters of the al- 
 . phabet. Thus, the Third Class consists of substances used 
 for food; and of these the vegetable division contains Sub¬ 
 classes, A, B, C, I), E, F, G-: the first being cereals, and 
 the like; the second, fruits; the third, drinks, and so on. 
 And in like manner, the Sixth Class, 'manufacturing ma¬ 
 chines and tools, had Sub-classes, A, B, C, D, E, F : as A, 
 all spun and woven fabrics; B, manufactures of metals; 
 C, manufactures of minerals and mining machinery, and 
 the like. 
 
 And, again, each of these Sub-classes was separated into 
 Heads, by numbers. Thus, the Sub-class, cereals and the 
 like, are, 1, the common cereals; 2, the less common; 3, 
 millet; 4, pulse and cattle-food; 5, grasses and roots; 6, 
 flours (ground grain); 7, oil seeds; 8, hops. And the Sub¬ 
 class A, of manufacturing machines and tools, included the 
 Heads 1, machinery for spinning and weaving cotton, wool, 
 flax, hemp, silk,—for working caoutchouc, gutta percha, 
 hair; 2, paper-making; 3, printing. And to show how 
 much practical experience governed these sub-divisions,*1 
 may mention, that great aid in this task was found in the 
 Trades’ Directories of Birmingham and Manchester, and 
 other great manufacturing towns. 
 
 I have followed this classification into the ultimate rami¬ 
 fication of the Catalogue, at the risk of being, I fear, 
 tedious for a moment; partly because I wish to make a re¬ 
 flection upon it; and partly, also, that you may see what a 
 vast work is performed if this classification be really cohe¬ 
 rent and sound. For, first, turn your attention to the one 
 Head which I have mentioned: this single Head includes 
 no less than this,—all machinery for the complete forma¬ 
 tion, from the raw material, of all fabrics of cotton, wool, 
 flax, hemp, silk, caoutchouc, gutta percha, and hair. This 
 is Head 1 of Sub-class A. Under this Head, or under the 
 first Particular Head, cotton, are very many Articles in the 
 Great Bxhibition. Besides this Particular Head, and the 
 other Particular Heads, wool, flax, caoutchouc, &c., included 
 in the General Head 1, there are two other Heads in this 
 
ON THE PROGRESS OF ART AND SCIENCE. 
 
 19 
 
 Sub-class, each of like extent. Along with this Sub-class 
 A, are also Sub-classes B, C, I), E, F, each of an extent 
 not much inferior to A; and thus, this Class VI. contains 
 a great mass of Heads, each including a vast number of 
 Articles. Yet, in the Catalogue, this Class VI. is one of 
 the smallest extent of all the thirty. And though this may 
 arise in part from some of the others being followed out 
 into greater comparative detail than this Class VI., yet still 
 enough will remain in this mode of putting the matter to 
 show to you how vast and varied is the mass of objects 
 which has thus been classified, and how great the achieve¬ 
 ment is if this mass have really been reduced into permanent 
 order; if this chaos, not of elements only, but of raw ma¬ 
 terials mixed with complicated machines, with manufac¬ 
 tured goods and sculptured forms, have really been put in 
 a shape in which it will permanently retain traces of the 
 ordering hand. 
 
 What the value and advantage would be of a permanent 
 and generally accepted classification of all the materials, in¬ 
 struments, and productions of human art and industry, you 
 will none of you require that I should explain at length. 
 One consequence would be that the manufacturer, the man 
 of science, the artisan, the merchant, would have a settled 
 common language, in which they could speak of the objects 
 about which they are concerned. It is needless to point 
 out how much this would facilitate and promote their work¬ 
 ing together; how fatal to co-operation is diversity and 
 ambiguity in the language used. One of our old verse 
 writers, expanding, according to the suggestions of his 
 fancy, the account of the failure of men in the case of the 
 tower of Babel, has made this cause of failure very promi¬ 
 nent. He supposes that, the language of the workmen 
 being confounded, when one of them asked for a spade, his 
 companion brought him a bucket; or when he called for 
 mortar, handed him a plumb-line'; and that, by the con¬ 
 stant recurrence of these incongruous proceedings, the work 
 necessarily came to a stand. Now the conditions necessary, 
 in order that workmen may work together, really go much 
 farther than the use of a common language, in the general 
 sense of the phrase. It is not only necessary that they 
 should call a brick a brick, and a wire a wire, and a nail a 
 
20 THE GENERAL BEARING OF THE EXHIBITION 
 
 nail, and a tube a tube, and a wheel a wheel ; but it is 
 desirable, also, that wires, and nails, and tubes, and wheels, 
 should each be classified and named, so that all bricks should 
 be of one size, so that a wire number 3, or a tube section 1, 
 or a six-inch wheel, should have a fixed and definite signifi¬ 
 cation; and that wires, and tubes, and wheels, should be 
 constructed so as to correspond to such significations ; and 
 even, except for special purposes, no others than such. It 
 may easily be conceived, for instance, how immensely the 
 construction, adjustment, and repair of wheel-work would be 
 facilitated, if wheels of a certain kind were all made with 
 teeth of the same kind, so that any one could work in any 
 other. And something of this sort, something which secures 
 some of these and the like advantages, has been done with 
 reference to cast-iron toothed wheels. And an eminent en¬ 
 gineer, whose works stood in the Sixth Class of the collec¬ 
 tion to which I liaA 7 e just referred, has proposed a system 
 by which a like uniformity should be secured in the dimen¬ 
 sions and fitting of machinery; and especially with regard to 
 screws; fixing thus their exact diameter and pitch, as it is 
 called—a process which would have the like effect of making 
 the' construction, application, and repair of all work into 
 wdiich screws enter vastly more easy and expeditious than it 
 now is. Now these are the great and beneficial effects. 
 which follow from a good and generally accepted sub-classi¬ 
 fication of one of the lowest members of that classification 
 which the Catalogue exhibits to us. Mr. Whitworth would 
 classify screws, and wheels, and axles, as the millwrights 
 have classified toothed wheels. But screws, or wheels, or 
 axles, are merely one kind of tool, one element of ma¬ 
 chinery ; and tools and machinery are only one class out of 
 thirty of the great collection of which we are speaking. If, 
 then, so great benefits arise from a common understanding 
 as to the species of one of the lowest members of our classi¬ 
 fication, may we not expect corresponding advantages from 
 a fixation of the names and distinctions of the higher mem¬ 
 bers ?—of the names of tools and machines, for instance; 
 and from a perception of their relations to each other, which 
 a good classification brings into view; and then, again, from 
 a clear perception of the relation of class to class, and of 
 their lines of demarcation t And may we not expect that 
 
ON TIIE PROGRESS OF ART AND SCIENCE. 21 
 
 or such grounds, the very language of Art and Industry, 
 and the mode of regarding the relations of their products, 
 shall bear for ever the impress of the Great Exhibition of 
 1851? 
 
 There is one other remark which 1 should wish to make, 
 suggested by the classification of the objects of the Ex¬ 
 hibition ; or, rather, a remark which it is possible to express, 
 only because we have such a classification before us. It is 
 an important character of a right classification, that it makes 
 general propositions possible; a maxim which we may safely 
 regard as well grounded, since it has been delivered in¬ 
 dependently by two persons, no less different from one an¬ 
 other than Cuvier and Jeremy Bentham. Now, in accord¬ 
 ance with this maxim, I would remark, that there are 
 general reflections appropriate to several of the divisions 
 into which the Exhibition is by its classification distributed. 
 Eor example: let us compare the First Class, Mining and 
 Mineral Products, with the Second Class, Chemical Pro¬ 
 cesses and Products. In looking at these two classes, wo 
 may see some remarkable contrasts between them. The 
 first class of arts, those which are employed in obtaining and 
 working the metals, are among the most ancient; the second, 
 the arts of manufacturing chemical products on a large scale, 
 are among the most modern which exist. In the former 
 class, as I have said, Art existed before Science; men could 
 shape, and melt, and purify, and combine the metals for 
 their practical purposes, before they knew anything of the 
 chemistry of metals; before they knew that to purify them 
 was to expel oxygen or sulphur; that combination may be 
 definite or indefinite. Tubal-Cain, in the first ages of the 
 world, was “ the instructer of every artificer in brass and 
 ironbut it was very long before there came an instructer 
 to teach what was the philosophical import of the artificer’s 
 practices. In this case, as I have already said, Art preceded 
 Science : if even now Science has overtaken Art; if even 
 now Science can tell us why the Swedish steel is still un¬ 
 matched, or to what peculiar composition the Toledo blade 
 owes its fine temper, which allows it to coil itself up in its 
 sheath when its rigid thrust is not needed. Here Art has 
 preceded Science, and Science has barely overtaken Art. 
 But in the second class, Science has not only overtaken Art, 
 
22 THE GENERAL BEARING OE THE EXHIBITION 
 
 but is the whole foundation, the entire creator of the art. 
 Here Art is the daughter of Science. The great chemical 
 manufactories which have sprung up at Liverpool, at New¬ 
 castle, at Glasgow, owe their existence entirely to a pro¬ 
 found and scientific knowledge of chemistry. These arts 
 never could have existed if there had not been a science of 
 chemistry; and that, an exact and philosophical science. 
 These manufactories now are on a scale at least equal to the 
 largest establishments which exist among the successors of 
 Tubal-Cain. They occupy spaces not smaller than that 
 great building in which the productions of all the arts of all 
 the world were gathered, and where we so often wandered 
 till our feet were weary. They employ, some of them, five 
 or six large steam-engines; they shoot up the obelisks whicli 
 convey away their smoke and fumes to the height of the 
 highest steeples in the world; they occupy a population 
 equal to that of a town, whose streets gather round the 
 walls of the mighty workshop.* Yet these processes are all 
 derived from the chemical theories of the last and the pre¬ 
 sent century; from the investigations carried on in the 
 laboratories of Scheele and Kirwan, Berthollet and Lavoi¬ 
 sier. So rapidly in this case has the tree of Art blossomed 
 from the root of Science; upon so gigantic a scale have the 
 truths of Science been embodied in the domain of Art. 
 
 Again, there is another remark which we may make in 
 comparing the First Class, Minerals, with the Third Class; 
 or rather with the Fourth, Vegetable and Animal Sub¬ 
 stances, used in manufactures, or as implements or orna¬ 
 ments. And I wish to speak especially of vegetable, sub¬ 
 stances. In the class of Minerals, all the great members 
 of the class are still what they were in ancient times. No 
 doubt a number of new metals and mineral substances 
 have been discovered; and these have their use; and of 
 these the Exhibition presented fine examples. But still, 
 their use is upon a small scale. Gold and iron, at the pre¬ 
 sent day, as in ancient times, are the rulers of the world; 
 and the great events in the world of mineral art are not the 
 discovery of new substances, but of new and rich localities 
 of old ones,—the opening of the treasures of the earth in 
 
 * “Illustrated Catalogue,” p. 184. 
 
ON THE PROGRESS OE ART AND SCIENCE. 
 
 23 
 
 Mexico and Peru in the sixteenth century, in California and 
 Australia in our own day. But in the vegetable world the 
 case is different; there, we have not only a constant accumu¬ 
 lation and reproduction, but also a constantly growing 
 variety of objects, fitted to the needs and uses of man. Tea, 
 coffee, tobacco, sugar, cotton, have made man’s life, and the 
 arts which sustain it, very different from what they were in 
 ancient times. And no one, I think, can have looked at 
 the vegetable treasures of the Crystal Palace without seeing 
 that the various wealth of the vegetable world is far from 
 yet exhausted. The Liverpool Local Committee have 
 enabled us to take a starting-point for such a survey by 
 sending to the Exhibition a noble collection of specimens 
 of every kind of import of that great emporium; among 
 which, as might be expected, the varieties of vegetable pro¬ 
 duce are the most numerous. But that objects should be 
 reckoned among imports , implies that already they are ex¬ 
 tensively used. If we look at the multiplied collections of 
 objects of the same kind, some from various countries, not 
 as wares to a known market, but as specimens and sug¬ 
 gestions of unexplored wealth, we can have no doubt that 
 the list of imports will hereafter, with great advantage, be 
 enlarged. Who knows what beautiful materials for the 
 makers of furniture are to be found in the collections of 
 woods from the various forests of the Indian Archipelago, 
 or of Australia, or of Tasmania, or of New Zealand? Who 
 knows what we may hereafter discover to have been collected 
 of fruits and oils, and medicines and dyes; of threads and 
 cordage, as we had here from New Zealand and from China 
 examples of such novelties; of gums and vegetable sub¬ 
 stances, which may, in some unforeseen manner, promote 
 and facilitate the processes of art ? IIow recent is the appli¬ 
 cation of caoutchouc to general purposes! Yet we know 
 now—and on this occasion America would have taught us 
 if we had not known—that there is scarcely any use to 
 which it may not be applied with advantage. If a teacher 
 in o\ir time were to construct maxims like those of the son 
 of Sirach in the ancient Jewish times—like him who says 
 (Ecclus. xxxix. 26), “The principal things for the whole 
 use of man’s life are water, fire, iron, and salt, flour of 
 wheat, honey, milk, and the blood of the grape, oil, and 
 clothing”—he could hardly fail to make additions to the list, 
 
24 THE GENERAL BEARING OF THE EXHIBITION 
 
 and these would be from the vegetable world. Again, how 
 recent is the discovery of the uses of gutta percha! In the 
 great collection were some of the original specimens sent by 
 Dr. Montgomery to the India House, whence specimens 
 were distributed to various experimentalists.* Pet how 
 various and peculiar are now its uses, such as no other sub¬ 
 stance could replace! And is it not to be expected that 
 our contemporaries, joining the insight of science to the 
 instinct of art, shall discover, among the various sources of 
 vegetable wealth which the Great Exhibition has disclosed 
 to them, substances as peculiar and precious, in the manner 
 of their utility, as those aids thus recently obtained for the 
 uses of life ? 
 
 And before we quit this subject, let us reflect, as it is 
 impossible, I think, not to reflect, when viewing thus the 
 constantly enlarging sphere of the utility which man draws 
 from the vegetable world, what a view this also gives us of 
 the bounty of Providence to man, thus bringing out of the 
 earth, in every varying clime, endless forms of vegetable 
 life, of which so many, and so many more than we yet can 
 tell, are adapted to sustain, to cheer, to benefit, to delight 
 man, in ways ever kind, ever large, ever new, and of which 
 the novelty itself is a new source of delighted contemplation. 
 
 I might go on to make other reflections upon the peculiar 
 characters of the various classes of the Great Exhibition, but 
 the time does not allow me, nor is it needful, since all that 
 I aspired to do was to offer to you specimens of such re¬ 
 flections. Several of the classes will, no doubt, suggest ap¬ 
 propriate reflections to those who have to deliver lectures to 
 you on special subjects. In the mean time, though I must 
 now hasten to a conclusion, I cannot but perceive how im¬ 
 perfectly I have discharged even the limited task which I 
 ventured to undertake. For I have as yet said nothing of 
 the effect which must be produced upon art and science by 
 this gathering of so many of the artists and scientists (if I 
 may use the word) of the world together; by their joint 
 study of the productions of art from every land, by their 
 endeavours to appreciate and estimate the merits of produc¬ 
 tions, and instruments of production; of works of thought, 
 skill, and beauty. 
 
 * “Illustrated Catalogue,” p. 876. 
 
ON THE PROGRESS OP ART AND SCIENCE. 25 
 
 In speculating concerning universities, we are accustomed 
 to think that, without underrating the effect of lectures and 
 tasks, of professors and teachers, still that among the most 
 precious results of such institutions is the effect produced 
 upon those who resort thither by their intercourse with, 
 and influence upon, each other. We know that by such 
 intercourse there is gen ’rated a community of view, a 
 mutual respect, and a general sympathy, with regard to tho 
 elements of a liberal education, and the business of national, 
 social, and individual life, which clings to men ever after, 
 and tends to raise all to the level of the best. And some 
 such effect as this would, we may suppose, be produced 
 upon the students of the useful and the beautiful arts by 
 their resort to any university in common. To any univer¬ 
 sity, I have said; but to what a university have they been 
 resorting during the past term ? To a University of which 
 the Colleges are all the great workshops and workyards, 
 the schools and societies of arts, manufactures, and com¬ 
 merce, of mining and building, of inventing and executing 
 in every land—Colleges in which great chemists, great 
 mechanists, great naturalists, great inventors, are already 
 working, in a professional manner, to aid and develope all 
 that capital, skill, and enterprise can do. Coming from such 
 Colleges to the central University, may we not well look 
 upon it as a great epoch in the life of the Material Arts, 
 that they have thus begun their university career—that 
 they have had the advantage of such academical arrange¬ 
 ments as there have been found, and still more, as I have 
 said, that they have had the greater advantage of inter¬ 
 course with each other ? May we not except that from this 
 time the eminent producers and manufacturers, artisans and 
 artists, in every department of art, and in every land, will 
 entertain for each other an increased share of regard and 
 good-will, of sympathy in the great objects which man’s 
 office as producer and manufacturer, artisan and artist, 
 places before him—of respect for each other’s characters, 
 and for the common opinion of their body, all increased by 
 their being able to say, “ We were students together at the 
 Great University in 1851 V’ 
 
 November 26, 1851. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 SIR HENRY T. DE LA BECHE, 
 
 C.B., F.R.S. 
 
 ( 27 ) 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SIR HENRY T. DE L.\. BECHE 
 
 
 ON 
 
 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 Mineral matter, unlike animal and vegetable substances, 
 cannot, in its original or natural state, be modified by man 
 for his use. While he can obtain important varieties of 
 animal substances, by treatment of the animals themselves, 
 or by perpetuating certain varieties of them, and can, by 
 culture, produce valuable modifications in plants, or their 
 parts, no skill of his can alter the natural condition of an 
 ore in the mine. His power commences with that of dis¬ 
 covering the mineral matter required by him. Mineral 
 substances have thus to be regarded, industrially, as essen¬ 
 tially connected with the means of extraction and the after 
 processes by which they are rendered available for use. 
 W T hile plants and animals differ in various regions of the 
 earth, and the traffic connected with the raw materials they 
 afford is adjusted to this difference, mineral matter of the 
 same character may be discovered in any part of the world, 
 at the Equator or towards the Poles; at the summit of the 
 loftiest mountains, and in works far beneath the level of the 
 sea. The granite of Australia does not necessarily differ 
 from that of the British Islands; and ores of the metals 
 may (the proper geological conditions prevailing) be found 
 of the same general character in all regions. Climate and 
 3* (29) 
 
80 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 
 geographical position have no influence on the composition 
 of mineral substances. 
 
 Though geographical position has no influence on natural 
 mineral substances, except so far as modifications may be 
 produced by the action of the atmosphere, it may, never¬ 
 theless, constitute a most important element among those 
 on which depend the actual uses of those substances. All 
 other conditions being equal, it may decide their extraction 
 or non-extraction. Even important minerals may be so 
 situated as to be unproductive of advantage to those endea¬ 
 vouring to obtain them for use. No doubt, geographical 
 position may be modified by the labour of man, and so that 
 the mineral matter in the same locality, which could not be 
 profitably raised at one time, may be most advantageously 
 worked at another. The condition of man, therefore, oc¬ 
 cupying different areas on the earth’s surface as nations, 
 becomes an element of the utmost importance as regards 
 the useful extraction of mineral substances. The condi¬ 
 tions under which such divisions of mankind may exist, their 
 laws and customs, are important to the developement of any 
 mineral wealth, as it were, latent in the areas occupied by 
 them. These may either tend to impede or promote that 
 developement; and the different divisions of men may, by 
 their regulations, act most variably on each other, and, 
 instead of advancing their common good, introduce systems 
 of mutual checks, to the disadvantage of all. 
 
 The more advanced a nation, the greater, under equal 
 general conditions, is its power over the disadvantages 
 which may happen to be presented by geographical posi¬ 
 tion, thus producing facilities for the developement of its 
 mineral wealth. The cost of transport—that frequent im¬ 
 pediment to the profitable working of mineral substances— 
 may become so lessened by addition to easy communica¬ 
 tions of various kinds, that finally the working of mineral 
 substances can be changed from unprofitable to profitable. 
 In the cases of many ores, these and the fuel needed for 
 smelting them may be brought together by facility and 
 cheapness of conveyance, so that industries, new to a land, 
 may spring up. 
 
 Although man, by his general advance, may thus accom¬ 
 plish much for the developement of mineral wealth, there 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 31 
 
 are natural limits to liis progress which cannot he overcome. 
 Although ho may effect the easy transport of mineral mat¬ 
 ter over rivers and valleys, and even through portions of 
 the earth itself, either by his canals or his roads, and thus, 
 as regards such transport, change the face of a country 
 from one of difficulty to one of facility, the greater geogra¬ 
 phical arrangements remain unaltered. He cannot change 
 an inland country, in the central position of a continent, 
 to a maritime state, though he can materially modify its 
 position as to the ready means of transport to the coast. 
 An inland locality may pour in its mineral products, by 
 means of increased facilities of transport, upon a sea-port, 
 so that not only may they replace similar substances pro¬ 
 duced at greater cost near such a port, but, by means of 
 the sea, be transported even far to other lands, competing 
 in their markets, should the regulations of the nations 
 holding them permit, with those which had hitherto satis¬ 
 fied them. 
 
 The profitable developement of mineral wealth will, 
 therefore, depend upon the natural occurrence of mineral 
 substances, due to geological causes—upon the geographical 
 position of the localities where the useful mineral substances 
 are present,—and upon the condition of man in a given 
 area. The first condition is unalterable by man, the re¬ 
 maining two may be most materially modified by him. 
 
 As mineral matter in its first, or natural state, cannot be 
 modified by man, it becomes important that when specimens 
 of it are shown as illustrative of mineral wealth, especial 
 reference should be made to those processes by which such 
 mineral matter is rendered useful. AVithout this precau¬ 
 tion much misconception may arise. Let us, for example, 
 consider the ores of the metals. The mere exhibition of 
 any ore, however rich, is in itself of little value beyond 
 the information that the specimen came from some stated 
 locality. The circumstances connected with'its mode of 
 occurrence, and with the means at command to render its 
 extraction useful, are essential. Pieces of rich ores are of 
 frequent occurrence in localities where, from a want of 
 their sufficient abundance, it would be useless to attempt 
 any profitable working of them. Hence collections of ores 
 may often be most fallacious, indeed it is unfortunately 
 
32 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 
 somewhat too common to find specimens of ores shown as 
 the ordinary products of mines where they are really rari¬ 
 ties, for the purpose of promoting the purchase of shares 
 in such mines. There is a name for such specimens in 
 Cornwall, where they are termed Slocking stones. These 
 really come from the mines, but they are unfair representa¬ 
 tions of their produce. 
 
 Again, it often happens, that without the slightest inten¬ 
 tion of producing erroneous impressions, proprietors or agents, 
 when requested to transmit specimens of their ores, will select, 
 instead of such as show the general quality of those raised, 
 some fine example of their best ores, a good stone of ore , as 
 it is often technically termed, while at the same time the 
 mine itself may be returning large profits by the working 
 and dressing of comparatively poor ores, operations of which 
 the agents might be justly proud; not the slightest deception 
 is intended, but nevertheless a collection of such specimens 
 becomes extremely fallacious, and conceals and does not 
 exhibit the real industry both required and employed. The 
 teaching influence proposed by collections of ores is defeated 
 alike by both the causes above mentioned. Most important 
 knowledge of its kind is sacrificed, and the public misled by 
 impressions received from gazing on a mass of glittering 
 objects, instead of carefully considering the kind of mineral 
 substances which really produce, by the industry of man, 
 the metals so essential for his welfare and progress. 
 
 As these Lectures are not intended to interfere with the 
 reports of the juries, it would be out of place to enter upon 
 systematic details respecting the class now under considera¬ 
 tion. Ample information will be found regarding these in 
 the report of my colleague, M. Dufrenoy, than whom no 
 one could be better qualified for the task, by talents, ex¬ 
 perience, position, or love of justice. Looking at the Exhi¬ 
 bition as the.mcans to a great end, and not the end itself, 
 its bearing on the future may, probably, be best illustrated 
 by a selection of subjects, which should show deficiencies as 
 well as important exhibitions. The one may be as valuable 
 for progress as the other, if carefully considered and rightly 
 understood. 
 
 As fuel is at the base of all the operations the products 
 of which have found a place in the late Exhibition, the 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 33 
 
 power of producing fire being peculiar to man, and one 
 without which his range on the earth’s surface would be 
 very limited, and his advance trifling, it may, in the first 
 instance, be desirable to glance at that portion of fuel which 
 is included in Class I. 
 
 All our mineral, or, as it has been termed, fossil fuel, 
 is derived from vegetable matter, the growth of various 
 geological times, and of different regions, embedded amid 
 detrital matter of various kinds from local circumstances, 
 and presenting modified aspects in accordance with the 
 general physical and chemical conditions to which it has 
 been subjected. Its chief divisions, for industrial purposes, 
 may be regarded as lignite (the brown coal of the Germans), 
 and coal, the latter of various kinds. Indeed the whole con¬ 
 stitutes a series, at which woody matter, but slightly altered, 
 is at one end, and stone-coal, or anthracite, is at the other. 
 It may suffice for our present purpose, to mention that the 
 physical and chemical conditions above mentioned are the 
 causes of these differences, and have been of such an order 
 that the proportion of the oxygen and hydrogen of the ori¬ 
 ginal vegetable substance became gradually diminished as 
 regards the other two component parts, carbon and nitrogen, 
 so that the carbon greatly predominates, and stone-coai, or 
 anthracite, is the result. 
 
 Now, the character of these fossil fuels is of the greatest 
 importance in their varied uses, the products of many opera¬ 
 tions depending upon it, especially certain metallurgical 
 processes. As this character does not necessarily depend 
 upon geological age—though, as a whole, the older rocks 
 usually contain only that state of fossil fuel known as coal 
 of some kind,—it may be expected to vary materially in 
 different parts of the world. The kind of fossil fuel found 
 may determine the developement of certain branches of in¬ 
 dustry, other circumstances being favourable. 
 
 That mineral fuel should be much represented in the 
 Exhibition was scarcely to be expected. Its jjrcsence, in¬ 
 deed, from lands where it was not generally known to be 
 found, might be advantageous, especially if accompanied by 
 proper information as to its mode of occurrence, and proba¬ 
 ble abundance and power of extraction. For example, it 
 was important to examine specimens of coal from New 
 
34 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 
 Zealand, and learn the thickness and dip of the beds of 
 some of them; and inspect others from Labnan, where the 
 Eastern Archipelago Company are now working a nine-feet 
 bed. The importance of such localities for the supply of 
 fossil fuel, as regards steam-navigation, is evident. Look¬ 
 ing, however, at the demand for, and supply of, fossil fuel 
 of various kinds in well-known lands, as for instance, in our 
 own, it may be very much doubted if any mere exhibition 
 of a few specimens, without regard to general views of the 
 manner in which the coals may be variably employed, could 
 be viewed as instructive. There were, however, some good 
 individual illustrations,—as for example, that of the thick 
 or ten-yard Staffordshire coal,—showing the different work¬ 
 ing scams, alike interesting to science and coal-mining. 
 
 In this and several other cases, where huge masses of 
 coal wei’e sent from some of the British collieries, we have 
 excellent examples of the disinterested aid afforded to the 
 Exhibition. The greater proportion of these exhibitors 
 could look for no return whatever, except the gratification 
 of having assisted a cause which they considered to be good. 
 It was not probable that ten tons of their coals would b* 
 altered in their mode of consumption except by new adjust¬ 
 ments and demands not depending upon the Exhibition, 
 though the cost they incurred was often heavy, in raising 
 and transmitting their specimens. 
 
 As regards the coals of the world, it is well known that, 
 though our country may not be that containing the largest 
 amount of fossil fuel (the United States far exceeding us in 
 this respect), it is at the present moment, nevertheless, the 
 land in which the largest amount is raised. The annual 
 weight raised in this country is usually now estimated as 
 equal to 35,000,000 tons, or, taking the ton of coal as 
 equal to about a cubic yard, more than eleven square miles 
 of a bed of coal, three feet thick, supposing the whole of 
 the coal removed. Of this large amount about 2,728,000 
 tous are exported, leaving the remainder, or 32,272,000 
 tons, for domestic and industrial consumption, the portion 
 devoted to the latter being largely employed for the smelt¬ 
 ing of our ores, especially those of iron. The annual pro¬ 
 duce of our collieries may, indeed, exceed 35,000,000, and 
 more nearly approach 40,000,000. Steps are being taken 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 35 
 
 at the Museum of Practical Geology in order to obtain 
 more correct data on this head. 
 
 As illustrative of the importance of our position as a 
 maritime state, combined with our possession of cheap heat, 
 well situated, the copper smelting of Swansea, with that of 
 Neath, Tai-baeh, and Llanelly in its vicinity, may be ad¬ 
 vantageously adduced. We there find, in addition to the 
 greater portion of the copper raised in the British Islands, 
 cargoes of that ore, and of what is termed the regulus of 
 copper, brought round by the Cape of Good Hope from Aus¬ 
 tralia in one direction, and round Cape Horn from Chili and 
 other South American lands in another. Altogether the 
 copper smelting of South Wales forms an excellent illustra¬ 
 tion of the advantageous union of geological and geographi¬ 
 cal conditions, combined with a state of man in a given area 
 fitted to seize and utilize those conditions. 
 
 Though regarding the specimens of coal as such, and un¬ 
 connected with processes to which they were material, the 
 Exhibition might be defective, it contained important illus¬ 
 trations of the mode of occurrence and of extraction of coal. 
 Among the maps, sections, and collections connected with 
 this subject, the exhibition from the coal district of North¬ 
 umberland and Durham should be cited. It formed an im¬ 
 portant series of illustrations, comprising maps, sections, 
 specimens of the various coals, the rocks by which they are 
 accompanied, plans of the mode of working the collieries, 
 sections of pits, and the machinery in them, with the safety- 
 lamps used in the district—a highly valuable series, and one 
 formed expressly for the Exhibition. A beautiful model by 
 Mr. Nicholas Wood exhibited the methods of working coal 
 in the northern counties. There were others also in the 
 English department alike instructive, as directing attention 
 to that important subject, the ventilation of collieries, one 
 which has so justly of late attracted public attention. Much 
 good may, no doubt, arise from the appointment of in¬ 
 spectors of collieries in the different districts in this country; 
 but the more effective saving of life from colliery explosions 
 must be looked for in the instruction generally of the coal¬ 
 miners themselves. The amount of mischief arising from 
 the foolhardiness of ignorance in our collieries can only be 
 credited by those who are compelled to employ men with a 
 
36 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 
 want of education they deplore, or who have, in discharge 
 of duties, visited coal-mines after fearful and desolating ex¬ 
 plosions. Safety-lamps are important in connexion with this 
 subject. In addition to those usually employed in this 
 country, there were two from Belgium, where, as well as in 
 France, much attention is paid to the proper ventilation of 
 collieries by the Government authorities. 
 
 As relating to the ventilation of collieries, a model of 
 opening and closing the doors in them, by the passage of the 
 horses and wagons, or of the men, without the attendance 
 of boys or others for the purpose, had very important bear¬ 
 ings, so many accidents having occurred from the ventilation 
 being disarranged by leaving open such doors. It was a 
 good case of a valuable contrivance, apparently little known 
 beyond the colliery itself—the Foxhole Colliery, near Swan¬ 
 sea—being made more extensively so by means of the Ex¬ 
 hibition. 
 
 As connected in the Exhibition with collieries, though in 
 reality applicable to shafts generally in mines, we should 
 here mention the very important method adopted by Mr. 
 E. Rogers of sinking shafts at Abercarn Colliery, Mon¬ 
 mouthshire. By employing electricity in blasting, he is 
 enabled to explode three or more holes, inclined to each 
 other in the depth, simultaneously; and thus lifts a large 
 mass at once from the centre of the sinking, other large 
 masses being in like manner afterwards detached from the 
 surrounding portions towards the sides. By thus calling in 
 the aid of electricity, and by employing gutta-percha tubes 
 of great size in connexion with the pumps, and so avoiding 
 the destruction of the usual arrangements, which frequently 
 take place during blasts while sinking a pit, better work is 
 accomplished, with greater rapidity, and at less cost than 
 by the ordinary methods. This successful application of 
 science and of modern knowledge is deserving of all atten¬ 
 tion by miners. 
 
 That there has been, and unfortunately still is, great 
 waste in our collieries, viewed as a whole, however the work¬ 
 ing of some districts may exceed that of others (and even 
 those not over remarkable for progress, may yet exhibit 
 valuable exceptions), has been long known, and often 
 pointed out. It was, therefore, an advance in the right 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 37 
 
 direction, when the small coals, sometimes consumed at the 
 pit’s mouth, at others thrown back in the workings, were 
 used for, as they have been termed, th e patent fuels. There 
 are now many of them of different kinds, applicable to differ¬ 
 ent purposes, according to composition. In them the small 
 coal is usually cemented by some bituminous substance, press¬ 
 ure being employed. One kind in the Exhibition was shown 
 by Mr. Azulay, in which great compression alone caused the 
 particles of the coal-dust to cohere. In Warlich’s process, 
 specimens of which were also exhibited, after the small coal is 
 made to cohere with some bituminous body by pressure, there- 
 suiting bricks are exposed to heat, in order to decompose the 
 bituminous substance, the heat being graduated according 
 to the use to be made of the fuel. This is a highly impor¬ 
 tant point in the patent fuel employed for steam purposes, 
 since, by carefully selecting a proper coal, and heating the 
 brick so as to coke the cementing matter without injury to 
 the coal employed, a very useful product for steam-ships 
 may be obtained. 
 
 In the French department, and in a small case, accom¬ 
 panied by a description and explanatory drawing, the whole 
 seldom heeded amid more showy objects, were to be seen 
 some sorted and crushed coals, with a few pieces of coke, 
 having an important bearing upon the employment of cheap 
 and effective heat. It illustrated the method of M. Berard 
 for separating foreign matter, such as iron pyrites and slate, 
 from coal. Its general principle was that of the “jigging- 
 machine” of the miners, for separating ores, after crushing, 
 from the stony matter with which they may be associated, 
 by agitating the whole in water, so that the various portions 
 become arranged according to their specific gravities. The 
 apparatus, which it would require the needful drawings to 
 explain properly, is remarkably ingenious, and the result 
 certain. In a country like ours, where coal is abundant, 
 such a method might, at first sight, appear little wanted. 
 The Exhibition was not, however, intended for this land 
 alone, but for “ all nations •” so that the application of such 
 a method becomes most important in many, numerous small 
 seams, or coals with much iron pyrites, rendering them, in 
 common parlance, u sulphurous,” and otherwise valueless, 
 4 
 
38 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 
 being rendered worth working by its use. Its value is, 
 however, also understood in our country; for, we are in¬ 
 formed, works are now erecting for its employment at New¬ 
 castle. By using the method of M. Berard, the Chemin 
 de Fer du Nord, France, was enabled to employ a coal pre¬ 
 viously found injurious to the locomotives, and a considera¬ 
 ble saving was effected. The reduction of ash in the washed 
 coal was very considerable. 
 
 Not to dwell longer upon mineral fuel, important as ex¬ 
 tended views of that subject might be, did time permit, it 
 may now be desirable briefly to consider the ores of the 
 useful metals. The subject of metal mining includes a 
 consideration of the ores, as such; their mode of occurrence 
 in the ground; the methods employed for their extraction ; 
 and the means adopted for “ dressing” them, as it is termed, 
 or of rendering them marketable. The smelter then receives 
 them, and by such metallurgical processes as may be suitable 
 produces the metal. 
 
 Respecting the fallacious impressions which the inspection 
 of mere specimens of ores may convey, some remarks have 
 already been offered. No doubt, ores commonly called of the 
 same kind differ, by containing foreign substances, making 
 a material alteration in the labours of the smelter. This is 
 a subject of great importance, requiring all the skill of the 
 metallurgist. Small additions of peculiar substances pro¬ 
 duce great modifying influences. Many a smelter finds him¬ 
 self at fault as to the causes of certain deteriorations of 
 produce which the scientific metallurgist traces to the ore; 
 and here Science steps in and aids that ordinary practice 
 which might be sufficiently successful so long as ores of the 
 ordinary composition—those to which the smelter has been 
 accustomed—were operated upon. 
 
 Specimens of ores are valuable when selected to illustrate 
 important points of this kind, or when they accompany illus¬ 
 trations of their mode of occurrence, modifications in conse¬ 
 quence of that mode of occurrence, or arc connected with 
 processes and their results. With the exception of the last, 
 the ores of the Exhibition possessed scarcely any of these 
 conditions; indeed, some were sent from mines which, as 
 previously mentioned, should have been justly proud of 
 their methods of dressing ores of ordinary, and even low 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 39 
 
 quality; yet the specimens transmitted were rich, requiring 
 no refined means of treatment. There were, nevertheless, 
 very rich specimens from some parts of the world, known 
 to represent considerable masses of the same kind; as, for 
 example, the Burra-Burra mines of South Australia have 
 furnished to commerce a large amount of valuable copper 
 ores similar to those exhibited, and many a mass of mala¬ 
 chite from them, which might, as in Russia, have been 
 extensively employed in works of art, has passed beneath 
 the hammer and crushers, and into the furnace. Small as 
 the metal exhibition of Sweden may have been, the ores 
 sent were good examples of those whence the fine iron of 
 that land is obtained. In like manner, there was no reason 
 to doubt that the rich iron ores of the United States and of 
 Canada did fairly represent masses of the like ores in those 
 countries; and so also with ores from some other lands. 
 Looking, however, at those shown generally, the previous 
 remarks were needed. 
 
 One of the most important series of ores in the Exhibi¬ 
 tion, viewed with reference to its object, and, coupled with 
 the information with which it was accompanied, as illustra¬ 
 ting a particular mineral produce in a given country, was 
 that of the iron ores of Great Britain, collected and sent by 
 Mr. Samuel Blackwell. It was formed at both much trouble 
 and cost by its exhibitor, and for no other purpose than to 
 render good service to the Great Exhibition, in the first 
 place, and to the stores of the Museum of Practical Geo¬ 
 logy, to which it was presented for national use, in the 
 second. 
 
 The ores in this collection are of two kinds; the one, 
 known as clay ironstone—an indifferent name—is funda¬ 
 mentally a carbonate of iron, mingled variably with the 
 matter of the ancient mud and silt, among which it was 
 originally deposited, and from which it has, under geolo¬ 
 gical conditions, been separated into continuous beds or 
 ranges of nodules. The amount of metal in the ore depends 
 upon that of the carbonate of iron in it. In the ordinary 
 carbonates of iron (which are still not quite pure), known 
 as spathose iron, and of which there were specimens from 
 Austria, the Zollverein, and other places, there is usually 
 from fifty to sixty per cent, of protoxide of iron. In the 
 
40 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 
 clay ironstones the metallic iron ranges sometimes up to 
 forty per cent. The clay ironstones are most important to 
 Great Britain, the greater part being found associated with 
 the coal-beds in our coal measures, and so that they are 
 worked with, or near to each other. From these ores more 
 than 2,000,000 tons of iron are now made in this country. 
 Besides those in the Blackwell Collection numerous speci¬ 
 mens of these ores were to be found attached to illustrations 
 of the products of different iron-works. 
 
 The other iron ores in the Blackwell Collection were 
 varieties of the oxides, chiefly haematites, the quantity of 
 metallic iron in which, when the ore is good, is from sixty 
 to seventy per cent. The amount of haematite ores worked 
 in this country, though they are abundant, is not compara¬ 
 tively considerable. It is, however, smelted alone, and there 
 were illustrations of this in the Exhibition; and it is, also, 
 mixed with the clay ironstones in many furnaces. 
 
 llespecting the mode of occurrence of ores—a most im¬ 
 portant point—the Exhibition did not furnish many illus¬ 
 trations. As regards specimens of that character, it was 
 not to be expected that they could be readily sent. Such 
 collections are the work of time; requiring, moreover, a 
 constant attention to given objects of inquiry, in connexion 
 with the general subject, as is abundantly proved by the 
 difficulty experienced by all mining schools in satisfying 
 these requirements. We have a fine illustrative collection 
 of this kind at the Museum in Jermyn Street, but it took 
 us sixteen years, with all our opportunities, and the hearty 
 co-operation of able men in the mining districts, to obtain 
 it. It is by no means easy to find proper illustrations, in 
 sufficiently moderate volume for exhibition, of some of the 
 chief facts observable in a mineral vein, or lode, often only 
 to be seen on the great scale. 
 
 With respect to the mode of occurrence of the metal¬ 
 liferous ores, it may, in all its generality, be regarded as 
 twofold, in beds or layers, or filling cracks, fissures, and 
 other cavities. The clay ironstones, and certain oxides, 
 known as bog-iron ore, belong to the former division. The 
 alluvial, or other detrital beds, in which gold is found, as in 
 California, Australia, Russia, and many other lands, may 
 be considered as also included in it. So, likewise, such 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 41 
 
 deposits as the cupriferous slates of Mansfield, of which 
 there were specimens in the Zollverein department. The 
 sections on the wall, horizontal and vertical, will show the 
 mode of occurrence of the clay ironstones with the associated 
 coal-beds in Merthyr Tydvil, the chief locality for iron-works 
 in South Wales. In such districts some beds of ironstone, 
 and in the sections before you many are shown, bearing 
 various names, often present constant characters for con¬ 
 siderable distances, while others are more variable in com¬ 
 position and thickness. 
 
 Looking at the auriferous beds in some regions, even 
 those from which much gold may, as a whole, be obtained, 
 we must often regard the mode of occurrence of the metal 
 as, taken with the bed, to represent a poor ore. When, as 
 in some of the Russian gold washings, two hundred tons 
 of the detrital mass have to be washed and examined, to 
 obtain a single pound weight of gold, it can be viewed as 
 little else. 
 
 The best illustration to be found in the Exhibition of the 
 mode of occurrence of the clay ironstones and associated 
 coal, was that afforded by the beautiful model accompany¬ 
 ing the Ebbw Vale collections: the sequence in which, from 
 the coals, ironstone, and limestone used, through the models 
 of the furnaces to the various products, was highly instruc¬ 
 tive and creditable to the Company exhibiting them. The 
 model was formed of an original part made by Mr. Thomas 
 Sopwith (so well known for his skill in that department as 
 well as in others), to which the Company had added a con¬ 
 tinuation. The model is constructed to a common scale for 
 height and distance, the surface represented to correspond 
 with the actual ground, with the rivers, roads, fields, and 
 buildings, while the lower part exhibits—every coal and 
 ironstone bed being shown—the true relative positions of 
 the various beds, with the works which have been carried 
 on upon them. Considering how completely these models 
 may be made to record all the workings, and how far supe¬ 
 rior they are to the usual plans and sections, it appears 
 surprising that they should not be more used than they are, 
 affording, as they do, such clear and accurate information 
 to all interested. 
 
 As to illustrations of the mode of occurrence of ores in 
 
 4 * 
 
42 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 
 mineral veins or lodes, tlie most instructive and important 
 were specimens of part of the silver lode of Kongsberg, 
 Norway; and of part of the lead lode of Grassington, 
 Yorkshire, sent by the Duke of Devonshire. A few large 
 lead specimens in the English department exhibited points 
 of interest; and these, with some specimens in the South 
 Australian copper series, certain of the iron and zinc series 
 in the American collection, a few specimens from Canada, 
 a few mining sections from Cornwall, and those accompany¬ 
 ing the exhibition of the lead series of Allenheads, North¬ 
 umberland, may be said to complete the illustrations of 
 this kind. The means of extracting ores from the metal¬ 
 liferous mines were but slightly represented. There were 
 illustrations of safety fuzes for blasting, some methods of 
 raising and lowering the miners and for raising the ores, 
 and a few Cornish mining sections. With reference to this 
 subject, however, a large and beautiful model of water- 
 wheels, connected with pumps from the Devon Great Con¬ 
 sols Coppermines, requires especial mention. The dressing 
 of ores did not receive overmuch illustration. There was 
 a good model representing the methods of dressing the 
 inferior copper ores of Tywarnhayle mines, Cornwall; and 
 it may be deserving of remark that, although the produce 
 of Cornish and Devonian ores does not exceed an average 
 of about eight per cent, of the metal after the ores are 
 dressed, the mines of that district have been estimated as 
 furnishing one-third of the copper raised throughout other 
 parts of Europe, and the British Islands. The Truro com¬ 
 mittee sent good illustrations of preparing tin ore for the 
 smelter, and there were also some other illustrations of 
 dressing tin ore. The lead-dressing of the Allenheads 
 mines, Northumberland, was well shown; and the Kongs¬ 
 berg (Norway) series exhibited the dressing of the silver 
 ores of’ those mines in a detailed manner. 
 
 With respect to the metallurgical processes and the 
 metals produced, the case was different, more especially as 
 regards iron. This metal, the most important to mankind, 
 formed the chief feature in Class I., whether in the British 
 or Foreign departments. There were some excellent illus¬ 
 trations from different British iron-works, including the 
 ores and fuel employed. The various kinds of iron were 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 43 
 
 well exhibited. The Ebbw Yale exhibition contained a 
 model showing the method adopted at those works for 
 utilizing the gases evolved from the surface. The propri¬ 
 etors of the Low Moor and Bowling Iron-works did not 
 forget their old reputation for iron, and exhibited some re¬ 
 markable specimens. As a general illustration of British 
 iron, that of Mr. Bird may be cited. Some remarkable 
 pieces were to be there found from various works and dis¬ 
 tricts. Among them was probably the largest bar of iron 
 ever rolled, being seven inches in diameter and twenty feet 
 one inch long: this was made by Messrs. Bagnall, of West 
 Bromwich, and weighed nearly one ton and three quarters. 
 There were some fine examples in this collection of large 
 drawn tubes, and others illustrating the qualities of the 
 various irons. Canada and Nova Scotia exhibited theii 
 iron : some bar-iron of good quality from the former was 
 remarkable for being manufactured from bog-iron ore, not 
 usually found good for bar-iron. 
 
 The Austrian series of iron was excellently well dis¬ 
 played, and very illustrative. Many parts of the scries 
 showed the ores whence the metal had been obtained, with 
 the various parts of the processes, including the slags. In 
 this collection was a most remarkable example of the fine 
 rolling of iron, the latter itself being necessarily of excel¬ 
 lent quality. The “ iron -paper,” as it was termed, from 
 Neudeck, in Bohemia, was superior to all of its kind in the 
 Exhibition. It may not be out of place here to cite this 
 Bohemian “ iron-paper,” in illustration of some of the useful 
 effects of the Great Exhibition. It soon attracted the at¬ 
 tention of those skilled in iron, as such thin rolled iron is 
 important for button-making. A spirited party, connected 
 with the iron trade, at once proposed, in a proper quarter, 
 to imitate this Bohemian product. This was attempted, 
 and though the result was not quite equal to the original, 
 before the Great Exhibition closed thin rolled iron of a 
 quality not heretofore produced in this country was to be 
 had in the market. 
 
 There were good illustrations also of tlr£ Belgian iron, as 
 employed for various purposes. Though Russia did not put 
 forth her strength in fine iron, there were, nevertheless, some 
 excellent examples of it, both from her imperial and private 
 
44 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 
 works. Some specimens of sheet-iron were remarkable for 
 their quality. Sweden was deficient in that iron for the 
 quality of which she is so celebrated; and France, though 
 raising a large quantity of iron, was scarcely represented in 
 that metal. There was but little iron in the Zollverein de¬ 
 partment. The Siegcn iron, produced from the cai-bonate 
 and hydrated oxide, was not, however, neglected; and the 
 illustrations of iron from Nassau were effective, as were, 
 indeed, those of the general mineral produce of that state. 
 Spain sent some of her iron, and the United States for¬ 
 warded some good illustrations of theirs. 
 
 The Exhibition may be said to have given rise to the 
 most complete view of the iron produce of this country which 
 we possess. Mr. Samuel Blackwell, himself an ironmaster, 
 accompanied the collection of iron ores, previously men¬ 
 tioned, by a statement of great value. He estimates the 
 gross annual production of iron in Great Britain to be now 
 upwards of 2,500,000 tons. “Of this quantity, South 
 Wales furnishes 700,000 tons; South Staffordshire (includ¬ 
 ing Worcestershire), 600,000 tons; and Scotland, 600,000 
 tons. The remainder is divided among the various smaller 
 districts.” The iron of England and Wales was produced 
 by 336 furnaces in blast in 1850. Though a considerable 
 quantity of British iron is exported, a very large proportion 
 remains to be variously employed in our own industry. 
 
 With regard to copper, the chief illustration of its smelt¬ 
 ing, as practised in this country, came, as might be ex¬ 
 pected, from Swansea, where, as has been already stated, 
 so much of the copper ore, not only of the British Islands, 
 but of other parts of the world, is converted into metal. 
 The series sent was important. The Messrs. Bankart ex¬ 
 hibited illustrations of their patent process of reducing cop¬ 
 per ores. Though referred to Class II., mention should be 
 here made of Mr. Longman! s process of reducing copper 
 ores. In it the sulphuret of iron and copper, known as 
 copper pyrites, is roasted with chloride of sodium (common 
 salt). Sulphate of soda is produced, the copper is converted 
 into a soluble sulphate, the iron left, and the chlorine 
 liberated. The copper is then thrown down from its solu¬ 
 tion. There was also copper from the smelting works, 
 Bruce mines, Lake Huron, Canada; and the Burra-Burra 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 45 
 
 copper ores were accompanied by copper smelted at their 
 works, recently established at those mines. In the Zoll- 
 verein department were to be found illustrations of the pro¬ 
 cesses followed in extracting the copper from the cupriferous 
 state of Mansfeld, and those also showing the manner of 
 obtaining the silver from the same beds. Rolled copper 
 was exhibited in the Russian department; a feiv pieces of 
 copper were sent by Austria, and others from the Roraas 
 Works, Norway; a cake of copper, with the ores from which 
 it was obtained, was sent from the mines at Montccatini, 
 Tuscany; copper, accompanied by specimens illustrating the 
 method of its smelting, was exhibited from Rio Tinto, Spain, 
 as also some fine copper from Seville. Regarded as a whole, 
 the copper exhibition was defective. 
 
 As to lead, the illustrations were chiefly British. There 
 was an excellent exhibition of Pattinson’s important pro¬ 
 cess for desilverizing that metal—a process which has been 
 of such service to lead-mining generally, rendering many 
 lead-mines workable with profit which must otherwise have 
 been abandoned. The chief ore whence lead is extracted is 
 that known as galena, or the sulphuret of lead, furnishing 
 from seventy-five to eighty-three parts of the metal, accord¬ 
 ing to purity. It usually, though not always, contains 
 silver in variable proportions. Upon the quantity of silver 
 often depends the profitable raising of the ore. Previous 
 to the invention of Mr. Pattinson (of Newcastle-upon-Tyne), 
 about twenty ounces of silver in the ton of lead were required 
 to render the extraction of that metal worth the cost, since 
 then as little as three and four ounces in the ton of lead will 
 repay extraction. Now, as so many ores contain small 
 quantities only of silver, the importance of the process is 
 evident. In a scientific point of view it is one of much 
 interest, as it consists in so conducting the work that por¬ 
 tions of the lead can crystallize, by which the silver becomes 
 excluded, in the manner in which, in many crystallizing 
 processes, foreign substances are excluded during crystalliza¬ 
 tion. Thus, by degrees, a mass of mixed lead and silver is 
 left, extremely rich in the latter. When this richness in 
 silver arrives at the point desired, that metal is extracted, 
 in the usual manner, by cupellation. The lead-smelting at 
 the Allenheads mines, and at the Wanlock Lead Hills, 
 
46 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 
 Dumfriesshire, both excellently displayed, are both founded 
 on Pattinson’s process. While touching on the Wanlock 
 Lead Hills exhibition, we should not pass over the arrange¬ 
 ments by which the fumes from the furnace are prevented 
 from escape, and from damage to the surrounding country, 
 while lead, to the amount of thirty-three per cent, from the 
 deposits, or “fume,” is obtained. 
 
 The Grasshill mine, Teesdale, transmitted illustrations 
 of its lead-smelting, accompanied by sheet-lead and lead- 
 pipes. The Snailbeach lead-mine, Shropshire, also sent 
 sheets and pipes. From Cornwall, also, and from Ireland, 
 there were examples of lead products. There was also 
 some lead from Bleyberg and Vedrin, Belgium; from Spain; 
 from Tuscany, and the Zollverein. The foreign examples 
 of this metal were, however, inconsiderable, viewed as a 
 whole, the chief part of the lead exhibition being British. 
 As illustrating both the good quality of the metal, as well 
 as a proper method of drawing it, we should not pass over 
 the stall of M. Poulet, in the French department, containing 
 lead wires and tape, or spun lead, as it was termed. 
 
 With regard to zinc, the chief exhibition was that of the 
 Vieille Montague, Belgium, dispersed in the Belgian, French, 
 and English departments. This establishment is the most 
 considerable of its kind in the world. The illustrations of 
 its produce, sent by the Company to whom it belongs, were 
 alike remarkable for their abundance, variety, and impor¬ 
 tance. The establishment now employs 2646 persons, and 
 it produced 11,500 tons of zinc in 1850. With the excep¬ 
 tion of some ingots of zinc from the Eschweiler foundries, 
 Stolberg (Zollverein department), and others from the Ster¬ 
 ling Hill Mine, New Jersey, there would appear to have 
 been no other illustrations of zinc smelting and drawing. 
 
 As respects tin, a very important process for separating 
 wolfram (tungstate of iron) from tin ore, was sent by Mr. 
 Oxland, the inventor, from the Drake Walls Tin Mine, on 
 the Cornish side of the Tamar. It may be termed a mixed 
 process of dressing and smelting. Much difficulty arises in 
 the dressing of tin ore when wolfram is present, as too often 
 is the case in Cornwall and Devon, the specific gravity of 
 the two being so nearly alike, that of the tin ore (peroxide 
 of tin) being 7, and of wolfram, 7T. After crushing, or 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 47 
 
 otherwise pounding, the mixed substances, they are roasted, 
 and the wolfram still remaining unaffected, after again 
 washing they are roasted with carbonate or sulphate of soda, 
 aud the process so conducted that the tungstic acid leaves 
 the iron and combines with the soda, thus decomposing the 
 wolfram, and tungstate of soda being formed, the tin ore 
 (commonly termed black tin) is then fitted for further treat¬ 
 ment in the smelting-house. The ordinary method of 
 smelting tin in Cornwall was shown by a model (sent by 
 Mr. Bolitho, Penzance), of the reverberatory furnace em¬ 
 ployed, accompanied by specimens of the various ores as pre¬ 
 pared for smelting, and of the products of that process. The 
 tin of Cornwall and Devon has long supplied the chief por¬ 
 tion of that consumed in Europe and on the shores of the 
 Mediterranean. In 1850, 10,052 tons of the ore were 
 raised. Taking the ore at 50 1. per ton, it would have a value 
 of 500,000/. in that state in 1850. Tin is now imported 
 from other lands. In 1850, 1798 tons of tin, chiefly from 
 Banca, were imported; aud 2211 tons were exported; 
 showing that only 413 tons of British tin found its way 
 elsewhere, the chief part of our tin produce being reserved 
 for our own industry, for which it is in many ways so im¬ 
 portant. Tin was shown from the Malay peninsula; from 
 Scblaggenwald, Bohemia, and from the Avian mountains, 
 Spain. 
 
 llespectiug silver, Pattinson’s important process has been 
 already mentioned. Attached to its illustrations was a large 
 mass of silver, weighing 3000 ounces, well showing the 
 “spitting// as it has been termed, which takes place while 
 the mass was cooling. In the Allenheads series there was 
 a cake of silver, prepared by the same method, weighing 
 8000 ounces. The Kongsberg collection was completed by 
 proper illustration of the silver itself. There was also 
 smelted silver from Prince’s Location, Lake Superior, Ca¬ 
 nada; from the Almeria mines, Spain; and from Eschweiler 
 mines, Stolberg (Zollverein). 
 
 As to gold, there were examples of it from Canada, India, 
 the United States, and West Africa. There was also a re¬ 
 markable specimen of gold from Chili. 
 
 The most important exhibition connected with gold was 
 that from Beichcnstein, in Silesia. It afforded an excellent 
 
48 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 
 example of an application of science by which ores pre¬ 
 viously profitless became valuable; indeed, the mines had 
 been abandoned for five centuries on account of their po¬ 
 verty, though known to be auriferous. It is not the pre¬ 
 cious character of a metal in a mine that renders it impor¬ 
 tant, but its relative amount, making the difference between 
 profit and loss in obtaining it. The Reichenstein case is 
 one where the progress of science rendered a working pro¬ 
 fitable not previously so. The process adopted was that of 
 Professor Plattner, of Freiberg. The ores of the Iteichen- 
 stein mines are arsenical pyrites, containing about 200 
 grains of gold in the ton. These are roasted in a reverbera¬ 
 tory furnace, surmounted by a large condensing chamber, 
 on which the arsenic is deposited, as it rises in fumes. Ox¬ 
 ide of ii’on, a certain quantity of arsenic, and the gold in 
 the ore, remain beneath. These are placed in a vessel, so 
 that a current of chlorine gas is transmitted through them. 
 The gold and iron are attacked, are separated from the resi¬ 
 due by solution in water, and the gold is precipitated by 
 sulphuretted hydrogen. The importance of the process is 
 evident; and it is but justice to Dr. Percy to state, that at 
 the meeting of the British Association at Swansea in 1848, 
 he advocated the employment of chlorine for a similar 
 purpose. 
 
 With respect to the metals platinum, palladium, iri¬ 
 dium, and rhodium, they were shown in their different 
 metallurgic states by Messrs. Johnson and Matthey; and 
 the method -of reducing antimony was well illustrated by 
 Mr. Hallett. 
 
 We have entered into some detail on the subject of the 
 metals, in their various states, from the ore in the mine to 
 the metals themselves, not only from the importance of the 
 subject, but also in order to show the character of the Ex¬ 
 hibition as regards this portion of it. It will have been 
 observed, that no mention has been made of some important 
 metalliferous countries, and that, even as regards others, 
 metallic products for which they have been long known 
 have not been noticed as coming from them. Those old 
 cradles of European mining, Saxony and the Hartz, did not 
 transmit any of their products, nor any illustrations of their 
 mining operations; neither were the mining regions of Mex- 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 49 
 
 ico and the South American States represented, except in¬ 
 deed by a remarkable specimen of silver, and another of 
 gold, from Chili. As a general fact, and one well known 
 to all who had to investigate the subject, though here and 
 there important exhibitions were to be found, mining gene¬ 
 rally, even that of our own country, required far more illus¬ 
 tration than it received. Let us not, however, be surprised 
 at this; the marvel was, fairly regarding the conditions un¬ 
 der which the collections were made, that so much had been 
 accomplished, not so little. In no department of the Ex¬ 
 hibition will have been found more perfect disinterestedness 
 on the part of the exhibitors. The honest miner, not for¬ 
 warding specimens of ores for the purpose of exciting atten¬ 
 tion to shares in his mines, could gain nothing by sending 
 illustrations of his ores and methods of preparing them, and 
 yet the cost of transmitting such heavy articles was con¬ 
 siderable. The collector and describer of the important series 
 of British iron ores will not dispose of a ton more of his iron 
 for all the trouble and expense which that collection has 
 occasioned him. The same with ludicrous others. All 
 these were thorough good-will offerings to a cause considered 
 good, and, as such, are deserving of all public acknow¬ 
 ledgment. 
 
 The class under consideration also included steels and the 
 alloys generally of the metals considered as raw materials. 
 The first was an especial difficult subject to treat without 
 reference to other classes where that metallic substance was 
 employed, seeing that the various kinds of steel had to be 
 made for the work for which they were intended. As, for 
 example, in the Sheffield department, raw steel was shown, 
 ■with one exception, in connexion with the various manufac¬ 
 tures it contained. Fitting steel was to be found with the 
 files, the springs, or the cutlery, as the case required. As 
 steel is usually made, in this country, from Swedish and 
 Russian iron, the steel of Mr. Solly, of Leabrook, made 
 with British iron’, and exhibited, should be mentioned. 
 
 As a steel exhibition alone the most illustrative collection 
 was that sent by Messrs. Naylor, Vickers, and Co. It was 
 accompanied by a large and beautiful model of the furnaces, 
 rolling-mills, and forge, and was, altogether, a most effective 
 display of British steel. In the Zollvercin department there 
 
50 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 
 was a remarkable exhibition of steel by M. Krupp, of Essen, 
 Dusseldorf; but here again it was difficult to separate a 
 consideration of the raw material from the rolling-mills and 
 other objects to which it was applicable. A broken cylinder 
 of this steel, measuring fifteen inches in diameter, was par¬ 
 ticularly remarkable. There were illustrations of steels 
 from various lands, and they, with the irons, may be^ re¬ 
 garded as the most effective part of the metallic collections 
 in the Exhibition. 
 
 With regard to brass, there was little that came within 
 Class I., but the most important considered in it was the 
 series exhibited by the MM. Estivant, of (riven, France. 
 It was an excellent collection, composed of articles of ordi¬ 
 nary manufacture at their establishment, often of great size 
 and difficulty of execution. Though employing the usual 
 mixtures of copper and zinc, it is stated that especial mea¬ 
 sures are adopted by which the fine products shown are con¬ 
 stantly obtained. There were rolled bars and tables of con¬ 
 siderable dimensions, as well as excellent laminated brass 
 of extreme thinness.? 
 
 In the English series some alloys of iron with different 
 metals were shown by Mr. Stirling. Articles made with 
 them were also exhibited, and these alloys were stated to 
 have some remarkable properties. There were varieties of 
 other alloys in the Exhibition, many of considerable import¬ 
 ance; but these were usually so combined in manufactures 
 as not to come under Class I. There was, however, a case 
 containing 176 specimens of the useful metals and their 
 alloys, shown by Mr. Jordan, of Manchester, which should 
 not be passed over without adverting to its very useful 
 character. 
 
 Plumbago, or black-lead, as it is so erroneously termed, 
 should, perhaps, have been noticed after the coals, seeing 
 that it is a substance chiefly composed of carbon with some 
 admixtures of other substances, not unfrequently iron. The 
 importance of plumbago for the arts and for crucibles is 
 well known. After the Borrowdale mines, Cumberland, 
 were somewhat exhausted, it became important, for that 
 variety of plumbago employed in arts, to obtain some sub¬ 
 stitute; and varieties of compounds were invented, but no¬ 
 thing succeeded so well as the compressing process patented 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 51 
 
 by Mr. Brockedon, of which illustrations were in the Exhi¬ 
 bition. By this process much of the Borrowdale plumbago 
 dust has been utilized with advantage. It, or any other 
 good plumbago, is ground into fine powder, placed in packets, 
 and then receives a pressure equal to about 5000 tons. To 
 prevent the injurious effect of disseminated air in the packets 
 of fine powder, it is extracted by means of an air-pump, and 
 thus the particles themselves can be brought into close 
 juxtaposition and forced to cohere. Of the application of 
 plumbago to crucibles there were several examples, some 
 well known for their quality. 
 
 Of building stones it could not be expected that there 
 would be many not British. There were, however, a few 
 specimens in other divisions. The most important series 
 was that of Messrs. Freeman, of Westminster, where the 
 various stones employed in London for architecture and 
 engineering found their places. Dispersed illustrations of 
 similar stones were also to be seen in other departments. 
 
 With respect to marbles, serpentines, porphyries, and 
 granites, it is needful to refer to other classes for a proper 
 appreciation of those,exhibited, many being only to be found 
 in a worked state. Taken as a whole, they were fairly re¬ 
 presented. The British was an effective exhibition, more 
 especially when regarded with reference to the mode of work 
 employed. Marbles were sent from France, Belgium, Spain, 
 Portugal, Italy, Greece, the German States, India, and even 
 from South Africa. In foreign porphyries and granites 
 there was no great display. The porphyry and granite of 
 Sweden were, however, not forgotten; neither were the 
 granites of the Vosges, France, and certain granites and 
 porphyries of Portugal, unrepresented. 
 
 liespecting slates, for the production of which this coun¬ 
 try is so remarkable, there were good illustrations, especially 
 when regarded with reference to their manufactured state. 
 There were also examples of slates from Canada. Foreign 
 slates were little exhibited; the well-known Angers slates, 
 France, were only represented by a few of the smaller size. 
 There were, also, examples of slates from the United States, 
 Sardinia, and Nassau. 
 
 Mr. Meinig, of Leadenhall Street, sent a splendid display 
 of polishing, sharpening, and grind-stones, from all parts of 
 
52 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 
 the world—a most remarkable exhibition of its kind. Simi¬ 
 lar mineral products were to be found dispersed through 
 various departments. Our own grind-stones were not for¬ 
 gotten; and the well-known millstones of France and Bel¬ 
 gium were well represented. 
 
 Of porcelain or china clay, the chief exhibition was that 
 from Cornwall and Devon, which, with the addition of 
 Cornish felspar, used in porcelain, was effective. There 
 were some examples of porcelain clay from France; and in 
 the Chinese collection, among the various materials em¬ 
 ployed in the manufacture of porcelain, were some illustra¬ 
 tive specimens of similar clays. Many examples ot pipe 
 and other clays were to be found, as well as excellent illus¬ 
 trations of British fire-clays and bricks. 
 
 The important subject of mineral manures was not for¬ 
 gotten. The various substances, bones, teeth, coprolites, 
 and concretions of phosphate of lime, from the tertiary series 
 of Felixstow, near Ipswich, were shown, as were also the 
 various bodies containing phosphate of lime from the British 
 cretaceous series, of some localities. There was likewise an 
 illustrative collection, pointing to the importance of mineral 
 manures, in the French department. 
 
 Of the mode of occurrence of gems there were some valu¬ 
 able illustrations, such as of the emeralds of New Granada 
 and the turquoises of Arabia. If it may be permitted to 
 include the precious stones generally (and a very fine col¬ 
 lection of cut gems was shown in the Class I., British Depart¬ 
 ment), looking at the exhibition of them generally, it may 
 be probably regarded as the most remarkable ever assembled 
 in a single building. 
 
 You will have gathered from the foregoing sketch, that, 
 as regards mineral raw materials, mining and metallurgical 
 processes, the Exhibition was of a very unequal character. 
 While there may have been many deficiencies, there were, 
 at the same time, many important illustrations of this class. 
 Regarding the subject as a whole, we have to repeat what 
 has already been said of a particular branch of it, that the 
 marvel is how, under all the conditions of collection, so 
 much that was effective could have been accomplished. It 
 is most desirable that the real character of this portion of 
 the Exhibition, as, indeed, of all others, should be thoroughly 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 53 
 
 understood, alike for the benefit of present knowledge as for 
 future progress. Depreciation or exaggeration, the one by 
 reaction usually producing the other, have to be alike 
 avoided. By analyzing the truth, we obtain results such as 
 may really produce advance, and advance is your object. 
 The Great Exhibition, brilliant as its course has been, is 
 not the end ; it is the means to the end. You do not intend 
 to stand still, and look back upon its past splendour as a 
 thing only of history; you propose to consider how far you 
 can render it available for future public good. There is a 
 movement, which cannot be mistaken, towards more general 
 instruction connected with the industry of our country—a 
 movement arising out of the late Exhibition. That this 
 movement should be effective the utmost care will be needed; 
 and as far as the Great Exhibition can instruct us, and assist 
 the good cause, it is of the utmost importance that its bril¬ 
 liant and deserved success should not so far dazzle us that 
 we pass unheeded many considerations of the most essential 
 kind. 
 
 As regards the class with which we are now occupied, it 
 is probable that which will be eventually found the least 
 complete. It could scarcely be otherwise. I may be here 
 reminded that this is of the less importance, seeing that the 
 State has already provided instruction as regards it, and, 
 indeed, somewhat more. No doubt, the commencement of 
 the School of Mines, lately opened at the Museum of Practi¬ 
 cal Geology, has been very successful, and that there is 
 excellent promise for the future; but this present success 
 and this promise for the future seem only to point out the 
 more strongly that industrial instruction should be extended, 
 and that, if carefully considered with reference to the wants 
 and habits of our country, schools ‘in aid of the various 
 branches of industry, now receiving no educational assist¬ 
 ance whatever, may bo equally successful. Best assured, 
 there is no want of power in our land to jwoduce the result 
 desired; that power has but to be aroused, and to be skil¬ 
 fully adjusted, to become effective. 
 
 Viewed as suggestive, the deficiencies were valuable as 
 pointing out the need of instruction generally respecting the 
 true character of mineral raw materials, the means of extract¬ 
 ing them, and the methods of rendering them available to 
 
54 MINING, QUARRYING, AND METALLURGICAL 
 
 man. It was not to be expected that the mass of the thou¬ 
 sands daily visiting the Exhibition should be capable of 
 forming a correct judgment on the subject, but it became 
 an object of importance to endeavour to ascertain the pro¬ 
 portion of those termed—from the kind of instruction they 
 usually receive—the educated classes, who really appre¬ 
 ciated such deficiencies. Beyond those whose business of 
 life it was to take part in the commerce and industry con¬ 
 nected with the subject, and who readily understood them, 
 it was but too clear that little knowledge of the kind was 
 diffused. This arose from no want of power to grasp the 
 subject, but simply that, under ordinary circumstances, this 
 kind of knowledge had not been brought under considera¬ 
 tion. It is one, nevertheless, of no slight value to many 
 occupying the highest stations, who, if their mineral wealth 
 were abstracted, would find their resources most materially 
 deteriorated. It is no less important to numbers of persons 
 daily speculating in mines, ignorant of all connected with 
 them, except the traffic in shares. It is not a true inference, 
 as has been sometimes drawn, that such want of knowledge 
 is simply a private matter. It is a national loss, the amount 
 of capital thoroughly wasted, and which, if rightly employed, 
 would have been beneficial to the public, is enormous. 
 
 As has been seen, there were numerous and important 
 illustrations of the subjects included in our class; many 
 more especially valuable, as showing the applications of 
 science to the means of rendering mineral substances useful. 
 Some of these may not, indeed, have had claims to imme¬ 
 diate novelty; but their juxtaposition was, nevertheless, 
 highly suggestive of the direction in which the mind might be 
 advantageously employed for further progress—an important 
 point in exhibitions of this kind. Science is essential to 
 progress in our department, and it is most cheering to find 
 its union with practice daily becoming more thoroughly 
 appreciated in this country, where hitherto we have not 
 possessed the educational advantages, as regards instruction 
 connected with industry, possessed by many other nations. 
 We have had the advantage of seeing, during the late Exhi- 
 tion, how eagerly our foreign brethren in industry seized 
 upon all showing the useful applications of science; how 
 anxious they were to visit the localities whence illustrations 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 55 
 
 of them were derived. Let us not he laggards in the same 
 field; let us also utilize the Exhibition for progress, and 
 not let its suggestions pass unheeded. It has been seen, 
 that while we had much to teach, and many were the points 
 connected with our mineral wealth which engaged the anxious 
 attention of our visiters from other lands, we had also much 
 to learn. Let us strive to learn as well as teach, and thus 
 improve, for the advantage of all, the good fellowship esta¬ 
 blished, by the influence of the Great Exhibition, among so 
 many able men of various lands; and so that, in times to 
 come, that Exhibition may be truthfully regarded as having 
 been a real benefit to man. 
 
 December 2 , 1851 . 
 

 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS FROM THE ANIMAL 
 
 KINGDOM. 
 
 RICHARD OWEN, F.R.S. 
 
 ( 57 ) 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
RICHARD OWEN, F.R.S. 
 
 ON THE 
 
 RAW MATERIALS FROM THE ANIMAL 
 KINGDOM. 
 
 In coming before you this evening with some observations 
 on the “ Animal Substances used in Manufactures, dis¬ 
 played in the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry 
 of all Nations,” I am actuated rather by a deference to the 
 august source of the suggestion that originated the present 
 series of lectures, and by the desire to comply with the re¬ 
 quest with which the Council of this Society have honoured 
 me, than by any confidence in the worth of what I may have 
 to say. My habitual studies have, truly, left me little 
 leisure for their extension beyond the structure, develope- 
 ment, and purely scientific relations of those parts of animal 
 bodies which mankind have converted to their outward use; 
 and as for their applications to the arts and manufactures, 
 and the various processes to which they are thereto sub¬ 
 jected, I must confess myself herein a poor scholar merely, 
 and a very recent one, owing such elementary information 
 as I may possess to opportunities afforded during the pre¬ 
 sent year by the Great and happily-conceived Exhibition; 
 from which every one, no matter what his social or intel¬ 
 lectual grade, must have derived, if he availed himself of it 
 at all, lasting instruction and benefit. No one could feel 
 more conscious than myself of my want of all that special 
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
60 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 knowledge and experience which might have been looked 
 for in a Juror for the Class (TV.) of “ Vegetable and Animal 
 Substances used in Manufactures, as Implements, or for 
 Ornaments;” and I was aware that the only grounds on 
 which my name could have suggested itself to the Council 
 of the Great Exhibition, as that of one likely to serve them 
 in that capacity, were my known devotion to the science of 
 the organization of animals.* It was, however, urged, that 
 such scientific knowledge would help in guiding to right 
 conclusions on the nature and relative perfections of the raw 
 materials assigned to the inspection of Jury IV.; and I 
 need not say, that whatever aid it was thought I might con¬ 
 tribute towards the successful carrying out a design, enlist¬ 
 ing the warmest sympathies of every Englishman, was 
 most heartily rendered, to the best of my ability, at the call 
 of the Royal Commission. In the present concluding scene 
 of that Act of the Great Industrial Drama in which I have 
 been a humble performer, I must entreat your kind indul¬ 
 gence whilst I offer you, what alone I feel competent to do, 
 some results, namely, of investigations into the nature, 
 organization, and developement of the “ Animal Substances 
 chiefly used in Manufactures, as Implements or for Orna¬ 
 ments,” being fully conscious that most of the members of 
 this highly useful and distinguished Association know much 
 better than I can pretend to do the art-and-manufacture 
 relations of the subjects of the present discourse. 
 
 . For the “raw materials” from the vegetable and animal 
 kingdoms, adapted for manufactures, mankind owes more to 
 the powers and operations of jSlature than to the inventions 
 and appliances of Art; and in the series of the various 
 organic products of almost every climate which were exposed 
 to view in the Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all 
 Nations, the relati-ve excellence of the objects to be com¬ 
 pared might be deemed to be due rather to peculiarities of 
 soil and sky than to the individual merits of the exhibitors. 
 Almost every vegetable or animal substance may, however, 
 be modified, and, in relation to its utility to man, improved, 
 by a change of the circumstances under which it is naturally 
 
 * “Official, Descriptive, and Illustrated Catalogue” (List of 
 Jurors), vol. 1. p. 45. 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 61 
 
 developed, such change or improvement being suggested by 
 a patient study of the respective influence of those cir¬ 
 cumstances upon the useful properties of the substance. 
 A further improvement may be effected by carefully de¬ 
 fending the raw material during the progress of its devclope- 
 ment from all external influences calculated to deteriorate 
 or injuriously affect it. The value of every organic product 
 in commerce is much influenced by the mode of its collection, 
 or removal from the animal or plant when developed, and 
 by the processes for separating the useless or less valuable 
 parts, or heterogeneous matters, from the marketable con¬ 
 stituent ; and, in the sense in which the term “ raw ma¬ 
 terial” was extended in its application to that section of the 
 Exhibition assigned to Jury IV., great scope for both chemi¬ 
 cal and mechanical skill was afforded in the extraction and 
 preparation of several of the vegetable and animal sub¬ 
 stances applied “ in Manufactures, as Implements, or for 
 Ornaments.” 
 
 In the examination and comparison of the very numer¬ 
 ous and diversified substances confided to their judgment, 
 the Jury IV., over which I had the honour to preside, were 
 guided and influenced by the consideration of the invention, 
 ingenuity, skill, and industry manifested in the amelioration 
 and perfection of these several substances, and by the de¬ 
 grees in which unfavourable conditions of soil and climate 
 had been thereby overcome; and in deciding on individual 
 merits, they were careful to take into account the natural 
 facilities which favoured, and the natural difficulties which 
 opposed, the realization of the desired qualities in the raw 
 produce transmitted for exhibition. After a preliminary 
 general survey of their field of operations had shown its vast 
 extent and the great practical importance of the objects to 
 be compared, the Jury, having regard also to the earnest 
 desire expressed for expedition in their decisions, resolved 
 themselves into two Committees, one for the Vegetable, the 
 other for the Animal Kingdom ; reviewing and testing from 
 time to time in general meetings the evidence of the special 
 examinations confided to those Committees. 
 
 The subjects selected for this evening’s lecture, and on 
 which I shall now proceed to speak, are the most valuable 
 and important of those “raw materials” which fell under 
 6 
 
62 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 the survey of the Committee for the “ Animal Kingdom.” 
 And, first, of the animal substances used for textile products 
 and clothing. 
 
 Wool. 
 
 The raw material of most importance and in most general 
 use for the above purposes is wool. This is a peculiar mo¬ 
 dification of hair, characterized by fine transverse or oblique 
 lines, from 2000 to 4000 in the extent of an inch, indica¬ 
 tive of a minutely imbricated scaly surface, when viewed 
 under the microscope, on which, and on its curved or twisted 
 form, depends its remarkable felting property, and its con¬ 
 sequent value in manufactures. 
 
 Most quadrupeds possess the woolly variety of hair as an 
 under-clothing, but in a small proportion, and hidden by 
 the smooth, exterior, coarser, and straighter kind of hair. 
 In the wild sheep (e. g. the argali of Central Asia, Ovis 
 ammon, and the mouflon or musmon of Sardinia and Cor¬ 
 sica, Ovis musimon ), the woolly variety of hair is deve¬ 
 loped in excess; and in the domesticated races the fleece has 
 been modified and improved, in various degrees, by crossing 
 the breeds, by choice of climate and pasture, and by care¬ 
 ful attention and defence during its growth, until not only 
 has the original coarse character of the product disappeared, 
 but qualities of wool of different kinds and of different de¬ 
 grees of superiority have been obtained, generally divisible 
 into two classes, one better adapted for “carding,” the 
 other for “combing,” and both available for a great variety 
 of useful and elegant textile fabrics. 
 
 In judging of these qualities in the wools exhibited, the 
 Jury tested the fineness and elasticity of the fibre, the de¬ 
 grees of imbrication of the scaled surface of the fibre as 
 shown by the microscope, the quantity of fibre developed 
 in a given space of the fleece, the comparative freedom of 
 the fleece from extraneous matters, and the skill and care 
 employed in preparatory processes; such, for example, as 
 that termed “ scouring” the fleece, upon which depends its 
 liability or otherwise to mat at the bottom of the staple. 
 
 Probably a more extensive, varied, and instructive collec¬ 
 tion of wools was never brought together under one roof for 
 
OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 63 
 
 inspection and comparison than that which was contributed 
 to the Great Exhibition; and it exemplified, in a remark¬ 
 able degree, the extent to which pastoral life—commenced, 
 according to oldest records, in Central Asia, the habitat of 
 the argali—has since been spread over the globe. From 
 the provinces of Chinese Tartary, from Thibet, and India, 
 in the East, to the lately redeemed tracts of the United 
 States in the far West; from Iceland and Scandinavia, in the 
 North, to the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, and Tasmania, 
 in the South, specimens of the staple of the flocks there, 
 and in almost every intermediate latitude and longitude, 
 preserved and multiplied under the fostering and modifying 
 influence of civilized man, had been transmitted for inspec¬ 
 tion and comparison. 
 
 If the test of the value of a domestic animal be the 
 numbers on the preservation of which human care is be¬ 
 stowed, and on the extent of the habitable globe over which 
 mankind has diffused the species, then the sheep takes the 
 first rank. With regard to an animal so essentially related 
 to the welfare of mankind, every fact in its natural history 
 is of special interest, and we are particularly concerned in 
 the endeavour to trace the origin of the domesticated variety 
 to which we owe so much. 
 
 The recent progress of palaeontology, or the science of 
 fossil organic remains—remarkable for its unprecedented 
 rapidity—adds a new element to the elucidation of this 
 question, which was so ably discussed by Buffon, and the 
 naturalists of the last century. At present, however, the 
 evidence which palaeontology yields is of the negative kind. 
 No unequivocal fossil remains of the sheep have yet been 
 • found in the bone-caves, the drift, or the more tranquil 
 stratified newer pleiocenc deposits, so associated with the 
 fossil bones of oxen, wild boax-', wolves, foxes, otters, bea¬ 
 vers, &c., as to indicate the coevality of the sheep with 
 those species, or in such an altered state as to indicate them 
 to have been of equal antiquity. I have had my attention 
 particularly directed to this point in collecting evidence for 
 a “ History of our British Fossil Mammalia .” Wherever 
 the truly characteristic parts, viz. the bony cores of the 
 hoims, have been found associated with jaws, teeth, and 
 other parts of the skeleton of a ruminant, corresponding in 
 
64 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 size and other characters with those of the goat and sheep 
 in the formations of the newer pleiocene period, such sup¬ 
 ports of the horns have proved to be those of the goat.* 
 No fossil horn-core of a sheep has yet been anywhere dis¬ 
 covered : and so far as this negative evidence goes, we may 
 infer that the sheep is not geologically more ancient than 
 man; that it is not a native of Europe; but, has been in¬ 
 troduced by the tribes who carried hither the germs of civi¬ 
 lization in their migrations westward from Asia. 
 
 Natural history, as yet, possesses no facts or principle 
 adequate to the satisfactory solution of the question, whether 
 the domesticated sheep—the Ovis aries of Linnaeus—was 
 created as such in special relation to the exigencies of man; 
 or whether it was the result of man’s interference with the 
 habits and wild mode of life of the argali (Ovis ammon 
 of Linnaeus), or other untamed and unsubdued species of 
 sheep. Analogy would point to the latter hypothesis as the 
 more probable one. Domesticated varieties of animals have 
 been established from wild originals for the behoof of man¬ 
 kind, within a comparatively recent period in his history; 
 of which the turkey, introduced and diffused over Europe 
 and Asia since the discovery of America, is an example. 
 Permanent varieties of the Ovis aries itself have been in¬ 
 stituted by the art and interference of man, of which I shall 
 presently have to recount the chief circumstances of a very 
 recent and remarkable instance. The most ancient records 
 of our race, both sacred and profane, tell us of the sheep 
 as already an animal domesticated for the food and clothing 
 of man; and it is a significant fact, that both the Scythians 
 of the elevated plains of Inner Asia,—who, according to 
 Herodotus, obtained felt,f and, according to Strabo,J food 
 
 * A characteristic fossil of this kind found associated with re¬ 
 mains of the mammoth and leptorhine rhinoceros, in the newer 
 fresh-water pleiocene of Walton, in Essex, is figured in my “His¬ 
 tory of British Fossil Mammalia,” p. 489, cut 204. 
 
 -j- Herodotus, iv. 73, “They live under trees, covering the tree 
 in winter with strong and thick undyed felt, and removing the felt 
 in summer.” 
 
 J “They do not till the ground, hut derive their sustenance 
 from sheep aud fish, after the manner of the nomadic Scythians.” 
 —Strabo, xi. cap. viii. p. 486. Both cited by Mr. Yates in his 
 classical work, “ Textrinum Anti quorum.” 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 G5 
 
 from their flocks—and the patriarchal Hebrew shepherds 
 of the plains of Mesopotamia—the earliest instances of 
 pastoral life—dwelt in that part of the earth where the 
 wild argali ( Ovis ammon ) still exists in greatest numbers. 
 
 The ancient Hebrews were wholly an agricultural and 
 pastoral people. Their pastures are described, in the 65th 
 Psalm, as being “ clothed with flocks.” The religious 
 metaphors of the Bible are chiefly derived from pastoral 
 life, and in no part more touchingly than in the sacred po¬ 
 ems ascribed to the Royal Psalmist :—“ The Lord is my 
 shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down 
 in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. 
 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of 
 death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy crook 
 and thy staff, they comfort me.” (Ps. xxiii. 1, 2, 4.) And 
 again, how beautiful a pastoral picture is portrayed in the 
 following few and simple words: “ He shall feed his flock 
 like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, 
 and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those 
 that are with young.” (Isa. xl. 11.) It is not, however, 
 from the records of a people so exclusive as the Jews that 
 we can trace the course of the diffusion of domesticated 
 flocks from the Asiatic centre where history points to the 
 beginning of pastoral life. The classical authors of Greece 
 and Rome, however, afford sufficient indication of the chan¬ 
 nels by which this element of civilization was diffused. We 
 learn from Strabo, that sheep-breeding had extended to 
 Northern Africa; and that, in his time, the dry and hot 
 climate of ^Ethiopia exercised the same influence on the 
 growth of wool as at the present day: “ The ./Ethiopian 
 sheep,” he says, “ were small, and instead of being woolly, 
 were hairy like goats.”* Of the numbers of the domesti¬ 
 cated sheep in Northern Africa at the time of Pindar we 
 may form an idea from the epithet u TroXt^Xos,”—“abound¬ 
 ing in flocks,” applied by that poet'f' to distinguish Lybia. 
 
 It appears, by quotations from Hipponax—a poet of Ephe¬ 
 sus, who flourished about‘540 years before Christ, and who 
 alludes to the woollen fabrics of the Coraxi, who occupied 
 
 * Cap. ii. sec. 1, 3, cited in “Textr. Ant.,” p. 94. 
 
 f Pyth. ix. 11, cited in ibid., p. 25. 
 
 6 * 
 
66 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 part of modern Circassia—as well as from contemporary 
 reference to the commerce of Miletus, at that period the 
 greatest commercial city next to Tyre and Carthage, that 
 the progress of sheep-breeding towards the north-west was 
 across the Euxine Sea, and the straits connected with it, 
 into Europe. Thrace is called by Homer “ the mother of 
 flocks;”* and this is the earliest record of the domestic 
 sheep in Europe. From Thrace we trace them to Thessaly, 
 and thence to Greece, where they were so generally and 
 successfully reared and tended, that “ Arcadia” became the 
 scene of all that the poets sing of the beautiful in pastoral 
 life. Here the god Pan was feigned to be born—Pan the 
 god of Arcadia; and to trace his worship from Greece to 
 the colonies settled in Italy and Spain is to follow the pro¬ 
 gress of the diffusion of the domesticated flocks and the 
 pastoral people over whom Pan especially presided. 
 
 From Spain and Italy the breeding of sheep extended into 
 Germany and Gaul; and Caesar found abundant cattle 
 (pecoris magnus numerics'), which may be inferred to in¬ 
 clude sheep, amongst the aborigines of Cantium or Kent, 
 whom he describes as being “ the most advanced in civiliza¬ 
 tion of all the ancient Britons.” I shall here quit the his¬ 
 tory of the diffusion of the domestic sheep, with the remark 
 tha.t some of those procedures, which are now most influ¬ 
 ential in improving the staple of the fleece, were practised 
 in ancient times. Yarrof speaks of the custom of the 
 Athenian shepherds of covering their sheep with skins, in 
 order to improve the fleece; and the Cynic Diogenes, in 
 reference to a similar practice amongst the shepherds of Me- 
 garis, whose children were allowed to run about naked, 
 says, “ he would rather be the ram, than the son, of a Mega- 
 rensian.”| 
 
 The continuance of these arts of ancient pastoral life, 
 combined with suitable climate and locality, and the exer¬ 
 cise of skill and tact in crossing and breeding from the best 
 varieties of the domesticated sheep, have combined to produce 
 the fine qualities of the staple, which were so remarkably 
 
 * Iliad, A. 222. 
 
 f De Re Rustica, ii. 2. (“Textr. Ant.,” p. 40.) 
 
 I Diog. Laert. vi. 41. (Ib. p. 42.) 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 67 
 
 illustrated in the specimens exhibited in the Crystal 
 Palace. 
 
 After the comparison of the wools exhibited by the 
 growers of different nations, our Jury were unanimous in 
 making the first mention of those transmitted from Ger¬ 
 many as being pre-eminent in the qualities of highest value. 
 
 Under “ German Wools’ 5 were included those from Aus¬ 
 tria and Austrian Silesia, Hungary, Prussia, Saxony, and 
 Polish Silesia. In Austria, the Jury made first mention of 
 the specimens exhibited under No. 90, by Messrs. Figdor 
 and Sons. The fleeces exhibited by this firm presented in 
 a high degree the desired qualities of substance and true¬ 
 ness in the staple, due to the equality of size, and to the 
 fineness and elasticity of the component fibres, the spiral 
 curves of which were close and regular, and were immedi¬ 
 ately resumed after being obliterated by stretching the fibre, 
 the length of which was also considerable for wool of this 
 “ felting” quality, the most valuable for the finest descrip¬ 
 tions of cloth. 
 
 Under No. 92 Count II. Larisch Moennich exhibited the 
 product of a fine and well-known flock, from Silesia, by four 
 fleeces, which presented similar excellent qualities to those 
 of No. 90. 
 
 The fine and high-bred fleeces of a pure stock merino, 
 from Silesia, exhibited under No. 91 by Count Anton von 
 Mittrowski, showed the valuable qualities of fineness and 
 elasticity of fibre in an eminent degree. 
 
 No. 89, sent by Count Joseph Hunyada von Ketheley, 
 was a fleece from a flock in Hungary, an unwashed spe¬ 
 cimen, but of a very fine quality of fibre; it was a little 
 inferior to the best Silesian examples only in being some¬ 
 what thinner or poorer in substance. The fine imbrication 
 and elastic properties of the fibre were, however, remarkably 
 characteristic of this fleece. 
 
 From the difficulty of arriving at a correct judgment of 
 the degrees of individual merit, especially from samples 
 giving an uncertain indication of the average value of the 
 produce of the flocks, the Jury, whilst awarding the prize 
 medal to the best exhibitors, came to the conclusion of 
 testifying their sense of the peculiar value and excellence 
 of the felting or carding wools, adapted to the manufacture 
 
68 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 of the finest kinds of cloth, which were exhibited in the 
 Austrian department, by recommending the transmission of 
 a Council medal to the Government of that empire. 
 
 In the Zollverein, the fleeces transmitted by E. Liibbert 
 from Zweybrodt, near Breslau, were very remarkable for 
 those qualities which, like the Austrian Silesian wools, adapt 
 them for the fabrication of the finest cloths. The merino 
 fleeces of two-year-old ewes, from Bromberg, exhibited by 
 Legations-Bath Ivuepfer, were characterized by the fineness 
 and regularity of the staple, and favourably illustrated the 
 advance of the improvement of wool in the Prussian districts 
 of the Middle Vistula. I must also mention the specimens 
 exhibited under Nos. 45 and 46 by the Oberburggraf von 
 Briinneck, viz. the fleeces of a ram and one ewe from a 
 merino flock at Bellschwitz, and the specimens of wool in¬ 
 discriminately taken from a merino flock at Bosenberg; for 
 these, though rather inferior in quality to the finest Silesian 
 wools, manifested a fineness, softness, and elasticity of fibre, 
 and a regularity of staple, which in the opinion of the Jury 
 merited an award to the exhibitor of the prize medal. The 
 Bellschwitz flock was procured by the Oberburggraf in Spain 
 in 1814, and afterwards improved by additions of the finest 
 Saxon and Silesian races in 1820 and 1824. 
 
 In America, the wool transmitted by Mr. J. H. Ewing, 
 from Washington, Pennsylvania, was remarkable for the 
 good substance of the fleece, as well as for the quality of 
 the fibre, and the Jury awarded to him the prize medal. 
 One of the able Experts, who rendered valuable aid to the 
 Jury, was of opinion that “the wools shown by America 
 most approximated to the character of the German wools.” 
 
 In Bussia, the specimens of wool from Livonia ex¬ 
 hibited by N. N. Schloss-Wikaten, appeared to be derived 
 from a flock of Silesian origin, and exhibited all those 
 characters of the fibre which adapt it for good clothing 
 purposes. 
 
 The wool from the merino sheep from Spain, for which 
 that country was once so famous, showed all those charac¬ 
 ters which distinguished it a century ago; but not the 
 advance and improvement made by the sheep-breeders 
 who have since introduced the same variety into suitable 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 69 
 
 localities in Saxony, Prussia, Austria, Hungary, and 
 Austro-Silesia. 
 
 The best examples of Spanish wool were exhibited under 
 No. 230, by Hon Justo Hernandez. Of black and white 
 wool from Salamanca, four samples were transmitted by this 
 exhibitor:—1. Unwashed wool for clothing purposes; 2. 
 Unwashed wool for worsted; 3. Wool washed before shear¬ 
 ing, in the Saxon manner; 4. Wool sheared in February 
 1851. Don Hernandez had introduced into Spain the 
 custom of clothing the sheep from the beginning of Decem¬ 
 ber to the end of May; and amongst the specimens trans¬ 
 mitted to the Exhibition, was a fleece which had been so 
 defended, and one that had been exposed to the direct 
 influence of the atmospheric agencies. The difference in 
 the quality was remarkable, and spoke decidedly in favour 
 of the temporary protection of the fleece. 
 
 In France, the specimens of wool selected as meriting the 
 reward of the prize medal, were those exhibited under No. 
 1249, by Le General Girod de l’Ain. The fleeces of 
 merino wool, from this exhibitor’s flock at Nuz, although 
 of a thin staple, and apparently not full grown, manifested 
 the qualities adapting it for the finer descriptions of cloth 
 in an excellent degree. No. 1080, from the “National 
 Sheep-fold of liambouillet,” showed similar qualities in 
 four fleeces of the true merinos. No. 1312, E. Lefevre: 
 the specimens of wool in tufts transmitted by this exhibitor 
 from Gevrolles (Cote d’Or) were long in the staple and 
 very sound, forming a very superior description of combing 
 ivool. No. 354, F. Ilicher: the two fleeces of rams, of 
 pure merino breed, two years old, transmitted from Gouvix, 
 Calvados, exhibited praiseworthy care and skill in the 
 management of the flocks. 
 
 Amongst the scries of wools shown in the French depart¬ 
 ment were specimens characterized by a well-skilled English 
 expert as “a wool of singular and peculiar properties; the 
 hair glossy and silky, similar to mohair, retaining at the 
 same time certain properties of the merino breed.” This 
 wool was exhibited under No. 245, by J. L. Graux, of the 
 farm of Mauchamp, Commune de Juvincourt (Aisne), as 
 the produce of a peculiar variety of the merino breed of 
 sheep. 
 
70 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 The Jury entered into an inquiry, not only into the 
 commercial value and application, hut into the particulars 
 of the production of this new kind of wool, and found it to 
 be one of the very few instances in which the origination of 
 a distinct variety of a domestic quadruped could be satis¬ 
 factorily traced, with all the circumstances attending its 
 developement well authenticated. The following is a brief 
 statement of this interesting case. 
 
 In the year 1828, one of the ewes of the flock of merinos 
 in the farm of Mauchamp produced a male lamb, which, as 
 it grew up, became remarkable for the long, smooth, straight, 
 and silky character of the fibre of the wool, and for the 
 smoothness of its horns : it was of small size, and presented 
 certain defects in its conformation, which have disappeared 
 in its descendants. In 1829 M. Graux employed this ram 
 with a view to obtain other rams having the same quality 
 of wool. The produce of 1830 included only one ram and 
 one ewe having the silky quality of the wool; that of 1831 
 produced four rams and one ewe with the fleece of that 
 quality; in the year 1833 the rams with the silky variety 
 of wool were sufficiently numerous of themselves to serve 
 the whole flock. In each subsequent year the lambs have 
 been of the two kinds; one preserving the characters of the 
 ancient race, with the curled, elastic wool, only a little 
 longer and liner than in the ordinary merinos; the other 
 resembling the rams of the new breed, some of which re¬ 
 tained the large head, long neck, narrow chest, and long 
 flanks of the abnormal progenitor, whilst others combined 
 the ordinary and better formed body with the fine silky 
 wool. M. Graux, profiting by this partial resumption of the 
 normal type of the merino in certain of the descendants of 
 the mal-formed original variety, at length succeeded, by a 
 judicious system of crossing and interbreeding, in obtaining 
 a flock combining the long fine silky fleece with a smaller 
 head, shorter neck, broader flanks, and more capacious chest. 
 Of this breed the flocks have become sufficiently numerous 
 to enable the proprietor to sell examples of the breed for 
 exportation. Tbc crossing of the Mauchamp variety with 
 the ordinary merino has also produced a valuable quality of 
 wool, known in France as the “ Mauchamp merino.” The 
 fine, silky wool of the pure Mauchamp breed is remarkable 
 
 i 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 71 
 
 for its qualities as combining wool, owing to the strength as 
 well as the length and fineness of the fibre. It is found of 
 great value by the manufacturers of Cashmere shawls, being 
 second only to the true Cashmere fleece in the fine flexible 
 delicacy of the fabric, and of particular utility when com¬ 
 bined with the Cashmere wool, in imparting to the manu¬ 
 facture qualities of strength and consistence in which the 
 pure Cashmere is deficient. 
 
 Although the quantity of the wool yielded by the Mau- 
 champ variety is less than in the ordinary merinos, the 
 higher price which it obtains in the French market (25 per 
 cent, above the best merino wools), and the present value 
 of the breed, have fully compensated M. Graux for the 
 pains and care which he has manifested in the establishment 
 of the variety. Our Jury, therefore, taking into considera¬ 
 tion the quality of invention which had been superadded to 
 the skill and industry requisite for obtaining the finer quali¬ 
 ties of wool under any circumstances, in the developement 
 of the new variety of sheep yielding the specimens exhibited 
 in No. 245, recommended that the Council medal should be 
 awarded to M. J. L. Graux. 
 
 The comparatively moist climate of England is unfavoura¬ 
 ble to the developement of the highest qualities of wool. 
 We are essentially a practical people, and it does not pay to 
 give the sheep the extensive range, or allow them the length 
 of life, which are amongst the conditions to be added to 
 climate for the acquisition of the finest fleece. The inter¬ 
 minable plains and mountain-ranges of Australia and Tas¬ 
 mania, where the flocks graze under the most favourable of 
 skies, serve to produce for us the wools required for our 
 manufacturers cheaper than they could be developed at 
 home. Our business is to breed sheep for mutton, not for 
 wool: to improve the stocks which in the shortest time put 
 the most meat on the smallest bones. The fleece must 
 always, therefore, be a secondary object with a good farm¬ 
 er. Nevertheless, very respectable samples of wool were 
 exhibited in the English department of the Great Exhi¬ 
 bition. 
 
 The samples of wool transmitted from Chichester by Mr. 
 C. Dorrien gave evidence of a very high-bred flock, and 
 
ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 manifested qualities of fibre for which the Jury awarded 
 the prize medal. 
 
 The specimens of wool from the South Down wool, trans¬ 
 mitted by Mr. J. Gr. Rebow, also presented qualities of such 
 excellence as to call for the award of the prize medal. 
 
 The fleeces of Cheviot wool, grown at an elevation of 
 2600 feet above the level of the sea, exhibited by Mr. Hen¬ 
 derson, of Wooler, Northumberland, were remarkable for 
 the fine silky quality of the fibre, which is well adapted for 
 the blanket manufactory. 
 
 Perhaps many w T ho are now present may recollect an 
 object of curiosit} 7 which was shown in the south gallery 
 of the English Department. It w T as a South Down ewe, 
 stuffed, seven years old, which had never been shorn. The 
 weight of the accumulated annual fleeces was 36 lbs. This 
 specimen was exhibited by Mr. J. Moore, of Littlecot Farm, 
 Pewscy, Wilts. 
 
 In the department of Australia the case containing 132 
 specimens of merino wool, contributed by Lieut.-Col. E. 
 Macarthur, exhibited very favourable examples of the con¬ 
 dition of the fleeces of that valuable variety of the sheep in 
 New South Wales. The Jury regretted that the quantities 
 transmitted were too small to afford the requisite means of 
 judging of the average qualities of the flocks; but, taking 
 into consideration the important services rendered by Lieut.- 
 Col. Macarthur to the colony of Australia by his persever¬ 
 ing and successful endeavours to develope a source of 
 wealth from the merino breed of sheep, they awarded to 
 him the prize medal. 
 
 The first importation of wool from New South Wales 
 into England, in 1807, was 245 lbs. In the year 1848 
 the quantity from New South Wales alone amounted to 
 23,000,000 lbs., valued at more than 1,200,000b sterling.* 
 
 In Russia, good examples of fine unwashed Cashmere 
 goats’ hair were exhibited by J. Abramoff, of Ekaterino- 
 slaff, and L. K. Narishkin, of Saratoff, district of Bala- 
 sheffsk. 
 
 Iu India, specimens of the wool of the sheep, the lamb, 
 and the camel, were exhibited from Cutch, Sindh, and 
 
 * “Official Catalogue,” vol. ii. p. 989. 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 73 
 
 Assam. Goats’ hair, or down, of Thibetian, Persian, and 
 Hindostanee breeds, was also transmitted, together with a 
 fine silky kind of down from the “Tsos” antelope. 
 
 The specimens of wool, or down, the production of the 
 Cashmere goats kept by his Royal Highness Prince Albert 
 at Windsor, and exhibited by his Royal Highness, were in¬ 
 teresting examples of an additional staple new to England, 
 and gave encouragement by their quality to the repetition 
 of similar efforts to multiply and preserve that remarkable 
 variety of the genus Capra. This staple includes, besides 
 the closer and finer hairs answering to the wool of sheep and 
 the fur of other quadrupeds, a coarser or stronger kind of 
 white hairs. Roth kinds are of value in manufactures—the 
 stronger hairs, which require to be picked out prior to at¬ 
 tempting to manufacture the finer portions, being after¬ 
 wards used in the fabrication of coarse woollen cloths. This 
 example of European Cashmere wool would have received a 
 medal from Jury IV. had not one already been awarded to 
 it by the Jury of Class XII. 
 
 Hair and Bristles. 
 
 Of the specimens of hair and bristles, a brief notice will 
 suffice. The best developed and most valuable examples of 
 these productions were exhibited in the Russian department, 
 in which the Jury selected those shown under No. 340, by 
 Kondriaozof and Jadenofsky, for the award of the prize 
 medal, merited by the superior qualities of the horse-hair 
 exhibited by them under that number. In the sample of 
 white hair from the tail, the hairs were forty inches in 
 length, and of the first quality for evenness, elasticity, and 
 shining surface. In the sample of black tails, the hairs were 
 forty-two inches in length. Fine specimens of white hair 
 from the mane, of from twenty-eight to thirty inches in 
 length, both transparent and opaque, and good samples of 
 horse-hair for furniture, both twisted and untwisted, black, 
 gray, and white, were also shown by the above firm. 
 
 Of the sample of bristles exhibited in the Russian depart¬ 
 ment, the Jury selected No. 135, sent by MM. Semenoff and 
 Faleyeff, as deserving, from the superiority of the combined 
 qualities of strength, elasticity, and fineness of surface, the 
 7 
 
74 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 prize medal. These qualities were particularly shown in 
 the packets of the sorted variety called “ okatka.” 
 
 Camels’ hair cloth, bristles from the wild boar and the 
 elephant, and quills of the porcupine, were exhibitedin the 
 Indian department; and I must not omit to mention that 
 in the department of Spain, Don D. Delgado, of Saragossa, 
 exhibited some interesting examples of the hair of the rab¬ 
 bit and hare, shaved off the skin by a mechanical process. 
 The vast numbers of those prolific rodents in Spain afford a 
 large supply of this kind of hair, which is put to the same 
 use as down. 
 
 Baleen. 
 
 I have next to speak of a substance which, though com¬ 
 monly called “ whalebone,” has nothing of the nature of 
 bone in it, but is an albuminous tissue, nearly allied to hair 
 and bristles, both in its chemical and vital properties and ita 
 mode of developement. 
 
 Of all the creatures which man has subdued for his ad¬ 
 vantage and use, that which surpasses every other animal 
 in bulk, and which lives in an element unfitted for man’s 
 existence, might be supposed to be the last that he would 
 have the audacity to attack or the power to overcome. The 
 great whales that u tempest the ocean” are able, as many 
 instances—and a very recent one—have shown, to stave in 
 the bottom of a ship by a blow of their muzzle, and crack a 
 boat by a nip of their jaws, as easily as we would a nut. 
 “ Si sua robora norint!”—if they did but know their strengt h, 
 and how to use it, pursuit would be in vain, and whales 
 would become the most dreaded instead of the most coveted 
 of the denizens of the deep. 
 
 The cetaceans, which afford the whalebone, or, more pro¬ 
 perly, baleen-plates, are of a more timid nature than the 
 great sperm-whales, which commonly cause the catastrophes 
 alluded to; they have no teeth, but in their place they have 
 substitutes in the form of horny plates, ending in a fringe 
 of bristles—a peculiarity first pointed out by Aristotle.* 
 
 * The passage occurs in the 12th chapter of the 3d hook of the 
 “ Historia Animalium,” and has given rise to much speculation 
 and controversy: “ Mysticetus etiam pilos in ore intus habet vice 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 75 
 
 Of these plates, properly called “ baleen,” the largest, which 
 are of an inequilateral triangular form, are arranged in a 
 single longitudinal series on each side of the upper jaw, 
 situated pretty close to each other, depending vertically from 
 the jaw, with their flat surfaces looking backwards and for¬ 
 wards, and their unattached margins outwards and inwards, 
 the direction of their interspaces being nearly transverse to 
 the axis of the skull. The smaller subsidiary plates are 
 arranged in oblique series, internal to the marginal ones. 
 The base of each plate is hollow, and is fixed upon a pulp 
 developed from a vascular gum, which is attached to a 
 broad and shallow depression occupying the whole of the 
 palatal surface of the maxillary, and of the anterior part of 
 the palatine bones. The base of each marginal plate is the 
 smallest of the three sides of the triangle; it is unequally 
 imbedded in a compact subelastic substance, which is so 
 much deeper on the outer than on the inner side, as in the 
 new-born whale to include more than one-half of the outer 
 margin of the baleen-plate. The form of the baleen-clad 
 roof of the mouth is that of a transverse arch or vault, 
 against which the convex dorsum of the thick and large 
 tongue is applied when the mouth is closed. Each plate 
 sends off from its inner and oblique margin the fringe of 
 moderately stiff but flexible hairs which projects into the 
 mouth. The bases of the baleen-plates do not stand far 
 apart from one another, but the anterior and posterior walls 
 of the pulp-fissure are respectively confluent with the con¬ 
 tiguous divisions of the bases of the adjoining plates at their 
 thin and extreme margins, which by this confluence close 
 the basal end of the interspace of the baleen-plates, which 
 interspace is occupied more than half way down the plate 
 by the cementing substance, or gum. Thin layers of horn 
 in like manner connect the contiguous plates, and may be 
 traced extending in parallel curves with the basal connect¬ 
 ing layer across the cementing substance. 
 
 The baleen-pulp is situated in a cavity at the base of the 
 
 dentium, suiilis setis similes.” To a person looking into the month 
 of a stranded whale, the concavity of the palate would appear to be 
 beset with coarse hair. The species of Halcenoplera, which fre¬ 
 quents the Mediterranean, might have affoi’ded to the Father of 
 Zoology the subject of his comparison. 
 
