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diff --git a/38329.txt b/38329.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46a61a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/38329.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8596 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Romance of Industry and Invention, Edited +by Robert Cochrane + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Romance of Industry and Invention + + +Editor: Robert Cochrane + +Release Date: December 17, 2011 [eBook #38329] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANCE OF INDUSTRY AND +INVENTION*** + + +E-text prepared by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by +Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 38329-h.htm or 38329-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38329/38329-h/38329-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38329/38329-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://www.archive.org/details/romanceofindustr00coch + + +Transcriber's note: + + Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the + closest paragraph break. + + Mixed fractions are represented using forward slash and hyphen + in this text version; for example, 3-1/2 represents three and + a half. + + No other changes have been made from the original text. + + + + + +[Illustration: The Rush for the Gold-fields.] + + +THE ROMANCE OF INDUSTRY AND INVENTION + +Selected by + +ROBERT COCHRANE + +Editor of +'Great Thinkers and Workers,' 'Beneficent and Useful Lives,' +'Adventure and Adventurers,' 'Recent Travel and Adventure,' +'Good and Great Women,' 'Heroic Lives,' &c. + + + + + + + +Philadelphia +J. B. Lippincott Company +1897 + +Edinburgh: +Printed by W. & R. Chambers, Limited. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Our national industries lie at the root of national progress. The first +Napoleon taunted us with being a nation of shopkeepers; that, however, +is now less true than that we are a nation of manufacturers--coal, iron, +and steel, and our textile industries, taken along with our enormous +carrying-trade, forming the backbone of the wealth of the country. + +A romantic interest belongs to the rise and progress of most of our +industries. Very often this lies in the career of the inventor, who +struggled towards the perfection and recognition of his invention +against heavy difficulties and discouragements; or it may lie in the +interesting processes of manufacture. Every fresh labourer in the field +adds some link to the chain of progress, and brings it nearer +perfection. Some of the small beginnings have increased in a marvellous +way. Such are chronicled under Bessemer and Siemens, who have vastly +increased the possibilities of the steel industry; in the sections +devoted to Krupp, of Essen; Sir W.G. Armstrong, of the Elswick Works, +where 18,000 men are now employed alone in the arsenal; Maxim, of Maxim +Gun fame; the rise and progress of the cycle industry; that of the gold +and diamond mining industry; and the carrying-trade of the world. + +Many of the chapters in this book have been selected from a wealth of +such material contributed from time to time to the pages of _Chambers's +Journal_, but additions and fresh material have been added where +necessary. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PAGE + The Rush for the Gold-fields _Frontispiece_ + Nasmyth's Steam-hammer 19 + Bessemer Converting Vessel 28 + Bessemer Process 30 + Krupp's 15.6 Breech-loading Gun (breech open) 47 + Josiah Wedgwood 52 + Wedgwood at Work 56 + Portland Vase 62 + The Worcester Porcelain Works 64 + Chinese Porcelain Vase 71 + Wool-sorters at Work 82 + Cotton Plant 101 + The Hand-cradle Method of extracting Gold 103 + Welcome Nugget 106 + Hydraulic Gold-mining 115 + Prospecting for Gold 125 + Square-cut Brilliant, Round-cut Brilliant, Rose-cut Diamond 136 + Kimberley Diamond-mine 139 + Some of the Principal Diamonds of the World 145 + The _Great Harry_ 153 + Gatling Gun on Field Carriage 163 + Nordenfelt-Palmcrantz Gun mounted on Ship's Bulwark 164 + Lord Armstrong 166 + Rifle-calibre Maxim Gun 178 + One of the 'Wooden Walls of Old England' 184 + The _Majestic_ 186 + Section of the Goubet Submarine Boat 190 + The Dandy-horse 204 + The _Great Eastern_ and the _Persia_ 232 + The _Campania_ 237 + Clipper Sailing-ship of 1850-60 241 + _La France_ 246 + The _Great Eastern_ paying out the Atlantic Cable 281 + Edison with his Phonograph 291 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +IRON AND STEEL. + PAGE + Pioneers of the Iron and Steel Industry--Sir Henry Bessemer-- + Sir William Siemens--Werner von Siemens--The Krupps of Essen 9 + +CHAPTER II. + +POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. + + Josiah Wedgwood and the Wedgwood Ware--Worcester Porcelain 51 + +CHAPTER III. + +THE SEWING MACHINE. + + Thomas Saint--Thimonnier--Hunt--Elias Howe--Wilson--Morey-- + Singer 72 + +CHAPTER IV. + +WOOL AND COTTON. + + WOOL.--What is Wool?--Chemical Composition--Fibre--Antiquity + of Shepherd Life--Varieties of Sheep--Introduction into + Australia--Spanish Merino--Wool Wealth of Australia--Imports + and Exports of Wool and Woollen Produce--Woollen Manufacture 81 + + COTTON.--Cotton Plant in the East--Mandeville's Fables about + Cotton--Cotton in Persia, Arabia, and Egypt--Columbus finds + Cotton-yarn and Thread in 1492--In Africa--Manufacture of + Cloth in England--The American Cotton Plant 91 + +CHAPTER V. + +GOLD AND DIAMONDS. + + GOLD.--How widely distributed--Alluvial Gold-mining--Vein + Gold-mining--Nuggets--Treatment of Ore and Gold in the + Transvaal--Story of South African Gold-fields--Gold-production + of the World--Johannesburg the Golden City--Coolgardie + Gold-fields--Bayley's discovery of Gold there 102 + + DIAMONDS.--Composition--Diamond-cutting--Diamond-mining-- + Famous Diamonds--Cecil J. Rhodes and the Kimberley Mines 135 + +CHAPTER VI. + +BIG GUNS, SMALL-ARMS, AND AMMUNITION. + + Woolwich Arsenal--Enfield Small-arms Factory--Lord Armstrong + and the Elswick Works--Testing Guns at Shoeburyness--Hiram + S. Maxim and the Maxim Machine Gun--The Colt Automatic Gun-- + Ironclads--Submarine Boats 152 + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE EVOLUTION OF THE CYCLE. + + In praise of Cycling--Number of Cycles in Use--Medical + Opinions--Pioneers in the Invention--James Starley--Cycling + Tours 192 + +CHAPTER VIII. + +STEAMERS AND SAILING-SHIPS. + + Early Shipping--Mediterranean Trade--Rise of the P. and O. and + other Lines--Transatlantic Lines--India and the East--Early + Steamships--First Steamer to cross the Atlantic--Rise of + Atlantic Shipping Lines--The _Great Eastern_ and the New + Cunarders _Campania_ and _Lucania_ compared--Sailing-ships 205 + +CHAPTER IX. + +POST-OFFICE--TELEGRAPH--TELEPHONE--PHONOGRAPH. + + Rowland Hill and Penny Postage--A Visit to the Post-office-- + The Post-office on Wheels--Early Telegraphs--Wheatstone and + Morse--The State and the Telegraphs--Atlantic Cables-- + Telephones--Edison and the Phonograph 247 + + + + +[Illustration] + + +ROMANCE OF INDUSTRY + +AND + +INVENTION. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +IRON AND STEEL. + + Pioneers of the Iron and Steel Industry--Sir Henry Bessemer--Sir + William Siemens--Werner von Siemens--The Krupps of Essen. + + +Francis Horner, writing early in this century, said that 'Iron is not +only the soul of every other manufacture, but the mainspring perhaps of +civilised society.' Cobden has said that 'our wealth, commerce, and +manufactures grew out of the skilled labour of men working in metals.' +According to Carlyle, the epic of the future is not to be Arms and the +Man, but Tools and the Man. We all know that iron was mined and smelted +in considerable quantities in this island as far back as the time of the +Romans; and we cherish a vague notion that iron must have been mined and +smelted here ever since on a progressively increasing scale. We are so +accustomed to think and speak of ourselves as first among all nations, +at the smelting-furnace, in the smithy, and amid the Titanic labours of +the mechanical workshop, that we open large eyes when we are told what +a recent conquest all this superiority is! + +There was, indeed, some centuries later than the Roman occupation, a +period coming down to quite modern times, during which English +iron-mines were left almost unworked. In Edward III.'s reign, the pots, +spits, and frying-pans of the royal kitchen were classed among his +majesty's jewels. For the planners of the Armada the greater abundance +and excellence of Spanish iron compared with English was an important +element in their calculations of success. In the fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries, the home market looked to Spain and Germany for its +supply both of iron and steel. After that, Sweden came prominently +forward; and from her, as late as the middle of the eighteenth century, +no less than four-fifths of the iron used in this country was imported! + +The reason of this marvellous neglect of what has since proved one of +our main sources of wealth lay in the enormous consumption of timber +which the old smelting processes entailed. The charcoal used in +producing a single ton of pig-iron represented four loads of wood, and +that required for a ton of bar-iron represented seven loads. Of course, +the neighbourhood of a forest was an essential condition to the +establishment of ironworks; but wherever such an establishment was +effected, the forest disappeared with portentous rapidity. At +Lamberhurst, on the borders of Kent and Sussex, with so trifling a +produce as five tons per week, the annual consumption of wood was two +hundred thousand cords. The timber wealth of Kent, Surrey, and +Sussex--which counties were then the centres of our iron +industry--seemed menaced with speedy annihilation. In the destruction of +these great forests, that of our maritime power was supposed to be +intimately involved; so that it is easy to understand how, in those +days, the development of the iron manufacture came to be regarded in +the light of a national calamity, and a fitting subject for restrictive +legislation! Various Acts were passed towards the end of the sixteenth +century prohibiting smelting-furnaces within twenty-two miles of London, +and many of the Sussex masters found themselves compelled, in +consequence, to break up their works. During the civil wars of the +seventeenth century, a severe blow was given to the trade by the +destruction of all furnaces belonging to royalists; and after the +Restoration we find the crown itself demolishing its own works in the +Forest of Dean, on the old plea that the supply of shipbuilding timber +was thereby imperilled. Between 1720 and 1730 the ironworks of +Worcestershire and the