76 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 plate, like the pulp of a tooth; whilst the external cement¬ 
 ing material maintains, both with respect to this pulp, and 
 to the portion of the baleen-plate which it developes, the 
 same relations as the dental capsule bears to the tooth. 
 According to these analogies, it must follow that only the 
 central fibrous or tubular portion of the baleen-plate is 
 formed, like the dentine, by the basal pulp, and that the 
 base of the plate is not only fixed in its place by the cement¬ 
 ing substance or capsule, but must* also receive an accession 
 of horny material from it. 
 
 The baleen-plates are smallest at the two extremities of 
 the series; in the Southern whale (Balcena Australis ) they 
 rapidly increase in length to the thirtieth, then very gra¬ 
 dually increase in length to about the one hundred and 
 fortieth ; from this they as gradually diminish to the one 
 hundred and sixtieth plate, and thence rapidly slope away 
 to the same small size as that with which the series com¬ 
 menced. Besides the external, and, as they may be termed, 
 the normal, plates, which have just been described, there 
 are developed from the inner part of the palatal gum, in the 
 Bakina Australis, a series of smaller fringed processes, pro¬ 
 gressively decreasing in size as they recede from the large 
 external plates: the small plates clothe the middle region 
 of the palate with a finer kind of hair, against which the 
 surface of the tongue more immediately rests; they are 
 also arranged in longitudinal series, which, however, are not 
 parallel with the external one, but pass from the inner mar¬ 
 gin of that series in oblique lines inwards and backwards. 
 
 In the great Northern whole ( Bakina mysticetus ) the 
 baleen-plates which succeed the large ones of the outer 
 row, are more numerous, and are relatively longer and 
 larger than in the Balcena Australis. Mr. Scoresby, who, 
 in his account of the Balcena mysticetus, notices only the 
 marginal plates, states that they are about two hundred in 
 number on each side; the largest are from ten to fourteen 
 feet, very rarely fifteen feet in length, and about a foot in 
 breadth at their base. These plates arc overlapped, and 
 concealed by the under lip when the mouth is shut. In 
 the Balcenopterce, or fin-backed whales, the baleen-processes 
 internal to the marginal plates are fewer and smaller than 
 in the true whales ( Balance ). The marginal plates are 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 77 
 
 more numerous, exceeding three hundred on each side; 
 they are broader in proportion to their length, and much 
 smaller in proportion to the entire animal; they are also 
 more bent in the direction transverse to their long axis. 
 
 Each plate of the baleen consists of a central, coarse, 
 fibrous substance, and an exterior compact fibrous layer; 
 but this reaches to a certain extent only, beyond which the 
 central part projects in the form of the fringe of bristles. 
 The chemical basis of baleen, according to the experienced 
 Professor Brande, is albumen hardened by a small propor¬ 
 tion of phosphate of lime.* 
 
 The final purpose of this singular armature of the upper 
 jaw of the great whales is to secure the capture and reten¬ 
 tion of the small floating mollusks and crustaceans, which 
 serve principally as their food. When the capacious mouth 
 is opened, the water rushes in, and is strained through the 
 fringed surface of the roof and sides, whilst the small ani¬ 
 mals are retained, bruised against the stiff bristled margins 
 of the plates, and swallowed. 
 
 Baleen, or. whalebone, from its tenacity, flexibility, elas¬ 
 ticity, compactness, and lightness, is applied to a great 
 variety of useful purposes. These were well exemplified 
 in the collection exhibited under No. 103, by Mr. Henry 
 Horan, which showed well-selected examples of whalebone 
 plates from the Arctic whale (Balcena mi/sticetus ), which 
 yields the largest and best kind; from the Antarctic whale 
 (.Balcena Australis), which affords the second best kind; 
 and from the great finner whale ( Balccnoptera. hoops), which 
 affords the shortest and coarsest plates. With these exam¬ 
 ples of the raw material, Mr. Horan exhibited specimens 
 of the raw material in various states of preparation, and 
 numerous and ingenious applications of the prepared baleen, 
 dyed of different colours, as, e. g., for covering whip-handles, 
 walking-sticks, and telescopes, and in the form of shavings 
 for platting, like straws, in the construction of light hats 
 and bonnets. An excellent and instructive series of prepa¬ 
 rations of baleen was also exhibited by Messrs. Westall, in 
 which was more especially deserving notice the great variety 
 
 * For the microscopical characters, and other particulars of the 
 baleen-plates, I must refer to my “Odontography,” vol. i. p. 311. 
 y * 
 
78 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 of filamentary modifications of the whalebone material for 
 numerous useful applications. Fine blades of whalebone 
 from the Balcena mysticetus were exhibited in the United 
 States department, under No. 531, by Mr. L. Goddard; and 
 characteristic specimens of baleen-plates from the Balcena 
 Australis had been transmitted by Mr. S. Moses from Y an 
 Diemen’s Land. 
 
 Silk. 
 
 From a product of the most gigantic of animals I next 
 proceed to notice one derived from a seemingly insignificant 
 insect ; yet it is the most costly of all raw materials for 
 textile purposes,—I allude to silk. The most valuable kind 
 of silk, and that which is the subject of the most extensive 
 and pains-taking culture, is a secretion of the larva of a 
 species of moth, indigenous to China, called, par excellence , 
 the “silk-moth,” and by entomologists Bornbyx mori, from 
 its native and favourite food, the leaves of the mulberry- 
 tree. 
 
 Raw silk was imported into Europe long before the insect 
 which produces it; but the antiquity of this raw material 
 for the richest of our textile fabrics, by no means goes so 
 far back as that of wool. 
 
 There is no certain reference to silk in any part of the 
 Old Testament; the Hebrew word so rendered by King 
 James’s translators (Ezekiel, xvi. 10, 13) may signify “fine 
 flax;” and the learned Braunius concludes that silk was 
 unknown to the Hebrews.* 
 
 The first definite mention of silk, with a notice of the 
 creature producing it, is in the fifth book of the “ Historia 
 Animalium” of Aristotle. He indicates the island of Cos 
 as the place where silk was woven into cloth; and he 
 mentions (cap. xix. p. 850, Duval) four states of the in¬ 
 sect which produces silk, under the terms GK'o\r]^ Kaiinr], 
 QoitfvXioi, and wiWaXoj; and these terms were understood 
 by ancient writers after Aristotle, and no doubt cor- 
 
 * De Vestitu Heb. Sacerdotum. My knowledge of the history 
 of silk, as of wool, is chiefly derived from the “ Textrinum Anti- 
 quorum” eZ Mr. Yates. 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 79 
 
 rectly to signify the states which modern entomologists 
 would call the “young larva,” the mature or “ spinning 
 larva,” the “pupa” with its cocoon, and the “imago,” or 
 perfect insect. 
 
 In the New Testament, the use of silk is mentioned once 
 unmistakeably (Revelations, xviii. 12). 
 
 The beautiful illustration of the Christian doctrine of 
 the resurreation, -which Basil, in the year of our Lord 370, 
 drew from insect metamorphoses, shows plainly that he had 
 obtained his facts by a perusal of the famous zoological 
 treatise of Aristotle :—“What have you to say, who disbe¬ 
 lieve the assertion of the Apostle Paul concerning the 
 change at the resurrection, when you see many of the in¬ 
 habitants of the air changing their forms? Consider, for 
 example, the account of the horned worm of India, which, 
 having first changed into a caterpillar (eruca or veruca), 
 then in process of time becomes a cocoon (bombylius or 
 homhulio ), and does not continue even in this form, but 
 assumes light and expanding wings. Ye women, who sit 
 winding upon bobbins the produce of these animals— 
 namely, the threads which these Seres send to you for the 
 manufacture of fine garments—bear in mind the change of 
 form in this creature, derive from it a clear conception of 
 the resurrection, and discredit not that transformation which 
 Paul announces to us all.”* 
 
 Galen judiciously recommends silk threads for tying 
 blood-vessels in surgical operations. The Roman poets and 
 satirists made frequent mention of the luxurious silken 
 clothes and attire, which were introduced at enormous ex¬ 
 pense during the period of the Empire. The silk so obtained 
 was exported from Persia and India; but whether the Bora- 
 hyx mori had been introduced into those countries at that 
 period, or whether the raw material was obtained from 
 China, is uncertain. 
 
 That silk was most abundant in China we learn from the 
 oldest records of the singular people inhabiting that country, 
 where from an early period, not only the mandarins, but all 
 persons in easy circumstance, as well male as female, have 
 worn silk, satin, or damask clothes. Even the uniforms of 
 
 * “ Textrinum Antiquorum,” p. 215. 
 
80 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 the soldiers were made then, as now, of this elsewhere con¬ 
 sidered so valuable material. 
 
 Of toe wild original of the Bombyx mori there is the 
 same incertitude as with regard to most domesticated ani¬ 
 mals. I he description which is given by M. Berlin in 
 his work entitled “ China, its Costumes, Arts, and Manufac¬ 
 tures, seems to refer, as M. Latreille remarks, to the large 
 Phalcena atlas. The wild silkworm is there said to curve a 
 leaf into a kind of cup, and then to form a cocoon as large 
 and nearly as hard as a hen’s egg. These wild cocoons are so 
 strong and so compact, that the insects have great difficulty 
 in extricating themselves, and therefore remain enclosed 
 from the end of the summer to the spring of the following: 
 year. These moths fly well. The domestic silk-moth, on 
 the contrary, soon extricates itself, and has very feeble 
 powers of flight. The wild silk-moth feeds indifferently on 
 the ash, oak, and nagara; the Bombyx, mori , as its name 
 implies, feeds by choice, if not exclusively, on the leaves of 
 the mulberry-tree. 
 
 I have now to speak of the introduction of the silkworm 
 into Europe. According to Procopius, the Bombyx mori 
 was first introduced into Europe in the reign of the Em¬ 
 peror Justinian, by two Nestorian monks who had travelled 
 in Seiinda, which, whether it be India or China is uncer¬ 
 tain, and who succeeded in bringing a quantity of carts,— 
 secured (according to Photius) in" a hollow cane,—to & Cou- 
 stantinople, were they were hatched, and the larva, fed and 
 1 eared on the leaves of the black mulberry. The breeding 
 of silkworms in Europe was confined for six centuries to the 
 Greeks of the Lower Empire. In the twelfth century, the 
 rearing of silkworms and the manufacture of silk were in¬ 
 ti odueed by Roger, king of Sicily, into Palermo, whence 
 this important branch of industry was rapidly and success¬ 
 fully established in Italy, Spain, France, England, and 
 subsequently in most of our colonies possessing a suitable 
 climate. 
 
 (( kijk is a secretion of a pair of long glandular tubes, called 
 “ sericteria,” which terminate in a prominent pore or spin- 
 naret on the under lip. Before their termination they 
 receive the secretion of a smaller gland, w r hich serves to 
 glue together the two fine filaments from the two i( sericte- 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 81 
 
 riathe apparently single thread being, in reality, double, 
 and its quality being affected by the equality, or otherwise, 
 of the secreting power of the “sericteria.” The silkworm 
 commences spinning when it is full grown, in some con¬ 
 venient spot affording points of attachment for the first 
 formed thread, which is drawn from one part to the other 
 until the body of the larva becomes loosely enclosed by the 
 thread. The work is then continued from one thread to an¬ 
 other, the silkworm moving its head and spinning in a zig¬ 
 zag way, in all directions within reach, and shifting the 
 body only to cover the part which was beneath it. The 
 silken case so formed is called the u cocoon.” During the 
 
 • • • . O 
 
 period of spinning the cocoon, which usually takes five days 
 for its completion, the silkworm decreases in size and length 
 considerably; then casts its skin, becomes torpid, and as¬ 
 sumes the form of the chrysalis. 
 
 The main object of the silkworm-breeder is to obtain 
 cocoons of a large size, composed of a long, strong, very 
 fine, even, and lustrous thread. These properties of the 
 silk were found realized in the highest degree in the speci¬ 
 mens transmitted from France, in which country the de- 
 velopement of the silkworm has for a long period exercised 
 the care and pains of many able silkworm-breeders, and of 
 late years has been the object of systematic advancement by 
 the Central Society of Sericiculture of France. 
 
 Much skill is exercised—I wish I could add without 
 cruelty—in the art of killing the pupa and extracting it 
 from the cocoon, and in preparing the latter for unwinding 
 the delicate thread; heat being the agent of destruction in 
 most of the processes, as it seems ‘to have been in the re¬ 
 motest historic times in China. The method there employ¬ 
 ed, according to the old French missionaries in China, is as 
 follows :—“ The extremities of the cocoon are first cut off 
 with a pair of scissors; they are then put in a canvass bag 
 and immersed for an hour or more in a kettle of boiling lye, 
 which dissolves the gum. When this is effected, they are 
 taken from the kettle, are pressed to expel the lye, and are 
 left till the next morning to dry. Whilst they are still 
 moist the chrysalis is extracted from each cocoon, which is 
 then turned inside out to make a sort of cowl. They are 
 then easily wound into thread.” 
 
82 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 An accomplished author, who has celebrated the Great 
 Exhibition in a worlc full of apt and striking allusions, 
 beautifully apostrophizes the “ wondrous worm, self-shrouded 
 in thy silken tomb! Anon to emerge in brighter form, on 
 higher life intent; but that stern man thy mystic trans¬ 
 formation intercepts, with fatal fires, consuming tenant for 
 the sepulchre.”* 
 
 The results of all the most approved modes of rearing 
 the silkworm and preparing the cocoons were exhibited, and 
 might be studied with advantage, in the Crystal Palace. 
 
 The Bornbyx mori, having been bred and reared under 
 the special care and management of man during a long suc¬ 
 cession of aces, may be regarded as a domesticated species 
 of insect; and it has become the subject, as in the higher 
 domesticated races, of varieties, of which those called Sina, 
 
 “ Syne,” and “Novi,” in France, are examples. 
 
 The “ Sina” variety of the silkworm is known and 
 esteemed for the pure whiteness of its silk, the thread of 
 which is fine, but weak, and not very lustrous. The 
 “ Syrie” variety is of large size, produces a cocoon abundant 
 in silk, but the thread is rather coarse, and inclines to a 
 oreenish tint. The “Novi” race is small, but the cocoons 
 are firm and well made, and the silk has a yellowish tint. 
 
 The specimens of cocoons and raw silk exhibited in the 
 French department were numerous,. and the degrees of 
 excellence hardly to be discriminated in the finest examples 
 selected for the award of the prize medal. With regard to 
 the superior quality of these raw silks and cocoons, the 
 Jury, by their recommendation of the award of the Council 
 medal to the “Central Society of Sericiculture of France,” 
 desired to testify their admiration of the specimens exhibited 
 by many members of that Society, and their appreciation 
 of the important influence which it has exercised in the 
 improvement of this beautiful and valuable product of the 
 animal kingdom. 
 
 The Jury, however, justly gave the honour of their first 
 notice to the beautiful specimens shown under No. 782, by 
 Major Count de Bronno Bronski, exhibitor of unbleached 
 silk and silk cocoons from the Chateau de St. Selves, near 
 
 * “The Lily and the Bee,” by Samuel Warren, F.R.S., p. 92. 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 83 
 
 Bordeaux, Department de la Gironde. The cocoons were 
 remarkable for their large size and regularity of form, and 
 the silk for the unusual length of the thread, its natural 
 pure white colour, its fineness and lustre. The circum¬ 
 stances under which this superior quality of silk was 
 obtained are certified in a report by a Committee of the 
 Agricultural Society of the Gironde, dated 28th April, 1847, 
 to be as follows:—“In 1836 Major Bronski reared sepa¬ 
 rately the eggs of the three varieties, ‘ Sina,’ ‘ Syne/ and 
 ‘Novi/ In 1837 he set apart the cocoons of the varieties 
 ‘Syrie’ and ‘Novi/ and on the exclusion of the imago, or 
 perfect insect, he associated the males of the ‘Novi’ with 
 the females of the ‘ Syrie ;’ and the hybrid ova were hatched 
 at the ordinary period in 1838, the operations being re¬ 
 peated in 1839 and 1840. With regard to the race ‘ Sina/ 
 M. Bronski, in 1837, separated the white from the black 
 worms as soon as they were hatched. He then selected the 
 largest and best-shaped cocoons, and made a special collec¬ 
 tion of the eggs from the moths excluded from those cocoons. 
 This procedure was repeated in 1838 and 1839; but in 
 1840 he associated the males excluded from the large cocoons 
 of the black worms with the females excluded from those 
 of the white worms. In 1841 he associated the males of 
 the ‘ Sina’ race with the hybrid females obtained from the 
 above-described crossings of ‘ Novi’ and ‘ Syrie’ breeds.” 
 By these and similar experiments M. Bronski at length 
 appears to have succeeded in obtaining a race of silkworms 
 not subject to disease, producing large and equal-sized 
 cocoons of a pure white colour, the siik of which was equal 
 in all its length, strong and lustrous, and presenting an 
 average length of thread of 1057 metres. 
 
 Very beautiful examples of raw silk were also transmitted 
 from different parts of Italy; and amongst the Italian silks 
 the first mention was due to those exhibited in Tuscany, 
 which showed well all the desirable qualities of the cocoons 
 and thread. From these the Jury selected for the award 
 of the prize medal No. 51, exhibited by Professor Savi, of 
 Pisa, for the specimens of raw silk from silkworms fed upon 
 leaves of the Philippine mulberry. In the department of 
 Sardinia the Jury selected as deserving, for their excellent 
 qualities, the prize medal, the silks exhibited by Messrs. 
 
 i 
 
84 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 H. Jacquet and Co., Messrs. Casissa and Sons, and Messrs, 
 llignon and Co. 
 
 Many of the silks exhibited in the department of Turkey 
 were of a very fine character, exhibiting a good length of 
 thread, with the qualities of fineness, strength, elasticity, 
 and lustre. The Jury had great pleasure in awarding the 
 prize medal to the School of Sericiculture at Broussa, as 
 well as to some private exhibitors from Turkey. 
 
 Very fine examples of silk were shown in the Indian de¬ 
 partment, from which the Jury selected, as meriting the 
 prize medal, the following:—D. Jardine, of Calcutta; Wat¬ 
 son, of Surdah, Bengal; Mackenzie "Brothers, of Bengal; 
 Jennings, of Commercolly; W. M’Nair, of Surdah, Bengal. 
 Besides the silk from the ordinary silkworm (Bombyx 
 mori), called in India pat, specimens of stronger and coarser 
 kinds of silk were shown, from the ftzssu,r-moth ( Saturnia 
 mylitta), which feeds on the leaves of the terminalia ca- 
 tappa and zizyplius jvjuba. The cloth woven from this 
 silk is called “ tussur-cloth,” and is made at Midnapore. 
 The moonga-silk is from the Bombyx saturnia, which feeds 
 upon the same trees as the tussur. A piece of moonga-silk 
 cloth, made in Assam, was exhibited. The Plialcena cyn- 
 thia produces the eri silk. This species feeds upon the 
 ■ricinus communis. The eri cloth is also woven at Assam. 
 It is observed in India, that the pat, or true silk, from 
 larvae of the Bombyx mori fed on mulberry-trees grown in 
 a strong clay soil, is generally better, the cocoons being 
 larger and of better colour. 
 
 In the Chinese department the quality of the silk 
 developed in the native country of the silkworm was worthily 
 illustrated by the specimens exhibited by Yun-kee, of 
 Shang-hae; to whom the Jury, therefore, adjudged the 
 prize medal. 
 
 I must not quit the subject of silk without, finally, 
 offering a tribute of praise to specimens of silk, from silk¬ 
 worms, reared on leaves of the white mulberry, at Godai¬ 
 ming, Surrey, and exhibited by Mrs. Catherine Dodge, 
 which, considering the unfavourable conditions of climate, 
 showed qualities that deservedly elicited the award of 
 Honourable Mention from our Jury. 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 85 
 
 Feathers and Down. 
 
 The most beautiful, the most complex, and the most 
 highly-elaborated of all the coverings of animals, due to de- 
 velopements of the epidermal system, is the plumage of 
 birds. Well might the eloquent Paley say, — “Every 
 feather is a mechanical wonder; their disposition, all in¬ 
 clined backward, the down about the stem, the overlapping 
 of their tips, their different configuration in different parts, 
 not to mention the variety of their colours, constitute a 
 vestment for the body, so beautiful, and so appropriate to 
 the life which the animal has to lead, as that, I think, we 
 should have had no conception of anything equally perfect, 
 if we had never seen it, or can now imagine anything more 
 so.” 
 
 A feather consists of the “ quill,” the “ shaft,” and 
 the “ vane :” the vane consists of “ barbs” and “ bar- 
 bules.” 
 
 The quill is pierced by a lower and an upper orifice, and 
 contains a series of light, dry, conical capsules, fitted one 
 upon another, and united together by a central pedicle. 
 
 The shaft is slightly bent; the concave side is divided 
 into two surfaces by a middle longitudinal line continued 
 from the upper orifice of the quill, the convex side is 
 smooth. Both sides are covered with a horny material, 
 similar to that of the quill; and they enclose a peculiar 
 white, soft, elastic substance, called the “ pith.” 
 
 The barbs are attached to the sides of the shaft, and con¬ 
 sist of plates, arranged with their flat sides towards each 
 other, and their margins in the direction of the convex and 
 concave sides of the feather; consequently they present 
 considerable resistance to being bent out of their plane, 
 although readily yielding to any force acting upon them in 
 the direction of the line of the stem. 
 
 The barbules are given off from either side of the barbs, . 
 and are sometimes similarly barbed themselves, as may be 
 seen in the barbules of the long feathers of the peacock’s 
 tail. 
 
 The barbules are commonly short and close-set-, and 
 curved in contrary directions, so that two adjoining series 
 8 
 
ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 8G 
 
 of barbules interlock together, and form the mechanism by 
 which the barbs are compacted into the close and resisting 
 vane of the quill, or “feather,” properly so called. When 
 the barbules are long and loose, they characterize that form 
 of the feather which is properly called a “plume:” and 
 such are the most valuable products of the plumage of 
 birds in a commercial point of vietv; as, e. g. the plumes 
 of the ostrich. 
 
 The lower barbs in every kind of feather are usually 
 loose, forming the down, which is increased, in most birds, 
 by what is called the “accessory plume.” This is usually 
 a small downy tuft, but varies in different species, and even 
 in the feathers of different parts of the body of the same 
 bird. The value of feathers, for bed-stuffing, depends upon 
 the proportion of loose soft down that enters into their com¬ 
 position ; and, as the “ accessory plume” in the body- 
 feathers of the swans, geese, and ducks, is almost as long 
 as the feather from which it springs, hence arises the com¬ 
 mercial value of the feathers of these aquatic birds. 
 
 In the developement of plumage, the first covering of the 
 bird is a temporary one, consisting of bundles of long, 
 loosely-barbed filaments, which diverge from a small quill, 
 and on their first appearance are enveloped in a thin sheath, 
 which soon crumbles away after being exposed to the atmo¬ 
 sphere.* These down-feathers are succeeded by the true 
 feathers; to which they bear the same relation as wool does 
 to hair, or the temporary to the permanent teeth. In most 
 birds a certain proportion of the down-feathers is retained 
 with the true feathers, and this proportion is usually great¬ 
 est in the aquatic birds. It is most remarkable in the eider- 
 duck {Anas mollissima) ) which maybe compared with the 
 sheep in regard to the quantity and quality of the softer 
 and warmer kind of the epidermal covering. The down of 
 the cider combines with its peculiar softness, fineness, and 
 lightness, so great a degree of elasticity, that the quantity 
 of this beautiful material which might be compressed and 
 concealed between the two hands of a man will serve to stuff 
 the coverlet of a bed. 
 
 * A good account of the mode.of formation of feathers is given 
 m a paper by M. F. Cuvier, entitled, “Sur le developpeinent des 
 Plumes,” in the “ Mdmoires du Mus6um.” tom. x. 10 ; or the arti¬ 
 cle “ Aves,” in the “Cyclopedia of Anatomy,” may be consulted. 
 
PROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 87 
 
 Al] the varieties and modifications of the plumage of 
 birds, serviceable in manufactures, or valued as ornaments, 
 might be compared and studied with advantage in the Great 
 Exhibition. 
 
 An instructive and comprehensive collection of feathers 
 and down, in different states of preparation for bed-stuffing, 
 including English goose feathers, Irish goose and mixed 
 feathers, Dantzig feathers, Russian goose feathers, and 
 mixed duck feathers, Hudson’s Bay goose and duck feathers, 
 Russian down and Greenland eider-down, were exhibited by 
 Messrs. Heal and Son. Messrs. W. and C. Nightingale 
 likewise exhibited an illustrative collection of feathers and 
 down, showing the effects of their mode of purifying fea¬ 
 thers by steam, without the use of sulphurous gas. 
 
 In the Russian department good specimens of white Be- 
 jetsk bed-feathers, gray feathers, and goose-down, were ex¬ 
 hibited by J. Lapshin (No. 145), of Petersburg. Madame 
 Ladighin, of Tamboff, transmitted a fine quality of down 
 from the breast of the goose; together with articles made 
 of goose-down. 
 
 In the Indian department were shown white and black 
 ostrich plumes; but these had been imported from Aden. 
 If the ostrich ever steps into Asia, it is only a little way 
 into the Arabian side of the Isthmus of Suez: the Struthio 
 camelus belongs to a peculiarly African genus of the great 
 wingless birds. Tippets, victorines, and boas, made from 
 the down of the young adjutant-crane (Ciconia argala) 
 w r ere exhibited from Commercolly; and also beautiful white 
 feathers, of a smaller species of crane, from Arrahan. With 
 regard to the application of quill-feathers as instruments for 
 writing, I have nothing to say : the specimens illustrating 
 that application having been placed, with other articles of 
 stationery, under the inspection of another jury. 
 
 Horns and Antlers. 
 
 I next proceed to notice a class of raw materials from the 
 animal kingdom extensively and variously exemplified in 
 the Great Exhibition, most commonly used in the manu¬ 
 facture of implements, and known by the general name of 
 “ horns .” In common parlance any hard body projecting 
 
88 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 from the head, terminating in a free, unopposed point, and 
 serviceable as a weapon, is called a “ horn such as the 
 canine tusks which curve upwards and backwards through 
 the skin of the head of the babyroussa, the larger incisive 
 tusks of the elephant, and the long, straight, spirally-twisted 
 tusk of the narwhal, which figures as the horn of the 
 heraldic unicorn. 
 
 Even the weapons to which the term u horn” is properly 
 or technically applied consist of very different substances, 
 and belong to two organic systems as distinct from each 
 other, as both are from the teeth. Thus the horns of deer 
 consist of bone, and are processes of the frontal bone; 
 those of the giraffe are independent bones, or “ epiphyses ,” 
 covered by hairy skin; those of oxen, sheep, and antelopes, 
 are “apophyses” of the frontal bone, covered by the corium, 
 and by a sheath of true horny material ; those of the Dicrci- 
 nocerus (or pronghorned antelope) consist, at their base, of 
 bony processes covered by hairy skin, and are covered by 
 horny sheaths in the rest of their extent; they thus combine' 
 the characters of those of the giraffe and ordinary antelope, 
 together with the expanded and branched forms of the antlers 
 of deer. Only the horns of the rhinoceros are composed 
 wholly of horny matter, and this is disposed in longitudinal 
 fibres, so that the horn seems rather to consist of coarse 
 bristles compactly matted together in the form of a more or 
 less elongated, subcompressed cone. 
 
 The Indian and the Javanese rhinoceroses have a single 
 horn; the Sumatran and African rhinoceroses have two 
 horns; these, however, do not form a symmetrical pair, but 
 are placed one behind the other. The anterior is supported 
 upon a rough tract of the anchylosed nasal bones; it is 
 always the longest, and this difference is considerable in the 
 JRh. simus, in which it is straight and inclines forwards. 
 The posterior horn, which is always the smallest in the two¬ 
 horned rhinoceroses, is the one which is absent in the one¬ 
 horned species. The horn in these is placed nearer the end 
 of the nose in the old than in the young animal; and this 
 change of position is effected by an order of growth analogous 
 to that of the adductor muscle of the oyster, viz., by the 
 addition of new fibres to the fore part of the horn in greater 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 89 
 
 proportion than to the hind part, where they may he ob¬ 
 served to be always in a state of decay. 
 
 The horns of the ruminants are always symmetrically 
 disposed, and usually in a single pair; very rarely, as in 
 the four-horned antelope (. Antilope quadricornis ), and in 
 the great extinct Sivathere and Bramathere, in two pairs. 
 In the ox, sheep, goat,- and antelope tribes the herns are 
 always supported by processes of the frontal bones into 
 which (save in some Antilopidce, e. g. Cervicapra, Dorcas ) 
 the frontal sinuses are continued. A thin vascular layer of 
 the corium is co-cntendcd with the periosteum of the bone- 
 process, or “core,” and secretes the true horn, or “sheath.” 
 Horns of this type are never shed, and the Ruminantia, 
 that possess them are termed “cavicornia,” or “hollow- 
 horned.” 
 
 Such horns are usually simple and conical, though they 
 may be straight, curved, bent, hooked, or spirally twisted; 
 only one existing species ( Antilope ( dicranoceros ) furcifer) 
 has them flattened, expanded, and bifurcate, like the great 
 posterior horns of the extinct Si-vatherium. Such compound 
 horns are developed in both sexes in the JBovidce, the Ovidce , 
 in all goats, and many antelopes, as, e. g. the caama ( buhalis ), 
 the goral (kernes), the mar ( 'capricornis ), the chamois ( rupi - 
 capra), the gazelle, and the oryx ; but they are mostly 
 larger in the males; they are not developed in the females 
 of the Saiga and other species of Antilope proper, in the 
 prong-horned antelope, the chiara ( 'tetraceros ), the madoqua 
 (Ant. montana), the duyker-bok ( 'sylvicapra ), the bosh-bok 
 (tragelaphus) , and the strepsieeros (calliope). 
 
 Sometimes the horns are smooth and polished, sometimes 
 longitudinally grooved; more commonly they are trans¬ 
 versely ridged or “ annulate.” It is commonly believed 
 that the horns of the ox acquire an additional ring every 
 year after the third; but the addition of annuli is far from 
 being annual in other species: many rings are gained in 
 one year’s growth of the ram’s horns, and in those of the 
 ring-horned antelope (Ant. cervicapra). The first formed 
 horny sheath of the Cavicornia is commonly obtuse, thicker, 
 and of a coarser texture, than that which is formed later; 
 but it is equally extravascular, and is merely displaced and 
 shed piecemeal by the formation of new horn-fibres beneath 
 8 * 
 
90 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 it, like other layers of epidermal substance. The more com¬ 
 pact horny matter developed at the period of maturity, and 
 the use to which the horns are then more habitually and 
 forcibly put, gives their points a sharpness and compactness 
 very different from the first formed substance. In the young 
 oryx it is bent backwards before it is cast off, but the bony 
 core does not partake of this form. 
 
 The horns of deer, which consist wholly of bone, are pro¬ 
 perly called “antlers.” They are covered by periosteum, 
 and this by a soft vascular tegument technically termed the 
 “ velvet,” during the progress of their growth. This once 
 completed, the vessels shrink, the supply of blood is stopped, 
 the integument of the antler dries and becomes detached, 
 leaving the dense bony part as an insensible weapon. As 
 this part loses its vitality, the absorbents proceed to sap its 
 base, and at a certain season of the year the antlers are shed, 
 after which the growth of another pair soon begins. 
 
 Thus the antlers of the deer tribe are shed and renewed 
 annually, like the hair; and the antlers increase in size and 
 in the number of the branches, until the animal has attained 
 its full maturity and strength. The red deer, at this period, 
 will develope, in the course of about ten weeks, a pair of 
 antlers weighing about twenty-four pounds. But the great 
 extinct Irish deer ( Megaceros Hibernians ) must have thrown 
 out of its circulating system in the course of a few months 
 between seventy and eighty pounds weight of osseous sub¬ 
 stance. 
 
 The antlers of all the deer tribe have the same chemical 
 and physical qualities as true bone; and the same chemical 
 products, e. <j. phosphorus and ammonia, may be obtained 
 from them. The common term “hartshorn” indicates the 
 former exclusive use of the antlers as the source from which 
 ammonia was obtained. The density of the texture of the 
 antler gives it value and utility for the purposes of cutlery, 
 and for weapons and ornaments of various kinds. 
 
 Numerous fine and illustrative specimens of horns and 
 antlers were transmitted to the Great Exhibition, amongst 
 which the collection in the Indian department merits the 
 first notice for the number and variety of the examples. 
 There were shown the dense antlers of the Cervus Aristo- 
 telis; of the bara sinha (Cervus JJuoaucellii ); of the sam- 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 91 
 
 ber ( Cervus hippelaplms) ; of the kaher, or barking deer 
 (Cervus vaginalis, Boddaert); of the axis ( Cervus macu~ 
 latus) ; of the mar ( Capricornis bubalind ); and of hog- 
 deer ( Cervus porcinus) ; there also might be seen noble 
 specimens of the horns of the gour (Bos cavifrons), and of 
 the great Arne buffalo (Bos ( bubalus ) Araa). 
 
 In Canada were shown fine examples of the palmated 
 antlers of the great moose or elk (Alces Americana ); and 
 both Egypt and the Cape contributed specimens * of the 
 horns of the rhinoceros, the buffalo, and of various ante¬ 
 lopes. 
 
 It did not appear that any of the specimens of horns ex¬ 
 hibited improvements of size or texture, as the consequence 
 of modifications in the food or habits of the species, super¬ 
 induced to that end by the art of man. The functions of 
 the Jury, therefore, in judging between degrees of excellence 
 as the consequence of human ingenuity and skill found no 
 exercise in regard to the present class of raw materials. 
 
 Ivory. 
 
 The same considerations necessarily limited the functions 
 of our Jury in regard to the tusks of animals presenting the 
 modification of dental substance to which the term “ivory” 
 is applied. Fine ivory, distinguished by the decussating 
 curved lines on the surfaces of transverse fractures or sec¬ 
 tions of the tusk, is peculiar to the African and Asiatic 
 elephants, amongst existing quadrupeds, and the best is 
 obtained from the wild individuals; domestication of the 
 elephant, in India at least, having been attended usually by 
 deterioration of the length and quality of the tusks. 
 
 The finest specimens of elephant’s tusks sent to the 
 Great Exhibition were a pair weighing 325 pounds, from 
 the Elephas Africanus, obtained from an animal killed near 
 the newly discovered Lake Ngami, in South Africa; each 
 tusk measured eight feet six iuches in length, and twenty- 
 two inches in basal circumference. A single tusk, weigh¬ 
 ing 110 pounds, from the same locality, was associated with 
 them. These specimens were exhibited by Mr. Joseph 
 Cawood. 
 
 Messrs. Fauntleroy and Sons exhibited an instructive 
 
92 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 collection of elephants’ tusks in No. 135. The largest of 
 these was also from the African elephant, and weighed 139 
 pounds. Varieties of tusks were exhibited from the Gold 
 Coast, the Gaboon River, Zanzibar, the Cape of Good Hope, 
 Angola, Alexandria, Ceylon, and the East Indies. Of the 
 tusks which possess a dense texture, but have not the eugine- 
 turn markings of true ivory, Messrs. Fauntleroy exhibit 
 those of the narwhal, the walrus, and the hippopotamus; and 
 the Jury regarded this instructive collection as deserving 
 Honourable Mention. 
 
 Fine tusks of the Ceylon variety of elephant were shown 
 in the collection from that island; and several examples 
 of the continental Asiatic kinds were exhibited in the 
 Indian departments; amongst the tusks of the Siamese 
 elephants was one which weighed 100 pounds, and showed 
 a fine white compact kind of ivory. 
 
 Tortoise-shell. 
 
 Of the modifications of epidermal productions, commonly 
 called tortoise-shell, almost every variety might be studied 
 in the wonderful collection of the works of nature and of 
 art which has made the present year ever memorable. 
 
 The substance called tortoise-shell consists of certain 
 large horn-like epidermoid plates, which cover in an imbri¬ 
 cated or overlapping manner the carapace, or back shell of 
 the marine tortoises or turtles ( Chelone ). The species 
 which afford the most valuable of these plates are the Karet 
 tortoises or imbricated turtles (Chelone imbricata, Chelone 
 Caretta ), from which are obtained five large plates from the 
 middle of the carapace, and four large ones from each side; 
 these plates, thirteen in number, are technically called 
 “ blades;” twenty-five smaller plates are obtained from the 
 margin of the carapace, which are called the “feet” or 
 “noses,” in commerce. The other plates collectively are 
 called the “head” of the turtle. 
 
 Pearl, Nacre, Shell. 
 
 A still more beautiful and precious animal product is that 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 93 
 
 which, in all ages, has been classed as an ornament amongst 
 the jewels or precious stones,—I allude to Pearls. 
 
 These valuable substances are the result of an excretion 
 in superimposed concentric laminae of a peculiarly fine and 
 dense nacreous substance, which consists of membrane and 
 carbonate of lime. The finest quality of pearl is produced 
 by the bivalve of the Indian Seas, called, par excellence , 
 the “ pearl oyster” (. Meleagrina margaritifera^), fine speci¬ 
 mens of which were exhibited in the Indian and Ceylon col¬ 
 lections. The finest pearls are found at Ceylon. 
 
 Pearls of an inferior description, formed in a fresh-water 
 bivalve ( Unto margaritifera'), were exhibited under No. 15, 
 Class I., by Mr. John Nelis, of Omagh, county Tyrone, 
 from specimens obtained from the deepest parts of the river 
 Strule, near Omagh. Similar pearls, also found in the Unio 
 margaritifera, from the river Ythan, Aberdeenshire, were 
 shown under No. 16, Class I., by Messrs. Corvie and Rae, 
 of Ellon, Scotlaud. It is probable that the pearls from this 
 source, collected by the ancient Britons, may have given 
 rise to the statement by Tacitus, in his “Life of Agricola,” 
 of pearls “not very orient, but pale and wan,” being among 
 the indigenous products of Great Britain. Pearls, similar 
 to those from the Unio margaritifera, were exhibited under 
 No. 41, Sweden and Norway, by Mr. Torstrup, from Chris¬ 
 tiana. 
 
 The smaller kind of pearl, called “seed-pearl,” is obtained 
 at Kurrachee, on the Bombay coast. They are of little 
 value, except to those who esteem them as medicine, viz., 
 the Persians and some of the Hakeems of India. The 
 oysters producing “ seed-pearls” are washed up by the surf- 
 waves to high-water mark, and are left there as the tide 
 falls. They are gathered by Coolies, employed for the 
 occasion, put into boats, and landed at Keeamaree Point. 
 There the shells are broken, and the pearls extracted, under 
 the superintendence of the contractors, who now pay the 
 Julpore Government 40,000 rupees per annum for the pearl- 
 contract. Even the gleaners who come after them pay for 
 the right of sifting the broken shells in search of any pearls 
 that may remain. 
 
94 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 Mother-of-Pearl, or Nacre. 
 
 In the Indian collection were shown most of the sheila 
 which yield the manufacturer the finest kind of nacre: 
 these are the Mdeagrina margaritifera, Haliotis gigas, 
 Haliotis iris, and a large species of Turbo, which shells are 
 known in commerce as flat-shells, ear-shells, green snail- 
 shells, buffalo-shells, Bombay shells. The mother-of-pearl 
 is the internal or nacreous layer of such shells. Dr. Car¬ 
 penter has detected indications of a minute cellular structure 
 in the nacreous laminae of the Haliotis, which he has not 
 observed in the nacre of bivalves. Fine specimens of some 
 of these shells from Sincapore and Manilla, especially the 
 great Mdeagrina and Haliotis, were exhibited by Messrs. 
 Fauntleroy, under No. 135; and by Mr. Banks, under 
 No. 287, Class XXII., in connexion with the manufacture 
 of mother-of-pearl buttons. 
 
 Cameo-Shells, Corals. 
 
 Specimens of cameo-shells (Cassis rufa), species of 
 Cgprcea, and of shells used as ornaments by certain natives 
 of India, with the rude but efficient instruments for cutting 
 them, were shown in the Indian collection. 
 
 Shells adapted for cameo cutting are dense, thick, and 
 consist of three layers of differently-coloured shell-material. 
 In the Cassis rufa each layer is composed of many very 
 thin plates—in other words, is “laminated”—the laminae 
 being perpendicular to the plane of the main layer : each 
 lamina consists of a series of elongated prismatic cells, ad¬ 
 herent by their long sides. The laminae of the outer and 
 inner layers are parallel to the lines of growth, while those 
 of the middle layer are at right angles to them. In the 
 cowreys ( Cgpra-a) there is an additional layer, which is a 
 duplicature of the nacreous layer formed when the animal 
 has attained its full growth. 
 
 Descending now to the lowest forms of animal life, and 
 those that link the animal with the vegetable, I ought to 
 speak of the nature and develop, inent of those raw materials 
 called “corals” and “sponges,” which serve for various 
 purposes of ornament and use. But the limits of an even- 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 95 
 
 ing’s discourse compel rue to refer to the works on Zoology, 
 in which their nature will be found fully elucidated. The 
 Great Exhibition was rich in the various calcareous bases 
 or skeletons of the ramified and rooted marine zoophytes, 
 which are sought after for different economic applications. 
 
 One of the finest examples of the red coral ( Corallium 
 rubrum) was exhibited by Messrs. Paravagna and Casella, 
 under No. 84, Class XXXIII., in connexion with cameo- 
 work and carving in coral. Specimens of red coral were 
 also exhibited in the collection from Algiers. A fine col¬ 
 lection of both corals and madrepores, including the black 
 flexible coral ( Gorgonia ), was shown in the department of 
 Bermuda. 
 
 Gelatines. 
 
 Such productions as coral, shell, and pearl, are naturally 
 attractive by their intrinsic beauty or rarity. But the most 
 refuse and uninviting, and seemingly most worthless parts 
 of animal bodies, are turned to uses of the most unexpected 
 kind by the'inventive skill and science of man. 
 
 The raw materials chiefly used in manufactures derived 
 from the gelatinous textures of animal bodies may be divided, 
 as regards their commercial value and application, into two 
 kinds:— 
 
 1st. The gelatines and glues, properly so called, derived 
 from the dissolution of certain animal tissues, and especially 
 from the waste residue of parts of animals which have served 
 for food, or for the operations of tanning, or for the fabrica¬ 
 tion, as from bones, of articles in imitation of ivory, or from 
 the waste particles in the carving of ivory itself. 
 
 2d. The cleansed and dried membranes of different species 
 of fish, more especially of the sturgeon family ( Acipenseridoe ), 
 preserving a peculiar texture, on which their value in the 
 refining of fermenting liquors more especially depends;— 
 such membranes arc called “ isinglass.” 
 
 The most remarkable progress in the economical extrac¬ 
 tion and preparation of pure gelatines and glues from the 
 waste remnants of the skins, bones, tendons, ligaments, and 
 other gelatinous tissues of animals, has been made in France, 
 where the well-organized and admirably arranged establish- 
 
96 
 
 ON THE RAW MATERIALS 
 
 meats for the slaughter of cattle, sheep, and horses in large 
 towns, give great and valuable facilities for the economical 
 applications of all the waste parts of animal bodies. Among 
 the beautiful productions of this industry, the specimens 
 exhibited by its chief originator, M. L. F. Grenet, under 
 No. 247, merited peculiar approbation. They included 
 different kinds of gelatine in thin layers, adapted for the 
 dressing of stuffs, and for gelatinous baths, in the clarifica¬ 
 tion of wines which contain a sufficient quantity of tannin 
 to precipitate the gelatine; pure and white gelatines cut 
 into threads for the use of the confectioner ; very thin white 
 and transparent sheets called “ papier glace,” or ice-paper, 
 for copying drawings; and, finally, a quantity of objects of 
 luxury or ornaments formed of dyed, silvered, or gilt gela¬ 
 tines, adapted to a variety of purposes, and to the fabrica¬ 
 tion of artificial or fancy flowers. M. Grenet, who was the 
 first to fabricate on a large scale, out of various residues of 
 animal bodies of little value, these beautiful and diversified 
 products, many of which previously had been derived from 
 the more costly substance—isinglass, was deemed by the 
 Jury to merit the award of the Council medal. 
 
 Many manufacturers in France have risen to great emi¬ 
 nence in this line by following the processes of M. Grenet. 
 H. Castelle, of Paris, exhibited (No. 107) a still more 
 varied assortment of the modifications of gelatine, amongst 
 which are particularly deserving of notice the very large 
 sheets of transparent gelatine, colourless, white, of various 
 well-defined colours, and embossed or stamped with elegant 
 patterns. 
 
 Isinglass. 
 
 This raw material owes the greater part of its commercial 
 value to its special organization, w'hich permits its separa¬ 
 tion into extremely delicate fibres, capable of operating 
 mechanically in the clarification of white wines and malt 
 liquors. In order to obtain the best isinglass, care must be 
 taken to choose the most suitable membranes of the proper 
 species of fish, and to avoid altering their peculiar tissue in 
 the process of drying and preparing them. 
 
 Under these two relations the raw products exhibited in 
 the department of Russia held the first rank. MM. Mari- 
 
FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 97 
 
 manoff ancl Armakoona (No. 81) displayed specimens of the 
 best quality of isinglass, consisting of the tissues of the 
 air-bladders of the species of sturgeon called Acipcnser huso, 
 well-cleaned, and removed and dried without the texture 
 being affected. No. 116, transmitted by an anonymous 
 Russian exhibitor, presented a variety of isinglass obtained 
 from the intestinal membranes of the sturgeon, in the form 
 of elongated stripes, made iuto bundles. This substance, 
 like the gelatines from the tendons, bones, and hides of cattle, 
 serves well for different culinary purposes, and for the same 
 uses in manufactures as fine gelatine from other sources. 
 
 Messrs. Simpson, Humphreys, and Vickers, exhibited 
 a rich variety of specimens of isinglass in the different raw 
 states in which it is imported, and in all the states of its 
 preparation for the applications for which it is sold. 
 
 The greater part of the gelatinous products exhibited by 
 the English manufacturers were prepared from isinglass, 
 and chiefly applied to articles of food. The commercial 
 qualities of isinglass are instructively shown in the collec¬ 
 tion exhibited under Nos. 117, 118, and 141. Some ex¬ 
 hibitors, however, showed excellent glues and gelatines ob¬ 
 tained from various residues of animal bodies, and destined 
 for manufacturing purposes. M. Muller (No. 125a) trans¬ 
 mitted a fine assortment of glues and gelatines, analogous 
 to the products of M. Grenet. M. Dufaville (122) ex¬ 
 hibited a beautiful sample of amber-coloured, transparent 
 gelatine, in shreds, called “ crystalline,” from its glittering 
 surface, and also good filaments of isinglass for culinary 
 purposes. 
 
 Amongst the specimens from India there were different 
 kinds of isinglass in the raw state from species of fishes 
 distinct from those of Europe which commonly afford this 
 substance. The principal of these were from a siluroid fish, 
 the Polynemus plcbeius, the dried air-bladders of which 
 possess the fine fibrous tunic which imparts the clarifying 
 qualities that render isinglass so valuable in the manufac¬ 
 ture of white wines and beers; and they also are well 
 adapted for the fabrication of fine gelatines used in manu¬ 
 factures and confectionary. 
 
 Such, Sir, are some of the numerous and diversified 
 
 9 
 
98 RAW MATERIALS FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
 
 kinds of products from the Animal Kingdom which I have 
 selected for the remarks I have had the honour to submit to 
 you this evening. To have attempted, in the briefest way, to 
 treat of all of that class which were transmitted to the Great 
 Exhibition, would have led me far beyond the hounds of a 
 single discourse. 
 
 Whatever the animal kingdom can afford for our food or 
 clothing, for our tools, weapons, or ornaments—whatever 
 the lower creation can contribute to our wants, our com¬ 
 forts, our passions, or our pride, that we sternly exact and 
 take at all cost to the producers. No creature is too bulky 
 or formidable for man’s destructive energies—none too 
 minute and insignificant for his keen detection and skill of 
 capture. It was ordained from the beginning that we 
 should be the masters and subduers of all inferior animals. 
 Let us remember, however, that we ourselves, like the 
 creatures we slay, subjugate, and modify, are the results 
 of the same Almighty creative will—temporary sojourners 
 here, and co-tenants with the worm and the whale of one 
 small planet. In the exercise, therefore, of those superior 
 powers that have been intrusted to us, let us ever bear in 
 mind that our responsibilities are heightened in proportion. 
 
LECTURE IY. 
 
 CHEMICAL and PHARMACEUTICAL PROCESSES 
 AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 BY 
 
 JACOB BELL, Esq. M.P. 
 
 ( 99 ) 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 
JACOB BELL, Es«., M.P. 
 
 OK 
 
 THE CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL 
 PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 The subject which engages our attention this evening is 
 the probable influence of the Great Exhibition on the second 
 class of objects, namely, “Chemical and Pharmaceutical Pro¬ 
 cesses and Products.” If these terms were to be taken in 
 their extended sense, we might include more than half the 
 classes into which the contents of the Exhibition have been 
 divided, as many of these—and among them some of the 
 most important and interesting—are indebted to the science 
 of chemistry for the high position they occupy among the 
 industrial arts. But the branches of industry to which I 
 refer, having separate classes assigned to them, are foreign 
 to our present subject, except in relation to the chemical pro¬ 
 cesses connected with them. 
 
 We are restricted this evening chiefly to those objects 
 which are usually designated as drugs and chemicals; which, 
 however important they may be as a link in the chain, are 
 not particularly calculated to attract or interest the public 
 generally. So much was this felt to be the case at the time 
 that the scheme of the Great Exhibition was first proposed, 
 that it was a disputed question whether such articles were 
 suitable for admission into the building. It had, however, 
 been determined by His Royal Highness Prince Albert and 
 9 * (101) 
 
102 ON THE CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL 
 
 tlie Royal Commissioners that the Great Exhibition should 
 contain illustrations in every branch of commercial industry; 
 it was designed not merely to please the eye and attract the 
 superficial observer, but to collect in one building specimens 
 of every kind of product and manufacture from all parts of 
 the world. This comprehensiveness in the undertaking was 
 its most remarkable feature; and in proportion as the practi¬ 
 cal bearing of the Exhibition on each class became more 
 generally understood, the early misgivings and prejudices 
 were removed, and the disposition to co-operate increased. 
 
 There was still a question on which some difference of 
 opinion prevailed, namely, whether the Exhibition should 
 be confined to such objects as possessed the merit of ori¬ 
 ginality, or unusual excellence or peculiarity in the manu¬ 
 facture, or whether it should comprise ordinary specimens 
 of products and preparations ? Among those who fully 
 recognised the propriety of exhibiting rare chemicals, there 
 were some who ridiculed the idea of transferring to the 
 Exhibition the stock of a druggist or apothecary, with which 
 every one in the profession is familiar, and which to those 
 out of the profession would possess no attraction. This 
 objection, however, w r as overruled. It was considered that 
 the Exhibition was addressed to the whole world, that objects 
 in daily use in one country might be unknown in other 
 countries, and that the building ought to contain a series as 
 complete as possible of the products and preparations em¬ 
 ployed in each locality. 
 
 If all the objects exhibited had been unusually fine, and 
 many of them such as are rarely met with, they would not 
 have conveyed a correct idea of the actual state of commerce 
 in the several classes, for which purpose it was necessary to 
 include such a variety as to form a fair average. The prin¬ 
 ciple, therefore, which was acted upon in reference to chemi¬ 
 cal and pharmaceutical productions was this: in addition to 
 the specimens sent by individuals in competition with each 
 other, specimens, consisting chiefly of raw materials and 
 indigenous or imported products of the materia medica, 
 were contributed by a number of druggists in their col¬ 
 lective capacity, to illustrate the state of the drug-market in 
 England, and for comparison w r ith other specimens from 
 foreign markets. From this arrangement it will be seen 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 103 
 
 that two distinct objects were contemplated in this part of 
 the Exhibition; first, the encouragement of improvements, 
 by the stimulus of competition among individuals; and, 
 secondly, the diffusion and extension of knowledge respect¬ 
 ing the nature, the history, and in some cases the origin, 
 of the various materials employed for chemical and pharma¬ 
 ceutical purposes. 
 
 The first of these influences is applicable to exhibitors in 
 all classes. It i3 the principal and primary object of exhi¬ 
 bitions of this description to excite emulation among indi¬ 
 viduals, and thus to bring out improvements and discoveries 
 for the benefit of the public at large. In order to appreciate 
 the impulse thus given to industry, it is only necessary to 
 refer to the enormous outlay at which many of the objects 
 were produced, and the spirited manner in which the under¬ 
 taking was carried out. It was obvious that those who en¬ 
 joyed a high position in their several occupations were 
 determined, if they exhibited at all, to maintain that posi¬ 
 tion, and that others were equally determined, if possible, 
 to eclipse those who had previously been in advance of 
 them in public estimation. It was an honourable trial of 
 skill, in which individual exertions were made subservient 
 to collective advantage. Although it was at first supposed 
 that chemistry and pharmacy afforded very little scope for 
 a public competition of this kind, the result has shown that 
 this was an erroneous impression. The large chemical manu¬ 
 facturers made the most magnificent display. Their enor¬ 
 mous masses of crystals of tartaric and citric acid, the prus- 
 siates and chromates of potash, alum, sulphates of copper 
 and iron, &c., stood forth as beacons to attract the eye to 
 the spot where other chemicals less conspicuous, though no 
 less important, wmre exhibited. Many of the large groups 
 of crystals were remarkable for their fantastic and elegant 
 forms, and gave evidence of a determination on the part of 
 the manufacturers to prove that the ornamental as well as 
 the useful comes within their province. Round these groups 
 of crystals ladies frequently assembled, and speculated upon 
 the introduction of some of the specimens as drawing-room 
 ornaments. If the tide of fashion should set in in that 
 direction, an additional impetus will be given to industry 
 among the manufacturing chemists. 
 
104 ON THE CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL 
 
 Turning from these gigantic and prominent specimens, 
 which serve to show the scale on which some of our chemical 
 works are conducted, we have here some single crystals ex¬ 
 hibited by Mr. Copney, which are interesting on account of 
 the mathematical accuracy with which the normal form of 
 the crystal is preserved. In the groups before mentioned 
 the individual crystals so intersect and crowd upon one 
 another that no individual crystal is perfect. To attain this 
 latter object, a hot solution of the salt is prepared and set 
 aside to cool: a hair or thread is suspended in the solution 
 to favour the deposition of single crystals. A perfect crystal 
 having been selected and detached from any others which 
 may be adhering to it, is replaced in the mother liquor, to 
 which from time to time a small portion of a concentrated 
 solution of the salt is added to feed the growing crystal. If 
 the solution be too strong groups of small crystals are 
 formed, which must be removed. The crystal must be 
 turned every day, so as to expose each phase of it in rota¬ 
 tion to the same influence. This process of turning and 
 feeding is continued regularly several months, or until the 
 crystal has attained the size required. (Chrome, alum, 
 sulphate of copper, sulphate of magnesia, &c., were on the 
 table.) I may also advert to a series of valerianates exhi¬ 
 bited by Mr. Barnes. These compounds of valerianic acid 
 are interesting. Some of them are employed medicinally, 
 others have not yet been introduced. In both these in¬ 
 stances, and in many others, the Exhibition has served as a 
 stimulus to young men in their application to practical che¬ 
 mistry. The double salts of iron and some of the prepara¬ 
 tions exhibited by Messrs. Hemingway are very well pre¬ 
 pared, aud indicate the progress of pharmaceutical chemistry. 
 I might give numerous examples of improved processes in 
 pharmacy, but this would possess no general interest, and 
 would be foreign to my present purpose, which is to refer to 
 certain principles, and bring forward a few familiar examples 
 by way of illustration. For the same reason I shall not 
 attempt to give anything like a complete account of the 
 choice chemical specimens and other interesting objects 
 which the Exhibition contained: but I ought not to omit 
 mentioning in general terms the very beautiful preparations 
 of mercury, lead, zinc, tin, antimony, silver, potash, soda, 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 105 
 
 and iodine; also the salts of morphia, strychnia, aconitina, 
 vegetable extracts and juices, among the numerous chemical 
 and pharmaceutical products exhibited by chemists whose 
 names are well known as manufacturers of those articles. 
 
 The medicinal plants exhibited by Mr. Kent were so 
 remarkably well preserved, that many of them possessed all 
 the beauty of the living plant; and in all the specimens, 
 the characteristic smell and other properties were unimpaired. 
 Such a collection of dried medicinal plants was, I believe, 
 never before exhibited. It is probable that Mr. Kent might 
 be able to describe some practical improvements in the de¬ 
 tails of his process. The precautions usually adopted consist 
 in employing a properly constructed drying chamber, care¬ 
 fully regulating the temperature and the supply of air, and 
 excluding the light. 
 
 The foreign collections contained many fine specimens, 
 although the British collection was much more extensive 
 and complete. It is, however, only fair to state, that some 
 of the leading manufacturers in France and Germany did 
 not exhibit, and that many of the foreign productions, 
 although smaller, were in other respects quite equal to those 
 in the British section. The series of chemicals from Messrs. 
 Powers and Weightman, of Philadelphia, including picro- 
 toxin, piperin, cubebin, menispermin, santonin, several salts 
 of quinine, and other curious chemical products, deserves 
 especial notice. In the German and Austrian collections 
 were fine specimens of glacial phosphoric acid, phosphorus, 
 acetic acid, bromine, prussiate of potash, ultramarine, and 
 many other products. From Italy we had phloridzine, san- 
 tonine, ergotine, quinine, &c. Phloridzine is a bitter prin¬ 
 ciple, obtained from the bark of the root of the pear-tree. 
 It is not used in England, but is in high repute in Italy as 
 a substitute for quinine, to which it is said in some cases to 
 be superior. It could easily be prepared in this country if 
 a demand should arise. 
 
 In the department of animal chemistry, some rare organic 
 products were exhibited by Mr. Bullock—kreatine, kreati- 
 nine, urea, hippuric acid, &c. The processes for obtaining 
 animal- products of this kind require some skill and ex¬ 
 perience. The specimens were very fine. We also had Mr. 
 
106 ON TIIE CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL 
 
 Borden’s meat-biscuit—a convenient form of animal food in 
 a concentrated and portable state. 
 
 The illustrations hitherto given refer chiefly to chemical 
 and pharmaceutical products relating to medicine, 1 he same 
 stimulus operated with equal effect in promoting competition 
 in the preparation of chemicals used in the arts and manu¬ 
 factures. For example, ultramarine, a pigment, of which 
 the only source was formerly the lapis lazuli, an expensive 
 mineral, is now artificially prepared to a great extent. In 
 1814, Vauquelin accidentally discovered this product in 
 pulling down a furnace in a soda factory} and from his 
 examination of the substance he identified it as ultramarine, 
 and concluded that it might be artificially prepared. A re¬ 
 ward was offered in France for the process. The composi¬ 
 tion of the ultramarine from lapis lazuli was known by 
 analysis to be sulphur, silica, soda, and alumina. Yet fora 
 long time it was suspected that these were not the only con¬ 
 stituents. Traces of iron and carbonate of lime had been 
 found in some specimens of lapis lazuli} but Messrs. Clement 
 and Desormes ascertained that these were accidental im¬ 
 purities. It had long been known that elements, when 
 chemically combined, often produced compounds totally 
 different in character from the elements; yet the chemists 
 engaged in the investigation anxiously sought for some 
 colouring principle which seemed to have eluded their grasp. 
 M. Guinet solved the mystery in 1828, by a synthetical ex- 
 .periment. He combined the four constituents, and obtained 
 ultramarine; Robiquet, Gmelin, Persoz, and other chemists, 
 afterwards discovered the process. The consequence of the 
 discovery has been, that ultramarine, instead of being a rare 
 luxury, used only by the most eminent artists for especial 
 purposes, is introduced into almost every branch of art and 
 manufacture, in which a bright blue pigment is required} 
 and it may now be obtained at a price ranging from 10s. to 
 Is. 3 d. a pound. In the Great Exhibition, the specimens 
 of ultramarine, French, German, and English, held so promi¬ 
 nent a place, that the Jury considered it requisite to obtain 
 the assistance of gentlemen who had devoted especial atten¬ 
 tion to this particular subject} and it was no easy task to 
 decide as to the comparative merits of the very numerous 
 samples which the competition had brought into the field. 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 107 
 
 If time permitted, I might refer to Longmaid’s process 
 for treating ores and minerals; De Larderel’s process for 
 obtaining boracic acid; and Prat and Agard’s improve¬ 
 ments in the manufacture of salt; 'which, with M. Guinet’s 
 ultramarine process, constituted the four discoveries or in¬ 
 ventions for which the Council medal was awarded. The 
 other three processes do not illustrate the influence of the 
 Exhibition in promoting competition, but show the advan¬ 
 tage of chemical discoveries in their application to the arts 
 and manufactures. Several specimens are on the table 
 illustrating the manufacture of iodine and alkali from kelp. 
 They were exhibited by Mr. Ward, county Donegal, Ireland. 
 The manufactory in which these are produced is on a very 
 large scale, and gives employment to a great number of per¬ 
 sons in the neighbourhood, showing the advantage of the 
 judicious application of industry to a raw material (sea¬ 
 weed) which otherwise would be wasted. 
 
 An ingenious application of the science of chemistry con¬ 
 sists in the manufacture of artificial essences of pears, pine¬ 
 apples, and other fruits. A few specimens which I have 
 received from Mr. Piper, of Upper Winchester Street, Pen- 
 tpnville, are on the table. In the concentrated form the 
 smell is rather acrid, but when diluted, the resemblance to 
 the fruit is recognised. The best imitations are the pine¬ 
 apple and the jargonelle pear; the grnen gage, apricot, black 
 currant, and mulberry, when properly mixed, are fair imita¬ 
 tions. They are quite innocuous in the proportions used, 
 namely, a drop or half a drop to the ounce. I have been 
 informed that some of the ices furnished in the Great Exhi¬ 
 bition were flavoured with these essences. The introduction 
 of these preparations originated, I believe, in the discovery 
 of the fact, that the peculiar flavour of “ pine-apple rum” 
 was due to butyric ether, which has since been obtained 
 from the fruit itself. Further experiments led to the dis¬ 
 covery of other artificial essences. 
 
 The manufacturers of lucifer-matches are subject to a 
 dreadful disease, occasioned by the fumes of the phosphorus, 
 which is one of the ingredients in the manufacture. Phos 
 phorus, as you all know, has a great affinity for oxygen, and 
 at the ordinary temperature of the air it undergoes a slow 
 combustion, emitting fumes of phosphoric and phosphorous 
 
108 ON THE CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL 
 
 acids, which, if inhaled, are very deleterious. By the pro¬ 
 cess lately discovered by M. Schrotter, an Austrian chemist, 
 phosphorus is reduced to a condition perfectly innocuous; 
 it may be handled and even reduced to fine powder, in which 
 state it is equally serviceable for the purposes of the manu¬ 
 facturer. Messrs. Sturge, of Birmingham, who are the 
 proprietors of the patent and exhibited specimens, exerted 
 themselves to complete their arrangements for the manufac¬ 
 ture on the large scale, in order to be in time for the Exhi¬ 
 bition. The importance of the discovery might have given 
 a claim for the Council medal; but the discoverer, not 
 having been the exhibitor, was excluded by the regulations; 
 and the exhibitors, not having been the discoverers, could 
 only claim as manufacturers. 
 
 Here is a specimen of an improved method of electro¬ 
 plating, the discovery of which is claimed by Mr. Lyons, of 
 Birmingham. By the former process the silver was depo¬ 
 sited with a dull crystalline surface, and required brushing 
 with a wire-brush and burnishing to make it bright; by the 
 improved method the silver is deposited bright in the first 
 instance. This is effected by the addition of bisulphuret of 
 carbon to the solution. Mr. Lyons put in a claim for a 
 prize as the inventor, and as the question related to a 
 chemical process, it was transferred from Class XXIII. to 
 Class II. The patent was taken out in March 1847, in the 
 joint names of Lyons and Mulward, the latter of whom 
 disposed of his share to Messrs. Elkington, who have worked 
 the patent, leaving Mr. Lyons to seek his remedy in Chan- 
 cery; on the other side, I have heard rather a different 
 account, and mention the case as an important improvement 
 in a chemical process, in which the claim is disputed. 
 
 I think I have said enough to show that the Great Exhi¬ 
 bition has acted as a stimulus to those w T ho are commercially 
 engaged in the application of chemistry to practical pur¬ 
 poses. There is another class of men on wdiom it was cal¬ 
 culated to exert an influence of rather a different descrip¬ 
 tion : I allude to those who study the abstract science of 
 chemistry philosophically, with a view of extending the 
 general stock of knowledge. Such men do not require the 
 stimulus of a Great Exhibition; their stimulus is the plea¬ 
 sure they feel at each step of their progress in the devclope- 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 109 
 
 xnent of science, the evidence which they see of the wisdom 
 displayed in the adaptation of the materials of which this 
 earth is composed to the purposes tor which they are in¬ 
 tended. But these researches, if carried on with a vague, 
 undefined thirst for discovery, are less likely to be attended 
 with a really useful result, than they would be if directed 
 to some practical object. Communication between the phi¬ 
 losophical chemist and the chemical manufacturer is, there¬ 
 fore, desirable; the opportunity for such communication 
 was afforded by the Great Exhibition, which also tended in 
 other respects to promote the general extension and diffusion 
 of knowledge. Persons engaged in the same pursuits in 
 different parts of the world met and compared notes, ex¬ 
 changed information, and in many instances laid the lounda- 
 tion for future correspondence. 
 
 Many of the exhibitors illustrated their processes by a 
 series of specimens showing the progressive changes from 
 the raw material to the finished product. For example, in 
 the manufacture of alum we had alum slate in its several 
 stages of decomposition resulting in plumose alum, from 
 which are derived some of the magnificent crystals before 
 alluded to. The alum slate consists of alumina, silica, bi- 
 sulphuret of iron, and bituminous matter. It exists, in some 
 deserted coal-mines. By the action of atmospheric air the 
 bisulphuret of iron undergoes spontaneous decomposition, 
 the iron attracting oxygen; another portion of oxygen com¬ 
 bines with the sulphur, forming sulphuric acid, part of 
 which unites with the oxide of iron, and part with the 
 alumina, forming plumose alum. From this plumose alum 
 the sulphate of iron is obtained, and also the alum of com¬ 
 merce—potash being added to replace the iron. The speci¬ 
 mens on the table, which came from Mr. Wilson, of Hurlet, 
 near Glasgow, have been hermetically sealed in the glass 
 case for more than a year, and have undergone no percepti¬ 
 ble change. A considerable volume of air is required to 
 effect the spontaneous decomposition of the alum slate. 
 
 The series of lakes and carmines, with the varieties of 
 the cochineal insect and the opuntia cochinillifera , on which 
 it feeds, affords a complete and interesting illustration of 
 this subject. 
 
 In the raw materials and drugs comprised in the materia 
 
 10 
 
110 ON THE CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL 
 
 medica, the several classes of products, &c., were collected 
 iu groups to show the varieties. For example, there were 
 varieties of sarsaparilla, rhubarb, scammony, opium, cloves, 
 nutmegs, cardamoms, with gums, resins, seeds, oils, barks, 
 &c. Many of these objects were also exhibited among the 
 collections of the localities whence they are derived; and it 
 is worthy of remark, that in many instances the latter 
 specimens were inferior to those in the English collection— 
 an illustration of the fact that the commercial enterprise 
 existing in this kingdom attracts the best of everything from 
 all parts of the world, in the same manner as our metro¬ 
 politan fish-market attracts the best fish from the sea-side. 
 As soon as the value of any product or commodity is known 
 it generally finds its way to England. 
 
 llere is a series of specimens of scammony from the 
 English collection. No. 1 is pure; the others are more or 
 less adulterated, down to No. 5, which is not worthy of the 
 name of scammony. In the Turkish collection, where we 
 might have expected to find scammony unusually fine, No. 1 
 is about on a par with No. 8 in those above mentioned, and 
 No. 5 would not be recognised as scammony except by the 
 label on the bottle. It is only within a few years that pure 
 scammony has been known iu England, and its introduction 
 arose from the circumstance of several samples of scammony 
 being analyzed and found to be adulterated (chiefly with starch 
 and chalk) to an extent varying from about 15 to 60 per cent. 
 The fact being reported to the merchant abroad, he replied 
 that he made it to suit the demand, and mixed it according 
 to the price. He said he would send it pure if desired, but 
 it would be dear in proportion. From that time “ virgin 
 scammony,” as it is called, has been in the English market, 
 but it has not yet found its way to the continent of Europe. 
 Several foreign professors, lecturers on materia medica, and 
 possessors of extensive museums, had never seen pure scam¬ 
 mony until they saw it at the Great Exhibition, and were 
 glad to obtain a few ounces as a specimen to take home 
 with them as a curiosity. Similar remarks may be made 
 with regard to opium, of which we had specimens from 
 various localities. This is a drug which, like many others, 
 is adulterated to suit the demand. 
 
 In the Turkish collection there was pure otto of roses, 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 and also oil of geranium (as it is called) with which it is 
 usually mixed. Similar specimens are on the table from 
 the English collection. It is only recently that these two 
 articles have been imported separately, and this is decidedly 
 an improvement, as the public may now purchase some of 
 each, and mix them according to taste. In the Indian col¬ 
 lection we have the grass oil, which appears to be identical 
 with the so-called oil of geranium, showing that the latter 
 name is erroneous. It is the product of one of the andro- 
 pogons, of which there are three specimens on the table. 
 In several other instances the Exhibition has assisted in 
 correcting errors in the identification of vegetable products, 
 and furnished a clue to further investigation. 
 
 Among other results to be anticipated from the Great 
 Exhibition, the probable extension of commerce may be 
 mentioned. In some departments I am aware that opinions 
 differ on this subject; and it may be the case with articles 
 of luxury, such as decorated furniture and ornamental wares, 
 that the sudden influx of an unusual supply from abroad 
 may for a time overstock the markpt. Whatever may be 
 the case in other branches of industry, I do not anticipate 
 any stagnation in the department now under consideration 
 as the result of the Great Exhibition. I should rather 
 expect that fresh sources of commercial industry would be 
 opened by the exhibition of products and materials, which, 
 in the localities where they are indigenous, may be obtained 
 at little cost, and which might be valuable acquisitions in 
 other places. 
 
 The Indian collection contained many chemical and phar¬ 
 maceutical products which might be advantageously intro¬ 
 duced, and I am informed that negotiations are already in 
 progress for the extension of trade in that quarter. I need 
 not enlarge on this subject, as the productions of India form 
 the materials for a future lecture by Dr. Royle. 
 
 British Guiana furnished numerous products, some of 
 which are on the table. Several varieties of capsicum, starch, 
 meal, gums, rgsins, fruits, &c. Here is the meal ot the 
 bitter cassava (janvpha manihot ), which is separated from 
 the juice by means of this long cylindrical basket called a 
 cassava-squeezer. When filled with the bruised root, a 
 weight is attached to it which contracts the diameter, and 
 
112 ON THE CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL 
 
 the juice escapes through the interstices—a very different 
 apparatus from the hydraulic press used in this country for 
 the same purpose. The juice in its original state is poi¬ 
 sonous, hut by boiling and fermentation it is deprived of its 
 deleterious properties, and converted into a condiment called 
 cassareep. It is estimated that an acre of ground devoted 
 to the cultivation of the bitter cassava would yield a gross 
 return of above 78?., reckoning the meal at Id., the cassa¬ 
 reep at Is. 5c l. a pound, and the starch at 40s. a hundred¬ 
 weight. 
 
 From the interest with which our foreign visiters exa¬ 
 mined the British productions in the class now under con¬ 
 sideration, and the communications which have been made 
 respecting many of them, there is every reason to anticipate 
 that the extension of commerce will be reciprocal. 
 
 The Exhibition has also been the means of directing 
 attention to those laws which interfere with the free deve- 
 lopernent of industry and the progress of the arts and manu¬ 
 factures. It has, unfortunately, been too much the policy 
 of the legislature in this country to impose heavy taxes and 
 restrictions on industry, and although some relief has lately 
 been afforded, much remains to be done. The subject ad¬ 
 dresses itself especially to a society devoted to the encourage¬ 
 ment of the industrial arts. We have seen in the Great 
 Exhibition a striking example of the effect of the removal 
 of such burdens on industry in the improvement which has 
 taken place in the manufacture of glass since the repeal of 
 the duty. 
 
 Glass-making is a chemical art, and it is in this sense 
 that I allude to it, although it comes under another section 
 as a branch of industry. As long as the duty was in force, 
 it was an obstacle to improvement. The amount of the 
 duty was a small portion of the evil compared to the inqui¬ 
 sitorial restrictions inseparable from the collection of a tax 
 of this description. Every operation of the manufacturer 
 was conducted under surveillance. He had no inducement 
 to deviate from the regular routine of his. business with a 
 view of discovering an improved process; for if he tried an 
 experiment, the eyes of the officer were upon him. lie must 
 pay the duty at all events, and whatever might be his suc¬ 
 cess, he could not secure to himself the advantage, as the 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 113 
 
 secret was in tlie possession of another over whom he had 
 no control. It would he difficult to exaggerate the ob¬ 
 structive and withering influence of this system of espionage, 
 or to contrive a more effectual bar to the progress of any 
 industrial art. But as soon as the incubus was removed, a 
 new era in the history of glass-making commenced, and the 
 Crystal Palace was called into existence as a monument to 
 commemorate the event. Within the Crystal Palace we 
 find numerous specimens of glass, adapted to a variety of 
 purposes to which it had not previously been applied. 
 Many of these improvements and appliances are in their 
 infancy, and it is impossible to foresee where they will end. 
 
 I mentioned that several of the leading chemical manu¬ 
 facturers in France and Germany did not exhibit. This 
 did not arise from the fear of being left behind in the compe¬ 
 tition, but, I rather suspect, from an opposite cause. In 
 the manufacture of certain chemical products in which spirit 
 of wine is required, the English chemist, whose spirit is 
 heavily taxed, cannot compete with the French or German 
 chemists, who obtain their spirit at about a fourth of the 
 price. On this account many products are largely imported 
 which would otherwise be made in this country. Some of 
 the foreign makers of such products could have made a 
 magnificent display at the Exhibition, but by so doing they 
 might have given umbrage to some of their customers. 
 This is an inference which may fairly be drawn from the 
 absence of certain names from the list of exhibitors ; and I 
 mention it to show the influence of high duties in crippling 
 British industry. The difference between the spirit duty iu 
 England and in Scotland almost drives the English chemist 
 out of the field in the manufacture of chloroform and some 
 other articles derived from or prepared with spirit, but not 
 coming within the definition of “ spirit mixtures.” 
 
 I am aware that there are practical difficulties in regard 
 to the spirit duty • these, however, do not apply to the tax 
 upon paper, which in some branches of its manufacture has 
 derived improvements from chemical processes. Those who 
 duly estimate the influence of education must be sensible of 
 the impolicy of placing a check on improvements and 
 economy, in the manufacture of the material on which in¬ 
 struction is conveyed. 
 
 . 10 * 
 
114 ON THE CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL 
 
 If the plea of necessity or some countervailing advantage 
 could be urged in favour of these taxes upon industry, we 
 might patiently submit; but it is not so easy to be reconciled 
 when we find that an amount equal to the whole of the 
 paper duty, together with the entire receipts of the Great 
 Exhibition, is likely to be absorbed in the expenses of a 
 disastrous and hopeless war, of which it is emphatically ob¬ 
 served in “ The Times,” of Monday last, “ Our yearly out¬ 
 lay in this agreeable work is about four times the total^sum 
 devoted to the purposes of art, science, and public education 
 in the United Kingdom.” 
 
 The Industrial Exhibition was designed as an antidote to 
 such calamities, as a means of promoting peace aDd harmony 
 by the encouragement of commercial and friendly inter¬ 
 course throughout the world. The discussion of the anti¬ 
 dote naturally suggests an allusion to the existence of the 
 poison. 
 
 The necessity for an amendment in the patent laws is 
 another subject, which has been brought prominently for¬ 
 ward by circumstances connected with the Great Exhibition. 
 I am aware that a Committee of this Society has been en¬ 
 gaged in the endeavour to obtain this amendment. The 
 Bill having been thrown out, I trust these efforts will be 
 renewed with more success early next session. There are 
 several chemical inventions, among many others, which will 
 be affected by the result. 
 
 The Great Exhibition has furnished numerous contribu¬ 
 tions to museums, illustrating art, science, and industry. 
 Among these, the British Museum, the Museum at Kew, 
 and the Museum of Economic Geology, may be mentioned 
 as the three public institutions which have participated. 
 Among the chartered or private societies, I may include 
 the Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Geological, Linnean, and 
 Zoological. In these institutions the specimens are pre¬ 
 served for reference and examination by those who are in¬ 
 terested in the several subjects illustrated. 
 
 I ought not to pass over the distribution of prizes among 
 other elements of the Great Exhibition. It has been 
 customary to give prizes at the Expositions in France and 
 in other places, and it is supposed by some that this is a 
 necessary accompaniment of an exhibition. The prizes are 
 
PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS. 
 
 115 
 
 intended, first, as an extra stimulus to industry; secondly, 
 as .a reward of merit. With regard to the first of these 
 objects, I very much question whether the desire to obtain 
 prizes induced any persons to exhibit who would not have 
 done so in the absence of this prospect: and I also doubt 
 whether among the exhibitors the proposed honorary dis¬ 
 tinction operated as an extra stimulus to exertion. As re¬ 
 wards of merit, I am inclined to the opinion that the prizes 
 W(y;e a fallacy. The same prize being given for very differ¬ 
 ent degrees of merit, those who deserved it most naturally 
 appreciated it least, and vice versa , consequently the amount 
 of reward is inversely in the ratio of the degree of merit. 
 The reward which exhibitors most desire, and which is to 
 them of the most substantial importance, is the approval 
 and patronage of the public; and the publication of a de¬ 
 tailed report prepared by competent persons in each class, 
 and giving to each exhibitor the credit which is his due, 
 would give more general satisfaction and operate as a greater 
 stimulus than the distribution of 2918 medals precisely 
 similar for performances totally different. 
 
 In conclusion, I may advert to the probable influence of 
 the Great Exhibition in promoting education in chemistry 
 and pharmacy, by drawing attention to the importance of 
 institutions in which these branches of science are taught. 
 In the present state of the law in this country, no school 
 of chemistry or pharmacy can exist, unless liberally assisted 
 by donations or subscriptions. Even the Royal College of 
 Chemistry, notwithstanding the prestige of the name of 
 Prince Albert as its head, would have been in the “Gazette” 
 long ago if it had not been sustained by royal munificence 
 and public liberality. The school at the Museum of Eco¬ 
 nomic Geology is, I believe, almost entirely supported by 
 public funds. The school of the Pharmaceutical Society 
 has been kept up for some years at an expense of several 
 hundreds per annum. 
 
 Those who have examined the chemical and pharma¬ 
 ceutical products in the Exhibition must be aware of the 
 necessity of some special training and education for those 
 who are engaged in this branch of scientific industry; yet 
 the law neither requires any qualification, nor recognises it 
 where it exists. The pharmaceutical chemists have been 
 
116 CHEMICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS. 
 
 endeavouring for several years to obtain a remedy for this 
 defect. From the time that the Great Exhibition was first 
 proposed I have considered it a move in the same direction. 
 Supported by this Society, which is devoted to the general 
 advancement of science in its various practical applications, 
 and including in its scheme every branch of industry, it 
 appeared to be the duty and the interest of every class to 
 support the undertaking. It afforded the opportunity foi 
 an honourable competition between British chemists %nd 
 the chemists of other nations, and for useful interchange of 
 ideas between persons engaged in the same pursuits •, it was 
 calculated to promote harmony and good fellowship through 
 the medium of scientific and commercial intercourse. Its 
 general tendency was to unite, and therefore to strengthen, 
 the hands of those who, in their several departments, are 
 engaged in the advancement of science, and its application 
 to commerce and the arts. 
 
LECTURE V 
 
 ON 
 
 THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN THE 
 MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION AS 
 INDICATING THE NECESSITY OF 
 INDUSTRIAL INSTRUCTION. 
 
 BY 
 
 LYON PLAYFAIR, C.B. F.R.S 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
LYON PLAYFAIR, C.B. F.R.S. 
 
 ON 
 
 THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN THE 
 MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 
 
 The industrial products of the different countries repre¬ 
 sented at the Exhibition showed, as a marked feature of 
 ascending Civilization, that civilized states differ from bar¬ 
 barous nations in their manner of employing natural forces 
 as aids to production. In the less advanced State, human 
 labour, often exhibited with an endurance and patience 
 scarcely conceivable to Europeans, attained good results, 
 though not superior to those produced by European methods 
 involving quick execution with little manual labour. I might 
 refer you, as an example, to the fine blue glazed tobes worn 
 by the higher class of Africans. This cloth, dyed with in¬ 
 digo, receives its gloss by the laborious process of rubbing 
 with the shell of a snail as hard as the force of the wrist 
 can bear. About fifty years since, our handloom weavers 
 used a round bottle for a similar purpose, but now our 
 calenderers give, in the same time, to miles of cloth a 
 gloss superior to that produced by this infinitely laborious 
 process to a few inches of the material. It would appear 
 that the less civilized nations attain a high degree of ex¬ 
 cellence in manufactures when they depend on mere inge¬ 
 nuity and labour, as in the muslins of Dacca and Chunderee, 
 and do not involve an intimate acquaintance with natural 
 forces. So far as regards beauty of design and the harmon v 
 
 ( 119 ) 
 
120 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 of colours, European nations had little to teach, hut much 
 to learn. The rude pottery of Tunis was more elegant in 
 form than the common pottery of modern Europe. The 
 shawls and carpets of India, both as to design and harmony 
 of colouring, were unequalled. So long as the manufactures 
 involved human labour and a perception of beauty as their 
 principal elements, the less civilized states equalled, and 
 often excelled, the productions of Europe. But when 
 economy of time and of labour, or an enlightened compre¬ 
 hension of a natural force, became essential conditions, 
 then the striking progress of European manufactures was 
 manifested. 
 
 The progress of civilization, with its necessary increase 
 of human wants, compelled man to invent means for their 
 gratification. The study of natural forces then became 
 necessary, because their employment not only added much 
 to his power, but also materially economized his time. The 
 cleansing of the Augean stables by manual labour was im¬ 
 possible even to the enduring powers of Hercules, but by 
 the use of a natural force, in the form of the waters of the 
 Alpheus, the work was speedily and effectually accomplished. 
 
 The position of nations in the scale of civilization de¬ 
 pends upon their greater or less acquaintance with, and 
 employment of, natural forces. All nations have a concep¬ 
 tion of their use, but their relative success arises from their 
 applying them to the best advantage and under the most 
 favourable circumstances. In the attempt to storm the fort 
 of Arcot, the Rajah drove before him numerous elephants, 
 armed with iron plates, in the hope that the gates would 
 yield to these living battering-rams. But the gallant Clive 
 met this ill-applied, by a well-applied, force. The eighth 
 of an ounce of gunpowder, propelling an ounce of lead from 
 an iron tube, was sufficient to alter the direction of this 
 misused force, and to cause the huge beasts to turn and 
 trample upon the army using them as allies. 
 
 Mechanics being a deductive science, and naturally grow¬ 
 ing from the observation of common phenomena, afforded 
 powers which man availed himself of in an early state. The 
 separate action of two mechanical forces being known, the 
 result of their combined action can be predicated. But in 
 chemistry it is very different. Two bodies, such as muriatic 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 121 
 
 acid gas and ammoniacal gas being brought together, no 
 previous reasoning could tell us that from these two gases a 
 solid would be produced ; and nothing inherent in them¬ 
 selves could enable us to say, that the acid character of the 
 one and the alkaline character of the other would wholly 
 disappear in the resultant. Chemistry, therefore, in its 
 present state, as Mills has shown, is not so much a deductive 
 as an experimental science. Before it could be applied to 
 the purposes of Industry, its experience had to accumulate, 
 and its teachings to be appreciated and systematized. This 
 accumulation of experience has been going on from the time 
 of Tubal-Cain until now, and every day, in adding new 
 facts to its stores, materially augments its powers. It is 
 not, therefore, surprising that it is one of the last of the 
 sciences which, as a branch of systematized knowledge, 
 has offered its services to man; yet, during its short exist¬ 
 ence as a separate science, it has increased human resources 
 and enjoyments to a greater degree than any of its elder 
 sisters. If I can show you this by proofs derived from the 
 Exhibition, it will naturally follow, that the study of 
 Chemistry is essential to those engaged in manufacturing 
 Industry. 
 
 The wants of civilization and the effects of competition 
 require the effective application of increased power, both 
 with regard to economy of labour and of time; and, in the 
 gratification of these wants, there is a constant aim to render 
 objects apparently of little value useful and productive. 
 These, the benefits conferred upon industry by mechanical 
 science, as showm by Babbage and others, are also afforded 
 still more strikingly by her younger sister, Chemistry. 
 Examining the various applications of Chemical Science to 
 manufactures, they naturally divide themselves into the 
 following three heads, which I therefore adopt as the basis 
 of my Lecture. 
 
 1. Chemical appliances which have added to human 
 power, either by furnishing substitutes for mechanical con¬ 
 trivances, or by affording tools and methods of arriving at 
 results formerly impossible. 
 
 2. Methods of producing economy of time, generally 
 resulting from a constant tendency to simplification. 
 
 3. Methods of utilizing products apparently worthless, 
 
 II 
 
122 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 or to endowing bodies with properties which render them 
 of increased value to industry. 
 
 When a manufacture is already established, the results 
 of competition not only compel an increasing attention to 
 the economy of power or of time, but also require au increase 
 of the industrial value of the article offered for competition. 
 He that can replace an expensive mechanical power by a 
 cheap chemical process, or can economize production by the 
 happy adaptation of natural forces, must possess advantages 
 over his less skilful competitors. Yulcan produced his 
 works more economically than the mere mortal blacksmiths 
 of his time, by availing himself of the fires of Mount Etna 
 for his forges. The possibility to do what previously could 
 not be done generally effects a moral as well as a physical 
 result. The communication of a new power often occasions 
 great social changes. It has been justly said, that the dis¬ 
 covery of the Greek fire projected from the walls of Con¬ 
 stantinople u saved Europe from desolation by the Saracens;” 
 and it is equally true, that the personal animosity of war¬ 
 riors and the hostile spirit of nations have been much sub¬ 
 dued by the new system of tactics introduced when a German 
 monk, in deflagrating a mixture of sulphur, nitre, and 
 chai’coal, discovered gunpowder. Morality was improved 
 and crime lessened, when the brilliant lighting of our streets 
 by the introduction of gas made every passer-by a detective 
 policeman; just as the cares, anxieties, and expenses of a 
 government, will be diminished by a fuller developement of 
 the electric telegraph. 
 
 In addition to the direct communication of power, the 
 increased economy of time resulting from chemical appliances 
 is of immense importance in manufactures. This sometimes 
 follows the discovery of new bodies endowed with peculiar 
 properties, but it far more commonly arises from the reduc¬ 
 tion of a complex to a simple process. It is with Chemistry 
 as with Mechanics; the progress of discovery is in the direc¬ 
 tion of simplification. The simplification of complex pro¬ 
 cesses is the economy of labour, the husbanding of wealth. 
 Industry, in its progress, continually finds more ready means 
 of cultivating and reaping fields long in its possession. You 
 all recollect the story of poor Ilo-ti and the pig, told with 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 123 
 
 such delightful vivacity by Charles Lamb. When Ilo-ti’s 
 house, containing a litter of young pigs, was burned to the 
 ground, it was natural that he should discover the delicate 
 taste of roasted pig; and it was equally natural, as a conse¬ 
 quence of this discovery, that the inhabitants of Pekin 
 should introduce pigs into their houses, and burn them down, 
 when they desired to participate in a dish so savoury: but 
 it was a great discovery when an ingenious person found 
 that a common fire would do equally well, and that it was 
 not absolutely necessary to burn down a house every time a 
 pig had to be dressed. “ By such slow degrees/’ concludes 
 the Chinese History, “do the most useful and seemingly 
 the most obvious arts make their way among mankind.” 
 The moral of this well-known story is of every-day occur¬ 
 rence in the Chemistry of the arts. Not a year passes with¬ 
 out the most mature processes of manufacture being further 
 simplified and economized. It is with industry as with 
 nature; many of the lower animals have a repetition of 
 organs, destined for the performance of similar functions 
 exercised by single organs in the higher animals. Various 
 stomachs and several eyes in the lower creatures are not 
 more effective than one stomach and two eyes in man. The 
 law of repetition of organs is like the complex processes of 
 manufactures, represented by fewer but more perfect methods 
 as civilization ascends. Argus, with his hundred eyes, was 
 not nearly such a practical man as a Cyclops with one eye; 
 the hundred eyes of Argus were found napping when work 
 had to be performed, but with the one eye of the Cyclops 
 the trident was forged which assured to Neptune the empire 
 of the sea. The industrial position of England has been 
 gained by her perception of this truth, and by her constant 
 endeavours to replace complex processes of manufacture by 
 means more simple and perfect. 
 
 The third division, into which I have divided chemical 
 appliances to Industry, is one peculiarly characteristic of 
 advancing civilization. European nations, as they increase 
 in wants, examine every material, to sec if it be adapted to 
 their ministration; they do not, like the African Dokos, 
 bury their heads in the ground, and shaking their legs in 
 the air, thank the Supreme Being that they are content 
 with snakes, ants, and mice, for their food. Using their 
 
124 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 heads for sublimer purposes, they observe and investigate 
 the phenomena and properties of each body, so as to ascer¬ 
 tain how far it may be made subservient to their desires. 
 In these investigations Chemistry offers vital aid : she, like 
 a prudent housewife, economizes every scrap. The horse¬ 
 shoe nails, dropped in the streets during the daily traffic, 
 are carefully collected by her, and reappear in the form of 
 swords and guns. The clippings of the travelling tinker 
 are mixed with the parings of horses’ hoofs from the smithy, 
 or the cast-off woollen garments of the poorest inhabitants 
 of a sister isle, and soon afterwards, in the form of dyes of 
 brighest blue, grace the dress of courtly dames. The main 
 ingredient of the ink with which I now write was possibly 
 once part of the broken hoop of an old beer-barrel. The 
 bones of dead animals yield the chief constituent of lucifer- 
 matches. The dregs of port-wine, carefully rejected by the 
 port-wine drinker in decanting his favourite beverage, are 
 taken by him in the morning, in the form of Seidlitz powders, 
 to remove the effects of his debauch. The offal of the streets 
 and the washiugs of coal-gas reappear carefully preserved in 
 the lady’s smelling-bottle, or are used by her to flavour 
 blancmanges for her friends. This economy of the Chemistry 
 of Art is only in imitation of what we observe in the Che¬ 
 mistry of Nature. Animals live and die; their dead bodies, 
 passing into putridity, escape into the atmosphere, whence 
 plants again mould them into forms of organic life; and 
 these plants, actually consisting of a past generation of 
 ancestors, form our present food. 
 
 The objects of the Exhibition were divided into—1. Their 
 raw materials; 2 . The machinery used in their preparation; 
 3. The manufactures themselves; 4. The fine art employed 
 to adorn them. I would that I had time to take even a 
 general chemical survey of these four divisions, and show 
 you how everywhere Chemistry is affording her aid ; but, as 
 this is impossible, I must content myself with isolated ex¬ 
 amples from the manufacturing department only, adducing 
 them, however, merely as indications of the universal pre¬ 
 sence of the Science. 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 125 
 
 Iron Smelting. 
 
 Let us select the smelting of iron* as an example of the 
 teachings of Chemistry. If practice, unaided by Science, 
 be sufficient for the prosecution of manufactures, this vene¬ 
 rable art must be thoroughly matured, and Science could 
 scarcely expect to be of much use to it in its present state. 
 But while we find much to admire in the triumphs of prac¬ 
 tical Experience, there is yet great room for the improve¬ 
 ment of this art. The cheapness of iron ore, and of the 
 coal used in its smelting, has been so great, that, regardless 
 of their capital importance to this country, we, like careless 
 spendthrifts, use them without thought of the future. 
 
 The mode of smelting iron consists in mixing the ore 
 with lime and coal, the former producing a slag or glass with 
 the impurities of the ore, while the coal reduces the oxide 
 of iron to its metallic state. Much heat is required in the 
 process of smelting, but the cold air blown in, as the blast, 
 lowers the temperature, and compels the addition of fuel, as 
 a compensation for this reduction. Science pointed to this 
 loss, and now the air is heated before being introduced to 
 the furnace. The quantity of coal is wonderfully economized 
 by this application of Science; for instead of seven tons of 
 coal per ton of iron, three tons now suffice, and the amount 
 produced in the same time is increased nearly sixty per 
 cent. Assuredly this was a great step in advance. Could 
 Science do more ? 
 
 Professor Bunsen, in an inquiry in which I was glad to 
 afford him aid, has shown that she can. We examined the 
 furnaces, in each portion of the burning mass, so as fully to 
 expose the operations in every part of the blazing structure. 
 This seemingly impossible dissection was accomplished by 
 the simplest means; the furnaces arc charged from the top, 
 and the materials gradually descend to the bottom; with the 
 upper charge a long graduated tube was allowed to descend, 
 and the gases streaming from ascertained depths were col¬ 
 lected and analyzed. Their composition betrayed with per- 
 
 * Although the smelting of iron is not strictly within the division 
 of manufactures, according to the classification, its importance to 
 this country will authorize an exception in its favour. 
 
 11 * 
 
126 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 feet accuracy tlie nature of the actions at each portion of the 
 furnace, and the astonishing fact was elicited, that, in spite 
 of the saving produced by the introduction of the hot blast, 
 no less than 811- per cent, of fuel is actually lost, only 18£ 
 per cent, being realized. If, in round numbers, we suppose 
 that four-fifths of the fuel be thus wasted, no less than 
 5,400,000 tons are every year thrown uselessly into the 
 atmosphere, this being nearly one-seventh of the whole coal 
 annually raised in the United Kingdom. This enormous 
 amount of fuel escapes in the form of combustible gases, 
 capable of being collected and economized; yet in spite of 
 these well-ascertained facts, there are scarcely half-a-dozen 
 furnaces in the United Kingdom where this economy is 
 realized by r the utilization of the waste gases of the furnace. 
 
 Large quantities of ammonia are annually lost in iron¬ 
 smelting, which might readily bo collected. Ammonia is 
 constantly increasing in value, and each furnace produces 
 and wastes at the least 1 cwt. of its principal salt daily, 
 equivalent to a considerable money loss. With the low price 
 of iron, this subsidiary product is worthy of attention. As 
 I write, a Welsh smelter has visited me, to say that he has 
 adopted this suggestion with advantageous results. I might 
 adduce other improvements introduced by Chemistry in the 
 smelting process; but these will suffice to show you that 
 she has added to human power by increasing production, 
 wdiile she has also economized both the time and the ma¬ 
 terials employed. 
 
 Textile Fabrics. 
 
 Without the aid of Chemistry, it would have been impos¬ 
 sible for textile fabrics to have attained their present 
 developement. The bleaching of cotton and linen was not 
 much practised in England until about a century since: 
 before that time, they were sent to Holland, where the 
 operation of bleaching consisted in steeping them in potash 
 for a few days, afterwards for a week in buttermilk, and 
 then exposing them for several months on a meadow to the 
 influence of the sun and moisture. A great improvement 
 was made in Scotland, by substituting sulphuric acid for 
 sour milk; and the immediate effect was, to reduce the time 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 127 
 
 from eight to four months. In 1785, a French Chemist 
 suggested the use of chlorine as a means of hastening the 
 process, and, in the last year of the eighteenth century, a 
 compound of this gas with lime was introduced by Tennant 
 of Glasgow. The developement of the cotton manufacture 
 now became immense. By a happy adaptation of other 
 chemical processes, in conjunction with the bleaching power 
 of chlorine, the time required for the whitening ot cotton 
 and linen fabrics was at once reduced from months to hours, 
 while the miles of outstretched calico, defacing the verdure 
 of country districts, disappeared, the whole operation being 
 carried on within the small space of an ordinary factory. 
 You may imagine w T hat an impulse this gave to a trade so 
 important to us. The bleaching of calico now consists of a 
 chemical operation of great precision; that of silk and wool 
 has not yet been so thoroughly comprehended by Science, 
 and consequently has not derived so many advantages from 
 its application. 
 
 A greater acquaintance with the theory of bleaching has 
 led to a better understanding of the very ancient practice of 
 washing. The washing of domestic linen is by no means an 
 operation too insignificant for the attention of the Chemist. 
 A dozen shirts may cost 3 1. 12s., this being the united in¬ 
 terest of the producer, cotton-spinner, and shirt-maker. 
 These shirts will last three years, with care, and supposing 
 three to be washed each week, the cost of washing—that is, 
 the washerwomen’s interest in the dozen shirts—amounts to 
 77 16s., or more than double that of the cotton-spinner. In 
 fact, the cost of washing is about one-twelfth the income of 
 a family of moderate means. Taking rich and poor together, 
 and estimating the cost of washing at no more than 3c7 per 
 head weekly, the annual charge of washing to the metropolis 
 alone is 1,535,0607, which is equal to about one-twenty- 
 fifth of the whole capital invested in the cotton manufactures 
 of the United Kingdom. Hard water usually contains lime, 
 and in washing that earth unites with the fatty acid of soap, 
 producing an insoluble body of no use as a detergent. For 
 every 100 gallons of Thames water, 30 oz. of soap are thus 
 wasted, before a detergent lather is formed. In personal 
 ablution, we economize this excessive waste by the uncom¬ 
 fortable practice, universally followed in London, ol taking 
 
128 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 about an ounce of water into the hands, and converting it 
 into a hither, the water in the basin being only employed to 
 rinse this off, instead of aiding in the detergence. But in 
 washing linen this plan cannot be followed, every particle 
 of the lime being removed before the soap becomes useful; 
 this, as a matter of economy, is frequently accomplished 
 by carbonate of soda, as being cheaper than soap. The 
 amount of soap and soda salt thus wasted in the metropolis 
 has been stated to be equal to the gross water rental. 
 Hard water, besides wasting soap, produces a greater tear 
 and wear of clothes. 
 
 All these facts are well known to manufacturers, and 
 hence the care with which a water is selected before the 
 seat of a manufactory is determined. Why, then, should 
 we not attend to our domestic manufactures, considered 
 trifling only because they are carried on with a great divi¬ 
 sion of labour, unseen in its aggregate ? Yet these domestic 
 manufactures are of more importance, economically, than 
 those carried on in large and imposing factories. 
 
 I wish I had time to refer, with sufiicient detail, to the 
 discovery of Mercer, who has shown that the immersion of 
 cotton in soda or in sulphuric acid causes an equal con¬ 
 traction of the fibres, thus producing the mechanical effect 
 of a loom. If very fine calico, containing as much as 180 
 picks to the inch, be thus treated, it contracts to calico of 
 260 picks to the inch—a fineness not yet attained by any 
 mechanical contrivance. This calico, in addition to its 
 acquired fineness, lias also assumed powers which enable it 
 to receive colours superior to those assumed by ordinary 
 calico. Before leaving this important discovery of Mercer, 
 I should allude to one other by the same chemist. The 
 French calico-printers employ mousselines-de-laine consist¬ 
 ing altogether of wool, while in England we use a much 
 cheaper fabric, consisting of wool and cotton. The colours 
 on this mixture are, however, extremely meagre when com¬ 
 pared with the former; but Mercer has shown that the 
 mixed fabric acquires the properties of the other, when it is 
 treated with a bath of chloride of lime. This, one of the 
 most important discoveries ever made in calico-printing, has 
 been of great value to this country. 
 
 I cannot, however, allude to all the triumphs of Chemistry 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 129 
 
 in calico-printing, an art which has grown with the growth 
 of Chemistry and strengthened with its strength. The 
 knowledge of mordants and of colours, and the other results 
 of chemical discoveries, are of every-day occurrence. Let 
 us take one of the last examples. Lapis lazuli, long cele¬ 
 brated for its beautiful blue, almost ranked among the pre¬ 
 cious stones, and was sold at a price which put it quite out 
 of the reach of the calico-printer. But chemists, ascertain¬ 
 ing its composition by analysis, soon learned how to make 
 it by synthesis. Artificial ultramarine is now manufactured 
 at three or four shillings per pound. But when it was made, 
 how was it to be fixed on cloth? From its insolubility, its 
 fixation was a real difficulty. Chemists suggested that the 
 ultramarine might be mixed with albumen, which, beino- 
 coagulated by heat, would retain the colour on the cloth to 
 which it was applied. Whole barrels of the dried white of 
 eggs are now to be seen at calico-print works. Yet this is 
 an expensive process. Could common cheese not be substi¬ 
 tuted for the white of eggs ? Cheese is soluble in ammonia, 
 and the ultramarine, being mixed with this solution, is 
 retained by the cheese, when the ammonia evaporates. 
 Now, therefore, the ultramarine is fastened on by cheese, 
 made fiom the buttermilk of Scotland, and sold under the 
 name of lactarine. 
 
 A iecent application of Chemistry to the economy of 
 dyeing deseives especial attention. Madder, the dye most 
 commonly used for calico, after imparting its colour, was 
 considered useless. The large quantities of spent madder 
 constantly accumulating were found exceedingly inconve¬ 
 nient. It was not valuable enough for the manure-heap, 
 and the rivers became polluted in carrying away the waste 
 material. But Chemistry has shown that actually one-third 
 of the colouring matter is thus thrown away, and that simple 
 treatment with a hot acid again renders it available as a dye. 
 These waste-heaps are now sources of wealth, and the dyer 
 no longer poisons the rivers with spent madder, but care¬ 
 fully collects it, in order that the chemist may make it again 
 fit for his use. 
 
 fetannate of soda is a salt largely used by calico-printers. 
 The usual mode of preparing it was, (1), tin was reduced 
 from its ore; (2), this tin was dissolved in muriatic acid; 
 
130 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 (3), it was oxidized by nitric acid or chlorine; (4), the 
 oxide thus formed was precipitated and redissolved by soda, 
 this bulky, aqueous solution being furnished to calico-print¬ 
 ers. Mercer simplified the process, and obtained it in the 
 solid state by two operations: (1), the tin was obtained as 
 before ; (2), this tin was fused with a mixture of nitrate of 
 soda and caustic soda, the former oxidizing it, and the latter 
 forming stannate of soda with the oxide thus formed, "i oung 
 showed in the Exhibition a still further simplification. The 
 common ore of tin is an oxide : why, then, was.it necessary 
 to reduce it to the metallic state merely to oxidize it again ? 
 He therefore fused the ore at once with soda, the impurities 
 remaining undissolved; and the salt was made by one opera¬ 
 tion. I quote this instance as a remarkable example oi the 
 tendency of Chemistry to simplify processes of manufacture. 
 The history of this salt is an exact parallel to that of Ilo-ti 
 and the pig. 
 
 I might refer to the important discoveries of yellow and 
 red prussiate of potash, the formers of Prussian blue; but 
 this would only be to cite one out of innumerable appliances. 
 I prefer, therefore, to finish this part of the subject,, by 
 alluding to the resists and discharges used in calico-printing. 
 In order to preserve white patterns in the process of dyeing, 
 the nations of the East, whence calico-printing originated, 
 still employ the most laborious mechanical devices, each 
 white spot being covered with sealing-wax, or by being tied 
 up and protected from the dye. By the aid of chemistry, 
 we either discharge the colour on the cloth, or we put upon 
 it bodies which resist the action of the mordants and pre¬ 
 vent the colour attaching to that particular part. Acids 
 made from the lees of wine (tartaric acid) and from, the 
 lemon (citric acid) are now largely used in these operations, 
 and hence come the beautiful patterns we enjoy in our 
 dresses. It was found that, even when the whites were 
 thus obtained, they became soiled in washing off the excess 
 of mordants from the other parts of the cloth; and the only 
 mode of preventing this was, to treat the cloth with a bath 
 of cowdung. Large dairies were consequently necessary 
 adjuncts of a calico-print work. Chemistry has shown that 
 the action of the manure is due to its phosphates; and a 
 mixture of phosphate of soda, phosphate of lime, and size, 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 181 
 
 is now substituted for the filthy baths formerly indispensable. 
 I could spend hours in discoursing to you on the triumphs 
 of Chemistry in the dyeing of textile fabrics, whether of 
 cotton, wool, and silk, or their mixtures; but I must con¬ 
 tent myself with these few isolated examples, and pass on to 
 other subjects. 
 
 Leather. 
 
 The manufacture of leather has been less advanced by the 
 application of Chemical Science than any other of the arts. 
 If Simon, the tanner of Joppa, had been able to send leather 
 to the Exhibition, no doubt he would have carried off a 
 medal for leather as good, and made exactly by the same 
 process, as that of our most eminent manufacturers of the 
 present day. And yet the science of leather production is 
 better understood now than then ; but so many physical con¬ 
 ditions are involved in the production of good leather, that 
 scientific processes have been unable to satisfy them all. The 
 hides, steeped in an infusion of oak-bark, absorb tannin and 
 are converted into leather. Good sole leather takes about a 
 year to tan, and even calf-skins consume a month in the 
 operation. . Chemists have certainly indicated substitutes for 
 bark, containing a greater amount of tannin, and these, as 
 foi instance terra japonica, cutch, catechu, and dividivi, pro¬ 
 duce their effects in half the time; but the leather is said 
 not to be so durable. With sumach, light skins may be 
 tanned in twenty-four hours, and with the aid of alum even 
 in one hour; but the resulting manufactures are not prefer¬ 
 red to the old processes. Atmospheric and hydrostatic pres¬ 
 sure have been used to hasten the absorption; the refined 
 laws of Endosmosis and Exosmosis have been called in to 
 accelerate the process; heavy rollers have squeezed the so¬ 
 lution through the pores; but all these methods have had at 
 the best but a doubtful success. Leather-manufacturers 
 meet men of science by the well-founded assertion, that the 
 resulting leather is too porous, too hard or too soft, or not 
 sufficiently durable; and they revert to their old traditional 
 modes of preparation. I allude to these failures the more 
 especially to show that there is a wide chasm between the 
 chemist s laboratory and the workshop,—a chasm which has 
 
132 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 to be bridged over by the united aid of the philosopher and 
 the manufacturer. One without the other does not suffice, 
 but both, working together, may achieve great results. Yet, 
 in bridging over this chasm, they must act on a common 
 plan. If the manufacturer build his half without under¬ 
 standing the principles of construction employed by the other, 
 the sides of the bridge may indeed meet, but they are not 
 constructed to receive the binding influence of the key-stone, 
 and the arch must give way and tumble down. 
 
 Having thus shown the comparative failure of Chemistry 
 in revolutionizing this important manufacture, let me take 
 one or two instances from it to prove that, in the details of 
 the working, it has been of use in economizing time and 
 labour, and in affording new uses to comparatively valueless 
 objects. In removing the hair from the hides, previous to 
 tanning, it was customary to shave it with a knife. This 
 process was tedious and imperfect, and the following simple 
 one is now used. Lime-water dissolves the bulbous root of 
 the hair, when the hides are immersed in it for some time, 
 and the hair may then be readily removed by a blunt instru¬ 
 ment. By this simple process one man can remove the hair 
 from a hundred kid-skins in about an hour. Still the immer¬ 
 sion requires several weeks, while the addition of red orpi- 
 ment to the lime, as practised by the sheep-skin manufac¬ 
 turers of France, reduces the time to a few hours. 
 