Forest of Dean consumed 17,350 tons of timber +annually, or five tons for each furnace. + +'From this time' (the Restoration), says Mr Smiles, 'the iron +manufacture of Sussex, as of England generally, rapidly declined. In +1740 there were only fifty-nine furnaces in all England, of which ten +were in Sussex; and in 1788 there were only two. A few years later, and +the Sussex iron-furnaces were blown out altogether. Farnhurst in +Western, and Ashburnham in Eastern Sussex, witnessed the total +extinction of the manufacture. The din of the iron hammer was hushed, +the glare of the furnace faded, the last blast of the bellows was blown, +and the district returned to its original rural solitude. Some of the +furnace-ponds were drained and planted with hops or willows; others +formed beautiful lakes in retired pleasure-grounds; while the remainder +were used to drive flour-mills, as the streams in North Kent, instead of +driving fulling-mills, were employed to work paper-mills.' The +plentifulness of timber in the Scottish Highlands explains the +establishment of smelting-furnaces, in 1753, by an English company at +Bunawe in Argyllshire, whither the iron was brought from Furness in +Lancashire. + +Few of our readers can be unacquainted with the fact that iron-smelting +at the present day is performed not with wood but with coal. It will +readily, then, be understood that the substitution of the one +description of fuel for the other must have formed the turning-point in +the history of the British iron manufacture. This substitution, however, +was brought about very slowly. The prejudice against coal was for a long +period extreme; its use for domestic purposes was pronounced detrimental +to health; and, even for purposes of manufacture, it was generally +condemned. Nevertheless, as wood became scarcer and dearer, a closer +examination into the capabilities of coal came naturally to be made; and +here, as in almost every other industrial path, we find a foreigner +acting as our pioneer. The Germans had long been experienced in mining +and metallurgy; and it was a German, Simon Sturtevant, who first took +out a patent for smelting iron with coal. But his process proved a +failure, and the patent was cancelled. Other Germans, naturalised here, +followed in Sturtevant's footsteps, but with no better results; until at +last an Englishman, Dud Dudley (1599-1684), took up the idea, and gave +it practical success. The town of Dudley was even then a centre of the +iron manufacture, and Dud's noble father, Lord Dudley, owned several +furnaces. But here, also, the forest-wealth of the district was fast +melting away, and the trade already languished under the dread of +impending dissolution. In the immediate neighbourhood, meanwhile, coal +was abundant, with ironstone and limestone in close proximity to it. +Dud, who, as a child, had haunted and scrutinised his father's ironworks +with wondering delight, was placed just at this juncture in charge of a +furnace and a couple of forges, and immediately turned his energetic +mind to the question of smelting with coal. Some careful experiments +succeeded so well that he wrote to his father, requesting him to take +out a patent for the process; and this patent, registered in Lord +Dudley's name, and dated the 22d February 1620, properly inaugurated the +great metallurgic revolution which had made the English iron trade what +it now is. Andrew Yarranton was another pioneer in the iron and +tin-plate industry, and wrote a remarkable work on _England's +Improvement by Sea and Land_ (1677-81). + +Nevertheless, even with this positive success on record, the inert +insular mind long refused to follow the path cleared for it. Dud's +discovery 'was neither appreciated by the iron-masters nor by the +workmen;' and all schemes for smelting ore with any other fuel than +wood-charcoal were regarded with incredulity. His secret seems to have +been bequeathed to no one, and for many years after his death the old, +much-abused, forest-devouring system went tottering on. Stern necessity, +however, taught its hard lesson at last, and a period insensibly arrived +when the employment of coal in smelting processes became the rule rather +than the exception, and might be seen here and there on an unusually +large scale--especially at the celebrated Coalbrookdale works, in the +valley of the Severn, Shropshire. + +The founder of the Coalbrookdale industries was a Quaker--Abraham Darby +(1677-1717). A small furnace had existed on the spot ever since the days +of the Tudors, and this small furnace formed the nucleus of that +industrial activity which the visitor of Coalbrookdale surveys with such +wonder at the present day. + +In Darby's time, the principal cooking utensils of the poorer classes +were pots and kettles made of cast-iron. But even this primitive ware +was beyond native skill, and most of the utensils in question were +imported from Holland. Exercising an effort of judgment, which, moderate +as it was, seems to have been hitherto unexampled, Darby resolved to +pay that country a visit, and ascertain in person why it was that Dutch +castings were so good and English so bad. The use of dry sand instead of +clay for the moulds comprised, he found, the whole secret. + +On returning to England, Darby took out a patent for the new process, +and his castings soon acquired repute. The use of pit-coal in the +Coalbrookdale furnaces is not supposed, however, to have become general +until the worthy Abraham had been succeeded by his son; but when it once +did become so, the impetus thereby given to the iron trade and to +coal-mining was immense. It is the latter industry which may +pre-eminently claim to have called the steam-engine into existence. The +demand for pumping-power adequate to the drainage of deep mines set +Newcomen's brain to work; and the engine rough-sketched by his +ingenuity, and perfected by the genius of Watt, soon increased +enormously the production of iron by rendering coal more accessible and +the blast-furnace more efficient. + +A son-in-law of Abraham Darby's, Richard Reynolds by name, made a great +stride towards the modern railway by substituting iron for wood on the +tramways which connected the different works at Coalbrookdale; and it +was a grandson of the same Abraham who designed and erected the first +iron bridge. + +England, we have seen, borrowed the idea of her smelting processes and +iron-castings from Germany and Holland; but the discovery of that +important material, cast-steel, belongs, at least, to one of her own +sons. Yet even here the relationship is a merely conventional one, for +Benjamin Huntsman (1704-1776) was the child of German parents who had +settled in Lincolnshire. + +Huntsman's original calling was that of a clock-maker; but his +remarkable mechanical skill, his shrewdness, and his practical sense, +soon gave him the repute of the 'wise man' of the district, and brought +neighbours to consult him not only as to the repair of every ordinary +sort of machinery, but also of the human frame--the most complex of all +machines! It was his daily experience of the inferior quality of the +tools at his command that led him to make experiments in the manufacture +of steel. What his experiments were we have no record to show; but that +they must have been conducted with Teutonic patience and thoroughness +there can be no doubt, from the formidable nature of the difficulties +overcome. + +England, however, long refused to make use of Huntsman's precious +material, although produced in her very midst. The Sheffield cutlers +would have nothing to do with a substance so much harder than anything +they were accustomed to, and Huntsman was actually compelled to look for +his market abroad! All the cast-steel he could manufacture was sent over +to France, and the merit of employing this material for general purposes +belongs originally to that country. The inventions of Henry Cort +(1740-1800) for refining and rolling iron (1785) were the mainspring of +the malleable iron trade, and made Great Britain independent of Russia +and Sweden for supplies of manufactured iron. One authority has stated +that since 1790, when Cort's improvements were entirely established, the +value of landed property in England had doubled. But he was unfortunate +in business life, and in 1811 upwards of forty iron firms subscribed +towards a fund for the assistance of his widow and nine orphan children. +David Mushet (1772-1847) did much for the expansion of the iron trade in +Scotland by his preparation of steel from bar-iron by a direct process, +combining the iron with carbon, and by his discovery of the effect of +manganese on steel. + +Steel is the material of which the instruments of labour are +essentially made. Upon the quality of the material, that of the +instrument naturally depends, and upon the quality of the instrument, +that, in great measure, of the work. Watt's marvellous invention ran +great risk, at one time, of being abandoned, for the simple reason that +the mechanical capacities of the age were not 'up' to its embodiment. +Even after Watt had secured the aid of Boulton's best workmen, Smeaton +gave it as his opinion that the steam-engine could never be brought into +general use, because of the difficulty of getting its various parts made +with the requisite precision. + +The execution by machinery of work ordinarily executed by hand-tools has +been a gigantic stride in the path of material civilisation. The +earliest phase of the great modern movement in this direction is +represented, probably, by the sawmill. A sawmill was erected near London +as long ago as 1663--by a foreigner--but was shortly abandoned in +consequence of the determined hostility of the sawyers; and more than a +century elapsed before another mill was put up. But the sawmill is +comparatively a rude structure, and the material it operates upon is +easily treated, even by the hand. When we come to deal, however, with +such substances as iron and steel, the benefit of machinery becomes +incalculable. Without our recent machine-tools, indeed, the stupendous +iron creations of the present day would have been impossible at any +cost; for no amount of hand-labour could ever attain that perfect +exactitude of construction without which it would be idle to attempt +fitting the component parts of these colossal structures together. + +The first impulse, however, to the improvement of machine-tools for +ironwork was given by a difficulty born not of mass but of minuteness. + +Up to the end of the last century, the locks in common use among us +were of the rudest description, and afforded scarcely any security +against thieves. To meet this universal want, Joseph Bramah set his +remarkable inventive faculties to work, and speedily contrived a