 When goat-skins are tanned for morocco leather, it is 
 necessary, in order to adapt them for dyeing, to remove the 
 lime absorbed by the last operation. A solution of album 
 grcecum cleanses the pores effectually, leaving them so 
 spongelike, that air can readily be forced through them. 
 Hence the process of tanning is rendered much easier, being 
 in fact completed within twenty-four hours; while the leather 
 is rendered fit to assume the colours so characteristic of mo¬ 
 rocco. About fifty persons are employed in London to col¬ 
 lect the sweepings of dog-kennels for this purpose, and many 
 more in applying them; and I am informed, by Mr. Beving- 
 ton, that the sum annually paid to the collectors and work¬ 
 men employed in using this apparently worthless substance, 
 is not less than 5000/. in the metropolis alone. 
 
 The currier shaves leather to render it of equal thickness, 
 and the shavings were treated as waste, scarcely fit for the 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 183 
 
 manure-heap, but Chemistry has shown that they contain 
 much nitrogen, which renders them well adapted for the 
 formation of the beautiful colour known as Prussian blue. 
 
 Mineral and Metallic Manufactures. 
 
 The mineral and metallic manufactures are those which 
 obviously have derived most advantages from Chemistry. 
 G-lass and pottery are in fact chemical manufactures. The 
 hard-won experience of two thousand years in China has 
 been given to Europeans by a few years’ application of Che¬ 
 mistry. Glass, made by the ancients from the ashes of ferns 
 and other plants, is now formed by soda artificially produced 
 from sea salt. The Exhibition showed that this manufacture, 
 fai ad \ anced as it is, may still be susceptible of improvement; 
 for, in the French department, glass was shown in which 
 zinc and barytes were substituted for lead. The hardening 
 and production of steel, the discovery of many new alloys 
 endowed with properties most important to the arts, and the 
 electrotyping of metals, are familiar examples of chemical 
 appliances; but this very familiarity renders it unnecessary 
 that I should dwell upon them. I, therefore, from want 
 of time, leave these important manufactures, and pass on 
 to others, in which the influence of Chemistry may be less 
 palpable to the general observer. 
 
 Soap. 
 
 Soap is probably not older than the Christian era, for the 
 soap of the Old Testament seems to have been merely alkali. 
 Iiofane history, previous to Christ, does not allude to soap, 
 and, in all the detailed descriptions of the bath and of wash- 
 ing, it is never mentioned. Pliny describes its manufac¬ 
 ture, but ascribes to it as singular a use as that given to the 
 potato by Gerard, who, in his “ Herbal,” assures us that 
 it “is a plant from America, which is an excellent thing for 
 making sweet sauces, and also to be eaten with sops and 
 wines;” so Pliny, in regard to soap, states, that its main 
 puipose was to dye the hair yellow, and that men used it 
 for this purpose much more than women. Gradually its 
 use became more extensive, and its manufacture consider- 
 12 
 
134 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 able. Soap generally consists of a fatty acid, combined 
 with the alkali of soda. This soda was imported from 
 Spain under the name of barilla, itself the ashes of plants 
 grown near the sea. As these plants derived their soaa 
 from the sea, near which they flourished, Chemistry, though 
 singularly enough in the person of Napoleon Bonaparte, 
 suggested that it might be artificially made from sea salt 
 A process for this was perfected, and soda derived from 
 salt has now replaced barilla. From 1829 to 1834 the 
 average annual import of barilla was 252,000 cwt.; it is 
 now almost nothing. But besides this substitution, the 
 cheapness and comparative purity of the soda made from 
 salt is so great, that the manufacture of soap, and conse¬ 
 quently of soda, is enormously increased, and probably ex¬ 
 ceeds ten times the largest quantity of barilla ever imported 
 in one year into this country. Its cheapness and excellence 
 have also had a prodigious effect on the manufacture of 
 glass. 
 
 Chemistry has thus produced great economy and increased 
 power of production to the manufacturers of soap by fur¬ 
 nishing them with soda prepared directly and artificially 
 from salt, instead of through the organism of plants. This, 
 however, is only one of the benefits conferred on this manu¬ 
 facture by Chemical Science. The fiscal regulations of 
 foreign countries rendered their tallow and fats expensive 
 to British industry. Russia, with almost a monopoly of 
 tallow and linseed oil, thought it good policy to sell them 
 at high prices. But Chemistry pointed out that vegetables, 
 as well as animals, produce similar fats. The fat of beet 
 and mutton exists in cocoa beans; human fat in olive-oil; 
 that of butter in palm-oil; and horse fat and train-oil arc in 
 many oily seeds. Was it, then, necessary to submit to the 
 high prices of Russian tallow? Now, palm and cocoa-nut 
 oil largely replace the fat of the Russian oxen and sheep, 
 although the cheap importation of similar fats from Aus¬ 
 tralia and South America has rendered the substitution less 
 necessary. 
 
 Perfumery. 
 
 Much aid has been given by Chemistry to the art of 
 perfumery. It is true that soap and perfumery are rather 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 135 
 
 rivals, the increase of the former diminishing the use of 
 the latter. Costly perfumes, formerly employed as a mask 
 to want of cleanliness, are less required now that soap has 
 become a type of civilization. Perfumers, if they do not 
 occupy whole streets with their shops, as they did in ancient 
 Capua, show more science in attaining their perfumes than 
 those of former times. The Jury in the Exhibition, or 
 rather two distinguished chemists ot that Jury, Dr. Hoffman 
 and Mr. De la Rue, ascertained that some of the most deli¬ 
 cate perfumes were made by chemical artifice, and not, as 
 of old, by distilling them from flowers. The perfume of 
 flowers often consists of oils and ethers, wdiich the Chemist 
 can compound artificially in his laboratory. Commercial 
 enterprise has availed itself of this fact, and sent to the 
 Exhibition, in the form of essences, perfumes thus prepared. 
 Singularly enough, they are generally derived from sub¬ 
 stances of intensely disgusting odour. A peculiarly foetid 
 oil, termed u fusel oil,” is formed in making brandy and 
 whisky. This fusel oil, distilled with sulphuric acid and 
 acetate of potash, gives the oil of pears. The oil of apples 
 is made from the same fusel oil by distillation with sulphuric 
 acid and bichromate of potash. The oil of pine-apples is 
 obtained from a product of the action of putrid cheese on 
 sugar, or by making a soap with butter, and distilling it 
 with alcohol and sulphuric acid, and is now largly employed 
 in England in the preparation of pine-apple ale. Oil of 
 grapes and oil of cognac, used to impart the flavour of 
 French cognac to British brandy, are little else than fusel 
 oil. The artificial oil of bitter almonds, now so largely em¬ 
 ployed in perfuming soap and for flavouring confectionary, 
 is prepared by the action of nitric acid on the foetid oils of 
 gas-tar. Many a fair forehead is damped with eau de mille- 
 fleurs, without knowing that its essential ingredient is de¬ 
 rived from the drainage of cowhouses. The winter-green 
 oil, imported from New Jersey, being produced from a plant 
 indigenous there, is artificially made from willows and a 
 body procured in the distillation of wood. All these are 
 direct modern appliances of science to an industrial purpose, 
 and imply an acquaintance with the highest investigations 
 of organic Chemistry. Let us recollect that the oil of 
 
136 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 lemons, turpentine, oil of juniper, oil of roses, oil of co¬ 
 paiba, oil of rosemary, and many other oils, are identical 
 in composition, and it is not difficult to conceive that per¬ 
 fumery may derive still further aid from Chemistry. 
 
 Candles.* 
 
 The manufacture of candles has recently been much im¬ 
 proved by the aid of Chemistry. Tallow candles, or their 
 more expensive substitute, wax, were generally used till 
 within the last twenty years. The tallow itself was long 
 very impure, containing cellular tissue, which was only 
 partially removed in the form of a scum, known as “crack¬ 
 lings.” This impurity rendered the light unsteady, and 
 obstructed the wick. The old method of purification still 
 largely used in this country, though superseded on the con¬ 
 tinent and in Dublin, whence such good tallow candles were 
 exhibited, has been displaced by a process of treating with 
 sulphuric acid the tallow melted by steam. Much of the 
 smell is thus removed, and a larger amount of a purer tallow 
 is obtained. The researches of Chevreul had shown that 
 fats consist of fatty acids, combined with a kind of sugar 
 named glycerin, which it was important to remove ; this 
 glycerin, removed in candle-making, is now used as lini¬ 
 ments in cutaneous affections, and is employed as a remedy 
 in deafness and rheumatism. By boiling with lime, an in¬ 
 soluble soap is formed, while the glycerin remains dissolved 
 in the water. This lime-soap, decomposed by a stronger 
 acid, yields the fatty acids in a purer state. But there are 
 generally two solid acids mixed with a fluid one; and the 
 latter is easily removed by pressure, the solid fats remain¬ 
 ing. The solid acids are made into the beautiful candles 
 erroneously called “stearine.” Various difficulties occurred 
 in this manufacture. The solid acids, crystallizing rapidly, 
 were ill adapted for candles; but the introduction of arsenic 
 in small quantity prevented the crystallization. The public 
 were justly alarmed at this dangerous practice, and the 
 
 * I have had the advantage of seeing the admirable Report cf 
 Jury XXIX., and have availed myself, with permission of its 
 author, of some new information contained in it. 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF TIIE EXHIBITION. 137 
 
 manufacture was threatened with extinction, when it was 
 found that a small per-centage of wax produced the same 
 effect, and that large crystals might even be prevented by 
 a careful regulation of the temperature. This evil was 
 therefore avoided; but a more serious one arose. The 
 ashes of the wicks, becoming heated, cause the fatty acids 
 to splutter; and this was a grave inconvenience. These 
 ashes, however, form a fusible glass with borax; so the 
 wicks are dipped into a solution of this salt, and the diffi¬ 
 culty is removed; a salt of bismuth is also used for this* 
 purpose. Snuffers, however, are always troublesome, and 
 a self-snuffing candle was an important want. Chemists 
 have told us that flame is hollow, its centre containing no 
 oxygen capable of supporting combustion; and the wick, 
 being in the hollow part, excluded from the air by its fiery 
 prison, is charred, and diminishes the light. If the wick 
 could be made to turn outwards, it would reach the exterior 
 air and be consumed, whilst the glass formed by the action 
 of the borax on its ashes would also be removed. This 
 beautiful scientific fact was attained by the introduction of 
 plaited and twisted wicks, the tension of the threads forcing 
 the wick to curl outwards to the exterior of the flame, 
 where it is rapidly burned. 
 
 Another great improvement now took place. In prepar¬ 
 ing the commercial stearine from palm-oil or tallow, it is 
 essential to remove the glycerin, and this had been accom¬ 
 plished by saponifying them with alkalies. Sulphuric acid, 
 acting on fats, unites with the oily acids and with glycerin; 
 the former compounds are decomposed by water and become 
 insoluble, while the latter, from being soluble, is removed; 
 the oily acids, blackened with the destroyed orgauic impuri¬ 
 ties, are now distilled, and it is found that a jet of steam, 
 heated somewhat in the manner of the hot blast, aids their 
 distillation, the fatty acids passing over in a comparatively 
 pure form, while the residual black resinous matter is made 
 into black sealing-wax. Candles may now be made from 
 the distilxed fatty acids at once, or they may be pressed to 
 regiove the oleic acids. 
 
 The oleic acid, both from this mode of manufacture and 
 from that by alkaline saponification, is principally exported 
 to France, where it is made into a hard soap. In this 
 12 * 
 
138 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 country we have yet to acquire the method of doing this. 
 The excellence of the acid saponification is, that it is ap¬ 
 plicable to palm-oil and to the most impure and foetid fats; 
 by its means, the finest candles may be made from the waste 
 of the glue-maker and from the oily residues obtained by 
 the decomposition of the waste lyes of the woollen manu¬ 
 facturer and the bleacher. As the first beautiful process 
 of saponification sprang from the abstract researches of 
 Chevreul, so has the last elegant method arisen from the 
 ‘ scientific investigations of Fremy, although both of them 
 have been reduced to practice, with many improvements, by 
 the manufacturers themselves. The importance of the 
 manufacture may be understood when I state that one com¬ 
 pany (Price’s Candle Company) possesses cocoa-nut planta¬ 
 tions in Ceylon, and employs eight hundred workmen in its 
 five manufactories in London, using a capital of nearly half 
 a million, and dividing profits to the extent of 40,000?. per 
 annum. 
 
 Chemistry has not yet done so much for the manufacture 
 of wax candles as might have been anticipated. Wax is 
 still bleached by exposure to air and light, and the operation 
 has been hastened more by mechanical than by chemical 
 contrivances; the bleaching of wax is a tedious and often a 
 difficult process, and demands greater attention from chemists 
 than it has received; the Brazilian mahogany-coloured wax, 
 produced by a black bee hiving under-ground, has not yet 
 been bleached by the sun, and might be imported in con¬ 
 siderable quantity if Chemistry offered means for removing 
 its colour. I do not allude to what Chemistry offers to do, 
 but it would appear that paraffin and oil from coal, and 
 possibly from peat, may dispense, to a certain extent, with 
 the necessity for sperm-whale fishing. 
 
 C0AL-GrAS. 
 
 The manufacture of coal-gas is an admirable example of 
 the benefits conferred by Chemistry in all the three divisions 
 of its uses; for it not only lias economized human power 
 and time, but it has utilized all the products employed in 
 removing its impurities. Coal-gas was only introduced to 
 use at the beginning of this century, and the public preju- 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 139 
 
 dice which had to be overcome, and the difficulties to be 
 surmounted in its actual manufacture, may still be remem¬ 
 bered by many of my hearers. It was no mean innovation 
 to replace tallow candles and oil lamps by an air streaming 
 through pipes, but the difficulties attending its purification 
 from noxious ingredients appeared even more insuperable 
 than to reconcile the public to the innovation : the gas had 
 an insupportably foetid odour, and certainly injured health 
 when burned; it discoloured the curtains, tarnished the 
 metals, eat otf the backs of books, and covered everything 
 with its fuming smoke. It required a man of courage, as 
 indomitable as Winsor, its great advocate, to persuade the 
 public to continue its use until means were found for the 
 removal of these noxious qualities. Here Chemistry, itself 
 the father of the manufacture, was called in consultation. 
 The impurities in the gas are sulphuretted hydrogen, which 
 tarnished the metals, and with sulphuret of carbon produced 
 sulphureous fumes; ammoniacal compounds, which changed 
 the colours of dyes and acted on leather; tarry vapours, 
 which caused the deposition of soot; and all these had to be 
 removed. The ammonia and the tar were partially con¬ 
 densed in tubes kept cool, the sulphuretted hydrogen and 
 carbonic acid were removed by lime, and the ammonia by 
 washing the gas with water. This last operation was the 
 least effective, and new substitutes had to be devised, one 
 of which I may mention; superphosphate of lime, consisting 
 of bones dissolved in sulphuric acid, only required ammonia 
 to make it a powerful and excellent manure; trays of this 
 superphosphate were therefore placed in a chamber through 
 which the gas passed, and thus the ammonia was removed, 
 while the phosphate became enriched. A new method is 
 now extensively employed, and shows the tendency to sim¬ 
 plification resulting from discovery. By this method almost 
 all the conditions of purification are satisfied by one process; 
 the gas, after cooling, is at once taken into a chamber con¬ 
 taining carbonate of lime and sulphate of iron; these, re¬ 
 acting upon each other, produce oxide of iron and sulphate 
 of lime. The gas, streaming through this mixture, gives up 
 its sulphuretted hydrogen to the oxide of iron, while the 
 carbonate of ammonia, decomposing the lime salt, forms 
 sulphate of ammonia and carbonate of lime, the lime thus 
 
14P ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVE!) 
 
 being reconverted to its original state; the gas before being 
 passed into this mixture is occasionally led through chloride 
 of calcium in order to aid the removal of the ammoniacal 
 salt. When the mixture has done its work it is exposed to 
 air, and the sulphide of iron absorbing oxygen is converted 
 into a basic sulphate of iron; hence the mixture is similar 
 in its purifying character, except that it contains sulphate 
 of ammonia, which may be washed out and preserved, while 
 the residue is employed over and over again. By this ele¬ 
 gant process the noxious sulphur compounds are utilized in 
 the fabrication of sulphate of ammonia, and the mixture 
 seems never weary of performing its duty; hence not only 
 is the purification performed at one process, but the noxious 
 ingredients are converted into compounds of much value. 
 The waste and badly-smelling products of gas-making ap¬ 
 peared almost too bad and foetid for utilization, and yet every 
 one of them, Chemistry, in its thriftiness, has made almost 
 indispensable to human progress; the badly-smelling tar 
 yields benzole, an ethereal body of great solvent powers, well 
 adapted for preparing varnishes, used largely for making oil 
 of bitter almonds, of value for removing grease-spots, and 
 for cleansing soiled white kid gloves. The same tar gives 
 naphtha, so important as a solvent of Indian rubber and 
 gutta percha; similar tar, when made from wood, yields 
 creosote, a powerful preservative of animal matter, and 
 much employed as a medicinal agent. Coal-tar furnishes 
 the chief ingredient of printer’s ink, in the form of lamp¬ 
 black; it substitutes asphalte for pavements; it forms a 
 charcoal when mixed with red-hot clay, that acts as a 
 powerful disinfectant. When the tar is mixed with the 
 coal-dust, formerly wasted in mining operations, it forms by 
 pressure an excellent and compact artificial fuel; the water, 
 condensed with the tar, contains much ammonia, readily 
 convertible into sulphate of ammonia, a salt now recognised 
 as being of great importance to agriculture, and employed 
 in many of the arts. Cyanides are also present among the 
 products of distillation, and these are readily converted into 
 the beautiful colour known as Prussian blue. The naphtha¬ 
 line, an enemy to the gas-manufacturer by choking the 
 pipes, may be made into a beautiful red colouring matter, 
 closely resembling that from madder. This, by its trans- 
 
IN TIIE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 141 
 
 formation, promises an important, though hitherto not yet 
 realized useful product. Goal, when distilled at a lower 
 temperature than that required to form gas, produces an oil 
 containing paraffin, largely used as an antifrictional oil for 
 light machinery. 
 
 In the isolated cases of manufactures, adduced as types 
 of the importance of chemical appliances to industry, I have 
 referred to general subjects rather than to individual objects 
 in the Exhibition; because these Lectures ought, in obe¬ 
 dience to the desire of their lloyal suggester, to be indica¬ 
 tions of consequences rather than references to special 
 excellencies. The illustrations have been restricted to 
 Chemistry, not that I unduly exalt its importance, but 
 that we are wisely instructed to confine our attention to the 
 branch of knowledge most familiar to us. All these in¬ 
 stances, however, are real consequential supports of a text 
 which has already been discussed in its general bearings in 
 another Lecture.* The text was this,—that the progress 
 of abstract science is of extreme importance to a nation de¬ 
 pending upon its manufactures. It is only the overflowings 
 of science, arising from the very fulness of its measure, 
 that benefit industry. When water falls from a higher to a 
 lower point, it, to a certain extent, increases the velocity of 
 rotation of the earth, and the sum of the increments of the 
 velocity of all falling waters would soon be sensible, were 
 it not that the sun, lapping them up, restores them to their 
 sources, and by removing them farther from the centre, 
 compensates for the increased velocity given in one locality; 
 while at the same time they fertilize the lands on which 
 they fall. So is it with Science and Industry. The over¬ 
 flowings of abstract Science give their first impulse to the 
 country producing them; but the Sun of knowledge soon 
 raises and distributes them to all lands, which receive bene¬ 
 fit in just so far as the ground is prepared for their fer¬ 
 tilizing influence. The discoverer of abstract laws, however 
 apparently remote from practice, is the real benefactor to 
 Ins kind; in reality, far more so than he who applies them 
 directly to industry. Yet in our Mammon-worship we 
 
 * “On the National Importance of Studying Abstract Science 
 with a view to the Healthy Progress of Industry.” By Lyon Play¬ 
 fair, C.B.F.R..S.—H. M. Stationery Office. 
 
142 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 adore the golden calf and do not see its real creator. It 
 is abstract and not practical Science that is the lite and soul 
 of Industry; practical appliances are the organs through 
 which the *God-born truths pass for the sustenance of its 
 general frame. The cultivators of abstract Science, the 
 searchers after truth, for eternal truth’s own sake, are—to 
 borrow a simile, I believe, of Canning the horses of the 
 chariot of industry; those who usefully apply the truths are 
 the harness by which the motion is communicated to the 
 chariot. But is the chariot drawn by the horses or the 
 harness ? Truth to say, in this country of ours,—and mark 
 you well, in no other country in Europe, we honoui the 
 harness, but neglect the horses. It is the harness that is 
 gilt* the hard-working horses too often receive but meagre 
 fare. Now, in all this, I tell you a living truthj one far 
 more connected with the actual material progress of our 
 nation than you may be aware of. The published opinions 
 of Babbage and Herschel, men who have a right to pro¬ 
 nounce judgment on this subject, assure us that England is 
 rapidly declining in Science. It is most important that we 
 should ascertain the real cause of this decline. The cause 
 would appear to be, that we chiefly honour those who aie 
 useful in our time and generation; that our eyes are too 
 eagerly bent upon the golden prize, for which we are all 
 running; and that we can only afford to throw a kind of 
 theoretical squint of recognition on those men, who are 
 looking for sublime truths, careless as to whether they will 
 have any immediate effect on industrial progress.. And yet 
 it is these very men that give strength to the sinews of a 
 future generation, enabling it to keep its place in the in¬ 
 dustrial struggle of nations. Bo not misunderstand me. 
 Science never looks so beautiful as when she aids man to 
 increase his resources and comfortsj but the dove would 
 not have brought the olive-branch to the ark of man s 
 hopes unless she had been able to take a higher and longci 
 flight than that embraced in the tree whence she came. 
 
 It is no new truth that both abstract Science and Ait 
 should have a position intimately allied with, but still 
 thoroughly independent of, Industry. I read mythology 
 wrongly, unless this is strongly shadowed out in the histoiy 
 of the gods. Vulcan, the god of Industry, wooed Mineiva 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 143 
 
 with a passionate love, but the chaste goddess never mar¬ 
 ried, keeping always independent, although no celestial ever 
 showered so many benefits on the peaceful arts. Artistic 
 beauty, in the person of Venus, was really wedded to Vul¬ 
 can, but this ill-assorted union was not a happy one, and 
 Venus often repented the alliance. 
 
 Take the case of any philosopher, the most separate from 
 human sympathies and enjoyments, and you will find that 
 from him, though not through him, have sprung numerous 
 appliances for their gratification. The very impersonification 
 of abstract Science was Cavendish, as described by his bi¬ 
 ographer,* although fortunately for the world, such total 
 abstraction from human sympathies does not frequently 
 exist. “ lie did not love; he did not hate; he did not 
 hope; he did not fear; he did not worship as others do. 
 He separated himself from his fellow-men, and apparently 
 from God. There was nothing earnest, enthusiastic, heroic, 
 or chivalrous in his nature, and as little was there anything 
 mean, grovelling, or ignoble. He was almost passionless. 
 
 . . . An intellectual head thinking, a pair of wonderfully 
 acute eyes observing, and a pair of very skilful hands ex¬ 
 perimenting or recording, are all that I realize in reading 
 his memorials. His brain seems to have been but a calcu¬ 
 lating-engine ; his eyes inlets of vision, not fountains of 
 tears; his hands instruments of manipulation, which never 
 trembled with emotion, or never clasped together in adora¬ 
 tion, thanksgiving, or despair; his heart only an anatomical 
 organ, necessary for the circulation of the blood.” Yet 
 this man, destitute of passions and of sympathies—who, 
 during his body life, poured down light upon, without 
 warming, the world—has by his mind, which still lives, 
 conferred more real material benefit upon Industry than any 
 of the so-termed “ practical” men who have succeeded him. 
 His discovery of the composition of water has given to In¬ 
 dustry a vitality and an intelligence, the effects of which it 
 would be difficult to exaggerate. 
 
 I have shown in my former Lecture, that a rapid transi¬ 
 tion is taking place in Industry; that the raw material, 
 formerly our capital advantage over other nations, is gra- 
 
 * “ Life of Cavendish,” by Dr. Wilson, p. 185. 
 
144 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 dually being equalized in price, and made available to all 
 bv the improvements in locomotion ; and that industry must 
 in future be supported, not by a competition of local aman- 
 tages, but by a competition of intellect. All European 
 nations, except England, have recognised this fact; then- 
 thinking men have proclaimed it; their governments have 
 adopted"it as a principle of state; and every town has now 
 its schools, in which are taught the scientific princip.es in¬ 
 volved in manufactures, while each metropolis rejoices in 
 an Industrial University, teaching how to use the alphabet 
 of Science in reading Manufactures aright. Were there any 
 effects observed in the Exhibition from this intellectual 
 training of their industrial populations ? The official reserve, 
 necessarily imposed upon me as the Commissioner appointed 
 to aid the Juries, need exist no longer, and from my per¬ 
 sonal conviction, I answer without qualification, in the 
 affirmative. The result of the Exhibition was one that 
 England may well be startled at. Wherever and that im¬ 
 plies in almost every manufacture—Science or.Art was 
 involved as an element of progress, we saw, as an inevitable 
 law, that the nation which most cultivated them was in the 
 ascendant. Our manufacturers were justly astonished, at 
 seeing most of the foreign countries rapidly approaching 
 and sometimes excelling us in manufactures^ our own by 
 hereditary and traditional right. Though certainly veiy 
 superior in our common cutlery, we could not claim decided 
 superiority in that applied to surgical instruments; and 
 were beaten in some kind of edgetools. Neither our swords 
 nor our guns were left with an unquestioned victory. In 
 our plate-glass, my own opinion—and I am sure that of 
 many others—is, that if we were not. beaten by Belgium, 
 we certainly were by France. In flint-glass, our ancient 
 prestige was left very doubtful, and the oidy important dis¬ 
 coveries in this manufacture were not those shown on the 
 English side. Belgium, which has deprived us of so much 
 of our American trade in woollen manufacturers, found hei- 
 self approached by competitors hitherto almost unknown; 
 for Russia had risen to eminence in this branch, and the 
 German woollens did not shame their birthplace. In silver¬ 
 smith work we had introduced a large number of foreign 
 workmen as modellers and designers; but, nevertheless, wo 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 145 
 
 met with worthy competitors. In calico-printing and paper- 
 staining our designs looked wonderfully French; whilst our 
 colours, though generally as brilliant in themselves, did not 
 appear to nearly so much advantage, from a want of harmony 
 in their arrangement. In earthenware we were masters, as 
 of old; but in china and in porcelain our general exellence 
 was stoutly denied; although individual exellencies were 
 very apparent. In hardware we maintained our superiority, 
 but were manifestly surprised at the rapid advances making 
 by many other nations. Do not let us nourish our national 
 vanity by fondly congratulating ourselves that, as on the 
 whole we were successful, we had little to fear. I believe 
 this is not the opinion of most candid and intelligent ob¬ 
 servers.. It is a grave matter for reflection, whether the 
 Exhibition did not show very clearly and distinctly that the 
 rate of industrial advance of many European nations, even 
 of those who were obviously in our rear, was at a greater 
 rate than our own; and if it were so, as I believe it to 
 have been, it does not require much acumen to perceive 
 that in a long race the fastest-sailing ships will win, 
 even though they are for a time behind. The Exhibition 
 will have produced infinite good, if we are compelled as a 
 nation to acknowledge this truth. The Roman empire 
 fell rapidly, because, nourishing its national vanity, it re¬ 
 fused the lessons of defeat, and construed them into 
 victories. All the visiters, both foreign and British, were 
 agreed upon one point, that, whichever might be the 
 first of the exhibiting nations, regarding which there were 
 many opinions, that certainly our great rival, France, was 
 the second. Let us hope that in this there is no historical 
 parallel. After the battle of Salamis the generals, though 
 claiming for each other the first consideration as to general¬ 
 ship, unanimously admitted that Themistocles deserved the 
 second: and the world, ever since, as Smith remarks, has 
 accepted this as a proof that Themistocles was, beyond all 
 question, the first general. Let us acknowledge our defeats 
 when they are real, and our English character and energy 
 will make them victories on another occasion. But our 
 
 great danger is, that, in our national vanity, we should 
 exult in our conquests, forgetting our defeats; though I 
 
 13 
 
146 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 have much confidence that the truthfulness of our nation Mill 
 save us from this peril. A competition in Industiy must, 
 in an advanced stage of civilization, be a competition of in¬ 
 tellect. The influence of capital may purchase you for a 
 time foreign talent. Our Manchester calico-printers may, 
 and do, keep foreign designers in France at liberal salaries. 
 Our glass-works may, and do, buy foreign science to aid 
 them in their management. Our potteries may, and do, 
 use foreign talent both in management and design. Oui 
 silversmiths and diamond-setters may, and do, depend much 
 upon foreign talent in art and foreign skill in execution, 
 but is all this not a suicidal policy, which must have a ter¬ 
 mination, not for the individual manufacturer, wdio wisely 
 buys the talent wherever he can get it, but for the nation, 
 which, careless of the education of her sons, sends our capital 
 abroad as a premium to that intellectual progress which, in 
 our present apathy, is our greatest danger ? 
 
 It is well to inquire, in what we are so deficient, and what 
 is the reason of this deficiency. Assuredly it does not con¬ 
 sist in the absence of public philanthropy or want of private 
 zeal for education, but chiefly rests in that education being 
 utterly unsuited to the wants of the age. In the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth centuries classical learning was, after its re¬ 
 vival, highly esteemed: and its language became the com¬ 
 mon medium for expression in all nations. A thorough 
 acquaintance with it was an absolute necessity to any one 
 with pretensions to learning. It had a glorious literature, 
 one as fresh as when it grew on the rich soils of Ptome and 
 Greece. Its truths were eternal, and were received by us in 
 their traditional mythology, as Bacon beautifully says, like 
 11 the breath and purer spirit of the earliest knowledge float¬ 
 ing to us in tones made musical by Grecian flutes. ’ And 
 why was that bew'itcliing literature made the groundwork of 
 our educational systems ? Does it not show that literature, 
 like art, may have a standard excellence; and that we are 
 content to imitate where we cannot surpass. It the main 
 object of life were to fabricate literati, I would not dispute 
 the wisdom of making classics the groundwork of our educa¬ 
 tion. They are not utterly dead, but, like the dry bones of 
 the valley, they may come together, and have breathed into 
 them the breath of life. In the world there is a constant 
 
IN TIIE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 147 
 
 system of regeneration. Theoi’ies exist for a time, but like 
 the phoenix, are destroyed, and rise yet more glorious from 
 their ashes. Animals die, and by their decay pass into the 
 atmosphere, whence vegetables derive their nutriment, and 
 thus death becomes the source of life. But in all this there 
 is no incongruity. A phoenix does not from its ashes pro¬ 
 duce an eagle, but a phoenix as before. The dry bones of 
 dead Literature may vivify into new forms of literary life. 
 Classical Literature and exact Science are, however, wholly 
 antithetic. If classical Literature be sufficient to construct 
 your spinning-jennies and bleach your cottons, your system 
 of instruction is right; but if you are to be braced, and 
 your sinews strengthened, for a hard struggle of industry, is 
 it wise that you should devour poetry, while your competi¬ 
 tors eat that which forms the muscles and gives vigour to 
 the sinews ? With such different trainings, who in the end 
 will win the race ? Science has not, like Literature and Art, 
 a standard of excellence. It is as infinite as the wisdom of 
 God, from whom it emanates. All ordinary powers decrease 
 as you depart from the centre; but the power of knowledge 
 augments the farther it is removed from the human source 
 from which it was transmitted. God has given to man much 
 mental gratification in trying to understand and apply to 
 human uses His laws. The great philosopher of Scripture 
 has said, “ It is the glory of God to conceal a tiling, but the 
 honour of kings to search out a matter.” The poet-prophet 
 of the Bible has also told us, that God “ turneth wise men 
 backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish.” And, 
 therefore, as surely as He is infinite and man finite, until 
 earth passes away, you will have no human standard of 
 scientific knowledge. As this is so, how can we as a nation 
 expect to carry on those manufactures by our sons of Indus¬ 
 try, when we do not teach them the nature of the principles 
 involved in their successful prosecution '( Solace ourselves 
 as we will with vain thoughts of our gigantic position among 
 nations—Greece was higher than we are, and where is she 
 now ? It does not require a lofty stature to see the farthest; 
 for a dwarf on the shoulders of a giant sees farther than the 
 giant,—not that he is less a dwarf, but that he has added 
 the giant’s height to his own. The Exhibition showed us 
 many small States which had thus raised themselves on the 
 
148 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 shoulders of Science within the last few years, while we are 
 merely hovering about its skirts. Let us take care that our 
 excess of pride in the so-termed “practical” power of our 
 population may not be punished as Arachne was of old. 
 Arachne was wonderfully skilled in needle-work, but pre¬ 
 sumptuously challenged Minerva to a trial of skill. What 
 chance was there in such an unequal contest ? Minerva 
 united Science to her handicraft skill, and this combination 
 insured success. Arachne was justly cast from her proud 
 position among mortals by being changed into a spider, ever 
 spinning the same web in the same way,—the same for 
 wintry blasts as for gentle summer zephyrs. 
 
 “ You have excelled all other people in the products of 
 Industry. But why ? Because you have assisted Industry 
 by Science. Bo not regard as indifferent what is your true 
 and greatest glory. Except in these respects, in what are 
 you superior to Athens and Rome ? Do you carry away 
 from them the palm in literature and the fine arts ? Do 
 you not rather glory, and justly too, in being, in these re¬ 
 respects, their imitators? Is it not demonstrated by the 
 nature of your system of public education and by your pop¬ 
 ular amusements ? In what, then, are you their superiors ? 
 In everything connected with physical Science; with the 
 experimental arts. These are your characteristics. Do not 
 neglect them. You have a Newton, who is the glory, not 
 only of your own country, but of the human race. You have 
 a Bacon, whose precepts may still be attended to with ad¬ 
 vantage. Shall Englishmen slumber in that path which 
 these great men have opened, and be overtaken by their 
 neighbours ? Say, rather, that all assistance shall be given 
 to their efforts ; that they shall be attended to, encouraged, 
 and supported.”— (Davy.) 
 
 All the aspirations of youth are towards Science, especi¬ 
 ally that depending on observation, but we quench the God- 
 born flame by “ freezing drenches of scholastic lore.” In 
 the language of “Eothen,” “You feel so keenly the delights 
 of early knowledge ! You form strange mystic friendships 
 with the mere names of mountains, and seas, and continents, 
 and mighty rivers; you learn the ways of the planets and 
 transcend their narrow limits, and ask for the end of space; 
 you vex the electric cylinder till it yields you, for your toy 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 149 
 
 to play with, that subtle fire in which our earth was forged. 
 You know of the nations that have towered high in the 
 world, and the lives of men who have saved whole empires 
 from oblivion. What more will you ever learn ? Yet the 
 dismal change is ordained, and then, thin meagre Latin 
 (the same for everybody) with small shreds and patches of 
 Greek, is thrown, like a pauper’s pall, over all your early 
 lore ; instead of sweet knowledge, vile, monkish, doggerel 
 grammars and graduses, dictionaries and lexicons, and hor¬ 
 rible odds and ends of dead languages, are given you for 
 your portion, and down you fall from Roman story to a 
 three-inch scrap of 1 Scriptores Romani ’—from Greek 
 poetry, down, down, to the cold rations of 1 Poetce Greed,’ 
 cut up by commentators and served out by schoolmasters.” 
 Is this horrible quenching of all our youthful innate love 
 of God’s truth the education for the youth of a nation de¬ 
 pending for its country’s progress on their developement ? 
 IIow is it possible that dead Literature can be the parent 
 of living Science and of active Industry ? 
 
 I need not explain myself as meaning that our youthful 
 aspirations point to science as a fit means for developing our 
 intellectual capacities, and that boyhood is scarcely the time 
 rudely to exercise all our longings for an acquaintance with 
 the wisdom of creation, or to cramp and torture the mind 
 by the acquisition of dead languages to the exclusion of all 
 other knowledge. In quoting the beautiful language of 
 “ E5then,” I intend only to express the violence done to our 
 natural instincts, and not to question the excellence of the 
 means employed in teaching classics. It would ill become 
 me, or any one, to speak disparagingly of the wisdom to be 
 derived from a study of ancient authors, or to deny the im¬ 
 mense importance of a knowledge of classical literature to 
 education generally •, nor would I like to see that education 
 confined to stern realities, divested of the graces and poetry 
 of polite literature. But I do, at the same time, vehemently 
 protest against the exhaustion of all our youthful years by a 
 mere classical tuition, especially in the case of that large 
 class of the community who, by their exertions in industry, 
 have confided to them, in a great degree, the prosperity of 
 their country. As I do not think the teaching of classical 
 literature as practised in our schools to be worthy of the 
 13 * 
 
150 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 name of education, neither do I apply that title to the com¬ 
 munication of scientific knowledge alone,—and vou will 
 observe that I have always spoken of it by the term “in¬ 
 struction.’'—I am propounding no scheme of education, but 
 strongly insisting that instruction in science should form an 
 important part of the education of our youth. 
 
 Do not conceal from yourselves that this is the vital 
 difficulty of the question. You may, and I hope will, soon 
 raise an Industrial University; but this should have its 
 pupils ready trained before it adopts them. Now, it must 
 from itself act downwards, instead of working from the 
 schools upwards. Until our schools accept as a living faith 
 that a study of God’s works is more fitted to increase the 
 resources of the nation than a study of the amours of Jupi¬ 
 ter or of Venus, our Industrial Colleges will make no ma¬ 
 terial headway against those of the Continent. In Paris we 
 find a Central College of Arts and Manufactures, into which 
 the students enter at an average age of nineteen years, 
 already well trained in the elements of Science, and going 
 there to be taught how to use these elements for industrial 
 application. Three hundred of the best youth of France 
 are annually receiving at this College the most elaborate 
 education, and the best proof of its practical value is the 
 great demand among manufacturers for its pupils, a diploma 
 from it being equivalent to assured success in life. Can 
 you wonder at the progress making by France in industry, 
 when she pours every year an hundred and fifty of these 
 highly educated manufacturers into her provinces ? A 
 similar education to this is going on in almost all parts of 
 Europe; but in England only one such institution exists. 
 We have our University and King’s College, it is true, and 
 they are productive of much good; and similar Colleges 
 exist in Scotland and Ireland; but their instruction in 
 Science terminates just where the Industrial Colleges of the 
 Continent begin. In fact, the latter would be supplement¬ 
 ary and a great support to the former. Government, act¬ 
 ing on its own perception of right, in its first national re¬ 
 cognition of these truths, now happily dawning on England, 
 has established a School of Mines; and the experience of 
 this has shown that it is much appreciated, although it 
 labours under the disadvantage of the want of a preliminary 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 151 
 
 education in its pupils, compelling its professors, in its com¬ 
 mencement, to be more elementary in their instruction than 
 is well compatible with the proper objects of such a school. 
 Now, while I urge the impolicy of a mere classical instruc¬ 
 tion to the youth of this country with all the expression 
 which I can give to a matured conviction, do not suppose 
 that I would wish to put all our youth in one Procrustean 
 bed. I again allege, that it is the present system which 
 follows this singular love of uniformity, and clips or ex¬ 
 tends the dimension of each youth to one common standard. 
 It is against this very confined system that I protest. I 
 think the glorious wisdom displayed in creation, even in the 
 limited extent to which jve are permitted to behold it, forms 
 no unapt means of leading man to a worship of its Creator; 
 and, sympathizing as I do to the utmost in our educational 
 endeavours to unite and not to dissever the acquirement of 
 knowledge from that of religion,—a union which, I think, 
 is at once the glory, the pride, and the peace of England, 
 
 I cannot perceive how the mere teaching of profane litera¬ 
 ture can tend to this end in any degree so much as the 
 reverential teaching of Clod’s wisdom displayed in Ilis 
 works, especially when every step in advance of this know¬ 
 ledge produces a social amelioration of the human race. 
 But, while I would regret to see our Colleges retrograde one 
 step in the teaching of classical Literature, it is truly 
 lamentable that Oxford and Cambridge so little encourage 
 the Sciences; for, until the Colleges throw open their widest 
 portals to these, the schools in the country, deriving their 
 life from them, will do little to reform the present vices of 
 a limited and exclusive education. 
 
 In this country we are, in many respects, remarkably un¬ 
 changeable. Three professions, the Church, the Law, and 
 Medicine, were supposed, some centuries since, to repiesent 
 learning, and, with a wonderful blindness, they are still 
 accepted as all-sufficient. Industry, to which this country 
 owes her success among nations, lias never been raised to 
 the rank of a profession. For her sons there are no honours, 
 no recognised or social position. Her native dignity, if 
 tacitly understood, has never formally been acknowledged. 
 Science, which has raised her to this eminence, is equally 
 unrecognised in position or honours, and, fiom hei very 
 
lo2 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 nature, cannot attain the wealth which in Industry solaces 
 the absence of social position. This restriction of learned 
 honours to three recognised professions has a lamentable 
 effect both on the progress of Science and of Industry. Its 
 consequence is, that each profession becomes glutted with 
 ambitious aspirants, who, finding a greater supply than 
 demand, sink into subordinate positions, becoming soured 
 and disappointed, and therefore dangerous to the com¬ 
 munity. Raise Industry to the rank of a profession,—as it 
 is in other countries,—give to your Industrial Universities 
 the power of granting degrees involving high social recogni¬ 
 tion to those who attain them, and you will draw off the 
 excess of those talented men, to whom the Church, the Bar, 
 and Medicine, offer only a slender chance of attaining emi¬ 
 nence; and by infusing such talent into Industry, depend 
 upon it, the effects will soon become apparent. In foreign 
 countries, professions involving social rank and position 
 arise with their requirements; in our Nation, we are con¬ 
 tent with a meagre classification, scarcely sufficient for the 
 middle ages, and not even a reflection of our present wants. 
 These considerations are not mean ones, for, as long as am¬ 
 bition exists in the human mind, their good or bad adjust¬ 
 ment will exercise a beneficial or pernicious influence on 
 society. 
 
 In the establishment of institutions for industrial instruc- 
 tion, you, at the same time, create the wanting means for 
 the advancement of Science in this country. I have alluded 
 in this Lecture, and have shown in another, that the pro¬ 
 gress of Science and of Industry in countries which have 
 reached a certain stage of civilization ought actually to be 
 synonymous expressions; and hence it follows that it is 
 essentially the policy of a Nation to promote the one which 
 forms the springs for the action of the other. I think it, 
 therefore, no mean advantage to this nation, that the estab¬ 
 lishment of Industrial Colleges will materially aid the pro¬ 
 gress of Science by creating positions for its professors and 
 for those who would willingly cultivate Science, but are 
 scared lrom it by the difficulties they have to encounter in 
 its prosecution. The great Davy says,—"Science, for its 
 progression, requires patronage; but it must be a patronage 
 bestowed, a patronage received with dignity. It must bo 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 153 
 
 preserved independent. It can bear no fetters, not even 
 fetters of gold; and, least of all, those fetters in which 
 ignorance or selfishness may attempt to shackle it. And 
 there is no country which ought so much to glory in its 
 progress, which is so much interested in its success, as this 
 happy island. Science has been a prime cause of creating 
 for us the inexhaustible wealth of manufactures; and it is 
 by Science that it must be preserved and extended. We 
 are interested as a commercial people—we are interested as 
 a free people. The age of glory of a nation is likewise the 
 age of its security. The same dignified feeling which urges 
 men to gain a dominion over nature will preserve them from 
 the dominion of slavery. Natural, and moral, and religious 
 knowledge are of one family, and happy is the country and 
 great its strength where they dwell together in union.” Let 
 me quote, also, from the immortal Bacon on this point, him¬ 
 self the prince of philosophers, and who, as lord chancellor, 
 when he wrote could not be actuated by personal ambi¬ 
 tion ,—“ And as founders of Colleges plant and founders of 
 Lectures water, we must next note a defect in public lec¬ 
 tures, whether in arts or professions, viz. the smallness of 
 the salary generally assigned them, for it is necessary to the 
 progress of the Sciences that lecturers be of the ablest kind, 
 as men intended for propagating the sciences in future 
 ages, and not for transitory use. And this cannot be, unless 
 the profits content the most eminent in every art to appro¬ 
 priate their lives and labours to this sole purpose, who must, 
 therefore, have a competency allowed to them proportionable 
 to what might be expected from the practice of a profession. 
 For, to make the Sciences flourish, David’s military law 
 should be observed — e that those who stay with the stores 
 have equal with those who are in the action,’ or otherwise 
 the stores will be ill attended; so lecturers in the Sciences, 
 as being the guardians of the stores and provisions, whence 
 men in active life are furnished, ought to share equal ad¬ 
 vantages with them; for, if the fathers of the Sciences be 
 weak or ill maintained, the children will feel the effect of 
 it.” I will not weaken this admirable opinion of Bacon by 
 any remark of my own, for I believe it to contain the real 
 cause of the low state of Science in England. But lest you 
 should think my views partake too much of the argumentum 
 
154 ON THE CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED 
 
 <icl sacculum, I will protect myself under the caustic wit of 
 Diogenes, who, on being asked, “ How it happened that 
 philosophers followed the rich, and not the rich the philoso¬ 
 phers V’ answered, “ Because the philosophers know what 
 they want, but the rich do not.” 
 
 I must now conclude this Lecture, already much too long, 
 and I do so by once more recalling to your minds its general 
 argument. Chemistry, viewed here as a type of Science 
 generally, has exercised immense influence upon manufac¬ 
 tures, having increased human power, economized human 
 time, and communicated important values to bodies ap¬ 
 parently the most worthless. Foreign states have acknow¬ 
 ledged the fact, that successful competition can only be 
 attained by an attentive study of Science—by making their 
 sons of Industry themselves disciples of Science. England, 
 except in one instance, has hitherto not recognised this 
 truth as a principle of State, and hence her Science lan¬ 
 guishes, and her capital has to import it from other lands. 
 This points to the necessity of the establishment of Indus¬ 
 trial Colleges; but it implies, at the same time, an adapta¬ 
 tion of juvenile education to the wants of the age. All this 
 impresses itself upon my mind with a conviction as strong 
 as that the glorious sun sheds its light-giving rays to this 
 naturally dark world of ours. May the Exhibition be the 
 means of raying forth this truth to our darkening industry ! 
 Do not dream of that Exhibition as a thing of-the past, 
 rather think of it as a glorious emblem of the future. When 
 Neptune and Minerva disputed as to who should name the 
 capital of Cecropia, the gods resolved that the right should 
 be given to the one who granted to man the greatest benefit. 
 Neptune struck with his trident the earth, from whence 
 sprung a war-horse; while Minerva produced an olive-tree. 
 England, though sharing with Neptune the empire of the 
 sea, ratified the decision of the gods by rearing the emblem 
 of peace. The Exhibition has been an olive-tree, the branches 
 of which have now been spread among all nations, and suc¬ 
 cess for the future will depend upon the care and wisdom 
 with which they are tended, so as to grow into goodly trees. 
 Do not let us, by severing Industry from Science, like a tree 
 from its roots, have the unhappiness of seeing our goodly 
 stem wither and perish by a premature decay; but as the 
 
IN THE MANUFACTURES OF THE EXHIBITION. 155 
 
 tree itself stretches out its arms to heaven to pray for food, 
 let us, in all humility, ask God also to give us that know¬ 
 ledge of His works which will enable us to use them in 
 promoting the comfort and happiness of His creatures. Our 
 duties in this respect are clearly indicated in the motto of 
 our Catalogue:— 
 
 “Humani Generis Progresses 
 Ex Communi Omnium Labore Ortus, 
 Uniuscujusqee Industrije Debet Esse Finis: 
 
 Hoc Adjuvando, 
 
 Dei Opt: Max: Voluntatem Exsequimub.” 
 
 January 7th , 1852. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
LECTURE YI. 
 
 ON 
 
 SUBSTANCES USED AS FOOD, ILLUSTRATED 
 BY THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN LINDLEY, Ph.D., F.R.S. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, IONDON. 
 
 14 
 
 (157) 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
JOHN LINDLEY, Ph.D.,F.RS. 
 
 ON 
 
 SUBSTANCES USED AS FOOD, ILLUSTRATED BY 
 THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 
 
 Having been requested to bring before the Society of 
 Arts some of those general results to which the late Great 
 Exhibition of all Nations has led, so far as alimentary sub¬ 
 stances are concerned, I have found myself in this position : 
 —that between seven thousand and eight thousand objects 
 having come under the cognisance of the Jury appointed to 
 consider such matters, it is impossible that anything which I 
 can have to say should be otherwise than either an exceed¬ 
 ingly brief catalogue of such productions, or else a selection of 
 some of the main points which would appear to be most 
 deserving of notice. 
 
 But it is clear that among so large a mass of materials 
 there must be a great deal that is familiar to us all, and 
 that, in fact, it is desirable on this occasion that my remarks 
 should be limited to some of the more unusual subjects 
 exhibited ; because food does not stand in the same relation 
 to us as other branches of knowledge, inasmuch. as all are 
 obliged to make themselves very much acquainted with 
 what we do or can exist upon. 
 
 Allow me, therefore, without further preface, to proceed 
 at once,—dismissing all such questions as those of sea-slugs, 
 and birds’-nests, and other curious matters, which, whatever 
 
160 ON SUBSTANCES USED AS FOOD, 
 
 may be their value, belong to countries so far removed from 
 us that we cannot feel their importance—to point out in 
 what cases it has been found that this Exhibition has brought 
 us acquainted with new preparations or with new sources of 
 supply, new countries, from which different kinds of food 
 well known in their ordinary states can be obtained, or such 
 manifest improvements in alimentary substances as merit 
 especial notice. 
 
 If we take the subject of Wheat, which, perhaps, will 
 be regarded by many as paramount to all others, I think it 
 will appear that there are some circumstances connected with 
 this Exhibition which particularly deserve to be brought 
 under public consideration, and especially one which, al¬ 
 though the cornfactors in Mark Lane are familiar with it, 
 is by no means a matter of universal notoriety—the high 
 character and excellence of the wheat that comes to us from 
 our South Australian colonies. There is now before us a 
 sample of wheat from Adelaide, for which we are indebted 
 to the kindness of Messrs. Heath and Burrows, which is, 
 probably, the most beautiful specimen of corn that has ever 
 been brought to market in any country. It is a white 
 wheat, in which every grain appears to be like every other 
 grain—plump, clear-skinned, dry, and heavy, weighing, 
 what may seem incredible to those who are only accustomed 
 to common wheat, seventy pounds a bushel. And it appears 
 that Adelaide is capable of yielding vast quantities of corn 
 of this description, which takes the lead in the markets of 
 this country over all other white wheats. 
 
 It is very true that from Spain there has come a similar 
 kind of wheat, of great excellence also, as is seen by this 
 beautiful sample from Castile, from the mayor of Medina 
 del Campo, the weight of which is unknown, and not easy 
 to estimate, because it is not a clean sample. This is cer¬ 
 tainly of great excellence also; but, independently of its 
 being the produce of a foreign country, it is almost inacces¬ 
 sible to us, and, therefore, a matter of curiosity more than 
 of practical value, because, owing to the difficulty of trans¬ 
 port, it cannot at present come into the markets of this 
 kingdom. If it could, considering that it sells in Old 
 Castile at twenty-four shillings a quarter, it is not easy to 
 say what might be the effect upon the English market of 
 
ILLUSTRATED BY THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 161 
 
 the introduction of any large quantity of it. We find, 
 moreover, that similar quantities of wheat, growing in the 
 same rich country of Spain, are vendible at much lower 
 rates. 
 
 I have already said, that among the wheats produced in 
 the Exhibition, that from our South Australian colonies is 
 the best—that it is much the best. And here let me make 
 a remark on that subject. It has been supposed that all we 
 have to do in this country, in order to obtain on our English 
 farms wheat of the same quality as this magnificent Austra¬ 
 lian corn, is to procure the seed and sow it here. There 
 cannot-be a greater mistake. The wheat of Australia is no 
 peculiar kind of wheat; it has no peculiar constitutional 
 characteristics by which it may be in any way distinguished 
 from wheat cultivated in this country; it is not essentially 
 different from the fine wheat which Prince Albert sent to 
 the Exhibition, or from others which we grow or sell. Its 
 quality is owing to local conditions, that is to say, to the 
 peculiar temperature, the brilliant light, the soil, and those 
 other circumstances which characterize the climate of South 
 Australia, in which it is produced; and, therefore, there 
 would be no advantage gained by introducing this wheat for 
 the purpose of sowing it here. Its value consists in what 
 it is in South Australia, not in what it would become in 
 England. In reality, the experiment of growing such corn 
 has been tried. I myself obtained it some years since for 
 the purpose of experiment, and the result was a very inferior 
 description of corn, by no means so good as the kinds gene¬ 
 rally cultivated with us. And Messrs. Heath and Burrows, 
 in a letter which I have received from them this morning, 
 make the same remark. They say, “ For seacl purposes it 
 has been found not at all to answer in England, the crop 
 therefrom being ugly, coarse, and bearded.” The truth is, 
 as was just observed, the peculiarities of South Australian 
 wheat are not constitutional, but are derived from climate 
 and soil. It appears, therefore, that wheat may be affected 
 . by climate, independently of its constitutional peculiarities : 
 but it does not follow that wheat is not subject to constitu¬ 
 tional peculiarities like other plants. There are some kinds 
 of wheat which, do what you may with them, will retain a 
 certain quality, varying but slightly with the circumstances 
 14* 
 
162 ON SUBSTANCES USED AS FOOD, 
 
 under which they are produced; as, for example, is proved 
 by some samples here, especially of Revitt wheat, of a very 
 line description, exhibited in the building by Mr. Payne, 
 and which is greatly superior to the ordinary kinds of 
 Revitt that appear at market. This clearly shows that 
 Revitt wheat of a certain kind and quality is better than 
 Revitt wheat of a different kind, both being produced in 
 this country; so that, circumstances being equal, we have 
 a different result, owing to some constitutional peculiarity 
 of race. To other examples of the kind I cannot at present 
 refer, because time will not permit me to dwell upon such 
 points. 
 
 But this leads to a question which I think of the highest 
 interest, and one which has been more distinctly brought 
 out in the Exhibition that has just closed than it has ever 
 been before. We all know the effect of hybridizing, 
 or crossing the races of animals; and we also know that, 
 within certain limits, this may be done in the vegetable 
 kingdom. We are all aware that our gardeners are skilful 
 in preparing by such means those different varieties of 
 beautiful flowers and admirable fruits which have become 
 common in all the more civilized parts of Europe; but no 
 one has paid much attention to the point as regards cereal 
 crops. Yet it is to be supposed, that if you can double the 
 size of a turnip, or if you can double the size of a rose, or 
 produce a hardy race of any kind from one that is tender, or 
 the reverse, in the case of ordinary plants, you should be 
 able to produce the same effect when operating on cereal 
 crops. It so happens, however, that the experiment has 
 not been tried except on the most limited scale, and to what 
 extent it may.be carried has been more brought out in this 
 Exhibition than it ever was before. In the last treatise on 
 this subject by Dr. Gaertner, a German writer, who has 
 collected all the information it was possible to procure re¬ 
 lating to the production of hybrids in the vegetable king¬ 
 dom, the author declares that, as to experiments on cereal 
 plants, they can hardly be said to have had any existence. . 
 The Exhibition has, nevertheless, shown us that they have 
 been made, and some examples will tell with what result. 
 
 I have no very good means here of explaining such experi¬ 
 ments, but I must advert to them, because they prove dis- 
 
ILLUSTRATED BY THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 
 
 163 
 
 finctly that you may operate upon the constitutional pecu¬ 
 liarities of wheat, just as you may upon those peculiarities 
 in any other plant. For instance, Mr. Raynbird, of Laver- 
 stoke, who obtained in 1848 a gold medal from the Highland 
 Society for experiments of the kind, sent to the Exhibition 
 this box, which contains a bunch of Hopetown wheat, a 
 white variety, and a bunch of Piper s Tbiciiset wheat, which 
 is red. The latter is coarse, and short strawed, and liable 
 to mildew, but very productive. Mr. Raynbird desired to 
 know what would be the result of crossing it with the 
 Hopetown wheat, and the result is now before us in the 
 form of four hybrids, obtained from those varieties. If you 
 will take the trouble to examine them, you will see that be¬ 
 yond all doubt the new races thus obtained arc intermediate 
 between the two parents—the ears are shorter than in the 
 Hopetown, and longer than in the Thickset wheat; in short, 
 there is an intermediate condition plainly perceptible in 
 them throughout. And it appears from the statement of 
 Mr. Raynbiid that these hybrid wheats, which are now cul¬ 
 tivated in this country, have succeeded to a satisfactory 
 extent, yielding forty bushels an acre. Rut in this instance, 
 as in some others which I am about to mention, I do not at 
 all attach importance to that circumstance. The essential 
 part of the question is not the number of bushels produced 
 per acre, but to show that you may affect the quality of 
 cereal crops as you may affect animals and other plants. 
 Mr. Maund, a very intelligent gentleman residing at Broms- 
 grove, in Warwickshire, has done much more than Mr. 
 Raynbird, for he has obtained a greater variety of results, 
 which he exhibits this evening. Mr. Maund has been oc¬ 
 cupied for some years past in the endeavour to ascertain 
 whether something like an important result cannot be pro¬ 
 duced upon wheat by muling, and he exhibited the specimens 
 before us in evidence of what may be done. \ ou will ob¬ 
 serve that sometimes his hybrids are apparently very good, 
 and sometimes worse than the parents, as we know is always 
 the case. When you hybridize one plant with another, you 
 cannot ascertain beforehand with certainty what the exact 
 result will be : but you take the chance of it, knowing very 
 well that out of a number of plants thus obtained some will 
 be of an improved quality. If you examine this glass case 
 
164 ON SUBSTANCES USED AS ROOD, 
 
 you will at once see the results obtained by Mr. Maund. 
 In each instance the male parent is on the left hand, the 
 female on the right, and the third specimen shows the result 
 of combining the two kinds; a better illustration could not 
 be desired. Here is a hybrid considerably larger than the 
 parents, and in the next instance one considerably shorter 
 and stouter. In another example you see a very coarse 
 variety gained between two apparently fine varieties; that 
 is, perhaps, a case of deterioration. In another instance you 
 have a vigorous wheat on the left, and a feeble one on the 
 right, while one, much more vigorous than either, is the 
 result. On the other hand we have some anomalous cases, 
 in which the effect of hybridizing has been to impair 
 quality. Now, I think this is a very important case, well 
 made out, because the moment you show that by mixing 
 corn, as you mix other things, you obtain corresponding 
 results, there is no reason to doubt that an ingenious per¬ 
 son, occupying himself with such matters, will arrive at the 
 same improvements in regard to varieties of corn as have 
 already been obtained in the animal kingdom, and in those 
 parts of the vegetable kingdom which have been so dealt 
 with. 
 
 Wheat has been taken first, because it is the most im¬ 
 portant of all articles of food; and I should have been able, 
 had it been possible, to have spent the whole hour in point¬ 
 ing out more points of considerable interest on the same 
 subject. But other matters demand attention. 
 
 Fecula is, as is well known, a granular matter, found in 
 the interior of plants, and peculiar to the vegetable kingdom. 
 It exists in all plants. Pure fecula is separated by art from 
 a great variety of species, where it is placed in unusual 
 abundance for purposes connected with the wants of the 
 plants which contain it. Before us to-night are examples 
 of it, one being an entirely new, and another a somewhat 
 novel, source of fecula; we have here, in fact, a kind of 
 Arrow-root, not of bad quality, but very good and pure, 
 and probably for dietetical purposes as useful as the arrow- 
 root of Bermuda. Although not quite new, it is very little 
 known, and is obtained from the stems on the table of a 
 plant which the people of St. Domingo call Guayiga. There 
 is no reason, perhaps, to suppose that it will be of impor- 
 
ILLUSTRATED BY THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 165 
 
 tance in our commerce with St. Domingo; but what is 
 curious with regard to it is, that there is a sample of the 
 same substance obtained from a similar source in Western 
 Australia, where they have a plant called Zamia Australis, 
 growing abundantly, and yielding even better fecula than 
 the Guayiga of St. Domingo. In both instances, it will be 
 found that this fecula hangs together in chains, quite unlike 
 the ordinary appearance of arrow-root; as is clearly seen 
 under the microscope. Thus we have the arrow-root of 
 Western Australia, and another fecula of the same kind 
 obtained from a species of Zamia, which is found growing 
 wild in St. Domingo—both of them sources which had been 
 previously unknown or scarcely attended to. 
 
 There is another very curious substance, for specimens 
 of which we are indebted to the kindness of Sir William 
 Hooker, who has sent it from the important museum be¬ 
 longing to the gardens at Kew. These are cakes of Typha 
 Bread —this from Scinde, that from New Zealand—where 
 they are articles of food, prepared from the pollen of the 
 common reed-mace, or bulrush of those countries. The one 
 which is from Scinde, and which is called there boor or 
 booree, is made from the pollen of the flowers of the typha 
 elephantina, or elephants’ grass, of the country. The 
 other, which is called punga-punga, by the people of New 
 Zealand, is obtained from another species of bulrush, called 
 typha utilis. I believe these are the only cases known of 
 the pollen of plants being used for food under any circum¬ 
 stances whatever; and it is not a little curious that coun¬ 
 tries so far apart as Scinde and New Zealand should have 
 the same most unusual kind of diet. It is also interesting 
 to know that the value attached to this as an article of food 
 is not imaginary : for it appears from the researches of 
 chemists that the pollen of plants contains an azotized mat¬ 
 ter, which, mixed with the starch existing in pollen in great 
 quantities, and with other matters, will give a real nutritive 
 value to this curious substance. Whether there is on 
 record, in the history of ancient times, anything concerning 
 food made from the flowers of bulrushes, I do not know, 
 but this is certain, that the bulrush from Scinde, which 
 yields the cakes standing yonder, is probably the same as 
 that from which the basket was made in which the infant 
 
166 
 
 ON SUBSTANCES USED AS FOOD, 
 
 Moses was placed: for to this day, in Scinde, bulrushes are 
 woven into baskets, of the very same nature as we may 
 suppose them to have been in the days of Moses. 
 
 Passing by similar matters of curiosity, I may just refer 
 to an odd-looking lump of what is, nevertheless, an admira¬ 
 ble substance. That bag of leaves contains some dried 
 Plantains, which were sent to the Exhibition. It is not 
 to be forgotten, that in this house the first notice,was taken 
 of the dried plantains of Mexico. In Mexico, such articles, 
 in a dried state, enter largely into the consumption of the 
 people in the mining districts. Pried plantains possess 
 considerable nutritive value, and are at the same time ex¬ 
 ceedingly agreeable to the palate, while they are cheap and 
 easy to prepare. But what I would more especially mention 
 in respect to them is, that the plantains which lie there, 
 perfectly sweet, and having undergone no material change 
 whatever up to the present time, were sent into a baggage- 
 warehouse at Woolwich in the year 1835, and had there been 
 lying till they were transferred to the Exhibition building. 
 So that it appears that dried plantains are not only exceedingly 
 good to eat, and highly nutritive, but have the property, which 
 many such substances do not possess, of keeping for a very 
 long time,—a fact that should interest those who deal in figs, 
 and similar articles, which are apt to become mity, and dry, 
 and to spoil, to the loss of those who own them. It is certain 
 that there is no good property belonging to the fig which does 
 not also belong to the dried plantain. It appears from the 
 statements of Colonel Colquhoun, to whom we owe our 
 knowledge of the preparation, that such dried plantains can 
 be prepared in Mexico and sold in Europe for threepence a 
 pound, allowing ten per cent, profit, supposing there is no 
 duty on their import. 
 
 These are minor matters. Let me now call attention to 
 the subject of preserved provisions. 
 
 In the first place, the Exhibition contained some exam¬ 
 ples of dried Vegetables, prepared by what is called 
 Masson’s process. Yonder are specimens, lying to the right 
 of the Chairman. They have been packed in tin-foil, and 
 very imperfectly secured; so that although they are still 
 undergoing no change whatever, yet they are not seen under 
 favourable circumstances; they have been affected, though 
 
ILLUSTRATED BY THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 167 
 
 not injuriously, by the dampness of the building in which 
 they have been kept. The samples consist of white and 
 red cabbages, turnips, Brussels sprouts, and various other 
 things. As to the method of preserving them, it appears 
 to be free from all objection. First, it is very cheap- se¬ 
 condly, as we are led to believe by persons in France who 
 are well informed on the subject, it perfectly answers the 
 purpose. ,The mode of preparing these vegetables is shortly 
 as follows: they are dried at a certain temperature (from 
 104° to 118°), which is neither so low as to cause them to 
 dry slowly nor so high as to cause them to dry too quickly; 
 if the last happens they acquire a burnt taste, which de¬ 
 stroys their quality. They lose from 87 to 89 per cent, of 
 their water, or seven-eighths of their original weight; after 
 which they are forcibly pressed into cakes, and are ready 
 for use. I saw, a year ago, the original of a letter from the 
 captain of the Astrolabe, a French vessel of war, speaking 
 in the highest terms of the supply of these vegetables for 
 the use of that vessel during her voyage: the French navy 
 generally mentions them in the most favourable terms, and 
 no reason appears for doubting such statements. The spe¬ 
 cimens before you are, I repeat, seen under unfavourable 
 circumstances. They ought to have been kept in tin and 
 protected from the air; instead of which, they have been 
 lying about more than nine months in the Exhibition build¬ 
 ing, where they have been exposed to considerable damp¬ 
 ness. Yet they are not injuriously affected, although they 
 are absorbing moisture, as must necessarily happen in a 
 damp place, and which, if it were to continue, would spoil 
 them. Now, I think this is a matter of more consequence 
 than it may appear to be, for the following reason : it is 
 usual to supply the navy with preserved food of different 
 kinds; and I am informed by a distinguished officer of the 
 Antarctic expedition under Sir James Ross, that although 
 all the preserved meats used on that occasion were excellent, 
 and there was not the slightest ground for any complaint 
 of their quality, yet the crew became tired of the meat, but 
 were never tired of the vegetables. This should show us 
 that it is not sufficient to supply ships’ crews with preserved 
 meat, but that they should be supplied with vegetables also, 
 the means of doing which is now afforded. 
 
168 
 
 ON SUBSTANCES USED AS FOOD, 
 
 I have only a word or two to say about M. Brocchieri’s 
 scheme. Those who are acquainted with this proposal will 
 remember that cakes and other articles of food made from 
 blood were exhibited in the building. In some cases those 
 cakes have undergone no change, in others they became 
 putrid. The object of M. Brocchieri was to utilize the 
 blood of animals in abattoirs. Now, as we are led . to be¬ 
 lieve that abattoirs will be constructed in London, it is an 
 important question whether the blood of the numerous 
 animals there killed can be utilized or not. M. Brocchieri 
 thought it could; and by some unknown method he sepa¬ 
 rated the serum from the crassamentum, and obtained a 
 hard, dry substance, the nature of which I can.scarcely 
 describe: it was perfectly insipid, and with nothing dis¬ 
 agreeable about it whatever. Perhaps it was like very dry 
 black bread, or something of that sort. It the name had 
 not been unfortunate, people would have looked at it with 
 more interest. It is a question, however, whether it is 
 desirable thus to utilize the blood collected in abattoirs, or 
 whether it may not be better to let it go into the refuse, to 
 be employed as manure; for it appears from the best evi¬ 
 dence that can be obtained, that blood is admirably adapted 
 for that purpose. It is proved that, supposing unmanured 
 land will yield threefold, then land manured with bullocks’ 
 blood will yield fourteen fold; therefore we have direct 
 evidence that the blood of animals has a very powerful 
 action as manure; and it may be more profitable to obtain 
 our food from it in that indirect manner than to use blood- 
 cakes prepared after M. Brocchieri’s method. 
 
 Preserved Meats are out of favour just now. We hear 
 of little except condemned canisters, which the Admiralty 
 unfortunately have in store. It is the more proper, then, 
 to state, that the evidence before the Jury went to show 
 that it is possible to preserve meat in canisters without un¬ 
 dergoing any change, for a great length of time. We had 
 hashed beef, which was excellent, dating back to 1836; we 
 had boiled beef fifteen years old, preserved in canisters, and 
 many other specimens, none of which were changed. It is 
 clear, therefore, that the canister-process of preserving is 
 good, provided you keep a sharp eye cn the contractors, and 
 upon those who act under them. 
 
ILLUSTRATED BY THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 169 
 
 What is more important than all other preserved provi¬ 
 sions, is the article to which I must next request attention. 
 A great deal of interest was excited when the contents of 
 the Exhibition first became known,—and it did not diminish 
 afterwards,—by a certain Meat-Biscuit, introduced among 
 the American exhibitions from Texas, by Mr. Gail Borden. 
 We were told that its nutritive properties were of a very high 
 order; it was said that ten pounds weight of it would be 
 sufficient for the subsistence of an active man for thirty 
 days,—that it had been used in the American navy, and 
 had been found to sustain the strength of the men to whom 
 it had been given in a remarkable degree. Statements were 
 made to us, which have since been corroborated, that it 
 would keep perfectly well without change, under disadvan¬ 
 tageous circumstances. Colonel Sumner, an officer in the 
 United States Dragoons, who had seen it used during field 
 operations, says he is sure he could live upon it for months, 
 and retain his health and strength. The inventor, he says, 
 names five ounces a day as the quantity for the support of 
 a man; but he (Colonel Sumner) could not use more than 
 four ounces, made into soup, with nothing whatever added 
 to it. The substance of these statements may be said to 
 amount to this, that Borden’s Meat-Biscuit is a material 
 not liable to undergo change, is very light, very portable, 
 and extremely nutritious. A specimen, placed in the hands 
 of Dr. Playfair for examination, was reported by him to con¬ 
 tain 32 per cent, of flesh-forming principles; for it is a compo¬ 
 sition of meat,—the essence of meat, and the finest kind of 
 flour. Dr. Playfair stated that the starch was unchanged, 
 that, consequently, there could have been no putrescence 
 in the meat employed in its preparation, and that the 
 biscuit was u in all respects excellent.” It was tasted,—I 
 tasted it,—the Jury and others tasted it; and we all found 
 nothing in it which the most fastidious person could com¬ 
 plain of: it required salt, or some other condiment, as ail 
 these preparations do, to make them savoury. This meat- 
 biscuit, as I said just now, was reported to be capable of 
 keeping well,—and this might well be true,—because no 
 foreign matter had been introduced into its composition; 
 there was no salt to absorb moisture, and nothing else to 
 interfere with the property of flour, or of essence of meat. 
 15 
 
170 ON SUBSTANCES USED AS FOOD, 
 
 These biscuits are prepared by boiling down the best fiesh 
 beef that can be procured in Texas, and mixing it in certain 
 proportions with the finest flour that can be there obtained; 
 it is stated that the essence of five pounds of good meat is 
 estimated to be contained in one pound of biscuit. That it 
 is a material of the highest value there can be no doubt: 
 to what extent its value may go, nothing but time . can 
 decide; but I think I am justified in looking upon it as 
 one of the most important substances which this Exhibition 
 has brought to our knowledge. When we consider that by 
 this method, in such places as Buenos Ayres, animals which 
 are there of little or no value, instead of being destroyed, 
 as they often are, for their bones, may be boiled down, and 
 mixed with the flour which all such countries produce, and 
 so converted into a substance of such durability that it may 
 be preserved with the greatest ease, and sent. to distant 
 countries, it seems as if a new means of subsistence was 
 actually offered to us. Take the Argentine Republic- 
 take Australia, and consider what they do with their meat 
 there in times of drought, when they cannot get rid ot it 
 whilst it is fresh,—they may boil it down, and mix the 
 essence with flour (and we know they have the finest in the 
 world), and so prepare a substance that can be preserved for 
 times when food is not so plentiful, or sent to countiies 
 where it is always more difficult to procure food. Is not 
 this a very great gain ?* _ 
 
 Concerning other matters I must necessarily be more brief 
 I can say little regarding coffee and cocoa;—there was not, 
 in fact, in the Exhibition much that deserved notice: but 
 there was one sample (and I am sorry to say I have not a 
 specimen here) which ought to be mentioned most especially; 
 namely, the Cocoa of admirable quality which comes, or 
 which may come, from Trinidad. Cocoa—or cacao, as we 
 should call it—is an article of very large consumption. 
 Enormous quantities of it are now used in the navy;, and 
 every one knows how much it is employed daily in private 
 life. It is, moreover, the basis of chocolate. But we have 
 the evidence of one of the most skilful brokers in London, 
 
 * The agency for the sale of meat-biscuit in this country is 2 St. 
 Peter’s Alley, Cornhill. 
 
ILLUSTRATED BY THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 171 
 
 who has had forty years’ experience to enable him to speak 
 to the fact,—that we never get good cocoa in this country. 
 The consequence is, that all the best chocolate is made in 
 Spain, in France, and in countries where the fine description 
 of cocoa goes. We get here a cocoa which is unripe, flinty, 
 and bitter, having undergone changes that cause it to bear a 
 very low price in the market. But it comes from British 
 possessions, and is, therefore, sold here subject to a duty of 
 only 18s. 8 d. per cwt., whereas if it came from a foreign 
 country it would pay 56s. The differential duty drives the 
 best cocoa out of the English market. Still it appears that 
 we might supply, from our own colonies, this very cocoa; 
 because, as I have said, there was exhibited, from Trinidad, 
 ■a very beautiful sample, quite equal to anything produced 
 in the best markets of the Magdalena, of Socomusco, or 
 of other places on the Spanish Main. It had no bitter¬ 
 ness—no flintiness—no damaged grains in it; but all were 
 plump and ripe, as if they had been picked. The cocoa 
 from the Spanish Main goes into other countries, for the 
 preparation of that delicious chocolate which we buy of 
 them. It is thrown out of our market by the differen¬ 
 tial duty. But it is their own fault if our own colonies 
 do not produce fine cocoa, as Trinidad has conclusively 
 proved. 
 
 I may here notice a curiosity of a similar nature. Dr. 
 Gardner sent to the Exhibition some prepared Coffee 
 Leaves, which he proposes as a substitute for tea; expect¬ 
 ing that in the coffee plantations leaves may be gathered 
 and dried, as well as berries. One of the reasons assigned 
 in support of this proposition is, that you obtain from 
 coffee the same alkaloid, theine , that you obtain from tea; 
 and it is that alkaloid which gives tea its value as an 
 article of diet. I am afraid, however, it will be a long 
 time before this plan comes into use; for, in the first 
 place, I cannot say that coffee leaves have a very pleasant 
 taste; and, moreover, it is doubtful whether the coffee- 
 tree, stripped of its leaves, will yield any such crop of 
 berries as will compensate for the loss of the leaves them¬ 
 selves. 
 
 Another proposition is, that of Mr. Snowden, who 
 points out that coffee consists of two parts, namely, the 
 
ON SUBSTANCES USED AS FOOD, 
 
 172 
 
 grain itself, which is good, and the remains of the skin that 
 belongs to it, and is entangled in the folds of the coffee, 
 which in itself is useless. He, therefore, says, “ When you 
 roast your coffee, you should break it up in my manner, and 
 separate this skin or parchment—this useless material— 
 from it, and use only the residue, or pure material.” In 
 some bottles on the table are shown the different stages of 
 this process of Mr. Snowden’s for preparing the coffee. 
 You have it roasted, in the first place; then, you see it 
 crushed, together with the impurities spoken of; and next, 
 you have the clean coffee with the impurities separated. I 
 do not know whether the expense of the operation corres¬ 
 ponds with the advantage to be derived from it; but it is 
 certainly ingenious. It is, however, believed that the parch- • 
 ment in question is a caput mortuum, which does neither 
 good nor harm. 
 
 Then the Turks sent us an odd material,—a substance 
 they call Ivinguel, —which is a grain, or seed-vessel, em¬ 
 ployed by them as a substitute for coffee; whether for 
 adulterating or improving its quality they do not tell us. It 
 is unknown in this country as an article of use, and is the 
 seed-vessel of a plant called Gundelia. 
 
 Sugar, which may come next after coffee, leads me to one 
 or two important points. It must be allowed that the gene¬ 
 ral exhibition of sugar by no means represented the state of 
 the sugar market; and that there was a great deal of what 
 is generally known, and therefore not worth mentioning to¬ 
 night. But there was a most curious series shown in the 
 French department, which, for the singular and beautiful 
 illustration it gave of the application of science to manufac¬ 
 turing processes, deserves to be particularly noticed. The 
 French make their sugar, as I need not say, from the beet¬ 
 root; all the home-made sugar which they consume is beet¬ 
 root sugar. In that manufacture there is a residuum, as 
 there is in sugar made from the sugar-cane—molasses, a 
 brown sweet substance, containing a great deal of sugar 
 which cannot be recovered. The beet-root molasses has this 
 serious fault—it is nauseous, and utterly uneatable, except 
 by pigs. It has a bad, disagreeable smell, and looks like 
 what I am pointing to now [referring to a specimen].. It 
 is, therefore, sold at a very low price, and is generally given 
 
ILLUSTRATED BY THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 173 
 
 to animals. But it occurred to M. Dubranfaut that this 
 molasses might be compelled to give up its sugar; and he 
 invented what is called the barytic process, in order to sepa¬ 
 rate it. To the useless molasses of beet-root he adds hydrate 
 of baryta, which combines with the saccharic acid, or sweet 
 principle, and produces a sacclmrate, or sucrate of baryta, an 
 insoluble substance. The colouring and other soluble mat¬ 
 ters are then washed out; and thus from this dark substance, 
 acted upon, in the first instance, by the hydrate of baryta, 
 you obtain a body [producing it], which is perfectly colour¬ 
 less. It is next necessary to get rid of the baryta, it being 
 poisonous; and carbonic acid is used for that purpose. Car¬ 
 bonic acid being introduced, a carbonate of baryta is formed; 
 the baryta goes over to the carbonic acid, and the sugar is 
 left. The sweet fluid is then subjected to clarification, by 
 straining through animal charcoal and sulphate of lime, and 
 becomes a colourless substance, extremely sweet, and per¬ 
 fectly free from baryta. Thus is obtained a kind of eau 
 sucre from the black, and, I may say, foetid molasses: the 
 final result is, the recovery of from 35 to 45 per cent, of 
 sugar. There are other points about this operation of which 
 I have not time to make mention, and which are the less 
 material now, because such matters may be expected to be 
 more particularly explained in the report of the Jury soon 
 about to be. published. 
 
 We must be very brief about Tea. Here are some sam¬ 
 ples of tea partly illustrative of the condition of the tea- 
 manufacture in India, and partly of the state of the tea-trade 
 in China. There was in the Exhibition an extraordinary 
 and most valuable collection of Chinese teas, procured by 
 Mr. Ripley of Canton, and afterwards bought by Mr. Dakin, 
 to which gentleman we are indebted for some of the canis¬ 
 ters before you, showing the finest qualities of tea, and 
 certain other matters which I shall mention presently. You 
 will there find examples of what the finest known qualities 
 of tea are, and among them a sample of tea called superfine 
 flowery Pekoe, which cost in China 50s. a pound—such 
 being the value which the Chinese place upon it. In this 
 country it can be only a fancy tea, exceedingly delicate, no 
 doubt, but possessing qualities to which we ascribe little 
 importance. 
 
 15* 
 
174 
 
 ON SUBSTANCES USED AS FOOD, 
 
 There are also samples of tea from Assam, and others 
 from the Himalaya mountains, concerning which I am 
 anxious, however short the time at my disposal, to say a 
 word. Hr. Hoyle has been kind enougli to send the sam¬ 
 ples of tea from Assam, which occupy four of the saucers 
 on the table; and two other samples from the Himalaya 
 mountains, green and black; these represent exceedingly 
 well the state of the manufacture of tea in each country. 
 
 First, as to Assam Tea. The history of Assam tea is 
 this :—About the year 1826 a Mr. Scott obtained some in¬ 
 formation respecting the existence of tea in the province of 
 Assam, one of the warmer districts in the territory of East¬ 
 ern India. Persons were sent to examine the nature of this 
 tea, and they reported rather favourably of it. A Company 
 was formed, and the plant has been cultivated since that 
 time successfully. But Assam is a jungly country; the tea 
 grows on the banks of rivers; and the temperature is higher 
 than we should expect it to be where good tea is known to 
 be produced. The experiment may be called successful; 
 for if the Company cannot make fine tea, they make an ex¬ 
 ceedingly good mercantile article: it appears that the tea 
 of Assam, although not of fine quality, is strong, and useful 
 for mixing with tea of inferior strength. Some of that tea 
 has been estimated, by gentlemen who were consulted by 
 the Jury, as bearing the value of from 2s. 6 d. to 3s. 6 d. per 
 pound in the London market. It is extensively consumed, 
 and there is nothing deleterious in it. Its merits are a 
 matter of taste, and it suits those who like to drink tea high 
 flavoured. However, there was little probability of grow¬ 
 ing really good tea in such a jungly, warm region, because 
 in its native country tea is gathered on the sides of hills, 
 where there is frost in the morning for a great part of the 
 year, and where the trees are ventilated by winds constantly 
 blowing through them, instead of being in a vale, as in As¬ 
 sam, where mists are more prevalent than clear weather. 
 This led Hr. Itoyle to recommend an attempt to cultivate 
 tea in the Himalaya mountains, where a similar cold tem¬ 
 perature, and circumstances of the same nature as in the tea 
 districts of China, exist. Judging from a priori considera¬ 
 tions, he was of opinion that tea would succeed completely 
 on the hills of Northern India. He recommended, in 1827, 
 
ILLUSTRATED BY TIIE GREAT EXHIBITION. 175 
 
 the attempt to Lord Amherst, who was then Governor- 
 general, and afterwards to Lord William Bentinck, who 
 commenced the experiment at his suggestion; and what is 
 the result? In 1847, 162 acres were occupied by tea- 
 plantations on the Himalayas; and at that time the tea was 
 selling at Almora, the green for 9s. and 10s. a pound, and 
 the black from 4s. to 7s. But there were also coarse quali¬ 
 ties, wdiich were purchased by the people of Bhotan to carry 
 with them across the passes in Thibet and Chinese Tar¬ 
 tary—into the very places supplied by the Chinese them¬ 
 selves. It appears from a report which has just been put 
 into my hands on the subject, by Mr. Fortune, who has 
 been employed lately by the East India Company to inquire 
 into this matter, that the quantity of ground now covered 
 is 656 acres of public land, exclusive of all that in the 
 occupation of Zemindars, who are most anxious to form tea- 
 plantations. Here are two samples of this tea, green and 
 black; the best is worth 2s. 4 d. a pound, free of duty. 
 There can be no doubt, therefore, that the experiment has 
 perfectly succeeded; and it has furnished a means of em¬ 
 ploying the poorer inhabitants of the Himalaya mountains, 
 who have no other way of earning that which may procure 
 them the comforts, or even the necessaries of life: nor is it 
 at all improbable that a part of the Chinese trade will soon 
 pass from the Chinese themselves to the Europeans in the 
 north of India. 
 
 There is among Mr. Dakin’s samples another point, 
 which is of a somewhat different nature. You will find 
 there some very fine samples of gunpowder tea and of 
 scented Caper,—the finest the Chinese can make; and near 
 them you will observe some spurious gunpowder and spuri¬ 
 ous scented Caper tea; the eye cannot perceive a difference 
 between them. Here w r e have an instance in which the 
 Chinese have succeeded in committing a fraud, which is of 
 a most gigantic nature, as must be admitted -when we recol¬ 
 lect that 750,000 lbs. weight of such tea were imported 
 into Liverpool a short time ago; and that when the spuri¬ 
 ous article is mixed with real tea the two cannot be dis¬ 
 tinguished by any ordinary process. One of these teas is 
 black, and exactly like scented Caper; the other is green, 
 and to the eye is exactly like the finest gunpowder. But 
 
176 
 
 ON SUBSTANCES USED AS FOOD, 
 
 there is no tea in either, and they offer a very curious in¬ 
 stance of the ingenuity of the Chinese in falsifying what 
 they sell—an art for which that nation is notorious, as 
 you must know. This “ tea” they call “ lie tea,” and it is 
 made in the following manner :—The Chinese take a tub, 
 into which they put a quantity of sand and similar sub¬ 
 stances, pounded leaves, vegetable dust, or anything con¬ 
 taining vegetable matter, with apparently some gypsum ; 
 this they sprinkle with rice-water. The rice-water, being 
 of a glutinous nature, collects the composition into small 
 balls, which hold together: and by degrees, by dexterous 
 manipulation, the tub full of this fraudulent material ac¬ 
 quires the form of myriads of globules. In the next place, 
 the globules are faced; they are made black with black 
 lead, as Mr. Warrington, an ingenious friend of mine 
 attached to Apothecaries’ Hall, has proved by analysis. 
 They face the green with Prussian blue, and probably tur¬ 
 meric ; there are two opinions about that: some say the 
 green is a mixture of Prussian blue and chromate of lead; 
 others say that turmeric is used; at all events, there is no 
 tea. You will see by these test-glasses that I have been 
 taking pains to get some tea out of the “ lie tea.” [Pro¬ 
 ducing an infusion of each.] There is a great deal of dirt, 
 and a great many pieces of leaves at the bottom, and that is 
 all; but there is not a trace of tea in the infusions, and I 
 have employed nothing that could have destroyed the tea 
 leaves, if there had been any present. 
 
 I am told that Tobacco is not alimentary, and ought not 
 to be introduced here; but as it was a part of the functions 
 of the Jury to which I had the honour to belong to consider 
 all that related to tobacco, I think the Society of Arts 
 ought not to be left in the dark as to this important ques¬ 
 tion. And in the first place I have to state, without going 
 at all (for there is no time) into the comparative merits of 
 different kinds of tobacco, that certain very curious facts 
 were elicited. It is not to be disputed that the finest to¬ 
 bacco in the world comes, as is generally supposed, from 
 the Havannah; this was demonstrated by the admirably 
 manufactured samples exhibited by the house of Cabanas 
 and Carbajal. But there is only a limited area in Cuba in 
 which that tobacco is produced; so that whilst the Havan- 
 
ILLUSTRATED BY THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 177 
 
 nah tobacco may be of excellent quality in general, yet it is 
 only that which comes from a certain part which is much 
 better than any other. Don Ramon de la Sagra, who re¬ 
 sided many years in Cuba, and published an important 
 work on that island, has stated that this is undoubtedly the 
 fact,—that the best Havannah tobacco is the produce of a 
 very small area. The consequence is, that this little area 
 is the only place known where the finest kind of tobacco 
 can be produced; and we cannot look even to the Havannah 
 for it with great confidence, inasmuch as it is chiefly used 
 in the island, or as presents, but a limited amount going 
 into general consumption. Yet we found that the tobacco 
 from Trinidad did not appear to be in any way inferior to 
 that from Havannah. Whether or not there exist generally 
 in the island of Trinidad conditions of soil and other condi¬ 
 tions favourable for eliciting the admirable qualities which 
 the best description of Havannah tobacco has, I cannot 
 say; but, for my own part, I entertain no doubt whatever 
 that in that part of Trinidad from whence the tobacco came 
 which was exhibited in the building, a kind of leaf quite 
 equal to the best class of Havannah tobacco might be grown. 
 Soil, no doubt, and a variety of circumstances of that kind, 
 have much to do with the quality of tobacco; otherwise we 
 cannot account for the varying qualities of the samples 
 produced from various countries. This is strikingly shown 
 by a remarkable circumstance: some of the best tobacco 
 sent to the Exhibition came from the Southern Russian 
 provinces; it was fully equal to the best American tobacco, 
 grown in America under favourable circumstances; it was 
 tobacco of the highest class; yet nobody could have ex¬ 
 pected that such would have ■ been the case with Russian- 
 grown tobacco. The fact, however, proved how much cli¬ 
 mate and soil have to do with the quality of tobacco, and 
 that the summer climate of some parts of Southern Russia is 
 admirably fitted for the cultivation of this plant. 
 
 On the other hand, manufacture exercises a great influ¬ 
 ence over the quality of tobacco. In Algiers, where the 
 climate is apparently most favourable, the quality is such 
 that nobody could be found to go through the punishment 
 (I must so call it) of smoking an Algerine cigar. Those 
 cigars were not smokable, because they were badly pre- 
 
178 
 
 ON SUBSTANCES USED AS FOOD, 
 
 pared; for Algiers is a country apparently favourable to the 
 growth of the plant, if proper means were taken to prepare 
 the leaves. 
 
 Then, again, we found that some English-made cigars are 
 not to be distinguished from Havannah cigars. I would 
 ask any gentleman who has the misfortune [?] to smoke, to 
 examine those cigars made by Lambert and Butler, of Drury 
 Lane, and to tell me whether they are English or foreign, 
 —by the look. They are not distinguishable by external 
 appearance, and I may add, that the method which has been 
 employed in preparing them renders them of very great ex¬ 
 cellence,—of much greater excellence, in fact, than many 
 of the cigars imported from Havannah, and paying a ten- 
 shilling duty as manufactured tobacco. Now this is a sub¬ 
 ject of greater importance than at first sight may appear; 
 for if we can succeed in making cigars of such quality in 
 England, we immediately create a large demand for labour. 
 The preparation of cigars is by hand labour, which no ma¬ 
 chinery can ever supersede; and when we recollect that 
 in the German Commercial Union, in the year 1842, 
 605,000,000* of cigars were made, it is not necessary to 
 inquire how much labour was required for that production. 
 But none of the Continental cigars were good, except what 
 came from Portugal;—those of the German Commercial 
 Union were very inferior to the best English-made cigars 
 that were produced; and there is no doubt whatever that it 
 is quite practicable to make cigars in this country which 
 shall be undistinguishable in appearance, and not very dis¬ 
 tinguishable in flavour, from any except those first-class 
 Havannah cigars which scarcely ever come into consumption. 
 It is a matter of considerable importance to establish that 
 fact, because it may open the way to the employment of 
 poor people, whose physical infirmities render them unfit 
 for harder labour. I need not say that cigar-making is very 
 light work. 
 
 With respect to the Portuguese cigars, I have only 
 this remark to make: they were of a very unusual quality. 
 They are, I presume, made in Portugal from foreign tobacco, 
 —perhaps Brazilian. They appear as if they had been high 
 
 * 60-1,898,200 according to official returns. 
 
ILLUSTRATED BY THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 179 
 
 dried. The flavour is unlike that of the best cigars we 
 have, and resembles that of high-dried snuff; they are very 
 pleasant, smoke exceedingly well, are mild, and of excellent 
 flavour; but not of the same flavour as those we are in the 
 habit of getting in this country. Our cigar-makers will do 
 •well to turn their attention to this kind of manufactured 
 tobacco. 
 
 About Honey, I can merely say that there was a great 
 deal of bad, and a great deal that was admirable. We had 
 honey from Hymettus, from Greece, France, Spain, and 
 many other places; but there was among it little that could 
 be called better than the best of that which we are in the 
 habit of consuming; although some was of remarkable 
 excellence. 
 
 Of far more importance than honey, the quality of which 
 necessarily depends on the country where it is produced, is 
 the question of Hives ; and I think I ought not to close 
 these remarks without a few observations on so interesting 
 a subject. Bee-hives, it is true, are not food, but they are 
 the means of obtaining food; and they came under the con¬ 
 sideration of the Jury to which I had the honour to belong. 
 
 We found a great quantity of hives, which were gene¬ 
 rally remarkable for being unsuited to the insects that were 
 to inhabit them. Bees require, above all things, to be left 
 alone; to be perfectly tranquil; and we found double hives, 
 with one so drawn over the other that you could not take 
 off the outer hive without shaking the inner one. Bees 
 require an atmosphere, sometimes warm and sometimes 
 cool: and we found hives made with ventilating contrivances 
 of pierced zinc, most ingeniously adapted to occupy the time 
 of the bees in filling up the holes when they do not want 
 them, and opening them again when they do. Bees require 
 ready access to their hive in summer, and the means of 
 closing up the access in winter; we found hives made with 
 openings so narrow, and the access so small, that not more 
 than two bees could enter at a time. Bees have enemies to 
 contend with,—mice and snails,—tom-tits pop their heads 
 in when they can, and carry the bees off; we found hives 
 apparently contrived for no purpose except to let mice and 
 such creatures in. Bees require an equal temperature,— 
 not over hot in summer, and not over cold in winter; we 
 
180 ON SUBSTANCES USED AS FOOD, 
 
 found laives made of metal plates. I had the curiosity to 
 write to a person who had used one of these hives, of great, 
 even royal, pretensions, to inquire what had become of his 
 bees; his answer was, “They have all perished or flown 
 away!” It is known that angles in the interior of hives 
 are exceedingly disadvantageous; because it is in the angles 
 that the wax-moth, the greatest enemy to bees, makes a 
 lodgment: we found hives extremely angular; hives, indeed, 
 provided with angles multiplied with singular pains. In 
 short, we saw nothing to commend or to admire in the hives 
 exhibited (I speak of the English hives) excepting one 
 small improvement, which is here. It is a small matter, 
 but it is a real excellence in construction as well as in the 
 present mode of putting a top on hives. In general form 
 this hive is very like a common hive, but it is admirably 
 made of straw of considerable thickness. It is not a trun¬ 
 cated cone, as all hives to carry glasses are, but is more like 
 a hemisphere, with a flat board put upon the top. The 
 hemispherical form is that best adapted to prevent the in¬ 
 roads of wax-moths. There is also something peculiar in 
 the form of it; you will observe, that it is rather less in 
 diameter at the bottom than it is a little higher up, by which 
 means the comb is kept firm. Altogether it appeared to be 
 a hive deserving favourable notice. It was exhibited by 
 Mr. Milton, of Marylebone Street, the most skilful of our 
 apiarians. If that were not known, his book on bees would 
 sufficiently show that he deserves to be thus spoken of.* 
 
 The facts thus brought under your notice seem to show, 
 that so far as the subject of food is concerned, the late Exhi¬ 
 bition has brought into view many points of considerable 
 importance. It has shown that our Australian colonies 
 furnish the best wheat in the world, Spain not excepted. 
 It has shown that the quality of wheat may be improved 
 to an unknown extent by those processes which have been 
 applied to other parts of the animated world with the best 
 results, but which have not been applied to cereal crops. 
 It has shown that there are means by which vegetable and 
 animal provisions may be preserved with certainty, and 
 
 * This kind of hive, without the top, was first proposed by Butler, 
 in his admirable “Ilistorie of Bees,” published in 1628, chap, iii 
 
ILLUSTRATED BY THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 181 
 
 without risk of deterioration, for a greater length of time 
 than any kind of service can require. It has shown that if 
 we are condemned to had cocoa and to bad chocolate,—if 
 our chocolate-makers cannot compete with France and Spain, 
 and other countries, it is less because of our differential 
 duties than on account of the supineness of English colonists, 
 who look to differential duties as a cloak for their own 
 slovenly culture. It has shown that the tea of the Himalaya 
 is becoming an important article of trade, rendering it im¬ 
 possible to doubt, from the evidence we already possess, that 
 the tea grown in the north of India will soon enter into com¬ 
 petition"" with that of China. It has shown that we may 
 obtain, from our own island of Trinidad, tobacco fit to be 
 compared with the inost renowned of the Ilavannah • and 
 that we may not only make better cigars at home than any 
 made on the continent of Europe, but very much better 
 than many which come from America itself. The Great 
 Exhibition has, in short, demonstrated, that although new 
 kinds of food are not to be expected (and it seems hopeless 
 to look for them), yet that means exist of materially im¬ 
 proving both the quality of what we have, and the mode of 
 its preparation; and, moreover, that we need not despair of 
 discovering still other sources from which some of the 
 articles we now use may be more abundantly and econo¬ 
 mically obtained than is the case at present. 
 
 16 
 

 , 
 
 V 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED IN THE 
 ARTS AND MANUFACTURES, IN RELATION 
 TO COMMERCE GENERALLY. 
 
 PROFESSOR EDWARD SOLLY, F.R.S. 
 
 ( 183 ) 
 

 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • . .> 
 
 l .... 
 
 
 ' : . ' 1 : v -v :a 
 
 . ; - . ...... . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PROFESSOR EDWARD SOLLY, F.R.S. 
 
 ON 
 
 THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED IN THE ARTS 
 AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 In undertaking to describe to you the probable influence 
 of the Great Exhibition on the cultivation and preparation 
 of vegetable raw produce, I feel that I have attempted a task 
 of some difficulty. The subject is a very important and a 
 very extensive one, forming, as it were, the very ground¬ 
 work and foundation of commerce, manufactures, and, I may 
 say, indeed of national prosperity. To attempt to enter into 
 the consideration of the whole subject, and to follow out one 
 by one the various branches into which it naturally divides 
 itself, would occupy many lectures instead of one; and I 
 shall therefore content myself with rather trying to place 
 before you such generalizations as have occurred to me during 
 the course of my labours in the Jury, and select as illustra¬ 
 tions a few of the more important of the many subjects 
 which have been under our consideration. 
 
 In using the term “raw produce,” it must be borne in 
 mind that it is not to be confined to those substances, which 
 in their crude and natural condition form articles of com¬ 
 merce; but rather to those vegetable materials, whether 
 crude or partly manufactured, which constitute the basis of 
 the arts and manufactures, the crude matter on which the 
 manufacturer exerts his skill, and which it is the especial 
 object of his art to render fit for some new and useful pur- 
 
 16 * (185) 
 
186 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 pose. It is in the state in which he obtains it; and it is, 
 therefore, truly speaking, the raw material of his art, 
 although, at the same time, it may really have undergone a 
 long series of preliminary processes and operations. 
 
 At the very outset of our inquiries, and in our very first 
 attempt to draw general conclusions respecting the vegetable 
 elements of commerce, we are met by one or two serious 
 difficulties, which, whilst they tend to make our study more 
 laborious and uncertain, at the same time teach us to be 
 cautious and diffident, lest in our wish to draw general de¬ 
 ductions, and arrive at first principles, we fall into the very 
 common error of arguing on false or insufficient data. 
 
 If the Great Exhibition had really contained specimens 
 of all the principal raw produce of each different country, 
 though it would, no doubt, have been difficult to compare 
 them together, from the fact of their being dispersed and 
 scattered over so large a space, yet we should then, at least, 
 have had the means of making a fair estimate of the relative 
 powers of production of each country. This, however, un¬ 
 fortunately, was not the case: some countries were well 
 represented, some indifferently, and some but very badly; 
 and hence it is necessary in imagination to try and supply 
 these deficiencies, before we can fairly reason on the whole 
 as complete. In spite of all caution, however, it is probable, 
 that the effects which the Great Exhibition will really lead 
 to, will differ as widely from those which it might produce, 
 as the Exhibition itself, in fact, differed from what it might 
 have been. Taken in a broad sense, the Exhibition must 
 be regarded as a great practical expression of the state and 
 condition of human industry, as an indication of the degree 
 of advancement to which it has arrived, and the changes 
 which it is undergoing. As regards the future, then, we 
 have to consider, What changes and improvements may we 
 look forward to ? and how will those changes and alterations 
 be influenced by the Great Exhibition ? 
 
 Even a slight examination of the raw produce which 
 forms the chief basis of our manufactures, must lead us to 
 the conclusion that, in many cases, the best substances are 
 
IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 187 
 
 not used, nor are the best modes of preparing them followed. 
 The history of every art gives us plenty of illustrations to 
 show what apparently trifling circumstances have led to the 
 use of some particular substance, and how long it has been 
 before that substance has given way on the introduction of 
 a new material, even though the new material was confess- 
 edly superior to that previously in use. The cause of this 
 has, no doubt, in part been the tenacity with which men in 
 all cases cling to old customs and practices, and the cautious 
 disinclination which prudent men generally have to enter 
 into a new process; whilst in many cases it has certainly 
 arisen from a combination of those in trade, determined to 
 prevent any alteration, or the introduction of any new sub¬ 
 stance. But, at the same time, there is no doubt that 
 ignorance on the part of the manufacturer of what was his 
 true interest, has been at the very foundation of this opposi¬ 
 tion to change. 
 
 If you were to place before any manufacturer specimens 
 of all the substances which could be employed in his par¬ 
 ticular manufacture, and if you could tell him from whence 
 each could be procured, its cost, the quantities in which he 
 might obtain it, and its physical and chemical properties, 
 he would soon be able to select for himself the one best 
 suited for his purposes. This, however, has never happened 
 in relation to any one art; in every case manufacturers have 
 had to make the best of the materials which chance or 
 accident has brought before them. It is strange and start¬ 
 ling, but nevertheless perfectly true, that even at the present 
 time there are many excellent and abundant productions 
 of nature, with which not only our manufacturers, but, in 
 some instances, even our men of science, are wholly unac¬ 
 quainted. There is not a single book published which gives 
 even tolerably complete information on any one of the 
 different classes of vegetable raw produce at present under 
 our consideration. 
 
 The truth of these remarks will be felt strongly by any 
 one who takes the trouble to examine any of these great 
 divisions of raw materials. He will obtain tolerably com¬ 
 plete information respecting most of those substances which 
 are known in trade and commerce; but of the greater 
 number of those not known to the broker, he will learn 
 
188 
 
 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 little or nothing. Men of science, for the most part, look 
 down upon such knowledge. The practical uses of any sub¬ 
 stance, the wants and difficulties of the manufacturer, are 
 regarded as mere trade questions, vulgar and low—simple 
 questions of money. On the other hand, mere men of 
 business do not feel the want of such knowledge, because, 
 in the first place, they are ignorant of its existence, and 
 secondly, because they do not see how it could aid them in 
 their business ; and if it should happen that an enterprising 
 manufacturer desires to learn something of the cultivation 
 and production of the raw material with which he works, 
 he generally finds it quite impossible to obtain any really 
 sound and useful information. In such cases, if he is a 
 man of energy and of capital, he often is at the cost of 
 sending out a properly qualified person to some distant part 
 of the globe, to learn for him those practical details which 
 he desires to know. This is no uncommon thing; and 
 many cases might be stated, showing the great advantages 
 which have arisen to those who have thus gained a march 
 upon their neighbours. 
 
 This want of knowledge, arising as it does from a want 
 of communication between the first producer and the manu¬ 
 facturing consumer, is the great cause why some of our 
 manufactures advance so slowly, and why some branches 
 of commerce are in so depressed a state. A moment’s con¬ 
 sideration will suffice to show the bearing of this fact. Let 
 us take the case of a gum, a resin, or a vegetable extract, 
 collected by a native in the vast forests of Hindostan, and 
 used by the calico-printer of Manchester: what connexion 
 have these two with each other ? and what knowledge has the 
 former of the purposes to which it is to be applied, or the 
 latter of the sources whence it is derived ? The native col¬ 
 lector sells the raw produce to the native buyer or broker, 
 having generally taken care to adulterate it to a greater or 
 less extent; the native broker sells it again to the mer¬ 
 chant; the merchant consigns it to a house in England; 
 and the English house employs their broker to introduce it 
 to the manufacturer. Perhaps the article, from careless 
 collection or from intentional adulteration, is greatly depre¬ 
 ciated in value; still the manufacturer must use it, for he 
 cannot get any better: he consults his broker, and learns 
 
IN TIIE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 189 
 
 that it is the best in the market, and that it always comes 
 over in that state. So matters go on from generation to 
 generation; and for want of a little knowledge, rightly 
 applied, all parties persevere in a system which, whilst it 
 invariably increases labour, at the same time certainly 
 diminishes profit. 
 
 It would lead me too far from the subject now under 
 our consideration, were I to consider the effects produced 
 in trade by these “ middlemen” and intermediate agents. 
 I would now, therefore, only point out to you the effect 
 which they produce in retarding the spread of knowledge. 
 No doubt, such a system has its advantages, as well as its 
 objections; that it tends to keep up the old rule-of-thumb 
 mode of going on, there is likewise no doubt; and also, 
 that with all its faults, and the inconveniences which it 
 causes to manufacturers, they would be very sorry to see 
 it in any way changed. It sometimes happens that a 
 merchant rashly endeavours to set aside the old prejudice, 
 and presumes to bring his goods directly to the manufac¬ 
 turer ; if he does so, he is generally eyed with distrust and 
 suspicion, and is told, as I have not unfrequently myself 
 heard, “ Really we cannot entertain the thing in this form; 
 you had better send it to ns in the ordinary way, through a 
 broker.” I do not for a moment mean to say that this may 
 not be the most business-like mode of proceeding; my ob¬ 
 ject merely is to point out how this system tends to check 
 improvement, and how the manufacturers, though they 
 suffer from its effects, cherish and combine to uphold it. It 
 may be taken as a pretty well-ascertained fact, that only 
 those manufactures are in a really progressive state, of 
 which the producer of the raw material and the manufac¬ 
 turing consumer are in more or less direct communication, 
 and where there is a mutual knowledge of the capabilities 
 of the one, and the requirements of the other. TV hen there 
 are many intermediate agents between the two, it is long 
 before the complaints of the manufacturer reach the ears of 
 the first producer, and it must be many years before the im¬ 
 provement which the former desires can be brought about. 
 
 Such a system of trade offers no facilities for the intro¬ 
 duction of new kinds of vegetable raw produce; a new sub¬ 
 stance, like a new process, is looked on with distrust. It 
 
190 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 u is not in the marketthe broker does not know it, and 
 that is nearly the same as pronouncing it of no value : it is 
 put up to auction, sold for a tenth part of its value, and 
 what becomes of it is a mere chance. Sometimes it falls 
 into the hands of clever and enterprising men, a demand for 
 it rapidly arises, and it is then afterwards brought to 
 market; but more frequently it is thrown aside as useless, 
 because no pains are taken to apply it in the right manner, 
 and in a couple of years it is altogether forgotten, or if re¬ 
 membered, it is as a worthless thing which was tried some 
 years since, and found of no use; and, lastly, the report 
 goes back to the country from which it was brought, that it 
 is of no value in the European markets. 
 
 As I have already said, the Great Exhibition presented 
 to us a most valuable and interesting collection of the 
 gums, resins, oils, dye-stuffs, fibres, and timber of many 
 countries; necessarily far from complete, but still highly 
 useful, because along with those substances well known to 
 our manufacturers, there were samples of many which are 
 wholly unknown, and not a few of those, which having been 
 brought over in former years, and condemned and discarded 
 in the manner just alluded to, are now beginning to excite 
 attention, and are likely in time to become articles of com¬ 
 merce. This department of the Exhibition possesses one 
 peculiar advantage, namely, that it is not merely a record 
 of the successes, but also, to some extent likewise, of the 
 failures, of past years; and there are many cases in which 
 failures are even more instructive than successes. In ex¬ 
 amining thes^forgotten materials, we are naturally led to 
 inquire into the reasons why they met with so little favour; 
 we are induced to study the modes in which they were tried, 
 and the causes which led to the failure of their employment. 
 If these inquiries teach us the reason why former attempts 
 failed, they may very probably suggest new modes of work¬ 
 ing, better suited to the properties and peculiar characters 
 of each substance; or, indeed, they may perhaps lead to 
 altogether new uses and new applications. 
 
/N THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 191 
 
 Gums and Resins. 
 