lock so +perfect, that it held its ground for many a day. But Bramah's locks are +machines of the most delicate kind, depending for their efficiency upon +the precision with which their component parts are finished; and, at +that time, the attainment of this precision, at such a price as to +render the lock an article of extensive commerce, seemed an insuperable +difficulty. In his dilemma, Bramah's attention was directed to a +youngster in the Woolwich Arsenal smithy, named Henry Maudsley, whose +reputation for ingenuity was already great among his fellows. Bramah was +at first almost ashamed to take such a mere lad into his counsels; but a +preliminary conversation convinced him that his confidence would not be +misplaced. He persuaded Maudsley to enter his employment, and the result +was the invention, between them, of the planing-machine, applicable +either to wood or metal, as also of certain improvements in the old +lathe, more particularly of that known as the 'slide-rest.' + +In the old-fashioned lathe, the workman guided his cutting-tool by sheer +muscular strength, and the slightest variation in the pressure +necessarily led to an irregularity of surface. The rest for the hand is +in this case fixed, and the tool held by the workman travels along it. +Now, the principle of the slide-rest is the opposite of this. The rest +itself holds the tool firmly fixed in it, and slides along the bench in +a direction parallel with the axis of the work. All that the workman has +to do, therefore, is to turn a screw-handle, by means of which the +cutter is carried along with the smallest possible expenditure of +strength; and even this trifling labour has been since got rid of, by +making the rest self-acting. + +Simple and obvious as this improvement seems, its importance cannot be +overrated. The accuracy it insured was precisely the desideratum of the +day! By means of the slide-rest, the most delicate as well as the most +ponderous pieces of machinery can be turned with mathematical precision; +and from this invention must date that extraordinary development of +mechanical power and production which is a characteristic of the age we +live in. 'Without the aid of the vast accession to our power of +producing perfect mechanism which it at once supplied,' says a +first-class judge in matters of the kind, 'we could never have worked +out into practical and profitable forms the conceptions of those +master-minds who, during the past half-century, have so successfully +pioneered the way for mankind. The steam-engine itself, which supplies +us with such unbounded power, owes its present perfection to this most +admirable means of giving to metallic objects the most precise and +perfect geometrical forms. How could we, for instance, have good +steam-engines if we had not the means of boring out a true cylinder, or +turning a true piston-rod, or planing a valve-face?' + +It would perhaps be impossible to cite any more authoritative estimate +of Maudsley's invention than the above. The words placed between +inverted commas are the words of James Nasmyth, the inventor of that +wonderful steam-hammer which Professor Tomlinson characterises as 'one +of the most perfect of artificial machines and noblest triumphs of mind +over matter that modern English engineers have yet developed.' + +[Illustration: Nasmyth's Steam-hammer.] + +This machine enlarged at one bound the whole scale of working in iron, +and permitted Maudsley's lathe to develop its entire range of capacity. +The old 'tilt-hammer' was so constructed that the more voluminous the +material submitted to it, the _less_ was the power attainable; so that +as soon as certain dimensions had been exceeded, the hammer became +utterly useless. When the _Great Western_ steamship was in course of +construction, tenders were invited from the leading mechanical firms for +the supply of the enormous paddle-shaft required for her engines. But a +forging of the size in question had never been executed, and no firm in +England would undertake the contract. In this dilemma, Mr Nasmyth was +applied to, and the result of his study of the problem was this +marvellous steam-hammer--so powerful that it will forge an Armstrong +hundred-pounder as easily as a farrier forges a horse-shoe, and so +delicately manageable that it will crack a nut without bruising its +kernel! + + +BESSEMER STEEL. + +In 1722, Reaumur produced steel by melting three parts of cast-iron with +one part of wrought iron (probably in a crucible) in a common forge; he, +however, failed to produce steel in this manner on a working scale. This +process has many points in common with the Indian Wootz-steel +manufacture. + +As we have seen, to Benjamin Huntsman, a Doncaster artisan, belongs the +credit of first producing cast-steel upon a working scale, as he was the +first to accomplish the entire fusion of converted bar-iron (that is, +blister-steel) of the required degree of hardness, in crucibles or clay +pots, placed among the coke of an air-furnace. This process is still +carried on at Sheffield and elsewhere, and is what is generally known as +the crucible or pot-steel process. It was mainly supplementary to the +cementation process, as formerly blister-steel was alone melted in the +crucibles; but latterly, and at the present time, the crucible mode of +manufacture embraces the fusion of other varieties and combinations of +metal, producing accordingly different classes and qualities of steel. + +In 1839, Josiah Marshall Heath patented the important application of +carburet of manganese to steel in the crucible, which application +imparted to the resulting product the properties of varying temper and +increased forgeability. He subsequently found out that a separate +operation was not necessary to form the carburet--which is produced by +heating peroxide of manganese and carbon to a high temperature--but that +the same result could be attained by simply in the first instance adding +the carbon and oxide of manganese direct to the metal in the crucible. +He unsuspectingly communicated this after-discovery to his agent--by +name Unwin--who took advantage of the fact that it was not incorporated +in the wording of the patent, and so was unprotected, to make use of it +for his own advantage. The result was one of the most remarkable patent +trials on record, extending over twelve years, and terminating in 1855 +against the patentee--a remarkable instance of the triumph of legal +technicalities over the moral sense of right. + +A very important development of the manufacture of steel followed the +introduction of the 'Bessemer process,' by means of which a low carbon +or mild cast-steel can be produced at about one-tenth of the cost of +crucible steel. It is used for rails, for the tires of the wheels of +railway carriages, for ship-plates, boiler-plates, for shafting, and a +multitude of constructional and other purposes to which only wrought +iron was formerly applied, besides many for which no metal at all was +used. + +Sir Henry Bessemer's process for making steel, which is now so largely +practised in England, on the continent of Europe, and in America, was +patented in 1856. It was first applied to the making of malleable iron, +but this has never been successfully made by the Bessemer method. For +the manufacture of a cheap but highly serviceable steel, however, its +success has been so splendid that no other metallurgical process has +given its inventor so great a renown. Although the apparatus actually +used is somewhat costly and elaborate, yet the principle of the +operation is very simple. A large converting vessel, with openings +called tuyeres in its bottom, is partially filled up with from 5 to 10 +tons of molten pig-iron, and a blast of air, at a pressure of from 18 to +20 lb. per square inch, is forced through this metal by a blowing +engine. Pig-iron contains from 3 to 5 per cent. of carbon, and, if it +has been smelted with charcoal from a pure ore, as is the case with +Swedish iron, the blast is continued till only from .25 to 1 per cent. +of the carbon is left in the metal, that is to say, steel is produced. +Sometimes, however, the minimum quantity of carbon is even less than .25 +per cent. In England, where a less pure but still expensive +cast-iron--viz. haematite pig--is used for the production of steel in the +ordinary Bessemer converter, the process differs slightly. In this case +the whole of the carbon is oxidised by the blast of air, and the +requisite quantity of this element is afterwards restored to the metal +by pouring into the converter a small quantity of a peculiar kind of +cast-iron, called _spiegeleisen_, which contains a known quantity of +carbon. But small quantities of manganese and silicon are also present +in Bessemer steel. The 'blow' lasts from 20 to 30 minutes. Steel made +from whatever kind of pig-iron, either by this or by the 'basic' +process, is not sufficiently dense, at least for most purposes, and it +is accordingly manipulated under the steam-hammer and rolled into a +variety of forms. Bessemer steel is employed, as we have said, for heavy +objects, as rails, tires, rollers, boiler-plates, ship-plates, and for +many other purposes for which malleable iron was formerly used. + +Basic steel is now largely made from inferior pig-iron, such as the +Cleveland, by the Thomas-Gilchrist process patented in 1878. It is, +however, only a modification of the Bessemer process to the extent of +substituting for the siliceous or 'acid' lining generally used, a lime +or 'basic' lining for the converter. Limestone, preferably a magnesian +limestone in some form, is commonly employed for the lining. By the use +of a basic lining, phosphorus is eliminated towards the end of the +'blow.' Phosphorus is a very deleterious substance in steel, and is +present, sometimes to the extent of 2 per cent., in pig-iron smelted +from impure ore. + +The four inventions of this century which have given the greatest +impetus to the manufacture of iron and steel were--the introduction of +the hot blast into the blast-furnace for the production of crude iron, +made by J. B. Neilson, of the Glasgow Gas-works, in 1827; the +application of the cold blast in the Bessemer converter which we have +just described; the production of steel direct from the ore, by Siemens, +in the open hearth; and the discovery of a basic lining by which +phosphorus is eliminated and all kinds of iron converted into steel. +This last was the discovery of G. J. Snelus, of London, and it was made +a practical success by the Thomas & Gilchrist process just described. In +1883, Mr Snelus was awarded the Bessemer gold medal of the Iron and +Steel Institute 'as the first man who made pure steel from impure iron +in a Bessemer converter lined with basic materials.' + + +SIR HENRY