 On examining the collection of gums and resins in the 
 Great Exhibition, it is impossible not to be struck with the 
 number and variety of these substances shown, all imperfect 
 though the series was; and also with the fact, that many 
 of the finest and best are not at all used in the arts, whilst 
 many of the inferior ones are. Now, there is no doubt that 
 if these manufacturers who use gums and resins were well 
 acquainted with the better sorts, they would soon learn to 
 discard the inferior varieties. I might mention, for ex¬ 
 ample, the fine red resin of the Xanthorrhoea of New South 
 Wales, which, though it has been known in our Museums 
 for more than half a century, is only now beginning to be 
 used by manufacturers, and which will unquestionably ere 
 long increase in estimation and demand. In a similar con¬ 
 dition stand the beautiful Cowrie resin of New Zealand, the 
 East Indian Dammers, and the line hard resins from Coorg. 
 These resins all require a peculiar treatment, different from 
 that employed with the ordinary resins of commerce : treated 
 'as those substances commonly are, they will be found re¬ 
 fractory and useless; but by new processes, and under the 
 influence of different solvents, their real value will in time 
 be developed. 
 
 Another point, and one which directly illustrates some 
 of the remarks I have already made, is the great variation 
 in quality which many of these substances exhibit, result¬ 
 ing from want of care and attention in their collection and 
 preservation. When, for example, we find that a substance 
 imported from India as gum, and intended to be used as a 
 substitute for gum arabic, is the product of at least twenty- 
 four different trees, collected indiscriminately, and, in fact, 
 is a mixture of gums, resins, gum-resins, and impurities of 
 all sorts, it is not difficult to understand why it should be 
 in little esteem, and fetch but a small price in our markets. 
 A small portion of the mixture is excellent, but it is almost 
 rendered useless by the quantity of trash sent with it; to 
 remedy this, it must be carefully handpicked, and that, of 
 course, still further diminishes its value. In the East Indian 
 collection, which was unquestionably the richest and most 
 interesting series in the whole Exhibition; there were 
 
192 
 
 l.N THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USKB 
 
 several specimens of well-known substances from new locali¬ 
 ties ; amongst these I would mention the shellac from Singa¬ 
 pore. It is stated that this important resin may easily be 
 collected in almost unlimited quantities in the neighbouring 
 jungles of the Peninsula. Now the value of shellac varies 
 very greatly, according to the tree from which it is collected, 
 and other circumstances j and the lac brought over is some¬ 
 times so inferior as to be of very little use to the manufac¬ 
 turer : if more care is not used in its collection, the trade in 
 it will very probably ere long begin to fall off, as some of 
 the other and less uncertain resins come more into use, and 
 gradually replace it. 
 
 In connexion with gums, we must not forget the very 
 excellent artificial gum, which is now so largely made for 
 the use of calico-printers and others, by roasting starch, and 
 known under the name of u dextrine,” or British gum. 
 This manufacture has now been' brought to such a degree 
 of perfection, that it leaves little to be desired; it has, of 
 course, diminished the value of natural gums, and increased 
 the importance of the starch series. The manufacture of . 
 starch itself has undergone several important changes during 
 the last few years, chiefly due to the application of chemical 
 science. Formerly, starch was almost entirely obtained 
 from wheat and similar grains by fermentation; the cellular 
 matter of the grain was destroyed by fermentation, and the 
 particles of starch were thus liberated: this kind of process 
 was not applicable to rice or maze, and it is only since the 
 introduction of chemical modes of setting free the starch, 
 that those grains have been available as sources of it. By 
 the application of bleaching agents, too, the appearance of 
 the starch has been greatly improved. New plants have 
 been resorted to by the manufacturers of starch; of late 
 years very large quantities of excellent starch have been 
 prepared from sago, the meal of which, in fact, requires 
 very little more than washing and bleaching to render it fit 
 for use. 
 
 Caoutchouc. 
 
 A century ago caoutchouc or India-rubber v as only 
 known as a curiosity—now it is regarded almost as a ne- 
 
IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 193 
 
 oessary of life, and of late not a year has gone by without 
 some new and valuable application of this remarkable sub¬ 
 stance. A few years since, the demand for India-rubber 
 had increased so much, that importers began anxiously to 
 look out for new sources, especially as the supply from 
 South America was beginning to fall off. A little inquiry 
 showed that abundance of milky-juiccd plants, yielding ex¬ 
 cellent caoutchouc, flourished in the forests of tropical Asia; 
 and from various parts of the East Indian empire, Assam 
 in particular, excellent samples were sent. A trade soon 
 sprang up, and large quantities of caoutchouc were sent 
 over; it was, however, found that the rubber greatly dete¬ 
 riorated in quality, and that the cargoes sent over did not at 
 all correspond in goodness to the first samples; hence it soon 
 acquired a bad name, and a diminished value in the market. 
 The cause of this change was simple enough—the first sam¬ 
 ples sent over were carefully prepared by intelligent persons, 
 and in the manner which experience had shown to be the 
 best; that which was afterwards imported was prepared in 
 a careless and slovenly manner by the natives, not in the 
 best manner, but simply in that manner which gave the 
 least trouble. It is sad to see in how many instances, for 
 the want of a little care and forethought, the abundant riches 
 of the earth are destroyed, or rendered useless for the pur¬ 
 poses of man. 
 
 Gutta Percha. 
 
 There is very little doubt that there exist many other 
 vegetable substances similar to caoutchouc, which, like it, 
 might be used for various purposes in the arts, but which 
 must remain unknown and unused, till some happy acci¬ 
 dent shall develope their value to those able to employ them 
 practically. A few years since we witnessed in this room 
 the introduction of that singular substance, gutta percha, 
 when we awarded our large gold medal to Dr. Montgomerie, 
 for drawing the attention of European artisans to its re¬ 
 markable and valuable properties. I believe that there are 
 many similar substances which might in the same way be 
 introduced with advantage to the notice of English manu¬ 
 facturers, and which are at present either only known to the 
 17 
 
194 
 
 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 natives of the places in which they are produced, or perhaps 
 even altogether unknown. The forests of Asia, Africa, 
 South America, and Australia, are not half examined, and 
 there is no doubt that their investigation would amply re¬ 
 pay the trouble. There were several new and peculiar sub¬ 
 stances of this class shown in the Great Exhibition, but for 
 the present I shall merely mention one, namely, the Catti- 
 mundoo, contributed from Vizianagram, a substance pos¬ 
 sessing many of the properties of gutta pcrcha, and which is 
 certainly likely to become a valuable import. 
 
 Oils. 
 
 On turning to the great class of vegetable oils, we find 
 the same rich abundance of nature to admire; and here, as 
 in the preceding case, we cannot but wonder at the com¬ 
 paratively small number used by manufacturers, out of the 
 hundreds presented to us by the fruitful earth. It would 
 seem almost, as if in regard to the productions of the earth, 
 there were certain vested rights which might not be set 
 aside, and that we were bound to go on importing and using 
 the same substances which our ancestors did, irrespective 
 of the question, whether other substances might not be 
 advantageously substituted for them. Of late years attention 
 has been paid to some of the many good vegetable oils of 
 Asia and Africa, and large quantities have been imported; 
 yet there are still many which are quite as good, but almost 
 unknown, though new oils are anxiously desired by candle 
 and soap makers, by wool-spinners, by engineers in general 
 for diminishing friction, and for various other purposes. 
 Cocoa-nut and palm-oil have been extensively imported 
 from Ceylon and the coast of Africa, chiefly for the manu¬ 
 facture of candles; but there are, besides these, at least two 
 dozen other solid vegetable oils, almost unknown to com¬ 
 merce, and well worthy the attention of manufacturers, such 
 as the vegetable tallow of the Yateria indica, the fat of the 
 various Bassias, the oil of the Carapa, the oils of the Gar- 
 cinia and of the Yernonia, the vegetable tallows of China 
 and the Archipelago Islands. The various vegetable waxes, 
 too, of which there are likewise many, and which may be 
 had largely in Mexico, South Africa, and North America, 
 
IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 195 
 
 deserve notice. Some of these substances are already 
 becoming known to manufacturers, especially certain of the 
 kinds of vegetable tallow from China; and the importation 
 of vegetable was is increasing. Till recently, indeed, the 
 latter substance could not be imported into England, for 
 the high duty imposed upon it amounted to a prohibition. 
 Whilst bees’ wax paid a duty of 10s. per cwt., vegetable 
 wax was charged hi. 12s., or at the rate of 112?. per ton. 
 Recently the duty has been equalized, and the protection 
 which long existed in favour of bees has been withdrawn. 
 
 Amongst the fluid fixed oils, similar facts are to be 
 observed; there are many excellent oils wholly unknown 
 to commerce, but admirably adapted to the wants and re¬ 
 quirements of manufacturers; these, too, arc waiting for 
 some fortunate circumstance to bring them to the notice of 
 those able to turn them to practical uses. Let us hope that 
 it may n^t be the devastating and paralyzing influence of 
 war which shall give rise to the introduction of these sub¬ 
 stances ! I might mention many curious facts to show how 
 difficult it is to introduce a new article of trade, however 
 good, if in any way it interferes with the established custom 
 and routine of commerce, and how in some cases it can only 
 be brought in under a false name, in order to obtain an 
 entrance into our ports ! Till quite recently the linseed oil 
 required for Government use, throughout the Indian empire, 
 was wholly sent out from Europe; and it is only within the 
 last few years that it has been found out that the native- 
 grown linseed is quite as good as the best which can be had 
 from Europe. 
 
 In preparing oils for exportation, some care and attention 
 must be paid; when well expressed, oil has little tendency 
 to change, but when prepared in a careless and slovenly 
 manner, contaminated with mucilage and other matters from 
 the seed, it soon becomes rancid, and then will not bear a 
 sea voyage of any length. The value of these new oils, 
 therefore, will mainly depend on the care and skill bestowed 
 upon their preparation : if expressed with rude and imperfect 
 machinery, they will arrive foul, discoloured, rancid, and of 
 little value; whilst, if carefully prepared, they will come 
 over fresh and sweet, and fit for any purpose in the arts to 
 which they may be applied. Again, in collecting these oils 
 
196 
 
 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 in our colonies ai:d elsewhere, some system must be adopted 
 for the cultivation and preservation of the plants yielding 
 them; the supply cannot fail to be small and uncertain, if 
 the same reckless mode of cutting down trees is adopted, as 
 has been the case with the trees yielding gutta percha and 
 caoutchouc,—a system which, gradually but surely, leads to 
 the extinction of the trees themselves. These remarks may 
 to some seem almost self-evident, but they are nevertheless 
 generally overlooked, and the usual consequences are dis¬ 
 appointment, failure, and ruin. 
 
 Several of the little known volatile oils were highly 
 interesting; the sweet-scented, fragrant ones are all of 
 value, though their importance in the arts is fast diminish¬ 
 ing, as the progress of science brings us nearer and nearer 
 to the mode of preparing them artificially. Amongst these 
 oils several are of value, in consequence of their strong sol¬ 
 vent powers over resin. Thus, for example, we have the 
 excellent oil of the Eucalyptus piperita and Leptispermum, 
 from New South Wales;—that country yielding at the same 
 time valuable resins, and essential oils capable of dissolving 
 them, and thus of rendering them practically useful in the 
 arts. 
 
 In connexion with this part of my subject, I would also 
 draw your attention to a class of curious empyreumatic 
 volatile oils, obtained by the destructive distillation of the 
 bark of trees, such as the birch-oil of Russia, used in the 
 manufacture of Russian leather, and from which it derives 
 its well-known fragrant odour, and its power of withstand¬ 
 ing the attacks of insects and the progress of decay. This 
 oil does not appear to be so well known as it deserves; it 
 might probably be used for other purposes besides the pre¬ 
 servation of leather; it is possible, likewise, that similar oils 
 might be obtained by the destructive distillation cf the bark 
 of other trees. 
 
 Dyes. 
 
 * . 
 
 There is, perhaps, no art which has undergone more im¬ 
 portant changes and alterations during the last halt century 1 
 than that of dyeing; and here, as in all other branches ot 
 applied science, we find many points of interest in studying 
 
IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 197 
 
 the vegetable raw products employed, which are, as it were, 
 the ores from which precious metal is to be extracted, by 
 the skill and knowledge of the manufacturer. Some of 
 these changes were shown in a very interesting and instruc¬ 
 tive way in the Great Exhibition, where we had the rude 
 but efficient dye-stuffs of our ancestors, contrasted with the 
 more elaborate processes, and more refined dyeing materials, 
 of the present day; at the same time, it is impossible not 
 to recognise the eminently progressive character of the art, 
 which we may fairly anticipate will undergo as important 
 changes in the coming half century, as it has experienced 
 during the past. To some extent we may form an estimate 
 of the state to which the art has arisen in each country, by 
 observing the dye-stuffs employed; and in most cases, where 
 woad, bugloss, and weld, are the chief sources of blue, red, 
 and yellow, we may safely conclude that comparatively little 
 progress has been made in the application of practical sci¬ 
 ence to the art of dyeing. 
 
 It would be foreign to our subject at present to enter at 
 all into the operations of the dyer, and I shall, therefore, 
 confine myself to the consideration of the materials of his 
 art, quite independent of the manner in which he employs 
 them. It is obvious that those dye-stuffs which require no 
 preparation, but which, like log-wood, fustic, and madder, 
 are yielded by nature in a state fit for immediate use, arc 
 under very different circumstances from those which, like 
 indigo, litmus, and annotto, undergo a process of prepara¬ 
 tion before they are fit for the market. But even in the 
 case of those which seem to require nothing more than the 
 axe of the woodman, very great and important differences 
 are to be observed. Climate, soil, and cultivation, produce 
 the most marked differences in the growth of plants, and 
 consequently also in the production of colouring matters. 
 One illustration of this will perhaps serve as well as many, 
 and will show not only how the production of dyes is regu¬ 
 lated by apparently small circumstances, but also how those 
 circumstances may be controlled and modified by the judi¬ 
 cious application of science. It was observed that some of 
 the madder grown near Avignon was inferior in the richness 
 and brilliancy of its colour to that produced in other dis¬ 
 tricts; and the proprietors being anxious to discover the 
 17 * 
 
198 
 
 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 cause, were led to institute a chemical examination of the 
 soil of their own land, in comparison with that of some of 
 the best madder farms; the result showed that their soil 
 was deficient in lime, whilst all the others contained it. 
 They were, therefore, induced to give their land a good 
 dressing of lime, and the result fully justified them, for the 
 next year their crop of madder was inferior to none. The 
 value of all these dye-stuffs depends on the care bestowed 
 on their cultivation, and upon the attention paid to their 
 collection and preservation, so that they may not suffer in¬ 
 jury either from carelessness, or from adulteration. The 
 importance of vegetable colouring matters generally is 
 somewhat diminished by the numerous chemical discove¬ 
 ries which have introduced to the dyer mineral or inorganic 
 substitutes for many of them; but, at the same time, chemi¬ 
 cal science has so greatly improved most of the processes 
 of dyeing, that the dyer, by means of its aid, is now able 
 to get many colours from the old vegetable dye-stuffs, which 
 were quite out of the power of his predecessors. The im¬ 
 provements in calico-printing, and dyeing in many colours, 
 have gradually given rise to a demand for new colours and 
 new dyes, so that at the present time good or promising 
 new colours are received with a considerable degree of in¬ 
 terest. Fortunately, there are many of these, and not a 
 few which may be had in large quantities, and at low prices. 
 
 Owing to the progress of the art, many colouring mat¬ 
 ters which a few years since were regarded as of little or 
 no value, are gradually rising in estimation; when first in¬ 
 troduced, they were tried as substitutes for the ordinary 
 dye-stuff's, and were treated in the same way as those dye¬ 
 stuffs commonly were; the result was far from promising, and 
 they were accordingly condemned. Now, however, new 
 modes of operating are introduced,—the colouring matter is 
 treated in accordance with the known laws of chemistry; 
 and good and useful colours are obtained from it. Mun- 
 jeet, Ohay root, and many other dye-stuffs, are in this man¬ 
 lier gradually coming into use and estimation. 
 
 The advancements which have been made in the manu¬ 
 facture of mixed fabrics, call for corresponding changes 
 and improvements in the art of dyeing, and render new 
 inodes of dyeing, as well as new dyes, highly desirable. A 
 
IN TELE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 199 
 
 dye which serves well for wool or cotton, frequently will 
 not take on silk or flax; and, consequently, though it will 
 do very well for any one of these fabrics alone, it is of little 
 use for a mixed fabric composed of two different fibres. 
 Amongst some of the little known native dyes of India and 
 other countries, there are many well deserving of careful 
 examination; such, for example, as the black indigo of the 
 Shan country, the black dye of New Zealand, and others. 
 
 Dye-stuffs, for the most part, are bulky and heavy sub¬ 
 stances, the carriage of which for any distance, by land, or 
 even by water, makes a very serious addition to their cost; 
 and, consequently, every mode of increasing the proportion 
 per cent, of colouring matter is worthy of consideration; 
 and those modes of preparation are best which yield the 
 largest quantity of colour, and the least quantity of useless 
 fibrous matter. Owing to the judicious manner in which 
 the Chinese safflower is collected, it contains far more of the 
 fine red colouring matter, and is consequently worth four or 
 five times as much in the market, as the best Bengal saf¬ 
 flower ; in addition to which, from want of due care in the 
 drying, the latter is sometimes so much injured during the 
 sea voyage as to be deteriorated at least fifty per cent. The 
 loss thus sustained is often set down to “ the nature of the 
 drug,” and not to the careless habits of those employed in 
 collecting it! 
 
 When we remember how many thousand tons of dyeing 
 woods are annually imported, and how many thousand tons 
 of it are absolutely useless woody fibre, we cannot help 
 coming to the conclusion that here chemical science might 
 be applied with great advantage, and that if colonists could 
 be taught how to extract and concentrate the true colouring 
 principles of these woods, much unprofitable labour and 
 expense ■would be saved; nay more, these concentrated dye¬ 
 stuffs might be profitably imported from places from which 
 the cost of carriage would altogether prevent the importa¬ 
 tion of the dye-stuff in its raw state. This is a matter of 
 great practical importance, and one which has not yet re¬ 
 ceived that attention which it deserves; there are no doubt 
 difficulties in the way, but after the many triumphs which 
 science has achieved, we surely need not be deterred by any 
 ordinary difficulties. The consideration of this subject na- 
 
200 
 
 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 turally leads to one very closely connected with it$ namely, 
 the various substances used in tanning; in which, to some 
 extent, the object just suggested has already been realized. 
 The most experienced tanners all agree, that no substance 
 has yet been introduced, capable of replacing good oak-bark 
 in their art, but, at the same time, they readily allow that 
 many substances are of great value as aids to oak-bark, and 
 in the preparation of particular kinds of leather. The 
 number of astringent barks and woods suitable for this art 
 is very large; but, with few exceptions, the cost of freight 
 would prohibit their being brought from any distance : in 
 such cases extracts have been made, and imported either in 
 the dry and solid form, like catechu and kino, or as a thick 
 solution, like the mimosa extract of New Holland. The 
 value of these extracts depends in a great measure on the 
 mode in which they are prepared ; they should be rapidly 
 concentrated, and exposed as little as possible to the air 
 during evaporation, or otherwise they sutler a considerable 
 degree of decomposition, and their value is proportionably 
 diminished. 
 
 Cotton. 
 
 I would now draw your attention to another, and a very 
 important division of raw produce, namely, fibrous materials, 
 including cotton, flax, hemp, and a number of less exten¬ 
 sively used but still highly valuable products, constituting 
 the great elements of several of our most important manu¬ 
 factures. In the first place, let us briefly consider the nature 
 of cotton, of which this country imports at present about 
 eight hundred million pounds a-year, the value of which, 
 when manufactured, can hardly be estimated under thirty 
 millions sterling. 
 
 Cotton may be generally described as a soft, white, tubu¬ 
 lar fibre found in the capsule of the Gossypium, or cotton 
 shrub, and adhering to the seeds. Further, it is well known 
 that there are a great number of different varieties of cotton 
 distinguished by marked peculiarities, and known in com¬ 
 merce either by the name of the country in which they are 
 indigenous, or by some term expressive of their peculiar 
 properties. These differences are not merely to be traced 
 
IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 201 
 
 to peculiarities of soil, climate, and cultivation, though they 
 unquestionably exert a most remarkable influence in modi¬ 
 fying the nature of the fibre, but are caused by distinct 
 varieties in the plant itself. Botanists have shown that 
 there are at least four separate and well-marked species of 
 the genus Gossypium, namely, G. Barbadense, of which Sea 
 Island and Bourbon cotton are varieties; G. Peruvianum , 
 the Pernambuco or Brazil cotton; G. Arboreum , which 
 yields the Nurma, or native cotton of India; and G. Indi- 
 cum, the cotton of the Mediterranean, Africa, India, China, 
 &c. Of these, the Sea Island has the longest, and the Ben¬ 
 gal the shortest staple or fibre. 
 
 The chief supplies of this important article are obtained 
 from the United States, for about 84 per cent, of the whole 
 quantity of cotton annually consumed in Great Britain is 
 imported from North America; about 10 per cent, from the 
 East Indies; nearly 4 per cent, from Brazil; and rather 
 more than 2 per cent, from the Mediterranean. In North 
 America the cotton plant grows freely and luxuriantly, and 
 its cultivation and the collection of the fibre have reached 
 such a state of systematic excellence, that there appears 
 little further improvement to desire. The Sea Island cot¬ 
 ton is long and yet fine, strong and at the same time silky; 
 whilst from the careful manner in which the crop is ga¬ 
 thered, the excellent mode in which the seeds are separated 
 from the fibre, and the good arrangements followed in 
 cleaning and packing it, the North American cotton reaches 
 Europe in the best possible condition for the subsequent 
 operations of the manufacturer. 
 
 Next in importance as cotton-producers stand the British 
 possessions in the East, but here not only have we a differ¬ 
 ent variety of cotton to consider, but also a different soil, a 
 different climate, and, above all, a different race of people 
 to cultivate it. The native cotton of India has a far shorter 
 fibre than that of North America; little care is bestowed on 
 its cultivation and collection, and little care is taken to pro¬ 
 tect it from injury, after it is collected. That the fibre is 
 good and fit for manufacturing purposes is evident; for the 
 muslins woven in the looms of India have long shown how 
 the labour and ingenuity of the natives could with this 
 cotton, even in spite of careless cultivation, and imperfect 
 
202 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 methods, more than match European skill, though aided 
 with all the appliances of modern science and mechanical 
 invention. 
 
 For a long series of years the attention of the East India 
 Company has been directed to the improvement of the cot¬ 
 ton cultivation, and many costly experiments have been 
 made. In general, the result of these attempts has been, 
 that little success has attended the introduction of long 
 staple Sea Island cotton into India. At the same time, 
 however, it has been most satisfactorily proved that, with 
 due care and attention, excellent New Orleans cotton may 
 be cultivated in the Indian Empire; and further, it has 
 been shown, that with improved cultivation, with good 
 modes of cleaning, and with constant care, the native 
 Indian cottons may be so improved in character, as to 
 become of far more value in the market than they at pre¬ 
 sent possess. It is proved that the deficiencies of East 
 Indian cotton do not depend on any inferiority of soil or 
 climate, but merely on the careless or ignorant practices 
 of those who cultivate it; and that, with continued care 
 and attention, and by persevering in the introduction of 
 improved methods, a complete change will in time be 
 effected, so that, ere long, any quantity of sound and good 
 cotton may be imported" for the use of manufacturers from 
 British India. 
 
 The cotton at present imported from the British colonies 
 does not quite amount to a million pounds yearly, not an 
 eighth part of one per cent, of the whole quantity imported; 
 it is, however, rapidly increasing, and as regards quality, is 
 highly deserving of praise. The cotton of British Guiana 
 is excellent, and some of that lately sent over from the South 
 African colonies is also very promising. Considerable pro¬ 
 gress is also being made in the cultivation of cotton in the 
 northern parts of Africa; the specimens contributed from 
 Algeria give ample evidence that its cultivation has been 
 well and judiciously carried on, and are most creditable to 
 the colonists. 
 
 The operation of cotton-cleaning is one of very great im¬ 
 portance, for unless it is well and properly carried on, all 
 the previous cares of the planter are of little avail; by the 
 term “ cleaning” is not meant the separation of accidental 
 
IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 205 
 
 impurities, but the removal of the seeds, which is cither 
 effected by an appropriate mechanical arrangement called a 
 “saw-gin,” or by a simple roller; considerable difference is 
 found to exist between the different varieties of cotton, in 
 the force with which the fibre adheres to the seed: in the 
 black-seeded varieties it separates easily, whilst in the green- 
 seeded cotton it adheres so firmly, that it can only be sepa¬ 
 rated by the use of the saw-gin. In using this instrument, 
 in which, by the rapid rotation of a series of circular saws, 
 the cotton fibre is caught and pulled from the seed, care 
 must be taken or the fibre will be injured, by being broken 
 or cut by the teeth of the saw. It is obvious that this is a 
 serious fault, because the injury done cannot be remedied 
 by any subsequent treatment. I mention it now chiefly 
 because some of the finest cotton shown in the Exhibition, 
 though beautiful cotton, clean, fine, and strong, was evi¬ 
 dently injured by being over-ginned. 
 
 And here, before dismissing the subject of cotton, I 
 would say a few words respecting Mr. Mercer’s new process 
 for modifying its chemical and physical properties, not only 
 because it received the marked approval of the Jury, but 
 also because it seems likely to produce very important altera¬ 
 tions in the manufacture of cotton generally. The fibre of 
 cotton, when examined by a lens, is found to consist of a 
 flattened or ribbon-shaped tube; when treated with a cold 
 strong solution of caustic soda, as in Mr. Mercer’s process, 
 it appears to shrink, and assumes the form of a simple cylin¬ 
 der; thus three important and very remarkable alterations 
 occur at the same time,—the fibre becomes stronger, it 
 acquires increased attraction for colouring matter, and it 
 becomes smaller : the process is at once cheap and effectual, 
 and the cotton is decidedly increased in value. In most 
 cases where chemical agency is applied in the preparation 
 of vegetable fibres, either to remove impurities, to destroy 
 colour, or indeed for any other purpose, the object in view 
 is generally attained at the sacrifice of a little strength ; it 
 is therefore a peculiar feature of this discovery that the 
 valuable properties conferred upon the cotton are not only 
 not gained at the sacrifice of its strength, but, on the con 
 trary, are even accompanied by an increase of tenacity. 
 
204 
 
 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 Flax. 
 
 Passing next to the consideration of flax and hemp, a sub¬ 
 ject of peculiar interest at the present time in this country, 
 I must briefly remind you of the leading principles followed 
 in their preparation, before speaking of the present state and 
 future prospects of this important branch of national in¬ 
 dustry. The stem of these plants consists essentially of a 
 woody core, and a sheath of fibrous matter surrounding it, 
 cemented together by a peculiar sort of vegetable glue, 
 which binds the whole into one solid reed or stem. In the 
 preparation of flax, the great object in view is the removal 
 of this matter, so that the fibrous part being no longer bound 
 together, may be easily separated from the woody part of 
 the stem. This vegetable glue is insoluble in water, but 
 when steeped in that liquid, or indeed when exposed to 
 moisture, it soon begins to ferment or undergo a sort of slow 
 putrefaction. For ages it has been the practice to cause 
 this slow putrefaction of the stems, either by exposing the 
 flax plant to the dew, or by steeping it in ponds or pits of 
 stagnant water, or by sinking it in the bed of a deep and 
 slowly flowing river. To all of these three modes there are 
 serious and strong objections j putrefaction is a slow, irre¬ 
 gular, uncertain, and unwholesome process, it takes up much 
 time, and the result is uncertain, because if it is not closely 
 watched it may easily proceed too far, and the fibre be then 
 destroyed or greatly injured. 
 
 From time to time various ingenious modes of preparing 
 flax by machinery have been devised, in which by the simple 
 application of suitable mechanism the fibrous part should at 
 once be separated, and obtained fit for spinning; it does not 
 appear that any of these plans were found practically avail¬ 
 able, however promising they seemed when first they were 
 proposed. 
 
 Within the last few years an important improvement has 
 been made in the old mode of retting or rotting, which, as 
 it remedies some of its defects, is certainly a step in the 
 right direction. In Schenck’s process, warm water is used 
 to steep the flax stems in, the required fermentation is at 
 once brought on, hours in place of days are necessary; and 
 from the short time occupied, the certainty with which the 
 
IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 205 
 
 desired effect is produced, and the complete control which 
 the operator has over it, all fear of over-retting is altogether 
 removed. The practical result, which may now be con¬ 
 sidered as satisfactorily established, is, that flax retted by 
 Schenck’s warm-water process is equal to the best flax as 
 prepared under the old methods, and that whilst time and 
 money are economized, and some of the objections of the 
 old methods are removed, there is less danger of injuring 
 the fibre, and hence a far more uniform fibre is obtained; in 
 fact, the average product of the new mode is superior to the 
 average product under the old process. 
 
 In speaking thus, however, of this method of preparing 
 flax, I do not wish to express anything more than a con¬ 
 viction that it is a marked improvement on the old method; 
 I do not consider it as a perfect process, or one that leaves 
 nothing to be desired; on the contrary, I am strongly im¬ 
 pressed with its faults and imperfections, and I have little 
 doubt that in a few years we shall see it set aside and super¬ 
 seded by a flu- better process. Fermentation is at best but 
 a rude and imperfect mode of separating one kind of vege¬ 
 table matter from the others, with which it is associated in 
 a plant. 
 
 Of course the same general remarks apply also in the 
 case of hemp, which, though from its being a coarser fibre, 
 it is less liable than flax to be injured in retting, is unques¬ 
 tionably often greatly deteriorated by the fermentation to 
 which it is exposed; indeed in the old modes of preparing 
 hemp, it was never considered to be retted enough until it 
 was evidently injured. In illustration of this rather strange 
 statement, let me refer you to Antill’s observations on dress¬ 
 ing hemp : he says, “ To know whether the hemp is rotted 
 enough, take a handful out of the middle row, and try with 
 both your hands to snap it asunder, if it break easily it is 
 rotted enough, but if it yet appear pretty strong, it is not, 
 and must lie longer till it breaks with ease.” 
 
 Of the various other changes which the cultivation and 
 preparation of flax and hemp is now undergoing, there is 
 only one to which I would draw your attention, as it was 
 prominently brought before the notice of the Jury, and as 
 it has excited considerable attention from the accounts 
 which have been published respecting it in the newspapers: 
 
 18 
 
206 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 I refer to the flax-cotton of Mr. Claussen, who proposes to 
 convert flax into a sort of cotton, or rather, by the action of 
 solutions of carbonate of soda and of sulphuric acid, to split 
 up and divide the fibre, thus rendering it available as a sub¬ 
 stitute for cotton, and enabling the manufacturer to use it 
 in mixed fabrics, by spinning it in combination with cotton, 
 wool, and silk, on the ordinary machinery used at present 
 for those fibres. I must confess that I am not at all san¬ 
 guine as to the benefits to be derived from this proposal, 
 though I think it by no means impossible that it may here¬ 
 after lead to valuable and important improvements. 
 
 Fibres. 
 
 I now come to the third division of vegetable fibres, and 
 here we have a wide and very comprehensive subject opened 
 out to our consideration, namely, the various substitutes 
 for flax and hemp. The most important of these are Jute, 
 the fibre of certain species of C'orchorus ; Sun, the fibre of 
 the Crot alar ia ; Manilla hemp, obtained from Musa textilis 
 and paradisiacal Coir, the fibre of the cocoa-nut; pine¬ 
 apple fibre; New Zealand flax; China grass, and Calooee 
 hemp, obtained from various species of Urtica. In calling 
 these the most important, I ought perhaps rather to say 
 those best known in commerce; for I am by no means sure 
 that they are so good or valuable as some of the less gene¬ 
 rally known vegetable fibres. I might easily enumerate a 
 long list of plants, yielding strong and serviceable fibres; 
 the great difficulty which hinders their practical use in the 
 arts, is the want of a good and easy mode of separating 
 them from the other vegetable substances with which they 
 are associated in the plants. That process which shall give 
 us the means of preparing hemp and flax without the use 
 of fermentation, will probably also enable us to use many 
 other vegetable fibres quite as good, if not even better, for 
 most purposes, than they are. Amongst the fibres ot India, 
 and of South America in particular, there are several which 
 promise hereafter to be of the greatest value; I would now 
 only mention the Jetee, or bow-string hemp of llajmehal; 
 the fibre of the Calotropis or Asclepias tenacissima , and the 
 fibres of the Sanseveria and Hibiscus. 
 
IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 207 
 
 The attention of practical men has leen long directed 
 to the strong and very beautiful fibre of the so-called China 
 grass, which, it has recently been shown, is closely allied 
 to, if not identical with, the Calooee hemp, or Rhea fibre 
 of India. A simple but efficacious method of preparing 
 this valuable fibre has lately been devised by Messrs. 
 Wright, depending chiefly on the solvent powers of a hot 
 solution of carbonate of soda, and its use is consequently 
 rapidly increasing, particularly in the formation of mixed 
 fabrics; when well prepared it has all the lustre and bril¬ 
 liancy of silk. There is no doubt that with a little trouble 
 this fibre may be had in almost unlimited quantities from 
 India. 
 
 Before dismissing the subject of these vegetable fibres, let 
 me remind you of the beautiful silk cotton obtained from 
 the Bombax and other trees in various parts of the world. 
 This fibre is short and remarkably elastic, though at the 
 same time, unfortunately, very tender; it is in India spun 
 into a loose and coarse, but very warm, cloth; whilst in 
 Europe it is generally considered as of no value; lately it 
 has been applied advantageously in America to the manu¬ 
 facture of silk hats, for which purpose it is said to answer 
 admirably. Of these fibres, likewise, almost unlimited 
 quantities may be had. 
 
 Timber. 
 
 And now, turning to the last class of raw produce under 
 our consideration, let us devote a few moments to the im¬ 
 portant division of wood and timber; a subject so extensive, 
 that there are few who are not more or less interested in 
 some of its numerous bearings, and the many purposes to 
 which wood is applied, whether in building ships, in build¬ 
 ing houses, for engineering purposes, or merely as an article 
 of ornament. 
 
 The quantity of wood of all kinds, annually imported into 
 Great Britain, is not much less than ten millions of cubic 
 feet; it is, therefore, a question of no small moment, to 
 know from whence we are to obtain such an enormous 
 quantity in future years; which are the best woods, and 
 
208 
 
 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 from whence we may expect to obtain them most economi¬ 
 cally, and with the least risk of failure in the supply. 
 
 The number of woods at present admitted as first-rate 
 for ship-building purposes is not more than eight; namely, 
 English oak, live oak, African oak, teak, saul, greenheart, 
 morra, and iron-bark: the latter only admitted as a fiist- 
 class wood since the opening of the Great Exhibition. The 
 number used in ordinary architecture is, of course, far 
 greater; and the number used for the ordinary purposes of 
 the carpenter is very large, because in each country the 
 strongest, cheapest, or handsomest woods are employed, 
 according to the purpose for which they are required. 
 
 In tracing the history of any large forest, it will generally 
 be found that when man first began to cut down the trees, 
 he did so in the most wasteful and reckless manner, without 
 any thought for those who should come after him. The re¬ 
 sult has usually been, that in a brief period of years, the 
 more valuable timber trees have become almost extermi¬ 
 nated, no care having been taken, by the regular formation 
 of plantations, to insure a future supply. I will say no¬ 
 thing of the extent to which this has gone in foreign coun¬ 
 tries, where often whole forests of valuable timber have been 
 burnt solely for the sake of converting their ashes into ma¬ 
 nure, but I will merely remind you of the gradual destruc¬ 
 tion of timber which has gone on for centuries in our own 
 country, leading, as it did, almost to the extermination ot 
 the pride of the land, the oaks of old England ! It was not 
 till the matter became one of urgent necessity that steps were 
 taken to stay the evil. It was the gradual falling off in the 
 supply of good oak suitable for ship-building purposes which 
 led to the importation of foreign woods, and also to the pur¬ 
 chase of colonial-built ships; and this in turn has led to a 
 due appreciation of the real value of some of those woods. 
 Almost every year is adding to the list of acknowledged 
 good and serviceable timber trees, and new sources are con¬ 
 stantly being discovered. 
 
 It has never before happened that so large and important 
 a collection of woods has been brought together, as we had 
 recently an opportunity of examining in the Great Exhibi¬ 
 tion, amounting as it did to several thousands. There were 
 good specimens of the well-known old woods of commerce; 
 
IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 209 
 
 specimens of most of the new ones recently introduced, and 
 of a multitude of woods wholly unknown to commerce, a 
 good many of which possess qualities calculated to render 
 them highly valuable in the arts. 
 
 Amongst the less generally known woods lately intro¬ 
 duced into commerce, mention may be made of the morra 
 and greenheart of British Guiana, both excellent for ship¬ 
 building; and the musk wood, blackwood, Iduon pine, and 
 blue gum of Yan Diemen’s Land; the three former valu¬ 
 able as beautiful ornamental furniture woods, the latter an 
 enormous timber tree, which promises to become of much 
 importance for ship-building. Fine samples of the wood 
 of various species of Eucalyptus were also contributed 
 from Western Australia. It was stated that one of these 
 trees, fourteen feet -in diameter, was cut down on purpose, 
 and that a plank of that width would have been sent over 
 to the Exhibition, but that it was found impossible to do 
 so, for want of saws of sufficient size to cut up the log. Two 
 slices or sections cut from the stem of one of these magnifi¬ 
 cent trees were, however, exhibited by Sir William Denison, 
 though, perhaps, they excited less attention than they de¬ 
 served, from the circumstance of their being hidden under 
 the pile of Canadian woods in the centre of the nave; the 
 larger of these sections was about six feet in diameter, the 
 smaller one nearly three; the first was cut four feet above 
 the surface of the ground, the latter at a height of 134 feet, 
 just below the first branch ! 
 
 Amongst the South African woods, too, there is one 
 deserving of notice, exhibited under the name of red 
 ebony; of the tree which produced it nothing is known, 
 but its nature is so peculiar, and its properties as an orna¬ 
 mental wood are so valuable, that it is a substance of 
 considerable interest. It is dense and tough, has a fine 
 red colour, and is so close and uniform in grain, that it 
 resembles ivory rather than wood. It promises to be an 
 important addition to the ornamental hard woods of com¬ 
 merce. 
 
 It is found that the value and properties of wood vary 
 very greatly according to the soil and climate in which it 
 grows; it is well known that the oak timber grown in 
 neighbouring parishes often varies in goodness to a remark- 
 18* 
 
210 
 
 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 able degree, and certain parts of England used formerly to 
 be celebrated as yielding the most valuable ship timber. 
 Precisely the same holds good on a large scale, and the 
 same tree, which grown in one country affords a first-rate 
 timber, may in another situation yield a very inferior 
 wood. Thus the wood of a teak-tree grown in Malabar 
 will be decidedly superior in quality to the wood of one 
 grown in Moulmein, and the mahogany grown in Cuba 
 will be more valuable than the same tree grown in the 
 swamps of Honduras. It is unnecessary to point out the 
 important bearing of these facts on the formation and ma¬ 
 nagement of forests. 
 
 Next in importance to obtaining good wood, the modes 
 of seasoning and preserving it ought to be mentioned; and 
 when we remember how prone vegetable matter is to decay, 
 and how much often depends on the soundness of a single 
 plank, I need not say much as to the careful study and 
 consideration which this subject deserves. The evils aris¬ 
 ing from the decay of wood are innumerable, and it is only 
 from the frequency of their occurrence that we are at last 
 led to regard them as almost necessary, and without a rem¬ 
 edy. The decay of wood used in buildings is, indeed, a 
 matter of the most serious importance, but it is far more so 
 in all those cases where the timber is either sunk in the 
 ground or plunged under water. Let me remind you, 
 by the way, that the room in which we now are, and, 
 indeed, all the surrounding buildings on the bank of 
 the Thames, are entirely supported on wooden piles ; 
 and these are all, no doubt, in a greater or less state of 
 decay. 
 
 To meet these evils the ingenuity of man has been di¬ 
 rected, in the first instance, to modes of drying and season¬ 
 ing woods, whereby those matters in it most liable to decay 
 are removed, or rendered more stable; and, secondly, to 
 methods of impregnating wood with various substances, cal¬ 
 culated to preserve it from change. It is evident that the 
 merits of any plan of this kind cannot be ascertained for a 
 great number of years, because until it shall have been 
 practically tested by satisfactory trials extending over a 
 long period of time, its value cannot be considered as proved, 
 and any premature statement can only be considered as an 
 
IN TIIE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 211 
 
 assertion or matter of opinion. Amongst those plans 
 which have excited most attention are those of Messrs. 
 Coucherie, Burnett, Bethell, and Payne; and some of the 
 results already obtained are certainly highly promising. 
 On the subject of timber, as in all the preceding classes, 
 there is the same want of imformation, and the same diffi¬ 
 culty in learning that which is known. Of the new woods 
 only just introduced for ornamental purposes, such as 
 the Huon pine, specimens have long remained concealed 
 in cabinets and museums, and very nearly the same may 
 be said concerning the more important timber trees, such 
 as the iron-bark. On the other hand, of the eight 
 acknowledged first-class woods, one at least, namely, the 
 African oak, is the produce of an unknown tree; in 
 fact, all that is known about it is, that it certainly is not 
 an oak ! 
 
 In this necessarily very brief and imperfect sketch of 
 some of the points of interest connected with the six great 
 divisions of vegetable raw produce, I have been obliged alto¬ 
 gether to leave out all mention of the new and unexamined 
 substances, of which a considerable number have for the first 
 time been introduced to our notice in the Great Exhibition : 
 of these I will only say, I earnestly hope they will not be 
 set aside as mere curiosities, that they will neither be placed 
 out of reach, on the upper shelves of our museum galleries, 
 nor yet consigned to oblivion in their cellars ! 
 
 Before concluding, then, let me remind you of the practi¬ 
 cal conclusions to be drawn from this department of the 
 Great Exhibition; and the facts, whether old or new, which 
 it has brought out in a striking manner. 
 
 The wants, the curiosity, and the ingenuity of man, have 
 made him acquainted with the uses and properties of many 
 of the productions of the vegetable kingdom ; but, neverthe¬ 
 less, all that he knows, and all that he has done, does not 
 amount to a tenth part of that which yet remains to be studied 
 and applied. Our trade and commerce is but a trifle com¬ 
 pared to the almost boundless wealth of Nature. 
 
 Our traders, our manufacturers, and our men of science, 
 are wholly ignorant of many matters connected with these 
 
212 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 subjects- and the prejudices of men of business, the forms 
 of trade, the regulations of the custom-house, t-he influence 
 of laws, and the indifference of men of science, have all con¬ 
 tributed to retard the spread of such knowledge. 
 
 If any one thinks, that in saying this I am at all over¬ 
 stating the truth, let him endeavour to learn the history 
 and developement of any one trade, and he will be sur¬ 
 prised at the difficulties which he encounters. As I have 
 said before, w r e have no books which contain full and com¬ 
 plete accounts of any single class of raw produce, scientific, 
 practical, commercial, and statistical; nor have we collections 
 in which the things themselves are arranged, and the informa¬ 
 tion deposited. The books which treat of these matters are 
 meagre and incomplete; old facts are left out because they 
 are old, and, perhaps, because in the opinion of the author, 
 they are of no value, and no references are given to those 
 previous authors who have studied the same subject. Our 
 hard-working and laborious neighbours, the Germans, have 
 long felt the necessity of always giving lists of authorities, 
 and hence their books are in many cases far more valuable 
 than our own, not only more full and copious, but also of 
 far more use to the student after truth, because they guide 
 him, and enable him to become a thorough master of his 
 subject by referring him at once to the works of all those 
 who have written upon it. 
 
 On the various branches of pure science we have many 
 and excellent books; but on applied science, and on the 
 relation of natural science to the arts and manufactures, we 
 have few deserving the name. In the case of the applica¬ 
 tions of human ingenuity, as in that of the productions ot 
 Nature, we have the same imperfect means of acquiring 
 knowledge—even those inventions which have received the 
 special protection of the Government,—patented inventions; 
 if you would trace the progress of the improvement which 
 any art has undergone, you must undertake a search as 
 tedious, as troublesome, and almost as expensive, as a search 
 for an old will in the musty recesses of the Consistorial Pre¬ 
 rogative Office ! 
 
 If, then, you would make yourself thoroughly acquainted 
 with such a subject, you must wade through many books. 
 First, you will have difficulty in knowing what books to 
 
IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 213 
 
 refer to; then you will have trouble in knowing where to find 
 them : and after all, when you have got over these difficul¬ 
 ties, in all probability you will be disappointed, because the 
 books will not have taught you half you desire to know. 
 Now, the practical result that necessarily follows from these 
 difficulties in the way of knowledge is, that true progress is 
 retarded; time, labour, money, and ingenuity, are all wasted, 
 in re-inventing old inventions, and in discovering facts which 
 a previous generation had already discovered. Truly may 
 we say, “ Life is short, but art is long.” 
 
 The Society of Arts is one of the chief, and for a long 
 time was, in fact, the only public body established for the 
 promotion of industrial art; and at its first foundation it 
 endeavoured to act the part of a mediator between the culti¬ 
 vators of raw produce and the manufacturing consumers. 
 It offered premiums for the discovery and introduction of 
 all sorts of useful materials, and expended considerable sums 
 in developing the productive resources of our colonies. It 
 pointed out the wants and requirements of mechanics, and 
 at the same time drew attention to those articles of raw pro¬ 
 duce, which especially stood in need of improvement. The 
 Society deserves the highest praise for the good which it 
 has done, but at the same time we cannot help regretting 
 that it has not done much more. In the Great Exhibition 
 there were innumerable examples of the skill and ingeuuity 
 wasted in re-inventing old inventions; and in the same way 
 you would be surprised, on looking over the early volumes 
 of the Society’s Transactions, to find how many of the im¬ 
 portant inventions of modern days arc contained in them. 
 Let me refer you, for example, to the volumes for 1775 and 
 for 1801. In these you will find references to the silk-cot¬ 
 ton, the cotton-seed oil, the various East Indian fibres, 
 and the flax-cotton. In Dr. Roxburgh’s communication* 
 are detailed experiments on the fibres of the Corchorus, 
 the Asclepias, the Urticas, or China-grass, distinctly proving 
 their value and importance,—showing them to be as good 
 or better than flax and hemp; and yet more than half a 
 century has elapsed, and these fibres are only just beginning 
 
 * “Trans. Soc. Arts,” vol. xxii. pp. 363-396; xxiv. pp. 143-156; 
 and xxiii. p. 407. 
 
214 ON THE VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 to receive the attention of manufacturers. In the case .of 
 flax-cotton, we have recently been strongly impressed with 
 the great importance of a discovery by means of which the 
 fibre of flax can be converted into a sort of cotton, capable 
 of being carded like ordinary cotton, possessing the advan¬ 
 tage, that it may be employed with wool or cotton in the 
 manufacture of mixed fabrics, and having an increased 
 affinity for colouring matters. Now, nearly all this was 
 done about eighty years ago by Lady Moira, and is pub¬ 
 lished in the First Volume of the Society’s Transactions. 
 She states that tow and refuse flax of all sorts, boiled with 
 an alkaline solution, and afterwards scoured, is converted 
 into a sort of cotton, which she believes takes the dye better 
 than flax. The result of this process is, that “ the fibres 
 separate from one another,” after which it may be carded 
 like cotton. It is highly interesting to observe the fate of 
 Lady Moira’s scheme: she says, “It is plain that the ma¬ 
 terial of flax-cotton in able hands, will bear manufacturing, 
 though it is my ill fortune to have it discredited by the 
 
 artisans who work for me.and getting spun an 
 
 ounce of this cotton in Dublin I found impracticable. The 
 absurd alarm, that it might injure the trade of foreign cot¬ 
 ton, had gained ground; and the spinners—for what reason 
 I cannot comprehend—declared themselves such bitter ene¬ 
 mies to my scheme, that they would not spin for me. Such 
 is my fate, that, what between party in the metropolis, and 
 indolence in this place, I am not capable of doing my scheme 
 justice. That it should ever injure the trade of foreign 
 cotton is impossible.”* 
 
 The suggestion of Lady Moira, though it came to nothing 
 at the time, was not altogether without effect; for the ma¬ 
 nufacture of flax-cotton was taken up with considerable 
 spirit in various parts of the continent, though in every ease 
 the process seems soon to have been relinquished. Amongst 
 other authors who have written favourably on this subject, 
 I may mention Beckmann and Dcs Charmes, who both speak 
 of the great similarity of flax-cotton with ordinary cotton. 
 The latter recommends cutting the flaxen tow into proper 
 lengths before converting it into cotton. 
 
 * Vol. i. pp. 202-213. 
 
IN TIIE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 215 
 
 Lady Moira sent over specimens of the articles manu¬ 
 factured with flax-cotton to the Society, and they are now 
 upon the table before you j and I will only say of them, 
 that I did not see in the Great Exhibition any better sam¬ 
 ples of flax-cotton than those prepared more than seventy 
 years ago. I will also quote to you a brief statement by 
 Mr. Bailey of Manchester, contained in a letter to the 
 Society, dated 1775 : “ Some of the most ingenious manu¬ 
 facturers in and about Manchester are most extremely 
 pleased with this new staple, and think, if properly attended 
 to, Lady Moira’s invention may prove a fruitful source of 
 wealth.” 
 
 These are, however, but a few out of many similar facts 
 T might mention : they show plainly, that had the original 
 objects for which the Society was established been strictly 
 adhered to, and had its means enlarged in proportion to its 
 utility, we should now have a most valuable record of the 
 progress of human industry during the last hundred years : 
 in fact, a great industrial museum of the whole world, not 
 a mere magazine or storehouse in which natural productions 
 and ingenious contrivances are piled up in endless confusion, 
 where they may remain buried for ages, but a practical, 
 useful, and well-arranged series, denoting past progress, 
 and leading to future improvement—a place of reference, 
 in which useful knowledge of all sorts would be accessible 
 to every one, and at all times available for purposes of in¬ 
 struction. 
 
 The admirable collection of Liverpool imports, contributed 
 by Mr. Archer to the Great Exhibition, though of course 
 confined to articles at present known in commerce, and ne¬ 
 cessarily far from complete, is still a good specimen of the 
 way in which such a series may be made to convey practical 
 information. To be of real value, it should be far more 
 extensive, and it should also be accompanied by much more 
 copious information, and by illustrations of all sorts. For 
 example, dye-stuffs should be placed side by side with 
 samples of the colours they yield ; and, in every case where 
 practicable, the use of each substance should be illustrated. 
 All imperfect as the Liverpool collection was, I question 
 whether any one could spend an hour in looking over its 
 
ON THU VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED 
 
 216 
 
 contents, without learning some useful facts which he did 
 not before know. 
 
 The idea of a Museum of Industry is by no means new, 
 for full thirty years ago S. E. Von Kces, who was then 
 Chief Inspector of Factories in the Austrian Empire, formed 
 a collection of the raw produce, and likewise ot the manu¬ 
 factured articles, at that time used in Austria, and added to 
 it, by way of comparison, a great number cf the productions 
 of other countries. This collection contained upwards ot 
 12,000 specimens, and the descriptive catalogue extends 
 over more than 2800 octavo pages. This catalogue, as a 
 work of reference, is of considerable value, and in some 
 points might have given useful hints to the compilers of the 
 Catalogue of the Great Exhibition. One important feature 
 in it is the fact that in most cases prices are given, whilst in 
 the Exhibition Catalogue all statements relating to price 
 were inadmissible, in accordance with a decision of the 
 Iloyal Commissioners. It is much to be regretted that this 
 was deemed necessary, for the value ot the Catalogue is, of 
 course, greatly diminished by the exclusion oi infoi mation 
 of such paramount importance. It is curious to observe, 
 that Von Kees was led to form his museum, in the first 
 instance, for his own private instruction, when he recencd 
 the appointment of a Commissioner of Factories in 1810, 
 and at first his collection was confined to manufactured 
 articles alone; he soon found, however, the necessity of 
 extending it, and rendering it more instructive, by^ the 
 addition °of raw produce—thus forming a complete Trade 
 Museum. 
 
 The Great Exhibition has strongly shown the want of 
 such a collection in England, and I feel that it is not foreign 
 to the objects contemplated in these Lectures, if, in conclu¬ 
 sion, I should ask my brother members why should not we, 
 even now, commence the formation of such a collection, 
 why should not the Society of Arts undertake that which 
 would be so great a public benefit? 
 
 In throwing out this suggestion, I would remind you, not 
 only that the Society of Arts possesses greater facilities 
 than any other Society for collecting a great Trade Museum, 
 but also that the many valuable and interesting specimens 
 already in the drawers and cabinets of our model-room, con- 
 
IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 217 
 
 stitute of themselves alone a collection of the very greatest 
 practical importance. 
 
 With those 'who say that we need an enlarged and com¬ 
 prehensive system of National Education I agree heart and 
 soul; but I would even go farther—I say, let us have the 
 means of teaching the schoolmaster as well as the scholar; 
 let us, by collecting sound facts and useful information, 
 obtain those means of instruction in applied science, which 
 are at present almost wholly wanting. 
 
 Jan. 21, 1852. 
 
 19 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 ON MACHINES AND TOOLS FOR WORKING IN 
 METAL, WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. ROBERT WILLIS, M.A. F.R.S. &c. 
 
 JACKSONIAN PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 ( 219 ) 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE 
 
 REV. ROBERT WILLIS, M.A. F.R.S., &c. 
 
 ON 
 
 MACHINES AND TOOLS FOR WORKING IN METAL, 
 WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS. 
 
 The portion of the Exhibition which it is proposed to 
 consider this evening, must he considered under a very dif¬ 
 ferent aspect from those which have formed the subject of 
 the previous Lectures. Considering the entire collection as 
 made up of Natural Materials, Artificial Products, and the 
 Processes by which the first are converted into the second, 
 it is easy to show that the two first of these groups were 
 exceedingly well and completely represented, and generally 
 interesting and intelligible; but that the last, under which 
 our present subject is included, was, on the contrary, im¬ 
 perfectly represented, and so little understood, as to lose 
 much of its interest. 
 
 The consideration of natural or raw materials, belonging 
 as it does to the natural sciences, has been long familiarized 
 to all, as furnishing the most instructive, delightful, and 
 interesting subjects of study and amusement, either in the 
 animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdoms, according to the 
 taste or habits of each observer; and the practical view of 
 the subject which is especially directed to the useful pur¬ 
 poses to which these natural materials may be applied, has 
 been also long since illustrated by collections like that of the 
 Museum of Economic Geology and others, which paved the 
 19* (221) 
 
222 ON MACHINES AND TOOLS FOR WORKING 
 
 way for the magnificent and complete collection in the 
 Great Exhibition, in which all nations combined to display 
 with gratitude and pride the natural treasures, of which 
 they are the several depositories, as stimulants to industry 
 and commerce. 
 
 The products include the great mass of objects that con¬ 
 stitute our food and clothing, contribute to our daily neces¬ 
 sities, comforts, and luxuries, and minister to our employ¬ 
 ments, or to the enjoyments we derive from the fine arts; 
 and thus every person is in one w T ay or other interested in 
 them, and may understand them. The completeness of 
 this part of the collection was also greatly promoted by the 
 commercial advantages that promised to accrue to the ex¬ 
 hibitor, as well as to the spectator, by the universal display 
 and choice of all the useful and ornamental results of in¬ 
 dustry, for the first time offered in one vast bazaar by the 
 whole world of manufacturers to the whole world of cus¬ 
 tomers. 
 
 How different is the case with the processes and the 
 machines concerned therewith ! In many cases noisy, of¬ 
 fensive, and dirty, or requiring conditions of heat or damp, 
 which made it impossible to carry them on in the presence 
 of spectators; and if not labouring under these disadvan¬ 
 tages, at least requiring long explanations and experiments 
 to make them intelligible; it is plain that no attempt at a 
 complete collection could be made, if, indeed, such a result 
 were desirable. Enough of manufacturing machines were 
 really shown to give to the general spectator an idea of their 
 beauty of form and workmanship, and of the precision of 
 their action, according to the style and manner of machine- 
 making which characterize the present age; and such pro¬ 
 cesses were selected for daily practice as were intelligible, 
 at least by their results, if the steps that led to them 
 remained mysterious to the lookers-on. Sheets of wdiite 
 paper, entering at one end of a machine and duly delivered 
 at the other in the complete form of a printed newspaper; 
 envelope folding; weaving and spinning, and the like, 
 served to show the general character of machine-craft, as 
 contrasted with the slow production of such articles by the 
 handicraft method with which most of the spectators were 
 familiar. 
 
IN METAL, WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS. 223 
 
 These practical obstacles applied, perhaps, the most for¬ 
 cibly to the class which is appropriated to the present 
 evening, namely, machines for working in wood and metal, 
 which require a solid foundation, are necessanly accom¬ 
 panied in use by noise, chips, and other annoyances, and aie 
 expensive to maintain in action, and not, generally speak¬ 
 ing, intelligible or interesting to ordinary spectators, at 
 least without systematic explanations, which could not be 
 afforded under the circumstances. 
 
 I trust that I have now said enough to show that, with¬ 
 out iu any respect disparaging the Exhibition, or casting 
 any shade upon that most admirable and unique incident of 
 human history, which we have been so accustomed to look 
 upon with umnixed admiration and delight, we must admit 
 that, from the very nature of the case, this one department 
 was very incompletely represented with respect to the 
 machinery of our own country, and, of course, still more so 
 with respect to other countries. Any attempt, therefore, 
 to estimate from the Exhibition Catalogue the extent to 
 which machinery is used in the manufactures of this or any 
 other country, considered separately, or its relative employ¬ 
 ment by different countries, would lead to the most fallacious 
 and unjust conclusions. 
 
 But one part of my duty this evening, which forms a 
 principal point of the instructions under which I, in com¬ 
 mon with my colleagues upon this occasion, have the honour 
 of acting, is “ to state freely and without reserve my opinion 
 upon the probable immediate effect of the Exhibition on the 
 particular subject of the lecture.” 
 
 For the reasons above stated, it is much more difficult to 
 foresee and trace the effects that may be expected in the 
 department at present under review than in the other 
 branches of the collection. But there are two very desira¬ 
 ble objects which I shall proceed to dcvelopc, and which, if 
 we take advantage of the interest excited on the subject of 
 manufacturing science and art by the Great Exhibition, we 
 may possibly succeed in bringing to bear. 
 
 The first object is to effect a more intimate union and 
 greater confidence between scientific and practical men, by 
 teaching them reciprocally their wants and requirements, 
 their methods and powers, so that the peculiar properties 
 
224 
 
 ON MACHINES AND TOOLS FOR WORKING 
 
 and advantages of each may be made to assist in the per¬ 
 fection of the other. 
 
 The second object is to promote a more universal know¬ 
 ledge amongst mechanics and artisans of the methods and 
 tools employed in other trades than their own, as well as 
 of those employed in other countries in their own and 
 other trades. 
 
 With respect to the first object, it is no secret that there 
 has always existed an unfortunate boundary wall or separa¬ 
 tion between practical and scientific men, a mutual distrust 
 or misunderstanding of their relative values, which has de¬ 
 prived tffem of many great benefits that they might have 
 mutually derived from each other’s pursuits. It is true 
 that in many branches of science, as in chemistry, geology, 
 and botany, this barrier has to a great extent been broken 
 through; the practical man has found the benefit of scientific 
 generalizations, and the theorist has been compelled to seek 
 the facts upon which his theories are to be based in the 
 mines and manufactories; thus compelling the two classes 
 to work together and learn to understand each other. Still 
 there remains too much of the ancient contempt for “ theory,” 
 and of an overweening and conceited value for “ facts” and 
 “ practice.” 
 
 In no department of science is this carried to a greater 
 extent than between the mathematical and practical mecha¬ 
 nics ; and yet the mental process by which the parts of a 
 complex machine are contrived and arranged in the brain of 
 the inventor requires the geometrical faculty, as it is called, 
 to a very high extent: that is to say, the power of con¬ 
 ceiving mentally the relations of the parts of complex figures 
 in space. So that, in truth, a man gifted by Nature as a 
 mechanist is also qualified as a geometrician; and the un¬ 
 taught inventor, struggling to give form and reality to his 
 conceptions of a new machine, is, in reality, practising im¬ 
 perfectly and unknowingly the very geometrical science he 
 despises, and which, if he had acquired its elements, would 
 at once have shown him how to systematize and arrange his 
 ideas. 
 
 For the system of mathematics, as it now exists, is the 
 accumulated result of many centuries’ work of men thus 
 naturally gifted with the geometrical faculty; and the man 
 
IN METAL, WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS. 225 
 
 who now, directing this mental power to the confection of 
 machines, professes to exercise it “ self-taught,” is acting 
 on the presumption that he alone can begin from the begin¬ 
 ning, and dispense with the labours of those men of mighty 
 intellect who worked so long to prepare a system for those 
 who were to come after them. To ignore such labours is a 
 piece of mighty presumption and a pure waste of intellect, 
 which usually brings its own punishment in the loss of time 
 and imperfection of the result. “Self-teaching,” in this 
 sense of determined rejection of the previous labours of 
 others, so far from being a source of pride and gratification, 
 is a piece of folly, to use the mildest term, if it might have 
 been avoided; and a lamentable misfortune, if the sufferer 
 has had no opportunity of knowing what had been already 
 previously effected and prepared by others in the same line. 
 
 Of a piece with this is the case of persons who pride 
 themselves upon executing very difficult works with imple¬ 
 ments not inteuded for the purpose, such as elaborate carv¬ 
 ing, which, we are told, was all done “ with a common pen¬ 
 knife.” The experience of carvers of all ages having shown 
 that there are certain forms of chisels and gouges that are 
 proper for this work, a sensible man would certainly not 
 waste his time by using the worst form of a cutting instru¬ 
 ment that he could choose for this particular service. So 
 far from admiring, we should pity the vanity and folly of 
 such a display; and the more, if the merit of the work 
 should show a natural aptitude in the workman: for it is 
 certain, that if he has made good work with a bad tool, he 
 would make better with a good one. 
 
 To perfect and reduce to practice the idea of a new 
 machine is no light effort of the intellect, and in proportion 
 to the education of the inventor, so will his steps be rendered 
 surer, more direct, and more rapid. As far as the relative 
 motions of the parts of his machine are concerned his 
 natural faculties may carry him, and probably suggest a 
 variety of constructive methods and cunning devices by 
 which these may be effected; but, in the next place, it 
 becomes necessary to select from these the most appropriate 
 to sustain the forces and resistances,—to estimate the 
 strength to be given to the different parts, their proper 
 qualities of weight, of lightness and stiffness, the amount of 
 
226 
 
 ON MACHINES AND TOOLS FOR WORKING 
 
 friction, and a variety of other complex conditions, which 
 can only he determined by statical or dynamical knowledge, 
 but which are necessary to insure the durability, easy and 
 economical working, and practical value of the contrivance. 
 
 In the absence of the proper technical knowledge of 
 theoretical mechanics, the proposed machine, if it possess 
 any value, will only arrive at its perfect and permanent form 
 through a series of abortive attempts, which, by a succession 
 of failures and repairs, may perhaps lead to the removal of 
 the weak points of the contrivance. Those parts which by 
 chance were made unnecessarily strong and heavy, will pro¬ 
 bably retain their original errors. 
 
 The representations of machines and engines in the col¬ 
 lections published in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 
 furnish abundant illustration of these remarks. In all that 
 belongs to the mere motion of these contrivances, the greatest 
 possible ingenuity and fertility of invention is displayed. 
 But in all that concerns construction, framing and adapta¬ 
 tion of form and dimensions to resistances, strains, and the 
 nature of the work, a total absence of principle and ex¬ 
 perience is manifested; so that it is apparent that these 
 machines would act very well in the form of models, but 
 that, if actually set to work, the most of them would knock 
 themselves to pieces in a very short time. 
 
 A profound knowledge of theoretical mechanics is not 
 necessary for all persons concerned about machines, any 
 more than an elaborate acquaintance with the entire subject 
 of astronomy is needed by every sailor. Yet sailors have 
 no horror of mathematics, aud know very well how to make 
 use of the parts that are prepared for them. And all men 
 who are engaged in the contrivance of machinery, whether 
 in reducing to practice their own inventions, or those of 
 others, should be competently instructed in the elements of 
 the subject, as well as in the history of machinery; and 
 the artisans themselves would find their labour greatly 
 facilitated by a knowledge of geometry and mechanics to a 
 limited extent, proportioned to their requirements. 
 
 We may hope that one of the permanent results of the 
 Exhibition may be, that men’s minds being more forcibly 
 led to the consideration of the subject, a system of profes¬ 
 sional education for practical men may be organized, so as 
 
IN METAL, WOOD, AND OTIIEll MATERIALS. 227 
 
 to enable every one to obtain just so much as may be neces¬ 
 sary for him in his own position. 
 
 The preparation of such a system of education is diffi¬ 
 cult, and requires great care to avoid the error of teaching 
 much that is unnecessary, and that, in fact, cannot be com¬ 
 prehended, unless by a student who intends to devote much 
 more time, and to enter much more profoundly into those 
 branches of study, than is contemplated for the purposes we 
 are now considering. But we know that difficulties of this 
 kind have been already encountered, and, as it appears, 
 successfully overcome in France, after failures had taught 
 experience. 
 
 I have already said, at the outset of these remarks, that 
 not only do practical men require theoretical knowledge, but 
 that, also, theoretical men require practical knowledge, a 
 better acquaintance with the difficulties that practice requires 
 them to lend a hand in developing, explaining, and over¬ 
 coming. To form a system of education, strictly limited to 
 the requirements of practical men, we must know what these 
 requirements are, and must in imagination place ourselves 
 in the position of these men, to understand the difficulties 
 arising from their occupations, which theory may dispel. 
 We must, in short, select the examples and illustrations of 
 our applied mathematics from the familiar cases of actual 
 machine-work, and endeavour to solve them with the least 
 possible amount of geometry. It may be worth while to 
 consider a little how this may be attempted. 
 
 Every machine is constructed to perform a certain specific 
 operation, and accordingly contains parts especially applied 
 to the work in question; which working parts are connected 
 by the mechanism in such a manner, that each shall move 
 according to the law required by the nature of the work. 
 One, perhaps, constantly revolving slowly; another, rapidly; 
 and a third, back-and-forwards, and so on. But the 
 connecting mechanism by which these different motions are 
 tied together may be varied in many ways, and each is 
 common to all machines that happen to require similar co¬ 
 existent motions in their working parts. 
 
 The nature and principles of trains of mechanism, by 
 which dissimilar motions may be thus produced, the one 
 from the other, can be taught without any reference to the 
 
228 ON MACHINES AND TOOLS FOR WORKING 
 
 work or purpose of machinery, and is, indeed, best so 
 taught. But to illustrate and fix the teacher’s meaning, it 
 is well to show examples of the application of each motion 
 to some real machine. 
 
 Now it must always be recollected, that the merit of a 
 piece of mechanism may be exceedingly great, if considered 
 as an example of pure mechanism; that is, of the ingenuity 
 or profound knowledge displayed in the conversion of one 
 motion into another, although the purpose of the machine 
 to which it happens to be applied may be very trivial. But 
 this is not the way in which the world would judge of ma¬ 
 chinery; and yet combinations of pure mechanism, that 
 form the essential parts of the most useful and valuable 
 machines in the manufacturing series, were originally in¬ 
 vented for purposes of the most trivial and useless 
 character. 
 
 The u differential hox” of the bobbin-and-fly frame was 
 first contrived for an equation clock; that is, to enable the 
 hand of a clock to move round the dial in such a way as to 
 point to the true time as shown on a sun-dial. The “ slide 
 rest,” as we shall presently see, was contrived towards the 
 end of the last century, to enable the amateur turners of 
 the court of France to ornament their snuff-boxes with more 
 precise patterns of guilloche work. The motions of a mouse¬ 
 trap may be found in a steam-engine. 
 
 Now, in showing the practical application of any given 
 combination of pure mechanism, one machine will do as 
 well as another; but it is better to select one whose pur¬ 
 pose and functions are likely to be readily appreciated by 
 the student, that his attention may not be too much dis¬ 
 tracted from the mechanism. Thus, if I were teaching a 
 mathematical student the differential motion, I should 
 select the equation clock as the example, because its pur¬ 
 pose depends upon an astronomical principle which forms 
 part of his proper studies. But if I were teaching a me¬ 
 chanist, I should rather take the bobbimand-fly frame for 
 my example. 
 
 In forming a system of instruction for practical men, 
 therefore, we may, by a more practical selection of exam¬ 
 ples, be enabled to teach the principles of mechanics, with¬ 
 out greatly altering our present methods. It is true that 
 
229 
 
 IN METAL, WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS. 
 
 our theoretical writers are rapidly introducing examples of 
 the actual machinery of our own time into their systems, 
 still these books are necessarily rather intended to teach 
 machinery to mathematicians, than to teach mathematics to 
 mechanists. 
 
 It may be remarked that, at least in one branch of me¬ 
 chanics, the “ strength of materials/' the value of theoreti¬ 
 cal and experimental science has been fully recognised by 
 practical engineers, and the Britannia bridge may be quoted 
 as a triumphant example of the advantages that arise when 
 theory and practice go hand in hand. 
 
 We will now proceed to the immediate subject of our 
 Lectm-e, namely, the machines for working in metal, wood, 
 and other materials. 
 
 The object of such machines is to work rough material 
 into shape, which may be done in three different ways: 
 (1.) By abrading or cutting off the superfluous portions in 
 the form of chips or large pieces; (2.) If it possess duc¬ 
 tility, we knead it, or press it into form in various ways, as 
 by hammering, rolling, drawing, &c.; (3.) If it be fusible, 
 we melt it, and pour it into a mould. I forbear to include 
 the producing a given form by joining together pieces, be¬ 
 cause each piece must be shaped in one or other of the abo?e 
 ways. The most interesting series of machines is that which 
 belongs to the first group; and to this I must, for the pre¬ 
 sent, confine my attention. It may be interesting to sketch 
 the history of their introduction. Machines of this kind 
 are either general, like the lathe or the planing-machines, 
 which are used for a great variety of purposes, or are espe¬ 
 cially adapted to the production of a single object of manu¬ 
 facture ; in which case they are often contrived in a series, 
 as the block-machinery, the machines for making cedar pen¬ 
 cils, and the like, and the introduction of such especial 
 machines is of great importance, and has certainly not 
 yet reached its limits. As the machine^ of this latter 
 kind are commonly modifications of one or other of the fii’st, 
 the history of the two must be considered together. 
 
 The origin of the turning-lathe is lost in the shades of 
 antiquity; and the saw-mill, with a complete self-action, 
 turned by a water-wheel, is represented in a MS. of the 
 thirteenth century at Paris, and is, probabty, of much earlier 
 contrivance. The lathe was, in process of time, adapted to 
 20 
 
230 ON MACHINES AND TOOLS FOR WORKING 
 
 the production of oval figures, twisted and swash-work, as it 
 is called, and, lastly, of rose-engine work. The swash, or 
 raking mouldings, were employed in the balusters of stair¬ 
 cases and other ornaments at the period of the “ Renais¬ 
 sance ” in architecture, about the end of the sixteenth cen¬ 
 tury, and, therefore, the swash-lathe assumes somewhat of 
 the character of a manufacturing machine. But the simple 
 lathe was much employed in screen and stall-work during 
 the middle ages. The first real treatise on turning is Mox- 
 on’s (1680), which gives us a valuable picture of the state 
 of the art at that period, and he has preserved to us the 
 name of the engine-manufacturer of that day, Mr. Thomas 
 Oldfield, at the sign of the Flower-de-luce, near the Savoy 
 in the Strand, as an excellent maker of oval-engines, swash- 
 engines, and all other engines, which shows that such ma¬ 
 chines were in demand. A few drawings of such machines 
 occur in earlier works, beginning with Besson, in 1569. 
 From the treatise of Plunder, published at Lyons in 1701, 
 we learn that turning had long been a favourite pursuit in 
 France with amateurs of all ranks, who spared no expense 
 in the perfection and contrivance of elaborate machinery 
 for the production of complex figures. This taste con¬ 
 tinued at least up to the French Revolution, and contri¬ 
 buted in a very high degree to the advancement of the 
 class of machinery that forms the subject of our present 
 evening. In our own country the literature of the subject 
 is so defective that it is very difficult to discover what pro¬ 
 gress we were making during the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries. A few scattered hints only can be collected, 
 whereas in France the great “ Encyclopedic ” and other 
 works, abundantly illustrated, give the most precise and ac¬ 
 curate knowledge of the state of this and other mechani¬ 
 cal arts. 
 
 Smeaton has recorded that, in 1741, Hindley the clock- 
 maker of York showed him a screw-cutting lathe, with 
 change-wheels, by which he could, from the one screw of 
 the lathe, cut screws of every necessary degree of fineness, 
 and either right or left-handed. It seems to be implied 
 that this was a novelty, and that Hindley had invented it; 
 and it was soon imitated by Ramsden, and is now uni¬ 
 versal. At all events, such a machine is not alluded to in 
 the French works already mentioned, and serves to show the 
 
TN METAL, WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS. 231 
 
 advance we were then making in the practical improvement 
 of the lathe. 
 
 But the clockmakers, to which body Hindley belonged, 
 were the first who employed special machines for their 
 manufactures. Their wheel-cutting engine has been as¬ 
 cribed to Dr. Hooke, about 1655, and its use rapidly 
 spread over the Continent. The gradual improvement of 
 this machine, and the successive forms which it assumed 
 as the art of construction was matured, forms a very in¬ 
 structive lesson. But herein our own countrymen have 
 largely contributed to its perfection. Henry Sully, an 
 English clockmaker, who removed to Paris about 1718, 
 carried with him, amongst other excellent tools, a cutting- 
 engine, which excited great admiration there. The form 
 of the present French engine is, however, derived from 
 Hulot’s machine (about 1763). But our English engines, 
 in which the dividing-plate is superseded by a train of 
 change-wheels, so contrived as to require an entire turn of 
 a latch-handle for each shift, and thus secure against error, 
 is derived from Hindley’s engine, which he showed to Smea- 
 ton in 1741, and which finally passed into the hands of Mr. 
 Reid of Edinburgh. 
 
 The fusee-engine , which is another special clockmaker’s 
 machine, must have greatly contributed to the perfection of 
 machines for working in metal. 
 
 But the next great step towards the perfection of machine 
 tools was the slide-rest. The slow and gradual way in which 
 this invaluable device acquired the distinct and individual 
 form in which it now exists, is a very curious example of 
 the history of machinery, the developement of which, at 
 length, would occupy too much space on the present occa¬ 
 sion, even if it could be made intelligible without drawings. 
 Suffice to say, that although as early as 1648 Maignan pub¬ 
 lished at Rome* engravings of two curious lathes for turning 
 the surfaces of metallic mirrors for optical purposes, in 
 which the tool is clamped to frames, so disposed that when 
 put in motion it is compelled to move so as to form true 
 hyperbolical, spherical, or plane surfaces, according to the 
 adjustment, and that although the fusee-engines, screw-cut- 
 ting lathes, and other contrivances already alluded to, em- 
 
 * “ Perspectiva Hnvaria,” P- 689. 
 
232 ON MACHINES AND TOOLS FOR WORKING 
 
 ployed tools guided by mechanism, yet the real slide-rest 
 does not make its appearance until 1772, when in the plates 
 of the French “Encyclopedic,”* we find complete drawings 
 and details of an excellent slide-rest, as nearly as possible 
 identical with that usually supplied by Messrs. Iloltzappfel 
 and other makers of lathes for amateurs. It must have been 
 contrived a little while before this publication; but the mea¬ 
 gre descriptions that accompany the plates leave us com¬ 
 pletely in the dark with respect to its history. Bramah’s 
 slide-rest of 1794f is so different and so inferior in conveni¬ 
 ence, that the two could not have had a common origin; 
 and we must suppose that the French slide-rest was unknown 
 to that ingenious mechanist, although it is scarcely possible 
 that copies of the “ Encyclopedic ” should not have found 
 their way into our libraries. 
 
 But the improvements of the steam-engine, its applica¬ 
 tion to giving motion to the wheels of mills and other ma¬ 
 chines, the increasing employment of iron, and other 
 advances in the construction of mechanism, which were now 
 developing themselves, gave men courage to devise and carry 
 out large and extensive schemes for the application of ma¬ 
 chinery to manufactures. In our especial department we 
 may record, as an early example, Bramah, who, in 1784, 
 obtained the patent for his admirable lock, and immediately 
 set about the construction of a series of original machine 
 tools, for shaping with the required precision the barrels, 
 keys, and other parts of the contrivance, which, indeed, 
 would have utterly failed unless they had been formed with 
 the accuracy that machinery alone can give. In Bramah’s 
 workshop was educated the celebrated Henry Maudslay, 
 who, as I am informed, worked with him from 1789 to 
 1796, and was enjployerl in making the principal tools for 
 the locks. 
 
 Foremost among the ingenious persons who carried on 
 this great movement must be recorded Brigadier-general 
 Sir Samuel Bentham.| From his own account it appears, 
 
 * Tom. x. pis. 37, 38, 84, 85, 86. 
 
 f Weale’s edition of “Buchanan’s Mill-work.” 
 
 j Bentham’s patents. “Repertory of Arts,” vol. v. p. 293, and 
 vol. x. pp. 221, 293, 367; also Memoir, by Mrs. Bentkam, in 
 Weale’s “Quarterly Papers on Engineering,” vol. vi. 
 
IN MET AX, WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS. 233 
 
 that in 1791 steam-engines in this country were extensively 
 employed for pumping mines, and for giving motion to 
 machinery for working cotton, and to rolling-mills, and some 
 other works in metal; but that in regard to working in 
 wood, steam-engines had not been applied, for no machinery, 
 other than turning-lathes, had been introduced, excepting 
 that some circular and reciprocating saws and working tools 
 had been applied to the purpose of blockmaking by the 
 contractors who then supplied blocks to the navy; even 
 saw-mills for slitting timber, though in extensive use abroad, 
 were not to be found in this country. 
 
 General Bentham had at this time made great progress 
 in contriving machinery for shaping wood, as is sufficiently 
 shown by his remarkable specifications of 1791 and 1793; 
 and he informs us that, rejecting the common classification 
 of works according to the trades or handicrafts for which 
 they are used, he classed the several operations that have 
 place in the working of materials of every description ac¬ 
 cording to the nature of the operations themselves , and, in 
 regard to wood particularly, contrived machines for per¬ 
 forming most of those operations whereby the need of skill 
 and dexterity in the workman was dispensed with, and the 
 machines were also capable of being worked by a steam- 
 engine or other power. Besides the general operations of 
 planing, rebating, mortising, sawing in curved, winding, 
 and transverse directions, he completed, by way of example, 
 machines for preparing all the parts of a sashwindow and 
 of a carriage-wheel, and actually showed these and other 
 machines in a working state in 1794 in London. 
 
 This led to his appointment as Inspector-general of Naval 
 Works, for the purpose of introducing these and various 
 other machines into the royal dockyards, which he imme¬ 
 diately set about effecting. From this time (1797) the 
 introduction of machinery for the preparation of blocks and 
 other works in wood at Portsmouth, Plymouth, and other 
 Government establishments, takes its origin. In 1802 the 
 General received a most powerful and efficient auxiliary in 
 the person of Mr. Brunei, who in that year presented his 
 plans for the block-making machinery. His services being 
 immediately secured, and Mr. Henry Maudslay engaged for 
 the construction of the mechanism, the admirable series of 
 20 * 
 
234 
 
 ON MACHINES AND TOOLS FOR WORKING 
 
 machine-tools were finished and set to work in 1807, by 
 which every part of the block and its sheaves are prepared. 
 
 The completeness and ingenuity of this system, the beauty 
 of its action, and the novelty of the forms and construction 
 of the whole of the mechanism, excited so much admiration, 
 that the whole of the machinery in Portsmouth dockyard 
 has usually been popularly ascribed to Mr. Brunei alone. 
 It must not be forgotten, however, that much machinery 
 for the performance of isolated operations had been pre¬ 
 viously employed, as well by Mr. Taylor of Southampton, 
 the contractor for the blocks of the navy previously to 1807, 
 as by General Bcntham himself in the dockyards. 
 
 At this distance of time it would be impossible to dis¬ 
 cover the exact shares of merit and invention that belong 
 to Brunei, Bcntham, and Maudslay in this great work. To 
 the first we may, however, assign the merit of completing 
 and organizing a system of machine-tools, so connected in 
 series, that each in turn should take up the work from a 
 previous one and carry it on another step towards comple¬ 
 tion, so that the attendant should merely carry away the 
 work delivered from one machine and place it in the next, 
 finally receiving it complete from the last. 
 
 Some of the individual machines in the series had, it is 
 true, been previously contrived and employed. Thus, the 
 self-acting mortising-machine is distinctly described in 
 Bentham’s specification of 1793, so completely as to entitle 
 him to the full credit of the invention of mortising-machines, 
 whether by the process of boring a whole first and then 
 elongating it by a chisel travelling up and down vertically, 
 or by the process of causing the hole to be elongated by the 
 rotation of the boring-bit during the travelling of the work. 
 The same specification describes boring-machines, some of 
 which are similar in their arrangements to those of the block 
 series; also the tubular gouge, which is employed in the 
 shaping-machine, and the formation of recesses, by a revolv¬ 
 ing and travelling tool for the inlaying of the conks. 
 
 One of the most useful machine-tools that made its ap¬ 
 pearance at the end of the eighteenth century was the cir¬ 
 cular saw. This had been applied to cutting metal on a 
 small scale, as in the cutting-engine, ever since the time of 
 Dr. Hooke; if, indeed, these early examples were not more 
 
IN METAL, WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS. 235 
 
 like circular files than saws. Where or by whom the wood¬ 
 cutter’s saw was put into the form of a revolving disk has 
 not been recorded. It found its way into this country about 
 1790, some say from Holland, and was employed at South¬ 
 ampton and elsewhere in wood-mills. Bentham greatly con¬ 
 tributed to the practical arrangements necessary to give it 
 a convenient form. He describes and claims the bench now 
 universally used, with the slit, parallel guide, and sliding 
 bevil guide, and other contrivances.* Brunei introduced a 
 variety of ingenious and novel arrangements, as well as the 
 mode of making large circular saws of many pieces.f Mr. 
 Smart also contrived a series of sawing-machines for making 
 canteens, cutting tenons, &c. 
 
 After the completion of the block machinery, it becomes 
 very difficult to trace the subsequent improvements. The 
 art of machine-making for working in metal was gradually 
 advancing, but is not recorded in patents, and very little 
 described in books. The slide-rest principle was extended, 
 large self-acting lathes constructed, and boring-machines 
 of great precision and improving structure were called into 
 existence by the necessity for extreme accuracy in the 
 . cylinders of steam-engines. The best engravings of the 
 machines of this period are in “ Rees’ Cyclopaedia,” and 
 in the volumes of the “Transactions” of the Society of 
 Arts. 
 
 No greater proof of the obscurity which hangs over the 
 history of machine-tool making, in the first half of this 
 century, can be given, than the unknown origin of the 
 planing-machine for metal. The machine which Nicholas 
 Focq contrived in 1751, which has been called a planing- 
 machine, has no title to the name, or any resemblance to 
 the modern engine. It is nothing but a heavy scraping- 
 tool, which is dragged along the bar upon which it is to 
 operate, and rests upon it, pressed into hard contact with it 
 by strong springs. It will, therefore, smooth the surface, 
 and remove small irregularities, as a carpenter’s plane does 
 with a board, but it will not produce a correct plane surface, 
 or even make successive cuts. It is a mere plane , and not 
 a plane-creating engine. Neither could the machines 
 
 * 1793. Repertory, vol. x. p. 293. 
 
 f Patent, 1802. 
 
23G ON MACHINES AND TOOLS FOR WORKING 
 
 patented by Bent ham in 1791, and Bramah in 1802, for 
 planing wood, although real planing-engines, have suggested 
 the engine in question, for their properties and arrange¬ 
 ments are wholly different. The engineers’ planing-machine 
 made its way into the engineering world silently and un¬ 
 noticed ; and some years afterwards, when its utility be¬ 
 came recognised and men began to inquire into its history, 
 various claimants to the honour of its invention were put 
 forward. We can only learn that, somewhere about 1820 
 or 1821, a machine of this kind was made by several en¬ 
 gineers. Messrs. Fox of Derby, and Roberts of Manches¬ 
 ter, appear amongst the number, and the forms which they 
 gave to the engine have remained permanent. Mr. Clem¬ 
 ent has also been mentioned, as well as others. It is clear 
 that the inventors were not at all aware of the im¬ 
 mense importance of their work, but experience has proved 
 the utility of this machine to be so great, that it may be 
 pronounced the greatest boon to constructive mechanism 
 since the invention of the lathe. Nevertheless, no draw¬ 
 ing or description of the planing-engine is to be found in 
 any English book until 1838, when the Society of Arts pub¬ 
 lished beautiful engravings of Mr. Clement’s machine; the. 
 complexity of this, and the unfortunate arrangement of the 
 bed, which he mounted on wheels, has prevented it from 
 being adopted. The French and other Continental mechani¬ 
 cal journals, much earlier began to give engravings and de¬ 
 scriptions of the English planing-machine. In 1829 the 
 “ Industrie!’ has one of the simplest, and the Bulletin of 
 the “ Societe d’Encouragement,” the collections of Le Blanc, 
 Armeugaud, and others, contain engravings, not only of the 
 planing-macliines, but of the other machine-tools of all our . 
 best English makers, generally accompanied by admirable 
 descriptions and minute details, that may well serve as 
 models to our own writers on such subjects, and at the 
 same time show how much good service is rendered by the 
 superior mathematical and theoretical education of French 
 engineers. Be it remembered, too, that, not content with 
 describing and analyzing our machine-tools, which they 
 do in a most liberal and admiring spirit, they also employ 
 their generalizing powers in the endeavour to construct 
 improved forms, and with such great promise of success, 
 
IN METAL, WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS. 237 
 
 that, unless we also begin to apply science to this subject, 
 we run considerable risk of falling behind our ingenious 
 neighbours. 
 
 The mortising-engine of the block machinery was applied 
 by Mr. Roberts, of Manchester, to the formation of the 
 key-ways of cast-iron wheels, and also to the paring, ox- 
 planing by short strokes, of the sides of small curvilinear 
 pieces of metal; such as cams, short levers, and other 
 pieces that do not admit of being finished in the lathe. 
 Thus, under the name of slotting and paring-machine, a 
 new and genei-ally useful machine-tool sprang up; and sub¬ 
 sequently another, derived from it, has been produced, and 
 apparently with equal success, under the title of a shaping- 
 machine. It is, in fact, a planing-machine, in which the 
 tool is attached to the end of a horizontal bai-, which is 
 moved to and fro, so as to plane, with short transverse 
 strokes, a piece of work fixed on a complex adjusting-bed, 
 or on a revolving mandril, so as to receive the action of the 
 tool. 
 
 [All these and other varieties of machine tools were, in 
 the oral delivery of this Lecture, illustrated by models, 
 without which, or diagrams, it would be impossible to state, 
 in an intelligible form, the explanations of the general prin¬ 
 ciples which these machines possess in common, which must 
 be therefore omitted in this place.] 
 
 The existence of such principles leads us to the hope 
 that machines much moi-e compx-ehensive, and yet simpler 
 in form, will be devised for the same purposes, by means of 
 which the construction of machinery in general will attain 
 to greater perfection; and machine-tools be introduced into 
 workshops of a smaller character than at present, in the 
 same manner as the lathe. 
 
 In America, a variety of contrivances are employed in 
 woi-kshops to facilitate and give pi-ecision to ordinary opei-a- 
 tions : as, for example, the foot-mortising machine for wood. 
 The earliest contrivance of this useful tool (the offspring of 
 Bentham’s mortising engine), appears to be in a Pennsyl¬ 
 vanian patent by John M'Clintic, in 1827,* since which the 
 machine has got into general use in America, and has consc- 
 
 * “ Journal of Franklin Institute,” vol. vi. pp. 18 and 163. 
 
238 ON MACHINES AND TOOLS EOR WORKING 
 
 quently been the subject of numerous patents for minor 
 arrangements. One of these, by Page, was engraved in the 
 “ Mechanics’ Magazine'' (1836, vol. xxvi. p. 385), and thus 
 introduced to English workmen ; and in the last year Mr. 
 Furness, of Liverpool, has patented some improvements in 
 England, and endeavoured to introduce the machine. It 
 formed a very interesting object in the Exhibition, together 
 with other American contrivances for boring, tenoning, and 
 such-like operations, which the peculiar conditions of that 
 country have called into existence, by creating a market for 
 them. 
 
 In reviewing the comparatively slow progress of machine- 
 tool making, it will appear that in this, as in other branches, 
 steps in invention that, when once made, appear exceedingly 
 simple and obvious, are often the most difficult to take. The 
 chance that such steps will be made is increased by bringing 
 to bear upon them the greatest number of heads; for the 
 peculiar faculties or acquirements of one man, or set of men, 
 may serve to carry on an invention to a certain point at 
 which it is prepared for, and requires those of another set 
 of men who may carry it further. In the old time, the ex¬ 
 ceeding secrecy and jealous care with which every new con¬ 
 trivance was guarded and watched, retarded the advance of 
 machinery to an extent that we can hardly believe. Each 
 man was working in ignorance of his neighbours’ improve¬ 
 ments, and every Art was indeed a Mystery. And not 
 only did these difficulties obstruct the progress of machinery, 
 but the enormous expense of constructing new machines. 
 We know that the art of construction has undergone a com¬ 
 plete revolution since the block machinery was made, but 
 we can scarcely estimate the prodigious amount of labour 
 and thought that was required to give existence to that 
 machinery, which, indeed, could never have been effected 
 without the resources of the nation in the then imperfect 
 state of the art. To these retarding causes must bo added 
 the jealousies of workmen and their dislike of new methods. 
 
 I have already alluded to the advantage of promoting a 
 more universal knowledge of each other’s methods amongst 
 the mechanists of different branches and countries. A very 
 interesting part of the Great Exhibition was the collection 
 of strauge-looking tools from France, Germany, and else- 
 
IN METAL, WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS. 239 
 
 where, differing in their forms and handles and mode of 
 operation from those employed for the same purposes by 
 our own workmen. Without doubt some of them might 
 afford useful hints; for example, the universal employment 
 of the narrow frame-saw on the Continent for work that we 
 perform with broad-bladed saws, stiffened with brass (w iron 
 backs, might lead our workmen to consider whether, after 
 all, our practice is not carried too far in this respect. 
 
 But the facilities for working in metal, and its general 
 introduction into all kinds of frame-work, where wood was 
 exclusively employed, as well as the substitution of cast- 
 iron for brass, has made it imperative upon persons of all 
 trades, which are affected by these changes, to learn the 
 management of these new materials, if they desire to profit 
 by the advantages consequent upon their employment. Thus, 
 the philosophical instrument makers formerly employed 
 brass for their metal work, and constructed their machines, 
 even the largest astronomical instruments, in a great number 
 of pieces screwed together. We have now learnt that stability 
 is best insured by employing fewer pieces, and that cast-iron 
 is, on all grounds, a better material than brass. But the 
 tools and methods of working in cast-iron are wholly different, 
 and therefore the philosophical instrument makers must turn 
 engineers, and employ planing machines and the like. The 
 making of large clocks, and various other articles of com¬ 
 mon use, must undergo the same change. It is useless to 
 say that these men can go to an engineer’s shop to get jobs 
 done tor them as required. Such a method can only lead 
 to a partial and imperfect employment of the new resources 
 and advantages which are to be developed. For instead of 
 a full and complete adoption of these novelties, the use of 
 them will be necessarily evaded in every case where they 
 can be dispensed with, unless the master-workman can 
 employ them freely as his own. 
 
 In machinery we have to deal with every kind of material, 
 and to avail ourselves of the peculiar properties of all, in their 
 appropriate places; and thus a skilful engineer should be 
 familiar with every kind of mechanical manipulation and 
 material, from a sheet of card paper to an iron bar, and 
 ought to know as well how to hem a pocket handkerchief as 
 to rivet a boiler. It is of no use for him to employ work- 
 
240 ON TOOLS FOR WORKING IN METALS, ETC. 
 
 men of any trade in carrying out new combinations unless 
 be himself know how to instruct them. A musician who is 
 about to compose a symphony need not be able to play on 
 the violin like Paganini, or on the piano like Thalberg, but 
 he must be well acquainted with the powers and manipula¬ 
 tions «of these and every other instrument before he can 
 write passages that will bring out their effects and be adapted 
 to performance. And, in the same way, a man who intends 
 to devise and carry out a new machine must be conversant 
 with the peculiar properties and mode of manipulating every 
 kind of material, that thus he may select and avail himself 
 of them to the best advantage. 
 
 And I am persuaded that one of the most important and 
 instructive lessons which the Great Exhibition brought before 
 us, consisted in the display and contrast of the application 
 of different materials and different methods to identical pur¬ 
 poses by the various nations of the universe. May we be 
 enabled to read the lesson aright. 
 
LECTURE IX. 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS AND PRO¬ 
 CESSES, AS REPRESENTED IN THE 
 GREAT EXHIBITION. 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES GLAISIIER, Esq., F.R.S. 
 
 21 
 
 ( 241 ) 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
JAMES GLAISHER, Esq., F.R.S. 
 
 OST 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS AND PRO¬ 
 CESSES, AS REPRESENTED IN THE 
 GREAT EXHIBITION. 
 
 “ Philosophical Instruments and Processes, as repre¬ 
 sented in the Exhibition,” form the subject of my Lecture 
 this evening. To place you in possession of my proposed 
 arrangements for treating this subject, you will, perhaps, 
 permit me to speak of that which I have done as Reporter, 
 and to present to you a brief sketch of the nature of the 
 duties which devolved upon me, both in that capacity and 
 in that of Juror for Class X. 
 
 My design in writing the Report was to render it such a 
 record of the subjects included in Class X., that as the time 
 arrived when the present generation, witness of the contents 
 of the Great Palace, should have passed away, it should 
 stand to succeeding generations as an authentic record of 
 the whole collection, so classified as to kind and merit as to 
 defy the influence of tradition either to its enhancement or 
 detraction; convinced that by so doing I was best fulfilling 
 the trust confided to me, the object of which, the extension 
 of human knowledge, could alone be achieved from the 
 solid basis of truth. 
 
 For the further extension of human knowledge, by mak¬ 
 ing the Exhibition subservient to the improvement of art, 
 science, and industry, were these Lectures instituted at the 
 suggestion of His Royal Highness Prince Albert. As one 
 
 (243) 
 
244 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 honoured by the selection of the Council of this Society to 
 assist in the promotion of this honourable and important 
 scheme, it became to me a matter of deep reflection, how, 
 in the brief compass of a lecture, I could best contribute 
 to its advancement, and enlist at the same time the interest 
 of gentlemen, many of them no novices in the use of in¬ 
 struments and processes, of which, necessarily, my mention 
 must be very brief. Reflection at length decided me to take 
 you, step by step, not through the contents of Class X., 
 but, as far as time permitted, through the novelties and 
 improvements which they exhibited, and to set before you 
 the fruits of examinations, which, necessarily special and 
 confined to the few, were alone instituted for the advantage 
 of the many. The reflections induced by the examination 
 of works based upon the most brilliant discoveries of times, 
 both past and present, I have been unable quite to suppress, 
 and have combined them with my views relative to the im¬ 
 mediate and future bearing of the Exhibition upon science, 
 which last we are not only permitted but enjoined to 
 express. 
 
 To carry out this arrangement I shall trespass on your 
 patience for a little beyond'the ordinary time. By placing 
 before you, however, a true representation of the leading 
 features of the Class we are about to analyze,—by placing, 
 in fact, before you a true representation of its novelties 
 and excellencies, in the same manner as the Report, shortly 
 to be published, will give you a true representation of its 
 contents as they existed,—I hope that the lengthened at¬ 
 tention you may grant to me will be repaid by the possess¬ 
 ing you of a part of that information, which, far from being 
 ephemeral, has only been elicited by months of examina¬ 
 tion, inquiry, and comparison, to be stored away among 
 the scientific archives of the day, and so added to our 
 treasury of knowledge, from which alone can we draw that 
 clue to guide us through the unknown regions which still 
 interpose between our knowledge of facts and their govern¬ 
 ing laws. 
 
 For the fulfilment of the duties of Juror and Reporter, 
 two classes of investigations were required. That of Juror 
 claimed and exacted from me the careful and unprejudiced 
 examination of subjects, and involved a just determination 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 245 
 
 of originality of construction, improvement of pi’ocesses, 
 discovery of principles, and a correct appreciation of me¬ 
 chanical shill; that of Reporter, a duty to which I was 
 elected at a much later date, required still more for its ful¬ 
 filment; and I found it necessary to make myself acquainted 
 with the characteristics of each country’s contributions, 
 how far the state of science was represented by each, the 
 causes of deficiencies, and finally to examine with care the 
 sources both of success and failure. The result of these 
 investigations, which for months rendered the Exhibition a 
 vast school to me, and a means of confirming long precon¬ 
 ceived opinions, may enable me with success to point out 
 those novelties and improvements which were most inacces¬ 
 sible to the public, and even to those with whom the grati¬ 
 fication of curiosity was a desire, slight in comparison with 
 that for making themselves acquainted with the peculiarities 
 of instruments with which they were least familiar. As 
 the subjects in the collection were, without exception, 
 illustrations, specimens, or models of those applications of 
 science, which are exercising so great and beneficial an in¬ 
 fluence over society and the civilized world, a few remarks 
 upon the rise, progress, and importance of science, may not 
 be considered an unfitting introduction to the description of 
 the novelties and improvements in some of the products 
 exhibited, which, combined with art and industry, it has 
 placed at our disposal. 
 
 In the early ages of the world, man, acted upon by the 
 common circumstances of his race, impelled by the pressure 
 of his physical wants, and actuated alike by a principle of 
 curiosity and the desire of gain, soon became acquainted by 
 actual discovery with the rough elements of geography, and 
 passing from shore to shore, acquired a knowledge of coun¬ 
 tries fiir separated, their inhabitants and productions, and so 
 laid the foundation of that intercourse, which, improving 
 as centuries rolled on, extended alike the sphere of human 
 wants and the power for their supply. The variety of re¬ 
 sources open to each country, by the exchange of material 
 products, and the equally valuable interchange of ideas, 
 soon raised the arts to a place of the highest importance, 
 and enabled them long to maintain this rank and materially 
 to administer to the necessities and comforts of mankind, 
 21 * 
 
246 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 before men’s thoughts became directed to the elucidation 
 of those causes, with the effects of which they were daily 
 familiar; but the time came, slowly and gradually, when 
 the powers of science became unveiled, very imperfectly it 
 is true, but still so far as to impress on the mind of the in¬ 
 quirer a conviction of its power to repay every attempt 
 made to penetrate its obscurity. 
 
 The steps in the progress of science, however, are, though 
 numerous, so small, and pass by so unperceived, that insen¬ 
 sibly we are not led to wonder at that which some years 
 back would have been considered a miracle : in illustration 
 of which are the means of locomotion now at our command 
 through the applications of steam power ; the instantaneous 
 communication between place and place, even to the connect¬ 
 ing our own island with the Continent, through the agency 
 of electricity; the discovery of electro-magnetism, and its 
 subsequent applications, some of which I shall this evening 
 mention; the discovery of photography, and its application 
 to the purposes of astronomical science, and to the self-regis¬ 
 tration of natural phenomena, which, all untliought of a tew 
 years ago, but now in full activity, create no feeling other 
 than that of admiration at the vast resources so gradually 
 and surely unfolding to us. And when we pause to consider 
 that the constituents of a great nation’s prosperity agricul¬ 
 ture, manufactures, and commerce, in tlieir excellence, aie 
 dependent upon science, the first upon chemistry, the second 
 upon mechanics, the third upon navigation (itself dependent 
 upon astronomy), we see that the repayment made by it. to 
 the sources of its establishment puts nations in possession 
 of an element, which, according to the culture bestowed 
 upon it, is capable of conferring wealth, prosperity, and 
 
 P °Such being, then, the nature of the repayment made by 
 science for the culture bestowed upon it, it remains now to 
 show how far its own interests have been promoted by en¬ 
 abling the illustrious President, of this Society to carry out 
 a conception, the success of which was. scarcely more desira¬ 
 ble than necessary to the giving additional impetus to the 
 ever, but not equally, advancing progress of science,—a con¬ 
 ception which never before the present time could have been 
 successfully realized; for long as it is since the free and 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 247 
 
 unlimited intercourse between country and country lias pre- 
 sented*any barrier to the progress of the arts and sciences, 
 it is only lately that through their joint instrumentality 
 space has been so far annihilated as to permit objects, to the 
 attainment of which a limited time must suffice, to be suc¬ 
 cessfully carried through; and had it not been for the recent 
 and rapid advance of science, the Exhibition itself could not 
 truly have represented its existing state in all countries at 
 one and the same time,—a representation only to be effected 
 by the sufficing of a few months for the erection of the 
 building and the arrangement of its contents. 
 
 The prosecution of the inquiry of how far the interests 
 of science will have been promoted by the Exhibition brings 
 me to the immediate subject of my Lecture, and requires 
 that I should lead you back to the time when the Exhibition, 
 with its multitudes, gave ample proof of the public willing¬ 
 ness to incur both toil and expense for the refiued giatifica- 
 tion afforded by the cultivation of intellect, a gratification 
 so sought by our countrymen at home and visiters from 
 abroad, that we are fairly entitled to look tor deep and last¬ 
 ing results. 
 
 An interchange of ideas between men of different countries 
 has ever been esteemed valuable and conducive to the ex¬ 
 tension of knowledge ; but never before the era of. the Ex¬ 
 hibition was the gathering together men of all nations, and 
 different pursuits, contending interests, views, and feelings, 
 for its acquisition from one grand source, for a time made 
 common to all, ever resorted to as a means to its further 
 extension. Thousands of our countrymen have visited the 
 collection of Class X., having seen for the first time instru¬ 
 ments of which they may have read, or only heard, and 
 therefore never clearly understood, and have returned lio.me 
 with increased knowledge and new ideas; regulated in kind 
 by individual bias, but dependent in amount and value upon 
 the circumstances of education, mental capacity, and social 
 position. Of visiters from abroad, the same mixture of 
 classes was not to be anticipated, and experience has shown 
 that the majority of foreign visiters were possessed of more 
 extended information than the average class of their country¬ 
 men,—information rendered valuable to us in proportion to 
 its amount, and the facilities obtained by them for its dif- 
 
248 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 fusion ) these must have been great, for practical scientific 
 men were brought into contact with practical working men 
 of their own and other countries, and men of science, both 
 at home and from abroad, gathered to the Exhibition as to 
 a common centre. 
 
 The benefit to the humble and working classes of the 
 community we may fairly expect to be great. For the first 
 time has been placed within their grasp a knowledge of what 
 has been done, what is doing, and by whom,—a knowledge 
 necessary to the prevention of the useless repetitions which 
 have so often engaged the attention of the ingenious me¬ 
 chanic, who, ignorant that he is doing that which has long 
 been successfully performed, sustains a real injury, whilst 
 the talent and industry possessed by him are totally lost to 
 other causes, which, with better information, he might have 
 successfully embraced. At present it is my opinion, that 
 the removal of erroneous impressions, the inculcation of 
 new ideas, and the extension of his range of knowledge 
 from the wide field of observation so freely offered to his 
 inspection, will serve for the base of many an ingenious su¬ 
 perstructure, to form ultimately an addition either to art or 
 science. In support of my views, relative to the benefit to 
 arise from the better direction of industry, I may make 
 mention of a case which came under my notice whilst secre¬ 
 tary to the Greenwich Committee. A mechanic brought 
 before me and other gentlemen, members of the same Com¬ 
 mittee, a folding joint of peculiar, and, as he thought, origi¬ 
 nal construction, which he was desirous to exhibit; he had 
 expended a considerable amount of ingenuity and industry 
 in its manufacture, and his surprise and disappointment 
 w r ere extreme on being told that many similar had been made. 
 This is a single instance out of many which could be brought 
 forward, individually of little detriment to the cause we are 
 seeking to advance, but collectively of more importance. 
 And as in order to the well-working of any scheme a strict 
 attention to the most minute and apparently insignificant 
 details is necessary, so, in like manner, to the carrying out 
 the views of men qualified both by position and intellect to 
 give direction to practical science and philosophical inquiry, 
 is necessary the co-operation of talent and ability, which, 
 individually small in amount, may in the aggregate be suf- 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 249 
 
 llcient to turn the scale either of success or failure; and 
 every step made towards the better education of the artisan 
 is a step to secure this co-operation. 
 
 I will now speak of the benefit to accrue from the study 
 of the instruments in their different constructions, by a 
 higher order of minds, intent upon their practical applica¬ 
 tion. In proportion as it is necessary to the interests of 
 science that theory, observation, and experiment, should 
 march hand in hand, so is it equally essential that theo¬ 
 retical and practical men of science should come into con¬ 
 tact with each other, and both into contact with men to 
 whom must be intrusted the construction ot instruments 
 necessary to the completion of their views. A scheme 
 more conducive to this end could scarcely have been designed 
 than the collection both from this and foreign countries of 
 instruments and their makers, to receive the criticism and 
 judgment of individuals selected from among those in whose 
 hands could the instruments exhibited prove chiefly ser¬ 
 viceable; thus securing competent and impartial judges of 
 their merits. The effect of this concentration of mind, both 
 English and foreign, has been, and will still more be, to 
 give direction to physical inquiry and mechanical skill, 
 point out existing deficiencies and their remedies, and cause 
 the conversion of heretofore suggestive into real practical 
 improvements ; thus creating an interchange of information 
 between nations, and so contributing to the advantage and 
 wealth of all. 
 
 As knowledge and industrial skill are rendered permanent 
 chiefly through the publicity given to them, so, in like man¬ 
 ner, is necessary to the extension of discovery and the 
 developement of principles the publicity which the Exhibi¬ 
 tion has so eminently afforded ; some instances of the accele¬ 
 rating power of which, over the adoption of new methods 
 and new applications, I shall this evening instance. But I 
 will not occupy you longer with these reflections, founded, 
 however, so far as connected with the Exhibition, upon the 
 careful estimation of facts which have fallen beneath my 
 own observation, and are not at all influenced by an imagin¬ 
 ation which, from my having been engaged during my 
 whole life in elucidating results from given and assured 
 facts, is singularly averse to all speculative suggestions. 
 
250 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 Before proceeding farther, it will be desirable to point 
 out bow far the list of expected Philosophical Instruments 
 has been realized. The following list is a copy of that 
 drawn up by Dr. Playfair, and printed in the “ Official 
 Catalogue 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 DR. PLAYFAIR’S CLASSIFICATION. 
 
 Instruments for Measuring of Space. 
 
 1. In fixed Observatories, as Transits, Transit Circles, 
 
 Great Quadrants, Mural Circles, Zenith Sectors, 
 Altarimeters, Equatoreals, Collimators, &c. 
 