BESSEMER. + +Sir Henry Bessemer, the inventor of the modern process of making steel +from iron, which has just been described, was the son of Anthony +Bessemer, who escaped from France in 1792, and found employment in the +English Mint. He was born in 1813, at Charlton, Herts, where his father +had an estate, was to a great extent self-taught, and his favourite +amusement was in modelling buildings and other objects in clay. He came +up to London 'knowing no one, and no one knowing me--a mere cipher in +this vast sea of enterprise.' He first earned his living by engraving a +large number of elegant and original designs on steel with a diamond +point, for patent medicine labels. He found work also as designer and +modeller. He has been a prolific inventor, as the volumes issued by the +Patent Office show. It has been said that he has paid in patent stamp +duties alone as much as L10,000. At twenty he invented a mode of taking +copies from antique and modern basso-relievos in such a way that they +might be stamped on card-board, thousands being produced at a small +cost. + +His inventive faculty also devised a ready method whereby those who were +defrauding the government by detaching old stamps from leases, +money-bills, and agreements, and by using them over again, could be +defeated in their purpose. + +His first pecuniary success was obtained by his invention of machinery +for the manufacture of Bessemer gold and bronze powders, which was not +patented, but the nature of which was long kept secret. Another +successful invention was a machine for making Utrecht velvet. He also +interested himself in the manufacture of paints, oils, and varnishes, +sugar, railway carriages, ordnance, projectiles, and the ventilation of +mines. In the Exhibition of 1851 he exhibited an ingenious machine for +grinding and polishing plate-glass. + +Like Lord Armstrong, Bessemer turned his attention to the subject of the +improvement of projectiles when there was a prospect of a European war +in 1853. He invented a mode of firing elongated projectiles from +smooth-bore guns, but received no countenance from the officials at +Woolwich. + +Commander Minie, who had charge of the experiments which Bessemer was +making on behalf of the Emperor of the French, said: 'Yes, the shots +rotate properly; but if we cannot get something stronger for our guns, +these heavy projectiles will be of little use.' This started Bessemer +thinking and experimenting further, and led up, as we will see, to the +great industrial revolution with which his name stands identified. He +informed the Emperor that he intended to study the whole subject of +metals suitable for artillery purposes. He built experimental works at +St Pancras, but made many failures, furnace after furnace being pulled +down and rebuilt. His prolonged and expensive experiments in getting a +suitable ordnance metal were meanwhile using up his capital; but he was +on the eve of a great discovery, and began to see that the refinement of +iron might go on until pure malleable iron or steel could be obtained. +His wife aided and encouraged him at this time as only a true wife can. +After a year and a half, in which he patented many improvements in the +existing systems of manufacture, it occurred to him to introduce a blast +of atmospheric air into the fluid metal, whereby the cast-iron might be +made malleable. He found that by blowing air through crude iron in a +fluid state, it could thus be rendered malleable. He next tried the +method of having the air blown from below by means of an air-engine. +Molten iron being poured into the vessel, and air being forced in from +below, resulted in a surprising combustion, and the iron in the vessel +was transformed into steel. The introduction of oxygen through the fluid +iron, induced a higher heat, and burned up the impurities. Feeling that +he had succeeded in his experiment, he acquainted Mr George Rennie with +the result. The latter said to him: 'This must not be hid under a +bushel. The British Association meets next week at Cheltenham; if you +have patented your invention, draw up an account of it in a paper, and +have it read in Section G.' Accordingly Bessemer wrote an account of his +process, and in August 1856, he read his paper before the British +Association 'On the Manufacture of Malleable Iron and Steel without +Fuel,' which startled the iron trade of the country. + +On the morning of the day on which his paper was to be read, Bessemer +was sitting at breakfast in his hotel, when an iron-master to whom he +was unknown, laughingly said to a friend: 'Do you know that there is +somebody come down from London to read us a paper _on making steel from +cast-iron without fuel_? Did you ever hear of such nonsense?' + +Amongst those who spoke generously and enthusiastically of Bessemer's +new process was James Nasmyth, to whom the inventor offered one-third +share of the value of the patent, which would have been another fortune +to him. Nasmyth had made money enough by this time, however, and +declined. + +In a communication to Nasmyth, Sir Henry Bessemer thanked him for his +early patronage, and described his discovery: 'I shall ever feel +grateful for the noble way in which you spoke at the meeting at +Cheltenham of my invention. If I remember rightly, you held up a piece +of malleable iron, saying words to this effect: "Here is a true British +nugget! Here is a new process that promises to put an end to all +puddling; and I may mention that at this moment there are +puddling-furnaces in successful operation where my patent hollow +steam-rabbler is at work, producing iron of superior quality by the +introduction of jets of steam in the puddling process. I do not, +however, lay any claim to this invention of Mr Bessemer; but I may +fairly be entitled to say that I have advanced along the roads on which +he has travelled so many miles, and has effected such unexpected +results, that I do not hesitate to say that I may go home from this +meeting and tear up my patent, for my process of puddling is assuredly +superseded."' + +After giving an account of his failures, as well as successes, Sir Henry +proceeded to say: 'I prepared to try another experiment, in a crucible +having no hole in the bottom, but which was provided with an iron pipe +put through a hole in the cover, and passing down nearly to the bottom +of the crucible. The small lumps and grains of iron were packed round +it, so as nearly to fill the crucible. A blast of air was to be forced +down the pipe so as to rise up among the pieces of granular iron, and +partly decarburise them. The pipe could then be withdrawn, and the fire +urged until the metal with its coat of oxide was fused, and cast-steel +thereby produced. + +'While the blowing apparatus for this experiment was being fitted up, I +was taken with one of those short but painful illnesses to which I was +subject at that time. I was confined to my bed, and it was then that my +mind, dwelling for hours together on the experiment about to be made, +suggested that instead of trying to decarburise the granulated metal by +forcing the air down the vertical pipe among the pieces of iron, the air +would act much more energetically and more rapidly if I first melted the +iron in the crucible, _and forced the air down the pipe below the +surface of the fluid metal_, and thus burnt out the carbon and silicum +which it contained. + +'This appeared so feasible, and in every way so great an improvement, +that the experiment on the granular pieces was at once abandoned, and as +soon as I was well enough, I proceeded to try the experiment of forcing +the air under the fluid metal. The result was marvellous. Complete +decarburation was effected in half an hour. The heat produced was +immense, but unfortunately more than half the metal was blown out of the +pot. This led to the use of pots with large, hollow, perforated covers, +which effectually prevented the loss of metal. These experiments +continued from January to October 1855. I have by me on the mantelpiece +at this moment, a small piece of rolled bar-iron which was rolled at +Woolwich Arsenal, and exhibited a year later at Cheltenham. + +'I then applied for a patent, but before preparing my provisional +specification (dated October 17, 1855), I searched for other patents to +ascertain whether anything of the sort had been done before. I then +found your patent for puddling with the steam-rabble, and also Martin's +patent for the use of steam in gutters while molten iron was being +conveyed from the blast-furnace to a finery, there to be refined in the +ordinary way prior to puddling.' + +[Illustration: BESSEMER CONVERTING VESSEL: _a_, _a_, _a_, tuyeres; +_b_, air-space; _c_, melted metal.] + +Several leading men in the iron trade took licenses for the new +manufacture, which brought Bessemer L27,000 within thirty days of the +time of reading his paper. These licenses he afterwards bought back for +L31,000, giving fresh ones in their stead. Some of the early experiments +failed, and it was feared the new method would prove impracticable. +These experiments failed because of the presence of phosphorus in the +iron. But Bessemer worked steadily in order to remove the difficulties +which had arisen, and a chemical laboratory was added to his +establishment, with a professor of chemistry attached. Success awaited +him. The new method of steel-making spread into France and Sweden, and +in 1879 the works for making Bessemer steel were eighty-four in number, +and represented a capital of more than three millions. His process for +the manufacture of steel raised the annual production of steel in +England from 50,000 tons by the older processes to as many as 2,000,000 +tons in some years. It was next used for boiler-plates; shipbuilding +with Bessemer steel was begun in 1862, and now it is employed for most +of the purposes for which malleable iron was formerly used. The +production of Europe and America in 1892 was over 10,000,000 tons, of a +probable value of L84,000,000, sufficient, as has been remarked, to make +a solid steel wall round London 40 feet high, and 5 feet thick. It would +take, according to the inventor, two or three years' production of all +the gold-mines in the world to pay in gold for the output of Bessemer +steel for one year. The price of steel previous to Huntsman's process +was about L10,000 per ton; after him, from L50 to L100. Now Bessemer +leaves it at L5 to L6 per ton. And a process which occupied ten days can +be accomplished within half an hour. + +[Illustration: Bessemer Process.] + +In his sketch of the 'Bessemer Steel Industry, Past and Present' (1894), +Sir Henry Bessemer says: 'It is this new material, so much stronger and +tougher than common iron, that now builds our ships of war and our +mercantile marine. Steel forms their boilers, their propeller shafts, +their hulls, their masts and spars, their standing rigging, their cable +chains and anchors, and also their guns and armour-plating. This new +material has covered with a network of steel rails the surface of every +country in Europe, and in America alone there are no less than 175,000 +miles of Bessemer steel rails.' These steel rails last six times longer +than if laid of iron. + +Bessemer was knighted in 1879, and has received many gold medals from +scientific institutions. In addition he has, to use his own words, +received in the form of royalties 1,057,748 of the beautiful little gold +medals (sovereigns) issued by her Majesty's Mint. The method chosen by +the Americans to perpetuate his name has been the founding of the +growing centre of industry called Bessemer in Indiana, while Bessemer, +in Pennsylvania, is the seat of the great Edgar Thompson steel-works. +Thus the man who was at first neglected by government has become wealthy +beyond the dreams of avarice, and his name is immortal in the annals of +our manufacturing industry. + + +SIR CHARLES WILLIAM SIEMENS AND THE SIEMENS PROCESS. + +Another pioneer in the manufacture of steel and iron was CHARLES WILLIAM +SIEMENS, the seventh child of a German landowner, who was born at +Lenthe, near Hanover, 4th April 1823. He showed an affectionate and +sensitive disposition while very young, and a strong faculty of +observation. He received a good plain education at Luebeck, and in +deference to his brother Werner he agreed to become an engineer, and +accordingly was sent to an industrial school at Magdeburg in 1838, where +he also learned languages, including English; mathematics he learned +from his interested brother. He left Magdeburg in 1841 in order to +increase his scientific knowledge at Goettingen, and there he studied +chemistry and physics, with the view of becoming an engineer. Werner, +his elder brother, was still his good genius, and after the death of +their parents counselled and encouraged him, and looked upon him as a +probable future colleague. They corresponded with one another, not only +about family affairs, but also about the scientific and technical +subjects in which both were engrossed. This became a life-long habit +with the brothers Siemens. One early letter from William described a new +kind of valve-gearing which he had invented for Cornish steam-engines. +Then the germ of the idea of what was afterwards known as the +'chronometric governor' for steam-engines was likewise communicated in +this way. Mr Pole says that his early letters were significant of the +talent and capacity of the writer. 'They evince an acuteness of +perception in mechanical matters, a power of close and correct +reasoning, a sound judgment, a fertility of invention, and an ease and +accuracy of expression which, in a youth of nineteen, who had only a few +months' experience in a workshop, are extraordinary, and undoubtedly +shadow forth the brilliant future he attained in the engineering world.' + +Werner in 1841 had taken out a patent for his method of electro-gilding, +while William early in 1843 paid his first visit to England, travelling +by way of Hamburg. He took up his abode in a little inn called the 'Ship +and Star,' at Sparrow Corner, near the Minories. In an address as +President of the Midland Institute, Birmingham, on 28th October 1881, he +related his first experiences in England, and how he secured his first +success there. + +Mr Siemens said: 'That form of energy known as the electric current was +nothing more than the philosopher's delight forty years ago; its first +application may be traced to this good town of Birmingham, where Mr +George Richards Elkington, utilising the discoveries of Davy, Faraday, +and Jacobi, had established a practical process of electroplating in +1842.... Although I was only a young student of Goettingen, under twenty +years of age, who had just entered upon his practical career with a +mechanical engineer, I joined my brother Werner Siemens, then a young +lieutenant of artillery in the Prussian service, in his endeavour to +accomplish electro-gilding.... I tore myself away from the narrow +circumstances surrounding me, and landed at the East End of London, with +only a few pounds in my pocket and without friends, but an ardent +confidence of ultimate success within my breast. + +'I expected to find some office in which inventions were examined into, +and rewarded if found meritorious, but no one could direct me to such a +place. In walking along Finsbury Pavement I saw written up in large +letters, "So-and-So"--I forget the name--"undertaker," and the thought +struck me that this must be the place I was in quest of; at any rate, I +thought that a person advertising himself as an "undertaker" would not +refuse to look into my invention, with the view of obtaining for me the +sought for recognition or reward. On entering the place I soon convinced +myself, however, that I came decidedly too soon for the kind of +enterprise there contemplated.' By dint of perseverance, however, +Siemens secured a letter from Messrs Poole and Carpmaell, of the Patent +Office, to Mr Elkington of Birmingham. Elkington and his partner Josiah +Mason both met the young inventor in such a spirit of fairness that, as +he says, he returned to his native country, and to his mechanical +engineering, 'a comparative Croesus.' After the lapse of forty years +his heart still beat quick when thinking of this determining incident in +his career. + +The sum which Elkington paid him for his 'thermo-electrical battery' for +depositing solutions of gold, silver, and copper was L1600, less L110 +for the cost of the patent. Although quite successful at the time, other +and cheaper processes speedily supplanted it; but the young German had +gained a footing and the money he needed for future experiments. When he +came back to Germany he was looked upon as quite a hero by his admiring +family circle. It was indeed a creditable exploit for a youth of twenty. +When he returned to England again in February 1844, he received so much +encouragement from leading engineers and scientific men for his +'chronometric governor,' that he decided to settle permanently there, +and he became a naturalised British subject in 1859. He joined with a +civil engineer, named Joseph Woods, for the promotion and sale of his +patents. 'Anastatic printing' was one of his early inventions, which, +however, never became profitable. Then came schemes in paper-making, new +methods of propelling ships, winged rockets, and locomotives on new +principles, all of which were a continual drain on his own and his +friends' resources without a corresponding return, so that in 1845 he +took a situation and earned some money by railway work, which enabled +him to pay another visit to Germany. In 1846, undaunted by previous +failures, he threw himself heartily into the study of the action of heat +as a power-giving agent, and invented an arrangement known as the +'regenerator' for saving certain portions of this waste. As afterwards +applied to furnaces for iron, steel, zinc, glass, and other works, it +was pronounced by Sir Henry Bessemer a beautiful invention, at once the +most philosophic in principle, the most powerful in action, and the most +economic of all the contrivances for producing heat by the combustion of +coal. He now secured an appointment in 1849 with Fox & Henderson, +Birmingham, at a fixed salary of L400 a year, and his interest in his +patent. Here he profited largely by the experience gained, but the +engagement terminated in 1851, when he afterwards settled as a civil +engineer in 7 John Street, Adelphi, in March 1852. + +His next great achievement was the production of steel direct from the +raw ores by means of his regenerative furnace, which the President of +the Board of Trade in 1883 mentioned in the House of Commons as one of +the most valuable inventions ever produced under the protection of the +English patent law, and he said further that it was then being used in +almost every industry in the kingdom. Siemens had spent fourteen years +in perfecting this regenerative furnace, and it took him other fourteen +to utilise it, and perfect it in making steel direct from the raw ores. +Martin of Sireil, who made one or two additions to the Siemens steel +furnace, has been termed its inventor, but this claim has no foundation. +What is known, however, as the 'Siemens-Martin process' is now competing +very effectively with the Bessemer process. It consists essentially in +first obtaining a bath of melted pig-iron of high quality, and then +adding to this pieces of wrought-iron scrap or Bessemer scrap, such as +crop ends of rails, shearings of plates, &c. These, though practically +non-infusible in large quantities by themselves, become dissolved or +fused in such a bath if added gradually. To the bath of molten metal +thus obtained spiegeleisen or ferro-manganese is added to supply the +required carbon and to otherwise act as in the Bessemer converter. The +result is tested by small ladle samples, and when it is of the desired +quality a portion is run off, leaving sufficient bath for the +continuation of the process. + +Siemens took out his patent for the 'open hearth' process of +steel-making (the Forth Bridge is built of steel made in this way) in +1861, and four years later erected sample steel works at Birmingham. The +engineer of the London and North-Western Railway adopted his system at +Crewe in 1868, and the Great Western Railway works followed. In 1869 +this process was being carried out on a large scale at the works of the +Landore-Siemens Steel Company and elsewhere in England, as well as at +various works on the Continent, including Krupp's, at Essen. + +In 1862, Siemens was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1874 +was presented with the Royal Albert Medal, and in 1875 with the Bessemer +Medal in recognition of his researches and inventions in heat and +metallurgy. He filled the president's chair in the three principal +engineering and telegraphic societies of Great Britain, and in 1882 was +President of the British Association. As manager in England of the firm +of Siemens Brothers, Sir William Siemens was actively engaged in the +construction of overland and submarine telegraphs. The steamship +_Faraday_ was specially designed by him for cable-laying. In addition to +his labours in connection with electric-lighting, Sir William Siemens +also successfully applied, in the construction of the Portrush Electric +Tramway, which was opened in 1883, electricity to the production of +locomotion. In his regenerative furnace, as we have seen, he utilised in +an ingenious way the heat which would otherwise have escaped with the +products of combustion. The process was subsequently applied in many +industrial processes, but notably by Siemens himself in the manufacture +of steel. + +The other inventions and researches of this wonderful man include a +water-meter; a thermometer or pyrometer, which measures by the change +produced in the electric conductivity of metals; the bathometer, for +measuring ocean depths by variations in the attraction exerted on a +delicately suspended body; and the hastening of vegetable growth by use +of the electric light. He was knighted in April 1883, and died on +November 19 of the same year. There is a memorial window to his memory +in Westminster Abbey. + +As the elder brother of Sir William Siemens was so closely connected +with him in business life, and may be said to have encouraged and led +him into the walk of life in which he excelled, he also deserves a +notice here. WERNER VON SIEMENS, engineer and electrician, was born +December 13, 1816, at Lenthe in Hanover. In 1834 he entered the Prussian +Artillery; and in 1844 was put in charge of the artillery workshops at +Berlin. He early showed scientific tastes, and in 1841 took out his +first patent for galvanic silver and gold plating. By selling the right +of using his process he made 40 louis d'or, which supplied him with the +means for further experiments. During the Schleswig-Holstein war, he +attracted considerable attention by using electricity for the firing of +the mines which had been laid for the defence of Kiel harbour. He was of +peculiar service in developing the telegraphic service in Prussia, and +discovered in this connection the valuable insulating property of +gutta-percha for underground and submarine cables. In 1849 he left the +army, and shortly after the service of the state altogether, and devoted +his energies to the construction of telegraphic and electrical apparatus +of all kinds. The well-known firm of Siemens and Halske was established +in 1847 in Berlin, and to them the Russian government entrusted the +construction of the telegraph lines in that country. Subsequently +branches were formed, chiefly under the management of the younger +brothers of Werner Siemens, in St Petersburg (1857), in London (1858), +in Vienna (1858), and in Tiflis (1863). In 1857, Siemens accomplished +the remarkable feat of successfully laying a cable in deep water, at a +depth of more than 1000 fathoms. This was between Sardinia and Bona. +Shortly after he superintended the laying of cables in the Red Sea; and +these successful experiments soon led to the greatest undertaking of +all, the connection of America with Europe. Besides devising numerous +useful forms of galvanometers and other electrical instruments of +precision, Werner Siemens was one of the discoverers of the principle of +the self-acting dynamo. He also made valuable determinations of the +electrical resistance of different substances, the resistance of a +column of mercury, one metre long, and one square millimetre cross +section at 0 deg. C., being known as the Siemens Unit. His numerous +scientific and technical papers, written for the various journals, were +republished in collected form in 1881. In 1886 he gave 500,000 marks for +the founding of an imperial institute of technology and physics; and in +1888 he was ennobled. He died at Berlin, 6th December 1892. A +translation of his _Personal Recollections_ by Coupland appeared in +1893. + + * * * * * + +Space forbids us mentioning other worthy names in the steel and iron +trade, although we cannot pass by Sir John Brown, founder of the Atlas +Steel-works, Sheffield (1857), and one of the first to adopt the +Bessemer process. He was also the pioneer of armour-plate making. The +immense strides he made in business may be judged from the fact that +when he started in 1857 his employees numbered 200, with a turnover of +L3000 a year; in 1867 they numbered 4000, and the turnover was +L1,000,000. The weekly pay roll amounted to L7000 in 1883, and when he +handed over the business to his successors, he was paid L200,000 for the +goodwill. + + +KRUPP'S IRON AND STEEL WORKS AT ESSEN. + +One of the largest iron and steel manufacturing establishments in the +world is that founded by the late Alfred Krupp, the famous German +cannon-founder, whose name is so well known in connection with modern +improvements in artillery. His principal works are situated at Essen, in +Prussia, in the midst of a district productive of both iron and coal. +The town of Essen, which at the beginning of the present century +contained less than four thousand inhabitants, has become an important +industrial centre, with a population of nearly eighty thousand persons, +this increase being chiefly due to the growth of the ironworks, and the +consequent demand for labour. In the vicinity of the town, numerous coal +and iron mines, many of which are owned by the Krupp firm, are in active +working, and furnish employment to the large population of the +surrounding district. Much of the output of iron ore and coal from these +mines is destined for consumption in the vast Krupp works within the +town. Those works had their origin in a small iron forge established at +Essen in the year 1810 by Frederick Krupp, the father of Alfred Krupp. +The elder Krupp was not prosperous; and a lawsuit in which he became +involved, and which lasted for ten years, though finally decided in his +favour, reduced him nearly to bankruptcy. He died in 1826, in +impoverished circumstances, leaving a widow and three sons, the eldest +of whom was Alfred, aged fourteen. The business was continued by the +widow, who managed, though with difficulty, to procure a good education +for her sons. When the eldest, Alfred, took control of the works in +1848, he found there, as he himself has described, 'three workmen, and +more debts than fortune.' + +Krupp's subsequent career affords a remarkable instance of success +attained, despite adverse circumstances, by sheer force of ability and +energy, in building up a colossal manufacturing business from a humble +beginning. On his death in 1887 his only son succeeded him. At the +present time, Krupp's works within the town of Essen occupy more than +five hundred acres, half of which area is under cover. In 1895, the +number of persons in his employ was 25,300, and including members of +their families, over 50,000. Of the army of workers, about 17,000 were +employed at the works in Essen, the remainder being occupied in the 550 +iron and coal mines belonging to the firm, or at the branch works at +Sayn Neuwied, Magdeburg, Duisburg, and Engers; or in the iron-mines at +Bilbao, in Spain, which produce the best ores. In Krupp's Essen works +there are one hundred and twelve steam-hammers, ranging in weight from +fifty tons down to four hundred pounds. There are 15 Bessemer +converters, 18 Martin-furnaces, 420 steam-engines--representing together +33,150 horse-power--and twenty-one rolling trains; the daily consumption +of coal and coke being 3100 tons by 1648 furnaces. The average daily +consumption of water, which is brought from the river Ruhr by an +aqueduct, is 24,700 cubic metres. The electric light has been +introduced, and the work ceases entirely only on Sunday and two or three +holidays. Connected with the Essen works are fifty miles of railway, +employing thirty-five locomotives and over 1000 wagons. There are two +chemical laboratories; a photographic and lithographic studio; a +printing-office, with steam and hand presses; and a bookbinding room, +besides tile-works, coke-works, gas-works, &c. + +Though, in the popular mind, the name of Krupp is usually associated +with the manufacture of instruments of destruction, yet two-thirds of +the work done in his establishment is devoted to the production of +articles intended for peaceful uses. The various parts of steam-engines, +both stationary and locomotive; iron axles, bridges, rails, wheel-tires, +switches, springs, shafts for steamers, mint-dies, rudders, and parts of +all varieties of iron machinery, are prepared here for manufacturers. +The production is, in Dominie Sampson's phrase, 'prodigious.' In one day +the works can turn out 2700 rails, 350 wheel-tires, 150 axles, 180 +railway wheels, 1000 railway wedges, 1500 bombshells. In a month they +have produced 250 field-pieces, thirty 5.7-inch cannon, fifteen +9.33-inch cannon, eight 11-inch cannon, one 14-inch gun, the weight of +the last named being over fifty tons, and its length twenty-eight feet +seven inches. Till the end of 1894 the firm has produced 25,000 cannon +for thirty-four different states. + +Alfred Krupp devoted much attention to the production of steel of the +finest quality, and was the first German manufacturer who succeeded in +casting steel in large masses. In 1862 he exhibited in London an ingot +of finest crucible steel weighing twenty-one tons. Its dimensions were +nine feet high by forty-four inches diameter. The uniformity of quality +of this mass of metal was proven by the fact that when broken across it +showed no seam or flaw, even when examined with a lens. The firm can now +make such homogeneous blocks of seventy-five tons weight if required. +Such ingots are formed from the contents of a great number of small +crucibles, each containing from fifty to one hundred pounds of the +metal. The recent developments of the manufacture of steel by the +open-hearth process have removed all difficulty in procuring the metal +in masses large enough for all requirements, and of a tensile strength +so high as thirty-three to thirty-seven tons to the square inch. +Crucible steel, however, though more expensive, still holds its place +as the best and most reliable that can be produced; and nothing else is +ever used in the construction of a Krupp gun. By the perfected methods +in use at the Essen works, such steel can be made of a tensile strength +of nearly forty tons to the square inch, and of marvellous uniformity of +quality. The ores used in the Krupp works for making the best steel are +red haematite and spathic ore, with a certain proportion of +ferro-manganese. The crucibles employed are formed of a mixture of +plumbago and fire-clay, shaped by a mould into a cylindrical jar some +eighteen inches in height, and baked in a kiln. When in use, they are +filled with small bars of puddled metal, mixed with fragments of marble +brought from Villmar, on the Lahn. They are then shovelled into large +furnaces, whose floors are elevated three or four feet above the +ground-level. In the earthen floor of the immense room containing the +furnaces are two lines of pits, one set to receive the molten metal, the +other intended for the red-hot crucibles when emptied of their contents. +When the crucibles have undergone sufficient heating, the furnace doors +are opened simultaneously