 2. For Nautical Astronomy and Observations, as Sextants, 
 
 Reflecting and Repeating Circles, Hip Sectors, &c. 
 
 3. Astronomical and Topographical Illustrations, as 
 
 Globes, Orreries, Planetariums, Maps, Charts. 
 
 4. Optical Instruments, as great Refracting and Reflecting 
 
 Telescopes, with their appurtenances, Equatoreal 
 Motions, &c. 
 
 5. Apparatus subordinate to Graduated Instruments, as 
 
 divided Object-glasses and Ileliometers, Eye-pieces, 
 Micrometers, Micrometer Microscopes, &c. 
 
 6. Survey Instruments, Topographical, as Base Apparatus, 
 
 Theodolites, Repeating Circles, Geodetic Signals, 
 Levelling Apparatus, Miners’ and Prismatic Com¬ 
 passes, Pocket Sextants, Perambulators, Pedometers ; 
 Hydrographical, as Sounding Machines, Patent Logs, 
 Current-meters, Silometers. 
 
 Instruments to Measure tiie Effects of Mechanical and 
 
 Physical Forces. 
 
 1. Mechanical, as Dynamometers, Tachymeters. 
 
 2. Mass-weighing Instruments, as Weighing Machines, 
 
 Scales, Chemical and Assay Balances. 
 
 3. Density, as Areometers and other Instruments to de¬ 
 
 termine specific gravity, Invariable Pendulums, At- 
 Avood’s Machine. 
 
 4. To measure other physical effects, including Meteoro¬ 
 
 logical Instruments, as Barometers, Hydrometers, 
 Eudiometers, Thermometers, Pyrometers, Electro¬ 
 meters, Rheometers, Magnetometers, &c. 
 
 Relief or Model Mapping. —Specimens of Models. 
 Standard Measures of Length. —Standard Bars, Standard 
 Bar Measure. 
 
 Dividing Machines. 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 251 
 
 Balances. 
 
 Coin-weighing Machines. 
 
 Optical Instruments. —Telescope Microscopes, Optical 
 Object-glasses for Telescopes, Solid Eye-pieces, Optical 
 Glasses, Lenses, Prisms, Speculums, Light-houses, 
 Heliostats, Saccharometers, Holoscopes, Spectacles, 
 Opera Glasses, Dissolving Views Apparatus, Dioptric 
 Prismatic Lantern, Phantasmagoria Lantern, Photo¬ 
 graphic Camera, Multiplying Cameras, Photographic 
 Glasses. 
 
 Photography. —Daguerreotype Pictures, Talbotypes, Kalo- 
 types, Sun Pictures. 
 
 Air Pumps. 
 
 Aerial Machines. 
 
 The following list contains a similarly classified speci¬ 
 fication of those instruments which really were exhibited, 
 and a comparison with that of Dr. Playfair will show the 
 omissions, and their nature :— 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS AS EXHIBITED. 
 
 Astronomical Instruments. —Transits, Equatoreals, Tran¬ 
 sit Circles, Altitude and Azimuth Instruments, Ap¬ 
 paratus for recording Observations by means of Gal¬ 
 vanic Currents. 
 
 Nautical Instruments. —Reflecting Circles, Sextants, Sea- 
 lead, Self-detector Compasses, Aquatic Velocimeter. 
 
 Surveying and Levelling Instruments. —Transit Theodolites, 
 Theodolites, Repeating Theodolites, Miners’ Theodolites, 
 Surveying Cross, Levels and Levelling Apparatus, Beam 
 Draining Levels, Levelling Protractor, Miners’. Com¬ 
 passes, Astronomical Compasses, Diastemeter (Distance 
 Measurer). 
 
 Magnetism. —Magnets; Application of Electro-magnetism 
 to the Movement of Machines. 
 
 Electricity. —Electric Telegraph, Domestic Telegraph, 
 Chemical Apparatus. 
 
 Meteorological Instruments. —Self-registering Meteorolo¬ 
 gical Apparatus, Barometers, Thermometers, Anemo¬ 
 meters, Typhode'iciton or Storm Pointer, Pirometers, 
 Dynamometers, Tide Gauges. 
 
 Drawing Instruments. —Proportional Compasses, Cases of 
 Instruments, Planimeter, Graphic Telescope, Protractors, 
 Pentagraphs, Parallel Rulers, Sectors. 
 
 Orreries, Planetariums, Astronomical Machines, Dialling 
 Globes, Calculating Machines, Instruments for the Blind, 
 Miscellaneous. 
 
252 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 Application of Mechanical and Physical Science to Useful 
 Purposes, not included in any of the preceding or subse¬ 
 quent Sections. 
 
 1. Mechanics .— 
 
 _ ,, . . ) When not included in Sec- 
 
 a Stereo-Mechanics I ^ions describing their more 
 5 Hydro-Mechanics j extended uses, 
 c Pneumo-Mechanics; Air-Pumps—rarefying and con¬ 
 densing ; Hiving Bells ; Air Balloons, &c. 
 
 2. Sound. —(Not including Musical Instruments.) 
 
 a Instruments to assist Hearing. 
 b Alarums; Bells. 
 
 c Models of Acoustical Buildings, &c. 
 
 3. Light. Instruments to assist Vision—as, Smaller Tele¬ 
 
 scopes, Opera-glasses, Spectacles, Microscopes, Lenses, 
 Mirrors, .Signals, Visual Telegraphs, Lighthouses, Op¬ 
 tical Illusions, Gas and Solar Microscopes, Cameras, 
 Photography, Polarization of Light, &c. 
 
 4. Heat. —Apparatus for producing Heat, for Freezing, 
 
 Thermostats, Burning Lenses, and Mirrors, &c. 
 
 5. Magnetism and Electricity— Mariners’ Compasses, Elec¬ 
 
 tric and Electro-magnetic Telegraphs, Electric Light, 
 Applications of Electro-magnetism as a Motive Power, 
 Therapeutic Applications of Electricity, Electrotype, 
 Apparatus and Specimens, &c. 
 
 6. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Apparatus. 
 
 7. Miscellaneous. 
 
 Instruments to Illustrate the Laws of Mechanical and 
 Physical Science. 
 
 1. Kinematics. —Instruments to exhibit and describe Mo¬ 
 
 tions and their Combinations; Compasses, Penta- 
 graphs, Instruments for describing Elliptical and other 
 figures, &c. 
 
 2. Mechanics, or Instruments to illustrate the Laws ot 
 
 Static and Dynamic Forces. 
 
 a Stereo-mechanics; as for illustrating Mechanical 
 Powers, Accelerated and Retarded Motion, Equi¬ 
 librium and Parallelogram of Forces, Levers, Ca- 
 tlietometers, Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces, 
 Elasticity, &c. 
 
 b Hydro-mechanics, as Instruments to illustrate the 
 "Motion and Impinging Force of Waves, &c._ 
 c Pneumo-mechanics, as Apparatus connected with the 
 Air-pumps, &c. 
 
AND PROCESSES. 253 
 
 3. Instruments to illustrate the Laws of Corpuscular Forces, 
 
 as Whitworth’s Planes; Endosometers. 
 
 4. Instruments to illustrate the Laws of Sound. 
 
 5. Instruments to illustrate the Laws of Light. 
 
 6. Instruments to illustrate the Laws of Heat. 
 
 7. Instruments to _ illustrate the Laws of Electricity, in¬ 
 
 cluding Voltaic and Thermo-electricity, Magnetism, 
 Electro-magnetism, Magnetic Electricity, Dia-magnet- 
 ism, &c. 
 
 Many of the omissions are easily accounted for. More 
 than one of our best opticians were averse to exhibiting at 
 all; and when, finally, they did exhibit, sent such instru¬ 
 ments as were most easily procurable, and which could be 
 most ^conveniently sent. It was not to be expected but that 
 the Exhibition, in its infancy, would have to contend with 
 reluctance on the part of those whose contributions must, 
 by their nature, be costly, and easily deranged, either by 
 exposure or by transmission from place to place; but, as 
 the undertaking progressed, and its success became assured, 
 this reluctance was, in many cases, overcome by a convic¬ 
 tion, that the benefit to be derived from exhibition would 
 counterbalance the possible deterioration of the contribution, 
 though the willingness to exhibit induced by this conviction, 
 in several cases, came too late to be made available. All 
 these considerations, among which the portability of the in¬ 
 struments was one of great importance, influenced greatly 
 the extent of the collection from foreign countries, forming 
 altogether a combination of circumstances, the existence of 
 which should prevent our entertaining any feeling of sur¬ 
 prise, though we may be permitted to express one of disap¬ 
 pointment, at the difference plainly observable between Dr. 
 Playfair s list and my own specification of subjects actually 
 exhibited. 
 
 The same causes joined to the many and contending in¬ 
 terests of those, particularly of our own country, who did 
 exhibit, operated to produce other results. Many were im¬ 
 pelled to exhibit from the opportunity afforded them of 
 taking a recognised step in advance of their former position, 
 by contributing some novelty, improvement, or specimen of 
 good workmanship, the highest effort of their productive 
 skill; others exhibited in a purely commercial point of 
 
254 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 view, and sent collections of shop goods calculated to attract 
 the attention of the undiscerning part of the public, more 
 intent upon the possession of a cheap and attractive, than 
 an essentially good instrument. Some few were actuated 
 by a desire to preserve undiminished to our country the 
 credit due to her philosophical instruments and their makers, 
 and so furnished to the public an opportunity of inspecting 
 instruments, too valuable, and in their use too exclusive, to 
 he often so exposed; for in the practice of an observatory, 
 in the use of balances, in the measuring rods of a survey, 
 the standard measures of length by which they are deter¬ 
 mined require a seclusion, the object of which would be 
 totally defeated by the admission of the general public to 
 the inspection of the instruments so in use. It must, 
 however, be clearly understood that the instruments as 
 collected did not truly represent the existing state of 
 science. 
 
 Since, in the Report, I have included such reflections as 
 presented themselves to my mind at the time of writing, 
 and when the instruments were all collected, those I shall 
 speak of to-night will chiefly be the result of reflection and 
 experience since the close of the Exhibition. In following 
 out my proposed arrangement, I shall adhere as much as 
 possible to the order observed in the Lists and in the Re¬ 
 port; and as the subjects are numerous and varied, I must 
 be permitted to pass without comment from one to the 
 other, however differing in their objects and arrangements. 
 According, then, to the order of classification, Astronomical 
 Instruments claim our first attention. 
 
 Astronomical Instruments. 
 
 That, large astronomical instruments should be much re¬ 
 presented in the Exhibition was not to be expected, and 
 particularly from distant lands; their removal is at all times 
 hazardous, and equally injurious, pi’obably, would have been 
 their exposure for any'length of time : hence we find that, 
 with the exception of the large equatoreal by Ross, there 
 was not one; and in this case, the divided circles, or deli 
 cate portions, were not large. This instrument was princi¬ 
 pally remarkable for its solidity, good distribution of 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 255 
 
 strength, and fewness of parts. It was furnished with 
 clock motion, and was a fine specimen of engineering 
 casting. 
 
 As regards the instruments exhibited by Simms, they 
 were distinguished, not only by excellent workmanship, but 
 also for new contrivances, greatly facilitating observation; 
 and, when it is considered how many men of a high order 
 of mind have devoted themselves to the construction of 
 astronomical instruments, any decided improvement indicates 
 a very high order of merit: some of these improvements I 
 will enumerate. 
 
 To two equatoreals exhibited by Mr. Simms, he has 
 adapted their equatoreal axes for the application of a level, 
 and thus greatly simplified their adjustments, besides making 
 them more useful instruments. To one of them was applied 
 a clock-work motion, by means of which the motion of the 
 telescope was made to counteract that of the earth, thus 
 enabling the observer to look upon a moving object as 
 though it were not moving. 
 
 To an altitude-and-azimuth instrument, a telescope fur¬ 
 nished with spider lines was placed in the centre of its 
 azimuthal axis, for the purpose of acting as a central colli¬ 
 mator and constant referring point. 
 
 Another novelty was the conversion of the axis of a 
 transient instrument into a telescope, thus affording a ready 
 means of examining the form of its pivots, as well as readily 
 adapting it to the observation of stars, both in the meridian 
 and in the prime vertical. 
 
 To a small transit circle, furnished with one lamp, was 
 shown a mode of illuminating the divisions on the micro¬ 
 meter head, on the limb and the field of view, in such a 
 way that the observer should have complete power, either 
 over the illumination of the entire field, or of the wires 
 alone, the field itself being in darkness. The observer is 
 thus enabled to record the position of a star whose light is 
 so feeble that the amount of light merely sufficient to illu¬ 
 mine the field is more than enough to drown that of the star, 
 It is, in fact, an arrangement by which our optical power is 
 increased by our present optical means. 
 
 It would be well to dwell for a few moments on the 
 different modes of illumination. As you all know, the field 
 
256 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 of view in the telescope of an astronomical instrument is 
 furnished with a system of one or two horizontal, and of 
 five or seven vertical wires, as shown in the annexed diagram, 
 which exhibits the appearance of the field of view when un¬ 
 der full illumination, and when the wires only are illumi¬ 
 nated. 
 
 £ 
 
 * 
 
 An observation” by an instrument placed in the plane 
 of the meridian consists in directing the telescope so that 
 the star is bisected by the horizontal wire (to determine its 
 north polar distance), and by noting the times at which it 
 passes the several vertical wires (to determine its right 
 ascension); these times being determined by mentally 
 dividing into ten parts the space traversed by the star in 
 one second, and deciding that tenth of the second when it 
 crossed the wire, as shown in the example subjoined to the 
 above diagrams. 
 
 As there are but few object-glasses large enough to show 
 many stars during the day, it is necessary that the field of 
 view be illuminated in order that the wires be distinctly 
 seen at night. This was done formerly by placing a small 
 oval reflector in front of the object-glass of the telescope,— 
 a plan not only objectionable on account of some part of 
 the aperture being cut off, but because, on change of alti¬ 
 tude, it was necessary to re-arrange the distant lamp or 
 candle, so that the light should fall properly upon the 
 
AND PROCESSES. 257 
 
 reflector for convergence to the wire-plate of the telescope, 
 as shown at c in fig. 1 of the annexed diagram. 
 
 1 2 
 
 (^Ql3 
 
 fn. 
 
 The introduction of a diagonal reflector, placed within 
 the axis of an astronomical telescope at an angle of 45°, 
 was a very great improvement upon the preceding method. 
 The light in this case passes from a lantern, h, placed near 
 one of the pivots of the axis upon which the telescope turns, 
 perforated to receive a convex lens : by this arrangement, 
 the rays of light, after crossing, diverge upon and are spread 
 over the surface of the reflector, cj h, by which they are 
 turned at right angles, and are thus made to illuminate the 
 field of view. 
 
 The degree of illumination necessary is dependent upon 
 the brightness of the object, and hence the necessity for a 
 means of varying the amount of light; this has been effected 
 in various ways, such as, by turning the lantern out of the 
 direct line of the axis, by introducing an adjustable aperture 
 between the lantern and the perforated end of the pivot, or 
 by placing an expanding diaphragm between the eye-piece 
 and the diagonal reflector. But Mr. Simms has effected all 
 this much more simply and effectually by giving motion to 
 
 the reflector itself, which is made to turn upon pivots (as 
 oo * 
 
258 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 shown in figure 3), by means of a rod proceeding from it, 
 m, and terminating beyond the tube of the telescope, at or 
 near the eye-piece, and consequently near the observer’s 
 band. By this means, the maximum illumination is given 
 when the reflector is situated at an angle of 45° from the 
 axis of rotation and the optical axis of the telescope, the 
 whole of the light being reflected perpendicularly upon the 
 diaphragm; but if the reflector be turned to that position 
 which is parallel to the axis, no light whatever is reflected 
 from it. It is therefore evident, that between these two 
 positions all degrees of illumination can be obtained. But 
 there are some objects, such as comets, nebulae, small planets, 
 and stars, which are visible only when all light is excluded 
 from the field. To ascertain the position of such objects 
 was one of great difficulty; the means usually adopted were, 
 the insertion of very thick bars of metal in the wire-plate or 
 diaphragm, instead of fine wires, and in observation to hide 
 the star behind the horizontal bar to determine its north 
 polar distance, the times of its disappearance behind the 
 several vertical bars being noted to determine its right as¬ 
 cension : but such observations were little better than guess¬ 
 work, and were very unsatisfactory. Another method, cer¬ 
 tainly much better, has been employed, the object of which 
 was to illumine the wires, only leaving the field in dark¬ 
 ness. This was done by opening a channel in the tube, 
 nearly in the plane of the diaphragm, through which light 
 was admitted from a lantern generally attached to the eye- 
 end of the telescope. This arrangement, though certainly 
 much better than the preceding, was open to grave ob¬ 
 jections, and leads me to the last improvement exhibited, 
 which answers admirably, inasmuch as it places the degree 
 of illumination under the command of the observer, who can 
 instantaneously alter it in such a manner as the case may 
 require. 
 
 This very great improvement is effected by the attachment 
 of one or more prisms to the adjustable reflector, in such 
 way, that when the reflector is in the position to reflect the 
 largest quantity of light in the direction of the optical axis 
 of the telescope, and consequently to fill the field of view 
 with light, the prism is out of action; but that as the in¬ 
 tensity gradually diminishes as the reflector approaches to 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 259 
 
 that position parallel to the axis where no light is reflected, 
 at that instant the prism takes up the middle pencil of rays 
 proceeding from the lamp, and reflects it to another prism 
 situated in the plane of the wire plate, by which it is Anally 
 reflected, and illuminates the wires only, leaving the field 
 in darkness, so that the observations of an extremely faint 
 object can be as easily obtained as those of a bright one. 
 This arrangement is explained in the following diagram. 
 
 Let f d and f c represent the (axis of) movable reflector 
 in its two extreme positions, viz. that in which it reflects 
 the maximum quantity of light, and that in which it reflects 
 no light whatever; h, the diaphragm upon which the cross¬ 
 wires are fixed in the focus of the eye-piece; g, a prism so 
 placed as to reflect upon, and diffuse over the diaphragm, 
 such rays of light as enter it in the direction eg; and b e, 
 b c, Lj, rays of light proceeding from the lantern a b. 
 
 When the reflector is in the position / cl, the rays b e, 
 l j, are reflected in the direction of the optical axis of the 
 telescope, and consequently fill the field of view with li^ht, 
 and give the appearance shown in the first diagram (p. 258)' 
 As the reflector approaches the position f c, the intensity 
 of the light gradually diminishes, and when the position f c 
 is attained no light whatever is reflected; at this instant 
 
260 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 the prism d, which has dropped from d to c, takes lip the 
 middle ray, b c, and reflects it to g, causing the field of view 
 to assume the appearance shown in fig. 2 of the diagram (p. 
 258). 
 
 Mr. Simms exhibited a diagonal transit instrument, of 
 the same form as that so much used on the Continent; in 
 this construction the cone of rays which pass from the object- 
 glass do not proceed directly to a focus, as in the ordinary 
 telescope, but are reflected by a prism or speculum placed 
 within the axis, and form an image in one of the pivots, in 
 which also the wire-frame and eye-piece are placed, as shown 
 in the annexed figure. 
 
 O 
 
 k 
 
 il 
 
 s 
 
 F 
 
 In this form of instrument the cone of rays transmitted 
 by an object-glass, li, instead of proceeding to a focus at p, 
 are intercepted by a prism at c, and reflected to g, where an 
 image is formed upon the diaphragm in the focus of the 
 eye-piece. 
 
 The advantage possessed by this form of instrument over 
 that ordinarily used is, that the observer is seated with all 
 ease at his instrument, and has no change of position to 
 make, whatever may be the altitude of the object under ob¬ 
 servation ) the serious objection to its use has hitherto been 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 261 
 
 the defective means obtained for illuminating the fund of 
 view, as was to be seen in the instrument shown by Ertel 
 in the Exhibition, where the old method was still adhered 
 to, viz. placing a small diagonal reflector in front of the ob¬ 
 ject-glass, as shown in diagram 2, a plan to which there are 
 many objections : 1st. The difficulty of throwing light at 
 all upon the reflector; 2dly. The trouble of re-adjusting it 
 for every change of position; and, 3dly. Part of the object- 
 glass is cut off. In the instrument exhibited by Mr. Simms, 
 he has most ingeniously overcome these difficulties by in¬ 
 troducing in the other pivot a convex lens, a, and at the 
 back of the prism a second convex lens, b, the diameter of 
 the latter being such that three segments of it project beyond 
 the sides of the prism, c. In this arrangement the rays of 
 light from the lantern, first converged by the small lens, 
 after crossing, again diverge and fall upon the larger lens, by 
 the refractive power of which they again suffer convergence 
 and are diffused over the field of view, g. 
 
 Germany furnished a portable universal instrument by 
 Ertel and Sons : this was a beautiful instrument, intended 
 by its maker to combine the greatest possible simplicity 
 with the greatest possible firmness; its clamps were applied 
 in all cases to the centre, to prevent the bending of the 
 spokes or affecting the figure of the circle. The work of 
 'this instrument in every respect was found to be very good, 
 the divisions were fine, clear, and distinct. 
 
 A portable equatoreal, of good workmanship, was for¬ 
 warded by Merz, of Munich, who, by not forwarding a more 
 original and valuable instrument, did not do justice to him¬ 
 self or German work, which was not properly represented 
 in the Exhibition, for Germany by no means put forth her 
 strength. 
 
 The divisions on both these instruments were fine speci¬ 
 mens of hand-dividing; and when it is considered that this 
 operation requires the operator to be in a darkened room for 
 weeks together, involving close application, of a most hurt¬ 
 ful nature to his health, it is with much satisfaction we find 
 that, beautiful as the divisions on Simms’s instruments were 
 found to be, they were the work of his self-acting dividing 
 engine, and that the whole of the operations of dividing and 
 
262 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 cutting were performed by machinery, independent of any 
 personal superintendence after the preliminary arrangements 
 were completed. The application ot this machine inatciially 
 lessens the expense of instruments, thereby placing the pur¬ 
 suit of science more in the power of those who, earnestly 
 wishing to be useful, could not with prudence incur too large 
 an outlay in the purchase of instruments. 
 
 It is remarkable that not a single astronomical instru¬ 
 ment was furnished by France. 
 
 I must for a moment be permitted a digression,. in 
 order to complete my description of the novelties exhibited 
 
 in this section. __ . . 
 
 In the year 1800, Volta discovered that voltaic electricity 
 was generated by the immersion of two metals in an acid, 
 which acted on one of them: in 1820, Oersted linked 
 together the sciences of electricity and magnetism, and 
 proved that the one acts upon the other, not in straight 
 lines, as other forces do. but in a direction at right angles: 
 so that, if bodies be invested with electricity, they possess a 
 tendency to place magnets in a position at right angles to 
 themselves, whilst, on the contrary, magnets have the effect 
 of placing bodies conducting electricity at right angles to 
 themselves, and, consequently, an electric current exercises 
 a magnetic action at right angles to its own direction : if, 
 then, a wire be coiled in a spiral form, and electrified, it 
 becomes a magnet; and if within this coil be placed a core 
 of soft iron, which has the effect of concentrating its power, 
 it becomes a very powerful magnet, and by making and 
 breaking its connexion with a galvanic battery, thus alter¬ 
 nately making and destroying the action of magnetism, we 
 can instantly unmake this magnet and obtain a moving 
 power, which it is evident, when once produced, is capable 
 of application to many purposes by suitable mechanism. 
 
 The Americans, with their characteristic energy, have 
 extensively used these physical laws in their electric tele¬ 
 graphs, and have also applied them to astronomical pui- 
 poses, and to the determination of the difference of longi¬ 
 tude. In the American department, No. 37, Bond exhibited 
 an apparatus for observing transits by means of a galvanic 
 circuit. It consists of a break-circuit-clock, battery, wires, 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 263 
 
 and a cylinder, around which paper is wrapped. This cy« 
 linder is mounted on a delicate axis, furnished with friction 
 rollers, and revolves once in a minute; the circuit is broken 
 and restored by the seconds pendulum, so that 60 seconds 
 are recorded on one line: there are 60 lines on each sheet 
 of paper. The armature of the electro-magnet carries a 
 glass pen, supplied with ink from a small reservoir, and the 
 records are made as the paper revolves under this pen. 
 
 In ordinary transit observations the observer takes a 
 second from the clock-face; counts the beats whilst the 
 object passes the wires; records these times by the clock to 
 the tenth part of a second; writes them in a book, still 
 counting the beats of the clock; and after the transit of the 
 last wire, continues counting on till he can look at the 
 clock-face: but, in the new method, the coincidence of the 
 wire and the object is noted, at which instant a key is 
 touched with the finger, this touch causing an impression 
 to be made on the recording apparatus,—of a dot if the 
 touch be momentary, of a series of dots separated by equal 
 spaces, if the intervals of time between successive touches 
 be equal, as shown in fig. 1 of the annexed diagram; of 
 lines of different lengths, if the times of pressing the key 
 be variable, as shown in figs. 2 and 5; of equal lengths, 
 if the times be of equal duration, or at equal intervals, as 
 shown in figs. 3, 4, and 6. In this manner may be gene¬ 
 rated a series of dots, lines, and blanks of all varieties of 
 lengths. 
 
 1 
 
 • m * » 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 6 7 
 
 
 -“ y 
 
 
 _n_ si 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 Lines of equal length, or spots equi-distant, may be re¬ 
 gistered by the movement of a clock alternately making and 
 breaking the circuit, as well as by the finger of the operator; 
 and lines as in figure 3, or spaces in figure 4, may be made, 
 corresponding to intervals of one second, and thus the clock 
 
264 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 be made to mark seconds of time. If, then, an operator 
 should make contact at the instant of the occurrence of any 
 phenomenon, as that of a star passing a wire, one of these 
 spaces would he broken, as is shown in figure 7 ; and it is 
 easy to estimate the tenth of a second at which the contact 
 was made, and hundredths of a second may be estimated 
 by the use of a transparent scale, as in fig. 9, whose length, 
 just equal to that of one second on the paper, being divided 
 into ten parts, and made to cover the whole second, as in 
 fig. 9, where the register appears between four seconds and 
 five seconds, it is seen at a glance that the occurrence 
 happened between four seconds and seven-tenths, and four 
 seconds and eight-tenths of a second. 
 
 The apparatus exhibited registered an unbroken line, as 
 shown in fig. 8, but the principle of operation is the same. 
 There may be many different modes of recording. In 
 practice, the recording apparatus may be either near to the 
 observer or at a great distance ) either at a few yards or at 
 a thousand miles. 
 
 In the former method, the eye and ear are brought into 
 play ; and in the latter, the eye and hand. The question is, 
 whether there be a closer connexion between the nerves of 
 the eye and the ear, or between those of the eye and the 
 finger. The latter operation seems to be the more simple, 
 inasmuch as the observer has not to listen to a clock, and 
 to write down one time whilst he is counting another. 
 
 The practicability of thus recording observations is placed 
 beyond a doubt, by such having really been recorded in 
 America, at Washington, and other places, and apparently 
 with greater accuracy than by the old method. 
 
 As before remarked, the recording surface may be at a 
 great distance from the observer, so that the galvanic 
 telegraph is obviously applicable to the determination of 
 differences of terrestrial longitudes, by connecting one sta¬ 
 tion to another far separated by means of a wire; but it 
 becomes imperatively necessary to ascertain whether the 
 tinle occupied by an electric current traversing the wire be 
 appreciable or not, and whether it really passes from station 
 to station in less time than human means can detect. 
 Experiments to determine this have been made on the long 
 lines in America ) and the last results I have seen show 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 265 
 
 that the electric current passes through a copper wire at the 
 rate of about 12,000 miles in one second; and, consequently, 
 that the time occupied in its progress is an element to be 
 taken into account in determining longitude. 
 
 As in some measure connected with this subject, I may 
 mention that Mr. Shepherd exhibited an electro-magnetic 
 clock, which, as an application of electro-magnetism, of 
 great merit and promise, deserves commendation; as a 
 clock, it does not fall within my prescribed limits; the sub¬ 
 jects of horology, which, at first, were an integral part of 
 Class X., being subsequently withdrawn from the adjudica¬ 
 tion of the Jurors of this Class. 
 
 The pendulum of this clock was kept in motion by im¬ 
 pulses received from a remontoir escapement, wound up by 
 an electro-magnet. By the vibrations of this pendulum, 
 the circuit of a galvanic battery was completed through the 
 coils of the electro-magnets, which were thus caused to al¬ 
 ternately attract and release their respective armatures. The 
 motion thus obtained was transmitted to the wheels by a 
 peculiar form of click and ratchet escapement, invented by 
 Mr. Shepherd, by which means the escape-wheel was locked 
 and prevented from turning by the action of the wind upon 
 the hands, the minute-hand being sixteen and the hour-hand 
 twelve feet in length. The quantity of wire employed in 
 this clock was 25,000 feet: with this great length, eight 
 pairs of Smee’s batteries, of small size, immersed in half¬ 
 pint jars, were found to be sufficient for two months. 
 
 Nautical Astronomical Instruments. 
 
 Of Nautical Astronomical Instruments, the Exhibition 
 did not furnish many illustrations: those in the English 
 department, by Simms, were sound and well made; and so, 
 in a less degree, were those furnished by France, which were 
 mostly made after Simms’s model. Belgium furnished 
 several instruments, which were good in all respects; Rus¬ 
 sia sent the two largest in the Exhibition, both well made. 
 
 Of ordinary Nautical Instruments, the American depart¬ 
 ment furnished a fine collection by Ericssen, mostly of a 
 new construction; also a very ingenious compass by St. 
 John. The peculiarity of this instrument consists in the 
 23 
 
266 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 addition of two small magnets, moving freely upon fine 
 points attached to the compass-card, near its east and west 
 extremities. 
 
 To the centre of each small magnet, and at right angles 
 to it, is placed a brass indicator, which points to the centre 
 of the card when not under the influence of disturbance, as 
 in fig. 1 • and from the centre at other times, as in figs. 2 
 and 3. The deviation from the centre indicates the amount 
 of disturbance, which, if local, is shown by the one of these 
 indicators pointing farther from the centre than the other, 
 as in fig. 3. The amount of these deflections is measured 
 by semicircular scales fixed over the centre of the card. 
 
 Levelling and Surveying Instruments. 
 
 Instruments for levelling and surveying were furnished 
 from England, France, and Belgium : generally well made, 
 but not exhibiting any novelties or excellencies. Germany 
 furnished several, all well made, in which Breithaupt’s use¬ 
 ful method of covering the divisions with a thin plate of 
 brass, for the purpose of protecting them from dirt, oxida¬ 
 tion, and mechanical injury, was generally adopted. Breit- 
 haupt himself exhibited a level, with a contrivance for 
 greatly facilitating its adjustments, and of great importance 
 while surveyors continue to assume that the circular collars 
 of a level are equal. It is described in the Report. 
 
 The Imperial Polytechnic Institution of Vienna exhibited 
 some beautiful surveying instruments constructed under the 
 direction of Professor Stampfer. The greatest improve¬ 
 ment was the means afforded for measuring a vertical angle 
 of 8°, by which the difference of altitude between two sta¬ 
 tions, when greatly exceeding the length of the measuring 
 
AND PROCESSES. 267 
 
 staff, could be determined; an improvement of great value 
 for work in a hilly country. 
 
 Russia furnished a well-made levelling instrument, and 
 America (Burt, 187) an instrument well adapted for survey¬ 
 ing new countries, particularly in magnetic districts. It is 
 applicable to the determination of time, latitude, and mag¬ 
 netic declination. 
 
 Mr. Andrew Yeates, of Brighton Place, New Kent Road, 
 exhibited a prismatic compass, of simple construction, 
 adapted for taking both horizontal and vertical angles, and 
 so arranged that the former may be taken, the instrument 
 being held in the hand,—the object, the hair in the vane, 
 and the magnetic bearing, being seen at once : it is adapted 
 for fixing on a tripod, and a means is afforded of repeating 
 the observation. It is also adapted for taking vertical angles. 
 It is independent of the magnetic needle, and can be used 
 in districts abounding in iron. 
 
 Optical Instruments. 
 
 Let us now turn our attention to optical instruments. 
 Respecting telescopes, though few in number, they were 
 found to be for the most part good. France (Buron, 443) 
 furnished one whose object-glass was of rock crystal, the 
 performance of which, notwithstanding its property of double 
 refraction, was found to be very satisfactory. 
 
 A new kind of glass was exhibited by Maes (France), 
 its base composed of the oxide of zinc and borax: it was 
 extremely clear and free from colour, and promises to be of 
 considerable use in producing achromatic object-glasses of 
 a very perfect description. 
 
 The Exhibition also made known a very fair attempt by 
 Wray, United Kingdom (No. 309), to substitute a solid 
 substance instead of flint glass, which, as a step out of the 
 beaten path, and towards the possible revival of fluid object- 
 glasses, is meritorious. 
 
 As you all know, crystalline bodies affect light accord¬ 
 ing to their structure, and the transparency of such bodies 
 seems to depend upon their molecular arrangement. Thus, 
 if striae occur in a disc of glass or lens through which an 
 object is viewed, it is distorted if these striae be numerous, 
 and the distortion is so great that the form of the object is 
 
268 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 not recognisable; but if very numerous, it is not visible at 
 all: the glass, ceasing to be transparent, becoming opaque, 
 though still remaining translucent. 
 
 To ascertain the different molecular states of the various 
 discs of glass and object-glasses exhibited was, therefore, a 
 part of the duty of the Jury. The modes adopted are de¬ 
 tailed in the Report; and, therefore, I will here but briefly 
 refer to the results. 
 
 The object-glasses of Simms, which were chiefly of Eng¬ 
 lish glass, were found to be good—the definition of the 
 object becoming improved with the increase of power. 
 Those of Buron were good; but some exhibited by this 
 gentleman were not tried, the tubes being wanting. A 
 small object-glass, by Boss, was very good; but in his large 
 equatoreal there was none. The discs of glass furnished by 
 Maes (France), and Daguet (Switzerland), were very good; 
 as upon the whole was the noble piece of glass exhibited 
 by Chance, which is no less than twenty-nine inches in 
 diameter, and weighs 200 pounds; and I do hope that the 
 same success will attend the obtaining its achromatic com¬ 
 panion, and that the two lenses may be worked into an 
 object-glass. I understand, however, that Messrs. Chance 
 and Co. are not willing to incur the whole risk of the pecu¬ 
 niary loss which would follow should not the high promise 
 now held out be fulfilled; let us hope, however, that no 
 impediment will delay the adaptation of these lenses to a 
 telescope. 
 
 It is pleasing to find, that whilst these exertions are being 
 made for the improvement of object-glasses, the eye-piece 
 also is receiving some attention. The Rev. J. B. Reade 
 exhibited two, which he terms solid eye-pieces, from the 
 component parts being cemented together. As one was a 
 little over corrected, and the other a little under corrected, 
 it is plainly possible for a perfect achromatic eye-piece to be 
 constructed on this principle. Mr. Reade was the only ex¬ 
 hibitor of improved eye pieces; and it is the more creditable 
 to him, inasmuch as it is desirable that the improvement of 
 both eye-piece and object-glass should march hand in hand, 
 and that many gentlemen are turning their attention to the 
 former, but very few to the latter. 
 
 These are some of the first-fruits of the removal of the 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 269 
 
 tax on glass, that great obstacle to the improvement of tele¬ 
 scopes in this country, which prevented all attempts to pro¬ 
 duce glass adapted to the construction of large achromatic 
 glasses, and compelled us to purchase from abroad those we 
 needed at an enormous price. The Exhibition satisfactorily 
 proves that, at all events, we shall soon equal both the far- 
 famed works of Munich and Paris; and let us hope in fair 
 rivalry to excel them. 
 
 The microscope, by the rapid advance in microscopic in¬ 
 vestigations within the last few years, has been enabled to 
 vie in importance almost with the telescope. Since the in¬ 
 troduction of achromatic combinations, physiological inves¬ 
 tigations have proceeded so rapidly, and our knowledge has 
 increased so greatly upon animal and minute anatomy, that 
 it was most gratifying to find so many superior instruments 
 in the Exhibition. Those exhibited by Ross, and Smith 
 and Beck, were beautiful instruments, and far exceeded any 
 that were exhibited in the Foreign Section ; in which, that 
 of Natchet was decidedly the best. The British micro¬ 
 scopes were distinguished by the great amount of light 
 obtained, the large aDgle of aperture, and consequent fine 
 definition; also by the large, flat, and perfectly defined 
 field. 
 
 Perhaps I may be permitted to mention here some few 
 of the applications of the microscope. In a geological point 
 of view, it displays its almost magical powers, not only in 
 the discovering of many strata of considerable thickness, 
 found by its means to be entirely composed of infusorial 
 remains, too small for the natural eye to distinguish their 
 exquisite beauty of form and structure, but it also enables 
 us to determine to what class of animals any fragment of 
 a bone, however small, belongs. 
 
 Any one possessed of a microscope can easily detect any 
 adulteration in articles they purchase, by knowing the ap¬ 
 pearance of different articles when separate: for instance, 
 in flour and bread, a microscopist can detect whether any 
 other grain than that of wheat has been mixed with it. 
 
 The microscope and its applications (a beautiful series 
 illustrative of which was exhibited by Leonard) are daily 
 increasing in importance; and it is now indispensable to 
 members of the medical profession. 
 
270 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 There were two lighthouses exhibited, both entirely of 
 glass, the one by Chance, and the other by Wilkins; both 
 were furnished with large Argand lamps, lenses, and reflect¬ 
 ing prisms. As the object of lighthouses is to transmit all 
 the rays proceeding from the light in an horizontal direc¬ 
 tion, the reflecting prisms above and below the light were 
 so placed, that the incident rays on their second surface fell 
 so obliquely, that they were totally reflected horizontally: 
 thus those rays which would have illumined the sky and 
 the waters of the ocean were made available to increase the 
 equatoreal belt of light; the substitution of reflecting prisms 
 will, doubtless, supersede the use of metallic reflectors in 
 lighthouses generally. 
 
 Of spectacles, a large number were exhibited, distin¬ 
 guished only in the British portion for their various mount¬ 
 ings, without any attempt for the improvement of the lenses 
 themselves, as applicable to the peculiarities of vision. I 
 beg here to be clearly understood, that I do not consider 
 either shortsightedness, or the flattening of the eye by age, 
 as peculiar. To meet such ordinary states of the eye, the 
 glasses exhibited were ample; but I consider a malforma¬ 
 tion of the eyes, such that one eye would require one form 
 of lens, and the other eye another form of lens, as peculiar. 
 At the time of the Exhibition, I did not know one optician 
 in London to whom I could refer any one so afflicted with 
 any chance of relief: the Exhibition did not make such 
 person known in England ; but it has given the Jury an 
 opportunity of making the want known, and gladly I avail 
 myself of this opportunity to dwell upon it. I speak this 
 from experience, and my personal acquaintance with gentle¬ 
 men afflicted with peculiarity of vision, who in London have 
 found no relief. Since the Exhibition, I have learnt that 
 Simms pays some attention to these points. France fur¬ 
 nished one exhibitor, Henri, who seems to have paid much 
 attention to optical science and its application. I expect 
 one of the good results of the Exhibition will be an endea¬ 
 vour, on the part of some opticians in England, to meet 
 this want. 
 
 Of instruments connected with Physical Optics there were 
 very few; indeed philosophical instruments of this class 
 were quite wanting in the British portion. France furnished 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 271 
 
 a beautiful series, including stereoscopes, polarimeters, sac- 
 cbarometers, haloscopes, &c., as exhibited by Soleil. Per¬ 
 haps the most useful of these instruments was the saceha- 
 rometer. Light, as you are aware, when polarized appears 
 to be transmitted by undulations in planes, and not at all in 
 planes situated at right angles to them. In some bodies, 
 each of the colours composing white light is not polarized in 
 the same plane as in ordinary polarization, but the plane 
 for each is slightly turned round, so that the whole is spread 
 out: this circular polarization has been beautifully applied 
 to chemistry, and made a test in the case of saccharine fer¬ 
 mentation of the point to which it has reached and of the 
 quantity of sugar formed. Hence this change of direction 
 of the polarizing plane is of great practical value, and it 
 oueht to supersede the old method by the use of the ordi¬ 
 nary saccharometer,. That exhibited by Soleil was the only 
 one, though many of the ordinary kind were exhibited in 
 the British section. 
 
 Meteorological Instruments. 
 
 There were a large number of barometers, thermometers, 
 and other instruments intended for meteorological observa¬ 
 tions, but the greater part were of a very ordinary kind, and 
 unsuited to the work intended. 
 
 Respecting thermometers (for the purpose of forming a 
 correct estimate of those exhibited), let me impress upon 
 you that a good and efficient instrument must be either 
 identical in its readings with an acknowledged standard, or 
 its amount of deviation correctly ascertained, and applied in 
 its use; this involves a necessity for the possession of a 
 standard of undoubted accuracy, the nearest approach to 
 which were the thermometers made by the Rev. R. Sheep¬ 
 shanks, two of which, exhibited by Simms, may be consi¬ 
 dered as the most accurate in this country. That kind of 
 thermometer most easily rendered identical in its readings, 
 and most amenable to correction, is of slender bore, with 
 small bulb, and graduated on the stems itself; by such a 
 construction the amount of error arising from want of even¬ 
 ness in the bore of the tube, in the cutting of the divisions, 
 or from a want of accuracy in the determination of the zero 
 
272 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 points, may be determined, and when applied will render 
 the instrument perfectly useful and trustworthy. These 
 corrections, when once determined for such instruments, 
 will remain constant; but no system of correction can 
 restore accuracy to the readings of thermometers whose 
 scales are ivory. Those of box-wood, a material in gene¬ 
 ral use for maximum thermometers, require corrections 
 which can be determined only by frequent comparisons 
 with a thermometer whose errors are known, the index 
 errors of such instruments being found to vary from day 
 to day. 
 
 Newman exhibited his well-known set of thermometers 
 without alteration; but the conditions of good thermometers 
 were best fulfilled in England by Messrs. Negretti and Zam- 
 bra, and in France by Fastre. 
 
 Several carefully-made instruments w T ere forwarded by 
 Germany. 
 
 In maximum and minimum thermometers there was 
 nothing new exhibited, although great need has long existed 
 for an effective maximum thermometer. 
 
 Thanks to the Exhibition, however, this want has since 
 been supplied. One of the good working parts of the Ex¬ 
 hibition was the bringing together the jurors and the exhi¬ 
 bitors, and the making each acquainted with the others’ 
 wants. The jurors, in the performance of their duties, 
 dwelt upon the wants of science, and suggested in some 
 cases how they might be supplied; and in this case I urged 
 upon the exhibitors the great necessity of a new instrument 
 to supersede the one now in use for the determination of 
 maximum temperatures, and suggested that such might be 
 constructed, by introducing into the tube a piece of enamel 
 or porcelain, its end towards the mercury terminated in a 
 blunt point, or otherwise, as experiment might determine; 
 a form of instrument which has since been successfully 
 achieved by Barrow of Oxenden Street, and proved to be a 
 great advance upon the old method, particularly for sun 
 observations. But Messrs. Negretti and Zambra have in¬ 
 vented another, of a better kind; a small piece of glass is 
 inserted near the bulb and within the tube, which it nearly 
 fills: on an increase of temperature, the mercury passes 
 this piece of glass, but on a decrease of heat, not being able 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 273 
 
 to repass, it remains in the tube, and thus indicates the 
 maximum temperature. After reading it is easily adjusted. 
 Four of these instruments I have had at work for upwards 
 of a month, two in ordinary observations, and two subjected 
 to severe tests, and all have answered admirably. Hitherto 
 every series of meteorological observations has been more or 
 less broken by the frequent plunging of the steel index into 
 the mercury, or becoming otherwise deranged. Messrs. 
 Negretti and Zambra have in their maximum thermometer 
 supplied a want long felt. 
 
 Newman exhibited his well-known barometers, the tubes 
 of which wmre filled and boiled under a diminished atmos¬ 
 pheric pressure. Mr. Newman remarks, that he has always 
 found that mercury highly heated in glass tubes becomes 
 oxidized, and also, that all tubes boiled under atmospheric 
 pressure are foul. (I may observe that my experience has 
 not led me to the same conclusion.) 
 
 Orchard exhibited a barometer very similar indeed to 
 Newman’s; but with the addition of a thermometer placed 
 in front of the instrument, whose bulb was of the same di¬ 
 mensions as that of the tube. 
 
 G-riffiths exhibited a barometer furnished with a crook 
 on the top to trap any air which might be above the 
 mercury, for the purpose of insuring a vacuum. Ne¬ 
 gretti and Zambra also exhibited a barometer with an air- 
 trap glass cistern, with the intention of preventing the 
 entrance of the air: the mercury in neither of these in¬ 
 struments was boiled, an operation that I consider absolutely 
 necessary. 
 
 Harris and Son exhibited several self-compensating baro¬ 
 meters, for the approximate determination of the atmos¬ 
 pheric pressure. They are about one foot in length, and 
 consist of two reservoirs connected by a bent tube, the one 
 filled with mercury, and the other with gas; the adjacent 
 portions of the tube being also filled with mercury and gas. 
 There is also an arrangement for the approximate correc¬ 
 tion for the expansion of the gas from heat. An instrument 
 upon this principle, made by Ronchetti, was tried by me 
 some years since, and was found to give tolerably approxi¬ 
 mate readings for a time, that is, to within 01 of an inch 
 either way, but ultimately failed entirely. Instruments of 
 
274 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 this kind are of little or no value. Brown exhibited two 
 barometers, at the price of 10s. 6<7. each; one such, upon 
 trial, I found to act well: undoubtedly they were the 
 cheapest in the Exhibition, and were better than any of the 
 ordinary barometers exhibited. 
 
 Yeates, of Dublin, exhibited several barometers, fur¬ 
 nished with a ready means of cleansing the surface of the 
 mercury in the cistern. 
 
 M. Bourdon (France), exhibited barometers of an origi¬ 
 nal construction, based upon the tendency possessed by a 
 coiled and exhausted tube of thin metal to contract or elon¬ 
 gate when subjected to variations of pressure. A description 
 of the method of constructing one of these little instruments 
 may not be uninteresting to you. 
 
 The form of tube adopted by M. Bourdon is not circular, 
 but a little flattened and curved inwards, as shown in the 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 Fig- 1. 
 
 Fig 2. 
 
 B 
 
 c 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 F 
 
 E 
 
 annexed cut. The tube in use is quite exhausted of air, and 
 hermetically sealed at both ends, and coiled in the form 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 275 
 
 shown in the second figure. As the pressure from without 
 increases upon the tube, it exhibits a tendency to exchange 
 its original form for that shown in the third figure. If the 
 tube be sufficiently elastic, it resumes its former figure as 
 soon as the pressure is withdrawn, and the variations of 
 curvature attendant upon the increased or diminished pres¬ 
 sure, communicated to- an index moving over a dial-face, 
 giving the readings of the barometer. According to M. 
 Bourdon’s observations it would appear that the amount of 
 contraction or expansion is proportionate to the sustained 
 pressure; thus, if the two extremities of the tube become 
 separated by the space of one inch for a pressure of twenty 
 pounds upon the square inch, they will separate by a space 
 equal to two inches for one of ten pounds’ pressure, and so 
 on : consequently the graduations on the dial-plate are 
 equal throughout the scale. M. Bourdon considers that the 
 same action which brings together each of the ends of an 
 arc, when the chord is bent either in pulliug,—as in fig. 1, 
 or in pressing towards the arc,—as in fig. 2, is the same 
 action as that which causes in the metal tube the variations 
 of figure consequent upon different degrees of pressure; 
 and he observes, that by diminishing the pressure upon the 
 chord at A it will gradually relax, and both arc and chord 
 assume the form of fig. 3,—an action corresponding in its 
 effects with that produced by the withdrawal of the atmos¬ 
 pheric pressure, which suffers the tube to re-assume the 
 figure in which it was originally coiled. In reference to its 
 amount, M. Bourdon observes, that if the pressure on the 
 chord at A, fig. 2, be increased until it touch the arc of the 
 circle at D, fig. 4, the angle at D is rendered more acute, and 
 the two ends of the arc necessarily convergent, the amount 
 of convergence, being at all times in proportion to the angle 
 formed by the two chords of the arc, the curve of the arc 
 being modified in the same proportion. An effect of the 
 same kind is produced by pressing the chord simultaneously 
 on many points towards the arc, as in fig. 4, the withdrawal 
 of pressure being accompanied by the same return to the 
 original figure; and M. Bourdon considers that the same 
 action is induced by the external air, which maintains a 
 simultaneous pressure on every part of the curve. These 
 observations of M. Bourdon in connexion with the princi 
 
276 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 pies which he has successfully applied, seem to me deserving 
 of some consideration. The graduations of the instrument 
 are determined by subjecting it to artificial variations of 
 pressure in connexion with a standard mercurial barometer, 
 by which means the points of coincidence are correctly as¬ 
 certained and laid down, I have not had any experience of 
 the working of these barometers, and do not expect that 
 they are applicable to meteorological observations; but I 
 have no doubt that their action as steam-pressure gauges is 
 admirable. Many of these last were exhibited by M. Bour¬ 
 don, in some of which the converse of the action you have 
 just perceived was obtained by filling the tube with a gas 
 or liquid, in which case external pressure caused an expan¬ 
 sion or elongation, in opposition to the contraction you have 
 now witnessed. 
 
 The collection of Meteorological Instruments in the Ex¬ 
 hibition would lead us to the conclusion that the conditions 
 of good instruments are better understood and fulfilled by 
 makers abroad than at home. That this will speedily cease 
 to be the case, I feel assured. The opportunity offered to 
 the members of the Jury of expressing their disapprobation 
 to the makers, added to the increasing demand for good in¬ 
 struments, and to the fact of the public becoming acquainted 
 with the deficiencies of those usually furnished to them, 
 will enforce a demand for instruments better worthy the 
 investment of their time and money; and when we consider 
 how worse than useless is the labour of the meteorologist 
 when based upon bad or insufficient instruments, and how 
 by these means he becomes instrumental to the propagation 
 of error,—this circumstance alone demands increased care 
 in the selection of those used. That the want of good in¬ 
 struments is experienced I can myself testify. For years I 
 have pursued the subject of meteorology, and have long 
 been convinced that a widely-spread and universal system 
 of simultaneous observation, uniformly reduced, must be 
 the groundwork of its establishment as a science. For the 
 sake of this establishment, I, by my individual and unas¬ 
 sisted exertions, six years ago, reduced my system to prac¬ 
 tice, and introducing it first among the meteorological 
 observers, contributors to the Reports of the Ptegistrar- 
 General, in a short time perceived with satisfaction some of 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 277 
 
 the good results upon a limited scale. The observations 
 thus made and reduced were published quarterly in the Re¬ 
 ports of the Registrar-General at that time. Since then I 
 have been gradually, and with success, increasing the num¬ 
 ber of my observers, and have now established upwards of 
 fifty meteorological stations in different parts of the country, 
 all of which contribute observations made and reduced upon 
 my own system. The publication of these Quarterly Re¬ 
 ports, giving the combined results, has mainly laid the 
 foundation of the present system of meteorology. The 
 ready co-operation I have met with from gentlemen engaged 
 in its pursuit has convinced me that they were only too glad 
 to have direction given to their work, whilst the ready en¬ 
 gagement of other gentlemen in this pursuit is equally con¬ 
 vincing that they had waited only for a clear perception of 
 its utility. I now come to that which had nearly caused 
 the subversion of my scheme—the difficulty of obtaining 
 good instruments at a fair and moderate price. To remedy 
 this evil, to any great extent, was not in my power. Of 
 the means possessed by me, I, however, availed myself, and 
 have caused the construction of many barometers and ther¬ 
 mometers superior to those previously in use. That I have 
 been enabled to do this, is owing to the co-operation of Mr. 
 Barrow, who, anxious for the furtherance of truth, complied 
 with my request, and devoted his time and talents to the 
 advancement of my views. All the barometers, and the 
 greater part of the thermometers, scattered among my corps 
 of observers, have been made under my direction by him, 
 and constitute, with few exceptions, the most efficient in¬ 
 struments at their command. 
 
 The establishment of my system has been followed, first, 
 by the Ordnance furnishing themselves with twenty sets 
 of instruments, to plant twenty meteorological observatories 
 at their stations, and next by twenty sets which are now 
 being prepared by Col. Sykes for as many observatories in 
 India. 
 
 The Exhibition may be a means of contributing to the 
 improvement of meteorological instruments generally. 
 
 The public will have been informed of those localities 
 where the best instruments may be procured, and where, 
 without doubt, they will enforce the greatest demand. If 
 21 
 
278 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 to the good results of the Exhibition, as applied to meteoro¬ 
 logical science, I may add my own personal influence, I 
 earnestly exhort all gentlemen, either designing to com¬ 
 mence, or already engaged in meteorological research, to 
 use instruments such only as I h|ve described as efficient, 
 or abandon the pursuit entirely. 
 
 I will here introduce some remarks, received in a letter, 
 a few days ago, from one of my colleagues, Professor 
 Miller, and which bear closely upon the point in question. 
 “ Many observers have thrown away years in using bad 
 instruments, or instruments unsuited to their particular 
 object, not knowing the existence of instruments of a better 
 construction, or better suited to the objects they had in 
 view. I will begin with meteorology. Many observers use 
 costly thermometers with brass scales, the errors of which 
 cannot accurately be found, or with wrong scales, the error 
 of which is variable; for want of knowing the existence of 
 cheap thermometers, with the scales etched with hydro¬ 
 fluoric acid, on the tube itself, in which the error can be 
 determined with the greatest accuracy, and of which we had 
 such beautiful examples, exhibited by Simms, Negretti, 
 Fastre, and perhaps others. 
 
 “ Respecting barometers, Show discovered a remarkable 
 law between latitude and barometric pressure; but nearly 
 every one of the English observations was doubtful, on ac¬ 
 count of the badness of instruments and neglect of data for 
 reducing the observations, many of the observers having 
 used worthless instruments, in ignoi'ance that better were 
 in existence. I tried to verify this law of Schow’s by using 
 various English observations. 
 
 “ Six years observations in the Mediterranean, by Capt. 
 Smyth, I reduced as far as I could; but the labour was 
 thrown away, because the instruments did not admit of 
 determining the errors : that is, the error was not constant. 
 
 “ Professor Chevallier, of Durham, had observed with 
 a high-priced barometer for nine years, and that an obser¬ 
 vation should not be lost, had instructed the ladies of his 
 family to observe. He tried to obtain the constant error by 
 comparison with a barometer of my own, of Bunton’s con¬ 
 struction. The error was extremely variable; he anato¬ 
 mized his barometer, and found a cistern constructed of 
 
AND PROCESSES. 279 
 
 such materials that the error mainly depended on the hy- 
 grometric state of the atmosphere 
 
 “ Observations made at Madras, for twenty-three years, 
 by Mr. Croldingham, and printed in the East India Com¬ 
 pany’s costly volume, are, for the same reasons, worth less 
 than nothing. Lieutenant Sullivan, B.N., made numerous 
 observations at the Falkland Islands, which, for the same 
 reasons, are worthless. The same observation applies to 
 Captain Fitzroy’s observations at an important meteorolo¬ 
 gical station—the neighbourhood of Cape Horn. 
 
 “ Visiters to the Exhibition have now seen a beautiful 
 barometer, that gives absolute results; (Griffiths’) ba¬ 
 rometer, with small constant errors; (Newman’s, Orchard’s) 
 barometer, cheap, with a constant error, and not large. It 
 is to be hoped, that after the Exhibition no observer will 
 use, or artist make, a thermometer or barometer, except of 
 the improved construction described above. Captain Basil 
 Hall objected to the reflecting circle on account of the 
 trouble of reading more than one vernier. Professor Smyth 
 very lately complained of the difficulty of reading the vernier 
 of a sextant, because the verniers and limb are not in the 
 same plane. Would any body complain of the difficulty of 
 reading verniers who had seen Ertel’s universal instrument, 
 Beaulieu’s circle, Beaulieu’s beautiful sextant, the Austrian 
 Miner’s theodolite, Breithaupt’s theodolite, Froment’s theo¬ 
 dolite ? 
 
 u The Austrian levels and theodolites give a surveyor 
 great advantage in increased accuracy, great saving of time, 
 and of one assistant in the use of the chain; in colonies 
 where labour is scarce, in places where the ground is difficult, 
 and intersected by hedges and ditches, their advantages are 
 inestimable. In marine surveying, much time would be 
 saved by the use of Ertel’s universal instrument, instead of 
 the clumsy transits provided by the Admiralty. Time in 
 such cases must be measured by the cost of maintaining a 
 ship’s crew. One instrument and one observer can with it 
 determine time and latitude, and make any triangulites for 
 surveying with more facility on account of the direction in 
 which the observer looks, than with any other instrument 
 or instruments. 
 
 “ Would any observer about to fit up an observatory order 
 
280 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 any meridian instrument except such as Simms exhibited ? 
 But for the Exhibition, a quarter of a century might have 
 elapsed before the peculiarities of the construction of that 
 meridian circle became generally known; even that might, 
 in my opinion, be improved by adopting Steinheil’s disc of 
 glass for the circle. 
 
 “ A chemist who has seen Wollaston’s contrivance for 
 steadying the beam of a balance (Dover’s balance, Nissen’s 
 balance) will not be willing to put up with the cumbrous 
 machinery used for that purpose in many of the foreign 
 balances. Neither will he like to use knife edges with two 
 small agate planes, instead of a single long one in the mid¬ 
 dle, or curved instead of plane supports for the pans. 
 
 “ English balance-makers may also take a lesson from the 
 foreigners, and get rid of the too much adjustment of many 
 of our balances. The great excellence of L. Oerting’s ba¬ 
 lances appears to be in a great measure due to the unpreju- 
 dPed manner in which he adopted that which was really 
 good in the English balances, and to its skilful combination 
 with the good points of the instruments with which he was 
 acquainted before he came to England. 
 
 <c Many persons endeavour to acquire a knowledge of the 
 processes of research in natural philosophy and astronomy 
 by reading books and listening to oral communications; yet 
 their ideas remain obscure in consequence of their not being 
 able to see the instruments with which those researches are 
 carried on : for in this country there are no complete collec¬ 
 tions of instruments like those of the Conservatoire des 
 Arts ct Metiers at Paris, and the collections to be found in 
 the Physikalisclie Kahine.t of the smallest German univer¬ 
 sity. This grievous deficiency is in some degree remedied 
 by the exhibition of Class X. For instance, many people 
 have read of telescopes that followed the stars, keeping a 
 star in the middle of the field as if a fixed object on land. 
 How few have ever had a chance of seeing such a telescope ! 
 For the work of an observatory must not be interrupted for 
 the sake of gratifying the most laudable curiosity. They 
 are not places of education for the public. Now, the Ex¬ 
 hibition had two such telescopes: that by Simms, especially 
 illustrating the adaptation of the polar axis to the latitude 
 of the place where it was to be used. But few people can 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 281 
 
 sec transit instruments and meridian circles, though many 
 read of them. Many have read of extensive surveys and 
 of measurements of arcs of meridians, of dimensions of the 
 solar system, and the distance of the nearest stars. Elliott’s 
 altitude and azimuth instrument represents the form of the 
 instrument irsed in the triangulation of the English sur¬ 
 veys ; Ertel’s is the exact instrument used by Struve in the 
 arc that is to extend from the North Cape to Crete. There 
 were the compensated bars for measuring the bases by Eng¬ 
 lish observers, and specimens of linear measure to which 
 these bars could be referred, of both kinds, d bouts and d 
 traits (Bessel’s and Sheepshanks’s); both the best of their 
 kind. Even ordinary surveying instruments are unknown 
 to a great part of the class of persons I allude to. Few 
 people have an opportunity of seeing a moderately good 
 balance. The Exhibition contained balances of the most 
 accurate construction, ‘ for weights from the smallest up to 
 60 pounds.’ ” 
 
 PnOTOGRAPIIY. 
 
 The collection of Photographs in the Exhibition was well 
 calculated to show the active and experimental nature of the 
 attempts being made to improve its processes,—an activity 
 less observable throughout the Foreign side of the collec¬ 
 tion, which established fewer claims to excellence, on the 
 ground of the novelty of the processes adopted, than were 
 established on the British side. This activity was shown 
 in part (to confine ourselves at first to daguerreotypes) in the 
 works of Claudet, who exhibited applications of his focime- 
 ter; illustrations of the effects of the spectrum on the da¬ 
 guerreotype plate, as prepared by him; and pictures which, 
 notwithstanding the loss of light necessary for the operation, 
 were rendered non-inverting: in those of Mayall, who ex¬ 
 hibited the crayon daguerreotype, produced by a process of 
 his own; Beard, rvho exhibited enamelled daguerreotypes, 
 in which the permanence of the picture was secured by a 
 lacquer; in the pictures of Tyree, who claimed the adoption 
 of a peculiar process of his own; and various others, which 
 it would be tedious to enumerate. 
 
 The daguerreotypes exhibited by America, though not 
 distinguished by experimental attempts at improvement of 
 24 * 
 
282 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 processes, were remarkable as illustrations of the excellence 
 of those which had been employed. 
 
 Those of France were fewer in number than might have 
 been expected from the country which had given birth to 
 the founder of the art, and were indicative of no superiority, 
 except in the use of colour, over those in the British de¬ 
 partment; and were decidedly inferior to those of America. 
 I may here observe, that the characteristics of the contents 
 of the collections severally furnished by the United King¬ 
 dom, America, and France, were remarkably distinct: those 
 of France were very bright, sunny, and not entirely divested 
 of glare ; those of America, which consisted almost entirely 
 of portraits, were distinguished by a depth and harmony of 
 tone to which those of France were totally a stranger, and, 
 equally removed from violent contrasts and from insipidity, 
 exhibited a degree of truth and reality only to be obtained 
 by a close agreement with the rules of art. The character¬ 
 istics of the pictures in the British department varied with 
 the differing nature of the processes adopted, and the amount 
 of success attendant upon their use; so much so, that the 
 works of many of the exhibitors were in possession of a 
 style sufficient to distinguish them without reference to the 
 Catalogue. These peculiarities I have carefully described 
 in my Report, and shall not now detail. It is, however, 
 but justice to Mr. Mayall, to mention that, since writing 
 the Report, I have become acquainted with the fact, that 
 many of the daguerreotypes exhibited by him had been 
 taken ten or twelve years: this fact was not detailed to the 
 Jurors when engaged in making their examinations, and, 
 consequently, has exercised no influence in favour of the 
 award which Mr. Mayall has received. It is at the same 
 time to be regretted, that the daguerreotypes exhibited by 
 this gentleman, all of which were executed in this country, 
 were very many of them distributed into the American de¬ 
 partment among American works of art. 
 
 Turning to the paper and glass photography of the Ex¬ 
 hibition, we are again assured of the activity of experimental 
 attempts for its improvement; and here England, again 
 eminent for experiment, was certainly surpassed by the 
 calotypes and sun pictures of France; America was with¬ 
 drawn entirely from competition; and Germany and Austria 
 
AND PROCESSES. 283 
 
 contributed to supply her place, by the exhibition of several 
 photographs. 
 
 Before proceeding farther, it will be necessary to observe 
 that the almost endless variety and modification of daguer¬ 
 reotypes and talbotypes exhibited rendered it most difficult 
 to obtain, in each case, the nature of the process adopted; 
 and excellence of execution, combined with adherence to 
 the rules of art laid down for the representation of natural 
 objects, became the safest and only criterion of merit. 
 
 The nearest approach to this standard of excellence was 
 made by Martens, in all of whose works the elements essen¬ 
 tial to the process of the art, and to his own method, were 
 so combined and applied, that the spectator, losing sight of 
 the means in the end, beheld in them representations of the 
 most perfect beauty, void of artificial effect or technical 
 display; and the mind, impressed with the beauty of nature’s 
 own tracings, was not for a moment reminded of the human 
 appliances which had directed the work. 
 
 Following Martens’ steps, and inferior to him alone, were 
 Bayard and Flacheron; and following after, many exhibit¬ 
 ors of talbotypes and calotypes, among whose works were 
 to be perceived specimens of M. Blanquart’s process for the 
 production of two and three hundred impressions from the 
 same negative proof: their blotty and heavy appearance 
 was, however, destructive to a great amount of the success 
 of the results obtained: their price was designed to vary 
 from 5 to 15 centimes, according to their size. 
 
 In the British collection of sun pictures, some very beau¬ 
 tiful results were obtained by Boss and Thompson of Edin¬ 
 burgh, upon albumenized glass; their method of distributing 
 the albumen over the surface of the glass, and the chemical 
 agents used for the production of the rich and varied tints 
 observable in their pictures, I have given in the Report. 
 Mr. Buckle, of Peterborough, contributed calotypes of great 
 beauty, by a process of his own : Hill and Adamson, talbo¬ 
 types, spirited in effect, and well-toned : Henneman and 
 Malone, beautiful specimens, by Mr. Talbot’s process, on 
 paper; and some tinted by the application of caustic potash 
 and a lead-salt. Mr. Owen contributed a series of calotype 
 pictures upon paper, so prepared by him that, by its use, 
 he has been enabled to execute in a single day, in a journey 
 
284 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 of three hundred miles, ten large-sized talbotypes. Some 
 good photographs were exhibited by Paul Pretsch, of Aus¬ 
 tria, and a few of a mediocre kind by the Zollyerein; but 
 they did not at all represent photographic art in their re¬ 
 spective countries. 
 
 It is no less true than to be lamented, that this collection, 
 the largest that has yet been brought together, and highly 
 illustrative of the art, is by no means indicative of the ex¬ 
 isting photography in England—a defect, the cause of 
 which is equally lamentable with its effect. When writing 
 the Report, I ascribed, and I think justly, much of the 
 rapid and successful progress of photography to the com¬ 
 parative absence of patents in connexion with it. Since 
 then I have become better acquainted with the restrictive 
 influence exercised over the exhibition of photographs, how 
 distantly soever allied to Mr. Talbot’s process, by that 
 gentleman’s patent in connexion with it, and which secures 
 to that distinguished photographist the discovery of the 
 fact of a latent impression being made on prepared paper, 
 and of the possibility of its developement by fresh applica¬ 
 tions of washes. This patent has been attended with great 
 injury, though less, perhaps, than might have been ex¬ 
 pected; for having, almost, if not entirely, prevented this 
 branch of photography receiving accessions from those to 
 whom profit must hold out the inducement to its pursuit, 
 it has left it almost solely in the hands of gentlemen, the 
 results of whose experiments and investigations are con¬ 
 stantly before the public, and who, while rapidly developing 
 this beautiful and important discovery in its various rami¬ 
 fications, consider—and justly, too—that new principles, 
 when received as truth, become the common property of 
 mankind. 
 
 It may be observed of patents in general, that they 
 frequently cause many attempts to be made for the attain¬ 
 ment of the same end by different means, and that of Mr. 
 Talbot proves to be no exception to this rule; the chief 
 claim upon which it is founded is the developement of the 
 latent picture by the application of liquids. A picture, 
 therefore, impressed in the camera, to be developed without 
 subsequent applications, became a thing highly desirable 
 to obtain. Accordingly, Dr. Woods discovered a process, 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 285 
 
 known as the catalisotype, by which the picture impressed 
 in the camera reveals itself when set aside in the dark, 
 without any assistance from the photographer. This pro¬ 
 cess has been used by Mr. Mayall with very successful 
 results, but the great objection to its use is the difficulty 
 of obtaining paper suited to the process. Very recently 
 Mr. Robert Ellis has obtained a new process, by the use 
 of the proto-nitrate of iron, by which the same result is 
 obtained; the paper being very sensitive, the picture ap¬ 
 pears in a minute or two after it has been exposed in the 
 camera, but though both these processes (one of which was 
 called into existence by the necessity of a process different 
 from that of Mr. Talbot’s, for the purpose of geological 
 investigations), and various others are due to the enforce¬ 
 ment of Mr. Talbot’s patent, it is believed that the reason 
 the French photographers in the Exhibition excelled our 
 own was chiefly because this patent right does not restrict 
 them. These restrictions consist in the requirement of a 
 large sum for a license to use Mr. Talbot’s process for 
 practical purposes, or prosecution for the infringement of 
 the patent. Under these restrictions, M. Martens’ beau¬ 
 tiful photographs are excluded from the market in this 
 country, and the specimens exhibited by that gentleman 
 were withdrawn again to France, the sale of them in Lon¬ 
 don being at once checked by a threat that proceedings 
 would be instituted against him for the infringement of 
 Mr. Talbot’s patent. 
 
 Let us now be content to take a more general view of 
 the subject, which affords a striking illustration of the ger¬ 
 mination of new principles, by showing how the groundwork 
 of a science originated in France has been received among 
 nations, which ever since have been silently promoting its 
 advance and contributing to its improvement, each in a man¬ 
 ner suited to its peculiar genius,—a germination arising out 
 of the fact, that ever at hand are to be found talent and in¬ 
 dustry leady to receive new direction and fresh impetus in 
 the acquisition of knowledge, which when gathered, has 
 rarely been garnered for the benefit of the few, but has been 
 widely scattered for the use of all capable of, and willing to 
 appreciate the gift, by which means the bulk of information 
 collected from the date of the Daguerrian invention has been 
 
286 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 dispersed, to collect again with interest subservient still to 
 its advancement. A great step towards the same end was 
 the collection of photographs in the Exhibition, which af¬ 
 forded to the photologist a larger field of observation than 
 he could have before enjoyed : many of the producing pro¬ 
 cesses have long been common property, but not so their 
 several results. The Exhibition supplied this deficiency as 
 far as existing causes permitted, and placed the inquirer at 
 once in possession of a class of information, which before 
 could only have been obtained through the trouble and in¬ 
 convenience of personal introductions and mutual interchange 
 of specimens ; at the same time placing him in possession, 
 not only of a means of estimating their relative merits, but 
 also of emulating any one style it might seem desirable to him 
 to adopt or improve, either of his own or other countries, 
 the characteristics of which were severally attended with 
 some peculiar merit or excellence. A means of studying 
 cause and effect, such as this collection afforded to the prac¬ 
 tised photographist, can scarcely be unattended with im¬ 
 portant results; and the public, many of whom have, for 
 the first time, seen a really good daguerreotype, will be bet¬ 
 ter informed of the power of the art as applied to the pur¬ 
 poses of representation. The imperfect application of pho¬ 
 tography was well represented in the Exhibition, and showed 
 plainly that to please the eye, and administer to personal 
 feelings, is the chief purpose to which a power capable of 
 higher and more useful applications is at present applied. 
 In my Report, I have enlarged upon its utility as applied 
 to the purposes of art, science, and literature; but time 
 only permits me to mention that there were no specimens 
 of ancient inscriptions, no delineations of tropical or remote 
 scenery (excepting Claudet’s), no specimens of the actinic 
 spectrum on chemical preparations, no magnified represent¬ 
 ations of the microscopic products of nature, no copies of 
 ancient manuscripts, no miniatures of printed books, no 
 specimens of scotography, or the art of copying engravings 
 by simple juxtaposition in the dark by obscure inter¬ 
 radiation, and many other applications to which it is well 
 adapted. 
 
 Whipple, however (U.S.A., 451), by exhibiting a pho¬ 
 tographic image of the moon, has broken ground for its ap- 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 287 
 
 plication to astronomy. No photographic image of a star 
 has as yet, as far as I know, been obtained, but great would 
 be the advantages secured, if by merely using prepared 
 paper, the relative position of the objects in the field of a 
 telescope could be made self-registering. I can, indeed, well 
 conceive, that with a good working system of photography, 
 stars, invisible to the eye, may be made to register their po¬ 
 sition with the same telescope, even looking with a black 
 field, because, with a well-adjusted clock motion, the same 
 object may be made to occupy the same position on the 
 plate, or paper, for any length of time. By such a system 
 much distressing work in searching for new objects might 
 be avoided, and I think it is a subject which cannot be too 
 strongly insisted upon. 
 
 Mr. Brooke exhibited his admirable system for the pho¬ 
 tographic self-registration of natural phenomena, including 
 apparatus for ascertaining all those elements in magnetism 
 at present considered important to investigate, and also a 
 means of registering some of the elements necessary for 
 meteorological investigations. Thus every change of position 
 
288 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 in the magnet is recorded; and not only is the change noted, 
 but the peculiarities of its motion also registered. The in¬ 
 timate connexion existing between the aurora borealis and 
 magnetism is ocularly shown, and also many particulars 
 which, in the ordinary mode of observing, would necessarily 
 escape detection. The exhibition of Mr. Brooke’s system 
 of photography to the self-registration of natural phenomena 
 will, I am convinced, be immediately followed in different 
 countries, and become a means of increasing our knowledge 
 of undoubted facts. Since the Exhibition, France and Spain 
 have ordered the necessary apparatus, and the Jurors of 
 other countries have also recommended its adoption. 
 
 The principle is shown in the annexed cut, in which a 
 represents a part of a bar magnet; b a concave mirror, 
 resting in a stirrup firmly attached to the suspension appa¬ 
 ratus, the whole being supported by a single thread; e a 
 blackened glass cylinder, wrapped round with photographic 
 paper; d a plano-convex lens ; c a lamp placed a little out 
 of the line which joins the centres of the cylinder and 
 magnet. 
 
 In operation, a pencil of light passes from c through a 
 very narrow aperture, diverges and spreads over the mirror 
 b, from which it is reflected, and diverges to the lens d, and 
 is condensed into a well-defined spot of light at the surface 
 of the paper. The action of this spot upon the photographic 
 paper is to leave a trace, which is, however, imperceptible, 
 until subsequently revealed by the application of solutions. 
 
 As the whole of the suspension apparatus is firmly fixed 
 together, the mirror partakes of every movement of the 
 magnet, and reflecting the spot of light to different parts 
 of the paper, according to the communicated movement, 
 causes the photographic action created by the spot to become 
 a record of the movements of the magnet with which it is 
 identified. 
 
 The undulations in the trace when developed are thus 
 in exact accordance with the deflections of the magnet to 
 the right and left; a period of rest, during which time the 
 spot remains stationary, being indicated by an undeviating 
 line, the continuity of which remains unbroken, as the 
 cylinder is placed in gear with a chronometer, by means of 
 the winch-iron at the end of the cylinder resting in the 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 289 
 
 Land of the chronometer, forked for its reception, which 
 revolves once in twelve hours. 
 
 Balances. 
 
 Next in order of arrangement, Balances claim our atten¬ 
 tion. The fine collection in the Exhibition included superior 
 instruments furnished by the United Kingdom, France, 
 Germany, Belgium, Austria, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, 
 and the United States of America. Many of them had 
 never been surpassed in beauty of workmanship and in the 
 essentials of good instruments. It may not be out of placo 
 here to mention, that the Exhibition made known an appli¬ 
 cation of voltaic action of great value, by T. II. Henry, Esq., 
 by coating with perfect success the beams of two of the 
 balances exhibited by Oertling, the one with palladium, and 
 the other with platina. By this application, a derivative 
 from the electrotype, the inferior metals are covered with 
 the superior,—a process applicable to thermometer scales, 
 to the limbs of astronomical and geodetical instruments, 
 and, in fact, to graduated scales of all kinds; nor are its 
 applications confined to these alone, it is useful in the coat¬ 
 ing of weights, instances of which are now brought beforo 
 you for the first time, as well as the scale of a thermometer 
 similarly coated (which I now present to you). Mr. Henry 
 assures me these great advantages will not involve much 
 additional expense. A want of many years is thus sup¬ 
 plied, for I have been long endeavouring to bring into use 
 some substitute to avoid silvering the scales of thermome¬ 
 ters,—a want which has long been experienced by all who 
 have used metallic scales, and know how soon the divisions 
 are obliterated, and who will not fail fully to appreciate 
 this useful application. 
 
 Calculating Machines. 
 
 Of Calculating Machines there were several (more or less 
 perfect), by which the hand is made to do the work of the 
 mind, and calculations requiring much strained labour are 
 performed by merely turning a handle. In this department 
 the name of Babbage is forced upon our recollection, and 
 25 
 
290 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 regret is experienced that his name appears not. No one 
 who has seen his elaborate workshops, or anything connected 
 with his calculating machine, but must experience regret 
 that none of his talents and labours adorned the Exhibi¬ 
 tion. Of the machines exhibited, the best was furnished 
 from Russia, by Staffed, and was found to perform accurately 
 and readily the simple calculations of the first four rules of 
 arithmetic, as well as the extraction of the square root, 
 though less readily. The next best, from France, by 
 Thomas de Colmar, was also capable of performing the 
 same calculations. 
 
 Electric Telegraphs. 
 
 The Exhibition was rich in Electric Telegraphs, and for 
 the first time the public had an opportunity of inspecting 
 their arrangements. Beyond the spreading of general in¬ 
 formation, I do not see that the collection of telegraphs 
 ■will be followed by any particular advantage arising from 
 it, because the earnestness of all gentlemen at present 
 connected with them needs no stimulus to further exer¬ 
 tions. 
 
 The Electric Telegraph Company exhibited their collec¬ 
 tion of varied and beautiful instruments, which, however, 
 were not accessible to the public. The British Electric 
 Telegraph Company’s instruments were fully exhibited, and 
 Mr. Ilighton was in almost constant attendance to explain 
 them to the public. Walker, of Tonbridge, exhibited a 
 very interesting collection, comprising in much detail the 
 various appliances he has found it necessary to adopt to 
 bring the telegraph on the South-Eastern Railway to that 
 effective state in which it now is. I have already referred 
 to the discovery of Oersted, viz. that magnetism could be 
 deduced from electricity; this was followed by Faraday’s 
 discovery of the converse effect, viz. the obtaining electricity 
 from a permanent magnet, which he did by giving motion 
 to the magnet, when he found that electricity was induced 
 in adjacent conductors; and he it was that found the direc¬ 
 tion of electricity to be at right angles to the polar axis of 
 the magnet, and that magnetism conjoined with motion be¬ 
 came the source of electricity. Henley, availing himself 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 291 
 
 of this, exhibited a beautiful magneto-electric telegraph, 
 ^hich acted well, and in which the source of electricity 
 was in permanent magnets. I have since, in company 
 with Mr. Walker, seen this telegraph in connexion with 
 the submarine telegraph at Dover. J. Brett exhibited a 
 printing telegraph, by which communications can be made 
 in any language, and printed upon paper with rapidity and 
 precision. 
 
 Bakewell exhibited his copying electric telegraph, by 
 which a fac-simile of the written message is obtained. 
 Dering exhibited many ingenious contrivances; and Whi- 
 shaw, a collection chiefly interesting in an historical point 
 of view. Prussia furnished a beautiful system of tele¬ 
 graphs, exhibited by Siemens and Halske. The details and 
 peculiarities of the telegraphs exhibited I have fully de¬ 
 scribed in my Report. 
 
 I cannot pass from this subject, which, if fully treated 
 upon, would alone occupy an entire evening, without ex¬ 
 pressing my satisfaction at finding in the chair a gentleman 
 (Mr. Cooke) to whom we are so much indebted for im¬ 
 provements in the electric telegraph; and fully assured 
 are we that so long as the talents and energy of this gen¬ 
 tleman, who, in conjunction with Mr. Wheatstone, was the 
 founder of electric telegraphs in England, are enlisted in 
 its advancement, the superiority secured to England in this 
 the discovery of the age will be neither lost nor diminished. 
 
 Electrical Machines. 
 
 Of Electrical Machines there was one only requiring 
 particular mention—that of Westmoreland, for generating 
 electricity from gutta-percha bands, and which gives promise 
 of producing electricity to any amount: this, the introduc¬ 
 tion of a new motive power, opens a new field of philosophical 
 inquiry well worth exploring. 
 
 Standard Measures of Length. 
 
 \ beautiful machine of this kind was exhibited by Mr. 
 Whitworth, for the purpose of measuring to one millionth 
 of an inch. Another delicate and beautiful apparatus for 
 
292 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 the same purpose was furnished from Germany by Bauman. 
 Simms exhibited standard bars and scales. The Conserva¬ 
 toire des Arts et Metiers at Paris, furnished a beautifully 
 divided metre and various standard measures. 
 
 Dividing Machines. 
 
 Acldand exhibited a Dividing Machine, very ingeniously 
 contrived for the division of hydrometer scales. Perreaux 
 (Prance) furnished a beautiful straight-line divider. 
 
 Tide-Gauges. 
 
 Of Tide-Gauges there were two, both self-registering, by 
 Hewitson and Newman: that of Hewitson was the better; 
 it showed both time and tide, was elegant in appearance, 
 and seemed perfect in action. 
 
 Iridescent Films. 
 
 Mr. De la Due exhibited various applications of iridescent 
 films to the purposes of decoration generally. This is a beau¬ 
 tiful illustration of the production of colour on a thin trans¬ 
 parent surface, bv the agency of light, the colours being as 
 bright as those seen transiently in the ordinary soap-bubble. 
 The process is performed by dropping a very small quantity 
 of spirit-varnish upon the surface of water when tranquil, 
 which, spreading in all directions, becomes exceedingly 
 attenuated, and reflects the colours of the spectrum. The 
 object immersed (paper-hangings, card-cases, &c.) is then 
 raised slowly, in such manner that the film adheres to its 
 surface. It is applicable to very many ornamental purposes. 
 
 Acoustics. 
 
 In Acoustics, the syrcnc of Cagniard de la Tour, exhibited 
 by Watkins and Hill, was the only philosophical instrument 
 exhibited. This beautiful instrument, in the early part of 
 the present century, was invented by the Baron de la Tour, 
 who, struck with the belief that musical sounds were pro¬ 
 duced b} r a succession of impulses striking the air, and pro- 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 293 
 
 ducing vibrations, determined to ascertain whether a piece 
 of mechanism so constructed as to strike the air with the 
 same rapidity and regularity would also produce sounds. 
 The instrument now in my hand was the result of this 
 determination ; its construction, which is at once simple 
 and elegant, I will briefly explain. The air set in motion, 
 by blowing through this small tube, communicates motion 
 to the circular plate, which turns upon the cylindrical brass 
 chamber beneath. The plate within its circumference is 
 pierced with a series of oblique and equidistant holes, and 
 immediately beneath, on the upper surface of the brass 
 chamber, is a corresponding series. The obliquity of the 
 two series of perforations is similar, but reversed for the 
 purpose of enabling the current to communicate a rotatory 
 movement to the plate; the obliquity of the holes is in 
 itself not necessary to the production of sound, but is a 
 conventional arrangement to produce motion without the 
 employment of an additional agent. 
 
 The disc is thus made to revolve with a rapidity in exact 
 proportion to the force with which the air is impelled through 
 the tube, and by its rapid and regular movement gives to 
 the external air a series of shocks, which produce a sound 
 analogous to the human voice, more or less sharp according 
 as the current turns the plate with more or less rapidity. 
 
 The moveable disc is carefully centered in the surface of 
 the air-chamber, by means of a slender axis working in a 
 small orifice left for its reception, and is connected with the 
 indexes above by a delicate cylindrical tube, terminated by 
 an endless screw, which gives motion to a wheel furnished 
 with 100 teeth, and bearing on its axle an index. A cog 
 on this wheel acts upon another, whose axle likewise carries 
 an index. For every 100 divisions traversed by the index 
 of the wheel with 100 teeth, which corresponds with the 
 same number of rotations performed by the plate beneath, 
 one division is registered by the other of the two indexes : 
 an arrangement which affords great facility for reading off 
 the multitudinous vibrations of which each sound is com¬ 
 posed. 
 
 If water be passed into the syrene instead of air the same 
 sounds are produced, even should the instrument be totally 
 
294 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 immersed, the same number of vibrations producing the 
 same sound, and hence the name of the instrument. 
 
 This instrument in use, as applied to a continuous stream 
 of air, is a means for determining the absolute number of 
 vibrations in a second necessary to the pitch of a note, and 
 may be set in motion by the flow of air or gas from a gaso¬ 
 meter, or by a stream of water, as already mentioned; and 
 is a beautiful and practical adaptation of a theory which it 
 at once confirms, affording at the same time a key to much 
 that is unknown in the relations existing between sound and 
 its producing causes. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 Suc-h are some of the principal novelties which were 
 prominently brought before us, giving evidence of the 
 advance of science, and plainly bespeaking the great effort 
 of the age to be a seeking after facts and their relations, 
 confirmatory of which are the earnestly-pursued mvestiga- 
 tions in magnetism, in photography, Brooke’s application 
 of the latter, the self-registering instruments of Dollond, 
 Newman, Hewitson, and others; all of which, by compel¬ 
 ling Nature to record her own facts, are laying up a scries 
 of undoubted worth and accuracy for future use. 
 
 It is evident that, wherever we are possessed of suffi¬ 
 cient strength to command the services of nature to our 
 own ends, an immense power is obtained; for one set of 
 laws is brought into contact with a set of facts, of the 
 governing laws of which we know nothing, and once set 
 in motion may run parallel for a time, but may ultimately 
 exhibit a tendency to converge actually towards each other, 
 or, by the detection of an agent common to both, may set 
 the germ of the theory which shall unravel the mystery we 
 are desirous to penetrate. That knowledge which we do 
 possess has ever been our only means for the attainment of 
 that which we have not, and the observation of facts and 
 their relations, with which we are daily familiar, can alone 
 enable us to solve the causation of effects viewdd at a great 
 distance, and only to be accounted for on analogical reason¬ 
 ing. In by-gone times man knew no substitute for the 
 replacement of manual exertion; work with the hammer 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 295 
 
 required the employment of men, in whom muscular strength 
 was the only capital invested: this was superseded by a 
 knowledge of mechanics—the law of forces, which compelled 
 the weight to descend unerringly at the appointed time. 
 Now a higher agent still is called into play, and the galvanic 
 current—a stream, subtle, imperceptible, and instantaneous 
 —is made to endue the ponderous iron with a still more 
 unerring precision; and, more important still, is found 
 linked with a power, that of magnetism, upon which other 
 agents of nature, light and chemistry, are at work to supply 
 materials to enable us to elucidate laws; and electro-mag¬ 
 netism, while supplying us with a new motive force, gives 
 us a means of handling the unknown power, and permits 
 us to add experiments and practice to the slow process of 
 accumulating observations. 
 
 From facts such as these, -which plainly show the neces¬ 
 sity of still increased attention to the culture of science, 
 you would naturally expect that I should urge gentlemen 
 to its pursuit. As an Englishman anxious for the main¬ 
 tenance of his country’s prosperity, Ido ; but I cannot for¬ 
 bear observing, that lavish as is the repayment made by 
 science for its culture, inadequate in this country at all 
 times has been the repayment permitted to its followers. 
 The lot of the scientific man has heretofore been most fre¬ 
 quently to expend years of study, experiment, and research, 
 his means, possibly his health : for what return ? To find 
 himself unrecognised, unheeded, and each year a poorer 
 man than he was the year before : to find that for want of 
 power, through the lack of means for its employment, he 
 has served to lay a foundation for the after use of countries 
 more liberal and more discerning, and so to possess another 
 with ease of the gift to place which at the disposal of his 
 country he has sacrificed the best years of his life. His 
 only recompense, too frequently, is the internal conscious¬ 
 ness that he is benefiting his fellow-man and adding to 
 human knowledge; that when he is no more, his labours 
 will still stand forward and receive acknowledgment, al¬ 
 though too late to benefit him or those nearest to him— 
 that he and others are acquiring knowledge which, if not 
 bestowed in their country’s service and for her aggrandize¬ 
 ment, would ultimately diminish, if not deprive her of the 
 
296 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 power of rewarding the toil of the most humble of her sons 
 of labour. Of this consciousness none can deprive him. 
 
 But if the unpromising nature of the ground before him 
 be insufficient to daunt the ardour of the lover of science 
 when once engaged in its pursuit; if, knowing well the ob¬ 
 stacles which present themselves in the rugged ascent, any 
 gentleman of talent be content to pass by the beaten tracks 
 to wealth and preferment to choose that which, successfully 
 pursued, should lead him to renown—if thus a man of un¬ 
 doubted worth and fidelity be secured to the cause of 
 science, these obstacles are more than sufficient to turn 
 aside, into the smoother paths leading to professions which 
 hold out inducements to their pursuit, the far greater num¬ 
 ber of those who are well qualified by talent, education, and 
 bias, to add to the stores of science and shed lustre on their 
 country. 
 
 That every man in the pursuit of the investigations which 
 his own peculiar genius suggests to him should be prepared 
 for a time to sacrifice both means and social enjoyment, is 
 just; but it is not just that their termination should hold 
 out no promise of reward. From their nature they involve 
 expense, the purchase of instruments, apparatus, and appli¬ 
 ances of various kinds-—an expenditure of capital as well as 
 thought and talent; but when he finds that they have pre¬ 
 cluded him from the acquisition, not of wealth, but of com¬ 
 petence, and that just when years of study and perseverance 
 have brought him to that position when to the furtherance 
 of his investigations is necessary the co-operation of others, 
 as in some measure directed by himself—a direction for 
 which his previous career has well qualified him, he finds 
 himself divested of the power of continuing longer the in¬ 
 vestments necessary to his pursuit; the loss to himself is 
 great, but to his country it is greater. A man of the 
 utmost energy and ability unassisted can do but little in 
 comparison with that which, when directing others to the 
 same end, he can effect. In the one case he resembles the 
 vast engine which sets in motion a thousand wheels, which, 
 acting in concert, produce results similar in kind, but of a 
 thousand times the amount which the same engine applied 
 to the one wheel could effect; and who that has witnessed 
 the uncleviating certainty and power of the former arrange- 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 297 
 
 ment could doubt for one moment the propriety of granting 
 means for the support of the motive power, the conferrer of 
 such important elements of prosperity ? 
 
 The scientific man being so frequently exposed to a life 
 of unremunerated labour, urges me to express a hope that, 
 at no distant time, the pursuit of science in England may 
 constitute a distinct profession, open to the preferments and 
 advantages of other professions;—when the young man, 
 ardent in his pursuit of natural laws and abstract science, 
 shall work on patiently and contentedly, successively attain¬ 
 ing those steps in his career marked by public epochs of 
 encouragement, until, arriving at the goal prescribed for 
 reward, he shall find himself in that position where the 
 energies and talents possessed by him, matured by the 
 rigorous discipline of his previous career, may be expanded 
 and freely exercised for the benefit of his country, which 
 from the adoption of this policy would secure a guiding 
 power over inquiries highly serviceable to the public. 
 
 I have permitted myself to speak thus freely, from a con¬ 
 viction that the dawn of a brighter day for science is fast 
 approaching. The erection of the Exhibition, and the re¬ 
 spect shown to mind, by intrusting to its charge the ma¬ 
 nagement and direction of its multitudinous details, and the 
 constituting it sole judge of the respective excellencies of its 
 contents; the high interest that science in its highest ap¬ 
 plications and developements of power commanded from its 
 Illustrious designer, leads to the reasonable expectation that 
 more encouragement will be held out to those who are capa¬ 
 ble of adding to the number of truths on which such appli¬ 
 cations are founded, and glad Lam to find that in this view 
 I am supported by a brother Juror. In a letter I have 
 lately received from Sir David Brewster, he says, speaking 
 upon this subject, “ I am persuaded that the Exhibition 
 will exercise the most salutary influence, in so far as it will 
 turn the attention of the influential classes of society to the 
 vast national importance of encouraging science and the arts, 
 by placing men who advance them in a better position than 
 they have hitherto occupied in this country : and science, in 
 place of moving upwards, struggling against a precipitous 
 ascent in passing from the lower and middle classes to the 
 
298 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 higher, will ascend with a gentle movement, and carry with 
 it the dignity and importance belonging to it.” 
 
 The culture of science is itself a high test of civilization, 
 and we are irresistibly led to think highly of a state of so¬ 
 ciety, remarkable, like the present, for its persevering at¬ 
 tempts to cultivate science, with direct relation to the every¬ 
 day necessities of life, its stores being daily ransacked to 
 contribute to the meanest comforts of life, and to forward 
 to perfection instruments, to assist in laying up theories for 
 future use. As theories precede their practical application 
 some little time, and require a high order of mind to deduce 
 them from the observations of the many, it follows that the 
 succeeding era of practical application must give occupation 
 to many more; and the value of these practical applications 
 the Exhibition was well calculated to expose, and did not 
 fail to attest that the developement of scientific principles 
 has not equally progressed in each country, although the 
 developement in every case has preceded a very little while 
 their general dissemination; but the exhibiting the super¬ 
 structures erected upon such principles was well calculated 
 to raise the most indifferent to the level of the best: in the 
 same manner as the now established pre-eminence of the 
 British microscope will cause the best exertions of the 
 French and German makers to he directed, first, to equal, 
 and then to excel them ; while at the same time, a know¬ 
 ledge that this is likely to be the case will act as an incen¬ 
 tive to our microscopists for the maintenance of the supe¬ 
 riority, which competent and close investigation yielded to 
 them. This is a single illustration, out of many I could 
 adduce, to show how the ground work had been laid for 
 the diffusion of a" spirit of emulation, which, exercised 
 between nations vying with each other in productive skill, 
 will not be one of the least important fruits of the Ex¬ 
 hibition. 
 
 Of the working details and management of the Exhibition I 
 may not here speak, as they do not fall within my prescribed 
 limits; but I may with propriety observe, that the careful 
 examinations induced by the medal awards elicited the 
 greater number of those facts in connexion with the sub¬ 
 jects collected, which must necessarily stand as the only 
 record to posterity of the merits and utility of the collection. 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 299 
 
 The eliciting and collecting of facts is at all times important, 
 but the combination and classification is still more so, as 
 giving tenfold value to those already gained, and withdraw¬ 
 ing many more from the obscurity in which otherwise they 
 must for ever have been plunged. Without the Jury ex¬ 
 amination, a knowledge of the novelties and improvements 
 I have this evening brought forward would have been con¬ 
 fined to the few. To award the medals, the criticism and 
 judgment of gentlemen at home and from abroad were re¬ 
 quested and obtained : by which means, not only were hidden 
 merits revealed and their value estimated, but an official 
 sanction was obtained, which, while it secured to merit its 
 true position, gave to the public certain standards of excel¬ 
 lence highly important for them to possess; and the con¬ 
 tents of the building, and particularly of Class X., without 
 the award system, would have stood merely as records of the 
 industry and ingenuity of man, whilst the statistics of rela¬ 
 tive merit and the advance of nations would have been facts 
 concealed by the caprice of individual opinion, not bound 
 together by the pursuit of a sanctioned and enjoined inquiry. 
 I speak with commendation of the system as a whole, and 
 of the general results obtained, which, of sterling value now, 
 will become still more so as the era of the Exhibition recedes, 
 and the works of the present day co-mingle with the pro¬ 
 ductions for which the medals were awarded. But I should 
 be doing fresh injustice to Mr. Simms were I to suffer the 
 observations I have made to imply, that the second-rate 
 medal awarded to that gentleman was to be understood as 
 his due reward. Scarcely any one in this room can be igno¬ 
 rant, that the recommendations of the Jury for the Council 
 medal could not be carried into effect without the sanction 
 of the Council of Chairmen,—a body composed of gentlemen, 
 each of -whom was chairman to a separate class: thus, in 
 the Council to which Mr. Simms's award was submitted, 
 one individual only represented that class which was alone 
 competent to decide upon the merits of instruments of so 
 costly and exclusive a nature. By the constitution of this 
 Council, those who were quite incompetent to form an 
 opinion upon the merits of an astronomical instrument pos¬ 
 sessed equal voice with those who were well qualified to 
 judge, and who must have necessarily been in the minority, 
 
800 
 
 PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 as the improvements exhibited by Mr. Simms were only to 
 be discovered and understood by those conversant with the 
 use of astronomical instruments. To this Council, with 
 whom it seems that the unanimous decisions of the Jury, 
 and the groups of Juries, had no weight, the Chairman of 
 Class X. had to maintain the recommendation of the Jury 
 in every case in which a Council medal had been voted. 
 This arrangement necessarily rendered the Chairman, in 
 some, cases, dependent upon those entrusted with special 
 examinations, as in the present instance; a constitution so 
 faulty, that the absence of an individual at a meeting might 
 be followed by the loss of the information necessary to the 
 maintaining the decision of the Jury. Thus, a system 
 good in its general working, as securing to a certain stand¬ 
 ard of excellence the same rate of reward, was, in this 
 instance, incompetent to the necessities of the case. The 
 Jury recommendation was not passed, and the medal 
 awarded was that which, in the opinion of the Jury, was 
 beneath his merit. 
 
 It should be borne in mind, that Mr. Simms did not 
 voluntarily enter the lists as a competitor in that field from 
 which it appeared evident he must return successful; for 
 when the doors of the Exhibition first unclosed, there 
 existed no contribution from him. The inadequate repre¬ 
 sentation of British work soon became glaringly apparent, 
 and Mr. Simms was urged and requested, late as it was, to 
 retrieve our credit by exhibiting; he did so, and enabled our 
 country to compete successfully with others. The return 
 made to him might have been attended with great injury; 
 but as one of those in whose hands has long been vested the 
 credit of our country for its philosophical instruments, no 
 fear can be entertained that he will sustain a diminished 
 reputation. The improvements and excellencies of the in¬ 
 struments exhibited by him, and partly explained to you 
 this evening, are alone sufficient to defend him in the opinion 
 of those who have long appreciated his successful public 
 career, and foreign nations who have long accustomed to 
 avail themselves of the resources of his skill. 
 
 Let us, in conclusion, review for a moment that which we 
 have discovered in this one department of the Exhibition. 
 We have beheld the sciences of the age in their various 
 
AND PROCESSES. 
 
 301 
 
 ramifications and objects up to the moment of unclosing 
 the doors of the Great Palace; we have beheld the various 
 methods, from our own and other countries, for the attain¬ 
 ment of the same object; we have seen those methods 
 analyzed, their merits and demerits estimated; also, the 
 promised adoption of new and proved methods, the natural 
 consequence of the publicity afforded to them. We have 
 beheld the union of practical and scientific men, and its 
 good results fore-shadowed; we have seen the artisan and 
 the poorest labourer culling knowledge to the utmost of 
 their power from the same source with men of cultivated 
 minds and high position,—all which, I cannot but hope, 
 will cause the Exhibition to occupy in time to come a high 
 position among the scientific bodies of the age. The grati¬ 
 tude of all interested in the Exhibition (which must include 
 that of every one anxious for the extension of knowledge), 
 next to its illustrious designer, is due especially to those 
 promoters of the undertaking,—The Executive Committee, 
 who invested talent, time, and income, in its management 
 and success, and to whom is due much of the good arising 
 from its exellent management; for the Exhibition, when 
 erected and furnished with its varied contents, stood but a 
 vast engine, to be wielded either to the public advantage or 
 disadvantage. At present it has contributed to extend the 
 range of human knowledge, and will, in all probability, give 
 rise to the institution of industrial schools, which, when 
 once established, will hardly be relinquished. These in¬ 
 dustrial schools will cultivate the many, and their establish¬ 
 ment, sanctioned by time and increased in number, will 
 cause the influence of the Exhibition of 1851 to be far 
 spread and felt in all time to come. 
 
 Feb. 4, 1852. 
 26 
 
LECTURE X. 
 
 ON CIVIL ENGINEERING- AND MACHINERY 
 GENERALLY. 
 
 HENRY HENSMAN, Esq. 
 
 ( 303 ) 
 
HENRY HENSMAN, Esq. 
 
 ON 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND MACHINERY 
 GENERALLY. 
 
 The machinery in the Great Exhibition, which formed 
 one of the four great divisions, was remarkable not only 
 from the great space occupied by it, but in most cases for 
 the very excellent specimens sent, and to the general public 
 of extreme interest, from the fact that, with the exception 
 of locomotives and steam-boat engines, few people ever see 
 machinery in motion, and no engineers even had ever seen 
 all the varieties there exhibited. 
 
 Some difficulty was found in drawing the line that should 
 divide Machinery from Manufactures, and many apparent 
 errors of arrangement arose from the fact, that in some cases 
 the exhibitors wished to have the whole of their articles in 
 one place, and until the very tardy arrival of the things 
 themselves their exact classification was impossible, and it 
 was then often too late to make any change. Thus one 
 justly-celebrated firm, having a grant of space for iron 
 work, sent as part of it cannon and a sugar-mill, several 
 tons weight, and found themselves in the same class as 
 candlesticks and teapots. Many pumps were very properly 
 sent as manufactures, and many others as machines. Most 
 of the mining apparatus was shown in the section of Raw 
 Materials, in connexion with the minerals worked by it; 
 but in some cases, where of general application, as in the 
 26* (B05) 
 
306 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND 
 
 pumping and lifting apparatus for mines, especially where 
 put in motion, it was placed in Machinery proper. 
 
 Filters were much scattered, some being sent in as 
 hydraulic machines, other as specimens of mineral manu¬ 
 factures, and others again in exhibition of earthenware 
 goods. In one case, where space was applied for to exhibit 
 a filtering-machine, it turned out to be an ordinary coffee¬ 
 pot. Weighing machines were found in three places, viz. 
 as machines, as philosophical instruments, and as iron¬ 
 mongery. 
 
 Locks in all cases were exhibited as ironmongery, but 
 several of them showed very much greater mechanical 
 talent than was displayed in machines of great pretension. 
 Other apparent discrepancies in the arrangements arose from 
 the necessity of bringing all those things near together that 
 required supplies of water and means of running it to 
 waste. 
 
 The very late hour at which any of the foreign exhibitors 
 claimed any space for machinery in movement precluded 
 any good classification of position for them amongst similar 
 English machines; and the American wood and stone- 
 planing machines, and pumps, were thus of necessity 
 placed in the only space available, and which had been 
 allotted for cotton machinery, withdrawn shortly before the 
 opening. 
 
 The French machines in motion, for making chocolate and 
 for wood-planing, were also far distant from all other similar 
 machines for the same reason. At one time, for machinery 
 alone an excess of 5000 square feet was allotted to indivi¬ 
 duals more than was available, on the ground that many 
 withdrawals were certain to occur; and when they did take 
 place, it was not possible to fill up the space thus falling 
 vacant with a similar machine. On these grounds, then, 
 some allowance must be made for the arrangements being 
 to some extent imperfect, both on the ground and in the 
 Catalogue. 
 
 CLASS V. 
 
 Machines eor Direct Use. 
 
 In the class of land steam-engines, the Exhibition did not 
 
MACHINERY GENERALLY. 
 
 307 
 
 fairly represent the state of things in the world generally, 
 and many reasons combined to produce this result. They 
 are usually bulky and heavy, and require strong foundations 
 and large quantities of steam and water if at work; and if 
 not, their performance cannot be judged of. Six-horse power 
 was the limit put upon the size of engines that were to be 
 put in motion- and as engines of this size are made by al¬ 
 most every engineer, the leading makers, whose fame ena¬ 
 bles them to obtain orders for the more costly large engines, 
 seldom trouble themselves about either making or improve- 
 ing small ones, and did not send any of their large ones. 
 
 Marine engines, for the same reasons as to bulk and 
 weight, were not numerous, but were of a very superior 
 description. The size and weight did not deter the spirited 
 firm of James Watt and Co. from sending a pair of screw- 
 propeller engines of 700-horsepower, and weighing, without 
 boilers, more than 100 tons. 
 
 Marine beam-engines of the plan usually made till a few 
 years ago, and still in vogue in some places, were not shown 
 except in model; and little attention is now given to them 
 since the direct-acting engines were introduced, as these 
 latter offer many advantages in saving weight and room, be¬ 
 sides having fewer parts liable to fracture. None of the 
 builders of large engines on the Clyde sent at all, though 
 one of them devoted much time to the Jury. 
 
 Marine oscillating engines for paddle-wheel boats, and of 
 admirable arrangement, were shown in model by two of the 
 first English makers, Maudslay and Penn, the latter of 
 whom sent also a pair of 12-horse engines as used in the 
 boats on the river; and a pair of full-sized 70-horse boat- 
 engines were sent from Belgium by Cockerell, of Liege. 
 
 This class of engine has been little altered in arrange¬ 
 ment since its introduction in boats, except in the position 
 of the air-pumps, and in being better balanced by having 
 two small slide-valves near the sides, instead of one at the 
 front. This modification will no doubt be now generally 
 followed, as its advantages are evident in keeping the en¬ 
 gines better balanced, and the gear lighter and more com¬ 
 pact 
 
 hlarine boilers, which are of such importance in steam- 
 navigation, were, from their bulk, almost totally unrepre- 
 
308 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND 
 
 sented, although few things of the present day show more 
 rapid progress and greater varieties of arrangement and 
 proportion. The modern tubular boiler has nearly super¬ 
 seded the old class of flue boilers in steam-vessels, and, like 
 the direct-acting engines, saves much room, as well as great 
 weights of water and iron. 
 
 Marine engines for driving the screw-propeller were ob¬ 
 jects of much interest at the Exhibition; and rapid pro¬ 
 gress is making in this sort of engine, which offers in many 
 cases great advantages for steam-vessels, even over the most 
 improved form of direct-acting paddle-wheel engines; for, 
 fortunately for the progress of science in this department, 
 the long and firmly-established rules respecting the speed at 
 which the pistons of condensing steam-engines should move, 
 were of necessity abandoned when the engines were con¬ 
 nected direct on to the screw-shaft, and experience has 
 proved that increased speeds in marine condensing engines 
 may be obtained without any inconvenience, especially when 
 canvass or india-rubber valves are substituted in the air- 
 pumps for the old metal valves, which were quite unsuited 
 for high speeds. 
 
 In some cases, makers are still using geared wheels to 
 gain the necessary speed of the propeller shaft, but this 
 plan will probably be completely superseded by engines 
 coupled direct on to it; as, with the example before us of 
 the very excellent results obtained in locomotives, where 
 the pistons often run four or five times the speed formerly 
 considered right, it cannot be doubted that the same thing 
 may be done in steam-boats: for instance, a locomotive en¬ 
 gine of the largest class will exert a force equal to that of 
 1000 horses, although it will weigh only 35 tons; and this 
 includes water in the boiler, giving the power of about 30 
 horses for each ton weight. 
 
 Let us now look at the weights of marine engines. First 
 of all, the old beam-engiues and flued boilers, with 3 or 
 41bs. steam, gave only a force equal to about that of two 
 horses for each ton weight. The direct-acting engines and 
 tubular boilers, and increased pressure and speed of piston, 
 may be said to have brought each ton weight to equal the 
 power of four horses, and, in one or two cases, even up to 
 that of six horses. It must be borne in mind, that owing 
 
MACHINERY GENERALLY. 
 
 309 
 
 to low pressure being used in marine engines, they are bur¬ 
 dened with condensing apparatus, and are necessarily very 
 bulky. Salt water, too, in many cases, and in all the ne¬ 
 cessity of guarding against fire on ship-board, prevents di¬ 
 minution in the boilers to the extent of those of locomotives; 
 but, allowing for all these circumstances, it hardly justifies 
 so great a difference in the power obtained from a certain 
 weight in machinery as we find to exist between locomotive 
 and marine engines. 
 
 The Exhibition shows us, that in the better sorts of en¬ 
 gines sent there the simplification of parts is very much 
 studied, and especially in the screw-propeller engines, which, 
 for condensing engines, are of great simplicity compared 
 with previous productions even of the same makers. The 
 models on the table are of some of the most approved 
 modern forms, by Maudslay and Penn. 
 