at a given signal, and the attendant workmen +draw out the crucibles with long tongs, and rapidly empty them into the +pits prepared for the reception of the metal. The empty crucibles when +cooled are examined, and if found unbroken, are used again; but if +damaged, as is usually the case, are ground up, to be utilised in making +new ones. + +The production of steel by this method furnishes employment for eight or +nine hundred men daily in the Krupp works. The Bessemer process for +converting iron into steel is also largely used there for making steel +for certain purposes. All material used in the different classes of +manufactures is subjected at every stage to extreme and exact tests; the +standards being fixed with reference to the purpose to which the metal +is to be applied, and any material that proves faulty when suitably +tested is rigorously rejected. + +The guns originally manufactured by the Krupp firm were formed from +solid ingots of steel, which were bored, turned, and fashioned as in the +case of cast-iron smooth-bore cannon. With the development of the power +of artillery, the greater strain caused by the increased powder-charges +and by the adoption of rifling--involving enhanced friction between the +projectile and the bore--had the result of demonstrating the weakness +inherent in the construction of a gun thus made entirely from one solid +forging, and that plan was eventually discarded. Artillerists have +learnt that the strain produced by an explosive force operating in the +interior of a cannon is not felt equally throughout the thickness of the +metal from the bore to the exterior, but varies inversely as the square +of the distance of each portion of the metal from the seat of effort. +For example, in a gun cast solid, if two points be taken, one at the +distance of one inch from the bore, and the other four inches from the +bore, the metal at the former point will during the explosion be +strained sixteen times as much as that at the distance of four inches. +The greater the thickness of the material, the greater will be the +inequality between the strains acting at the points respectively nearest +to and farthest from the interior. The metal nearest the seat of +explosion may thus be strained beyond its tensile strength, while that +more remote is in imperfect accord with it. In such a case, disruption +of the metal at the inner surface ensues, and extends successively +through the whole thickness to the exterior, thus entailing the +destruction of the gun. + +This source of weakness is guarded against by the construction of what +is termed the built-up gun, in which the several parts tend to mutual +support. This gun consists of an inner tube, encircled and compressed +by a long 'jacket' or cylinder, which is shrunk around the breech +portion with the initial tension due to contraction in cooling. Over the +jacket and along the chase, other hoops or cylinders are shrunk on +successively, in layers, with sufficient tension to compress the parts +enclosed. The number and strength of these hoops are proportionate to +the known strain that the bore of the gun will have to sustain. The +tension at which each part is shrunk on is the greater as the part is +farther removed from the inner tube; the jacket, for example, being +shrunk on at less tension than the outer hoops. The inner tube, on +receiving the expansive force of the explosion, is prevented by the +compression of the jacket from being forced up to its elastic limit; and +the jacket in its turn is similarly supported by the outer hoops; and on +the cessation of the internal pressure the several parts resume their +normal position. + +This system of construction originated in England, and is now in general +use. The first steel guns on this principle were those designed by +Captain Blakely and Mr J. Vavasseur, of the London Ordnance Works. At +the Exhibition of 1862, a Blakely 8.5-inch gun, on the built-up system, +composed wholly of steel, was a feature of interest in the Ordnance +section. The plan devised by Sir W. Armstrong, and carried into effect +for a series of years at Woolwich and at the Armstrong Works at Elswick, +consisted in enclosing a tube of steel within a jacket of wrought iron, +formed by coiling a red-hot bar round a mandrel. The jacket was shrunk +on with initial tension, and was fortified in a similar manner by outer +hoops of the same metal. The want of homogeneity in this gun was, +however, a serious defect, and ultimately led to its abolition. The +difference in the elastic properties of the two metals caused a +separation, after repeated discharges, between the steel tube and its +jacket, with the result that the tube cracked from want of support. Both +at Woolwich and at Elswick (described on a later page), therefore, the +wrought-iron gun has given place to the homogeneous steel built-up gun, +which is also the form of construction adopted by the chief powers of +Europe and by the United States of America. + +The failure of some of his solid-cast guns led Krupp, about 1865, to the +adoption of the built-up principle. With few exceptions, the inner tube +of a Krupp gun is forged out of a single ingot, and in every case +without any weld. The ingot destined to form the tube has first to +undergo a prolonged forging under the steam-hammers, by which the utmost +condensation of its particles is effected. It is then rough-bored and +turned, and subsequently carefully tempered in oil, whereby its +elasticity and tensile strength are much increased. It is afterwards +fine-bored and rifled, and its powder-chamber hollowed out. The latter +has a somewhat larger diameter than the rest of the bore, this having +been found an improvement. The grooves of the rifling are generally +shallow, and they widen towards the breech, so that the leaden coat of +the projectile is compressed gradually and with the least friction. The +jacket and hoops of steel are forged and rolled, without weld, and after +being turned and tempered, are heated and shrunk around the tube in +their several positions, the greatest strength and thickness being of +course given to the breech end, where the force of explosion exerts the +utmost strain. The completed gun is mounted on its appropriate carriage, +and having been thoroughly proved and tested and fitted with the proper +sights, is ready for service. The testing range is at Meppen, where a +level plain several miles in extent affords a suitable site for the +purpose. + +For many years all guns of the Krupp manufacture have been on the +breech-loading system, and he has devoted much time and ingenuity to +perfecting the breech arrangements. The subject of recoil has also +largely occupied his attention. In the larger Krupp guns the force of +recoil is absorbed by two cylinders, filled with glycerine and fitted +with pistons perforated at the edges. The pistons are driven by the +shock of the recoil against the glycerine, which is forced through the +perforations. In England a similar arrangement of cylinders, containing +water as the resisting medium, has been found effective; and in America, +petroleum is employed for the same purpose. The advantages of the use of +glycerine are that in case of a leak it would escape too slowly to lose +its effect at once, and it is also more elastic than water, and is less +liable to become frozen. + +The resources of Krupp's establishment are equal to the production of +guns of any size that can conceivably be required. He has made guns of +one hundred and nineteen tons weight. The portentous development of the +size and power of modern ordnance is exemplified by these guns and the +Armstrong guns of one hundred and eleven tons made at Elswick. Amongst +the class of modern cannon, one of the most powerful is Krupp's +seventy-one-ton gun. This, like all others of his make, is a +breech-loader. Its dimensions are--length, thirty-two feet nine inches; +diameter at breech end, five feet six inches; length of bore, +twenty-eight feet seven inches; diameter of bore, 15.75 inches; diameter +of powder-chamber, 17.32 inches. The internal tube is of two parts, +exactly joined; and over this are four cylinders, shrunk on, and a ring +round the breech. Its rifling has a uniform twist of one in forty-five. +It cannot possibly be fired until the breech is perfectly closed. Its +maximum charge is four hundred and eighty-five pounds of powder, and a +chilled iron shell of seventeen hundred and eight pounds. + +[Illustration: Krupp's 15.6 Breech-loading Gun (breech open).] + +Krupp did much to promote the welfare and comfort of his workpeople. For +their accommodation, he erected around Essen nearly four thousand family +dwellings, in which more than sixteen thousand persons reside. The +dwellings are in suites of three or four comfortable rooms, with good +water-arrangements; and attached to each building is a garden, large +enough for the children to play in. There are one hundred and fifty +dwellings of a better kind for officials in the service of the firm. +Boarding-houses have also been built for the use of unmarried labourers, +of whom two thousand are thus accommodated. Several churches, Protestant +and Catholic, have also been erected, for the use of his workmen and +their families. There have likewise been provided two hospitals, bathing +establishments, a gymnasium, an unsectarian free school, and six +industrial schools--one for adults, two for females. In the case of the +industrial schools, the fees are about two shillings monthly, but the +poorest are admitted free. A Sick Relief and Pensions Fund has been +instituted, and every foreman and workman is obliged to be a member. The +entrance fee is half a day's pay, the annual payment being proportioned +to the wages of the individual member; but half of each person's +contribution is paid by the firm. There are three large surgeries; and +skilful physicians and surgeons, one of whom is an oculist, are employed +at fixed salaries. For a small additional fee each member can also +secure free medical aid for his wife and children. The advantages to +members are free medical or surgical treatment in case of need, payment +from the fund of funeral expenses at death, pensions to men who have +been permanently disabled by injuries while engaged in the works, +pensions to widows of members, and temporary support to men who are +certified by two of the physicians as unable to work. The highest +pension to men is five pounds monthly, the average being about two +pounds sixteen shillings monthly. The average pension to widows is +about one pound fourteen shillings monthly. + +The firm have made special arrangements with a number of life insurance +companies whereby the workmen can, if they choose, insure their lives at +low rates. They have formed a Life Insurance Union, and endowed it with +a reserve fund of three thousand pounds, from which aid is given to +members needing assistance to pay their premiums. An important +institution in Essen is the great Central Supply Store, established and +owned by the firm, where articles of every description--bread, meat, and +other provisions, clothing, furniture, &c.