 Of screw-propellers themselves, one great novelty was the 
 feathering-screw, shown by Messrs. Maudslay and Held, 
 which allows the blades to be easily moved, either into the 
 proper position for propelling the vessel, or, when not steam¬ 
 ing, they may be brought in a line with the stern-post, so 
 as to offer little or no resistance to the progress of the vessel 
 if sailing. They have been tried and found to answer well 
 in the screw steamers running to the Cape of Good Hope 
 and back, which is, perhaps, the longest voyage undertaken 
 regularly under steam for passenger and goods traffic. 
 
 Amongst the steam-engines was one sent by Mr. Davies, 
 of Tipton, to which was attached a most beautifully-arranged 
 governor. It consisted of a single hollow ball with a zone 
 round it, with an opening through the bottom to admit of 
 an upright spindle, which was attached to the ball by a 
 joint in its centre. One side of the ball and zone was 
 made much heavier than the other, and consequently, when 
 at rest or moving slowly, it hung down, but when driven 
 fast the centrifugal force of the heavy side overcame its 
 gravity, and the zone assumed nearly an horizontal position. 
 When this was the case, a small link inside the ball, jointed 
 on one side of the axis, lowered the usual brass collar on 
 the spindle, and shut off part of the steam, till the speed 
 diminishing allowed the gravity of the zone to overcome the 
 
310 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND 
 
 centrifugal force, and the link being raised, the throttle- 
 valve was opened wider to admit more steam. 
 
 A very good steam-pump was shown by Mr. Garrett, and 
 was worthy of remark from having an air-vessel on the 
 suction-pipe as well as on the delivery, making the stream 
 almost constant, and doing away with the shocks often felt 
 in pumps that are driven at great speeds from the recoil of 
 the column of water in the suction-pipe. These pumps 
 were used to feed the boilers in the Exhibition, mid ran a 
 very good speed, with very little shock to the moving parts. 
 
 Very good illustrations of water-engines acting by pres¬ 
 sure from a head of water, and not by mere weight, were 
 shown by Mr. Armstrong, of Newcastle, and are an easy 
 means of obtaining small amounts of power at very little 
 cost, especially in towns where the water is furnished on 
 the constant-supply system, inasmuch as the water is avail¬ 
 able for domestic or other use after giving out the power 
 derived from its pressure. Many such machines are now 
 erecting in London ; some at the Great Northern Station, 
 King’s Cross, for lifting goods; and others at the West 
 India Docks, for discharging coal-ships. 
 
 Another water-engine of great promise was shown by M. 
 From out, in the French compartment. It was a turbine on 
 Fontaine’s system of construction, having numerous aper¬ 
 tures, easily adjusted simultaneously by small sluices, and 
 well adapted even for low heads of water; it was reputed to 
 do a duty of lO per cent, of the water used, and was esti¬ 
 mated by the Jury to deserve the Council medal for its 
 good qualities. 
 
 Hydraulic presses were in great force, and foremost may 
 be named the large press which had served for lifting thn 
 tubes of the gigantic bridge over the Menai Straits. 
 
 Mr. Hick’s compound press, which is furnished with fou* 
 cylinders, is a valuable modification of the principle wher« 
 great powers are required; for it is found that, beyond a 
 certain thickness, the extra metal added does not give cor¬ 
 responding strength. The specimens of wrought-iron 
 punched out cold give a good idea of the force exerted 
 by this press, one of them being eight inches cliam for 
 and three inches thick; and this took a foi’ce equai u» 
 the weight of more than 2000 tons. 
 
MACHINERY GENERALLY. 
 
 311 
 
 Mr. Jackson’s hydraulic press was another variety, which 
 was arranged specially to meet the difficulty found in obtain¬ 
 ing sufficient strength for large cylinders. It is made of 
 cast-iron, much thinner than usual, and then bored and 
 turned true inside and out; it is then hooped with wrought- 
 iron hoops, accurately fitted. The bottom rests on a block 
 or table, and the cupped leather, instead of being fitted as 
 usual in the upper part of the cylinder, is fixed to the bot¬ 
 tom of the ram itself, and travels with it: by this arrange¬ 
 ment, the strain on the cylinder in the direction of its 
 length is entirely avoided; and in cases where any very 
 enormous amount of pressure is wanted to act only through 
 a short distance, the ram may be brought down to the bot¬ 
 tom of the cylinder, and the water being forced in between 
 it and the bottom, a mere film of water is enough, and only 
 so much of the length of the cylinder has any strain on it 
 as is equal to the distance required to be travelled. 
 
 In cranes, the greatest novelty was the wrought-iron 
 tubular crane sent by Mr. Fairbairn, which is likely to be 
 extensively used, and offers great advantages in point of 
 lightness and strength combined. 
 
 Henderson’s Derrick crane was also a very excellent 
 one, and a most ingenious yet simple means was used for 
 raising or lowering the gib without altering the height of 
 the load on it. 
 
 Another crane deserving of notice was that shown by 
 James & Co., which lifts and weighs at one operation; and 
 a somewhat similar crane was shown in the Dutch com- 
 pai'tment. 
 
 The application of steam to lifting purposes was very 
 well shown in the model travelling-crane sent by Messrs. 
 M‘Nicol and Vernon of Liverpool. By means of this in¬ 
 vention, a boy may lift a weight of ten tons or more, and 
 traverse it either endways or sideways with the greatest 
 facility; and for large buildings, or for wharfs and docks, 
 stone-yards or timber-yards, it promises to be a very valuable 
 aid in performing large quantities of work. 
 
 the subject of water-pumps was one that attracted as 
 much, if not more attention, than anything else among the 
 machinery; and this was more especially the case with the 
 centrifugal pumps, which were little known, and scarcely ever 
 
312 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND 
 
 used before the time of opening this Exhibition: and in 
 these again, as before in the case of the locomotive and 
 screw-propeller, the very valuable lesson was shown, what 
 very great effects may be produced by a very small noiseless 
 machine, running at a high speed, in place of the old-fash¬ 
 ioned cumbrous pumps, making a few strokes per minute, 
 and shaking the very earth near them at each stroke. 
 
 As a case in point, may be instanced the ponderous ma¬ 
 chines constructed only a few years since in this country for 
 the purpose of draining the well-known lake of Haarlem. 
 The weight of the pumps and valves attached to one of these 
 engines will be between 100 and 200 tons, and they were 
 adapted to raise 70 tons of water per minute a height of 
 about 15 feet, when working their usual speed of eight or 
 ten strokes per minute. 
 
 A centrifugal pump, to do the same amount of work, if 
 on the best plan, such as that shown by Mr. Appold in the 
 Exhibition, or that since made by him for the drainage of 
 Whittlesea Mere, would weigh only about two tons, instead 
 of from 100 to 200 tons on the former plan. 
 
 It is an arrangement also to which small fast-running 
 engines are particularly applicable, though it must not be 
 supposed, that when equal quantities of water are lifted 
 equal heights there is any great difference in the total power 
 exerted. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that these centrifugal pumps, 
 like all other machines, require peculiar adaptation accord¬ 
 ing to the purposes for which they are required, and their 
 most advantageous point of working is where the lift does 
 not exceed 15 or 20 feet, as when the water requires lifting 
 any very great height other pumps will perform better. 
 
 Another thing frequently misunderstood or overlooked is 
 the shape of the arms, and this exercises a most important 
 influence on their good or bad performance. In those 
 pumps where the arms are radial, the work done is the 
 least, and may be taken at about 25 per cent, of the power 
 employed. Where the arms are placed at an angle of about 
 45° with the radius, the work done is about equal to 40 
 per cent, of the power; and where the arms are of the pro¬ 
 per curvature, as much as 70 per cent, of the power may 
 be realized. The flat discs are rather better than those that 
 
MACHINERY GENERALLY. 
 
 313 
 
 converge at tlie edge, but neither this nor the number of 
 arms affects the quantity of work done to anything like the 
 same extent as the proper shape of the arms. One single 
 arm is bad, as it puts the pump out of balance, besides 
 losing effect. Another thing to be remarked is, that, pro¬ 
 vided the speed of the external circumference of the discs 
 be equal, it is not of so much consequence whether a two- 
 feet disc be used to run 400 revolutions, or a one-foot disc 
 be applied to run 800 revolutions, but in all cases it is 
 necessary to proportion the velocity of the circumference 
 according to the height to which the water is to be raised. 
 
 A centrifugal blowing-machine, or fan of a very good 
 sort, with curved arms, was shown by Mr. Lloyd, and has 
 the great advantage of being quite noiseless; whereas the 
 common fan with straight arms is very noisy. There is, 
 however, much yet to be learnt on the subject of blowing 
 fans, and they absorb much more power than they ought 
 to do. 
 
 Fire-engines were sent from Canada and France, besides 
 our own country, and numerous experiments were tried by 
 the Jury in this department. The results obtained were 
 much more equal from all than might have been expected, 
 considering the very great difference of make, from the 
 large Canadian engine requiring 40 men to the small French 
 engine for eight men. 
 
 In locomotive engines the Exhibition did not at all fairly 
 represent the usual class of locomotives, for most of the en¬ 
 gines sent were of an exceptional and not of the ordinary 
 description, such as are employed in doing the bulk of,the 
 work either in this or other countries. 
 
 The noble locomotive sent by the Great Western Com¬ 
 pany, represented truly the best sample of the broad-guage 
 class of engines; but the more numerous narrow-guage en¬ 
 gines made by Sharpe Brothers, and others, and the usual 
 sort made by Stephenson, were not represented in the Eng¬ 
 lish side, where most of the locomotives were of the sort 
 called tank engines, having no tenders, and seldom used 
 except for very short or for branch lines. 
 
 Hawthorn’s engine is deserving of notice, as having been 
 some years ago one of the first successful attempts to obtain 
 dry steam from a low boiler by means of a long steam-pipe 
 27 
 
314 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND 
 
 running along inside the boiler near the top, and perforated 
 with small holes, or slits, which draw the steam off without 
 taking the water as well. The arrangement of the springs 
 also is peculiar, for though a six-wheeled engine, jet the 
 great weight is carried on bars reaching from one axle to 
 the other, and thus any wheel passing over an irregularity 
 on the rails only lifts each supporting spring half the amount 
 due to this irregularity. This is also done in the Great 
 Western engine, and some others. 
 
 Crampton’s engine differs from all others in having the 
 axle of the driving-wheels placed behind the fire-box, which 
 allows of a very low centre of gravity : and when six wheels 
 are used, the centre pair either has very light springs to 
 serve as safety-wheels, in case either of the other axles 
 break, or else the boiler is supported by one spring between 
 the two axles. This has the effect of throwing the greater 
 part of the weight upon the two end axles, and the centre 
 of a cross-spring behind the fire-box carries the weight of 
 this end of the boiler, so that it is very steady from resting 
 on three points. In his most modern arrangement with in¬ 
 side cylinders, the cranked axle has no wheels upon it, and 
 being on the springs is thus relieved of all strains from in¬ 
 equalities of the road; it is coupled to the driving-wheels 
 by two rods, with outside cranks, and combines the straight 
 axle of the driving-wheels with inside cylinders. The Coun¬ 
 cil medal was awarded for this locomotive. 
 
 In railway-carriages the use of teak-wood, not requiring 
 paint, but merely varnished, was shown in the Exhibition 
 in the Great Northern Railway passenger-carriages by Mr. 
 Williams, and also in Mr. Adams’s long double-bodied car¬ 
 riage ; and it is likely to be used for many other purposes. 
 The arrangement of the body of this latter carriage of Mr. 
 Adams is almost the only departure from the form of body 
 introduced at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester 
 Railway, now about twenty years since. The axles are 
 allowed a considerable amount of play in the guards to 
 allow of passing curves more freely with these long car¬ 
 riages. Another very ingenious arrangement for overcoming 
 this difficulty with long carriages was shown by Mr. M‘Con- 
 nel, where the axles are coupled to one another by diagonal 
 
MACHINERY GENERALLY. 315 
 
 braces, so that they actually become radii of the curve over 
 which they are passing. 
 
 Railway wheels and axles were very good and numerous, 
 but no very great novelties were shown. However, we must 
 not omit Brigg’s compound tires, with hard iron in the 
 wearing part, and tough in the other parts; and also the 
 beautiful specimens of rolled tire sent by Mr. Jackson. 
 
 The cast-iron wheels in common use in America were the 
 only sort sent by them, and it is much to be regretted that 
 no railway engines or models of carriages were sent from 
 that country, as from the great differences that exist between 
 them and those in use here, they would, when contrasted, 
 very probably have shown advantages capable of mutual 
 adaptation. 
 
 There was a model in the French compartment of a train 
 of articulated carriages as used in the l’ailway between 
 Paris and Sceaux, where the "wheels revolve on their axles: 
 this has been done on account of the sharpness of the 
 curves, and has worked satisfactorily for some years, but 
 nevertheless does not seem to have been adopted on any 
 other lines, though it has been repeatedly joroposed from 
 the very infancy of railways. 
 
 One great novelty in the railway carriages was the adop¬ 
 tion, by Mr. Haddan, of papier-mache panels instead of 
 wood; and the mode of framing also was both simpler 
 than that usually adopted, and better adapted to prevent 
 wet getting into the joints. 
 
 Amongst buffers there was nothing particularly worthy 
 of observation, except the now well-known vulcanized india- 
 rubber buffers of Mr. Be Bergue. 
 
 Railway breaks offered no great novelty, though perhaps 
 not much known among the public generally. Lees’ sledge- 
 break, or those similar in plan, shown by others, were 
 brought much into notice, which they would not have re¬ 
 ceived but for this Exhibition. 
 
 There was in the Exhibition a great variety of plans for 
 permanent way for railways. The rails shown by Mr. W. 
 H. Barlow are truly a wrought-iron way, inasmuch as they 
 require no sleepers, but rest on the ballast itself. They 
 are bridge-rails of the very largest size and section, and al¬ 
 though some difficulty was met with in first rolling them, 
 
CIVIL ENGINEERING AND 
 
 816 
 
 that appears to have been soon overcome; and the Exhibi¬ 
 tion afforded in this particular abundant evidence, not 
 hitherto known, of the present capability of producing 
 rolled iron of very great size, great variety of form, and 
 excellent workmanship. The joints of these rails were 
 made by a short length, about two feet long, of a section 
 suitable for fitting below the rail, and riveted to it, and 
 little or no inconvenience seems to arise from the expansion 
 or contraction. 
 
 Another striking departure from the beaten path was 
 shown by the sleepers exhibited by Mr. Greaves; they are 
 not unlike a huge inverted wash-hand basin, with the chair 
 cast on the top, and are packed through a hole left near one 
 side of the top. 
 
 Several contrivances were shown for strengthening the 
 joints in the rails, including Samuel’s fish-joint, Mr. Peter 
 Barlow’s joint-chain, and others. The permanent way 
 adopted by Sir W. Cubitt, for the South-Eastern Railway, 
 and the Great Northern, was well exemplified. In this and 
 most modern plans, the sleepers are laid much closer near 
 the joints than at the other parts. 
 
 Wild’s well-known switch was exhibited attached to this 
 road, and except in the improved details is but little changed 
 for some years past. 
 
 Ransomes and May’s chairs, and the compressed wood- 
 wedges and trenails used for fastening them down, are a 
 great improvement over iron fastenings, and the latter are 
 equally valuable for ships’ trenails from their great hardness 
 and durability. 
 
 The rails shown in the Exhibition, composed of hard 
 crystalline iron for the top wearing surface, with tough 
 fibrous iron for the body, are a great step towards durability, 
 without necessarily adding much to the expense of manu¬ 
 facture. 
 
 A most extensive collection of rolled iron and railway 
 bars was shown by the Ebbw Yale Company and the 
 Coalbrookdale Company, including almost every variety of 
 shape. 
 
 A railway water-crane shown by Ransomes and May is 
 very deserving of notice; it is formed with a rising hinge- 
 joint, on the same principle that many doors are fitted, so 
 
MACHINERY GENERALLY. 317 
 
 that it may he held open or across the line, hut when let go 
 it turns part round out of the way of the trains. 
 
 Dunn’s valuable traversing-table was shown by more than 
 one exhibitor, and received a Council medal. 
 
 Pooley’s weight-table for railway engines, and the weigh¬ 
 ing machines generally, are well known, and need not be 
 further mentioned here. 
 
 With regard to common road carriages, which were classed 
 among machines, the principles involved admit of so little 
 variety, and so much depends upon taste in their manufac¬ 
 ture, that I need say but little, except that it appeared to 
 be thought, even by many of the exhibitors themselves, 
 that, taken as a whole, it did not come up to the expecta¬ 
 tions previously formed of it. 
 
 CLASS VI. 
 
 Manufacturing Machines. 
 
 In this class, the most extensive in the whole Exhibition, 
 the cotton machines were most remarkable, both for their 
 extent and the very complete series they formed. 
 
 Here were to be found, especially in the admirable col¬ 
 lection of machines by Messrs. Hibbert and Platt, of Old¬ 
 ham, machines adapted to display almost every process, 
 from the opening of the cotton bales on their arrival in this 
 country up to the time of leaving the loom complete in the 
 state of calico ready for bleaching; and the Royal Com¬ 
 missioners and public are largely indebted to this firm for 
 the liberal and spirited way in which they illustrated that 
 important manufacture, and Lancashire may w r ell be proud 
 of the way in which her machines were represented. The 
 opportunity here afforded to the general spectator of study¬ 
 ing the immense number of complex operations required, 
 was one that the world had never previously known, and 
 the crowded state of the building in that part testified the 
 interest it excited. It was also a valuable lesson to profes¬ 
 sional engineers, few of whom were previously conversant 
 with all the details of these machines; and, in very many 
 cases, movements and combinations of parts not hitherto 
 applied elsewhere, were found to be of the greatest utility 
 in other machinery. 
 
318 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND 
 
 lb is somewhat remarkable that scarcely any cotton or 
 other machinery whatever was sent from Glasgow, or indeed 
 from Scotland at all. 
 
 France and Belgium contributed some cotton machines, 
 but none in actual operation, and therefore it is hardly safe 
 or fair to institute a comparison of their powers of production; 
 but, nevertheless, the “ Depurator,” or cotton-cleaner, of M 
 Risler, was thought deserving of a Council medal. 
 
 A highly ingenious cotton drawing-frame was sent from 
 the United States by Mr. Hayden, and I believe for the first 
 time in this country we saw the machine, called a saw-gin, 
 for cleaning the seed cotton as it comes from the field, and 
 separating it into the two parts—one, the filaments of the 
 cotton itself, as used in manufactures ) the remainder, the 
 comparatively valueless seed, which forms by far the largest 
 part of the wdiole quantity grown. 
 
 Many attempts have been made of late years to find a 
 substitute for this machine, but hitherto without much suc¬ 
 cess. The fault complained of is, that the saw-teeth are 
 apt to cut the fibres whilst tearing them away from the 
 seed, and thus reduce them in length and consequently in 
 value. 
 
 At the present time this want is so much felt that a re¬ 
 ward of 5000 rupees has been offered by the authorities in 
 India for the best machine adapted for cleaning the native 
 cotton, which differs somewhat from the better class of 
 American cotton in being shorter in the staple, and also ad¬ 
 hering much more tenaciously to the seed. 
 
 Some disappointment was felt that no such machines were 
 forthcoming in the Exhibition here, as only one, sent by 
 Mr. Calvert from Manchester, was any departure from the 
 saw-gin plan ) but it is to be hoped that the next accounts 
 from India may give information of other and successful 
 attempts, as the machines were all to be in Calcutta by the 
 1st of January of this year. While on this subject, so im¬ 
 portant to our possessions in India, I may allude to the very 
 complete collection of native machines for this and other 
 purposes. 
 
 The churka, or roller-gin, is the type of all the various 
 machines they use for cleaning the cotton, some with plain 
 rollers, and others with spiral grooves worked along them, 
 
MACHINERY GENERALLY. 
 
 319 
 
 and they answer the purpose of separating the cotton from 
 its seed, but are very slow in their operation. The other 
 Indian and Asiatic machines and tools were of a most in¬ 
 teresting description, and in many of them can be traced 
 the very greatest ingenuity, though they are rude in work¬ 
 manship. Amongst others I may name an instrument 
 often found in this country lately, and considered a modern 
 invention ; I allude to the spiral drill-stock, so well known 
 to amateur mechanics, and which we hud to be an old Chi¬ 
 nese invention. 
 
 A machine for printing calico on both sides was shown 
 by Mr. Dalton, and the accuracy with which the pattern on 
 the two sides coincided was most wonderful; it was much 
 to be regretted it was not worked, as it was almost the only 
 cotton process except bleaching that was not shown. 
 
 Woollen Machinery was principally represented by one 
 house, that of Mason of Rochdale, and a very complete and 
 excellent set of machines were sent, some of them new to the 
 trade, and especially to foreigners. Their condenser card in 
 particular merits notice, from the rapidity and simplicity of 
 its operation, and the award of a Council medal shows the 
 estimate of the Jury of its importance. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable, that Leeds and the West 
 Riding of Yorkshire should have sent plenty of woollen and 
 worsted goods, but no machines whatever, with two excep¬ 
 tions ; one of them a very good set of worsted machines by 
 Mr. Berry of Bradford, and the other the wool-combing 
 machine of Mr. Donisthorpe. This latter machine is one 
 of the most effective ever produced, for, unlike the cotton- 
 gin, which modern invention has not perfected to separate fila¬ 
 ments from hard seed, we here find an automatic machine 
 performing the much more difficult operation of separating 
 the long wool from the short; and the success of it may be 
 judged of, when I state that uncombed wool put in at one 
 side comes out at the other side, the long completely sorted 
 from the short, and much increased in value. 
 
 Among the French machinery were some machines for 
 carding and spinning wool, by Mercier and Co., to whom 
 the Council medal was awarded ; one part was particularly 
 deserving of notice, viz. the arrangement of index wheels 
 on the mule, for regulating at one operation the distance 
 
320 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND 
 
 to which the thread shall be drawn out according to the 
 fineness required, and also the amount of twist given to the 
 thread. 
 
 A very simple machine for cleaning wool from burrs was 
 shown by Mr. Calvert, and for this and the cotton-gin pre¬ 
 viously named he was awarded a Prize medal. 
 
 Strange to say, there were no cloth-shearing machines 
 shown on the English side, but several on the Foreign side. 
 Among the French machines, one by Schneider and Le- 
 grand; in Belgium, one by Troupin; and in Prussia, one 
 by Thomas : all three of which were adjudged worthy of 
 Prize medals. 
 
 The process of making card wire-cloth was shown by a 
 most beautiful little machine sent by Mr. Crabtree, which, 
 though not new in this country (the plan having been intro¬ 
 duced some years since from America), yet to the public it 
 was more attractive than almost any other in the Exhibition, 
 and showed in a most valuable manner how mechanical 
 skill may produce machinery capable of performing the 
 most delicate and difficult operations with unfailing regu¬ 
 larity. 
 
 Several specimens of card clothing were shown by other 
 makers in England, and there were few countries of any 
 manufacturing pretensions that did not also contribute equal¬ 
 ly good specimens of this article, so necessary to the cotton 
 and woollen trade. 
 
 Prize medals were allotted, as might be expected, to ex¬ 
 hibitors from the United States, and also to two others from 
 France, and the same state of things may be said to hold 
 good with regard to heckles and combs, many of which were 
 quite equal to anything produced in this country. 
 
 Flax machines were sent by Plummer of Newcastle, 
 Messrs. Higgins of Manchester, and Lawson and Sons of 
 Leeds. Mr. Plummer’s breaking rollers, scutching mills, 
 and heckling machines, showed all the preparatory pro¬ 
 cesses in the manufacture of hemp and flax after being 
 taken from the steeping pits; and Messrs. Lawson’s ma¬ 
 chines showed almost all the subsequent processes up to 
 the complete formation of the flax into linen yarn, ready 
 for the weaver, or for sewing purposes. The operation of 
 drawiug out and spinning flax usually requires the appli- 
 
MACHINERY GENERALLY. 
 
 321 
 
 cation of liot water to loosen the gum which holds the 
 twisted fibres together, and this renders the air of the 
 mills hot and unwholesome; but Lawson’s process, shown 
 in the Exhibition, dispenses with this hot process, and by 
 keeping the fibres less twisted at the time of drawing them 
 out finer, cold water is found to be sufficient to dissolve 
 enough of the gum to allow the individual fibres to slide 
 one on the other, as much as is necessary: this has an 
 important salutary influence on the health of the operatives 
 employed. 
 
 Mr. Crawhall’s rope-machine was one possessing many 
 good arrangements, and the arrangement for putting more 
 or less twist in the rope is very ingenious. 
 
 A very novel addition to a canvass loom was shown by 
 Mr. Beale Brown, for use where the woven fabric requires 
 beating up very hard; it is a triangular stick, which is 
 thrown in and out by a motion similar to that used for the 
 shuttle; by means of the sharp edge of this stick the weft 
 is beaten up at intervals, and will allow of very great force 
 being used without damage to the work. 
 
 Messrs. Parker showed a very strong and elaborate 
 canvass loom, for which the Council medal was awarded 
 to them. The taking-up and giving-off motions were 
 arranged so as to move the necessary distances, whatever 
 the quantities of warp or work on the respective rollers. 
 Some very good heavy looms for plain work were shown 
 by Mr. Mark Smith of Heywood, and others of a lighter 
 sort by Mr. Harrison. 
 
 Another loom adapted for ornamental work, and with 
 a double Jacquard apparatus attached, one on each side, 
 giving greatly increased facilities for speed of production, 
 was shown by Mr. Alfred Barlow, which also gained the 
 Council medal. Another Jacquard loom, adapted for the 
 most elaborate patterns of brocaded silks, was sent by 
 Messrs. Campbell, Harrison, and Lloyd, and some idea 
 may be formed of its complex nature from the fact that no 
 less than ninety shuttles are said to have been used in it. 
 
 The fringe-loom of Messrs. Beed of Derby, who obtained 
 a Council medal, was the greatest departure from the ordi¬ 
 nary course shown, and perhaps it can scarcely be called a 
 loom, for it has no shuttle, and is almost noiseless in per- 
 
322 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND 
 
 forming its beautiful movements—in fact, it is a machine 
 which may be almost said to be adapted for a drawing-room. 
 There are twenty or thirty breadths of fringe made at once, 
 and as many different colours, either of weft or warp, may 
 be introduced in one loom. The warp-threads are arranged 
 much as usual in breadths, and each weft-thread is passed 
 through the eye of a needle at one side of each breadth, 
 and at the proper time is laid across the warp-threads, and 
 tight around the blade of a lcnife, which is rather narrow 
 and not very sharp at this part: the reed then closes up and 
 holds the thread firm while the knife is drawn down, and 
 the point being much wider than the other part, and quite 
 sharp, cuts the outside edge of the fringe, and then rises 
 again ready for receiving another thread around it when the 
 same process is repeated. 
 
 Many other new modifications of Jacquard apparatus for 
 looms and lace-machines were shown in the Exhibition, and 
 are at the present time attracting much attention, and Prize 
 medals were given to Acklin in France, Bonardel in Prussia, 
 and Gfamba in Austria, or rather Lombardy. 
 
 Circular hosiery machines and looms, exhibited from 
 Fi •ance, their parent country, as well as in this country and 
 Belgium, are good examples of the extent to which com¬ 
 plexity of machinery may be profitably carried when its 
 production is rendered more rapid ; and this was well shown 
 in the contrast between the simple stocking-frame and the 
 more rapid production of the complex circular machine 
 adjoining it. And still more is this shown in the almost 
 endless variety of parts and movements in the various beau¬ 
 tiful lace-machines sent from Nottingham, when contrasted 
 with the former process in use only a few years since, when 
 even plain lace net was made by the hand. The combina¬ 
 tion of the Jacquard apparatus to the previous complex 
 machines has added much to their capability of making in¬ 
 tricate patterns, and was well shown by Mr. Birkin’s machine, 
 which was constantly worked. There is one point about 
 the working of these machines that requires notice; which 
 is, the constant breaking of threads that took place, espe¬ 
 cially early in the day : for these machines require a very 
 dry, warm room, and the least dampness of the atmosphere 
 
MACHINERY GENERALLY. 323 
 
 causes the threads to break; the same is the case with the 
 threads in the cotton-spinning mills. 
 
 Printing-presses and machines shown by English exhibit¬ 
 ors were numerous and very good, but few, if any, were on 
 the Foreign side. The hand-presses had amongst them two 
 or three examples of self-inking apparatus, which is a step 
 towards reducing the time necessary for each impression, 
 and probably for small presses they will succeed; but ob¬ 
 jections are made, that in a press of any great size the 
 labour is too heavy for the pressman. 
 
 In connexion with this subject of self-inking presses I 
 may mention, that a few days since, in Dublin, I saw a very 
 simple and effectual inking apparatus, worked by power and 
 attached to a.hand-press. When the table is drawn from 
 under the press, and is just at its extreme distance from it, 
 it throws a clutch into gear at the side of the press opposite 
 the workman, and the inking rollers move sideways across 
 the form, whilst the pressman is changing the paper; and 
 on their return into their original position the clutch throws 
 itself out, and the rollers remain at rest on the inking table, 
 until the form is again moved out to its greatest distance 
 from the press, when the operation is repeated ; this enables 
 one man to do the work of two, but, of course, is only ap¬ 
 plicable where power is available. 
 
 In printing machines, the first claiming our notice is the 
 cylinder machine of Mr. Cowper, now in general use, and 
 used for printing the Exhibition Catalogue. A model sent 
 by that gentleman shows that the general form has remained 
 little altered, since its first introduction many years since, 
 and its use is almost universal. 
 
 In Napier’s cylinder machine, which is somewhat on the 
 same general principle, there are small grippers fixed on the 
 cylinder, which seize the front edge of the paper and carry 
 it round with them, dispensing with the tapes. 
 
 The Scandinavian printing-machine was sent by Mr. 
 Ilopkinson, and modern improvements on this and other 
 platten machines are fast approaching the press in the 
 quality of the work done. 
 
 The largest and most novel printing-machine shown in 
 the Exhibition was the vertical machine invented by Mr. 
 
324 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND 
 
 Applegatli for newspaper printing, and which was fixed 
 and worked in a most spirited manner by Mr. Ingram, 
 the proprietor, the whole time printing the “ Illustrated 
 News.” 
 
 Towards the close of the Exhibition a newspaper-folding 
 machine was got to work by Mr. Lovesey, and the public 
 had the satisfaction of seeing this final operation performed 
 for the first time in the building. A smaller folding ma¬ 
 chine had been shown previously at work for book-work, 
 by Mr. Black, of Edinburgh, to whom the credit of intro¬ 
 ducing the plan is due. 
 
 Paper machinery was shown in model by Fourdrinier’s 
 first machine, and a model of a modern machine by Don¬ 
 kin ; but it was only in the French machinery that a full- 
 sized machine was exhibited. Excellent samples of wire- 
 cloth for this purpose were also shown by France as well as 
 England. 
 
 Two plans of envelope-making machines were shown, one 
 by Mr. De la Hue, and the other on Bemond’s plan, by 
 Messrs. Waterlow, and both of them contained many ad¬ 
 mirable arrangements. 
 
 I must not omit to mention Wilson’s paper-cutting ma¬ 
 chine, which is a new and valuable addition to our stock of 
 tools. 
 
 Turning now to the various machines for working in 
 mineral and vegetable substances, we find a highly ingeni¬ 
 ous machine for grinding colours, or other substances, in a 
 mortar, by Mr. Mackenzie, in which the compound motions 
 arc so arranged as to change the course over which the 
 pestle travels at each revolution of the machine. 
 
 Croskill’s small but effective mills for grinding are well 
 worthy of notice, and he is likely to reap a rich harvest 
 from those adapted for crushing stone and quartz, on account 
 of the great demand for such machines in California and 
 Australia. Several modifications of the valuable modern 
 plan of supplying a current of air to the stone of corn-mills 
 were shown. Several good plans of flour-dressing machines 
 were sent. 
 
 Another interesting machine was shown by Bandell and 
 Saunders, of Bath, for cutting stone in its natural bed, and 
 
MACHINERY GENERALLY. 
 
 325 
 
 promises great saving of labour in the process of quar¬ 
 rying. 
 
 Mr. Bessemer exhibited a valuable apparatus for holding- 
 large glass plates during the operation of polishing them 3 
 it consists of a slate table, perforated with holes, and a 
 vacuum being formed below it, the glass plate is firmly held 
 down while it is polished. 
 
 Centrifugal machines for separating water from clothes, or 
 molasses from sugar, were shown by many parties, both from 
 abroad and this country, but few of them call for any special 
 remark, except that shown by Napier and Son, which differs 
 from the others in having a continuous action going on for 
 charging and discharging sugar or similar materials, in¬ 
 stead of requiring to be frequently stopped for that purpose, 
 and where high speeds are used, as in all these plans, the 
 loss of power in getting the speed up again each time is 
 considerable. 
 
 Sugar-crushing mills were shown by several countries, 
 one of them very complete and powerful, by Robinson 
 and Russell, but are all on much the same plan as 
 they have been for years past. Sugar-refining apparatus 
 obtained Council medals in Prussia, France, and England'. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable that no specimen of wood 
 saw-mill was found in the Exhibition; there were, how¬ 
 ever, several wood-planing machines, both for plain and 
 ornamental work, from America, France, and our own 
 country: and a very ingenious and simple machine for 
 cutting fret-work was shown by Messrs. Prosser and 
 Hadley. 
 
 A very modest little wood model was shown by Mr. 
 Gilberson, of a means of destroying the effluvia from 
 boiling or melting tallow, or similar offensive substances, 
 by enclosing the top of the boiler with a hood, and causing 
 the whole of the air necessary for the combustion of the 
 fire to pass over the surface of the tallow; this draws the 
 effluvia along with it into the fire, where it is effectually 
 destroyed. 
 
 The soda-water apparatus shown by Mr. Cox was very 
 ingenious, and is so arranged as to dispense entirely with 
 the force-pumps required on the old plan. 
 
 28 
 
826 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND 
 
 A very good set of machines for the manufacture of cho¬ 
 colate was shown hy Herman Brothers, of Paris, and they 
 received a Council medal for them. 
 
 CLASS VIII 
 
 Civil Engineering and Architecture. 
 
 In Civil Engineering generally, such as bridges, har¬ 
 bours, and such works, there was not so rich a collection 
 as might have been expected ; but one reason is, that they 
 are seldom illustrated except hy drawings, which were not 
 admissible according to the decisions come to by the Royal 
 Commissioners; but, nevertheless, this class may be said 
 to have been more fully represented than any other, inas¬ 
 much as in it was included the great triumph of the Exhi¬ 
 bition—the building itself. It will exercise a most impor¬ 
 tant influence over future works, both as showing the 
 cheapness and capabilities of iron and glass, and also the 
 very rapid progress that may be made where they are the 
 materials used. There never was any instance in which 
 cast iron has been used with so much boldness and success, 
 for of the many thousand pieces employed, not one ever 
 failed in its allotted place. 
 
 Among ’the few contributions to this class are two 
 models, of remarkable and successful boldness of design 
 —Stephenson’s tubular bridge over the Mcnai Straits, 
 and Brunei’s iron truss-bridge over the "Wye at Chep¬ 
 stow. 
 
 The beauty of the workmanship in the first-named model, 
 which was executed hy Mr. James, is something quite un¬ 
 precedented, for all the parts are made to scale in the most 
 minute particulars. The suspension-bridge, by Mr. Vig- 
 noles, over the Dnieper, at Kieff, in Russia, is represented 
 by another model by James, equal, if not superior, in work¬ 
 manship to the other. Mr. Leather sent some very good 
 models of his bridges made by Salter, and a good model of 
 Stephenson’s double high-level bridge at .Newcastle w r as sent 
 by ILawkes and Co. 
 
 Some railway drawbridges were contributed from IIol- 
 
MACHINERY GENERALLY. 
 
 327 
 
 .and, and are excellent of their kind; as also a large model 
 of a suspension truss-bridge from the United States, by Mr. 
 Rider. 
 
 Two excellent topographical models of large districts of 
 country were shown, one by Mr. Carrington, of the neigh¬ 
 bourhood of Manchester, and another by Captain Ibbetson, 
 of the Isle of Wight. 
 
 A most interesting model was sent by Mr. Bremner, show¬ 
 ing the means adopted for raising the Great Britain steam¬ 
 ship when stranded on the coast of Ireland; and another 
 valuable plan was shown by him for harbour-building in deep 
 water and exposed localities. 
 
 Several breakwaters were shown in model; amongst 
 others, that at Plymouth, and also Smith’s ingenious float¬ 
 ing breakwater. 
 
 Wilkin’s floating-light and Chance’s lighthouse apparatus 
 were good specimens of the excellence attained in this branch 
 of manufacture. 
 
 Two or three sets of diving-dresses were shown, but 
 there was little novelty in them, and neither Potts’ system 
 of sinking piles, nor the still better plan now in use at 
 Rochester Bridge, were shown at all. 
 
 A very good set of boring-tools were sent by Laue, of 
 Switzerland, and Messrs. Mulot contributed a set of large 
 and complete tools, such as they used in boring the cele¬ 
 brated Artesian well at Grenelle. 
 
 Ventilators of good and novel sorts were shown by Mr. 
 Hurwood, and a new and simple revolving window-sash, 
 which offers great facilities for cleaning, was shown by Mr. 
 Bodley. 
 
 The collection of agricultural instruments, though not so 
 extensive as at the annual agricultural meetings, was very 
 choice, and would require a whole evening to do justice to 
 it on some future occasion; but I cannot pass over the 
 very marked improvement made of late in the portable 
 steam-engines for farmers’ use; and this state of things is 
 one of all others that is specially due to repeated exhibi¬ 
 tions, and, above all, to repeated trials of actual work by 
 independent parties. The keenness evinced by the makers 
 to excel in the trials is even more marked than their desire 
 
328 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND 
 
 to make sales, as they seem quite aware that however good 
 an opinion a man may have of his own works, yet the esti¬ 
 mate of unbiassed judges is, after all, the surest test, and 
 the publication of actual results enables makers and the 
 public to know the exact standard reached indifferent years. 
 This was the case also in a more marked degree when the 
 duty of the various Cornish engines was first published some 
 years since, for even a second-rate maker could not but feel 
 himself impelled to improvement when seeing others regu¬ 
 larly, month after month, raising more water by a bushel 
 of coals than himself. In all other machines it is the same, 
 and one of the most valuable lessons derived from the labours 
 of the Jury in Class V. will be that part of their Report 
 which shall tell us not merely the comparative merit of dif¬ 
 ferent exhibitors, but give also the authentic results obtained, 
 in order that we may have an acknowledged standard as a 
 means of comparing what was in the Exhibition with other 
 plans both former and future. 
 
 In reviewing thus rapidly the immense quantity of ma¬ 
 chinery and models brought before us at the Exhibition, it 
 is quite evident that many valuable contributions have been 
 unnoticed, but the object of these lectures is not so much 
 a description of what was there, as of the probable influ¬ 
 ence that the Exhibition will have upon the future state of 
 things. 
 
 Very many forcible contrasts have been drawn between 
 rival exhibitors, both by themselves and others interested; 
 and there are few, if any, even of the most advanced class, 
 that have not found themselves outstripped in some point 
 or other, and learned lessons that will show early results. 
 The impulse given to machine-making in every branch is 
 very great; and it will have been found that though in this 
 country, from our numerous mechanical publications, we 
 are tolerably well acquainted with one another’s engineer¬ 
 ing doings, yet it is a very different affair as to our know¬ 
 ledge of what other nations are about. This may be seen 
 in "the reaping-machines, now first heard of; in the up¬ 
 setting all previous notions of the security of our locks; in 
 the lessons taught us as to the hulls and sails of our vessels, 
 and in the superiority evinced in the manufacture of steel 
 
MACHINERY GENERALLY. 
 
 329 
 
 toilers from Prussia; none of which were known to us pre¬ 
 viously, except in a very vague manner. 
 
 In one respect I think there has been a great disappoint¬ 
 ment to all parties, in not finding more hidden mechanical 
 talent brought to light from the working classes than has 
 really been the case; and although it is undoubtedly true 
 that some of them held back from doubt as to the security 
 offered in the shape of provisional registration, yet the very 
 many cases in which advantage has been taken of this 
 registration do not show much apparent value of invention. 
 
 I .regret very much that the proposal of Mr. Webster to 
 letain and exhibit in one place all the articles thus regis¬ 
 tered was not carried out, as we should have been much 
 better able to judge truly of the case than now, when they 
 are again scattered among the inventors. 
 
 The state of the patent laws has attracted more attention 
 in consequence of the Exhibition than it would otherwise 
 lia\ e done, and it is to be hoped this session of Parliament 
 will see all the glaring abuses swept away, and the laws 
 placed on a sound, footing; and in any case I hope that 
 when any international arrangements as to copyright are 
 carried out, the mutual exchange of information as to the 
 patents granted in each country may be made part of it: 
 for a great deal of valuable time is ‘lost, both in this and 
 other countries, in reproducing plans of machinery pre¬ 
 viously tried elsewhere, and a knowledge of which is only 
 to be obtained by an enormous expense of time and money, 
 which is lost both to the inventor and his fellow-men. Se¬ 
 veral small improvements have been made of late, such as 
 causing all new patents to be enrolled at one office, but 
 those fourteen years old are all at another: at this latter 
 the permission has lately been given to make any extracts 
 in pencil only, but at the former office, where the new pa¬ 
 tents are enrolled, it will hardly be credited that not only 
 no pencils must be seen, but even a printed copy may not 
 be compared with the enrolment. 
 
 With regard to the question of industrial schools now 
 much talked of, it is quite evident that among our me¬ 
 chanics there is often a very great want of sound informa¬ 
 tion, and any means that will impart this to them will be 
 attended with great good; but in my own experience I find 
 
830 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND MACHINERY. 
 
 that few people give time in the day to it, and among those 
 who devote the evening to the purposes of study, technical 
 instruction is generally neglected by them for the more 
 amusing pursuits of literature. This will be found the 
 case in mechanics’ institutions generally, where of all places 
 we might expect to tind it otherwise; and in the few cases 
 where mechanical science is studied by those engaged in 
 engineering, mechanical publications seem more in demand 
 than lectures. Unlike chemistry in its laboratory, or design 
 in its schools, useful practice cannot be followed out except 
 on so large a scale that the factory or out-of-door works are 
 the only means available; and the recent closing of the 
 Engineering College at Putney, which started under such 
 fair auspices, is an instance in point. For these reasons, in 
 any industrial schools that may be established, I think it 
 will be found that for some time to come, so far as engineer¬ 
 ing is concerned, money will be better laid out in the library 
 than the lecture-room; and indeed, with a few bright ex¬ 
 ceptions, we have not many men who possess both the will 
 and the power to keep an audience constantly attentive on 
 these subjects. 
 
 Since the foregoing paragraph was written the lectures to 
 working men at the Museum of Economic Geology have 
 begun, and admission is obtained at a very low rate. I am 
 informed that they are very fully attended, and I sincerely 
 hope that they may be successful. 
 
 In conclusion, I must not admit to express the great ad¬ 
 vantages that this and other countries have received from 
 the enlightened views taken by the Prince, whose name has 
 been such a tower of strength to the Exhibition in its early 
 days, when many looked on it with coldness and doubt; 
 and it is also due to the Society I have now the honour to 
 address that I should express my conviction, as one hitherto 
 totally unconnected with it, that in its officers and members 
 the earliest, firmest, and truest friends of the Great Exhi¬ 
 bition have been found. 
 
 
 Feb. 11, 1852. 
 
LECTURE XI. 
 
 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 BY 
 
 PROFESSOR J. F. ROYLE, M.D. F.R.S. 
 
 ( 331 ) 
 

 
 t 
 
 
 
 
 
PROFESSOR J. FORBES ROYLE, M.D. F.R.S. 
 
 ON 
 
 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 The arts and manufactures of India, as brought under 
 our notice by the late Exhibition, form a subject sufficiently 
 extensive to occupy an entire course, instead of only a 
 single lecture. For the arts practised in India are nearly as 
 numerous as those known in Europe until within the last 
 few years. It is evident, therefore, that the time will not 
 suffice for taking more than a glance at some, instead of a 
 minute examination of any, or even a general view of the 
 whole. This, however, is the less to be regretted, as we 
 are still without the details necessary to make the illustra¬ 
 tions of these arts and manufactures interesting to the 
 members of the Society of Arts. The individual, moreover, 
 who has to address them being himself practically un¬ 
 acquainted with the working of these arts, must claim the 
 indulgence of an audience, which includes within itself many 
 of the masters of industrial art, especially as he has to 
 embrace so extensive a subject as all the arts and manu¬ 
 factures of a great country. But others have had an equally 
 difficult task in weighing the results of the exhibition of the 
 products of all countries, each in his own department. 
 
 The opportunity is, however, favourable for looking at 
 some of these questions in a general point of view and dis¬ 
 encumbered of manufacturing details,—some of them be- 
 
 ' (333) 
 
334 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 cause they are interesting to us, others because they may 
 be beneficial to our fellow-subjects of the East. The latter 
 appears to me the more necessary, for we most frequently 
 hear India spoken of as a farm from which we are to draw 
 our supplies of raw produce, when we want them, or as a 
 field which we have to cover with our manufactures, rather 
 than as an estate wc have to improve, and on the inhabitants 
 of which we are to watch the effects of our manufacturing 
 inundations. Therefore, while noticing what may be useful 
 to us, it seems to be desirable to observe what may be bene¬ 
 ficial to them; for, freely as the varied products of their 
 soil, and the rich results of their manufacturing skill, have 
 been displayed, the distance of the country, as well as the 
 habits of the people, have combined to prevent the presence 
 of any of their skilled artisans at the real University of the 
 Arts, where so many others have studied in the session of 
 1851. If any of them had been present, they would have 
 seen the substantial benefits of sending raw produce in a 
 clean and unadulterated state to market, and might have 
 learnt how much some of their manufacturing processes 
 might be abbreviated by the addition to, and modification of 
 some of their simple, and though rude-looking, yet efficient 
 tools. They might, at the same time, have observed that 
 all innovation is not necessarily improvement, and might 
 also have inferred, that though they had much to learn, yet 
 that they themselves had something to teach, and that they 
 might, without retrograding in taste, retain much of the 
 pleasing results of their ancient civilization. 
 
 While treating, therefore, of the arts of an anciently 
 civilized country, it is hardly possible to avoid noticing their 
 antiquity. Nor is it desirable to do so, for though some 
 may conceive that the literature of the arts, and their pro¬ 
 bable antiquity, deserve only the attention of antiquarians, I 
 am of opinion that it is detrimental to the arts to separate 
 them, so much as is usually the case, both from literature 
 and science. It is owing to such neglect that we have so 
 little information respecting the arts, not only of the 
 ancients, but of many modern nations. For those who are 
 qualified to write are usually unacquainted wdth, and often 
 despise, the details which it is necessary to describe; while 
 those who formerly practised the mechanical arts seldom 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 335 
 
 took the trouble to describe what they alone knew how to 
 make. As it is still common with us all to depreciate sub¬ 
 jects of which we are ignorant, and to over-estimate those 
 which we study, so it is not unusual for the practical man 
 to be wrapped up in his own skill, or what he conceives to 
 be his own original discoveries; and though many of these 
 are due to accident, and others are the legitimate results of 
 careful thought, he seldom inquires what others have done 
 in former times, or are doing in other countries even in his 
 own time. _ It would not be difficult to show, that had a 
 little more interest been shown in inquiring into the history 
 of the arts, even of India, many so called discoveries would 
 not appear to have been made in the nineteenth century; 
 but we might years since have started from points which 
 others had reached even ages before. 
 
 Confining ourselves, however, at present to the arts of 
 India, it may appear incredible that we should have re¬ 
 mained ignorant till now of the existence of many of 
 these arts, and of the high perfection to which others had 
 been carried among our fellow-subjects of the East, whom 
 many of us had been in the habit of considering as bar¬ 
 barians. A part of this ignorance may be safely ascribed 
 to the limited nature of English education, which so stu¬ 
 diously excludes all notice of the arts and sciences; and a 
 part to the indifference which the public have so long dis¬ 
 played towards Indian subjects, But it is to be hoped, that 
 as the restoration to light of the palaces of the ancient 
 Nineveh has revealed the long-forgotten arts of the Assyrians, 
 so may the recent display of the Great Exhibition direct 
 attention to the living arts of a people probably not less 
 ancient, and who are at least as interesting in whatever 
 point we view them. 
 
 Though few may deny altogether the antiquity of the 
 arts in India, many may be disposed to limit this antiquity 
 to comparatively recent times. It is desirable, therefore, to 
 get some idea of what we mean when we talk of the an¬ 
 tiquity of these arts. But this is a task of some difficulty, 
 from the little attention which the Hindoos themselves have 
 paid to the canons of chronology. 
 
 All are familiar with the habit of some authors of refer¬ 
 ring everything to the East, and of the now proverbial 
 
336 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 expression of “ ex oriente lux.” But these terms are so in¬ 
 definite that we are at a loss to know to what nation they 
 refer, whether to the Persians or to the Babylonians, to the 
 ancient Assyrians or to the still more ancient Egyptians. 
 For all these were early civilized nations. But if it were 
 not from the representations within the tombs of Egypt, or 
 from finding a few specimens of these arts in the disinterred 
 palaces of Assyria, or on the sculptured monuments of 
 Persia, we should be unable to judge, and unwilling to ad¬ 
 mit, the high perfection to which many of these arts had 
 attained in very ancient times. So in the case of China, 
 if it had not been for the researches of scholars, we should 
 have disbelieved j.he high antiquity in that country of the 
 manufacture of porcelain and of paper, a knowledge of silk, 
 of gunpowder, of various metallurgical compounds, and of 
 the mariner’s compass. 
 
 But in all these countries India is referred to, in the 
 earliest times, as an object of admiration or of desire; and 
 though we may disbelieve in the conquest of any part of 
 India by the Egyptian Sesostris, or the Assyrian Ninus, or 
 in the expedition of the Indian Bacchus, yet the very pre¬ 
 valence of such traditions in the earliest times of which we 
 have any record, seems to prove that the country was famed 
 for the richness of its products, and for the early civilization 
 of its inhabitants. We know, moreover, that Alexander the 
 Great found them so more than 2000 years ago, and we find 
 them now hardly differing from what his historians described 
 them to be in his time. The Chinese, moreover, derived 
 their most popular religion, and one class of their sacred 
 books, from India. 
 
 As we cannot trust Indian chronology, we may yet draw 
 some useful inferences from the state of civilization of other 
 Eastern, who were probably contemporary, nations. 
 
 Babylon, though one of the earliest cities mentioned in 
 the records of primeval history, disappears from notice until 
 the time of Nebuchadnezzar. But we have references to 
 u the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency,” and to “ the 
 Chaldeans whose cry is in the ships.” The situation of 
 Babylon, at the head of the Persian Gulf, was admirably 
 adapted for commerce; hence it was succeeded by other 
 cities from the time of its destruction to the foundation of 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 337 
 
 Bagdad. Thus the spices of England and Ceylon, together 
 with ivory, ebony, and probably other woods, were ob¬ 
 tained; perhaps, also, indigo, and the purple (lac?) dye, 
 mentioned by Ctesias, as well as the gum-resins of Arabia 
 and Africa, and the pearls and cotton of the Persian Gulf. 
 All which were conveyed by the great rivers Euphrates and 
 Tigris to Western Asia and Europe, or by caravans of 
 camels across Arabia to Egypt. Its manufactures were 
 famous in early times, for we read of “ Babylonian carpets 
 and tapestry,” and of its cloths, as famed for the brilliancy 
 and variety of their hues; and as early as the time of 
 Joshua, among the spoils of Jericho, of a “ goodly Babylo¬ 
 nish garment.” 
 
 Nineveh, long accounted the rival of Babylon, was de¬ 
 stroyed by the Babylonians and Medes as early as B. c. 
 606, more than a century before the earliest of the Greek 
 historians. The Scythians overran the country for twenty- 
 eight years previous, so that the latest of the sculptures 
 must have been as early as B. c. 634. But from the deci¬ 
 phered genealogies, it is probable that the earliest were at 
 least twelve centuries before the Christian era. Mr. Layard 
 has shown, that in their arts and architecture there are 
 many peculiarities which have hitherto been considered as 
 of undoubted Greek origin. The people carved and in¬ 
 scribed not only soft alabaster, but hard basalt; and though 
 they used copper nails, rings, and bands, they also clamped 
 their slabs with iron, and prepared a variety of warlike arms, 
 and worked in gold. They glazed earth, and knew how to 
 make glass beads and cylinders, to dye cloths, and make use 
 of a variety of colours. With the art of weaving they were 
 familiar, and for embroidered works they must have been 
 famous.; for their flowing robes, richly bordered and fringed, 
 as well as the caparisons of their horses, display great skill. 
 They used umbrellas on state occasions, as well as the 
 oriental chowree, or fly-flapper, which was probably made 
 then as now with the tail of the yak of Tibet. The dogs 
 of that country, famed for their size and fierceness, were 
 known, and seem to have been maintained in Babylon at 
 very early periods, according to the statements of Ctesias, 
 as well as of Herodotus. 
 
 Similar observations might be made on the practice of 
 
 29 
 
888 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 the arts by the ancient Persians, as represented in the 
 sculptures at Persepolis. But here, differing from both 
 Egypt and Chaldea, we have a people who are the descend- 
 auts and true representatives of the former occupiers of the 
 country. And Mr. Gender has well observed : “ In Persia, 
 it is the living scene, the faded yet still imposing pageantry, 
 the various tribes, and the diversified traits of character, 
 that chiefly occupy attention, and by their faithful trans¬ 
 cripts of the former ages it is that the imagination is trans¬ 
 ported far back into the past.” It is probable, therefore, 
 that they formerly practised many of the arts which we now 
 see among them. Some parts of the country manufacture 
 coarse china and glass; others are noted for making encaustic 
 tiles of various colours, which ornament many domes, as 
 that of Imam Reza at Mushed. Inkstands and small boxes, 
 adorned with birds and flowers, are made at Shiraz and 
 Ispahan; and in enamelling they particularly excel. The 
 stone-cutters and seal-engravers, &c., are famous. Silks are 
 produced at various places, as w r ell as gold and silver bro¬ 
 cades, and their small carpets are admired for the happy 
 arrangement of the patterns and the pleasing harmony of 
 the various and brilliant colours which they employ. The 
 sword-blades of Herat, Mushed, and Shiraz, are highly 
 esteemed, but are all made with steel imported from India; 
 hence “jawabee hind,” “an Indian answer,” means a cut 
 with an Indian sword, or one made with Indian steel. 
 That India attracted the attention of the Persians at early 
 periods is evident from one of the reports of the death of 
 Cyrus having been caused by the javelin of an Indian while 
 making war on that country. Darius is said to have invaded 
 India, and that some of its provinces formed the twentieth 
 satrapy of his empire; and it was in his siege that Scylax 
 is said to have proceeded from the Indus, by sea, along the 
 barren lands of Arabia, up the Red Sea to Egypt. 
 
 Solomon, again, who appears to have been the ruling 
 power of his age, that is, 1000 years B. C., not only traded 
 with Tyre and Sidon, but, with the aid of the Phoenicians, 
 he established a fleet at Elath and Eziongeber, at the head 
 of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, to go to Ophir and 
 Tharshish. Eor we learn, that “ the king’s (Solomon) ships 
 went to Tharshish with the servants of Hiram; every 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 339 
 
 three years once came the ships of Tharshish, bringing 
 gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.” Again, 
 “ Jehoshaplmt made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for 
 gold, but they went not; for the ships were broken at 
 Eziongeber.” From Ophir were obtained “gold, algum, 
 or almug trees, and precious stones.” In my “ Essay on 
 the Antiquity of Hindoo Medicine,” I some years since 
 observed: “ From these several products, especially ivory, 
 apes, peacocks, and pearls, it is evident that only southern 
 countries—whether Africa or India—could have been the 
 object of the voyage. But cinnamon and cassia, nard, 
 calamus, and onycha, having been shown to be peculiarly 
 Indian products known to ancient commerce, there can, I 
 conceive, be no doubt that the west coast of India, and 
 probably, also, the island of Ceylon, were reached even in 
 those early times.”— Essay, p. 148. 
 
 Egypt, we have the most undoubted proofs, was in a 
 highly civilized state at still earlier periods than any of those 
 which have been mentioned, and carried many of the arts 
 to a high degree of perfection even 2000 years B. c. In the 
 above quoted work, in pointing out the resemblances be¬ 
 tween Egypt and India, I also observed: “ Thus the arts 
 practised by both are very similar, not only in nature, but 
 also in many of the processes which they adopt,” as seen 
 in “ the representations of the different arts as practised by 
 the former (the Egyptians), figured on their monuments.” 
 And again, “ So great, indeed, is this resemblance, that 
 it is hardly exaggeration to say, that they might be intro¬ 
 duced into a book of modern travels as representations of 
 Hindoo artisans.”— Essay , pp. 130—133. 
 
 The influence which the state of the arts in Persia and 
 Assyria has had on their cultivation by the Greeks of Asia 
 Minor has been shown by Sir C. Fellows, and by Messrs. 
 Layard and Fergusson. If we inquire into the arts of a 
 nation still farther to the west, we may perceive great simi¬ 
 larity between them and the arts practised in early times in 
 Eastern countries. The Etruscans were well acquainted 
 with agriculture, as well as other arts, and were the civili¬ 
 zers of a part at least of Italy. They fortified towns by 
 surrounding them with walls and towers. They knew how 
 to work the iron of Elba. They could cast bronze and make 
 silver vases and gold ornaments. They engraved on stone 
 
340 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 and produced sculptures, and are supposed by some to have 
 invented the arch at a very remote period. 
 
 The philosophical Heeren appears to me to have justly 
 ascribed the flourishing state of many of the cities of 
 Egypt, as well as of Babylon, and of such places as Pal¬ 
 myra and Petra, to the trade with India. Many of the 
 products which formed articles of commerce were such that 
 they could not have been obtained from any nearer locality. 
 Being ourselves situated in a remote corner of Europe, we 
 contemplate the difficulties of these journeyings and voy¬ 
 ages from an insular point of view, and consider how we 
 could have undertaken them at those early times; forgetting 
 that the people of Persia and Afghanistan would have 
 found no great difficulty in crossing into India, nor the 
 Phoenicians of the Persian Gulf even in reaching the 
 mouths of the Indus. The Arabs of the Red Sea, even 
 before the discovery of the regularity of the monsoons, 
 might easily have coasted to the Persian Gulf, and gone as 
 far as, or beyond the Phoenicians, to the ancient Barygaza, 
 and been carried from thence to the western or the Malabar 
 coast of India, which is the nearest point where pepper, 
 cassia, and such-like spices, could have been obtained. 
 
 There is nothing impossible in these ancient wanderings; 
 in fact, we know that they must have taken place: for the 
 philosophical investigations into the structure of languages 
 have shown a great similarity between the Sanscrit, Persian, 
 Greek, Latin, Teutonic, and'Celtic languages, which are now 
 usually called Indo-Germanic, but of late Aryan languages, 
 because this appears to be the oldest name by which the 
 nations speaking these languages called themselves. It is 
 curious, as has been observed, that the Indo-European lan¬ 
 guages all exhibit the most striking coincidences in words 
 expressive of the first peaceful arts of mankind, while the 
 terms connected with chase or war are mostly peculiar. 
 
 Consequently there appears to me nothing improbable in 
 the people of India having been as early civilized as any of 
 the nations I have mentioned. The physical features of the 
 country are such as to have favoured early civilization. 
 Four great ranges of mountains, capable of yielding metal¬ 
 lic treasures, guard extensive plains, which are themselves 
 intersected by magnificent rivers. By these fertility is dif- 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 341 
 
 fused, and communication carried even to the most remote 
 parts of the country. These rivers flow, moreover, into oceans 
 with coasts connected on the south and east with still more 
 eastern countries, and on the west with gulfs which commu¬ 
 nicate nearly with the south of Europe, or receive the waters 
 of the western parts of Asia. 
 
 The climate, moreover, is such as to favour the culture 
 of the soil and the production of a sufficient abundance of 
 food. This would have allowed leisure to some of the peo¬ 
 ple to practise useful arts and to pursue a scientific course 
 of observation, or a philosophical train of thought. Thus, 
 in the most southern parts, there being two rainy seasons, 
 they are able to obtain two crops annually of tropical pro¬ 
 ducts. In the northern parts, during the rainy season, they 
 cultivate rice, sugar, and cotton; while in the cold weather, 
 or winter months, they produce wheat and barley; and in 
 both seasons a variety of pulses. The country also affords 
 pasturage for sheep, and grazing for cattle. Thus they had 
 cereals and pulses, as well as milk and butter, for food; 
 and though not abstaining entirely from animal food, they 
 had an abundance of a sufficiently mixed diet. And though 
 they seem also to have early learned to distil spirits, they 
 seem to me only to want some beverage, such as coffee or 
 tea, which would afford a moderate yet refreshing stimulant. 
 This the present culture of those two useful products in 
 their own country will afford them. 
 
 Though the climate is such that calicoes and muslins are 
 sufficient clothing for some parts of the year, the calico re¬ 
 quires to be padded with cotton at others, and their wools 
 to be converted into blankets. 
 
 Facility of obtaining food and clothing having afforded 
 leisure, the Hindoos early took advantage of it for following 
 other pursuits; and though I have no intention of treating 
 of their agriculture, they seem early to have ascertained 
 the advantages of a rotation of crops, and likewise of drill- 
 husbandry, for Theophrastus mentions their cotton being 
 planted in lines. Their drills are simple and cheap, some¬ 
 times convertible into harrows by removing the bamboos 
 fixed into holes behind the teeth of the harrow. 
 
 That they did not confine themselves to this, or indeed 
 to any one subject, we have the proofs in the variety of 
 29 * \ 
 
342 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 writings winch we have upon all subjects,—some of them 
 still locked up in the original Sanscrit, but, unfortunately, 
 all of somewhat doubtful chronology. 
 
 The Hymns of the Vedas are considered to have been com¬ 
 posed at least 1200. or 1300 years b. c.,— by Mr. Colebrooke, 
 in the fourteenth century B. c. In the Rig Veda, which 
 has been lately translated by Professor Wilson, he observes 
 of these hymns, that they are composed in a great variety of 
 metres ) and of the Hindoos he says, “ At this period a 
 pastoral people they might have been, to some extent; but 
 they Avere also, and, perhaps, in a still greater degree, an 
 agricultural people, as is evidenced by their supplications 
 for abundant rain, and for the fertility of the earth, and by 
 the mention of agricultural products, particularly barley” 
 (p. 57). “ They were a manufacturing people; for the art 
 
 of weaving, the labours of the carpenter, and the fabrica¬ 
 tion of golden and of iron mail, are alluded to; and, what 
 is more remarkable, they were a maritime and mercantile 
 people .”—Rig Veda Sanliita.* Translated by H. II. Wil¬ 
 son. 
 
 * As the religion of the Rig Veda differs so much from what is 
 now prevalent in India, I have heard it stated as probable that 
 these hymns were not Avritten in India. But, looking to the in¬ 
 ternal evidence of the natural history subjects which are alluded 
 to, I can see no grounds for this objection. Without alluding to 
 the elephant supposed to be mentioned at p. 175; porpoises, p. 
 312, are likely to have been met with in the Ganges or Indus ; and 
 the spotted deer, pp. 109, 110, in every part of India. Bamboos, 
 p. 21, and the Kusa grass (Poa Cynosuroides), are strictly Indian 
 plants. But the Soma■ plant, Avhich with its juice are so frequently 
 mentioned (vide p. G, &c.), is so peculiar in India, with its round, 
 smooth, twining, leafless stems and branches filled with a mild 
 wholesome acid juice, that it is almost enough of itself to fix the 
 country of many of the hymns. It Avas called Asclepias acida by 
 Dr. Roxburgh; but now a genus, Sarcostemma , has been formed, 
 containing three or four species, which are all similar in habit. It 
 is curious that these plants are not met with in the Gangetic val¬ 
 ley, but they are found on the dry Coromandel coast. The species 
 described by Dr. Roxburgh is found in hedges, but is by no means 
 common there. But in the western states of India it is stated to 
 be found on Perim island, on the rocky hills about Loonee, on the 
 barren parts of plains between Dowlatabad and the Godavery, and 
 throughout the Dcccan. A similar species is found in Arabia. 
 Hence it would appear that, if the Brahmins made use of this 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OE INDIA. 343 
 
 The Institutes of Mann are considered to date from 800 
 B. c., and the great Sanscrit epics from the commencement 
 of our era. These have been followed by works on gram¬ 
 mar, logic, and philosophy. Of their systems of philoso¬ 
 phy, Sir W. Jones said: “We now live among the pro¬ 
 fessors of those philosophical tenets, which the Iou:e and 
 Attic writers illustrated with all the beauties of their melo¬ 
 dious language.” “ The six philosophical schools, whose 
 principles are explained in the Dersana Sastra, comprise all 
 the metaphysics of the old Academy, the Stoa, the Lyceum ; 
 nor is it possible to read the Vedanta, or the many compo¬ 
 sitions in illustration of it, without believing that Pythago¬ 
 ras and Plato derived their sublime theories from the same 
 fountain with the sages of India.” 
 
 In the mathematical sciences, the Hindoos were acquainted 
 with the decimal notation by nine digits and zero. In alge¬ 
 bra, Mr. Colebrooke found reason to conclude that the Greeks 
 were far behind the Hindoos. In geometry they were ac¬ 
 quainted with the proposition that the square on the hypo- 
 thenuse of the right-angled triangle is equal to the squares 
 of the sides containing the right angle. The circumference 
 of the circle they divided into 360 equal parts, and each of 
 these into 60 others, and so on, similar to our division into 
 degrees, minutes, and seconds. The ratio of the diameter 
 to the circumference they supposed to be as 1 to 3 - 1416; 
 and though the Chinese required first the Arabs, and then 
 the Jesuits, to assist them in settling the true number of 
 days in the year, the Hindoos conceived it to consist of 365 
 days, 5 hours, 30 minutes, 40 seconds; a determination 
 
 plant, they must have clone so on the western side of India, that is, 
 in the countries now forming the Bombay Presidency, and this would 
 account for the early Hindoos having been acquainted with the sea. 
 It must have been from this side that the spices of the East first 
 reached Egypt, and it is on this side that all the great Cave temples 
 are situated, and some of these may have been early Brahminical, 
 and not all Buddhistical. It has further been inferred, and ap¬ 
 parently with good reason, that the Phoke plant met with by Mr 
 Elphinstone all across the desert in his route from Delhi to Baha- 
 wulpoor, and again after leaving Mooltan, is the same sacred plant. 
 Mr. Griffith met with it in abundance between Dadur and the Bolan 
 Pass, but he mentions it under one of its old names, that of Apocy - 
 tmvh viminale. The Hindoos must have come through the Punjab 
 
344 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 which, (as Sir D. Brewster says) differs only 1 minute 33 
 seconds from that which is employed in the new solar tables 
 of Delambre.* 
 
 It may be, and indeed has been, supposed by some, that 
 the principles of the above sciences may have been obtained 
 by the Hindoos from the Greeks through the medium of 
 the Arabs, or from the Greek government of the successors 
 of Alexander in the north-western frontiers of India. But 
 the philosophers of Greece travelled to far Eastern countries 
 at still earlier periods, in search of information from the 
 sages of the East • and, as I have already observed in the 
 above Essay, though ideas may travel from north to south, 
 and from west to east, yet tropical products can only travel 
 in our hemisphere from south to north, and I think we may 
 infer that in ancient times they could only have been con¬ 
 veyed from east to west. It is not surprising, therefore, 
 that the arts should have originated or been carried to a 
 considerable degree of perfection, even in ancient times, 
 among such a people, provided that they had the raw mate¬ 
 rials of different kinds to work upon. That these are, and 
 must always have been, abundant in their country, is evi¬ 
 dent from the extensive collection of them which was sent 
 
 * Professor Wilson, who is well acquainted with the Hindoos, has 
 pronounced them “an intelligent, and interesting, and amiable 
 people,” and also “an acute and argumentative peoplelikewise, 
 that “the Indian mind, even amongst the least instructed, has a 
 ready tendency to contemplative reflection, and delights in subtle 
 and metaphysical research;” and although the people throughout 
 the country are at present sunk in gross idolatry, we might adduce 
 both the original Brahminical and the Buddhistic religions as in¬ 
 stances of their contemplative habits, as well as of the elevated 
 ideas which they entertained of the Deity;— e.g. “ I am like nothing 
 human, with which to compare myself.” The worshipper is di¬ 
 rected “to adore God alone, know God alone, give up all other dis¬ 
 course,” and not only “ that none but the Supreme Being is to be 
 worshipped,” but that “ ministration to idols in temples is held by 
 ancient authorities infamous.” Manu repeatedly classes the priests 
 of a temple with persons unfit to be admitted to private sacrifices, 
 or to be associated with on any occasion; and even still, the priests 
 who attend upon the images in public are considered as of a scarcely 
 reputable order by all Hindoos of learning and respectability.— 
 See Wilson “ On the Hindoos,” and Maurice “ On the Religions of 
 the World.” 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 345 
 
 to the Exhibition suited for all the different arts and manu¬ 
 factures. Some of these must have given them facilities 
 for practising some of the arts; for instance, the hollow 
 bamboo enabled them to construct the drill-plough, funnels, 
 and blow-pipes; the shell of the cocoa-nut and of gourds, 
 ladles, and vessels to hold fluids; the palmyra leaf, materials 
 for mats, fans, and thatching. 
 
 The arts and sciences, as known to the Hindoos, were 
 reckoned, according to Abul Fuzl, to be about three hun¬ 
 dred in number. Upon this Sir W. Jones observes, that 
 as the sciences are comparatively few, we may conclude that 
 they anciently practised as many useful arts as ourselves. 
 The Silpi Sastra, however, which is a Sanscrit collection of 
 treatises on arts and manufactures, is said to enumerate 
 only sixty-four; but if these are the leading arts, they must 
 each embrace a number of subordinate divisions. 
 
 That many of these arts have long been practised we have 
 a variety of proofs, as in their rock-cut temples and in the 
 dresses and ornaments of their idols, and also that some of 
 them have been recognised, and even supported, by being 
 connected with the village system of the Hindoos. This 
 seems to be proved by some very interesting documents, to 
 which attention has been called by Colonel Sykes, that is, 
 to the characteristic signatures of different witnesses to 
 leases and agreements about land. Thus, as they were 
 unable to write, in place of our universal x, each draws 
 the symbol of his occupation : a plough by a cultivator, a 
 gimlet by the carpenter, a pair of pincers by the iron-smith, 
 the shopkeeper a pair of scales, while the banker signs with 
 the delicate bankers' scales, though it is probable he could 
 also write, for we find even those classes who can usually 
 write signing in the same way; for instance, the priest with 
 a rosary of beads, and the village astrologer with an almanac. 
 These probably used symbols that might be intelligible to 
 the others who could not write. 
 
 Indeed, it appears to me that it has been owing in a 
 great measure to the municipal institutions, that is, to the 
 village system of the Hindoos, that we are to ascribe the 
 permanence of the arts in India; for so often as the storm 
 of conquest has swept over the plains of India, we yet see 
 the arts continuing to flourish in the very places where they 
 
B46 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 had attained their pristine excellence. Something of this 
 is no doubt due to the system of castes, but also to the 
 Hindoos bending like willows to the storm, and to their 
 returning to the village lands, in which so many have a 
 share, when it has passed over. These, of course, drew to 
 them many of those trades which depended upon them for 
 support. 
 
 In proceeding to make observations on the arts and 
 manufactures of India, as shown at the Exhibition, it is, in 
 the first place, necessary to inquire whether the specimens 
 exhibited were the ordinary products of the country, or 
 were specially prepared for the Exhibition. From the 
 shortness of the time between the announcement and the 
 opening of the late Exhibition,—for the time, for so dis¬ 
 tant a country as India, was very short,—few things could 
 be prepared with the care that might have been bestowed 
 if more time had been allowed: and yet very little time was 
 lost. Our illustrious President having finally determined 
 on the nature and objects to be embraced within the pro¬ 
 posed Exhibition, in the middle of July 1849, the Court 
 of Directors of the East India Company were among the 
 first, if not the very first, of the public bodies of this coun¬ 
 try who determined to support the undertaking, as they did 
 this in August 1849. I was directed to prepare a list of 
 the things procurable in India, which were suitable to the 
 Exhibition. This was done in conformity to the compre¬ 
 hensive views which had been promulgated. Lithographed 
 copies of the lists which had been prepared were sent out 
 by the mail of the 7th of January, 1850, and were issued 
 from the Government House at Calcutta on the 22d of 
 February, that is, the day after the u Classified Lists of 
 Objects which may be admitted into the Exhibition” were 
 promulgated from the Palace of Westminster. 
 
 As the arrangement of the arts in the jurors’ lists and 
 catalogues of the Great Exhibition, though productive of 
 great convenience, is not so well suited for general observa¬ 
 tions, in consequence of some which are closely allied to 
 each other in their scientific principles being separated from 
 each other, I propose treating of the arts and manufactures 
 of India under the heads of—1. Chemical Arts; 2. Textile 
 Arts; 3. Manual and Mechanical Arts; 4. Fine Arts. 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 347 
 
 1. Chemical Arts. 
 
 The arts which are strictly chemical may be supposed to 
 have originated only , in a country where the science of 
 chemistry had made some advance, but the Hindoos are not 
 usually supposed to have paid any attention to this subject. 
 The Egyptians arc thought to have practised, and the Arabs 
 are acknowledged to have been the first who wrote on the 
 subject; but their earliest chemist, G-eber, acknowledges 
 that he had only abridged the information to be found in 
 the books of ancient philosophers. That the Hindoos were 
 among these, I have attempted to prove in a separate work,* 
 where I have shown the probability of the Arabs having 
 obtained much of their information from Sanscrit works, 
 still in existence. 
 
 Chemistry, it has been inferred, must have originated 
 in alchemy; but it appears to me that it must have origin¬ 
 ated wherever the arts began to be practised : for in seeing 
 the wonderful changes which take place during the action 
 of heat, and some of the most common re-agents, people may 
 easily have been led to believe even in the transmutation 
 of metals. 
 
 We know from a variety of sources, that the Hindoos 
 have long been acquainted with many chemical substances, 
 as well as that they have practised many chemical arts. 
 The ordinary metals, including tin, they have long known, 
 and have prepared the oxides of iron, lead, tin, and zinc. 
 The ashes of plants in a country of wood fires, led them to 
 the discovery of potash. Soda is found effloresced on the 
 soil, as well as crystallized on the margins of some of their 
 lakes. The Arabic name, sagimen, indeed, seems to be 
 derived from the Hindoo saji-noon, that is, sajji, or soda-salt. 
 Nitre must have been produced then, as now, in their soil, 
 and borax imported from Tibet, while sal-ammoniac must 
 have been produced ever since they made bricks, as they 
 now do. Alum they obtain by throwing potash on alum 
 slate, which has been some time exposed to the air. Among 
 the salts of the metals, we find the sulphates of copper, of 
 
 * “Essay on the Antiquity of Hindoo Medicine.” 
 
348 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 zinc, and of iron, the acetates of copper and of iron, and the 
 carbonates of lead and of iron. They seem, also, to have 
 been long acquainted with the three mineral acids, for mak¬ 
 ing which they have peculiar formulae, while their lemons 
 and limes gave them citric, and the gram-plant ( Cicer arie- 
 tinum ) the oxalic acid. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that the Hindoos possessed many 
 chemical substances, and that they prepared others; hence 
 we might infer that they may have practised some of the 
 chemical arts, as, indeed, we know they must have done 
 from other sources. But this would equally prove that they 
 must have possessed various chemical substances, whence¬ 
 soever obtained. 
 
 Pharmaceutical Products .—In the present state of the 
 chemical arts, advanced as they have been by the cultivation 
 of the science in Europe, it was not to be expected that such 
 products as are obtained by the natives of India, by their 
 original and primitive processes, could be sent to the Exhi¬ 
 bition with any hope of attracting attention. Few, therefore, 
 have been sent from the bazaars of India, except as curiosi¬ 
 ties. But there are others, prepared under European su¬ 
 perintendence for the use of the public service, which are 
 excellent in quality; and I know not why India might not 
 under such superintendence prepare some that might become 
 articles of commerce : such, for instance, as benzoic and 
 citric acids, the salts of morphia, narcotine as an efficient 
 substitute for quinine in a number of cases ; with some ex¬ 
 tracts and tinctures of substances which lose their effect by 
 transmission and the influence of physical agents. 
 
 The sulphate of magnesia is interesting as prepared from 
 magnesite, or the natural carbonate of magnesia of the Pen¬ 
 insula. 
 
 Metallurgy .—Though it is difficult to understand how a 
 primitive people could have overcome the difficulties of 
 smelting iron and of forging steel, yet as we know from a 
 variety of sources that the Hindoos have long known both, 
 they must have overcome the difficulties which have stopped 
 others. But it is hardly less wonderful to see a native with 
 no other tools than his hatchet and his hands proceed to 
 smelt iron, which he will convert into steel capable of com¬ 
 peting with the best prepared in Europe. For this the 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 349 
 
 prevalence of the black oxicle of iron, in the state of iron 
 sand, and the common use of charcoal as a fuel, give him 
 some facilities, while he prepares a furnace with clay, and 
 makes bellows with the leaves of the forest. [Of this last, 
 a specimen was shown from the hills of Mirzapore.] 
 
 Iron and steel, though not known in the earliest periods 
 of the history of some of the civilized nations of antiquity, 
 have yet been known from very early periods. Iron is men¬ 
 tioned as being applied to a variety of purposes in the 
 earliest chapters of the Bible. But as it is too soft to be 
 used for all the purposes stated, it has been justly inferred 
 that they must have known of modes of hardening it, and 
 inference is made to that kind which is called “ northern 
 iron.” But as the term of “northern” is also applied to 
 the roads of commerce and of conquest from the East, be¬ 
 cause these entered Judaea by the north, that is by way 
 of Damascus and Syria, so Mr. Aikin looks to the countries 
 east of Babylonia as those where this hard iron or steel was 
 produced • and this is confirmed by the passage in Ezekiel, 
 where Dan and Javan are described as bringing “ bright 
 iron, cassia, and calamus,” which are all Indian products, 
 to Tyre. 
 
 The Hebrew name of steel, paldah , is evidently the same 
 word as the Arabic foulad, which is also in use in Persia, 
 where Indian steel is known by the name of foulad-i-hind. 
 Even now the best Persian swords are made with steel im¬ 
 ported from India, and Mr. Wilkinson has ascribed the mark¬ 
 ings on the famed Damascus blades to their having been 
 made with Indian steel, which has long formed an article 
 of trade from Bombay to the Persian Gulf. 
 
 Mr. Heath, at one time the managing director of the In¬ 
 dia Iron and Steel Company, and whose steel obtained a 
 prize at the Exhibition, even says, “We can hardly doubt, 
 that the tools with which the Egyptians covered their obe¬ 
 lisks and temples of porphyry and syenite with hieroglyphics, 
 were made of Indian steel.” There is no doubt, that the 
 ancient Indian temples and fortresses were carved with steel 
 instruments, as they are at the present day. That they 
 made steel which was highly valued in the time of Alex¬ 
 ander the Great, is evident from Porus making him a present 
 of about thirty pounds of steel; and still earlier, in the Big 
 30 
 
350 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 Veda, we read of chariots armed with iron weapons, of coa/ts- 
 of-mail, arms and tools of different kinds, and of bright-edged 
 hatchets. 
 
 Various descriptions of the manufacture of iron and steel 
 have been given by observers in different parts of India; 
 all of which bear a considerable resemblance to each other. 
 Some of these Mr. Aikin carefully noticed when he lec¬ 
 tured on this subject in this very place; but Mr. Heath 
 has, I think, given the best explanation of the Indian pro¬ 
 cesses. 
 
 Mr. Heath describes the ore used as the magnetic oxide 
 of iron, consisting of seventy-two per cent, of iron with 
 twenty-eight of oxygen, combined with quartz, in the pro¬ 
 portion of fifty-two of oxide to forty-eight of quartz. It is 
 prepared by stamping, and then separating the quartz by 
 washing or winnowing. The furnace is built of clay alone, 
 from three to five feet high, and pear-shaped; the bellows 
 is formed of two goat-skins, with a bamboo nozzle, ending 
 in a clay pipe. The fuel is charcoal, upon which the ore is 
 laid, without flux ; the bellows are plied for four hours, when 
 the ore will be found to be reduced: it is taken out, and 
 while yet red-hot, it is cut through with a hatchet, and sold 
 to the blacksmiths, who forge it into bars and convert it 
 into steel. In an old account which I possess, written on 
 the spot, apparently in Mysore, it is said, that one pound 
 and a half of iron is heated lower than red heat, and then 
 beaten for about three minutes with a stone hammer on a 
 stone anvil. Experience having taught them, they say, that 
 instruments of iron ruin the process. Mr. Heath says the 
 iron is forged by repeated hammering, until it forms an ap¬ 
 parently unpromising bar of iron, from which an English 
 manufacturer of steel would turn with contempt, but which 
 the Hindoo converts into cast steel of the very best quality. 
 To effect this he cuts it into small pieces, of which he puts 
 a pound, more or less, into a crucible, with dried wood of 
 the Cassia auriculata, and a few green leaves of Asclepias 
 gigantea; or, where that is not to be had, of the Convol¬ 
 vulus laurifolia. The object of this is to furnish carbon to 
 the iron. 
 
 As soon as the clay used to stop the mouths of the cru¬ 
 cibles is dry, they arc built up in the form of an arch in a. 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 351 
 
 small furnace, charcoal is heaped over them, and the blast 
 kept up without intermission for about two hours and a 
 half, when it is stopped, and the process considered com¬ 
 plete. The furnace contains from twenty to twenty-four 
 crucibles. The crucibles are next removed from the fur¬ 
 nace and allowed to cool; they are then broken, and the 
 steel taken out. The crucibles are formed of a red loam, 
 which is very refractory, mixed w r ith a large quantity of 
 charred husk of rice. 
 
 Mr. Heath, after observing on the astonishing fact of 
 the Hindoos having discovered the way of making steel at 
 such early periods, refers to Mr. Mushet’s discovery of con¬ 
 verting iron into cast steel by fusing it in a close vessel, in 
 contact with any substance yielding carbonaceous matter, 
 and then to that of Mr. Mackintosh, of converting iron into 
 steel, by exposing it to the action of carburetted hydrogen 
 gas in a close vessel at a very high temperature, by which 
 means the process of conversion is completed in a few hours; 
 while by the old method it was the work of from fourteen 
 to twenty days. Mr. H. observes :— 
 
 “Now, it appears to me that the Indian process com¬ 
 bines the principles of both the above described methods: 
 on elevating the temperature of the crucible containing pure 
 iron and dry wood, and green leaves, an abundant evolution 
 of carburetted hydrogen gas would take place from the 
 vegetable matter, and as its escape would be prevented by 
 the luting at the mouth of the crucible, it would be retained 
 in contact with the iron, which at a high temperature ap¬ 
 pears from Mr. Mackintosh’s process to have a much greater 
 affinity for gaseous than for concrete carbon : this would 
 greatly shorten the operation, and probably at a much lower 
 temperature than even the iron in contact with charcoal 
 powder. In no other way can I account for the fact that 
 iron is converted into cast steel by the natives of India in 
 two hours and a half, with an application of heat that in 
 this country would be considered quite inadequate to pro¬ 
 duce such an effect; while at Sheffield it requires at least 
 four hours to melt blistered steel in wind furnaces of the 
 best construction, although the crucibles in which the steel 
 is melted are at a white heat when the metal is put into 
 
352 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 them, and in the Indian process the crucibles are put into 
 the furnace quite cold.” 
 
 By such simple methods the Hindoo prepared steel, which 
 has long formed an article of commerce from the west of 
 India to the Persian Gulf, and there is every probability of 
 its being used in larger quantities if it were easily procur¬ 
 able in sufficient quantities, as manufacturers here have 
 expressed a desire to employ it. In the arms which we 
 have had exhibited, as well as in the edges and points of 
 the tools, we see its admirable fitness for the fabrication of 
 all cutting instruments. 
 
 Among the Arms we have a display of such as would 
 appear to belong to different ages of the world, but which 
 are all actually in use in India at the present day ) such as 
 chain and scale armour, both for man and horse, helmets 
 and shields, spears, battle-axes, bows and arrows, with dag¬ 
 gers in every variety. Some of these display in a remark¬ 
 able manner their skill as cutlers; as, for instance, the 
 sword formed of two blades, and another in which pearls 
 are let into the centre of its blade ) and still more in the 
 daggers contained one within another, all of hard steel, with 
 the line of junction so beautifully welded as to be hardly 
 perceptible even with a magnifier—so also in the dagger, 
 which on striking separates into five blades, as these are 
 most nicely brought into juxtaposition. The twisting of 
 gun-barrels and the damasks of their blades of steel have 
 been imitated in all countries. These beautiful specimens 
 have been sent chiefly by the native princes of the north¬ 
 west of India from Putteala to Scinde, as well as from the 
 central government of Hyderabad. 
 
 The other metal which it seems necessary to mention is 
 tin, because connected with so many metallurgical com¬ 
 pounds, and because by many it has been supposed that this 
 country was the only source from which that metal was 
 obtained in ancient times. But it exists in large quantities 
 in the Malayan Peninsula, as well as in Banca, Borneo, and 
 many other islands. Tin, we know, was employed by the 
 Egyptians, because it forms an ingredient in some of their 
 metallic compounds ; but its use has long been familiar to 
 the Hindoos for forming various metallurgical compounds, 
 as well as for tinning copper. As it occurs as an oxide, 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 353 
 
 and near the surface of the soil in large quantities, and re¬ 
 quires only charcoal for reducing it, we may suppose it 
 would easily have been discovered by a people who forged 
 iron and made steel. As the nations of antiquity employed 
 tin for hardening copper, and used the alloy for forming 
 swords and spear-heads, so the natives of India form various 
 compounds with copper and tin, which are remarkable for 
 their hardness, and for the fine sounds which they emit on 
 being struck. I)r. Wight lately found that an alloy of ten 
 grains of copper to two and a half grains of tin was the best 
 mixture which a native made in his presence. British 
 spear-heads are found to consist of one of tin to ten of copper, 
 and a knife, ot one of tin to seven and a half of copper. 
 . Mr. Aikin, in his experiments, found that eight grains of 
 copper to one of tin formed the hardest alloy. 
 
 Alloys. The natives of India are acquainted with a va¬ 
 riety of alloys for making utensils and even ornaments, as 
 with copper and zinc, tin and lead, besides being great 
 workers in copper and brass for the various utensils employed 
 for domestic purposes, and of which so large a variety was 
 sent from different parts of India. 
 
 Bidery .—A metallurgical compound of considerable in¬ 
 terest is that which has been named Bidery, from Bider, a 
 city situated about sixty miles to the north-west of Hyder¬ 
 abad, and of which we have had a variety of articles at the 
 Exhibition. Most of these have been greatly admired for 
 the elegance of their form, as well as for the gracefulness 
 of the patterns with which their surface is engraved. 
 I hough the groundwork of this composition appears of a 
 blackish colour, its natural colour is that of pewter or of 
 zinc. Dr. Ileyne informs us that it is composed of copper 
 sixteen ounces, lead four ounces, tin two ounces. These 
 are melted together, and to every three ounces of the alloy 
 sixteen ounces of spelter, that is of zinc, is added, when 
 the alloy is melted for use. But to give the whole the 
 black colour which is esteemed, probably from bringing out 
 the pattern, it is dipped into a solution of sal-ammoniac, 
 saltpetre, common salt, and blue vitriol. 
 
 Dr. B. Hamilton saw of zinc 12,360 grains, copper 460 
 grains, and lead 414 grains, melted together, and a mixture 
 of resin and beeswax introduced into the crucible to nre- 
 30 * 1 
 
354 TFIE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 vent calcination. It was then poured into a mould made 
 of baked clay, and the article handed over to be turned in 
 a lathe. Artists then inlay flowers or other ornaments of 
 silver or of gold. They first rub it over with sulphate of 
 copper and water, which gives the surface a blackish colour, 
 and enables the artist more easily to distinguish the figure 
 which he draws,—this he does with a sharp-pointed instru¬ 
 ment of steel, and cuts it with small chisels of various 
 shapes, and then with a hammer and punch fills the cavities 
 with small plates of silver, which adhere firmly to the 
 Bidery. It is then polished and stained as described above. 
 The various articles made from it are vases, wash-hand 
 basins and ewers, hookah-bottoms, spittoons, cups and 
 dishes, small boxes and weights. These are inlaid com¬ 
 monly with silver, but sometimes with gold. The patterns 
 are usually as much to be admired as the forms of the ves¬ 
 sels. Though usually called Bidery, sometimes Vidry, it is 
 also manufactured at other places. Specimens have been 
 sent both from Bider and Aurangabad, in the Nizam’s ter¬ 
 ritories, from his Highness the Nizam and his minister, Siraj- 
 ool-Moolk, which are particularly beautiful. Some also 
 from north-west India, and from Bengal; the latter, how¬ 
 ever, was inferior to the others in workmanship. Bidery 
 does not rust, yields little to the hammer, and breaks only 
 when violently beaten. According to Dr. Hamilton it is 
 not near so fusible as zinc or tin, but melts more easily than 
 copper. 
 
 Glass .—Glass is one of those discoveries which could 
 hardly escape being made by any people who employed fur¬ 
 naces to reduce metallic oxides; for the necessary ingredients 
 must often have been present, aud the heat was sufficient. 
 Beckmann lias observed, that the discovery of coloured 
 glass must have followed very soon that of making glass 
 itself. It is probable, however, that coloured glass was 
 made previous to colourless glass. For it is difficult to find 
 materials pure enough to make good glass, and it would be 
 some time before the original makers would find out the 
 causes of discolouration. 
 
 The natives of India seem to have been long acquainted 
 with making different ornaments of glass : for instance, 
 armlets and anklets, while rings of glass form a part of 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 355 
 
 their warping reels. Small glass bottles are also made; but 
 all that I have seen are of a more or less greenish colour. 
 The green is called Jcanch, and the purer glass, sisi. It is 
 probable that the extensive diffusion of oxide of iron in the 
 Indian soil, which may have led to the discovery of iron, 
 has prevented the making both of good glass and of good 
 pottery. That this is not incompatible with a knowledge of 
 the method of making imitation gems, seems proved by the 
 same having been the case in the time of Pliny; who states 
 that great value was set upon glass quite free from colour, 
 which was called crystal. He also mentions artificial hya¬ 
 cinths, sapphires, and all kinds of black glass; and we 
 know that the glass-houses of Alexandria were celebrated 
 among the ancients. 
 
 One of the simplest processes for making glass is that 
 practised in the district of Behar. The saline efflorescence 
 of the soil, which is an impure carbonate of soda, is col¬ 
 lected and thrown into a cistern lined with clay. This is 
 then filled with water, which is afterwards allowed to evapo¬ 
 rate. When dry, the bottom of the cistern is found covered 
 with a thick saline crust, the earth which was intermixed 
 having subsided before the salt began to crystallize. This 
 soda makes glass without any addition, as it still contains a 
 sufficient portion of siliceous matter. They make blackish 
 and greenish glass: a bright grass-green is made by ad¬ 
 ditions of oxide of copper; and a blue glass by the addi¬ 
 tion of rung. In Mysore the process is more elaborate. 
 Powdered white quartz, one part, being mixed with prepared 
 soda, six parts, is filled into a crucible capable of containing 
 5J Winchester gallons. About fifty of these crucibles are 
 placed in a furnace, and the fire kept up for five days, when 
 a frit is produced, with which they make a black, green, 
 red, blue, and yellow glass, by means of additions of oxide 
 of copper, of an ore called kemudu, and of a blue substance 
 called runga. What these are I have not been able to dis¬ 
 cover. Though the making of glass has made but little ad¬ 
 vance in India, the natives work up broken English glass 
 even into barometer and thermometer tubes, &c. Glass 
 globes, silvered in the inside, were sent from Delhi, but un¬ 
 fortunately got broken in the transmission. The mode of 
 effecting this silvering is not mentioned, but an amalgam 
 
356 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 of quicksilver is probably employed, as, on the application 
 of moderate heat, the silvering becomes dissipated. An 
 art similar to this has of late years been discovered in this 
 country. 
 
 Enamelling. —Enamelling, or the art of fixing colours by 
 melting in fire, is of very ancient date : it was practised by 
 the Egyptians, and carried to a high degree of perfection 
 in Persia. The art is known in every part of India, And 
 some exquisite specimens were sent to the Exhibition, both 
 from Central and from North-western India. It is chiefly 
 employed in ornamenting arms and jewellery, not only in 
 gold, but also in silver. 
 
 Enamels being vitrifiable substances, to which peculiar 
 colours are given, we may compare the Indian with the 
 European methods of making enamel. In general, ten parts 
 of lead and three parts of tin are oxidized by continued heat 
 and exposure to air. To the mixed oxides add ten parts of 
 powdered quartz, and ten parts of common salt, and melt 
 in crucibles. Thus is obtained a white enamel, and the 
 basis of coloured enamel, metallic oxides being added. The 
 oxide of lead or of antimony produces a yellow enamel: reds 
 are obtained by a mixture of the oxides of gold and iron. 
 The oxides of copper, cobalt, and iron, give greens, violets, 
 and blues ) and a variety of intermediate colours by mix¬ 
 tures. The workmen of Behar are stated to make two 
 enamels, which are applied to the surface of some of the 
 rings. One is yellow: five parts of lead are melted in a 
 shallow crucible, and to these is added one part of tin; and 
 the alloy is calcined for four or five hours. It is then heated 
 to redness in the crucible of the glass-furnace. One part 
 of white quartz is next added, and the mass stirred for 
 about three hours. It is then taken out with a ladle, poured 
 out on a smooth stone or iron, and cooled in water. They 
 then take one part of their palest green glass, and add 
 a fourth part of the other materials, to make the yellow 
 enamel. 
 
 The green enamel is made in the same manner; and to 
 the melted glass is added, not only the prepared lead and 
 tin, but a small portion of the black oxide of copper. 
 
 In Mysore they make a bright yellow enamel, by first 
 calcining five parts of lead and one of tin, then adding one 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 357 
 
 part of zinc, calcined in a separate crucible. When these 
 begin to adhere they are powdered in a mortar. When the 
 maker of glass rings is at work, he melts some of this 
 powder, and while the ring is hot, with an irou rod applies 
 some of it (the powder) to the surface of the glass. 
 
 Pottery , Encaustic Tiles, Cements .—The art of fashion¬ 
 ing clay into vessels of a variety of shapes, and hardening 
 it by the action of heat, is one of the most ancient of the 
 arts. Fragments of pottery are everywhere found among 
 the ancient cities of India, as in those of other parts of the 
 world; pottery, as Brogniart has remarked, affording the 
 best record of the early ages of man, as bones do of the 
 earth. 
 
 So little is known of Indian pottery, that it is usually 
 described as being hemispherical in shape. Some of it is 
 no doubt so, for the convenience of being carried on the 
 head; but it is a fact, that in the recent exhibition of In¬ 
 dian pottery, numbers of the best judges have greatly ad¬ 
 mired its elegant, even classical gracefulness of form. It is 
 also stated to be black, and red, or yellowish. The clays 
 which are generally employed in the more populous parts 
 of the country, Dr. O’Shaughnessy has observed, “ contain 
 so much oxide of iron and carbonate of lime that the vessels 
 melt into a slag at a temperature little above that of red¬ 
 ness.” “ Deposits of a black stiff clay, containing much 
 vegetable matter, occur in some districts; vessels made with 
 it sustain a higher temperature.” Clays capable of bearing 
 great degrees of heat have, however, been discovered in dif¬ 
 ferent parts of India. As one great object is to have porous 
 vessels for cooling water, the ordinary clays answer suffi¬ 
 ciently well for this purpose; and some of the forms, as that 
 of the tortoise-shaped, expose a large surface to the air. The 
 Hindoos, moreover, never use a vessel the second time, so 
 no great expense will be incurred by them; thus encou¬ 
 ragement is wanting to improve the nature of their pottery. 
 But very successful experiments have been made to make 
 improved pottery in India, as by Mr. Julius Jeffreys, the 
 ingenious inventor of the respirator, who succeeded in making 
 stoneware soda-water bottles, crucibles, fire-bricks, tiles, &c., 
 which seem to have been glazed by the silica uniting with 
 the alkaline ashes of the furnace. Dr. O’Shaughnessy greatly 
 
858 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 improved the pottery in use in the dispensary of Calcutta, 
 and which he glazed with the borate of lime. The glazed 
 pottery of Pegu, of which two very large jars were sent, has 
 long been known for its glaze not being affected by acids. 
 Dr. Hunter lias sent some excellent specimens of pottery 
 from the School of Arts at Madras, and for which a prize 
 has been awarded. 
 
 The ancient potter’s wheel is the instrument with which 
 the Hindoo works; and while it revolves, with the aid of 
 his naked hands he fashions vessels of elegant forms, many 
 of which have been admired as being of classical shapes, and 
 some would appear almost as if they were of Etruscan ori¬ 
 gin : but there is no reason to believe that the Hindoos have 
 ever had anything but their own unerring taste to guide 
 them. This beauty of form is equally conspicuous in the 
 pottery of Sewan near Patna, as in that of Azimgurh or of 
 Ahmedabad, of Mirzapore, or of Moradabad. 
 
 Some of it is remarkable, also, for its extreme thinness 
 and lightness, showing the great skill of the artist, and 
 making it difficult to understand how it kept its shape when 
 in a plastic state, as I cannot learn that the turning-lathe is 
 used to give a finish to any of the articles. The painted 
 pottery of Kotah, and the gilt pottery of Amroha, have also 
 been admired. The handles and the various ornaments of 
 the Ahmedabad pottery are no doubt attached, as in Europe, 
 by means of slip. From the speciments of basket-work 
 pottery sent, there is no doubt that, with better materials 
 and a little instruction, the natives could excel in this as in 
 the forms of their pottery. 
 
 If we had no other information, we might yet infer from 
 the crucibles employed by the goldsmith, by the workers in 
 brass, and by the makers of cast steel, that some very infu¬ 
 sible clays are to be found in India; but recent investiga¬ 
 tions have proved that crucibles and fire-bricks, superior in 
 infusibility to those made of Stourbridge clay, have been 
 made in India; and from the white goblets of Arcot, and 
 the light-coloured pottery of Madras, as well as from the 
 white bricks sent from the Ceded Districts, we see that 
 
 there are many useful clays without the usual admixture 
 of iron. 
 
 As connected with pottery might be mentioned the 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 359 
 
 variously coloured Encaustic tiles, which have been used 
 for the domes of some of the tombs near Delhi and Agra, as 
 well as in Southern India; but I cannot learn that the art 
 is at present practised. It was probably introduced by the 
 Mahomedans from Persia. Specimens from some of these 
 tombs were shown by Mr. Boileau. 
 
 I might have proceeded to notice their knowledge of 
 Cements, but I may in preference notice a kindred art, and 
 which seems capable of adoption elsewhere when suitable; 
 that is, the skill with which they give a facing of marble to 
 a wall of brick. This they usually do by employing mortar 
 made ot shell-lime; but I found some made from pure 
 limestone equally good. A thin layer of this fine white 
 cement being spread, is brought to the lustre of marble by 
 a process similar to burnishing. 
 
 Bleaching .—Bleaching is practised in all parts of India, 
 and some places, which ai’e also seats of the cotton manu¬ 
 facture, are famous for bleaching, such as Dacca and 
 Baroche. This has been ascribed to the excellency of the 
 water in the neighbourhood of these places. A very good 
 account has been given by Mr. Taylor,* late of Dacca, of the 
 process of bleaching at that place. This is particularly 
 interesting, as including what are called modern discoveries. 
 
 Fine muslins are merely steeped in water, other cloths 
 are first washed. But all, of whatever texture they may 
 be, are next immersed for some hours in an alkaline ley com¬ 
 posed of soap and of sajie muttee, that is, impure carbonate 
 of soda. They are then spread over the grass, and oecasion- 
 ally sprinkled with water, and when half dried arc removed 
 to the boiling-house in order to be steamed. This is effected 
 by twisting the cloths into the form of loose bundles and 
 placing them upon a broad clay platform, which is on a 
 level with, and surrounds, the neck of a boiler sunk into 
 the ground. They are then arranged in circular layers, 
 one above the other, around a bamboo tube, which is kept 
 upright by means of transverse supporters projecting from 
 it, the whole forming a conical pile that rises to a height 
 ot five or six feet above the boiler. 
 
 * “An Account of tlie Cotton Manufacture in Dacca," &c. Pub¬ 
 lished by Mortimer. 
 
360 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 The fire is kindled in the excavation below, and as the 
 ebullition of the water proceeds, the steam diffuses itself 
 through the mass of the cloths above, swelling by its high 
 temperature the threads of the latter. The operation of 
 steaming is commenced in the evening, and continued all 
 night till the following morning. The cloths are then 
 removed from the boiler, steeped in alkaline ley, and spread 
 on the grass as on the preceding day, and again steamed at 
 night. Those alternate processes of blocking and crofting , 
 as they are technically called, during the day, and of steam¬ 
 ing at night, are repeated for ten or twelve days, until the 
 cloths are perfectly bleached. After the last steaming, they 
 are steeped in clear filtered water acidulated with lime-juice, 
 in the proportion, generally, of one large lime to each piece 
 of cloth. Lime-juice has long been used in bleaching in all 
 parts of India, and Tavernier describes Baroche as famous 
 as a bleaching station, on account of its extensive meadows 
 and the large quantity of lemons reared there. 
 
 Mixed fabrics of cotton and Muga silk are steeped in 
 water mixed with lime-juice and coarse sugar, which latter 
 article is said to have the effect of brightening the natural 
 colour of the silk. 
 
 Dyeing, Calico-printing, and Printing in Gold .—The 
 art of dyeing is no doubt of very ancient date, and one with 
 which the Hindoos have long been well acquainted. Their 
 country produced all the raw materials for producing a 
 great variety of colours; some of these are of so conspicuous 
 a nature, such as the large flowers of plants, that the desire 
 must early have occurred to transfer these colours to the 
 person in savage nations, or to the clothes of so early 
 civilized a people as the Hindoos. This could easily have 
 been done with the fugitive colours, but as they know how 
 to make a colour like that of indigo, which undergoes a con¬ 
 siderable degree of chemical change during its formation as 
 well as while applied to the dyeing of its blue colour, it is 
 evident, even if we had no other information on the subject, 
 that they must have paid attention to some chemical subjects. 
 But we know that they have long possessed, and knew how 
 to manufacture, the several salts which have long been em¬ 
 ployed as mordants. 
 
 That the art of dyeing was early practised we have the 
 
T1IE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 3G1 
 
 proof in the fact mentioned by Pliny, that flags of various 
 colours were displayed by the Indians. It has been sup¬ 
 posed that the Hindoos may have learned this art from 
 the Egyptians, but the probability is a3 great that the latter 
 learned the art from the former, from whom also they 
 probably obtained the alum which was celebrated by the 
 name of Egyptian alum. Alum is still manufactured in 
 Clutch ; the natives of India have long known the use of 
 sulphate of iron and of acetate of iron. The latter they 
 prepare by macerating iron in sour palm-wine, or in water 
 in which rice had been boiled. The alkalies and acids with 
 which they are acquainted may have assisted them in 
 changing the shades of colours. It would take too much 
 time to enter into the details of these dyeing processes, many 
 of which are, however, now well known, and seem to have 
 been the original of many of those followed in Europe until 
 very recent times. The Exhibition has shown that they 
 can dye every colour, and of a great variety of shades, and 
 that, in a complicated pattern, they know the value and 
 power of each in contrasting the effect of others, so as to 
 produce an harmonious whole. 
 
 The art of Calico-printing is another of those which was 
 common to the Egyptians and Indians, and is still largely 
 practised by the latter, aud with a skill which produced 
 much to be admired even in the midst of the productions 
 of the world, and after so many attempts have been made 
 to improve an art certainly imported from the East. Pliny 
 was acquainted with the wonderful art by which cloths, 
 though immersed in a heated dyeing liquor of one uniform 
 colour, came out tinged with different colours, and which 
 afterwards could not be discharged by washing. The In¬ 
 dians were found practising the art when first visited by 
 Europeans. The mordants they apply both by pencils and 
 by engraved blocks, though it has been said that the former 
 method was the only one employed. Blocks were sent from 
 Cossipore, and are used in Mysore and in Central India; 
 some specimens of silk hankerchiefs were exhibited by Mr. 
 Warrington, to show the-different stages of dyeing as prac¬ 
 tised in India. In one, the parts where the round spots 
 were to be, were tied up with thread so as not to be affected 
 by the dye-liquor. 
 
362 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 The cloth-printers at Dacca are employed to stamp the 
 figures on cloth which is to be embroidered. The stamps 
 are formed of small blocks of khutul (artocarpus) wood, 
 with the figures carved in relief. The colouring matter is 
 a red earth imported from Bombay, probably the so-called 
 “ Indian earth” from the Persian Gulf. 
 
 Though the art is now practised to such perfection in 
 this country, the Indian patterns still retain their own par¬ 
 ticular beauties, and command a crowd of admirers. This 
 is no doubt due in a great measure to the knowledge which 
 they have of the effects of colours, and the proportion which 
 they preserve between the ground and the pattern, by which 
 a good effect is procured both at a distance and on a near 
 inspection. 
 
 Printing in gold and in silver is a branch of the art 
 which has been carried to great perfection in India, judging 
 by the several specimens sent from very different parts of 
 India, as well upon thick calico as upon fine muslin. The 
 size which is used I have not found mentioned, but in the 
 Burmese territory the juice of a plant is used, which, no 
 doubt, contains caoutchouc in a state of solution. 
 
 Leather is another chemical art with which the Hindoos 
 have long been acquainted, though it is doubtful whether 
 they ever made leather of very superior quality; but the art 
 is practised in native states where it is not likely to have 
 been introduced by European influence, as, for instance, in 
 Cashmere and in Cutcli, whence we have had skins dyed of 
 different colours. But leather of very excellent quality has 
 been sent from the Government farm at Hoonsoor in My¬ 
 sore, likewise from Calcutta by the Messrs. Toil. The 
 native shields are, however, not to be surpassed. 
 
 Soap seems to have been introduced by the Mahome- 
 dans, though the Hindoos have long used alkaline leys, 
 obtained from the ashes of plants, for many of the purposes 
 of soap; and they have a substitute for soap in several ber¬ 
 ries. Soap is made at Dacca, of shell lime, 10 mds. ;sajie 
 muttee, 16 mds.; common salt, 15 mds. ; sesamum oil, 12 
 mds.; goats’ suet, 15 seers. It is made of good quality at 
 Saharunpore; and some marine soap, of excellent quality, 
 though in small quantity, was sent from Calicut. 
 
 Candles may be appropriately mentioned here, though 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 863 
 
 the mode of making them is probably not Indian, but 
 taught by Europeans. The natives use oil lamps, of vari¬ 
 ous shapes, often of metal fixed on an iron spike, which 
 they stick into the ground. But excellent candles are now 
 made in India; as, for instance, the wax candles from 
 Patna, and the stearic candles of the Messrs. Sainte from 
 Calcutta. 
 
 Lacquer Ware .—The word lacquer is evidently derived 
 from the Indian name lac or look, which is the resin se¬ 
 creted together with lac-dye by the lac insect, a species of 
 coccus. The name occurs in Avicenna, who mentions it, 
 as described by some, as the gum of a tree like the myrtle, 
 and by others that it is a substance like to, and having 
 some of the properties of amber. It is mentioned in many 
 Indian works, and is apparently alluded to by Ctesias. This 
 substance is used for a variety of purposes in India, and it 
 is the common material for uniting things together, as gum 
 and glue are in Europe. (Toys of various kinds, lac chains 
 gilt, and lac grindstones, were shown.) 
 
 The term lacquer is applied to laying on or covering 
 with a preparation of lac; but two different processes are 
 usually confounded under this term. The one prevailing 
 in Burma and the southern parts of the Indian Peninsula 
 was well known to Dampier, in 1638, as he says, “ The lac 
 of Tonquin is a sort of gummy juice which drains out of 
 the bodies or limbs of trees,” and that “the articles 
 lackered are cabinets, desks, &c.” Some chemical change, 
 no doubt, takes place on exposure of these juices to 
 the air. 
 
 This kind of lacquered ware was much appreciated in the 
 last century, and was imported chiefly from China; much, 
 however, was always prepared in Burma, though that of 
 Japan was always considered superior to any other, and of 
 which many fine specimens may still be seen in large fold¬ 
 ing screens, &c. Both these and the lacquer of Burma are 
 prepared only from the juice of a family of plants (the 
 Tcrcbinthaceoi), the same as that to which the marking nut 
 and sumach belong. 
 
 The chief expense of the manufacture arises from the 
 care with which successive layers of varnish must be laid 
 on. Various specimens of boxes have been sent from 
 
364 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 Moulmein and from Singapore, some showing different 
 stages of the process. 
 
 Another kind of lacquer-work is rather of the nature of 
 papier-mache, covered with one or more layers of lac var¬ 
 nish. This is the case with the lacquered boxes from Cash- 
 mere and Lahore, so remarkable for the beauty and elegance 
 of their patterns. 
 
 Sealing-Wax is also made from lac, and several varieties 
 have been sent from different parts of India. Garcias ab 
 Qrto described it as made from lac in the year 1563. 
 Tavernier mentions the same fact. The Spaniards have 
 obtained credit for the invention; but they, no doubt, 
 learned it from the Arabs. A Frenchman who travelled 
 much in Persia and different parts of the East Indies is 
 also thought to have been the discoverer; and by Beck¬ 
 mann it is considered to be a German invention. This is 
 hardly a chemical art, but it is probably better placed here 
 than elsewhere. 
 
 Paper .—The art of making paper is considered to be a 
 Chinese invention, but it has long been known in India, 
 where paper is made both of cotton and of the substitutes 
 for hemp and flax. In the Himalayas it is made of the 
 inner bark of Daphne cannabina , and in sheets of immense 
 size. A large collection was exhibited from different parts 
 of India, but, though well adapted for writing on in India, 
 it is not suited for Europe, in consequence of the difference 
 in the ink used. 
 
 II. Textile Arts. 
 
 The East has, from the earliest times of which we have 
 any record, been famous for its textile fabrics; and India, 
 notwithstanding the great mechanical inventions of this 
 country, is still able to produce her “webs of woven air,” 
 which a Manchester manufacturer of the last century attempt¬ 
 ed to depreciate, by calling them “ the shadow of a com¬ 
 modity,” at the same time that his townsmen were doing 
 all they could to imitate the reality, and which they have 
 not yet been able to excel. 
 
 Cotton Manufacture .—Though the invention and com¬ 
 pletion of a loom for weaving would indicate a high degree 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OE INDIA. 3G5 
 
 of ingenuity as well as a considerable advance in some other 
 arts, the Hindoos were acquainted with it at a very early 
 period, for in the hymns of the Rig Yeda, composed at least 
 1200 years B.C., “weavers’ threads” are alluded to, and in 
 the Institutes of Manu it is directed,—“Let a weaver who 
 has received ten palas of cotton-thread give them back, in¬ 
 creased to eleven by the rice-water and the like used in 
 weaving.” That cotton was employed at very early periods 
 is also evident from the Indian name for cotton, karpas, 
 occurring in the Book of Esther, ch. i. v. 6, in the account 
 of the hangings in the court of the Persian palace at Shu- 
 slian, on the occasion of the great feast given by Ahasuerus, 
 where “were white, green, and blue hangings.” The word 
 corresponding to green is karpas in the Hebrew. It seems 
 to mean cotton-cloth made into curtains, which were striped 
 white and blue. Such may be seen throughout India in the 
 present day, in the form of what are called purdahs.* [The 
 mode in which these are used, and the employment of the 
 same colours in stripes, was shown in sulrunjees, or cotton 
 carpets on the wall.] 
 
 That the Hindoos were in the habit of spinning threads 
 of different materials appears from another part of the In¬ 
 stitutes of the same lawgiver, where it is directed that the 
 sacrificial threads of a Brahmin must be made of cotton, 
 that of a Shatriya (.second caste), of sana ( Crotolaria jun- 
 cea ,), and that of a Vaisya, of woollen thread. The natives 
 of India prepare fabrics not only of cotton, but also of hemp, 
 and of jute, and other substitutes for flax ; also of a variety 
 of silks, and of the wool of the sheep, goat, and camel, as 
 well as mixed fabrics of different kinds. But it is for the 
 delicacy of the muslins, especially of those woven at Dacca, 
 that India has so long been famous. It is pleasing to find 
 that these manufactures still continue pre-eminent for fine¬ 
 ness combined with softness. From a careful examination 
 of the cottons grown in different parts of India, as well as 
 of those of other parts of the world, we find that it is not 
 owing to any excellence in the raw material that the supe¬ 
 riority in the manufacture is due, for spinners here say that 
 the Indian cotton is unfit for their purposes, being not only 
 
 "'Vide “Essay on Antiquity of Hindoo Medicine,” p. 145. 
 
 31* 
 
366 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 short but coarse in staple.* It is owing, therefore, to the 
 infinite care bestowed by the native spinners and weavers on 
 every part of their work, that the beauty of the fabric is due; 
 aided, as they are, by that matchless delicacy of touch for 
 which the Hindoos have long been famous. But this is no 
 small advantage, for, according to one of their authors, ‘‘the 
 first, the best, and most perfect of instruments is the human 
 hand.” 
 
 The Hindoo weaver is often described as hanging his 
 Horn to a tree, and sitting with his feet in the ground. It 
 he did so, his productions would appear more wonderful 
 than they arc, as being still more the result ot means un¬ 
 suited to the ends. But a late resident of Dacca has given 
 a minute account of the cotton manufacture of that district, 
 and thence we learn positively, what might as certainly have 
 been inferred, that great care is bestowed on every part of 
 the process. The spinning-wheel is usually considered to 
 be an improvement upon the distaft and spindle, as our ma¬ 
 chinery is upon the inexpensive spinning-wheel. In facili¬ 
 tating work and diminishing expense, the spinning-wheel 
 was, no doubt, a great improvement, and is still employed 
 throughout India for the ordinary and coarser fabrics. But 
 the spindle still holds its place in the hands of the Hindoo 
 woman when employed in spinning thread for the fine and 
 delicate muslins, to which the names of “ Dew of blight,” 
 “Banning Water,” &c., are applied by the natives, and 
 which, no doubt, formed the Tela ventosa of the ancients; 
 and those called Gangitika in the time ot Arrian were pro¬ 
 bably produced in the same locality. Mr. James Taylor, 
 late of the medical service of Bengal, in a report which was 
 sent by the Court of Directors to India, gave much interest¬ 
 ing information respecting the cotton manufacture of Dacca; 
 and to the Exhibition he sent a series of views of the dif¬ 
 ferent parts of the process, together with the instruments 
 used in spinning, as well as some specimens of their fine 
 
 * Experiments were made for a series of years, at the expense 
 of the Indian Government, to grow American cotton in the Dacca 
 district, but without success, owing, it was thought by the Ameri¬ 
 can planter in charge, to excess of moisture, and to the depreda¬ 
 tions of insects.— Hoyle “ On the Culture and Commerce of Cotton. 
 ; n India and elscnhere,” pp. 241-256. 1851. 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 367 
 
 thread. He shows that the Hindoo woman first cards her 
 cotton with the jaw-bone of the boalee fish, which is a spe¬ 
 cies of Silurus; she then separates the seeds by means of 
 a small iron roller, worked backwards and forwards upon a 
 flat board. An equally small bow is used for bringing it 
 to the state of a downy fleece, which is made up into small 
 rolls to be held in the hand during the process of spinning. 
 The apparatus required for this consists of a delicate iron 
 spindle, having a small ball of clay attached to it, in order 
 to give it sufficient weight in turning, and imbedded in a 
 little clay there is a piece of hard shell, on which the spindle 
 turns with the least degree of friction. Besides these, a 
 moist air and a temperature of 80° is found best suited to 
 this fine spinning, and it is therefore practised early in the 
 mornings and in the evenings, sometimes over a shallow 
 vessel of water, the evaporation from which imparting the 
 necessary degree of moisture. The spinners of yarn for the 
 Chundeyree muslins in the dry climate of north-west India 
 are described as working in underground workshops, on 
 account of the greater uniformity in the moisture of the at¬ 
 mosphere. 
 
 The Indian spinning-wheel is looked upon with contempt 
 by those who look to the polish rather than to the fitness of 
 a tool. Professor Cowper, than whom no one is a better 
 judge, observing that the wood-work of some of these spin¬ 
 ning-wheels was richly carved, inferred that the strings with 
 which the circumference ivas formed might have some use, 
 and not be adopted from poverty or from idleness. In 
 making working models of these instruments, he has found 
 that in no other way could he produce such satisfactory re¬ 
 sults as by closely imitating the models before him, the 
 strings giving both tension and elasticity to the instrument. 
 The spindles, moreover, being slightly bent, or the hand 
 held obliquely, the yarn at every turn of the spindle slips 
 off the end and becomes twisted. 
 
 As the different processes are fully described in the work 
 to which I have alluded, I need not dwell further on this 
 part of the subject, except to mention that the common di¬ 
 mensions of a piece of Dacca muslin are twenty yards in 
 length by one in breadth. There are more threads in the 
 warp than in the woof, the latter being to the former, in a 
 
3G8 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 piece of muslin weighing twenty tolas or siccas, in the pro¬ 
 portion of 9 to 11. One end of the warp is generally fringed, 
 sometimes both. The value of a piece of plain muslin is 
 estimated by its length and the number of threads in the 
 warp, compared with its weight. The greater the length 
 and number of threads and the less the weight of the pierce, 
 the higher is its price, It is seldom, however, that a web 
 is formed entirely of the finest thread which it is possible to 
 spin. The local committee of Dacca having given notice 
 that they would award prizes for the best piece of muslin 
 which could be woven in time for the Exhibition, the prize 
 of 25 rupees was awarded to Hubeeoolla, weaver of Grolo- 
 konda, near Dacca. The piece is ten yards long and one 
 wide, weighs only 3 oz. 2 dwts., and may be passed through 
 a very small ring. 
 
 Though the cotton manufactures of India have so greatly 
 fallen off, from the cheapness of English manufactured 
 goods, it is gratifying, as well as unexpected, to learn from 
 Mr. Taylor, that as the finest muslins formed but a small 
 portion of the goods formerly exported to England, the de¬ 
 cay of the Dacca trade has had comparatively little influ¬ 
 ence on. this manufacture, as these delicate manufactures 
 still maintain their celebrity in the country, and are still 
 considered worthy of being included among the most ac¬ 
 ceptable gifts that can be offered to her native princes; and 
 he believes that the muslin made at present is superior to 
 the manufacture of 1790, and fully equal to that of the 
 reign of Aurungzebe. He also informs us that a College 
 for the education of the natives stands on the site of tire 
 former English factory. 
 
 Fine muslins have been sent to the Exhibition, not only 
 from Dacca, but also from Kishenigurh, in Bengal; like¬ 
 wise trom as far south as Cottar, in the Bajah of Travan- 
 core s dominions; as well as from Chundeyree in the Cwa- 
 lior territories. 
 
 Specimens of almost every variety of the cotton manu¬ 
 facture, such as the coarse garrhas and guzzees for packing, 
 clothing, and for covering corpses, with dosootees, &c., for 
 tents, canvass for sails, towels, and table-cloths, and every va¬ 
 riety of calico, have been sent from the islands of the Indian 
 Ocean, from Nepal and Assam, as well as from all along 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 369 
 
 the valley of the Ganges, from Bengal up to the Jullundur 
 Doab, in the Sikh territories; also from Cutch, Ahmedabad, 
 Surat, and Dharwar, on the western side of India; and 
 from the central territories of the Nizam, and of the Rajah 
 of Nagpore. 
 
 The finest pieces of calico, and punjum longcloth, have 
 been sent from Jugginpettah, in the Northern Circars, which 
 was formerly the great seat of this manufacture. 
 
 It is curious that some of these places, noted even for 
 their manufactures, did not grow their own cotton. Dacca, 
 no doubt, grew most of what it required for its muslins, 
 because the thread did not swell in bleaching, but it also 
 imported cotton formerly from Surat, as well as from Cen¬ 
 tral India. Azimgurh imports its cotton chiefly from the 
 same source to which the Northern Circars was also formerly 
 indebted, while Chundeyree imports its cotton from the dis¬ 
 tant valley of Nimur. 
 
 Among the fabrics there are a great variety, which prove 
 that the natives are acquainted with every kind of weaving, 
 from guzzces and gauzes, to striped, chequered, and flowered 
 muslins. The last are interesting as specimens of an art 
 which has been long known in the East, and the mode of 
 making which has often puzzled weavers in this country. 
 In manufacturing figured (jamdance) fabrics, Mr. Taylor 
 informs us, “ They place the pattern, drawn upon paper, 
 below the warp, and range along the track of the woof a 
 number of cut threads, equal to the flowers, or parts of the 
 design intended to be made; and then, with two small fine- 
 pointed bamboo sticks, they draw each of these threads be¬ 
 tween as many threads of the warp as may be equal to the 
 width of the figure which is to be formed. When all the 
 threads have been brought between the warp, they are drawn 
 close by a stroke of the ley. The shuttle is then passed by 
 one of the weavers through the shed, and the weft having 
 been driven home, it is returned by the other weaver.” 
 Most of these flowered muslins are uniform in colour, but 
 some are in two colours, and chiefly woven in Bengal. 
 Specimens of double-w T eaving in cotton, and showing consi¬ 
 derable skill, with a pleasing arrangement of pattern and 
 colours, have been sent from Kyrpore, in Sindh. These 
 are also woven in Ganjam. 
 
370 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 Flax, hemp, and substitutes for them, are all well known 
 and extensively cultivated in every part of India; but flax 
 solely on account of its seeds, which yield oil and oilcake, 
 though some very good flax has been produced in some parts 
 of Bengal; and the hemp, on account of the intoxicating 
 principles secreted in its leaves and green parts, and which 
 in different forms is known under the name of bhang , 
 liusheesh, churns. The fibre of the plant, as grown in the 
 plains, is too dry and brittle to be useful cither for rope¬ 
 making or for textile fabrics, though in the Himalayas some 
 excellent ropes and canvass are made, and the culture might 
 be greatly extended if there was a demand for the produce. 
 Species of crotolaria, of hibiscus, of corchorus, and of many 
 other genera, yield fibres which are used for rope-making; 
 but that of the species of corchorus, commonly called jute, 
 for making gunny bags, used for packing, which are even 
 exported to America for packing their cotton. In the Pe¬ 
 ninsula these bags are made of Crotolaria juncea, or goni 
 plant. The rhea fibre, which is closely allied to, if not 
 identical with, the China grass, is used for making fishing- 
 lines and some kinds of fabric, but its employment may be 
 greatly extended. So also the plantain, the pine-apple, and 
 the sanseviera fibre, of all of which some fabrics have been 
 made and exhibited, but in too small quantities to attract 
 much attention, though some will probably become impor¬ 
 tant articles of commerce. 
 
 Silks. —Silk is a production of China, and said by Chinese 
 authors to have been known there for thousands of years. 
 It has long been imported into India from China. The 
 earliest notice, though there is some doubt about the passage, 
 is in the Mahabharut, where Cheenas, Hoonas, &c., are said 
 to have brought “ silk and silk-worms” as presents to Yood- 
 histira. When the China silk-worm was first introduced 
 into India as an object of culture we have no information; 
 but what is called the indigenous ( desee ) silk-worm is care¬ 
 fully distinguished from the China worm; and there are 
 several species of wild silk-worms, species of Saturnia , 
 Phalcena , and Bombyx, all of which were shown at the 
 Exhibition, with Tusser, Moonga , and Eri cloth. The 
 former is much used in India by the natives, and is best 
 known as an article of commerce, and has been used here 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 871 
 
 for parasols; in India it. is esteemed for children’s dresses 
 The Eri cloth is extensively used as an article of clothing 
 by the inhabitants of Assam. 
 
 The silk of Bengal was originally very inferior in quality, 
 and very carelessly wound. The East India Company, in 
 the year 1757, sent a Mr. Wilder to improve the winding 
 of silk; and in the year 1769 other Europeans, as drawers, 
 winders, reelers, and mechanics. The filatures were all in 
 Bengal, and to the southward of 26° of N. lat., for the 
 north-west provinces are much too hot and dry for the silk¬ 
 worm. Experiments were for many years made on the 
 western side of India to introduce the culture of the silk¬ 
 worm, under an Italian, M. Mutti; but they have lately 
 been abandoned from want of success. Some excellent silk 
 is being produced in Mysore, and it is probable that the 
 culture might easily be carried on in the valleys of the 
 Himalaya. 
 
 Of the manufactured silk some fine specimens were sent 
 from Messrs. Vardon, as well as by Mr. Jardine. Moor- 
 shedabad has long been a central mart for silk goods, and a 
 variety of specimens of silk have been sent from thence, and 
 some satins ( [mushroo ) from Benares, Cutch, and Hyderabad, 
 chiefly in alternate stripes of different colours. 
 
 On the Bombay side the culture did not succeed, and the 
 raw material is imported from China and dyed, but the 
 manufacture has not on that account been neglected. The 
 weavers seem, in fact, to have paid an extra degree of 
 attention to their art, and sent silk, which is well woven, 
 and in a variety of patterns, together with an excellent 
 specimen (called pytanee ) of double weaving, being red on 
 one side and green on the other, and showing the colours 
 and patterns very distinct. This is from Poona. The silks 
 from Surat, Tanna, and Ahmednugger, are also to be ad¬ 
 mired for their patterns, as well as the longees from Sindh. 
 The silks from Cashmere have attracted much attention, 
 both from the substantial nature of the fabric, some of 
 which is, I believe, called tafeta, and for the moderated 
 tone of the colours with which they are dyed. 
 
 The flowered silks, or brocades, from Benares and from 
 Ahmedabad, as well as those from Hyderabad, command 
 
372 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 notice for their richness and the happy disposition of pat¬ 
 tern and combination of colours. 
 
 Woollens .—As the skin of the sheep was probably one of 
 the earliest substances employed for covering the body, so 
 its wool, having the property of felting, must early have led 
 to the discovery of one kind of cloth, while the length of 
 its staple and the facility with which it can be twisted iuto 
 a thread, would lead to the formation of woollen yarn, which 
 we have seen was early employed by the Hindoos as the 
 sacrificial thread of the lower caste. 
 
 Several specimens of wool have been sent; some fine 
 merino wool from the table-land of Mysore, and indigenous 
 wools from the hilly country of the north-west frontier. 
 Some from Lahore, and other kinds from the dry and cold 
 elevated climate of Tibet. Of the last, some very fine 
 specimens from Lieut. Straehey. Many of the animals 
 there being furnished with a fine down or hair-like wool 
 under the coarse common outer wool. It is this which is 
 chiefly employed for the shawls and the shawl-wool cloth. 
 
 Though woollen fabrics of superior quality are not likely 
 to be sent from a hot country like India, yet as there are 
 great diversities of climate in its different parts, we have 
 some very substantial woollen cloths and blankets from dif¬ 
 ferent parts, as well as some fine shawl-wool cloth from 
 Cashmere; also the kind called Puttoo; a new fabric, named 
 Pureepuz , the pile of which, on one side, is formed of loops. 
 Felted blankets and cloaks have been sent from the table¬ 
 land of Mysore,, as well as from the north-west frontier, and 
 from Nepal and Tibet. 
 
 Shawls might fitly be treated of in this place, but they 
 are too well known for their useful qualities, and too much 
 admired for the elegance of their patterns, to allow me to 
 treat of them, unless there was some new information to 
 communicate. This I do not possess. A short report on 
 them is published in the “ Illustrated Catalogue,” but a de¬ 
 tailed account of the manufacture in Cashmere, and of the 
 drawing of the patterns, as well as of their ideas on the 
 juxtaposition of colours, would form a very interesting 
 subject for an essay. 
 
 Among the references to silk in ancient authors, there is 
 also frequently mention made of gold and silver as inter- 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 373 
 
 ■woven with silk; even the Coan women are represented as 
 interweaving gold thread in their silken webs, and Caligula 
 as wearing “a tunic interwoven with gold.” Babylonicum 
 was the name applied to the splendid productions of the 
 Babylonian looms. They are described as being adorned 
 both with gold and with variously coloured figures. A pea¬ 
 cock’s train is compared to a figured- Babylonicum, enriched 
 with gold; while Peplum, the shawl, had the greatest skill 
 and labour bestowed on its fabrication, and various objects 
 were frequently represented on it: that worn by the Pasto- 
 phori in religious ceremonies was richly interwoven with 
 gold, and displayed various symbolical and mythological 
 figures; while the Paragauda, a word supposed to be of 
 Oriental origin, we learn was the border of a tunic enriched 
 with gold thread and worn by ladies. There is no doubt 
 that it has long been the custom so to adorn garments in 
 the East, and we have had numerous such specimens sent 
 to the Exhibition. 
 
 The above enumeration of the various kinds of ancient 
 shawls, for which we are indebted to the labours of Mr. 
 Yates, would nearly answer as an account of the series of 
 shawls, scarves, and bordered vests and tunics, interwoven 
 with gold and silver thread, enriched with jewels, or with 
 their imitation, and adorned in some cases with representa¬ 
 tions of animals, which we had seut to the Exhibition from 
 different parts of India, as from Gwalior, Nagpore, and Hy¬ 
 derabad, together with the brocades of Benares and Ahme- 
 dabad, and of which we have specimens now before us. 
 But, even in these gorgeous productions, there is the same 
 attention to harmony of effect combined with variety and 
 elegance of pattern that we have observed in the simplest 
 cottons and the richest silks. 
 
 Carpets .—Climate chiefly influences everything referring 
 to the clothing or habitation of man. Among the latter, 
 coverings for the floor are necessarily included. In a cold, 
 wet climate, it is hardly possible to use the floors of rooms 
 without some kind of covering; and therefore we read in 
 earlier times of the floors being covered with straw, rushes, 
 hay, or heather. 
 
 *Jn warm countries, on the contrary, the habit is more to 
 sit in the open air, under the shade of trees; and it is dc- 
 
374 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 sirable to have some covering over the sandy or dusty earth, 
 either to sit or lie down upon. It is not surprising, there¬ 
 fore, that the invention of carpets should have originated in 
 Eastern countries. Skins were probably first employed. A 
 piece of leather has been sent as that so used by a Burmese 
 priest. 
 
 Mats are the most agreeable in hot weather; and for 
 these India is famous, as well for their variety as for their 
 fineness and pattern. Carpets, either of cotton, silk, or 
 woollen, are employed in all Eastern countries, from the 
 south of India to Turkey in Europe, for praying on, or for 
 occasions of state. 
 
 The carpets employed by the ancients are thought to 
 have been of the nature of tapestry, and. used for covering 
 couches rather than floors. True, carpets seem to have been 
 first employed in Persia; and those called Turkish were 
 probably originally of Persian manufacture, whence the 
 manufacture might have been introduced into Turkey, and 
 where it is still practised, as we had so many rugs sent from 
 thence, as well as from Egypt, being used there as prayer- 
 carpets by Mahomedans. 
 
 The Persians still remain unrivalled in the happy com¬ 
 bination of colour and pattern for which their carpets have 
 long been distinguished, whence the most varied hues aud 
 deepest tints are brought into close approximation, and, 
 far from offending the eye, please by their striking, because 
 harmonious contrasts. 
 
 Though printed calicoes of large size and suitable patterns 
 are sometimes used for covering the floor in India, and we 
 had some fine specimens from Ahmedabad and from Mool- 
 tan, yet the most common carpets employed in India are 
 those made of cotton, and called sutrunjees, of different co¬ 
 lours, usually blue and white, in red or orange stripes, 
 squares, or stars; some of large size, and well suited for 
 halls and tents. They are thick and strong in texture, the 
 two surfaces alike, smooth and without pile. They are 
 manufactured in different parts of India, and good speci¬ 
 mens were sent from Moorshedabad and Rungpore, some 
 good coloured kinds from Agra, and a fine large one, woven 
 in one piece, from Ahmedabad. 
 
 Another kind of cotton carpet is that with a pile of cot- 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 375 
 
 ton, and similar in appearance to a Turkey carpet. Two 
 good specimens were sent from Sasseram—white, with a 
 centre and border of blue. Others, with every variety of 
 coloured pattern, from Hyderabad, &c. 
 
 Silk is another material of which carpets are made in the 
 East; and the pile being of silk, imparts both softness and 
 richness to the surface, while the colours are clear and 
 brilliant. A few very splendid specimens of such carpets 
 were exhibited, especially the large one which was hung up 
 to the eastward of the tent, and was contributed by Ma¬ 
 harajah Goolab Sing. It was as beautiful a specimen of 
 variety in the pattern, brilliancy in the colouring, as well 
 as of pleasing harmony in the whole, as any in the Exhibi¬ 
 tion building. A smaller one, of the same pattern, was 
 laid within the tent, together with another, in the same 
 style, from Mooltan. Other silk carpets, but of small size, 
 were sent from Tanjore, Hyderabad, and Khyrpore. Wool¬ 
 len carpets, of large size, and of beautiful and well-coloured 
 Oriental patterns, were sent from Mirzapore and from 
 Goruckpore. The former is most famous in India for its 
 carpets, and which are, I believe, frequently sold in this 
 country as Turkey carpets. A large carpet was also ex¬ 
 hibited from Bangalore; but the manufacturer having am¬ 
 bitiously attempted a European pattern, the effect was 
 generally pronounced unfavourable to the desertion of the 
 much-admired Indian style. The rugs from Ellore, on the 
 contrary, were universally admired for their general cha¬ 
 racteristics of Oriental pattern and colouring; and these, 
 as well as the large carpets from Mirzapore, &c., which 
 were all in the same style, seem well adapted for sale in 
 Europe. 
 
 Two carpets are worthy of notice, as having been made, 
 the one by the convicts in the gaol of Cawnpore, and the 
 other by the reformed Thugs in the Government School of 
 Industry. This was made to fit the large tent which was 
 pitched outside the building, and which did not attract so 
 much attention as it ought to have done, though it showed 
 the capability of the reformed Thugs and their families of 
 making tents in the best style. 
 
 Though we are without all the requisite details, we may 
 yet form a good idea of the manufacture from the model of 
 
376 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 the carpet-loom, with an illustrative drawing from Hoonsor. 
 In this we see five weavers seated before the perpendicular 
 loom, with a foreman seated with book in hand, apparently 
 giving directions to the weavers of what they were to do. 
 
 III. Manual and Mechanical Arts. 
 
 Lace-making .—Lace is a term unluckily applied to two 
 very distinct arts, one consisting of gold and silver wire, 
 or even silk thread, woven into ribands for embroidering 
 hats and uniforms. The other is the well-known trans¬ 
 parent network, in which the threads of the weft are twisted 
 round those of the warp; it may be made of silk, flax, or 
 cotton, or even of gold and silver thread, and has usually 
 a pattern worked upon it, either during the process of 
 making the lace, or with a needle after this has been com¬ 
 pleted. Though much lace is now made by machinery, the 
 highly-esteemed genuine article is made by hand; and, 
 therefore, may fitly commence the series of arts which de¬ 
 pend chiefly on manual dexterity. Lace-knitting is con¬ 
 sidered to be a German invention; but lace worked by the 
 needle is of far older date, and was probably an Eastern 
 invention, though it does not appear to have been known 
 or practised in India. Lace, however, is enumerated by 
 Gen. Cullen as being made in the territories of the Rajah 
 of Travancore; and the Madras Central Committee, in their 
 final report, state, that “ the lace of Nagercoil, which, 
 though knit by natives of the country, was declared equal 
 to the best French lace. A few of the European residents 
 are already aware of the superior quality of the lace, and 
 use it, but its beauty is well deserving of being more gene¬ 
 rally made known than it at present is.” The lace, when 
 .seen at the Exhibition, was much admired, and some said 
 that it must have been made in France. Rut the doubt 
 may easily be resolved, and advantage would result to all 
 parties, by giving orders for some of this lace to the native 
 workers in Travancore. Samples of six different kinds were 
 sent. Gold and silver blond lace are both excellent of their 
 kinds, but as the demand is limited, and fashion changeable, 
 they might not always command a sale. Rut the broad 
 black lace on wire-ground, and the broad white and fine lace 
 
TIIE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 377 
 
 on Brussels ground, and of the nature of Bedfordshire lace, 
 are highly approved of by the best authorities. The broad 
 being thought worth four shillings, and the narrow worth 
 two shillings a-yard. 
 
 Knitting appears to be unknown to the natives of India, 
 though it is well worthy of being taught them ; as, indeed, 
 it has been in the few girls’ schools which the natives have 
 allowed to be established. 
 
 Net-making , or the art in which the fabric is required to 
 be transparent, but in which the fibres are decussated and 
 retained in their places by knots, that the interstices may 
 retain their form and size, and prevent objects from escap¬ 
 ing, seems to have been known in the earliest ages in Egypt, 
 and is practised with the greatest skill on the coasts of 
 Bombay and of Scinde, as well as on the rivers of India. 
 A great variety of nets, from a few to fifty fathoms in 
 length, are fully described in the “ Illustrated Catalogue.” 
 Those from Singapore are interesting, as some are made 
 with cotton, and others with the fibre which is very similar 
 to, if not identical with, that forming the so-called China 
 grass. 
 
 Needle-work .—Though the manufacture of needles is 
 said to have been first introduced into England, in the year 
 1540, by a native of India, and afterwards by a German, 
 the needle itself is not much used by the Hindoo inhabit¬ 
 ants of that country. This seems unaccountable in so 
 anciently civilized a country, as the needle would seem to 
 be required for making clothes for even the poorest of its 
 inhabitants. But the Hindoos, both male and female, have 
 the art of completely, and yet elegantly, enveloping the 
 person in long pieces of cloth (their sarces and doputtas ) 
 just as they come from the hands of the weaver. [The 
 figure of a woman cleaning cotton was here pointed out.] 
 The needle applied to sewing is, however, essential to make 
 the dresses of the Mahomedans; and without supposing that 
 the needle was quite unknown, as “ sewers of cloth” are 
 mentioned by Manu, and it was well known in China, it is 
 to the Mahomedans chiefly, or to other Northern invaders 
 of India, that the introduction of the needle and its uses, 
 as well as the art of embroidery, are due. The Arabs, 
 probably, introduced the manufacture of needles into Spain; 
 32 * 
 
378 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 as Spanish needles were at one time famous. They are 
 manufactured iu India from fine wire. [A small box, with 
 fine needles, in different stages of manufacture, was here 
 shown from the north-west of India.] 
 
 The art of Sewing is now practised in India chiefly by 
 men, who are Mahomedans. They form the class of tailors 
 ( durzees ), who make the dresses of their Mahomedan breth¬ 
 ren, One is usually kept in the service of most Europeans. 
 
 u Darning (raf u-gari ) is a branch of the art which, though 
 in Europe applied to the most homely purposes, requires 
 the greatest skill in the East, where a defect in a costly 
 shawl is to be made good, or a coarse thread is to be picked 
 out of a piece of muslin into which it has been accidentally 
 introduced, bo skilful are some of these vafugars , that 
 they can extract a thread twenty yards long from a piece 
 of the finest muslin, and replace it with one of the finest 
 quality. They are principally employed in repairing the 
 muslins and calicoes that are injured during bleaching, in 
 removing knots and joining broken threads • also in form¬ 
 ing the gold and silver headings on cloths.”— Taylor. 
 
 Embroidery .—The art of embroidery was known to, and 
 practised with great skill in ancient times in Egypt, Assyria, 
 and Persia. The Israelites learnt the art before their exo¬ 
 dus, the Babylonians were famed for their rich tapestries, 
 and the Assyrian monuments display richly embroidered 
 robes and trappings. Many parts of India are famous for 
 this art (Znr-do^). “From Dacca,” says the Abbe de 
 Guy on, in 1744, as quoted by Mr. Taylor, “come the finest 
 and best Indian embroideries in gold, silver, or silk; and 
 those embroidered neckloths and fine muslins which are seen 
 in France.” There has always been a demand for such 
 scarves for the markets of Bassora and Java. In the pre¬ 
 sent day we have silks and woollens, muslins and nets, Cash- 
 mere shawls, European velvets embroidered with silk or 
 tussur, that is, wild silk of either floss or common twisted 
 silk thread : or with gold and silver thread and wire in 
 great variety. Mr. Taylor describes the cloth to be embroi¬ 
 dered as stretched out on a horizontal bamboo frame, raised 
 about a couple of feet from the ground, and the figures in¬ 
 tended to be worked or embroidered are drawn upon it by 
 designers, who are generally Hindoo painters. On woollen 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 379 
 
 cloths the outlines are traced with chalk, and on muslin with 
 pencil, and the body of the design copied from coloured 
 drawings. The embroiderers, seated upon the floor around 
 the frame, ply the needle by pushing it from, instead of 
 towards, them. In place of scissors they commonly use a 
 piece of glass or China ware to cut the thread. 
 
 Anions: the embroidered articles those from Dacca and 
 from Delhi are probably the best known. In the latter, 
 small shawls and scarves are chiefly embroidered both with 
 floss and twisted silk ; in the former, both nets and muslins, 
 with floss silk of various colours. But Dacca is also famous 
 for its embroidery of muslins with cotton, which is called 
 chikankari or chikan-clozee, and of which specimens of 
 different articles of clothing have been sent from Calcutta; 
 also an infant’s robe of grass-cloth, worked at Serampore, 
 and a scarf and handkerchief, pine-apple fibre from Madras. 
 One kind is “ formed by breaking down the texture of the 
 cloth with the needle, and converting it into open meshes.” 
 Mr. Taylor states that Kashida is the name given to cloths 
 embroidered with mug a silk or coloured cotton thread; and 
 though generally of a coarse description, gives occupation 
 to a number of the Mahomedan females of Dacca. Though 
 the scarves of both Delhi and of Dacca are much admired, 
 it has been suggested to me by a lady, that muslins or nets, 
 worked so as to be suitable for making ball-dresses, would 
 probably be in great demand, as those which arc now sold 
 here for such purposes are very inferior in taste and elegance 
 to the Indian embroidery. The beetle-wing embroidery 
 from Madras w r as particularly elegant: and the velvet awn¬ 
 ings, musnud covers, hookah carpets, and elephant trappings, 
 embroidered with gold and silver, chiefly at Moorshedabad 
 and Benares, were admired as well for richness as for the 
 skill with which the ground-work was allowed to relieve the 
 ornaments. The embroidered saddles and saddle-cloths, and 
 floor-coverings from Pattiala, Mooltan, and Lahore, were of 
 the usual style of what are called the works of that famed 
 valley, and which was conspicuously shown in the dresses, 
 caps, and slippers from Cashmere itself. But that the skill 
 and taste are not confined to one part of India was also to 
 be seen in the table-covers from Tatta in Scinde, and in the 
 
380 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 embroidered boots from Khyrpoor, which have been immor¬ 
 talized by Mr. Digby Wyatt. 
 
 Though not coming exactly under the head of embroi¬ 
 dery, we may yet mention here, on account of a similar ef¬ 
 fect being produced, the saddle-cloths and matchlock accou¬ 
 trements from the Rajah of Kotah, where a pattern is 
 produced with gold-headed nails, which are fixed into green 
 velvet. The effect of this was so good as to be greatly ad¬ 
 mired by some of the best judges, and among others by our 
 Chairman.* 
 
 Jewellery .—Workers in iron and steel could never have 
 found difficulty in managing gold and silver, for which in¬ 
 deed the East has always been famous. Working in gold 
 was familiar to the Egyptians before the exodus of the Isra¬ 
 elites. Some gold has always been washed out of the sand 
 in India. Small quantities have been sent to the Exhibi¬ 
 tion from different parts of the country, and the gold- 
 washer’s apparatus from Rohilcund. That the Hindoos 
 have long been familiar with its applications we find in the 
 hymns of Rig Veda, where golden armour and golden 
 chariots, and decorations of gold and jewels, are frequently 
 mentioned. The variety of ornaments and of arms which have 
 been displayed, show their skill in working it up. Mr. Hamil¬ 
 ton sent from India a series of specimens of gold and silver in 
 different stages, to show the process of making gold wire. 
 The rose chain from Trichinopoly, and the snake chains sent 
 by the Rajah of Vizianagrum, all display great skill in the 
 workmen, as also the silver filagree work from Hyderabad, 
 for which Cuttack and Dacca are most famous, and display 
 greater delicacy and beauty than either Genoa or Malta. 
 Much of the jewellery being peculiar in form, and in the 
 ways in which it is worn, was not so much admired in this 
 country as the skill of the workman otherwise deserved. 
 The articles usually made in filagree work are bracelets, ear¬ 
 rings, brooches, and chains, groups of flowers, uttardans, 
 and small boxes for native uses. Of all these beautiful spe¬ 
 cimens were sent. Mr. Taylor says, “ The design best 
 adapted for displaying the delicate work of filagree is that 
 of a leaf; it should be drawn on stout paper, and of the 
 
 * The chair was on this occasion occupied by Mr. Owen Jones 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 381 
 
 exact size of the article intended to he made. The appara¬ 
 tus used in the art is exceedingly simple, consisting merely 
 of a few small crucibles, a piece of bamboo for a blow-pipe, 
 small hammers for flattening the wire, and sets of forceps 
 for intertwisting it.” 
 
 The art of making gold wire, that is, silver covered with 
 gold, as shown in the specimens sent by Mr. Hamilton, is 
 practised in various parts of India, as Dacca and Hyderabad, 
 as well as Delhi and Benares. “ Several varieties of gold 
 and silver thread ( badla ) are made at Dacca, as goolabatoon 
 for the embroidery of muslins and silks; .goslioo for caps 
 and covering the handles of cliouries ; sumlah for turbans, 
 slippers, and hookah-snakes 5 and booiun for gold lace and 
 brocades.” Much fringe of various patterns is made, and 
 thin tinsel stamped into various forms of flowers, or impressed 
 with excellent imitations of jewels, such as flat diamonds, 
 emeralds, and rubies. 
 
 It may, perhaps, have escaped notice that many of the 
 ornaments which were exhibited were such as are made only 
 for the poorer classes, for instance, imitations of precious 
 stones, ornaments in pewter, in shell, and lac, and still 
 simpler, a bracelet with straw to represent the gold, and the 
 red seeds of Abrus precatorius in the place of garnets. 
 
 Carving .—The term Carving, as is well known, is, in the 
 present day, applied to the cutting into particular shapes 
 and patterns different materials, such as wood, horn, and 
 ivory. Wood-carving the natives must have practised from 
 very early times, probably for their idols, as well as for 
 calico-printing, as they have long used wood-blocks for this 
 purpose. They are fond of carving many of their ordinary 
 utensils, as spinning-wheels, &c.; but their skill was shown 
 in the carving of the black wood furniture from Bombay, 
 especially in the elegance of the patterns of the backs of the 
 chairs, and sofas, in the side-boards and book-cases. So 
 also in the ebony screens from Madras, carved by Moangapa 
 Acliong, a native carpenter of Madras, without any Euro¬ 
 pean assistance. Such furniture is well adapted for even 
 the best English houses. 
 
 A variety of specimens of carving in ivory have been sent 
 from different parts of India, and are much to be admired, 
 whether for the size or the minuteness, for the elaborateness 
 
882 
 
 THE ARAL'S AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 of detail or for the truth of representation. Among these 
 the ivory-carvers of Berhampore are conspicuous. They 
 have sent a little model of themselves at work, and using, 
 as is the custom of India, only a few tools. 
 
 The set of chessmen carved from the drawings in Bayard’s 
 u Nineveh,” were excellent representations of what they 
 could only have seen in the above work; showing that they 
 are capable of doing new things when required; while their 
 representations of the elephant and other animals, arc so true 
 to nature, that they may be considered the works of real 
 artists, and should be mentioned rather under the head of 
 Tine Arts than of mere manual dexterity. 
 
 The carvings in the same material in the state chair from 
 Travancore were greatly admired, and from the truth of 
 representation on a minute scale, where an elephant is en¬ 
 closed in the shell of a pea, from Calicut; also in the beau¬ 
 tiful specimens of minute carving sent by his Highness the 
 Nizam of Hyderabad. The chouries, or fly-flappers, where 
 the ivory, or sandal-wood, is cut into long hair-like threads, 
 are also specimens of their mechanical skill; while their 
 skill in woodcarving was conspicuously displayed in the 
 elaborate details of the sandal-wood boxes from the Malabar 
 coast, and also in the Musjid exhibited by Mr. Mansfield 
 from Ahmedabad, and in the Hindoo temples from Cutch, 
 also in the box, made of an African wood, from the Rao of 
 Cutch. 
 
 But the skill of the Indian carver is conspicuously shown 
 in the beauty, both of the figures of the Rajah and Ranee 
 of Travancore, and of the buildings, in so soft and yielding 
 a material as pith, or, rather, in the pith-like stems of the 
 marsh-plant called shola (jEschynomene aspera). In the 
 latter all the elaborate detail of the richly ornamented Hin¬ 
 doo architecture of the south of India is carefully brought 
 out. Tor this work only two tools seem to be employed,— 
 one a large and heavy knife, the other with a fine sharp cut¬ 
 ting edge. 
 
 Besides these, we have cocoa-nut shells and gourds, carved 
 and made into cups, vases, and snuff-boxes; also the kernel 
 of the cocoa-nut variously cut, for making garlands for state 
 occasions. 
 
 In connexion with these carved works might be mentioned 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 383 
 
 a number of other manufactures, in which the natives dis¬ 
 play great skill and neatness, as well as their habitual taste; 
 for instance, in their work (and other) boxes of ivory, horn, 
 or porcupine quill, ebony and sandal-wood, their fans and 
 umbrellas, chouries, and khuskhus or other baskets, hookah- 
 snakes, imitation fruits and flowers, toys and puzzles. 
 
 Among these I ought not to omit mentioning the skill 
 with which the unyielding substance of a hard thick shell 
 is converted into necklaces for the men and into bracelets 
 for the women.* The tools as well as the shells in different 
 stages of manufacture, having been sent by Dr. Wise and 
 by Mr. Mytton, we can see the different steps of the pro¬ 
 cess, and how skilfully means are adapted to ends. 
 
 In connexion with the shell-workers of Dacca, I ought to 
 notice the works in horn from Yizagapatam, in the Northern 
 Circars, as well as from Viziadroog in the Concan, in which 
 the excellent polish of all, the transparency of some, and 
 the elegant forms of others of the articles, show that the 
 difficulties of the manufacture have been overcome in this, 
 as in so many other substances, especially in the articles 
 prepared by a carpenter of Viziadroog. 
 
 Working in Stone. —Working in stone, polishing the 
 hardest surfaces, engraving its surface with imperishable 
 records, and sculpturing it into various forms, even exca¬ 
 vating gigantic temples out of the solid rock, are all depart¬ 
 ments of sculpture aud engraving to which the Hindoos 
 have paid attention from the earliest times; and their 
 buildings are conspicuous for a quality for which those of 
 Egypt have often been admired 5 that is, the exquisite 
 polish and glass-like appearance of some of the hardest 
 granite. Dr. Kennedy has fortunately given us an account 
 of the process by which they effect this. “ The tools,” he 
 says, “ which the Hindoos use, are a small steel chisel and 
 an iron mallet. The chisel, in length, is not more than 
 
 * “The manufacture of shell bracelets is one of the indigenous 
 arts of Bengal, in which the caste of Sankari at Dacca excel. The 
 chunks of which they are made are large concave shells (valuta 
 gravis, Linn.), from six to seven inches long, and of a pure white 
 colour. They are imported into Calcutta from Ramnad and South 
 India, opposite to Ceylon, and from the Maidive Islands.”— 
 Taylor. 
 
384 TIIE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 about twice the breadth of the hand of the Hindoo work¬ 
 man; which, as is well known, is very small; and it tapers 
 to a round point like a drawing-pencil. The mallet also is 
 iron, a little larger than the chisel, but not weighing more 
 than a few pounds. It has a head fixed on at right angles 
 to the handle, with only one striking face, which is formed 
 into a tolerably deep hollow, and lined with lead. With 
 such simple instruments they formed, fashioned, and scooped 
 the granite rock which forms the tremendous fortress of 
 Dowlatabad, and excavated the wonderful caverns of Ellora; 
 for it seems by no means probable that the Hindoo stone¬ 
 cutters ever worked with any other tools.” Dr. Kennedy 
 adds, “ The traces of the pointed chisel are still visible on 
 the rocks of Dowlatabad, as they are also on some of the 
 great works of Egypt.” 
 
 The stone having been brought to a smooth surface, it is 
 next dressed with water in the usual way, and is then 
 polished in the following manner :— 
 
 A block of granite, of considerable size, is rudely fash¬ 
 ioned into the shape of the end of a large pestle. The 
 lower face of this is hollowed out into a cavity, and this is 
 filled with a mass composed of pounded corundum-stone, 
 mixed with melted bees-wax. This block is moved by 
 means of two sticks, or pieces of bamboo, placed on each 
 side of its neck, and bound together by cords, twisted and 
 tightened by sticks. The weight of the whole is such as 
 two workmen can easily manage. They seat themselves 
 upon, or close to, the stone they are to polish, and by 
 moving the block backwards and forwards between them, 
 the polish is given by the friction of the mass of wax (and 
 lac ?) and corundum. 
 
 Nearly the same materials, and with a still greater degree 
 of success, are employed in polishing such delicate articles 
 as beads and bracelets; elegantly shaped cups, or the 
 models of cannon. Of the processes employed, a very 
 interesting account, which is published in the “ Illustrated 
 Catalogue,” is given by Mr. Summer of Cambay. The 
 stones are first fixed on a steel pike, and there roughly 
 rounded with an iron hammer, and then polished with a 
 composition of lac and corundum variously applied. The 
 holes are bored with a steel drill, tipped with a small dia- 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 385 
 
 monel. Cups and saucers, and similar hollow articles, are 
 wrought, according to the required external shape, on the 
 steel pike, and a rough polish given on the rough polishing- 
 stones. The cavity is formed by the diamond-tipped drill 
 to the depth of one-fourth of an inch all over the space, 
 until it exhibits an honeycombed appearance; the promi¬ 
 nent places round the holes are then chipped away; and 
 this process is repeated until the depth and form desired 
 are obtained. They are then polished upon prepared 
 moulds of convex forms, and of the same composition as 
 the polishing-plates which are attached to the turning- 
 wheel. 
 
 The materials which are thus worked upon are the 
 agates, crystals, and cornelians, as well as blood-stones, 
 found in the neighbourhood of Cambay, and which some 
 people fancied must have been sent out from Germany, but 
 of which there is an abundant supply in India, both near 
 Cambay, and in the Soane and Kane rivers far to the east 
 of that locality. 
 
 The above relation is interesting, not only on its own 
 account, but also as explaining how the beautiful agate, 
 jade, and crystal cups, which were purchased at Lahore, 
 and exhibited in the jewel-cases of the Indian collection, 
 may have been made. It has been supposed, that the 
 mode ot making these jewelled cups is at present unknown. 
 But as we know the details of the manufacture at Cambay, 
 there seems no insurmountable difficulty in working out the 
 agate and jade cups of Lahore; of which, though some are 
 plain and polished, others have their surfaces elegantly 
 carved, and not a few inlaid with precious stones, and ail 
 conspicuous for the beauty of their forms. Can these dif¬ 
 ferent vessels of crystal, agate, and jade, be the famed 
 Eastern cups, of which some were called vasce murrhince ? 
 
 Those who can give a lustrous polish to granite, and 
 appear to mould crystal cups into as elegant forms as the 
 softest clay, can find no difficulty in carving sandstone or 
 in cutting marble. But the elegance and variety of the 
 patterns into which both sandstone and marble are cut, is 
 conspicuous in the open lattice-work with which tombs are 
 surrounded in north-west India. These are, morever, re¬ 
 markable for the light and aerial, almost lace-like appear- 
 S3 
 
386 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 ance, with which they impress the observer at a little 
 distance. Two good specimens of these screens in sand¬ 
 stone were sent from Mirzapore, and on a smaller scale 
 from Boondee. The same elegant style of work, hut of 
 less elaborate patterns, was conspicuous in the splendid 
 marble couches and chairs presented to Her Majesty by the 
 Rajah of Nattore. The marble vases and vessels from the 
 Rajah of Johdpore were also remarkable for elegance of 
 form and fineness of polish; while the swans and fish, 
 which though made of marble yet could swim on water, 
 showed the attention paid to the buoyant effects of air when 
 enclosed in so heavy a substance as stone. The stone-work 
 from Gaya also displays the skill of the workmen; but here 
 the turning-lathe has also been employed to give a finish to 
 the external form of the vessels: but the dish with the fig- 
 leaves carved on its upper surface is, for its thinness and 
 the taste displayed in its design, an elegant specimen of 
 carving in stone. 
 
 The Turning-lathe, which has just been mentioned as 
 employed for giving a finish to the external forms of vessels 
 of stone, is also employed by the natives for wood-work, 
 as for making toys, &c. The latter are much esteemed in 
 India, from the difficulty, if not impossibility, of children 
 being able to remove the colour from their surface, in con¬ 
 sequence of the covering of a varnish of lac. Some beau¬ 
 tiful specimens of turning have been sent from Bombay, 
 in the shape of vases and boxes; as well as of balls, a 
 number of which are contained one within another. The 
 patterns upon these various articles are to be admired, as 
 well as their external forms. They were made at Hydera¬ 
 bad in Sindh. 
 
 IV.— Fine Arts. 
 
 The Fine Arts, as the term is generally understood, have 
 not attained such a degree of excellence in India as to bear 
 any favourable comparison with the state of the fine arts in 
 Europe; yet there are some things under this head, and 
 not beyond the limits of the Exhibition, which are not un¬ 
 worthy of notice. 
 
 Painting, being an imitative art, must, no doubt, have 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 387 
 
 been practised in some form by all tlie nations of an¬ 
 tiquity. We know that in Egypt hieroglyphics preceded 
 the art of writing, and that the tombs display every variety 
 of Egyptian painting. But the Hindoos seem never to 
 have paid great attention to, or excelled in, this art; though 
 they have shown their good sense in employing artists 
 to design patterns for their textile fabrics, and even to 
 draw them on the shawls and scarves which are to be em¬ 
 broidered. 
 
 The Hindoo painters are admirable delineators of objects 
 of natural history; hence, most of the illustrated works 
 which have been published on the Indian branches of this 
 subject have usually been drawn by native artists, several 
 of whom are constantly employed in the East India Com¬ 
 pany’s Botanic Garden at Calcutta. They are usually 
 faithful copyists, but are often objected to as being stiff 
 in their style, and not paying sufficient attention to per¬ 
 spective ; but this is hardly worse than the artistic palm- 
 trees which one sees in European drawings, and which are 
 very unlike those with which Nature adorns her own 
 pictures. 
 
 The only paintings by the native artists which we have 
 had iu the Exhibition are several series in talc, some from 
 Trichinopoly, and the others from Delhi: the latter giving 
 a representation of the different officers and dresses at the 
 Mahomedan ceiemony of the Mohurran, and of the different 
 servants in the employ of Europeans; while the trades, as 
 well as many agricultural operations, were represented in 
 the drawings from the south. 
 
 The paintings are generally small, and, therefore, do not 
 attract much attention. Some of those painted at Delhi on 
 ivory are very beautiful, resemble enamels, and are fre¬ 
 quently worn in brooches and bracelets. 
 
 Though the Indian paintings, as those mentioned, are 
 usually small, there are some of considerable size and of 
 great antiquity in the different rock-hewn temples of 
 Western India. Great fears having been entertained that 
 the whole might iu course of time become destroyed, the 
 Court of Directors some time since took measures to have 
 copies of all of them made. Several of these from the 
 
888 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 caves of Ajunta have arrived, and are displayed in the 
 library of the India House. 
 
 Sculpture .—Under the head of Sculpture many things 
 are often included which are now usually considered to be 
 distinct branches of the art: some consisting in the art of 
 producing figures upon wood, gems, or metal; while the 
 term Statuary is confined to the art of making statues or 
 busts. In this the Indians have not attained any excel¬ 
 lence; though the opportunities are great of seeing the 
 human figure as well at the ordinary occupations of life as 
 in their gymnastic schools, and they have had considerable 
 employment in sculpturing the figures, though grotesque, 
 of their gods and goddesses. Yet that they are capable of 
 excelling in this, as in many other arts, is evident from the 
 admirable representations of the different castes and trades 
 in the clay figures from Ivishengurh in Bengal, as from 
 Glokak, near Belgaum; so also in the ivory carvings of the 
 elephant, camel, &c., from Berhampore, and in the stone 
 sculptures of the rhinoceros, sacred bull, &c., from Gyah. 
 That in former times they attempted greater things, and 
 with considerable success in ancient times, may be seen in 
 the ruins of the city of Mahamalaipoor to the south of 
 Madras. Bishop Heber describes the rocks as carved out 
 into porticoes, temples, bas-reliefs, &c., on a much smaller 
 scale indeed than Elephanta or Kennary, but some of them 
 very beautifully executed; and the bas-reliefs of a pagoda 
 at Perwuttum are considered as some of the most ex¬ 
 traordinary specimens of art in all India. So in the cave 
 temples of Elephanta, the central image is described as 
 composed of three colossal heads, about fifteen feet in 
 height; the central has an expression of undisturbed com¬ 
 posure; the one on the left, of benevolence; while the 
 third is calculated to strike terror into the beholder. But 
 these temples, as well as those in Central and North¬ 
 western India, contain numerous instances of sculpture on 
 a gigantic scale, but which there is no time even to al¬ 
 lude to. 
 
 Engraving, though defined to be the art of representing 
 objects by cutting wood, stones, and gems, or metal, is 
 often applied only to such works as are intended afterwards 
 to be communicated to paper, but the term also denotes 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 389 
 
 some ancient branches of the art, as gem, and seal, also die 
 engraving, of which we have some reliques of antiquity 
 which excel in their exquisite polish. Engraving inscrip¬ 
 tions on stone is one of the most durable modes of pre¬ 
 serving records, and has been practised in the East from 
 the earliest times of which we have any notice. In India 
 the long inscriptions of Kapurdegiri, Dhauli, and Girnar, 
 show that the art must have been practised in great per¬ 
 fection at periods at least as ancient as the expedition of 
 Alexander. The lath or pillars at Delhi and Allahabad 
 are inscribed with similar inscriptions; and the numerous 
 plates of copper which have been found in all parts of 
 India, engraved with grants or agreements for leases of 
 land, and which have proved the most authentic, and in 
 many instances the only, records of lines of sovereigns, 
 prove how general has been the prevalence of the art of 
 engraving in all parts of India. The engraved seals from 
 Delhi, which were in the Exhibition, are excellent speci¬ 
 mens of the art of gem-engraving; and many of the 
 precious stones have been inscribed with verses from the 
 Koran, which enhance their value in the eyes of their Ma- 
 homedau wearers. 
 
 As a gold and silver, as w r ell as copper coinage, has long 
 existed throughout the country, it might be supposed that 
 this also was an art which had originated in India; but I 
 believe that the careful investigations of the most competent 
 observers have not traced any vestiges of the art beyond the 
 age of the Seleucidce, whose purely Greek coins are suc¬ 
 ceeded by some having a Greek inscription on one side, and 
 an Indian on the other, and these by coins having a native 
 inscription on both sides; and this through a long series 
 of princes. 
 
 liaising figures on metal, on vessels, or on precious stones, 
 is likewise an original Oriental art; but as the Persian 
 worshippers of fire, as well as the Mahoraedans, objected to 
 images, we have often, therefore, only inscriptions where we 
 might have had raised figures. But a few of the Hindoo 
 vessels are ornamented with probably sacred figures, or of 
 the signs of the zodiac, or with Hindoo mythology, as is even 
 a sword-blade from Lahore. 
 
 Mosaics and Inlaid Work .—The art of cutting marbles 
 
 33 * 
 
390 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 and still harder substances into patterns, and then filling 
 them up with cornelians and precious stones, is. pi actised 
 with great skill in the northern parts of India, as. is e\ idont 
 from the vessels of Jade from Lahore, which are inlaid with 
 rubies, emeralds, and diamonds, and which have been re¬ 
 ferred to before, and may be mentioned again under this 
 division. So the marble inkstands, card-trays, and chess- 
 tables, inlaid with agates, &c., from Agra, have excited ad¬ 
 miration, and had a prize awarded them. These specimens 
 are conspicuous for the clear and well-defined insertion of the 
 different stones, the delicate and graceful leaf and fl.owei- 
 stalks, as well as for the happy combination of colours in the 
 flowers and patterns represented. It is supposed that this 
 art must have been introduced into Iudia in the time of 
 Acbar or of Shah-jehan; for in buildings erected by the 
 former at Agra, Bishop Ilebcr describes the ornaments, caiv- 
 ing, and mosaic of the smaller apartments as equal or supe¬ 
 rior to anything in the xVlhambra, and of a cascade of watei 
 he says, that it gushes through marble channels, beautifully 
 inlaid with cornelians, agates, and jasper. In the Taj-Mahul 
 erected by Shah-jehan in memory of his Begum, xNooi-jehan, 
 the walls, screens, and tombs, are covered with flowers, and 
 inscriptions, executed in beautiful mosaic, of cornelians, 
 lapis-lazuli, and jasper. These I have seen myself, and ad¬ 
 mired, as well as similar works in the palace of Delhi. They 
 are all similar, but not superior in workmanship, to the pro¬ 
 ductions we have had sent to the Exhibition from the living 
 artists of Agra. Drawings are sold, both at Agra and Delhi, 
 of these mosaics, and having bought them when there, I can 
 refer to the plants which are represented. These ought to 
 give some indications of the country of the artists; and 
 though they do not appear to be Indian, yet they are as like 
 those of Caubul and of Persia as of Europe. The crown 
 imperial, which seems to be one of those represented, is a 
 native of Cashmere as well as of Europe. If the art war 
 introduced into India from Italy, the people may boast ol 
 not shaming their teachers. _ . 
 
 Enamels .—Having already called attention to their skill 
 in enamelling, I need not do more here than refer to the 
 beauty of the flowers, birds, &c., which are delineated, and 
 with the pleasing harmony of the colours which they em- 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES IN INDIA. 391 
 
 ploy. The specimens of enamelled arms and jewellery from 
 Cutch, Scinde, Kotah, Dholepore, Lahore, and Kangra, show 
 that the art is practised with the greatest skill along the 
 north-west frontier of India. It is probable, that if the form 
 of the articles were adapted for European use or ornament, 
 a considerable sale might take place here of the best enamels 
 from India. A good account of the mode of enamelling in 
 the East would be very interesting, and might afford valu¬ 
 able hints. 
 
 Patterns .—The beauty and variety of patterns in the vari¬ 
 ous articles which we have referred to, as well in the carved 
 or engraved, as in the painted, printed, woven, or embroi¬ 
 dered works, combined as they so frequently are with har¬ 
 mony of colouring, require notice in this section of our 
 arrangement; and, as I have elsewhere said, this we see, 
 whether we examine a production of Dacca, or one from 
 Delhi, Benares, or Ahmedabad, Itajpootana, or Hyderabad, 
 from Madras or from Mooltan, Cashmere or Khyrpoor, and 
 whether in a common chintz or in a fabric of silk, or one 
 enriched with silver or gold, or with imitations of gems. In 
 all we see the utmost variety kept in bounds by the nicest 
 taste; for even the most flowery and gorgeous appear never 
 to exceed what is suitable to the material and the purpose 
 to which it is to be applied. Mr. Digby Wyatt supposes 
 the happy effects of Indian designers to be due to the re¬ 
 finement of taste engendered by their traditional education, 
 and that this precludes their toleration of any departure 
 from those harmonious propoi’tions which the practice of 
 ages has sanctioned as most pleasing and agreeable; Mr. 
 Owen Jones states, that “one guiding principle of the 
 ornamentation of the Orientals appears to have been that 
 their decoration was always what may be called surface 
 decoration. The patterns of their shawls and carpets are 
 harmonious and effective, from the proper distribution of 
 forms and colours, and do not require to be heightened in 
 effect by strong and positive oppositions. In their scroll¬ 
 work, the ornament and the ground occupy equal areas. 
 To obtain this effect requires no ordinary skill, and it can 
 only be arrived at by highly-trained hands and minds.” 
 
 Among the Fine Arts, Music is usually included, but of 
 this I have no intention to treat, beyond briefly stating that 
 
392 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 music lias been paid attention to by the Hindoos from very 
 early periods, is treated of in their ancient works, and that 
 it is acknowledged by competent judges to be constructed 
 on scientific principles. Also, that though some of the airs 
 are pleasing to European ears, yet that the effect is gene¬ 
 rally considered to be noisy and disagreeable. Among 
 manufactures, we may, however, notice their instruments, 
 of which they have every variety. They make use of the 
 natural products of their country ; as, for instance, bamboos 
 and horns for pipes and blowing instruments, gourds to act 
 as sounding-boards to their stringed instruments. The 
 bamboo, besides being used for pipes, is sometimes formed 
 into a compound instrument, in which bamboos of different 
 sizes and lengths, being fixed in a framework of lathe, and 
 shaken, emit different sounds, which it is curious to observe 
 are strictly tuned to octaves. For the construction of their 
 drums, they use wood, metal, and even earthenware ; and 
 though uncouth-looking, it is remarkable that, as far as 
 rhythm is concerned, thhy have been considered by com¬ 
 petent judges to be superior in construction to European 
 drums. Among the Burmese instruments is a circular one, 
 within which drums of various sizes arc suspended, so that 
 each, when struck, gives a different note. Many of these 
 instruments would, no doubt, be interesting to elucidate 
 the history of musical instruments; for it is probable that 
 many have remained unchanged from very early periods. 
 
 Architectural Models .—Architecture is one of the fine 
 arts which, from the usual permanence of its materials, 
 ought to enable us to judge of the antiquity of the arts in 
 India, and of the different degrees of merit of the several 
 races who have inhabited that country. But the destruc¬ 
 tive effects of the climate, deluged at one time with inces¬ 
 sant rain, and parched up by a furnace-like heat at another, 
 is very unfavourable to the permanence of buildings, espe¬ 
 cially as the soil is in many parts impregnated with various 
 salts, which corrode the walls at the surface of the ground, 
 at the same time that the seeds of the sacred fig-tree, or 
 peepul (Ficus religiosa ), will vegetate on the top of a wall, 
 the ledge of a pyramid, or the smallest crack in a dome, and 
 sending its roots downwards, even between the dryest stones 
 and mortar, will, in course of time, destroy some of the 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 393 
 
 most substantial buildings. Among the models sent to the 
 Exhibition, we have bad specimens of some of the styles of 
 architecture which prevail in India; for instance, the carved 
 wooden models of the musjids or mosques from Ahmedabad, 
 give us specimens of the Saracenic style which was intro¬ 
 duced by the Mahomedans, and of which so many splendid 
 remains are to be seen in the tombs round Agra and Delhi. 
 Of the Buddhistic architecture, which is conspicuously dis¬ 
 played in the rock-cut temples of Elephanta, Ellora, &c., 
 and which has been so amply illustrated by Mr. James 
 Fergusson, we have had no specimens; nor of the Jain tem¬ 
 ples of Bajpootana, which have been described by Colonel 
 Tod as monuments of simple grandeur or of elaborate ele¬ 
 gance. But the stone models of the Hindoo temples sent 
 from Benares and Mirzapore give a very correct idea of the 
 general pyramidal appearance of such temples in the Gan- 
 getic valley. The various varieties in Hindoo sacred archi¬ 
 tecture are, according to Colonel Tod, distinguished by the 
 forms of the pinnacles, which spring from and surmount the 
 perpendicular walls of the body of the temple. The ivory¬ 
 like yet pith models of the Nagossorun pagoda at Couba- 
 concan, and of the unfinished entrance to the pagoda at 
 Strearangum, give a good idea of the pyramidal yet trun¬ 
 cated and elaborately-sculptured temples of the south of 
 India. I will not attempt to enter into the peculiarities of 
 each of these styles, as that would require a lecture to itself 
 by one competent to the task; nor have I attempted to trace 
 these to any extraneous sources, because I believe them all, 
 with the exception of the first, to be original productions of 
 India, and well worthy the attention of architects who study 
 the history and vast variety of their science. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 Having thus taken a general view of most of the arts 
 and manufactures of India, as displayed at the late Ex¬ 
 hibition, I may briefly refer to the omissions,* such, for 
 
 * Among these, mixed fabrics may be noted, as more ought to 
 have been said of the various mixtures of silk and cotton, wool and 
 cotton, wool and silk, &c., which are made in India. Some com¬ 
 posing the entire fabric; others, in alternate stripes or checks of 
 the two materials. 
 
394 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES GF INDIA. 
 
 instance, as their different tools and models of their simple 
 machinery, as well as of their shipping. The former would 
 have afforded abundant opportunity for remark, as well as 
 for admiring the ingenuity with which important ends are 
 attained by simple meansj but as the tools have been 
 carefully examined by a most competent professor, and the 
 collection will not be dispersed, opportunities will occur to 
 others for observation. Among the models of shipping it 
 would have been interesting, if I had felt equal to the task, 
 to have examined the forms of such as are remarkable for 
 their swiftness, especially as some of these are said to out¬ 
 sail any European craft against which they have been matched, 
 and the lines of the Sampan of the Malayan seas are said to 
 correspond very closely with those of the now famed “Ame¬ 
 rica.” But time will not allow to do more than to allude 
 to such subjects for the purpose of attracting the attention 
 of others. 
 
 Before concluding, I trust I may be allowed to make a 
 few observations on what may appear to many the too 
 favourable view which I have taken of the state of the arts 
 in India. In the first place, it should be remembered that 
 the several specimens have generally been sent from the 
 places where the respective mechanics and artists have 
 attained the greatest skill; and secondly, that in most 
 instances the articles have been selected by committees of 
 European gentlemen. This would, however, have been of 
 little avail, if the natives who produced the articles did not 
 themselves possess both skill and taste; but the process 
 may have excluded some things which did not come under 
 this category. Europeans in India are, in general, little 
 given to over-estimate Indian productions, and their true 
 value has only been determined by the observations of many 
 of the best qualified judges at the recent Great Exhibition. 
 Though many of the officers of the various Indian com¬ 
 mittees have stated that much more highly-finished articles 
 might have been sent if more time had been alkrwed for 
 their preparation, yet Europeans, in general, speak and 
 write disparagingly of the different manufacturing processes 
 adopted by the natives in India. Thus, without making 
 sufficient allowance for the simplicity of the means by which 
 they attain important ends, and for which others require 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 395 
 
 a complicated apparatus, we have observations on the rude¬ 
 ness of the processes, and this without adverting to the 
 curious fact of uneducated natives being found in almost 
 every bazaar who can make alloys, colour glass, and work 
 enamels by methods which are unknown in Europe. Ano¬ 
 ther great anomaly, often animadverted upon, is the ap¬ 
 parently unfinished state of some productions, and how ill- 
 assorted are the different parts of other made-up articles; 
 as, for instance, where we see a coarse iron ring in the 
 midst of elaborately-worked gold and silver trappings. But 
 we may see the same anomaly in a highly-finished French 
 clock, with a key which in England would be thought unfit 
 for a common cupboard. But this is a point connected 
 with a more general subject, that is, the causes which in¬ 
 fluence the greater or less developement of the several arts 
 and manufactures in different countries. I refrain from 
 pursuing it, but refer to another subject, that is, the immo¬ 
 bility, as it has been called, of the natives of India, and of 
 their remaining stationary at points which they seem to 
 have reached many ages ago. But this is far better than 
 the retrograde progress of other nations, which were civilized 
 at as early periods. Though we are without the means of 
 accurate comparison with the state of the arts in India at 
 earlier periods, yet in some of them we have seen, that, if 
 stationary, they are so only at points which others have 
 hardly yet reached. That the natives are capable of at¬ 
 taining almost any degree of excellence in the various arts, 
 we have the most convincing proofs in the specimens now 
 before us, and which form a very small part of the Indian 
 collection. If other proofs are required we have them in 
 the works which are turned out from the different Govern¬ 
 ment magazines and arsenals, and of which we have nume ¬ 
 rous specimens in the accoutrements and models of artillery 
 from the different Presidencies. The same may be observed 
 in the teak shipping built at Bombay. In addition to these 
 several works produced under Government officers, we 
 might adduce the several manufactures carried on by Euro¬ 
 peans in India; of these we had specimens of harness, and 
 dress boots, sent by Messrs. Monteith of Calcutta, which 
 would have done credit to any shop either in London or 
 Paris. The same might be said of the model of the palan-» 
 
396 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 quin by Mr. Simpson, from Madras, or of the specimens 
 of ropes, an imitation of those in use in Europe, by 
 Messrs. Harton, of Calcutta, and which, if made with the 
 Rhea fibre of Assam, would be stronger than any in Europe. 
 The saw-gins made up in India by native mechanics have 
 been found to be as efficient for cleaning cotton as.the 
 machines sent out from this country and from America; 
 while the delicacy as well as accuracy of native work may 
 be seen in the coin-sorting machine of Major Smith, of the 
 Madras Engineers, for which a Prize medal was awarded 
 by the Jury of Class X. 
 
 But still greater and more widely diffused effects than 
 the above may be expected from the influence of the dif¬ 
 ferent schools and colleges which have been established in 
 various parts of India, especially as some of these purpose 
 imparting mechanical and scientific information, in addition 
 to a knowledge of languages; and we have seen the great 
 benefits which have been derived from the establishment 
 of the several medical colleges at the different presidencies. 
 Some of the results produced by the School of Arts at 
 Madras, under the superintendence of Dr. Hunter, have 
 been shown at the Exhibition, in the improved pottery, for 
 which a Prize medal was awarded. A school for elemen¬ 
 tary mathematical knowledge and mechanical science has 
 been established by Col. Cautley, at Roorkee, the head¬ 
 quarters of the great Ganges canal, now in course of forma¬ 
 tion. There it is proposed to instruct both Europeans and 
 natives in the several subjects which will qualify them for 
 situations, not only on the canal, but probably also on rail¬ 
 ways. The college at Poonah has determined on including 
 instruction in the principles of the mechanical arts in their 
 course of education; some machines have already been im¬ 
 ported, and among others, the improved hand-loom : with 
 the flying shuttle of this the weavers of Poonah were greatly 
 astonished and pleased. Professor Cowper has been applied 
 to, to devise models of machinei'y fitted for the use of the 
 natives of India, and has already constructed a throstle 
 spinning-machine to be worked by hand, which he has 
 brought here this evening, and will, I hope, show to the 
 members after the Lecture. [This was done.] 
 
 But, even without any mechanical improvements, which 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 397 
 
 may assist in cheapening some of their products, there are 
 enough, which are the produce of their patient habits and 
 wonderful delicacy of hand, and are also examples of purity 
 of taste, which may command a sale in European markets. 
 Though the Muslins, both plain and flowered, are greatly 
 admired, yet, as being the produce of many months of hand 
 labour, they are unable to compete in price with those 
 which are the produce of European machinery; but as they 
 are still preferred in India, a few may continue to be bought 
 in Europe. Their Calico Prints, Flowered Silks, and rich 
 Kimkhobs, being much admired for their patterns, may be 
 applied to a variety of ornamental purposes; if not of dress, 
 still of decorative furniture. The Shawls of Cashmere still 
 continue unrivalled, and command the highest prices. The 
 Embroidery being equal to anything produced elsewhere, 
 only requires that the things embroidered be fitted for Eu¬ 
 ropean use, since the cheapness of all hand-work in India 
 will insure the prices being reasonable. The manufacture 
 of Lace at Nagercoil may be safely undertaken; and the 
 Carpets, Pugs, and Carved Furniture, would command a 
 ready sale if offered at rates moderate in proportion to the 
 cost in India. The Wootz Steel might be largely consumed, 
 and the highly-wrought Arms would be bought as curiosi¬ 
 ties, as well for the artistic skill displayed in the cutlery as 
 in the inlaying. Well-shaped Pottery and the highly- 
 finished Biclery ware, as well as the Lacquered boxes of 
 Cashmere, would all be bought, as also the various works 
 of Bombay-inlaying, of Ivory, Horn, Ebony, and Sandal¬ 
 wood, likewise Mats, Baskets of Khuskhus, and of other 
 materials, and Japanned Boxes. To these we may add the 
 polished Agate-ware of Cambay, the Inlaid Marbles of Agra, 
 and the Enamels of Cutch, Scinde, and of north-west India; 
 also the Filagree work of Cuttack, Dacca, and Delhi, as well 
 as of other places; likewise some native Jewellery, if made 
 in the forms fitted for European use. Even the Toys would 
 command a sale, and the Models of Fruits, as well as the 
 Figures of Natives of different castes and trades, would find 
 purchasers if they could be easily procured. 
 
 That I may not appear singular, especially to people in 
 India, in my estimation of the value of these Indian pro¬ 
 ducts, I would beg, before concluding, to adduce some un- 
 34 
 
398 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 connected and independent testimonies. For this I may 
 first refer to the articles in “ The Times,” which were distin¬ 
 guished as much by their talent as their discriminative cri¬ 
 ticism. “ Turning to the class of manufactured articles, 
 we find the long-established industries of the Indian Penin¬ 
 sula asserting their excellence in a manner at once charac¬ 
 teristic and extraordinary. The same skill in goldsmiths’ 
 work, in metals, in ivory-carving, in pottery, in mosaics, in 
 shawls, in muslins, and carpets, w r as attained by those in¬ 
 genious communities which now practise them ages and 
 ages ago. Yet, in these things, which the natives of India 
 have done well from time immemorial, they still remain un¬ 
 surpassed .”—April 25. And again, “ Yet, in another 
 point of view, these remarkable and characteristic collections 
 have a value that can hardly be overrated. By their sug¬ 
 gestiveness the vulgarities in art-manufactures, not only of 
 England but of Christendom, may be corrected; and from 
 the carpets, the shawls, the muslins, and the brocades of 
 Asia, and from much of its metallic and earthenware pro¬ 
 ducts, can be clearly traced those invaluable rules of art, a 
 proper definition and recognition of which form the great 
 desiderata of our more civilized industrial systems.”— Times , 
 July 4. 
 
 So, M. Blanqui, in his “ Rapport” to the “Academie des 
 Sciences Morales et Politiques de lTnstitut,” observes, “ Les 
 produits de l’Inde Britannique meritent F attention du tech- 
 nologue autant que celle du philosophe et de Feconomiste. 
 II y a vraitneut un art Indien qui a un cachet de distinction 
 comme l’art Frangais, et de plus une originalite souvent 
 dlegante et de bon gout. 
 
 “ Cette brillante partie de FExposition a produit l’effet 
 d’une revelation. Elle a ete si complete, si riche, si bien 
 agencee, qu’elle representait l’Orient tout entier depuis les 
 temps les plus recules jusqu’a nos jours.—Les Indiens sont 
 les Frangais de FOrient pour le genie industriel: il ne leur 
 manque que nos connaissances positives ; mais ils sont aussi 
 artistes dans leur genre que nos plus habiles dessinateurs de 
 Paris, de Lyon, et de Mulhouse,” &c.—P. 238. 
 
 Again, in his letters, M. Blanqui says, “C’est tout un 
 monde industriel nouveau pour nous, par son antiquite 
 meme, qui remonte aux temps hero'iques, et par son carac- 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 399 
 
 tere d’originalite a nul autre semblable. Depuis le com¬ 
 mencement de l’Exposition, nous voyons tous les jours ap- 
 paraitre des produits nouveaux, plus admirables les uns que 
 les autres, et qui attirent au plus haut degre l’attention des 
 visiteurs. 
 
 “ L’art Indien merite, en efiet, cette preference: il ne 
 ressemble a aucun autre. II n’a point la bizarrerie du gout 
 Chinois, ni la regularity Grecque et Romaine, ni la vulgarite 
 moderne: e’est un art a part, consequent avec lui-meme, 
 plus sobre qu’on ne pense j usque dans ses ecarts, et qui 
 semble n’avoir jamais varie ni emprunte quelque chose a 
 autrui. Dans la ceramique, il est plein de grace et de sim¬ 
 plicity,” &c.—P. 79. 
 
 “ Evidemment, l’art de tisser les etoffes est arrive, dans ce 
 pays, a un etat fort avance. Sans parler des chales de Cache- 
 mire, qui sont devenus les types du genre, tout ce que la 
 Oompagnie des Indes a expose semble une collection de 
 chefs-d’oevre. Moussellines brodees d’or, fichus diapre4s de 
 milles couleurs, echarpes eclatantes du gout le plus exquis, 
 tapis de table emailles de fleurs, tissus de toute espece nielUs 
 de vert emeraude, selles, manteaux, etoffes pour tentures, 
 mouchoirs d’odalisqucs a petits carreux d’un rouge tendre, 
 quadrilles d’argent, toutes les nuances que le nature a pro- 
 diguee aux ailes des papillons se retrouvent dans cette col¬ 
 lection Indienne, qu’une Compagnie aussi puissante que 
 celle des Indes pouvait seule reuuir par ses ordres souverains. 
 L’ Orient tout entier est accouru a sa voix.” 
 
 I may fitly conclude these quotations -with an extract from 
 a letter of the Government Committee for the selection of 
 articles for the use of the Schools of Design, addressed to 
 J. C. Melvill, Esq., Secretary to the Honourable East India 
 Company. “ We have to request that you will acquaint the 
 Court of Directors, that having duly examined the collec¬ 
 tion exhibited by the Court, we have found it to contain, 
 beyond any other department of the Exhibition, objects of 
 the highest instructional value to students in design, and 
 that we have selected the accompanying list of articles from 
 their collection, which we express a hope may be secured 
 for the benefit of the Schools.” The Committee selected 
 about two hundred and fifty; as some belonged to private 
 individuals, they were able to purchase nearly two hundred 
 
400 THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 
 
 articles out of the Indian collection for the use and im¬ 
 provement of the Schools of Design in this country. 
 
 After these favourable testimonies, I regret that I am 
 unable to conclude this subject with a notice of the several 
 medals which have been awarded to the native manufac¬ 
 turers of the various textile fabrics, from muslins to carpets, 
 or to the producers of the several other works in which 
 manual dexterity was combined with taste; for, with the 
 exception of the mosaics from Agra, and the sandal-wood 
 carving from the Malabar coast,* the rest must be enu¬ 
 merated among the omissions with which the interna¬ 
 tional juries have been charged. That the articles exhi¬ 
 bited were not without sufficient merit is evident from the 
 testimonies which I have quoted, as well as from the uni¬ 
 versal admiration which they excited. A French gentle¬ 
 man to whom I mentioned the fact, while he was enthusi¬ 
 astically admiring the various works, pithily observed, “ Tant 
 pis pour les jureurs.” But though it would have been 
 graceful for the judges of the West to have sent some to¬ 
 kens of their approval to the absent and anxious manufac¬ 
 turers of the East, these may yet enjoy the proud consola¬ 
 tion of thinking, that a Committee of the British Govern¬ 
 ment, composed of some of the best judges, found the 
 Indian collection to contain beyond any other department 
 of the Exhibition objects of the highest instructional value 
 to students, and supported their opinion by extensive pur¬ 
 chases; while a representative of France has pronounced 
 them to be “the Frenchman of the East for industrial 
 talent.” 
 
 In the course of his remarks on the foregoing Lecture, 
 and on the striking examples of Indian art and manufacture, 
 which, by the kindness of the Court of Directors of the lion. 
 East India Company, were exhibited in illustration of it, 
 Mr. Owen Jones, the Chairman, observed, that with all the 
 
 * The latter was voted to the European owner of a sandal-wood 
 box; but the medal for Agra Mosaics to the East India Company. 
 This will be sent to the producer in India, as the Court of Direc¬ 
 tors promised to make over any prizes to the parties from whom 
 the articles which might be rewarded had been purchased. 
 
THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF INDIA. 401 
 
 artists of England with whom he was acquainted, as well as 
 with foreign visiters, he had found hut one opinion,—-viz., 
 that the Indian and Tunisian articles were the most perfect 
 in design of any that appeared in the Exhibition. The op¬ 
 portunity of studying them had been “ a boon to the whole 
 of Europe.” Many have been purchased by Government 
 for the use of the Schools of Design,—and will no doubt be 
 extensively circulated throughout the country. But it is to 
 be hoped, said Mr. Jones, that they will do more than merely 
 teach us to copy the Indian style. If they only led to the 
 origination of an Indian style, he w'ould think their influence 
 only hurtful. 11 The time has arrived,” he added, “ when 
 it is generally felt that a change must take place—and we 
 must get rid of the causes of obstruction to the art of design 
 which exist in this country. Ever since the Reformation, 
 when a separation took place between religion and art, Eng¬ 
 land has not had anything like a style of her own. In every 
 country which is under the influence of a particular religion, 
 there a peculiar style of art is created. Such is the case 
 with the Mohamedaus, Greeks, and others.—There now 
 seems to be a general feeling and desire for art, and some¬ 
 thing must be done. I think the Government may be in¬ 
 duced to assist in forming schools throughout the country 
 on a different footing from that on which they are at present 
 established. We see in the ornaments and articles from 
 India the works of a people who are not allowed by their 
 religion to draw the human form, and it is probable that to 
 this cause we may attribute their great success in their or¬ 
 namental works. Here in Europe we have been studying 
 drawing from the human figure, but it has not led us forward 
 xn the art of ornamental design. Although the study of the 
 human figure is useful in refining the taste and teaching 
 accurate observation, it is a roundabout way of learning to 
 draw for the designer for manufactures. It is to be hoped, 
 as this Society is assisting in the formation of elementary 
 schools, that it may be able to find a better means of pro¬ 
 ducing the result in question.” 
 
 February 18, 1852. 
 
LECTURE XII. 
 
 ON THE PROGRESS OF NAVAL ARCHITECTURE, 
 AS INDICATING THE NECESSITY FOR SCIEN¬ 
 TIFIC EDUCATION, AND FOR THE CLAS¬ 
 SIFICATION OF SHIPS AND OF 
 STEAM-ENGINES: ALSO, 
 
 ON LIFE-BOATS. 
 
 CAPTAIN WASHINGTON, R.N. F.R.S. 
 
 ( 403 ) 
 

 
CAPTAIN WASHINGTON, R. N. 
 
 ON 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF NAVAL ARCHITECTURE, 
 AND ON LIFE-BOATS. 
 
 The progress of Naval Architecture, as illustrated by the 
 models of boats and shipping collected together in the Great 
 Exhibition—in that vast building, along the avenues and 
 galleries of which we all lately wandered day by day, daz¬ 
 zled with the treasures and wonders of art—forms an in¬ 
 teresting and instructive study. Who could fail to be struck 
 by the contrast presented by the ancient Celtic boat, the 
 curragh, still in use for fishing on the north-west coast of 
 Ireland, or the equally primitive coracle daily used for sal¬ 
 mon-fishing in the rivers of Wales, as compared with the 
 magnificent specimen of the Queen , one of the largest and . 
 most beautiful ships of the British navy, which, in the centre 
 of the north transept, arrested the eye of the observer, as 
 soon as the gorgeous and overpowering coup d’oeil that burst 
 on us all at entering, gave leisure to reflect. 
 
 Amidst the sparkling of the crystal fountain, backed by 
 a forest of tropical plants, and with the rich hangings of 
 Persia and India on either hand, there sate the Queen of 
 the ocean, simple, severe, yet beautiful in form, a type of 
 the progress of art as applied to ship-building during the 
 last eighteen centuries. The transition from the incon¬ 
 venient and unsightly forms of antiquity to the graceful 
 outline and imposing contour of a first-class ship-of-war, is 
 no less remarkable as an indication of progress in this 
 
406 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 science, than instructive as practical evidence of the con¬ 
 sistency of beauty of form with those qualities of speed, 
 strength, stowage, and stability, which are essential in such 
 structures. 
 
 The Exhibition of 1851, although rich in beautiful models 
 showing the present state of naval architecture, afforded only 
 in a small degree the opportunity of tracing the successive 
 steps in the history of ship-building. It is true that there 
 might be seen the primitive British coracle of wickerwork 
 covered with hide, carrying us back in imagination to the 
 time of our forefathers, and its contemporary, a Roman war- 
 galley; but from that period we jump over some centuries 
 until we arrive at the model of the Henri Grace a Dieu, 
 of 1200 tons, built at Erith about the year 1518. 
 
 We would gladly, however, have seen the connecting links 
 in the chain; as the model of the vessels in which the en¬ 
 terprising Scandinavian Sea-kings performed their almost 
 incredible voyages out of sight of land, without the aid of 
 compass or of chart, and with only the sun and stars, and 
 flight of birds, to guide them ; and of the Mediterranean gal¬ 
 ley pulling from forty to sixty oars on each side, which our 
 great King Alfred introduced to resist the ravages of the 
 Danish marauders. We have no record either of the form 
 or probable size of ships at the period of the Norman Con¬ 
 quest, unless it be the picturesque representations of Frois¬ 
 sart, or the more grotesque specimens of the Bayeux tapestry. 
 Nor of the introduction of sailing vessels, although the an¬ 
 cient chronicles tell us that when Prince William, son to 
 Henry I., was drowned in crossing from France to England, 
 three hundred persons perished with him, implying con¬ 
 siderable burthen in the vessel. We learn, too, that a little 
 later the commercial intercourse between France and Eng¬ 
 land, in wines, wool, and woollen cloths, was extensive, which 
 could not have been carried on profitably except in sailing 
 vessels. The expedition of Richard Coeur de Lion, in 1190, 
 to join the crusade to the Holy Land, consisted of nine “tall 
 shippes,” besides one hundred and fifty others of smaller 
 size, and galleys. But it was in the beginning of the four¬ 
 teenth century that the invention of the mariner’s compass, 
 by Gioja of Amalfi, gave the great impulse to ship-building, 
 by enabling vessels to make long voyages in comparative 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 407 
 
 safety. A century later the burthen of the largest ships 
 appears not to have exceeded six hundred tons,—yet, at this 
 time, the mercantile shipping of England must have been 
 considerable, for, about the middle of the century flourished 
 the celebrated merchant, William Conynge, of Bristol,—the 
 builder of the beautiful church of St. Mary Redcliff, in that 
 city,—who, among other vessels, owned the Mary and John , 
 a ship of 900 tons. 
 
 The next step in advance was the building the Great 
 Harry , about the year 1488, in the time of Henry VII., 
 which well deserved the record of a model as the parent of 
 the British navy. It was high time that this island, if she 
 wished to take any place among maritime nations, should be 
 up and doing, for other countries were fast increasing the 
 size of their ships, and pursuing the path of discovery, which 
 was the first step towards that intercourse which has resulted 
 in bringing to our shores—and to the Great Exhibition— 
 the silver and gold, the cotton, the coffee and sugar of the 
 West, with the pearls, the ivory, and silk of the East. For 
 it was only a few years later that Spain, in 1492, fitted 
 out the ever memorable fleet—small as it was and of crazy 
 ships—that enabled Columbus to prove to incredulous 
 Europe the existence of a new world, and that Portugal 
 equipped the expedition in which Vasco de Gama, in 1497, 
 rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and laid open the route 
 to the East; to be followed within half a century by the 
 zealous Padre Francisco Xavier, the “ Great Apostle of 
 the Indies,” who, in return for the myrrh, and the 
 spices, and the frankincense of the East, first imparted to 
 the natives of India the more precious gift of the Gospel of 
 Christ. 
 
 The Henri Grace d Dieu , before mentioned, comes next 
 on the list. This model, now lying on the table before us, 
 and for which we are indebted to the liberality of the Ad¬ 
 miralty, shows two tiers of port-holes; but the lower bat¬ 
 tery so little raised out of the water, that it is doubtful if 
 she could have sailed with safety on a wind ; and we know 
 by the loss of the Marie Rose at Portsmouth, a little later 
 in this reign, that, owing to her ports being within sixteen 
 inches of the water, in going about she upset and sunk, 
 
408 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 when six hundred persons perished. At so comparatively 
 low a state was nautical skill in this country, that fifty 
 Venetian soldiers were hired to try and raise this wreck; 
 their attempts, however, all failed, as the wreck of the 
 Marie Rose remains, to this day, at Spithead ; and so lately 
 as August 1836, several of her brass cannon, of exquisite 
 workmanship, were recovered from the bottom of the sea 
 by the skill of the late William Deane (well known by his 
 successful submarine operations by means of the diving- 
 helmet), and are now lying in the Repository grounds at 
 Woolwich. 
 
 The spirit of enterprise that prevailed during the reign 
 of Elizabeth could not fail to have some influence on our 
 ships, and the indefatigable and politic Raleigh directed his 
 attention to the improvement of our navy. Sir Robert 
 Dudley, afterwards Duke of Northumberland, a man of 
 enlarged views and comprehensive mind, paid also much 
 attention to naval affairs. He purposed to lower the fore¬ 
 castles and sterns of ships, and to abridge their then cum¬ 
 brous ornaments; to raise their lower batteries, and to 
 increase their length, so as to render it equal to four times 
 their breadth. Rut as his views did not meet with the 
 encouragement which he expected from the government, 
 he constructed a ship at his own expense, and made a voy¬ 
 age to India in 1594. It may be remarked, that Sir Robert 
 gave the plan of a vessel which he called a freyata , which 
 may have led to the construction of the frigates now so 
 generally known. 
 
 Singular as it may appear to us at the present day, 
 sliips-of-war at this time did not stow any provisions; they 
 were carried by an attendant vessel called the “ victualler/' 
 of which one was attached to each large ship. The space 
 in the hold, not taken up by the enormous load of shingle 
 ballast required to counterpoise the heavy top hamper, was 
 used as a cook-room; and so lately as the year 1715 several 
 ships-of-war had cook-rooms in their holds. 
 
 Passing over another half century, we come to the model 
 of the Sovereign of the Seas, or, as called later, the Royal 
 Sovereign , of 100 guns, and 1861 tons burthen, built at 
 Woolwich in 1637 by Mr. Phineas Pett. This vessel 
 marks an epoch in the art of ship-building as being the first 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 409 
 
 constructed iu England on scientific principles, Mr. Pett 
 being a good mathematician, a graduate of the University 
 of Cambridge. 
 
 Another step in improvement was effected bj Sir An¬ 
 tony Deane, in 1665, who built the War spite and Defiance, 
 to carry six months’ provisions, and their lower-deck guns 
 to be 4J feet out of water. He also has the credit of hav¬ 
 ing been the first who calculated a ship’s draft before she 
 was launched. The dimensions of the Spanish ship Princesa, 
 of 70 guns, which fell into our hands in the year 1740, 
 caused a revision of our establishment in 1745, and the 
 Royal George , of increased dimensions, was launched in 
 1756; this ship, which upset at Spithead in 1782, was one 
 of the first that had her bottom sheathed with copper. In 
 the same manner, eleven years after she came into our 
 possession, we built, after the Invincible, a French 74 l gun 
 ship, and thus got some fine ships, but the practice was 
 not persevered in. The Commerce cle Marseille formed 
 the ground-work for the Caledonia of 120 guns, launched 
 at Plymouth in 1808 ; but the Canopus, of 84 guns, taken 
 in 1798, and acknowledged on all hands to be an admirable 
 specimen of naval architecture, was not adopted to be the 
 model for 84-gun ships of the British navy before the year 
 1821; and even then, by the mode of practical carpentry 
 of the hull pursued in our dockyards, and the weight of 
 stores and provisions considered necessary for efficiency, 
 the whole weight of the ship was increased to such an ex¬ 
 tent, that the displacement caused by it brought the lower- 
 deck midship port of the British 84 full 18 inches nearer 
 the water than that of her French prototype! It is need¬ 
 less to follow the history further; suffice it to say, that all 
 who served in the blockading fleets during the last war were 
 painfully alive to the fact of the comparative inferiority of 
 our ships to those of France and Spain in speed, stability, 
 and readiness in manoeuvring. It is true that the skill 
 of our commandei’S, and the courage of our seamen, even¬ 
 tually succeeded in triumphantly asserting our naval supe¬ 
 riority, but much loss of life might have been spared had 
 our ships, in form, been more on a par with those of our op¬ 
 ponents. 
 
 Let me not be misunderstood. I am far from wishing 
 
 35 
 
410 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 to speak slightingly of those who have clone good service 
 to their country, or to deny the great merit of many of our 
 practical builders; but there must be some reason for the 
 admitted inferiority above alluded to; and I can only 
 attribute it to the cause that in France and Spain, and 
 other Continental countries, the aid of science has been 
 called in, and some of the greatest mathematicians of the 
 age have turned their attention to the improvements of the 
 shipping of their country. Colbert, the enlightened min¬ 
 ister of Louis Quatorze, employed Renau, who was, we 
 believe, the first French author that wrote on the theory of 
 ships. He was followed by the two Bernouillis, by Pere 
 la Hoste, by Bouger, Euler, by the Spaniard Don Jorge 
 Juan, by Homme, de Borda, l’abbe Bossut, the Swedish 
 Chapman, Chauchot, Clairbois, Dupin, and others, whose 
 writings and discussions must have had a powerful effect 
 towards bringing about the improvements introduced into 
 the navies of France and Spain. 
 
 What has been done in England to set against such 
 names ? The only English treatise on ship-building at that 
 time that can lay any claim to a scientific character was 
 published by Mungo Murray in 1754; and such was the 
 encouragement he received, that he lived and died a work¬ 
 ing shipwright in Deptford Dockyard. England has not, 
 to this day, one original truly scientific treatise on the sub¬ 
 ject in her language. Certainly we have some papers and 
 tracts of modern times, as those by Atwood, on the stability 
 of ships, in the Phil. Trans, for 1796-8; the translations 
 of Chapman’s great work, by Dr. Inman, to which he has 
 added some valuable notes; the experiments made by Col. 
 Beaufoy in 1791, on the resistance of fluids, chiefly at his 
 own expense, and since his death published by his son, Mr. 
 Henry Beaufoy,in a 4to. vol., and gratuitously distributed; 
 an act of munificence in the cause of science worthy of the 
 disinterested labours of his father. But the most valuable 
 contributions to this science are the papers* written by the 
 gentlemen of the School of Naval Architecture, established 
 in 1811; yet, after a few years suppressed, while almost all 
 
 * Published in the “Papers on Naval Architecture,” 1826 to 
 1832. Edited by Messrs. Morgan and Creuze. 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 411 
 
 those brought up in it were, for a considerable length of 
 time, kept in subordinate situations—men familiar with the 
 differential calculus kept chipping timber in our dockyards 
 —and even now, more than forty years from its first estab¬ 
 lishment, only five out of the forty-two men there educated 
 have risen to any stations of responsibility ! Honour, how¬ 
 ever, to whom honour is due; the good seed they have 
 sown, we trust, has not been lost; the correct principles of 
 naval architecture laid down by them have become known 
 and generally diffused, and though the Sieves of the school 
 may not reap the reward, the merit is undoubtedly theirs; 
 posterity will do them the justice which the present age 
 has hitherto denied them. 
 
 More recent contributions to the science are an ad¬ 
 mirable treatise by Creuze, in the Encyclopedia Britan- 
 nica ; Scott Russell’s Experiments on the Wave-line as 
 applied to Shipping; Professor Moseley’s papers in the 
 Phil. Trans, on Dynamical Stability, &c.; Peake’s “Rudi¬ 
 mentary Treatise on Ship-building;” and Fincham’s 
 “ Outlines of Ship-building,” and “ History of Naval 
 Architecture.” 
 
 These few later works are recent, and are, we trust, a 
 type o£.better things to come. The fact is undeniable, 
 that in England science was (I trust I may not say it is) 
 at a discount. It has already been proclaimed within 
 these walls, on far higher authority than mine, that ab¬ 
 stract science must be cultivated if we are not to fall in 
 arrear of other nations. However the term may be slighted 
 by some, who from time to time have managed the affairs 
 of this nation, the study of abstract science, and the sys¬ 
 tematic pursuit of the study, cannot be dispensed with, if 
 we wish to make true progress in a question which involves 
 the considerations of such abstruse subjects as dynamical 
 stability and the oscillations of floating bodies. 
 
 We are invited, in the letter to the Society of Arts, con- 
 veying His Royal Highness’s suggestions for these Lectures, 
 “ to state freely and without reserve our opinion upon the 
 probable immediate effect of the Exhibition on the particular 
 subject of each lecture.” What may be its effect with 
 respect to naval architecture and naval affairs in general, it 
 would be difficult to predict; but one thing is certain, that 
 
412 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE: 
 
 the Exhibition has brought into striking relief the want of 
 union between science and practice, the want of more inti¬ 
 mate communication between scientific and practical men, 
 and has shown the mischief likely to arise if the wall of 
 separation be not broken down. Not only is this true in 
 naval architecture, as shown in a former part of this Lec¬ 
 ture, but it is equally true as respects the want of elementary 
 instruction of our naval officers. As steam advances, we 
 must give a mathematical instruction to those who are to 
 command steamships, or we shall be left far astern in the 
 race. What is the education now afforded to youngsters 
 entering the navy ? A name without the substance. They 
 may by chance pick up some navigation when the other 
 duties of a ship will admit of it; but as to any systematic 
 instruction, it is out of the question ; the very nature of the 
 duties on board an active ship forbids it, however desirous 
 the captain may be to forward it; the result is, that when a 
 few years later the boys come, as men, to study steam, it is 
 no uncommon thing to find that they have to begin with 
 decimals and the elements of algebra. How are we to main¬ 
 tain our ground with neighbouring nations where a cadet 
 is kept for the first two or three years after entering the 
 navy strictly at his studies ? I do not advocate- the re¬ 
 establishment of the Naval College on shore, but I would 
 earnestly recommend some plan or other, by means of which 
 boys can be educated; why not a naval school on board a 
 linc-of-battle ship moored at Spithead, where systematic 
 instruction in mathematics—the groundwork of a knowledge 
 of steam—and practice in the earlier part of seamanship, 
 might be combined ? Unless something of this sort be done, 
 I fear, as steam advances, this country will be left more and 
 more in the background. 
 
 Having mentioned the name of Dr. Inman, may it be 
 permitted to a former pupil, in the name of his brother sai¬ 
 lors, educated at the Naval College, and of the students in 
 naval architecture, to offer a passing tribute of respect and 
 gratitude to their former master and friend ? Whatever 
 little knowledge we may have, we all feel that it is chiefly 
 to the precepts and example of that able mathematician 
 that we are indebted for it. The valuable notes appended 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 413 
 
 to his translation of Chapman’s Architecture, Navalis Mer- 
 ccitoria prove Dr. Inman to be the highest authority on the 
 theory of naval architecture. 
 
 One great inconvenience, arising from the absence in this 
 country of the systematic pursuit of the study I have al¬ 
 luded to is, that there is very little recorded knowledge as 
 to the various attempts at improvement which have been 
 made. This may, perhaps, be illustrated by a short exam¬ 
 ple, abridged from Mr. Creuze’s treatise before alluded to. 
 Could it have been possible, that there should have been 
 an official receptacle for this traditional or registered know¬ 
 ledge as early as the sixteenth century, the improvements 
 in shipping, resulting from the system of diagonal trussing, 
 introduced by Sir Robert Seppings in 1810, would certainly 
 not have been so long delayed; for its advantages were evi¬ 
 dently suspected at that early period. But we will only 
 take a more familiar and trifling instance. The Romans 
 sheathed their vessels with lead, secured on the bottom with 
 copper nails, as we know from a vessel of Trajan’s weighed 
 out of the lake of Riccia. In modern naval history, the 
 Spaniards, according to Navarette, first attempted this in 
 1514. The earliest ships sheathed with metal in England 
 were those fitted out in 1553 to discover a north-east pas¬ 
 sage to China, or Cathay, under Sir Hugh Willoughby. 
 Lead-sheathing was again tried in 1671 on the Phoenix , 
 and between that year and 1692, twenty ships were so 
 sheathed. It was then discontinued; but in 1768, the 
 Marlborough's bottom was covered with lead, which was re¬ 
 moved after a two years’ trial. There is then a long inter¬ 
 val until 1833, when lead sheathing was tried on the bottom 
 of the Success in Portsmouth harbour, and in two years 
 dropped off. Now, had these various experiments been on 
 record, with the reasons of their failure, those causes of 
 failure would not, in all probability, have been repeated in 
 each successive experiment; and, certainly, the lead on the 
 bottom of the Success would not have been secured with 
 iron nails. It is not improbable, also, that centuries ago 
 some method would have been ascertained of advantageously 
 applying that less costly metal, lead, to the bottom of hulks, 
 and all stationary vessels, and thus many hundred tons of 
 
414 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 copper might have been saved to the nation, by a lesson first 
 taught by the copper nails in the sheathing of a Roman 
 galley. 
 
 To return to the Models of the Exhibition. 
 
 The general peace, amongst other blessings, happily 
 brought a change in the system of ship-building. The 
 weakness of ships in straining and working had long been 
 a subject of complaint, and great credit is due to the late 
 Sir Robert Seppings for carrying into practice improvements 
 suggested by himself and others as early as 1806 and 1810. 
 The chief of them were the filling in solid between the 
 timbers up to the light-water line; the system of diagonal 
 trussing for the frame; the connecting the beams with the 
 sides, by shelf-pieces and thick water-ways (first suggested 
 by General Bcntham, to whom the service is indebted for 
 many useful improvements, both in our ships and in our 
 dockyards); and, though last not least, the circular stern, 
 of equal strength with every other part of the ship, leaving 
 no point indefensible. 
 
 It may be hoped, that we shall not lose sight of the ob¬ 
 ject of the circular stern, and permit utility to be sacrificed 
 to symmetry or to luxury; let us beware of our raking 
 sterns and stern galleries, beauty of form is not an absolute 
 essential to a ship-of-war, the power of depressing the stern 
 guns, and of throwing the fire well clear of the ship, is an 
 object of far more importance. 
 
 in 1832, Sir William Symonds succeeded to the office of 
 surveyor of the Navy; and numerous models in the Exhi¬ 
 bition, many of which are now on the table, show the dif¬ 
 ference of form of his ships to those of the old construction; 
 among others may be mentioned the Queen , of 116 guns; 
 Vanguard, 80; Vernon, 50; Arefhusa, 50; Pique, 40; 
 Spartan, 26; and Flying Fish, 12. Sir W. Symonds is 
 the first constructor of the British navy who has been left 
 unrestricted as to dimensions, and he has consequently been 
 able to introduce into the service ships which undoubtedly 
 bear a high character in some decided points of efficiency as 
 men-of-war. He has also practically demonstrated the pos¬ 
 sibility of sliips-of-war obtaining sufficient stability without 
 the aid of ballast, which is an important advantage, and one 
 which will be yet productive of essential benefit. These 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 415 
 
 advantages, however, are, in some instances, gained at the 
 expense of uneasiness of motion, which is produced by the 
 form given to the sides of the ships immediately above and 
 below their seats in the water, arising from the stability 
 of his ships being dependent chiefly on breadth of beam at 
 the load-water section. But that Sir W. Symonds broke 
 through an almost adamantine barrier of prejudice, and 
 thereby conferred an important benefit on the navy, is now, 
 we believe, universally acknowledged. 
 
 There were several other beautiful models of the experi¬ 
 mental 50-gun frigates, to which my limited space will only 
 allow me to refei', as the Indefatigable , by Mr. Wm. Eyde; 
 the Leander, by Mr. Blake; the Raleigh, by Mr. Fincham; 
 the Nankin, by Mr. Oliver Lang, jun.; the San Fiorenzo, 
 by Messrs. Reid, Ohatfield, and Creuze; and the Fury dice, 
 26, by Admiral Elliot, &c. Among others, the sectional 
 models of Mr. Joseph White, of East Cowes, deserve hon¬ 
 ourable mention, as the Phaeton, 50; Daring, 12; Water- 
 ivitcli, 10; and the Fox, with her old and new bows, show¬ 
 ing the peculiarity of this builder’s long bow, which has 
 proved itself superior to those constructed on the old plan. 
 There were also six models from a line-of-battle ship to a 
 cutter, intended to illustrate a principle advocated by Mr. 
 White, that all vessels for the same service may be built 
 from one design. 
 
 There were also models of sailing merchant-vessels, by 
 Messrs. Wigram and Green, of Blackwall; and Smith, of 
 Newcastle (whose ships in practical construction are equal 
 to those built in the Government dockyards); W hite, of 
 Cowes; Hall, of Aberdeen; Laing, of Sunderland, &c ; 
 proving that, at length, our merchant builders have been 
 compelled to enter on the career of competition, forced on 
 them by the fast American liners, and which for so long a 
 period our mischievous tonnage laws debarred them from. 
 While official dimensions issued by authority by men un¬ 
 suited by education, or rather absence of education, to form 
 any opinion on the subject, cramped the energies of our 
 naval architects, the still-more-to-be-condemned tonnage 
 laws operated as an effectual bar to improvement, in the 
 forms of our mercantile shipping. 
 
 These laws were the immediate cause of the defects of 
 
ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 416 
 
 English merchant ships, and were a glaring outrage on all 
 true principles in the practice of navigation; they amounted 
 in effect, to quote the words of Mr. Scott Russell, to an Act 
 of Parliament for the compulsory construction of bad ships. 
 The merchant princes of London and Liverpool, with their 
 boundless wealth, proverbial generosity, and persevering 
 enterprise, might surely have attracted the attention of men 
 of science to the improvement of their ships, but to what 
 avail, while fettered by that absurd statute, which has sad¬ 
 dled this country with some two million tons of inferior 
 shipping? Need we wonder at the amount of shipwrecks? 
 The startling fact, that about two ships a-day throughout 
 the year is the average number of wrecks registered at 
 Lloyd’s is a sad corroboration of the acknowledged truth 
 that the mercantile navy of England has hitherto been the 
 least speedy and the most uusafo that belongs to any civil¬ 
 ized nation. 
 
 The old laws are now repealed; the effect of them, how¬ 
 ever, must for some time remain. But is the new law 
 much better ? A system of internal measurement as a rule 
 for tonnage is strongly advocated by some of the most able 
 of those who have inquired into the question, including 
 Mr. Gr. Moorson; and, doubtless, there is much to be said 
 in favour of it; yet the difference in the specific gravity of 
 a cargo will show the difficulty of adopting that system: 
 for instance, a West India ship of 470 registered tons car¬ 
 ried 695 tons of sugar or coal, or 970 tons of mahogany 
 timber, whereas, had she been laden with wool, she would 
 have stowed only 380 tons of cargo ! On the other hand 
 the late Tonnage Commission of Revision, including Mr. 
 Parsons, advocated external measurement; but this also 
 has its difficulties, inasmuch as it is stated that an iron ves¬ 
 sel might have an advantage over a fir-built vessel of the 
 same external form and dimensions of 28 per cent. Lieut. 
 Sharpe, R. N., and others, are in favour of the difference 
 of displacement as a measure of tonnage, or the cubic 
 contents of the space between the light and low-water lines 
 measured externally for all vessels. Where so many able 
 men have treated on a subject, it is not for me to offer an 
 opinion upon the right rule. But thus much is certain, 
 that the present system works ill; that there are ample 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 417 
 
 materials before tbe public for settling the question; aud 
 that it ought to be settled, so as to leave the builder free to 
 adopt the best form of vessel, without any further delay. 
 
 Notwithstanding the impediments alluded to, we trust 
 that many of the improved models of merchant-vessels and 
 yachts shown in the Exhibition may be hailed as the dawn 
 of a better state of things,—of a fresh starting point in the 
 art of ship-building,—and that the American clippers, the 
 American liners, and the yacht America, —which, owing 
 to the absence of prejudice and the aid of science in con¬ 
 struction and seamanship, have hitherto fairly distanced 
 us,—may not be allowed to have the whole course to them¬ 
 selves. Let us acknowledge our defeats when they are real, 
 and trust to British character and energy to make them 
 victories on another occasion. 
 
 The mention of the America, naturally leads us to the 
 beautiful models of yachts belonging to the Thames Yacht 
 Club: one of them, the Nancy Dawson , has circumnavi¬ 
 gated the globe, and, as we all know, her late owner, Mr. 
 Shedden, 11. N., gallantly lent his aid in the search, by 
 Behring’s Straits, for Sir John Franklin and our missing 
 countrymen. Six of the yachts are by Harvey, of Ipswich, 
 and all the vessels, I believe, are winners of prizes. I 
 gladly embrace this opportunity of saying how much naval 
 architecture and the naval service generally are indebted to 
 the spirited conduct of our yacht sailors, and especially of 
 the Royal Yacht squadron. Their 92 vessels, of 9400 tons, 
 and manned by 1200 picked seamen, do honour to the 
 country. Nor need their owners be discouraged because a 
 faster vessel has been found. Let them remember that the 
 race was anything but a match; the drawing now lying on 
 the table of the lines of the America, in accordance, I 
 believe, with the wave-line principle, shows that the dis¬ 
 placement of that vessel to the load-line, or the amount that 
 had to be “driven through the water, was not more than two- 
 thirds of that of her opponents in general; while the dis¬ 
 tance between her timbers was 30 inches, and that of her 
 competitors was barely 10 inches. One was a mere shell 
 built solely for racing, the other constructed for the accom¬ 
 modation of a party on a yacht voyage up the Mediterranean; 
 
418 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE: 
 
 in short, a race-horse matched against a well-fed carriage- 
 horse. 
 
 Steam Vessels. 
 
 Probably no part of Class VIII. of the Exhibition will 
 be regarded with more interest than that which illustrates 
 the early, progressive, and present application of the steam- 
 engine to navigation. The honour of having first imagined 
 a vessel to be propelled by steam would seem to belong to 
 Blasco de Garay, a Spaniard; and his plan was tried as 
 early as the year 1548, by order of the Emperor Charles V., 
 at Barcelona, on a vessel of 200 tons, which was propelled 
 at the rate of three miles an hour. This experiment would 
 appear to have fallen into oblivion. In 1736, Jonathan 
 Hulls, in England, patented a plan for propelling with pad¬ 
 dle-wheels; in 1789, Symington propelled a vessel on the 
 Forth and Clyde Canal at the rate of nearly seven miles an 
 hour; and again, in 1802, satisfactorily worked a steam-tug 
 on the same canal; but it is to the undaunted perseverance 
 of Robert Fulton, an American, that the honour is due of 
 having carried the measure into practical execution ; and in 
 August 1807, he made his first passage from New York to 
 Albany in the Clermont, of 20-horse power, at an average 
 speed of five miles an hour. In April 1812, Henry Bell, of 
 Helensburgh, established a steam-vessel in the Clyde, and 
 steamed between that place and Glasgow, also at the rate of 
 five miles an hour. 
 
 In 1818, a steam-ship crossed the Atlantic from Savannah 
 to Liverpool; in 1838, just twenty years later, the Sirius 
 and Great Western made their first voyage to New York; 
 and now, as it is well known, steam-ships of 2000 tons bur¬ 
 den and 500 horse-power are navigating the Pacific and 
 Indian Oceans; and they weekly cross the Atlantic at the 
 average rate of ten miles an hour, whatever be, the wind 
 or weather; while American river steamers navigate the 
 Hudson at the rate of twenty, if not twenty-two miles an 
 hour. 
 
 As a paddle-wheel war-steamer I would direct attention 
 to the model of the Terrible , of 1850 tons, and 800 horse¬ 
 power, designed by Mr. Oliver Lang, of Woolwich Dockyard, 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 419 
 
 which has proved herself one of the most efficient in the 
 navy. He, too, was the builder of the Comet, of 238 tons, 
 and 80 horse-power, in the year 1822, the first steamer built 
 in a Government dockyard. 
 
 The most successful effort at producing fast sea-going 
 paddle-wheel steamers has resulted from the free competition 
 permitted for the four mail steamers between Holyhead and 
 Kingston, a distance of 56 nautic or 64J statute miles, which 
 was accomplished by the Banshee, built by Mr. Oliver 
 Lang, Jun., engines by Penn, in 3 h 26 m , or at the rate of 
 16-32 knots, or 18-8 statute miles an hour; the average 
 time of passage being 4 h 3 m , equal to 13-84 knots, or 16 
 miles an hour for summer and winter. All the four vessels 
 have earned a very high character. A striking example of 
 the value of free competition, and of the builder and engi¬ 
 neer working in concert, and both doing their utmost to 
 maintain their high character. 
 
 Screw Steamers. 
 
 Taking, however, the best of our paddle-wheel war 
 steamers, and admitting all the improvements that have 
 from time to time been introduced, the fact of the small 
 amount of armament that they carry relatively to the 
 burthen of the vessel and the power of the machinery, 
 forcibly claims attention. Latterly the Odin, Sidon, Ter¬ 
 rible, and Retribution, have been constructed to carry broad¬ 
 side guns, but their wheels and part of their machinery 
 must necessarily remain exposed to shot; this is an in¬ 
 herent defect in principle in paddle-wheel steamers, which 
 no skill of the builder can overcome. We are driven, 
 therefore, to seek some other mode of propulsion. This, 
 happily, has been found in the screw; and, perhaps, in 
 the whole range of experiments connected with the appli¬ 
 cation of steam to ships, there is no point of greater interest 
 than the gradual progress and ultimate triumph of the 
 screw-propeller. 
 
 The immense advantage of a submerged propeller over 
 the paddle-wheel, as an auxiliary to sailing-vessels, in point 
 of economy, in protection from shot, and as leaving the broad¬ 
 side of a ship-of-war free for guns, renders any sacrifice of 
 
420 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 time and expense to accomplish the object in the best man¬ 
 ner well worthy of the nation. 
 
 Passing over the early history of this application of the 
 screw, we come to the patent taken out by Mr. Francis 
 Smith in May 1886, and that by Captain Erricssen in 
 July following. The former made his first trial in the 
 Archimedes, on the 20th September, 1837, which at once 
 established the practicability of this propeller. In 1845, a 
 trial of the relative merits of the paddle-wheel and screw 
 took place between similar vessels, the Rattler and Alecto, 
 of 888 tons and 200 horse-power, when, with the two vessels 
 lashed stern to stern, the Rattler , screw-propeller, towed the 
 Alecto astern at the rate of 2J knots an hour, in spite of all 
 her efforts to the contrary. These experiments appear to 
 have established a superiority for the screw of 17 per cent. 
 Other vessels have since been built in which the screw is 
 used as an auxiliary; and it is understood that the most 
 recent trials made in the squadron of ships lately stationed 
 at Lisbon, fully confirm all that was expected of these ves¬ 
 sels. The Arrogant, of 360 horse-power, the first screw- 
 frigate introduced into the navy, built by Mr. Fincham, of 
 Portsmouth Dockyard, has established the principle of effi¬ 
 ciency and economy. Other important points remain to be 
 decided by means of carefully conducted experiments, among 
 which may be noted,—1st. On the best form of a screw- 
 steamer, so as to overcome the resistance of the water, and 
 to contribute most effectually to a good result of the screw. 
 2d. The exact relation of horse-power to tonnage that is 
 requisite. 3d. The relation of the length to the pitch of 
 the screw, which seems to be a point of considerable im¬ 
 portance ; and, lastly, the area of sail that is most suitable. 
 The models sent to the Exhibition of the St. Jean d’Acre, 
 of 100 guns, the Agamemnon of 90 guns, and the Imgte- 
 rieuse, of 50 guns, besides various others, both naval and 
 mercantile, show the attention that is now directed to this 
 mode of propulsion and the rapid progress it is making. 
 
 In the mercantile navy the magnificent ship the Great 
 Britain, constructed by the eminent builder, Paterson of 
 Bristol, claims the first place, both as an iron vessel and as 
 a screw-propelled steamer. This noble ship, 317 feet long, 
 with engines of 1200 horse-power, has repeatedly made the 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 421 
 
 voyage across the Atlantic; and now that she has been re¬ 
 paired and strengthened, is again open to start on a similar 
 voyage, in which it may be hoped she may meet with the 
 success that her spirited owners deserve. In a country like 
 England, where iron is so abundant, cheap, and well adapted 
 to various purposes, it was natural to use it instead of wood, 
 and it has been largely substituted for timber in building 
 ships. The advantages of iron vessels, when carefully built, 
 consist, generally, in their durability, strength, capacity for 
 stowage, economy, and salubrity ; but iron does not appear 
 to be applicable for ships-of-war. 
 
 With respect to economy, it appears that the original cost 
 of paddle-wheel steamers, when fit for sea, is about 51. 9s. 
 per ton greater than that of screw steamers, and that their 
 current expenses for the year are about 8k per ton more 
 than those of screw vessels. At the same time the average 
 measure of cargo for screw steamers is three-fourths of a 
 ton for each ton of builders’ measure, whilst for paddle- 
 wheel steamers it is less than half a ton, or 33 per cent, less 
 than the former. Others state the saving at fully two-thirds 
 the costs of each voyage. The greater economy, therefore, 
 is manifest. 
 
 There were no models in the Exhibition, as far as I am 
 aware, of the best mode of drops, or other means of coaling 
 steamers; yet this is a point of great importance, especially 
 in our war-steamers. At present, the operation for a large 
 steamer is an affair of three or four days; thus one of those 
 beautiful, costly vessels, with all her equipment, is for that 
 period enveloped in a cloud of coal-dust; besides the delay 
 in case of need. Coals in the North of England are 
 “ teemed” into collier vessels at the rate of 120 tons an 
 hour, when run down by rail from the coalpit; and at 
 Newport and Cardiff, and the coal ports in South Wales, 
 coals are shipped by steam, or by the use of Armstrong’s 
 beautiful hydraulic lift, at the rate of sixty tons an hour. 
 Might not something of the sort be contrived in our Govern¬ 
 ment ports ? 
 
 I feel that I am travelling out of Class VIII., but I can¬ 
 not forbear to allude to the exquisite models of marine 
 oscillating engines exhibited by two of our first English 
 makers, Maudslay and Penn; the full-sized screw*propeller 
 36 
 
422 
 
 ON NAYAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 marine engines, of 700 liorse-power, by James Watt and 
 Co., which exceeded 100 tons in weight; and a smaller 
 pair, of seventy liorse-power, by Cockerell, of Liege. The 
 progress of science happily has broken through the old- 
 established rules respecting the speed at which the pistons 
 of condensing steam-engines should move; and it may be 
 hoped that ere long our marine engines may approximate 
 somewhat to the locomotives. At present the contrast is 
 great, as even with direct-action and tubular boilers we only 
 get a power of about four horses for each ton weight of 
 engine; whereas some of the largest locomotives exceed a 
 power of thirty horses for each ton weight. Of course there 
 are many circumstances to be considered, but they can 
 hardly justify so great a difference as is found to exist. 
 
 In calmly considering the various beautiful models sent 
 to the Exhibition, and especially those of the Experimental 
 Squadrons, the philosophical mind would naturally inquire 
 wffiether the costly experiments these models indicate have 
 been conducted on scientific principles, and whether any 
 analysis of the numerous reports of the trials which have 
 lately taken place have been made, so that the full measure 
 of truth, which, if properly conducted, they are calculated 
 to elicit, has been obtained. 
 
 To both these questions we fear we must reply in the 
 negative. The trials have, in many cases, been loosely 
 made; several vessels and several points in each vessel have 
 been tried together; the builder of the vessel or a qualified 
 naval architect has not been on board to watch and register 
 the several points which he alone could be competent to 
 judge of; nor is there any complete register of the several 
 facts brought out on the trials, such as would be useful to 
 a ship-builder. 
 
 Taking, however, the reports that have been made quan¬ 
 tum valeant, have the facts contained in these reports been 
 compared, analyzed, and submitted to a comprehensive 
 generalization ? As far as we are aware, it is not the special 
 duty of any persons, or even of any individual, to undertake 
 such a task. It would naturally fall to the lot of the sur¬ 
 veyor’s office, but the staff of that office, however competent, 
 is quite inadequate to the work; the iaily routine of office 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 423 
 
 business, in attending to the wants of ships building, repair¬ 
 ing, and in commission, is already more than it can grapple 
 with. 
 
 The consideration of the models of marine engines, and 
 of their application to the screw-propeller, suggest similar 
 inquiries, and the very great cost of these engines renders 
 the necessity of such comparison and analysis even yet more 
 imperative. Some of the recent trials of the screw-steamers, 
 and especially in the Lisbon squadron, appear to have been 
 conducted with great care, and the results are proportionably 
 valuable. The same may be said of a table printed by the 
 Admiralty, showing the introduction and progressive in¬ 
 crease of screw propulsion in her Majesty’s navy, which is 
 extremely interesting and instructive. But this table, 
 valuable as it is, and highly creditable as it is to the in¬ 
 dustry of those who compiled it, only affords the elements 
 of the analysis and comparison that I contend for. What 
 information it may convey to a professional engineer I am 
 no judge of, but to a casual observer it is difficult to recon¬ 
 cile the performance of the several engines as shown by 
 their indicated horse-power. As for “ nominal” horse-power, 
 it only serves to mystify, and the sooner the term is exploded 
 the better. The average results of this table show that in¬ 
 dicated horse-power is nearly double the nominal; but in 
 the case of the Fairy it is fully treble, and it is understood 
 that in the Banshee, paddle-wheel steamer, before referred 
 to, and the Vivid, the indicated horse-power is about five 
 times, and in the Onyx, Violet, &c., four times the nominal. 
 The Llewellyn, Holyhead packet of 654 tons, and 350 
 nominal horse-power, and the Terrible of 1850 tons, and 
 800 nominal horse-power, both worked up to the same mark 
 of 1800 as the indicated horse-power! If nominal horse¬ 
 power means the same in paddle-wheel and screw-steamers 
 (which I believe it does not), why these great differences? 
 The question of cost I do not enter into. The above casual 
 remarks may illustrate the desirableness of a careful register 
 of all experiments and an equally careful analysis and com¬ 
 parison of all results obtained. Surely there cannot be a 
 want of men of talent to undertake this task. But will the 
 country avail itself of this talent ? 
 
424 
 
 ON NAYAIi ARCHITECTURE: 
 
 Classification. 
 
 iff, 
 
 During nearly thirty years the formation of a steam navy 
 has been changing the character of England’s defences. 
 The Great Exhibition plainly teaches us that hitherto 
 nearly all has been experimental; we have been in a state 
 of transition. But surely the time has now arrived when 
 it would seem incumbent on our rulers to form a system 
 of classification with reference to particular descriptions of 
 service, having respect to the general dimensions of ships, 
 the proportion of steam power to those dimensions, and the 
 amount of armament. 
 
 Perhaps never did the value of classification come out 
 into such striking relief as in the Great Exhibition. What 
 a Babel of confusion would not that vast building have 
 been without a happily devised system of classification; but 
 by its aid chaos became order. We are told* that mill¬ 
 wrights have classified toothed wheels, and that an eminent 
 engineer would classify screws, wheels, axles, &c. If, then, 
 for such small articles its value is recognised, how much 
 more necessary does classification become when applied to 
 such vast machines as steam-ships and their engines ? I am 
 afraid to say what number of different engines we may have 
 among the 200 steamers of which our navy is composed; 
 but, perhaps, to assert that each ship has its own peculiar 
 arrangement would not be far from the truth. 
 
 Classification, too, should be extended to our sailing ves¬ 
 sels. Would any one not acquainted with our navy credit 
 that, to speak within bounds, there are thirty classes of ves¬ 
 sels between a first-rate and a brig ? Within the last ten 
 years we have launched six classes of brigs alone. Now 
 each of these thirty classes of vessels requires masts, spars, 
 sails, and stores of all sorts : the consequent waste, and the 
 difficulty of supplying wants on a foreign station, may be 
 imagined. But classification of marine engines and of all 
 their parts seems more imperatively called for, and at once, 
 or the complication that a few years will produce is not to 
 be told. Mr. Atherton has strongly urged the importance 
 of this subject; he advises that the respective fleets em- 
 
 * See “Inaugural Lecture,” by Dr. Whewell, p. 27. 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 425 
 
 ployed in steam-shipping establishments be constructed on 
 a definite plan of general arrangements, and that the varia¬ 
 tions of power be regulated by a definite scale of sizes con¬ 
 stituting a classification system. It is probable that six or 
 at most eight classes would be ample for the purposes 
 required. 
 
 Armaments. 
 
 It might seem u the play of Hamlet, without the part of 
 Ilamlet,” to speak of ships-of-war without mentioning their 
 armaments, were it not that I consider all warlike weapons 
 would have been better excluded from the Exhibition, 
 which was essentially a peaceful gathering, and specially 
 intended by its royal founder to knit all nations together 
 in the bonds of peace and concord. I may, however, briefly 
 state that, for a long series of years, nay, centuries, we con¬ 
 trived to over-load our ships with more guns than their 
 limited dimensions and crowded quarters would bear. We 
 placed 12, 18, 24, and 32-pounders together in the same 
 ship, risking admirable confusion in handing up cartridge 
 and shot in time of action; and as a crowning measure we 
 armed some of our vessels entirely with carronades; so that 
 an opponent’s ship, armed with long guns, and having the 
 advantage of speed, could take up her position and destroy 
 her adversary without receiving a shot in return. 
 
 Happily those times are past. Our ships now carx-y long 
 32-pounders throughout on all their decks, except a stray 
 68-poundci - , reserved for some special occasion: the gun- 
 carriages are better fitted, and adapted to the stern and 
 chase ports of a ship, so that several guns can be fired 
 in the line of keel. The powder is preserved from damp in 
 wood cases with metallic linings; and the magazines are 
 more commodiously placed. These latter, kowevei’, are 
 still susceptible of improvement. The separate passages 
 adopted in the French navy for the conveyance of cartridges 
 from the magazines up to the several decks or batteries 
 of a line-of-battle ship, might probably be studied with 
 advantage. 
 
 But my space is exhausted; I can only regret that the 
 maritime nations of the Continent did not send to the 
 - 36* 
 
426 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 Exhibition specimens of their naval architecture. The 
 Swedish ship-builders, inheritors of the science and art 
 f the celebrated Chapman, author of the Architectura 
 Navalis Mercatoria, would have figured honourably, even 
 in comparison with the most advanced seafaring people. 
 Nor have the French builders of Havre, Nantes, Bordeaux, 
 and Marseille, contributed to the Exhibition. From France 
 came only a design of the great iron steamer built for the 
 navigation of the Rhone, the most rapid and dangerous of 
 the French rivers, by Schneider, of Creuzot, who, during 
 the last twelve years, has built eighteen steamers, varying 
 from 80 to 300 horse-power, for that traffic. 
 
 Nor have I time to do more than mention Sir William 
 Snow Harris’s admirable lightning-conductor—an example 
 of the practical use that abstract science may be to our navy 
 and to the cause of humanity—an invention that deservedly 
 received a Council medal. Also the chain cables of Sir 
 Samuel Brown; the anchors by Porter and Rodger; Robert¬ 
 son’s excellent Manilla rope; Erricssen’s sounding-machine; 
 the Admiralty’s admirable steering and azimuth compasses; 
 Dent’s excellent steering and portable azimuth compasses; 
 Napier’s magnetic course indicator; and the Satellite com 
 pass, by St. John of Buffalo, intended to point out and 
 measure the effect upon the needle of any distributing 
 force or local attraction,—a plan which, if w r ell worked out, 
 might prove valuable on board iron vessels. 
 
 Nor, albeit I may lay myself open to Moliere’s witty re¬ 
 mark, “ Vous etes orfevre, Monsieur Josse,” can I deny my¬ 
 self the gratification of referring to the admirable charts of 
 the coast of France published by the Depot de la Adarine 
 under the superintendence of that veteran surveyor, M. 
 Beautems Beaupre, which compose the superb atlas Le Nep¬ 
 tune Frangais; and to the far more voluminous charts and 
 plans of the Hydrographic Office of the Admiralty, not only 
 of our own coasts, but of nearly every country on the face 
 of the globe, prepared under the direction of our own re¬ 
 spected chief, Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, in which 
 is shown what science can do—when science is allowed to 
 prevail—in furnishing the navigator with a guide that en¬ 
 ables him to pursue with confidence his path along the shores 
 or across the trackless ocean. 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 427 
 
 Fishing-boats. 
 
 Fishing-boats, however, must have one word. The value 
 of the fisheries in this country, and the means they afford 
 of supplying the poor with cheap and nutritious food, is too 
 important not to claim notice. Cornwall contributed to the 
 Exhibition a model of her Mevagissey and St. Ive’s drift- 
 boats for taking pilchards, with their nets and gear • and 
 Semmens and Co., of Penzance, sent a fine Mount’s Bay 
 fishing-boat—a class of boats which have not their superior 
 round the coasts of England. On the drawing exhibited 
 this evening are the lines of the most approved fishing-boats 
 all round the coast of the United Kingdom, not one of which 
 surpasses the Mount’s Bay boat. There were also at the 
 Exhibition models of the Hastings, Deal, and Ramsgate 
 luggers, a Yorkshire coble, and a Peterhead herring-boat, 
 and, though last not least, the model of a fishing-smack of 
 Mr. J. E. Saunders, fitted with an auxiliary screw-propeller, 
 which deservedly obtained a medal; the smack is now fish¬ 
 ing successfully on the Dogger Bank, runs her fish to Grims¬ 
 by in the Humber, and thence by rail to London, where the 
 fish is delivered within twenty-four hours of its being caught 
 in the middle of the North Sea. When we consider that 
 the fishing-boats of the United Kingdom in 1850 amounted 
 to 86,000 boats, manned by 150,000 men and boys, it will 
 be admitted that this class of men deserves some considera¬ 
 tion—that all that can be done towards improving the boats, 
 such as giving them moderate speed, easy motion at sea, 
 shelter and comfort for the crew, capacity for carrying a 
 large cargo, and safety in taking the beach, should be done ; 
 and that as far as may be their small harbours should be 
 deepened, to enable them to obtain shelter in time of need, 
 and at all states of the tide. 
 
 I turn to life-boats—the only point on which I can pre¬ 
 tend to a little knowledge—and have to express my extreme 
 regret, that the large subject of Shipping, which is the busi¬ 
 ness of a professed Naval Architect, should have been left 
 to a sailor to treat upon. 
 
428 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 LIFE-BOATS. 
 
 At the extreme western encl of the gallery of that mighty 
 building replete with objects, either the produce of our own 
 country or of foreign lands, which contributed to make up 
 the glorious ensemble of the Great Exhibition of the Art 
 and Industry of all Nations, might have been seen by the 
 attentive observer, amongst other kindred specimens, a group 
 of models of boats of a peculiar and unusual form. These 
 boats were models of life-boats. And however rich in the 
 treasures and wonders of art, the Exhibition without them 
 would not have faithfully represented this country, inasmuch 
 as it would have omitted one striking national feature of our 
 land—the efforts made in the cause of humanity. 
 
 It will, doubtless, be familiar to all assembled in this 
 hall, that it was to the munificence of his Grace the Duke 
 of Northumberland, President of the National Shipwreck 
 Institution, that we were indebted for that collection. In 
 consequence of the numerous cases of shipwreck, and the 
 accidents that had happened to life-boats around the coasts, 
 and especially the recent lamentable case of the upsetting 
 of the Shields life-boat, whereby twenty of the best pilots 
 out of the Tyne were drowned, his Grace offered a reward 
 for the best model of a life-boat. This offer was liberally 
 responded to by boat-builders and others from all parts of 
 this kingdom, and from France, Holland, Germany, and the 
 United States of America, and the large number of 280 
 models and plans were sent in. Some fifty of the best of 
 these formed the Duke’s contribution to the Great Exhi¬ 
 bition. 
 
 A report on these models, accompanied by plans and 
 drawings of the most approved of them, was prepared at the 
 expense of his Grace, and 1300 copies of it gratuitously dis¬ 
 tributed, not only .throughout the length and breadth of our 
 island, but to all the maritime nations of Europe and the 
 United States of America; in addition to which his Grace 
 publicly expressed his intention of placing the best life¬ 
 boats that can be built, and every means for saving life 
 from shipwreck, on all the exposed points of the coast of 
 Northumberland. 
 
 It would ill become me to pronounce an eulogium on such 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 429 
 
 princely generosity in this sacred cause; hut I am permitted 
 to quote the words of the distinguished senator, Baron 
 Charles Dupin, Chairman of the Jury of Class VIII., who, 
 after reciting the above facts, sums up the award of the 
 Jury in the following words :— 
 
 “ These models figure among the most valuable productions 
 in our Great Exhibition, and furnish a splendid example of 
 liberality, in the cause of humanity and practical science, 
 never surpassed, if ever equalled. Such are the motives for 
 which we have judged his Grace the Duke of Northumber¬ 
 land worthy of receiving the Council medal.” 
 
 Such, then, being the importance attached to these models 
 by the unanimous decision of a Jury composed of distin¬ 
 guished men of all nations, and the object being the cause 
 of humanity, I propose, as briefly as I possibly can, to lay 
 before you:— 
 
 1st. The frightful amount of shipwreck and loss of life 
 that annually takes place around our coasts, showing the 
 necessity for life-boats. 
 
 2dly. To pass in review the peculiar features of the prin¬ 
 cipal models sent to the Exhibition, and to offer an opinion 
 on the essential qualities of a good life-boat, as to form, di¬ 
 mensions, material, &c. 
 
 odly. To show the present meagre supply of boats and 
 other means of saving life around the seaboard of the 
 United Kingdom ; and 
 
 Lastly. To offer some suggestions as to the best means 
 of diminishing the frequency of shipwreck, and of saving 
 the lives of those who unfortunately may be exposed to it. 
 
 If there be one subject more than another that might be 
 expected to command the attention and enlist the sympathy 
 of a maratime country like Great Britain, it surely must be 
 the safety and welfare of those of her sons. “ whose business 
 is in the great waters,” and yet how imperfectly informed, 
 how supinely indifferent, is the great bulk of our population 
 as to the causes, the prevention, or the mitigation of the 
 horrors of shipwreck! 
 
 From official returns it appears, that in the course of the 
 year 1850 there were G92 vessels, of 1,27,188 tons burthen, 
 wrecked belonging to the United Kingdom, or nearly two 
 
430 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE: 
 
 a-day. Of these, only four were steamers. In the year 
 1850 alone, 681 British and foreign vessels were wrecked on 
 the coasts and within the seas of the British Isles. Of 
 these vessels, 367 were total wrecks, sunk by leaks or colli¬ 
 sions, or abandoned; and 304 were stranded and damaged 
 so as to require them to discharge cargo; making a total of 
 681 wrecks. As nearly as can be ascertained, 780 lives 
 were lost. However large it may appear, this is not any 
 very unusual number : a similar amount is annually lost, 
 leaving a proportionate number of widows and orphans. 
 
 It is not an uncommon occurrence for a single gale of 
 wind to strew the coast with wrecks. In three separate 
 gales which occurred in the years 1821, 1824, and 1829, 
 there were lost on the east coast of England, between the 
 Humber and the Tees, 169 vessels. In the single gale of 
 the 31st August and 1st September, 1833, no less than 61 
 British vessels were lost on the sands in the North Sea and 
 on the east coast of England. In the disastrous gale of the 
 13th January, 1843, 103 vessels were wrecked on the coasts 
 of the United Kingdom. In the gales of 1846 as many as 
 39 vessels got ashore in Hartlepool Bay alone. In the 
 month of March 1850, not less than 134 vessels were 
 wrecked on our own coasts. In the gale of the 25th and 
 26th September last, not less than 117 vessels, and in the 
 whole month 153, were stranded, came into collision, or sunk 
 within the seas and along the shores of the United Kingdom, 
 or more than five a-day; and during the month of January 
 of the present year, 120 vessels more have been added to the 
 number. These instances, many of which happen to have 
 been made public by being laid before Parliament, are only 
 a few out of the number that might be cited, and even these 
 probably fall short of the real numbers. No complete 
 record of shipwrecks is kept; Lloyd’s List, however full, 
 is confessedly imperfect. But the facts quoted are sufficient 
 to prove an appalling amount of loss of life, and the abso¬ 
 lute necessity that exists for establishing around our coasts 
 the most perfect means in our power for the preservation of 
 life from shipwreck. Of these means the most important 
 is the life-boat. 
 
 The first life-boat used in England was invented by Henry 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 431 
 
 Greathead, boat-builder of South Shields, in 1789, in con¬ 
 sequence of the wreck of the Adventure on the Herd Sand 
 at the entrance of the Tyne. As the first boat of the sort, 
 the original model of which, on the scale of one inch to a 
 foot, now lies on the table, it may be as well to record her 
 exact dimensions. They are as follows :—Length extreme, 
 30 feet; length of keel, 20 feet; breadth of beam, 10 feet; 
 depth of waist, 31 feet; depth inside to the deck, 21 feet; 
 stem and stern alike, 51 feet high; sheer of gunwale, 30 
 inches; pulls ten oars, double-banked with thole-pins and 
 grummets. Very raking stem and sternpost; depth of 
 main keel, 4 inches; great camber or curvature of keel, 
 with three sliding keels. A cork lining 12 inches thick on 
 each side, fore and aft, from the deck to the thwarts; and 
 a cork fender outside, 10 inches deep, 4 inches wide, and 
 21 feet long, not reaching to stem or stern within 41 feet. 
 She would not free herself of water, nor self-right in the 
 event of being upset. This boat was built by subscription 
 at South Shields, and launched in January 1790. The 
 Society of Arts rewarded the inventor with its Gold Medal 
 and fifty guineas in the year 1802 ;* and Parliament voted 
 to him 1200/. in acknowledgement of tha» utility of his in¬ 
 vention. 
 
 From that period, now sixty years ago, to the present 
 time, various modifications of the above boat have been built. 
 Some have introduced air-tight cases instead of cork, some 
 water-ballast, &c.; but reserving for the present any remark 
 on them, we come at once to the Northumberland prize- 
 model by James Beeching, of Great Yarmouth, which was 
 sent to the Great Exhibition. 
 
 It may be seen from the model of that boat now on the 
 table that, from her form, she would both pull and sail well 
 in all weathers: would have great stability, and be a good 
 sea-boat; she has moderately small internal capacity under 
 the level of the thwarts for holding water, and ample means 
 for freeing herself readily of any water that might be 
 shipped; she is ballasted by means of water admitted into 
 a well or tank at the bottom after she is afloat; and by 
 means of that ballast and raised air-cases at the extremities. 
 
 * “Transactions of the Society of Arts,” vol. xx. p. 283. 
 
432 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 she would right herself in the event of being upset. It will 
 thus be seen that this model combines most of the qualities 
 required in a life-boat; and the boat which has since been 
 built after it, and is now stationed at Ramsgate, is said to 
 answer her purpose admirably. 
 
 Many others of the models sent to the Exhibition have 
 somewhat similar good features. Ilinks, of Appledorc, to 
 whom a medal was awarded, has greatly reduced the internal 
 capacity of his boat, which gives him precedence over some 
 otherwise equally good forms. Plenty, of Newbury, also a 
 medallist, has done the same; he has also shown much skill in 
 the mode of applying cork to the bottom of his boat. Two 
 small boats by this builder, one at Appledore, Devon, and 
 the other at Skegness, in Lincolnshire, have been instru¬ 
 mental in saving 120 lives. Harvey and Son, of Ipswich, 
 contribute a fine sailing-boat, which has the property of 
 ballasting with water. The model of Forrest and Laurie, 
 also, has some good points, and takes a fair stand. Teasdel, 
 of Great Yarmouth, another well-deserved medal, is well 
 known as having built several fine boats stationed at Cais- 
 tor, Pakefield, and Southwold, on the coasts of Norfolk and 
 Suffolk, which have been the means of saving seventy-two 
 lives. One excellent feature in his boats is the use of air- 
 cases detached from the side, so that they can be examined 
 and repaired at any time. In point of workmanship and 
 finish, Teasdel’s models were not surpassed by any sent to 
 the Exhibition. 
 
 Costain, of Liverpool, is also entitled to credit for his de¬ 
 tached air-cases, in the form of breakers or small barrels, 
 secured to the side; and for his diagonal mode of building. 
 His boat, from its form, would pull and sail fairly, and 
 have good stability; but it has large internal capacity, no 
 means of freeing itself from water that may be shipped, and 
 would not right in the event of being upset. At the same 
 time it must be remarked that there are nine boats (built 
 on this model, we believe) stationed at Liverpool; there are 
 also boats designed by him at Carnarvon, at Anglesea, and 
 Shoreham. The Liverpool Life-boats, supported by the 
 Dock Trustees, and under the superintendence of Lieut. 
 Lord, R.N., have been the means of assisting 269 vessels, 
 and saving 1128 lives during the last eleven years, so that 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 433 
 
 the Doats must be fine sea-boats, and, in addition (which 
 has no doubt a great deal to do with it), must be efficiently 
 manned and well managed. 
 
 Bromley, of Sheerness, has ingeniously filled in the in¬ 
 terior of his boat, from the keelson to the flat, with cork 
 and air quartered alternately, thus reducing his internal 
 capacity by a combination of ballast and buoyancy. Lieu¬ 
 tenant Sharpe, II.N., proposes to fill the whole of his boat 
 below the thwarts (excepting spaces for the rowers) with 
 cork, so arranged that he can remove pieces of it to make 
 room for passengers, when required. Hodgson, of Blyth, 
 and Arrowsmith, of Portsmouth, also fit their boats with 
 cork, so distributed as to greatly reduce internal capacity, 
 and yet to leave ample space for passengers. Unquestion¬ 
 ably the use of cork is preferable to air-cases as being less 
 subject to injury, and there seems reason to believe that 
 the lightest fishermen’s cork is sufficiently light to be used 
 for the greater part under the deck instead of air-cases for 
 reducing the internal capacity, and at the same time heavy 
 enough to act as ballast instead of water. 
 
 The late Commodore Lord John Hay, C. B., Superintend¬ 
 ent of Her Majesty’s Dockyard atDevonport, sent the model 
 of a life-boat, which now lies on the table. It will be seen 
 that this boat would pull moderately well and sail fairly, 
 would free herself from water, would right herself quickly 
 in the event of being upset, but is rather wanting in stabi¬ 
 lity. The boat is of a peculiar mode of practical building, 
 being constructed of narrow planks, pinned together through 
 the edges, without timbers. It is said to be both durable 
 and economical. 
 
 Mr. Turner, Assistant Master Shipwright at Devonport, 
 also submitted the model of a boat which he proposes as a 
 Coast Guard safety-galley. Such a boat would pull fast, 
 would free herself of water, would right herself in the 
 event of being upset, but seems wanting in stability. The 
 former of these are valuable points in a boat to be em¬ 
 ployed in a service so exposed to bad weather as that of the 
 Coast Guard, and a boat of this description, with sufficient 
 stability, would be of great use in the Revenue service. 
 
 The group of life-boats generally, from Shields, the Tyne, 
 Sunderland, and others from Hartlepool and Whitby, may 
 37 
 
434 
 
 ON NAVAL architecture: 
 
 be considered as having for its type a fiat-bottomed troop- 
 boat, or steamer’s paddle-box boat. The model of Farrow, 
 of South Shields, which gained the first premium in a life¬ 
 boat model competition at South Shields in 1842, and again 
 at Newcastle in 1850, is perhaps a fair specimen of this 
 class. It has small internal capacity, a moderate propor¬ 
 tion of delivering area (although not enough), water ballast 
 in the bottom to be admitted when afloat, raised air-cases 
 in the bow and stern-sheets, clear access to the extremities, 
 ample room for carrying passengers, and she might right 
 herself in the event of being upset, all of which are good 
 qualities. With respect to the form of this class of boats, 
 its advantages, beyond great stability, are not easy to be 
 discovered ; if the life-boats were towed out to the site of 
 the wreck by a steam-tug, as at Liverpool (and which, in a 
 port like Shields, abounding with steam-tugs, might have 
 been expected), it would be easier to understand it; but for 
 a boat that has to pull out of a river, and often against a 
 strong wind and tide, it is difficult to comprehend why such 
 a form as that given to the Yarmouth boat, No. 1, should 
 not be preferred. It must, however, be borne in mind that 
 the boats stationed at North and South Shields have done 
 good service, and been instrumental in saving hundreds of 
 lives. 
 
 Lee, of Tweedmouth, Milburn, of Blyth, and Edmond, of 
 Scarborough, have sent life-boats after the model of the 
 north-country coble. The good qualities of the coble on the 
 coasts of Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire, when 
 employed as a pilot-boat, or a fishing-boat, and in shallow 
 water, and for landing on, or embarking from, a flat beach 
 in not very stormy weather, are too well known to require 
 remark; but it is doubted whether the form is applicable 
 for the general purposes of a life-boat, either on a flat coast 
 or on any other. The low square stern and want of keel 
 on the after body will not admit of running the boat before 
 the wind when blowing hard; and in proof, it may be stated, 
 that in an accident at Newbiggin, in March 1851, when four¬ 
 teen lives were lost, some of the cobles went down by the 
 stern, and the very fishermen who invariably use the coble 
 for their own purposes, have expressed a wish to have a life¬ 
 boat of a whale-boat form. 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 435 
 
 Another class of boats, offering in form a strong contrast 
 to the Shields boats before mentioned, require notice, as 
 they seem to be intended by their builders for contending 
 with rapid tides and smoother water, rather than the ordi¬ 
 nary heavy open sea to which life-boats are commonly ex¬ 
 posed. Their breadth is about one-fourth their length. The 
 models of Messrs. White, the well-known builders, at Cowes; 
 ot Tredwen, of Padstow; of Semmens and Thomas, of Pen¬ 
 zance; of Lieut. Sharpe, R.N., of Hanwell Park; of 
 Sparke, of Exeter; and of Bromley, of Sheerness, belong to 
 this group. As a rowing-boat in moderate weather, a boat 
 alter the model of the Messrs. White would distance most of 
 those sent to the Exhibition; and it is known that in very 
 heavy weather such a boat has been the means of saving 
 life. The boat of Mr. George Palmer, of Nazing Park, Es¬ 
 sex, is also of this class. It claims attention as being the 
 model which has hitherto been generally adopted by the 
 National Shipwreck Institution; and several similar boats 
 are placed around the coasts, as at the Isle of Anglesey, and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Among other models was one by Mr. Willem Van Hou- 
 ten, of Rotterdam, President of the South Holland Shipo- 
 wreck Institution, being that of the life-boat in use in 
 Holland, where six boats are stationed in the neighbourhood 
 of the entrance to Rotterdam. This boat has a flat bottom, 
 to suit it to the nature of the coast; it is said to have been 
 the means of saving many lives. M. Ed. Lahure, of 
 Havre, to whom the Jury awarded a medal, sent a full-sized 
 boat, such as is in use at that port; it is of iron, with a 
 very rising floor. It is said to right itself in the event of 
 being upset, and to have been the means of saving several 
 lives. Francis, of New York, also sent a model of what is 
 termed the “life surf-boat,” which has the peculiarity of 
 being made of corrugated galvanized iron. From experi¬ 
 ments that have been made on this boat, it appears unsuit¬ 
 able, under its present form, for the general purposes of a 
 life-boat on any part of the coast of this country. We learn 
 from the printed testimonials which accompany this model, 
 that the Government in the United States have established 
 life-boat stations along the coast of New Jersey at every ten 
 miles apart, at a cost, for the whole, of 2000/. 
 
436 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 We may here add that there are life-boats in France sta¬ 
 tioned at Havre, Boulogne, and Calais ; in Belgium, at Dun- * 
 kirk and Ostend; in Holland, at Zieriksee, Brouwcrshauen, 
 Rockanje, Grave’sande, Ter Heide, and Schevcningen, or 
 three on each side of the entrance of the river leading to 
 Rotterdam, within a distance of twenty miles on either side. 
 There are also, it is said, eleven life-boats stationed on the 
 east coast of Jutland, at the expense of the Danish Go¬ 
 vernment, but we have not been able to ascertain the names 
 of the stations; and some on the coast of Prussia, on the 
 shores of the Baltic. We regret that we are not able, 
 either, to name where these are placed ; but we well know 
 that the inhabitants of the Island of Rtigen are famed for 
 their hospitality and kindness to shipwrecked sailors, and 
 we believe that there are some ancient humane laws still in 
 force respecting wrecks, which are immediately taken charge 
 of by Government officers, and thus those disgraceful scenes 
 formerly of common occurrence nearer home are entirely 
 prevented. 
 
 In several of the models it is proposed to use paddle- 
 wheels, and in some a screw, as a propeller, to be worked 
 by cranks. Bremner, of Wick, places his paddle-wheels 
 within what may be considered a double boat. Remington, 
 of Warkworth, boldly proposes the use of steam, and Cory- 
 ton of atmospheric air, as a moving power. The time may 
 come when steam may be so under control as to be made ' 
 directly applicable to a life-boat (and in the form of a steam- 
 tug it is already of great use, and might be much more used 
 with advantage), but for the present we do not feel that we 
 should be warranted in recommending any other propeller 
 than oars. With respect to manual labour applied to 
 cranks for moving paddles, no proof has yet been adduced 
 that sufficient power or speed can be obtained by means of 
 it; paddle-wheels would fail also in turning the boat quickly, 
 or in a short space. 
 
 The group of models representing pontoons, rafts, or 
 catamarans, comprises a numerous body. Russell and 
 Oswald, of Douglas, Isle of Man; Dockar, of Banff; the 
 Hon. and Rev. A. Perceval, of Brookham; Gale of Hull, 
 and others, have shown ingenuity in their models, but they 
 cannot be made applicable to the purposes of a life-boat 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 437 
 
 when required to pull off a lee shore in a gale of wind. 
 Catamarans are much used at Bahia, and at other places on 
 the coast of Brazil, and it is known that they remain at sea 
 in stormy weather; but that is a very different thing from 
 being so much under control as to be enabled to approach 
 a wreck. The real use of a raft is that, at the last extremity, 
 and when all boats are stove, it can be formed out of the 
 spars on board the stranded vessel, and thus afford the crew 
 a means of escape by driving ashore before the wind and 
 sea; and every sailor should make himself familiar with the 
 simple plans proposed by Captain Bullock, B. N., and others, 
 for readily forming such a raft in time of need. 
 
 It is unnecessary to touch further on the peculiar features 
 of the several models sent to the Exhibition, but we must 
 invite your particular attention to a model and drawing of 
 a life-boat, designed by Mr. Peake, assistant master ship¬ 
 wright in Her Majesty’s Dockyard at Woolwich, and by 
 permission of the Admiralty, built in that yard, under his 
 superintendence. This boat appears to combine most of the 
 requisite qualities of a life-boat. She has buoyancy, sta¬ 
 bility, power of self-righting, of freeing herself of water, 
 and capacity for carrying a rescued crew, and there is little 
 doubt but that she will prove an efficient boat. 
 
 One concluding remark on this part of the subject we 
 may be allowed to add, namely, the satisfaction that we 
 have derived from witnessing the number of models sent in 
 by men who are earning their daily bread as working ship¬ 
 wrights or boat-builders in the various private and public 
 dockyards in different parts of the kingdom, as it affords 
 additional evidence that many of the Avorking class are 
 thinking men, and it evinces a desire to improve, which is 
 highly creditable to them. 
 
 The essential points for a life-boat may be gathered from 
 the few remarks that have been already made in noticing 
 the several boats; but having had the advantage of examin¬ 
 ing all the different models sent to the Exhibition, it may 
 be useful, in a point of so much importance, to state the 
 conclusions arrived at on the several points of form, dimen¬ 
 sions, material, internal fittings, &c.; and this, I believe, 
 will be in accordance with the suggestions of His ldoyal 
 
438 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 Highness that these Lectures should, as far as may be, in¬ 
 dicate the path for onward progress rather than refer to 
 special excellencies, or pass in review the varied objects in 
 the Exhibition. 
 
 Form. 
 
 The form best adapted for the general purposes of a life¬ 
 boat is that usually given to a whale-boat, that is, both ends 
 alike, but with more breadth of beam ; fine lines to enable 
 the boat to pull well, but sufficient fulness forward to give 
 buoyancy for launching through a surf; good cheer of gun¬ 
 wale, say an inch for each foot of length, but rounded off 
 towards the extremes; a long flat floor; sides straight in 
 the fore-and-aft direction; the gunwale strake in the mid¬ 
 ships to tumble home slightly to protect the thole-pins, and 
 the bow strake to flare out slightly to throw the sea off; as 
 much camber or curvature of keel as can be combined with 
 steady steering, and safe launching from a beach, in order 
 that the boat may be turned quickly to meet a heavy roller 
 when about to break on her broadside. 
 
 Dimensions. 
 
 In point of length life-boats may be conveniently divided 
 into three classes—from 20 to 25 feet, from 25 to 30 feet, 
 and from 30 to 30 feet; which last may be considered the 
 maximum, and a length rarely required. The smaller-sized 
 boat is handy on those parts of the coast where it is difficult 
 to find a crew, a difficulty that would be found to extend 
 to a’great part of the shores of this kingdom. Such a boat 
 would be easily transported along-shore, easily launched, 
 and readily manned, and, except in some special cases, 
 would generally bring on shore the whole of the crew of a 
 stranded vessel; and as the boat’s crew need not consist 
 of more than six men, there would, in case of an accident 
 occurring, be fewer lives perilled. The two boats already 
 alluded to as built by Plenty, one on the coast of Devon, 
 and the other on the coast of Lincolnshire, are respectively 
 18 and 24-fcet boats, and they have saved 120 lives within 
 the last few years. 
 
 The medium, or 30-feet boat, to pull ten oars double- 
 
SHIPS. STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 489 
 
 banked, is probably the best adapted for the general pur¬ 
 poses of a life-boat at all places where a sufficient crew can 
 be readily found to man her. Such boats are in use at 
 Liverpool, Shields, Dundee, and other large ports, where 
 no difficulty is experienced in finding a crew, and on a 
 special occasion, at Liverpool, one is said to have brought 
 on shore 60 persons. At less populous places along the 
 coast a 25-feet boat would be found more easily manage¬ 
 able in point of crew. 
 
 The maximum, or 36-feet boat, is adapted for such places 
 as Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Deal, &c., where it is the invaria¬ 
 ble custom to go off under sail, and where there is never a 
 difficulty in finding beachmen to launch or man the boats, 
 however large. The wrecks at Yarmouth and Deal occur 
 generally on outlying sands, and the boat that happens to 
 be to windward on the coast, according to the direction oi 
 the wind, goes off under canvass to the wreck. Thus, 
 should a wreck occur on the Yarmouth sands in a south¬ 
 east gale, the Pakefield or Lowestoft boat would push oft, 
 while in a north-east gale, the Caistor or Corton boat would 
 put to sea. The boats actually in use at these places are 
 from 40 to 45 feet long; they weigh from four to five tons, 
 and cost from 200/. to 250/. each. They, therefore, form 
 the exception to the general rule; but they arc powerful 
 boats, are admirably manned and handled, and have been 
 the means of saving some 300 lives within the last thirty 
 years. 
 
 With respect to breadth of beam, in a rapid tideway, as 
 the Tay, the Humber, the Bristol Channel, the shores of 
 the Isle of Man, the Shannon, &c., a boat somewhat of the 
 galley form, but with ends like a whale-boat, would be more 
 suitable than a wider boat. In these exceptional cases the 
 breadth of beam might be one-fourth the length; but for a 
 life-boat, where the requirements are, roominess for passen¬ 
 gers, width to pull double-banked, stability to resist people 
 moving about, and occasionally pressing down on one side 
 in rescuing a man from the water, it should never be less 
 than one-fourth. The Tyne boats have a breadth of fully 
 one-third the length, and some more, but such would not 
 seem to be the best proportions; probably as 1 to 3.8, or 8 
 
440 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 feet of beam to a length of 30 feet, would best suit tha 
 general purposes of a life-boat. 
 
 As to depth, it seems only necessary to observe, that a 
 boat that has to be launched through the surf on a beach 
 should not be too shallow in the waist. The well-known 
 Masulah, or surf-boats, at Madras, have sides 8 feet deep. 
 This height, however, would not suit a boat that has to 
 pull off a lee-shore against a gale of wind, where the less 
 surface exposed the better. As a general rule, the free¬ 
 board, or height of gunwale, from the surface of the water, 
 with crew and gear on board, should not be less than from 
 22 to 24 inches. 
 
 The weight suitable to a life-boat does not seem to have 
 received much consideration from our builders, to judge 
 from the difference in existing boats. Those at Holy 
 Island, at Yarmouth, and Southwold, as before mentioned, 
 with their gear, weigh about five tons, whereas many of the 
 models sent to the Exhibition were said to weigh less than 
 half a ton. The mean between these two extremes will be 
 near the truth. For however desirable lightness is for 
 transport along a beach, a certain weight of boat is necessary 
 to resist the force of the waves and to retain momentum, so 
 as not to risk being driven back by the sea; under which 
 consideration 1 cwt. or II cwt. for each foot of length would 
 be a fair general rule. The weight of gear would vary from 
 5 cwt. to 15 cwt. according as it comprises oars, masts, sails, 
 anchor, cable, warps, &c. 
 
 Whatever be the length of the boat, care should be taken 
 that the space between the thwarts should not be less than 
 from 28 to 30 inches, as in pulling in a seaway it is im¬ 
 practicable always to keep stroke; and if the thwarts are 
 too close, the loom of one man’s oar is liable to strike the 
 back of the man abaft him. This is a common complaint 
 in life-boats. The oars should be short to pull double- 
 banked, and of fir, as being lighter, more buoyant, and 
 stiffer than ash, which is too pliant. They should pull 
 with iron thole-pins having rope grummets secured to them, 
 and the pins should be so placed that the boat may be 
 pulled cither way, by the men merely turning round on the 
 thwarts. 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIEE-BOATS. 441 
 Materials. 
 
 Hitherto all our boats have been of wood, but the testi¬ 
 monials in favour of metal boats are very strong. Galva¬ 
 nized iron (if that process prevents oxidization and the 
 action of sulphur from coal smoke, which does not yet seem 
 to be established) would he the most economical, and the 
 corrugated form of it would give strength. But if metal 
 boats be adopted, copper might be preferred as more dura¬ 
 ble and more tractable. The boats in which Lieut. Lynch, 
 of the United States navy, descended the rapids of the 
 river Jordan in 1848, were of copper, and that officer re¬ 
 ports most favourably of them. It is said that a copper 
 boat is now supplied to every vessel in the United States 
 revenue service, if not to the navy at large. The first 
 cost of such boats would be heavy, but the material would 
 always be of value. In metal boats it is affirmed that the 
 air-tight cases could be more easily built into the boat (if 
 in any case such were admissible), and kept from leaking. 
 About one-tenth of the whole of the models sent to the 
 Exhibition were of iron. I am far from advocating the 
 adoption of metal boats as life-boats, but I would not ob¬ 
 ject to a fair and full trial of them at any convenient op¬ 
 portunity. 
 
 In the construction of wood boats, well-seasoned Scotch 
 larch, from its durability and lightness (its specific gravity 
 being little more than double that of cork), would be found 
 the best material, but neither Polish nor Italian larch should 
 be trusted to. American white cedar is both light and du¬ 
 rable. One advantage in having wood boats is, that we 
 should have the benefit of the skill of the numerous boat- 
 builders around the coasts, whereas the building of metal 
 boats is confined to a few hands; and there is an advantage 
 in having a boat built by an experienced man, who designs 
 and executes his own work. 
 
 Of gutta-percha, caoutchouc, kamptulicon, and other 
 similar materials, we have no experience that can be relied 
 on. A gutta-percha boat was taken out to the Arctic re¬ 
 gions last spring, but the time of trial was too short for 
 any decisive opinion to be formed on its merits. It is stated 
 that the material shrinks, and it certainly will not bear a 
 
442 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 continued chafe; nor do we know the effect of heat and 
 cold upon it. It is, however, quite possible that some of 
 these materials may prove useful in the internal fittings of 
 a life-boat. A combination of gutta-percha and cork, by 
 Clarkson, of the Strand, and another, consisting of gutta¬ 
 percha between two layers of thin wood, by Mr. Forster, R. 
 N., may perhaps be well adapted for air-cases. A notion 
 seems prevalent that gutta-percha is very light, but its spe¬ 
 cific gravity is little less than that of water, or, in other 
 words, it will hardly float. Jeffery’s marine glue may also 
 be found useful in the internal fittings of a boat, in joining 
 cork, &c. 
 
 Extra Buoyancy. 
 
 Extra buoyancy, or that required beyond what the mate¬ 
 rials used in the construction of the boat will afford, is the 
 characteristic feature of a life-boat, and as such its nature, 
 amount, and distribution, deserve the most deliberate con¬ 
 sideration. If sufficient buoyancy can be obtained by 
 cork, it is far preferable to air-cases, as not being liable to 
 accident. As before-mentioned, there seems reason to be¬ 
 lieve that a portion of cork may be used under the flat or 
 floor of the boat, so as to reduce the internal capacity, and 
 enable the boat to free herself of water. The only doubt 
 is as to its weight; but cork varies considerably in weight 
 as well as in price; the commonest description of cork, such 
 as used by fishermen as floats for their in-shore nets, does 
 not exceed 121bs. weight per cubic foot, and costs about 
 12s. a cwt.; a heavier sort weighs about 151bs. per cubic 
 foot. These might be advantageously disposed in the bottom 
 of a boat, covered with gutta-percha, or a light casing, to 
 keep the water out of it, and the boat might then bid defi¬ 
 ance to accidents, as thus armed, even if bilged against a 
 rock, she would float. 
 
 With respect to air: the great difficulty of rendering ves¬ 
 sels permanently air or water-tight, makes them unfit for 
 general use, unless great care and watchfulness be exercised. 
 In those instances in which the air-cases are built into 
 and form part of the boats, it seems doubtful whether any 
 of them can be depended upon for a year; and from various 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIEE-BOATS. 443 
 
 inquiries that have been instituted, there is reason to believe 
 that there does not exist at this moment a complete air or 
 water-tight case (undetached) in any life-boat that has been 
 six months in use around the coasts of Great Britain. As 
 to air-cases that are detached, they may be better; but 
 unless in the form of small casks, as in the Liverpool boats, 
 there seems sufficient reason to suspect them all. Metal 
 air-cases offer rather a more reasonable prospect of security; 
 but when a life-boat was laid open in Woolwich Dockyard 
 a few years since, it was found that from corrosion there 
 were several holes half an inch in diameter in the copper 
 tubes, supposed to have been air-tight; in fact copper, like 
 other metals, is liable to corrode, and the more so when 
 placed in conjunction with sea-water. The weight, too, of 
 copper tubes makes them objectionable. It has been the 
 practice of Teasdel, an experienced life-boat builder at 
 Great Yarmouth, to build his detached air-cases of thin 
 boards of willow wood, which is both tough and light, and 
 to cover them with painted canvass, and this we believe to 
 be the best; or a sheet of gutta-percha between two thin 
 boards might be adopted, according to Forster’s process. 
 
 Tbe amount of extra buoyancy may be much less than it 
 has hitherto been customary to give in a life-boat.. The 
 cubical contents of the air-cases of many existing life-boats, 
 and of a great part of the models sent to the Exhibition, 
 measure from 200 to 300 feet, equivalent to the support of 
 from six to nine tons of dead weight. Now, if only intended 
 for buoyancy to balance the extra weight likely to be put 
 into a life-boat, this amount is unnecessary. The Liverpool 
 life-boat, already alluded to as having on one occasion brought 
 on shore sixty persons from a wreck, had not above 60 cubic 
 feet of extra buoyancy; this is too little, but in a 30-feet 
 boat, provided with ample delivering valves, 100 cubic feet, 
 or the equivalent of three tons, is sufficient extra buoyancy 
 for all general purposes. 
 
 The distribution of the extra buoyancy requires great 
 care. As a general rule, it should be placed high in the 
 boat, so as not to affect her stability; but circumstances re¬ 
 quire this rule to be slightly modified. In order to reduce 
 the internal capacity of the boat that she may rise under 
 
444 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE: 
 
 the weight of a heavy sea that may fall on board, and to 
 enable the delivering valves to act freely, a certain amount 
 of space should be occupied under the flat or floor of the 
 boat, so as to exclude the water; and the question is, so to 
 fill this space with a material of less specific gravity than 
 water, yet sufficiently heavy to insure the boat’s stability 
 when the flat or flooring is laid at from 10 to 12 inches 
 above the keelson, or about the water-line of intended im¬ 
 mersion ; thus acting generally as ballast, but on emergency 
 as extra buoyancy. From the various plans adopted, this 
 would seem the most difficult problem to solve in the whole 
 arrangements of a life-boat. In some existing life-boats, 
 and in many of the models sent in, reduction of internal 
 capacity is attempted by placing a tight deck fore and aft 
 at from 16 to 18 inches, and even in some at 24 inches, 
 above the keelson, with only air beneath; the result is, that 
 the weights in the boat raise her centre of gravity, and there 
 is a risk of her upsetting when a sea is shipped. Some of 
 the models thus fitted, on being tested as to their stability, 
 went over directly. Other builders, foreseeing this result, 
 added an iron keel to their boats; while some inserted a 
 well or tank amidships for water ballast, which, as long as 
 it remains in its place, compensates for the amount of air 
 under the flat, and restores the equilibrium. Others have 
 tried a combination of cork and air, alternately distributed, 
 so as to preserve the requisite stability of the boat. But 
 although conceding full merit to water-ballast, which has 
 the advantage of being taken in only when the boat is afloat, 
 and thus leaving her light for transport alongshore, we are 
 of opinion, as before stated, that a portion of cork is better, 
 and that it may be placed in a water-tight case, or in a 
 gutta-percha covering under the deck, up to about 12 inches 
 in height above the keelson, and combine the properties of 
 ballast generally with extra buoyancy in case of need; if 
 above all a light water-tight deck be placed, the cork will 
 be preserved, and very little water will remain to incon¬ 
 venience the crew or passengers. 
 
 The next point to attend to in the distribution of the ex¬ 
 tra buoyancy is to place the requisite amount of air-vessels 
 in the head and stern sheets of the boat, from the floor up 
 to gunwale height, in order to give self-righting power, al- 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 445 
 
 ways taking care to leave access to within three and a half 
 or four feet of the stem and stern-post, to enable a man to 
 stand there and receive people from the wreck, as it com¬ 
 monly occurs that a boat cannot go alongside a stranded 
 vessel, but has to receive the rescued men either over the 
 head or stern of the boat. Air-cases should also be placed 
 along the sides of the boat fore and aft, under the thwarts, 
 not for their value as extra buoyancy, but to diminish the 
 internal capacity, and to keep the water that may be shipped 
 away from the sides of the boat, and to lead it direct to the 
 delivering tubes. In all cases in which air-cases are used, 
 it is recommended that they be not built into the boat, but 
 be detached, so that they may be examined to test if they 
 are water-tight, there being great reason to fear that such 
 is not the case in general, and air-cases built into the sides 
 are liable to open with the working of the boat, or to be 
 stove in going alongside a wreck, as in a recent instance, 
 and thus a boat would be disabled. They should also have 
 valves inserted in them, as sooner or later they are sure to 
 leak ) the valves, too, would enable the cases to be aired, 
 and thus preserve them better. Wells’ disc valve is the 
 best we have seen for the purpose. 
 
 Internal Capacity for Holding Water. 
 
 The more the internal capacity is reduced consistently 
 with leaving space for a rescued crew, the better the life¬ 
 boat. If practicable, the internal capacity for holding water 
 up to the level of the thwarts of a boat thirty feet long 
 should not exceed three tons. It may be diminished by 
 side air-cases from the thwarts to the floor, or by air-cases 
 under the thwarts. On this latter mode of reducing capa¬ 
 city there is a difference of opinion, some contending that 
 it is an advantage to break up a sea, and prevent the water 
 rushing fore and aft the boat, while others think that it is bet¬ 
 ter to let the sea have a fair range, and that then much of the 
 water that comes in over the bows would go out over the 
 stern. The balance seems rather in favour of filling up 
 under the thwarts; it has the certain advantage of reducing 
 capacity. 
 
 38 
 
446 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 Means of Freeing the Boat of Water. 
 
 In order to efficiency, every life-boat should be provided 
 with the means of freeing herself rapidly of any water she 
 may ship. This would seem a self-evident proposition; but 
 it appears not to be admitted as such by the designers of 
 many of the models, as in them no provision is made for it 
 beyond a bucket for baling. Not to multiply proofs of the 
 necessity for such an arrangement, it is sufficient to cite, as 
 decisive on the point, the recent instance of the Liverpool 
 life-boat, in October 1850, having been obliged to cut her 
 tow-rope, and bear up for the Mersey, in consequence of 
 having shipped a succession of seas. If a boat has large 
 internal capacity, say from six to seven tons, which is not 
 unusual in the Yarmouth boats, and she ships a heavy sea, 
 or a succession of seas, or if, as is commonly the case, while 
 under storm-sails the crew pull out their plugs, and let the 
 boat fill up to her water-line for ballast, should a sudden 
 squall carry away her masts, how is that weight, in addition 
 to the weight of the boat, to be propelled by twelve oars 
 against a heavy sea ? it would be impracticable, and the 
 relief of the wrecked vessel must, in such a case, be aban¬ 
 doned. 
 
 By means of sufficient delivering-valves or tubes, led 
 through a platform or flat laid a little above the level of 
 the water-line, there seems no reason why the water when 
 shipped should not be carried off rapidly. The area of the 
 valves or tubes should be not less than one square inch for 
 each cubic foot of capacity; more would be better. A 
 question may arise whether it is better that the boat should 
 free herself by tubes through the bottom, or by scuppers in 
 the sides as shown in several of the models; the former is 
 the more direct and quickest action, but the tubes are liable 
 to be choked in the possible case of a boat grounding on an 
 outlying sand-bank, or on the bar of a river harbour; it 
 will be better, therefore, to be provided with both to meet 
 such an accident. The tubes and scuppers should be closed 
 by self-acting valves; a modification of an apparatus known 
 as Kingston’s valve might answer the purpose, or still bet¬ 
 ter, a valve proposed by Mr. George Wells, of 15 Upper 
 East Smithfield. 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 447 
 
 Provision for Self-righting. 
 
 The power of self-righting is a contested point among the 
 best boat-builders ; but they seem hardly to have given the 
 subject full consideration. The accidents that have hap¬ 
 pened to life-boats have not been carefully investigated, and 
 the necessity for meeting these accidents with a remedy has 
 not forced itself upon their minds. But a remedy is neces¬ 
 sary. Recent and sad experience has shown that a life-boat 
 may be upset and may drown the crew from want of being 
 able to right herself. Had the South Shields life-boat that 
 upset in December 1849 possessed the means of self-righting, 
 there is reason to believe that many of the crew might have 
 been saved, whereas twenty of the best pilots out of the 
 Tyne were drowned. This, however, is not the only instance 
 of a boat upsetting and remaining bottom up, as will be 
 seen hereafter; but it is sufficient to prove the absolute ne¬ 
 cessity of grappling with the difficulty, if difficulty it be, 
 and of overcoming it. Most life-boats have good sheer of 
 gunwale, and, consequently, raised extremities, in which 
 air-cases should be placed, in order that when the boat is 
 bottom upwards, their buoyancy may co-operate most ef¬ 
 fectually with the weights in the bottom of the boat (now 
 raised, it may be, considerably out of the water) to restore 
 her to her originally upright position. The higher the centre 
 of gravity of a vessel or boat is above the centre ot buoy¬ 
 ancy, cceteris paribus, the less is her stability j and by the 
 separation of these two centres, a condition of instability will 
 ensue, the effect of which will be, that with the slightest 
 motion the boat will reverse her position, or right herself. 
 To determine the necessary extent of separation of these 
 centres in each case involves careful calculation. The best 
 mode of applying this principle will readily occur to most 
 boat-builders. The objections to the raised air-cases at each 
 end are the wind they hold in pulling off a lee-shore, and 
 the obstacle to approaching the stem and stern of the boat; 
 the latter may be modified, the former must be tolerated for 
 the greater benefit in another respect that arises from their 
 adoption. If aii’-cases be used in the extremes, a layer of 
 cork on the top will afford great protection to them, and 
 
448 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 better footing for the crew when necessity requires them to 
 stand or jump on them. 
 
 It is a singular fact,—and it serves as an additional proof 
 of the want of some systematic record of discoveries access¬ 
 ible to all persons, which I have already had occasion to 
 remark upon in a former part of this Lecture,—that this 
 property of self-righting, which, when recently proposed as 
 one of the requisites of a good life-boat, was almost treated 
 with derision by some of our best boat-builders, should have 
 been acknowledged and publicly exhibited at Leith by the 
 Lev. James Bremncr, of Walls, Orkney, as far back as Ju¬ 
 ly 1800. He first proposed in 1792 to enable all ordinary 
 boats to self-right by placing two water-tight casks parallel 
 to each other in the head and stern sheets, and by attaching 
 3 cwt. of iron to the keel. A boat thus fitted was publicly 
 tried at Leith and repeatedly righted, for which a piece of 
 plate was awarded to Mr. Bremner, and in 1810 the Society 
 of Arts voted him a silver medal and twenty guineas.* Yet 
 in 1850, half a century later, the practicability of making a 
 boat right herself was almost derided ! 
 
 Ballast. 
 
 If the requisite stability, and righting power, can be ob¬ 
 tained without ballast, it is very desirable to avoid the en¬ 
 cumbrance it causes, in case of having to transport a boat 
 alongshore. In this respect water-ballast has a great advan¬ 
 tage, as it is not taken in until the boat is fairly afloat, and 
 may be discharged directly she again touches the beach on 
 landing. Water-ballast, if used in immediate connexion with 
 so-called water-tight cases, as it always must be, requires 
 very good workmanship in the bulk-heads or partitions of the 
 well, in order that they may not become leaky by straining 
 when at sea, or by shrinking when the boat stands ashore, 
 which she sometimes does for a year together. A doubt 
 may arise, too, whether a boat does not require her ballast 
 as much or more at the moment of launching than at any 
 other time; lightness has its advantages, but in launching 
 through a surf a boat requires a certain weight so as not to 
 
 * “Transactions of the Society of Arts,” vol. xxviii. p. 135. 
 
SniPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 449 
 
 bo readily thrown aside by a breaking sea. All these cir¬ 
 cumstances considered, we incline to the opinion that ballast 
 given by cork inside in the bottom of the boat is best adapted 
 to meet the varied contingencies to which a life-boat is sub¬ 
 jected. 
 
 Although a minor point, it may be as well to add, that 
 a moderate-sized cork fender, say four inches in diameter, 
 should be carried round the sides and both ends of the boat 
 at about six inches under the gunwale ; but there is no 
 occasion for the unwieldy fender, occasionally 12 inches deep, 
 that may be seen in some life-boats. Holes in the bilge 
 pieces, to enable a man to lay hold of them, should the boat 
 be upset; timber heads, to make warps fast to at each bow 
 and quarter; long sweep oars for steering at each end; a 
 stout roller in the stem and stern-post to receive the cable; 
 spare oars, one for each two that the boat pulls; life-belts, 
 life-buoys, and life-lines; hand-rockets, heaving-lines, and 
 such minor fittings, are indispensable in every life-boat. 
 
 Transporting Carriage. 
 
 A necessary adjunct to a life-boat is a carriage for trans¬ 
 porting it alongshore, or, when the tide is out, for carrying 
 the boat down to the water, and launching it without risk 
 into the sea. The building a good carriage is a problem 
 not easily solved : among the many models of carriages sent 
 to the Exhibition, not one exactly fulfils the conditions 
 which appear essential. The carriage should combine light¬ 
 ness with strength, to carry at least 40 cwt. in case of need. 
 The boat should be supported as near the ground as may 
 be, so that it does not risk striking the bottom in going over 
 a rocky beach ; the wheels should be of large diameter for 
 facility in moving, with broad tires, to prevent their sinking 
 into the sand. The subject appearing to require much con¬ 
 sideration, combined with a practical knowledge of details, 
 an application was made by the National Shipwreck Insti¬ 
 tution to the Master-General and the Board of Ordnance, 
 which was immediately acceded to, and directions given for 
 a carriage to be built in the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, 
 where it is now in course of construction, under the super- 
 38* 
 
450 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE: 
 
 intendence of Colonel Colquhoun, R. A., Director of the Car¬ 
 riage Department of that establishment. 
 
 Accidents to Life-Boats. 
 
 On several occasions in the course of this Lecture allusions 
 have been made to accidents which have happened to life¬ 
 boats, as illustrating the necessity of certain qualities in 
 them, and there can be no doubt that one of the most valu¬ 
 able aids towards the improvement of our boats would be a 
 detailed account of all such disasters that from time to time 
 have occurred. The following cases are some that have 
 been gleaned, and they are mentioned without the least 
 intention of imputing blame to any party, but solely with a 
 desire to find a remedy, if possible, for the causes of the 
 disasters as far as we know them. They are as follows :— 
 
 At Hartley, on the coast of Northumberland, five miles 
 north of Tynemouth, in the year 1810, one of G-reathead’s 
 life-boats, carried overland from Blyth, rescued the crews 
 of several fishing cobles that wei’e prevented landing by a 
 high sea tumbling in suddenly upon the coast, unaccom¬ 
 panied by wind. On returning towards the shore, the boat 
 incautiously got too near the South Bush Rock, when a 
 heavy sea broke on board and split her in halves; the result 
 was, that the whole of the crew, thirty-four in number, 
 were drowned. 
 
 At Shields, about the year 1820, Greathead’s original 
 life-boat, in taking the crew out of the ship Grafton , 
 stranded on Tynemouth Rock Heads under the Spanish 
 batter} 7 , struck upon a rock, bilged, and swamped, but she 
 nevertheless remained upright, and brought both crews 
 safely to land. This boat had no air-cases, but was filled 
 with cork inside and out. 
 
 At Sandy Cove, Kingstown, Dublin Bay, in December 
 1822, the life-boat, under charge of Lieutenant Hutchinson, 
 R.N., went off to the assistance of the brig Ellen, of Liver¬ 
 pool, stranded in a heavy south-east gale. The boat had 
 reached the wreck, and the men were coming dowm over the 
 stern into her, when she filled; the crew attempted to bale 
 the water out with their hats, when another sea fell on 
 board, washed six men, and all the oars, and everything 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 451 
 
 out of the boat, which drifted ashore among the rocks. On 
 this occasion four men were drowned. The wreck drove 
 higher up the beach on the following tide, and at low water 
 the crew were rescued. 
 
 At Lowestoft, in 1825, the life-boat- went off to the sloop 
 Dorset, wrecked on the southern part of the Holm Sand, in 
 a south-east gale and spring ebb-tide, which caused a very 
 heavy sea on the sand. In consequence of the crew not 
 raising the plugs of the delivering-valves soon enough, the 
 boat tilled with water, became unmanageable, and part of 
 the Dorset’s crew were drowned. The boat, however, 
 although floating level with the lower part of the gunwale, 
 succeeded in reaching the shore in safety with the re¬ 
 mainder of the crew of the sloop. 
 
 At Winterton, Norfolk, about the year 1829, the life¬ 
 boat went off to a stranded vessel, the Mariner , and while 
 lying alongside her, the flat or deck of the boat blew up, 
 the boat swamped, and the men saved their lives by taking 
 refuge on board the vessel they went to aid. The life-boat 
 was of the form of a steamer’s paddle-box boat; it had 
 what w r as intended to be an air-tight deck, from twelve to 
 fourteen inches above the keelson, but it was always difficult 
 to keep tight, and in the end, as before stated, was forced 
 up by the water beneath it. 
 
 At Appledore, Devon, in December 1833, the life-boat, 
 in going off to the brig Mary Anne, of Exeter, stranded 
 on the Northam Burrows, was struck by a heavy sea, and 
 turned end over end, it is believed; two of the crew who 
 had lashed themselves to the thwarts were drowned, a third 
 got his lashings loose enough to keep his head above water 
 in the bottom of the boat, and was taken out alive when 
 the boat drove on shore, bottom up, about an hour after. 
 On this occasion three men were drowned; the remainder 
 of the crew were taken off the life-boat by another boat. 
 Had this boat had the power of self-righting, there seems 
 no reason why the men should not have been saved. 
 
 At Scarborough, in 1836, the life-boat went off through 
 the breakers to the rescue of a vessel j as the boat approached 
 the outside of the broken water, a heavy overlap of the sea 
 caught her and turned her end over end, shutting up one 
 of the crew inside, where he remained in safety, getting 
 
452 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 fresh air through the tubes in the bottom, and was taken 
 out when the boat drifted, bottom up, on the beach. Ten 
 lives were lost. This boat is fitted with an air-case under 
 her flat, contents 140 cubic feet, and with a small well for 
 water-ballast, holding about 16 cubic feet, or half a ton. 
 
 At Blyth, Northumberland, in October 1841, the life¬ 
 boat was pulling off against a strong wind, when a heavy 
 sea struck the boat, caused her to run stern under, and to 
 half fill with water. From want of delivering-valves the 
 boat could not free herself; she became unmanageable, and 
 fell off the wind, when a second sea struck her, and she 
 capsized. On this occasion ten men were drowned. The 
 boat had an air-case about 15 inches deep under her flat or 
 platform. 
 
 At Whitby, in October 1841, the life-boat was pulling 
 off in a strong E.N.E. gale and a cross sea, to carry pro¬ 
 visions to some fishing-yawls that were in distress for food, 
 when a heavy sea struck the boat at the same time that she 
 was caught lay a heavy fresh running out of the harbour, 
 and she capsized. No lives, we believe, were lost. This 
 boat has an air-case 13 inches deep under her platform. 
 
 At Tynemouth Haven, in 1842, the life-boat went off 
 on trial in a very rolling swell from the north-eastward; 
 on returning towards the shore, under sail, a heavy sea 
 topped on her quarter, hove her over on her beam ends, 
 and filled the sail, when she turned bottom up, and thus 
 drove ashore, the crew being taken off by a coble, and all 
 saved. 
 
 At Robin Flood’s Bay, on the coast of Yorkshire, seven 
 miles south of Whitby, in February 1843, the life-boat went 
 off to the assistance of a stranded vessel, the Ann, of Lon¬ 
 don, during a fresh northerly gale. The life-boat had got 
 alongside the wreck, and was taking in the crew, when, it 
 is supposed, four or five men jumped into her at once on 
 one side, when, a heavy sea striking her at the same time, 
 she capsized. Many of the crew got on her bottom, while 
 three remained under, and in this state she was drifted 
 towards the shore on the opposite side of the bay. On see¬ 
 ing the accident from the shore, five gallant fellows launched 
 a coble (fitted with air-cases as a life-boat), and tried to pull 
 off to the rescue ; but she had hardly encountered two seas, 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 453 
 
 wlien she was turned end over end: two of her crew were 
 drowned, and she drifted ashore bottom up. On this occa¬ 
 sion Lieut. Lingard, It. N., of the Coast-guard service, and 
 eleven men, lost their lives. Three men came on shore 
 safely under the life-boat, and some on her bottom, the 
 others Avere washed off. Had the life-boat possessed the 
 poAver of self-righting, there seems no reason why most, if 
 not all the men, should not have been saA T ed. 
 
 At Bude, in Cornwall, about the year 1844, the life-boat 
 was exercising, Avhen she shipped a heavy sea, dipped her 
 quarter, and turned end over end. Two men Avere drowned. 
 This boat is of the form of a steamer’s paddle-box boat, with 
 air-cases in her bottom 12 £ inches deep amidships, contents 
 105 cubic feet; the surface of the flat or flooring is about 
 on a level with the water-line. The air-case is divided into 
 6a t c compartments, but at the time of the accident it is said 
 that the after compartment was not tight, and consequently 
 it filled with water. 
 
 At Penrhyn du, Carnarvon, in the year 1847, the life¬ 
 boat went off to the assistance of a vessel in distress ; there 
 was a heavy cross sea on, and the boat was upset, or, it is 
 said, turned end over end : the crew supported themselves 
 on the bottom of the boat for some time, Avhen they made 
 an effort to right her, when the boat rolled right around 
 and remained on her face. The crew supported themsel\ T es 
 until taken off by another boat. 
 
 At South Shields, on the 4th December, 1849, the life¬ 
 boat, manned with twenty-four pilots, went out to the aid 
 of the Betsy, of Littlehampton, stranded on the Herd Sand; 
 there was a heavy sea from the eastward, but little wind, 
 and a strong ebb-tide. The boat had reached the wreck, 
 and was lying alongside with her head to the eastward, with 
 a rope List to the quarter, but the bowfast not secured. The 
 shipwrecked men were about to descend into the life-boat 
 when a hea\ T y knot of sea recoiling from the boAv of the 
 vessel, caught the bow of the boat and turned her up on 
 end, throwing the Avhole of the crew and the water into the 
 stern sheets. The bowfast not holding, the boat drove in 
 this position, astern of the vessel, Avhen the ebb-tide running 
 rapidly into her stern, the boat completely turned end over 
 end , and Avent on shore bottom up. On this occasion 
 
454 
 
 ON NAYAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 twenty out of twenty-four (or double her proper crew) were 
 drowned under the boat. On seeing the accident two 
 other life-boats immediately dashed off from North and 
 South Shields, saved four of the men, and rescued the crew 
 of the Betsy. 
 
 The boat to which this sad disaster happened is 34 foot 
 long over all, and nearly 11 feet breadth of beam. It is of 
 the form of a steamer’s paddle-box boat., or nearly of the 
 original Greathead form, lias 30 inches sheer of gunwale, 
 and 11 inches curvature of keel. It is fitted with an air- 
 case under the flat or deck 15 inches in height, which con¬ 
 tains 224 cubic feet of air, with a well for water-ballast in 
 the middle holding 30 cubic feet, or 17 cwt. when full. The 
 surface of the flat or deck is 20 inches above the underside 
 of the keel; and the boat is fitted with flat top air-cases 
 around the sides. The boat had an open well when the 
 accident happened, and when thrown over end the water- 
 ballast would run out into her stern. Had she possessed 
 the power of self-righting, it is fair to suppose some of the 
 men might have been saved. 
 
 It is but justice to add, and it is a fact highly honourable 
 to the port, that the life-boats at Shields have been in con¬ 
 stant use since Greathead first launched his boat there on 
 the 30th of January, 1790, now sixty years since, and, with 
 the exception of the above accident, it is stated that no life 
 has ever been lost in them, nor any life been lost from want 
 of them. No record prior to 1841 was kept, but between 
 the years 1841 and 1849 no less than 4G6 persons have 
 been brought on shore from stranded vessels. 
 
 At Liverpool, in October 1850, the life-boat, in going 
 out to the ship Providence, in tow of a steam-tug, in a very 
 severe gale and heavy sea, shipped a succession of seas, 
 when there being no means of freeing the boat except bail¬ 
 ing by buckets, the crew cut the tow-rope, and ran back to 
 the Mersey. This appears to be a very rare occurrence, as 
 in the course of the last eleven years the life-boats at Liver¬ 
 pool have been the means of assisting 269 vessels, and 
 have brought on shore 1128 persons, affording decisive 
 proof of the value of such boats when well manned and 
 properly managed. 
 
 At Broadstairs, on the 6th March, 1851, the life-boat 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 455 
 
 gallantly went off to the brig Mary White, stranded on the 
 Goodwin, rescued seven of the crew out of ten, but, unfor¬ 
 tunately, the boat’s gunwale was stove while lying alongside 
 the wreck; and the air-cases, being built into the boat, 
 filled with water on the one side; the life-boat thus became 
 disabled, and was drifting away to sea when it was picked 
 up by a lugger, and brought on shore. These instances 
 are all that have come to my knowledge; but as far as they 
 go they are instructive, as pointing out some evils which it 
 is right to shun, and some defects which require remedies. 
 
 Necessity of TrvAiNiNG. 
 
 But especially do they enforce a point which is of essen¬ 
 tial importance, namely, the absolute necessity of a well- 
 trained crew, and of sailor-like management of a life-boat. 
 All the best qualities combined in one boat will not com¬ 
 pensate for want of seamanship and judgment in the cox¬ 
 swain of the boat, who should be cool, steady, acquainted 
 with the set of the tides, and know whether it is right to 
 approach a wreck end on with his boat under her quarter, 
 or to lay her alongside under the lee, or to drop his anchor 
 to windward and veer down to the wreck, as is the usual 
 practice with the Yarmouth and Beal boats, and for which 
 purpose every life-boat should be provided with a heavy 
 anchor and good cable. It is not any peculiarly good 
 quality in the form of the Yarmouth and Beal luggers that 
 enables them to brave the sea in all weathers, but it is the 
 admirable manner in which they are handled by their hardy 
 crews. And if we are to have an efficient set of life-boats 
 along the coasts of the United Kingdom, it is absolutely 
 necessary that fishermen and sailors should enrol themselves 
 as crews and go out frequently for exercise in heavy weather, 
 so as to become familiarized with the qualities of their 
 boats, and to know exactly what they will do in the hour 
 of need. They need no longer have a misgiving about their 
 safety. That a thoroughly good life-boat can be built no 
 longer admits of a doubt.; and any boat-builder who will 
 construct a boat after the lines shown iu Plates 1 or 13 of 
 the Northumberland Report, may rest assured that he will 
 turn out a boat that, if properly’handled, need not fear to 
 bee any weather at sea. 
 
456 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 Existing means tor saving Lire. 
 
 In a former part of this Lecture I have shown that 681 
 wrecks occurred in the year 1850, and that 780 lives were 
 lost on our own shores ; we have now to consider the extent 
 of the existing means for saving life. It is comprised in 
 the following meagre statementIn Scotland, with a sea¬ 
 board of 1500 miles, there arc eight life-boats; at St. 
 Andrews, the Tay, Arbroath, Montrose, Aberdeen, Wick, 
 Ardrossan, and Irvine; some of these boats are in tolerable 
 repair, that at Wick is quite new, others are quite un¬ 
 serviceable. The boats at Aberdeen, Montrose, and St. 
 Andrews, have been the means of saving eighty-three lives. 
 There are Manby’s mortars at ten stations, and rockets at 
 eight stations; the latter have been instrumental in saving 
 sixty-eight lives. Orkney and Shetland are without any pro¬ 
 vision for saving life, and with the exception of Port Logan, 
 in Wigtonshire, where there is a mortar, the whole of the 
 west coast of Scotland from Cape Wrath to Solway Firth 
 (an extent of 900 miles, without including the islands), is 
 in the same state. 
 
 In England and Wales, with a seaboard of 2000 miles, 
 there are seventy-five life-boats; of these forty-five are 
 stationed on the east coast. On the shores of Northum¬ 
 berland, from Berwick-on-Tweed to the Tyne, there arc 
 seven boats, or one for every eight miles; there are three 
 at Shields; fifteen on the coast of Durham and Yorkshire, 
 or one for every ten miles; in Lincolnshire, four boats, or 
 one for every fifteen miles; on the coasts of Norfolk and 
 Suffolk, from Cromer to Southwold, there are ten boats, or 
 one for every five miles; a fact highly creditable to the 
 county associations. There are life-boats also at Aldborough, 
 Harwich, Broadstairs, and Ramsgate. 
 
 On the south coast, from Dover to the Land’s End, a 
 distance of 420 miles, there are eight life-boats, but none 
 at Penzance where most needed. At the Scilly Isles there 
 is one inefficient boat; the same at St. Ives and Bude; and 
 one, a little better, at Padstow. So that from Falmouth 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 457 
 
 round the Land’s End by Trevose Head to Hartland Point, 
 an extent of 150 miles of the most exposed coast in Eng¬ 
 land, there is not a really efficient life-boat. In the Bristol 
 Channel the North Devon Association maintains three life¬ 
 boats in Bideford Bay. There is a new life-boat at Ilfra¬ 
 combe, and one at Burnham. On the south coast of Wales 
 —from Cardiff round to Fishguard, a distance of 200 miles 
 —there are two recently placed life-boats, one at Llanelly, 
 the other at Tenby. There are twelve boats on the west 
 and north coasts of Wales, some in a very defective state; 
 and nine in good order at five stations in the important port 
 of Liverpool, liberally supported by the Dock Trustees, and 
 having permanent boats’ crews. These boats, as before 
 mentioned, have brought on shore 1128 persons during the 
 last eleven years, thus proving the value of life-boats when 
 kept in an efficient state and properly managed. In all 
 there are thirty boats, one-half unserviceable, to supply the 
 wants of a seaboard 900 miles in extent, from the Land’s 
 End to the Solway, including the ports of Liverpool and 
 Bristol. 
 
 In the Isle of Man, which, from its position near the 
 centre of the Irish Sea, and in the midst of a great part of 
 the traffic of Liverpool and Belfast, Glasgow and Dublin, 
 has its shores much exposed to wrecks, there is not a single 
 life-boat. The four boats established here by the exertions 
 ot the late Sir William Hillary, Bart.—a name honourably 
 associated with that of Mr. Thomas Wilson, formerly M.P. 
 for the City of London, as founders of the National Ship¬ 
 wreck Institution—have been allowed to fall into decay, 
 and hardly a vestige of them remains. 
 
 In Ireland, with an extent of 1400 miles of coast, there 
 are eight life-boats, and they are inefficient. Yet there is 
 no part in the United Kingdom in which wrecks are more 
 frequent than on the coast of Wexford; and when we con¬ 
 sider that, in addition to the cross-Channel trade, the whole 
 of the foreign trade to Liverpool, and Glasgow, and Belfast, 
 passes through the Irish Sea, the frequency of wrecks on 
 the east coast of Ireland need not create surprise. 
 
 39 
 
458 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE: 
 
 Rockets and Mortars. 
 
 From official returns, it appears that many of the Coast¬ 
 guard stations on the shores of England and Wales are 
 supplied with rockets or mortars, at the expense of Govern¬ 
 ment, and some stations have both. There are seveuty- 
 three stations which have rockets, thirty which have mor¬ 
 tars, and forty-one which have both mortars and rockets. 
 At first sight this seems a fair proportion, and so it would 
 be if the rockets were efficient; but the returns go on to 
 say, at twenty-four stations rockets have burst, and at forty- 
 two stations lines have broken. In some instances the 
 rockets were old, in others badly made, and the lines in the 
 same state. Yet even with these drawbacks, rockets and 
 mortars have proved most useful. At twenty-two stations 
 where a record has been kept, not less than 214 lives have 
 been saved by them, besides several crews at Caistor, near 
 Yarmouth, and many lives at eight other stations, where no 
 account has been kept of the number. The veteran Cap¬ 
 tain Manby may reflect with just gratification in his de¬ 
 clining years that the mortar he was instrumental in 
 bringing into use as a means of saving life, has proved very 
 serviceable. 
 
 There are twenty-five stations in Ireland at which there 
 are either rockets or mortars; but here, as elsewhere on the 
 coasts, lines have broken and rockets have burst; the 
 rockets, too, might be better distributed. Yet, notwith¬ 
 standing these minor evils, which may be set right without 
 any great difficulty, the testimony in Ireland as well as in 
 England is decisive as to the value of the rocket in effecting 
 communication with a stranded vessel, and thus saving life 
 from shipwreck. 
 
 The merit of the first suggestion for forming a connexion 
 between a stranded vessel and the shore by means of a mor¬ 
 tar is unquestionably due to Sergeant John Bell, afterwards 
 Lieu.it. Bell of the Invalid Artillery, a worthy non-commis¬ 
 sioned officer, at the siege of Gibraltar. In August 1791, a 
 public trial of his plan was made at Woolwich, when a shell, 
 loaded to weigh seventy-five pounds, fired from a mortar on 
 board a boat, carried out 150 yards of a deep-sea lead line, 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 459 
 
 by means of which, Bell, with another man, worked .himself 
 on shore on a raft of casks. He also proposed to throw a 
 grapnel fitted to be fired from a common six-pounder gun, 
 for the same purpose; and further recommended that the 
 mortar apparatus should be placed at all ports, as Shields, 
 &c., where vessels are liable to ground near the shore, when 
 a line might be thrown over the ship, and thus be the means 
 of saving life. The Society of Arts awarded fifty guineas 
 for this invention; the account of which was published in 
 1792, in the tenth volume of their “ Transactions,”* and a 
 further description and engraving in 1808;^ the grapnel and 
 part of the original apparatus may now be seen in the Re¬ 
 pository grounds at Woolwich. But the credit of bringing 
 the mortar into effective use for saving life around our coasts 
 is unquestionably due to Captain Manby, as above stated, 
 and most valuable has it proved to be. 
 
 For the first use of the rocket, to effect a communication 
 with a stranded ship, we are indebted to Mr. Henry Tren- 
 grouse, of Ilelstone, Cornwall, who having witnessed the 
 disastrous wreck of the Anson in 1807, on Looe Bar, Mount’s 
 Bay, when one hundred lives were lost, proposed the use of 
 a small rocket, with a line attached, to be fired from the 
 ship to the shore. As far as I am aware, his plan was never 
 brought into use, but the inventor received the gold medal 
 of the Society of Arts, and fifty guineas premium in the 
 year 1820.| The great merit of Trengrouse’s plan was the 
 firing from the ship to the shore, Avhich undoubtedly is the 
 better mode, if vessels can be induced to carry the necessary 
 apparatus, which hitherto has not been the case. Sir William 
 Congreve, it is understood, proposed a somewhat similar 
 apparatus. 
 
 But the merit of bringing: into use the rocket to carry a 
 line from the shore to the wreck, undoubtedly belongs to 
 Mr. Dennett, of Newport, Isle of Wight, who*; about the 
 year 1825, proposed the adoption of a nine-pounder rocket 
 for this purpose, which has since been successfully used in 
 many parts of the United Kingdom. In 1837, Mr. Carte, 
 of Hull, recommended the use of a twelve-pounder rocket 
 
 * Page 203. f Vol. xxv. p. 135. 
 
 1 Transactions, vol. xxxviii. p. 168. 
 
460 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE: 
 
 for the same purpose, which is now placed at several stations, 
 particularly on the coast of Yorkshire; he has also a sea- 
 service apparatus for use on board a ship, which is efficient, 
 portable, and economical, yet our ships cannot be induced 
 to carry it. The last proposal for this purpose is that by 
 M. Delvigne of Paris, a model of which was in the Exhibi¬ 
 tion. His proposal is to ball the line up inside a wooden 
 projectile, and to fire it from a howitzer; on a trial during 
 the past summer in Woolwich Marshes, he succeeded in 
 throwing a line 400 yards, we believe, from a five-inch 
 howitzer, with a charge of eight ounces of powder. It is 
 far from impossible that this plan of projecting a line may 
 be so modified as to be rendered very serviceable. 
 
 Fully admitting the good service that both rocket and 
 mortar have rendered in their present state, there can be no 
 doubt that the rocket and line may be greatly improved. 
 The maximum range now attained with Dennett’s 9-lbs., or 
 Carte’s 12-lbs. life-rocket in fine weather is 350 yards, but 
 in stormy weather, such as that in which wrecks usually 
 occur, it seldom reaches 300 yards. On many parts of the 
 coast such a limited flight would not reach a stranded ves¬ 
 sel : it seems desirable, therefore, to make every effort to in¬ 
 crease the range, whether by an improvement in the rocket, 
 or by substituting a lighter line of Manilla or other hemp; 
 and, considering the importance of the object and its inti¬ 
 mate connexion with the life-boat, we may be permitted to 
 express our earnest hope that the experiments on this sub¬ 
 ject which it is understood have been set on foot, will be 
 continued with as little delay as possible until a favourable 
 result is obtained. 
 
 \ 
 
 Coast-Guard. 
 
 In looking over the list of wrecks, no one can fail to be 
 struck at the prominent position occupied by the officers and 
 men of the Coast-guard service on all such occasions. The 
 records of the National Shipwreck Institution show that 
 about one-third of the medals and rewards granted by that 
 Institution for meritorious services are awarded to the 
 Coast-guard. Independently of their other services, they 
 have proved themselves in cases of wreck to be an invalua- 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 461 
 
 ble body of men; they are familiar with the use of the mor¬ 
 tar and the rocket; are always on the watch; always ready 
 to act; and nothing can be more striking on such occasions 
 than the advantage of a well-trained, organized body acting 
 as one man, over a willing, but undisciplined, assemblage of 
 sailors and fishermen. On any future occasion of shipwreck, 
 we may trust that the Coast-guard officers and men will dis¬ 
 play the same energy that has hitherto so honourably dis¬ 
 tinguished them. 
 
 Sea-Coroner suggested. 
 
 A careful examination of the returns of wrecks by the 
 Coast-guard officers, forcibly impresses on the mind the 
 painful conviction that the greater part of the casualties 
 that occur are not occasioned by stress of weather, but 
 that they are mainly attributable to causes within con¬ 
 trol, and to which a remedy might be applied. It would be 
 an easy task to enumerate these several causes, but from 
 the absence of exact information it would be difficult to as¬ 
 sign the particular cause to each wreck. It might have been 
 reasonably expected that the depositions before the Iteceivers 
 of Admiralty Droits would have thrown some light on the 
 subject, but those documents are seldom of any use for 
 ascertaining the real cause of wreck. The master of the 
 stranded vessel is naturally anxious to make out the best 
 case for himself, and usually tells as little as he can help; 
 and the receiver, who nine times out of ten is a landsman, 
 is quite unequal to bring out the facts of the case. Some 
 competent local tribunal, then, is necessary before whom 
 the causes might be investigated on the spot, and there 
 would seem no difficulty in forming such a tribunal; it 
 might be as easily managed as a coroner’s inquest; the ma¬ 
 chinery for the purpose is already organized. The inspecting 
 commander of the Coast-guard of the district, the collector 
 or chief officer of customs, and Lloyd’s agents, are to be 
 found nearly everywhere around the coasts, and they could 
 form a tribunal well acquainted with nautical affairs, and 
 in which all merchants and ship-owners would have con¬ 
 fidence; and were such a body, with the assistance of the 
 nearest magistrate, authorized to inquire into and report 
 39 * 
 
462 
 
 ON NAVAL ARCHITECTURE : 
 
 to the Admiralty or Board of Trade on every case of wreck, 
 there is little doubt but that in a very few years the list 
 of wrecks on our own coasts would be greatly diminished. 
 It is well and right to place life-boats, but a better means 
 of preserving life would be to prevent or diminish ship- 
 Avrecks. 
 
 It is not only loss of life to a fearful extent that occurs 
 in these wrecks, but, although a minor consideration, the 
 loss of property is enormous. In the Parliamentary Report 
 on shipwrecks of the year 1836, the loss of property in 
 British shipping wrecked or foundered at sea, is estimated, 
 on an average of six years, at three millions sterling per 
 annum; we may fairly, therefore, assume, that half that 
 amount is annually lost on our own coasts. The whole of 
 this property, though covered by insurance to certain par¬ 
 ties, is not the less absolutely lost to the nation, and its 
 cost paid for by the British public, on whom its loss must 
 ultimately fall. The same Parliamentary Beport estimates 
 the annual loss of life by the wreck or foundering of British 
 vessels at sea at 1000 persons in each year, and this loss is 
 also attended with increased pecuniary burthen to the British 
 public, on whom the support of many of the widows and 
 orphans left destitute by such losses eventually devolves. 
 Thus, taking only the financial view of the case, the pre¬ 
 vention or diminution of shipwreck would be a great na¬ 
 tional gain. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 A review of the facts furnished by the Coast-guard Re¬ 
 turns affords a cheering encouragement as to the future, 
 inasmuch as the number of lives saved from shipwreck 
 through the instrumentality of life-boats, mortars, and 
 rockets (even in their present imperfect, and, on many 
 parts of the coast, ill-organized state), affords undoubted 
 proof of the value of such means for preserving life. 
 Wherever the boats have been looked after, and the crews 
 well trained, as at Liverpool, Shields, and on the coasts of 
 Norfolk and Suffolk, the most signal success has rewarded 
 their exertions. This fact is most encouraging, and cannot 
 be too strongly insisted upon. It is the most gratifying 
 
SHIPS, STEAM-ENGINES, AND LIFE-BOATS. 4G3 
 
 reward to the several local committees and individuals who 
 have perseveringly done their duty, and gives firm ground 
 of encouragement for the future. 
 
 The path, then, is clear and distinct. The first step is to 
 insure a safe and powerful life-boat, and this we feel confi¬ 
 dent has been accomplished; the next is to build a sufficient 
 number of such boats, place them where required, organize 
 and train the crews, and provide for their supervision and 
 maintenance. In fact, to do for the rest of the United 
 Kingdom what his Grace the Duke of Northumberland has 
 liberally undertaken to do for his own county, namely, to 
 place a well-built life-boat at each of the most exposed points 
 of the coast, and rockets or mortars at all the intermediate 
 stations. 
 
 There need be no misgiving for want of funds—no work 
 of real benevolence in this country, when undertaken in the 
 right spirit, was ever allowed to languish for lack of means; 
 and it is not to be supposed that the cause of the preserva¬ 
 tion of life from shipwreck will not find equal support. It 
 is not to be believed that the British public will quietly 
 look on and see a thousand lives annually perish, and not 
 make an effort to save a portion of that number, if satisfied 
 that the means of doing so are within their reach. Past 
 experience declares that the means are within our reach. 
 Nor would the task be difficult: the question has only to 
 be grappled with in earnest, and all obstacles will vanish. 
 There is no doubt of hearty co-operation along the whole 
 of our coasts; all that local committees require is to be 
 well directed, and to be enabled to place entire confidence 
 in those who undertake to guide them. 
 
 The success that has attended exertions in one place may 
 fairly be reckoned upon in another. There seems no reason 
 why a very few years should not see a life-boat stationed at 
 each of the exposed points on the most frequented parts of 
 the coasts of the United Kingdom; by means of which— 
 with the blessing of Divine Providence upon the endeavours 
 of those who undertake the work—the best results to the 
 cause of humanity may confidently be anticipated. 
 
 March 3, 1852. 
 
 THE END. 
 

 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
nr « s « a 9 <s o'oT's* o;« w « » © cs «i ®: & »:«£ ars. 
 
 X( • v\' • v'*' ; ' i /, 
 
 9 
 
 © 
 
 p. t? * 
 
 o ■ © c a 
 
 e s #f« ©-o :» <t *v sit 
 
 ft if iS €4 « p fi cs s c «; 
 
 -111 
 
 sc a A 
 
 9/ <t tl : © 
 
 t» .©:«:©* « •-©: e a -; «(©a 
 
 ' ' / ' /'X\ » * >/\\ • //' \l 1 ' » //Ml VM «'<'*•( 
 
 a © © jt:©3« 
 
 /1 v\//. /, v\/«. v\//. v s.'/. wx/. \\/7i\v//l W/v. . x 
 
 I /S\\i f.'W 
 
 xYationul /Series of Standard. School Books, 
 
 * « c ?». »■ «r a «: ® "ei: 
 
 i A// I \\/7J V\/7 • v\// i V\// I \\/7i \\// i 
 
 ir 
 
 lixwx-: 
 
 ;«s:< 
 
 WILLARD’S HISTORIES AND- CHARTS. 
 
 i. tOillarb’s (fllra. Zinnia) Qlbribgelr piston) of ti)c w- , a s 
 itnitcb States, WITH Maps and Engravings: De- 
 
 signed for School* and Academies. 75 cts. 
 
 
 iDillarb’s fjistoria be Cos (Sstnbos linibos. 
 
 //\\ 
 
 Being a translation of “Willard’s United State*,” into the tyuntsfi j 
 
 Language. By Miguel T. Tolon. $2.00. 
 
 lM 3. frlillarb’s '(XHrs. ®tnma) £)iotorji of tlje Hniteb 
 
 States, or Republic of America. 1 Vol. 8m, jp$§| 
 
 fi> 1 -with Maps. Designed for the Library, and as a Text Book for the 
 
 P gfpjj higher class of School* and Academies. $1.50. ^ 
 
 z \ L tUillarb’s (iRrs. Cftrnna) Uniueroal fjistorn in Per- 
 
 §?m 
 
 spectiue. Divided into three parts: Ancient, Middle, 
 
 i//V\» r/\v 
 
 St ©3B 
 
 i V . . 
 
 \r/ viyv 
 
 8U £’ 3 and Modern History, with Maps and Engravings, to which is added f£ ©9f 
 
 a Chronological Table and Index. $1.50. • i 
 
 5. tDillarb’s (iRrs. <fmma) historic (Snibe anb iRap (§,*§* 
 of (Eimc, designed for general use in Academies and 
 
 S~* 
 
 Seminaries. 2 rots. $1.25 
 
 SO 
 
 r/' • • • - 
 
 I 6, tOillarb’s (iRrs. ©mtna) Cast Ccaucs of American 
 
 •'?' Wa listers, embracing the events of the last ten years. 
 
 r m 4 . pp 
 
 s' ic: 7. toillarb’s American Cl)rortograpI)cr,a Mounted Chart, 1|. &' i 
 2 jS ' ^ to Aid in Fixing the Important periods of American History in the jjc g'_| 
 
 Mind of the Student. $1.50. 
 
 55 8. .iDillarb’s Ancient Cljronocsrapljer. A Mounted. 
 
 S ' S S Chart of Ancient History. $1.50. 
 
 - * r r ; 'Ǥ| 
 
 ^- ^ 3 L tUillarb’s QTcmplc of (Lime. A Mounted Chart of 
 
 • A-.d.-j Ancient and Modern History. $1.50. 
 
 - At ^io tUillarb’s Qfnqlisl) (2H)ronograpi)er A Mounted a « 
 
 
 Oliart of English History. $ld>0. 
 
 r » s 
 
 ftt ^ ■ ■■■' a 5 
 
 ' ' 1" ’ ''."I '!>' ’ 'IV" ’Jr'" * 'O' ’/aC * f/' N go V \ l D\' • /X> I 'Av f //" t />V.\ • I V'M |I/\M f.X 
 
 a © ■ c- ©r t5 a',sr.0' ©i«- £' a * .© © <» «• «s ss »:.« 
 
 , v ’i ,v \\ \ t • - f \-'. • -.\ '• -\ /• . ,; ' . ' • ' N >_ . ■ r 
 
• '; ' I st/>; U/xvx i > j- si Ys\ • //v\ • -- Lv^iv 
 
 . ' ’ ' • '.' /A 1 • 'P x * '5$' ’ '•;• V » \}J.'j U>Ax i ' J; V /£A i '^\S • 
 
 ^ -^.C % G & 
 
 ~M3| 
 
 ^ti><<j Published by A. S. Barr*es <k Co., New York, 
 
 I nv r >Ax» VVm 7^.v.'/V ; 
 
 • Y(io ;'• '• Jp-i* — -.!.. 
 
 se 
 
 # 77 ? 
 
 nl w & 
 
 HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY^ AND Ml|Tic^OGY. 
 Alison’s fjistorn of (Europe, Abridged by Edward S. 
 
 Gould. 1 vol. Svo. This Abridgment is highly recommended by 
 Judges Kent, Story, Sherman, and many other eminent men. $1.50 
 
 iHonteitifs (3as.) .first fessqns in ©eograpljn. 
 
 Designed for Beginners. Price 25 cents. 
 
 iUonteitps (las.) t?out!)’s iilannal of ©cograpbn, 
 Combineb toil!) fjistorn anb QVstronomn, Designed 
 
 for Primary and Intermediate Classes ; adopted by the Public School* 
 of New York, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia! Price 50 cents. 
 
 Hi 
 
 “11 
 
 ‘itiM 
 
 iHcNailn’s Complete fijistem x>f C0>eogropl)tt, in 
 
 Quarto form, designed for Academies and Schools. Price $1.00. 
 
 Droigljt’s (iff. &.) (Ererian anb Homan iHmljologrt, 
 
 with Illustrations. 1 vol. 8vo. Price $1.75. 
 
 mm 
 
 Cfjt *amt aaiork Sfirihjjrt for Srijcols. Price 75 cents. 
 
 THE ENGLISH POETS, WITH NOTES. 
 
 ill 
 
 iHilton’s JJarabise Cost, with Notes Critical and 
 
 ■ ; ^dl Explanatory: by Rev. J. R. Boyd. $1 25. School Ed., 75 eta. - 
 
 t) ouu 9 ’ s ®I)ongl)tS, with Notes Critical and 
 
 NM Explanatory: by Kev. J. K. Boyd. $125. School Ed., 75 cts. 
 
 r-oiS-fc; 
 
 "*•.» r -s yf- r ’ ■ 1 ' 
 
 jgr <j 3. (UjomSDtt’s Seasons, with Notes Critical and Explana- 
 
 tory •'by Kev. J. K. Boyd. $1 25. School Ed., 75 cts. 
 
 «r t 4. (Coiuprr’s £ask, ©abU-®alk, £rc., with Notes Critical 
 
 and Explanatory : by Kev. J. K. B.oyd. $125. School Ed., 75 eta. 
 
 ^ V jV/Al , t 
 
 5 JJollok's QTonrSC of ®ime f wit^L Notes Critical and 
 
 Explanatory : by Rev. J. R. Boyd. $1 25. School Ed., 75 cts. 
 
 m 
 
 
 Each of the above volumes is published in 8vo., with illustrations, JjXfSCYdi 
 bound in various styles, and worthy of a place in every Library. GXvI/Xvj 
 
 • - ' V' • i</\iti/dl"XM / A' • ' \x • //XM//XAI//VX ' \' ’ //W t-xxi- vx • /s^\l//\\t y\\ i/zwIZ/nm/ /" .//vv I ' " • 
 
 HE* 0r»'.G & -M .« <» e « fc 1ST * ? -5 W a Vi m *. .* « * w * 
 
 < s, . • . <V»v*/v (V/TvS/TTv\/7I\\ »// . . .