--are sold on a rigidly cash +system at cost price. Connected with the Central Store are twenty-seven +branch shops, in positions convenient for the workpeople, placing the +advantages of the system within the easy reach of all. + +The original name, 'Frederick Krupp,' has been retained through all +vicissitudes of fortune as the business title of the firm. The small +dwelling in which Alfred Krupp was born is still standing, in the midst +of the huge workshops that have grown up around it, and is preserved +with the greatest care. At his expense, photographs of it were +distributed among his workmen, each copy bearing the following +inscription, dated Essen, February 1873: 'Fifty years ago, this +primitive dwelling was the abode of my parents. I hope that no one of +our labourers may ever know such struggles as have been required for the +establishment of these works. Twenty-five years ago that success was +still doubtful which has at length--gradually, yet wonderfully--rewarded +the exertions, fidelity, and perseverance of the past. May this example +encourage others who are in difficulties! May it increase respect for +small houses, and sympathy for the larger sorrows they too often +contain. The object of labour should be the common weal. If work bring +blessing, then is labour prayer. May every one in our community, from +the highest to the lowest, thoughtfully and wisely strive to secure and +build his prosperity on this principle! When this is done, then will my +greatest desire be realised.' + + * * * * * + +Germany has become a formidable competitor to Great Britain in the iron +and steel trade, and German steel rails, girders, and wire come in +freely to this country. From reports we learn that Great Britain +produced in 1882 8-1/2 million tons of iron and 5 million tons of +finished iron and steel, while the production of Germany was then less +than 3-1/2 and 2-1/2 million tons respectively. English production had +fallen to 7-1/2 million tons of iron and 4 million tons of finished iron +and steel in 1895, while Germany had risen to 5 million tons and 6 +million tons respectively. + +Contrary to what has been commonly believed, it appears that the +difference all round in wages amongst ironworkers, as between England +and Germany, is not great. + +Chicago, Pittsburg, Buffalo, and New York are the chief centres of the +American iron and steel trade, the production of pig-iron in 1895 being +about 9-1/4 million tons, whereas in 1880 it was well under 4 million. +At present over 4 millions of tons are produced of Bessemer pig-iron. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +CHAPTER II. + +POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. + + Josiah Wedgwood and the Wedgwood Ware--Worcester Porcelain. + + +When Mr Godfrey Wedgwood, a member of the famous firm of potters at +Etruria, near Burslem, Staffordshire, went to work about forty years +ago, his famous ancestor and founder of the world-famed Wedgwood ware +was still named amongst the workmen as 'Owd Wooden Leg.' A son of Mr +Godfrey Wedgwood, now in the firm, is the fifth generation in descent, +and the manufactory is still carried on in the same buildings erected by +Josiah Wedgwood one hundred and twenty years ago. + +One hundred years ago Josiah Wedgwood, the creator of British artistic +pottery, passed away at Etruria, near Burslem, surrounded by the +creations of his own well-directed genius and industry, having +'converted a rude and inconsiderable manufacture into an elegant art and +an important part of national commerce.' His death took place on 3d +January 1795, the same year in which Thomas Carlyle saw the light at +Ecclefechan, and one year and a half before the death of Burns at +Dumfries. During fifty years of his working life, largely owing to his +own successful efforts, he had witnessed the output of the Staffordshire +potteries increased fivefold, and his wares were known and sold over +Europe and the civilised world. In the words of Mr Gladstone, his +characteristic merit lay 'in the firmness and fullness with which he +perceived the true law of what we may call Industrial Art, or, in other +words, of the application of the higher art to Industry.' Novalis once +compared the works of Goethe and Wedgwood in these words: 'Goethe is +truly a practical poet. He is in his works what the Englishman is in his +wares, perfectly simple, neat, fit, and durable. He has played in the +German world of literature the same part that Wedgwood has played in the +English world of art.' + +[Illustration: JOSIAH WEDGWOOD.] + +Long ago, in his sketch of Brindley and the early engineers, Dr Smiles +had occasion to record the important service rendered by Wedgwood in the +making of the Grand Trunk Canal--towards the preliminary expense of +which he subscribed one thousand pounds--and in the development of the +industrial life of the Midlands. Since that time Smiles has himself +published a biography of Wedgwood, to which we are here indebted. + +More than once it has happened that the youngest of thirteen children +has turned out a genius. It was so in the case of Sir Richard Arkwright, +and it turned out to be so in the case of Josiah Wedgwood, the youngest +of the thirteen children of Thomas Wedgwood, a Burslem potter, and of +Mary Stringer, a kind-hearted but delicate, sensitive woman, the +daughter of a nonconformist clergyman. The town of Burslem, in +Staffordshire, where Wedgwood saw the light in 1730, was then anything +but an attractive place. Drinking and cock-fighting were the common +recreations; roads had scarcely any existence; the thatched hovels had +dunghills before the doors, while the hollows from which the potter's +clay was excavated were filled with stagnant water, and the atmosphere +of the whole place was coarse and unwholesome, and a most unlikely +nursery of genius. + +It is probable that the first Wedgwoods take their name from the hamlet +of Weggewood in Staffordshire. There had been Wedgwoods in Burslem from +a very early period, and this name occupies a large space in the parish +registers during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; of the fifty +small potters settled there, many bore this honoured name. The ware +consisted of articles in common use, such as butter-pots, basins, jugs, +and porringers. The black glazed and ruddy pottery then in use was much +improved after an immigration of Dutchmen and Germans. The Elers, who +followed the Prince of Orange, introduced the Delft ware and the salt +glaze. They produced a kind of red ware, and Egyptian black; but +disgusted at the discovery of their secret methods by Astbury and +Twyford, they removed to Chelsea in 1710. An important improvement was +made by Astbury, that of making ware white by means of burnt flint. +Samuel Astbury, a son of this famous potter, married an aunt of Josiah +Wedgwood. But the art was then in its infancy, not more than one hundred +people being employed in this way in the district of Burslem, as +compared with about ten thousand now, with an annual export of goods +amounting to about two hundred thousand pounds, besides what are +utilised in home-trade. John Wesley, after visiting Burslem in 1760, and +twenty years later in 1781, remarked how the whole face of the country +had been improved in that period. Inhabitants had flowed in, the +wilderness had become a fruitful field, and the country was not more +improved than the people. + +All the school education young Josiah received was over in his ninth +year, and it amounted to only a slight grounding in reading, writing, +and arithmetic. But his practical or technical education went on +continually, while he afterwards supplemented many of the deficiencies +of early years by a wide course of study. After the death of his +father, he began the practical business of life as a potter in his ninth +year, by learning the throwing branch of the trade. The thrower moulds +the vessel out of the moist clay from the potter's wheel into the +required shape, and hands it on to be dealt with by the stouker, who +adds the handle. Josiah at eleven proved a clever thrower of the black +and mottled ware then in vogue, such as baking-dishes, pitchers, and +milk-cans. But a severe attack of virulent smallpox almost terminated +his career, and left a weakness in his right knee, which developed, so +that this limb had to be amputated at a later date. He was bound +apprentice to his brother Thomas in 1744, when in his fourteenth year; +but this weak knee, which hampered him so much, proved a blessing in +disguise, for it sent him from the thrower's place to the moulder's +board, where he improved the ware, his first effort being an ornamental +teapot made of the ochreous clay of the district. Other work of this +period comprised plates, pickle-leaves, knife-hafts, and snuff-boxes. At +the same time he made experiments in the chemistry of the material he +was using. Wedgwood's great study was that of different kinds of +colouring matter for clays, but at the same time he mastered every +branch of the art. That he was a well-behaved young man is evident from +the fact that he was held up in the neighbourhood as a pattern for +emulation. + +[Illustration: Wedgwood at Work.] + +But his brother Thomas, who moved along in the old rut, had small +sympathy with all this experimenting, and thought Josiah flighty and +full of fancies. After remaining for a time with his brother, at the +completion of his apprenticeship Wedgwood became partner in 1752, in a +small pottery near Stoke-upon-Trent: soon after, Mr Whieldon, one of the +most eminent potters of the day, joined the firm. Here Wedgwood took +pains to discover new methods and striking designs, as trade was then +depressed. New green earthenware was produced, as smooth as glass, for +dessert service, moulded in the form of leaves; also toilet ware, +snuff-boxes, and articles coloured in imitation of precious stones, +which the jewellers of that time sold largely. Other articles of +manufacture were blue-flowered cups and saucers, and varicoloured +teapots. Wedgwood, on the expiry of his partnership with Whieldon, +started on his own account in his native Burslem in 1760. His capital +must have been small, as the sum of twenty pounds was all he had +received from his father's estate. He rented Ivy House and Works at ten +pounds a year, and engaged his second-cousin, Thomas, as workman at +eight shillings and sixpence a week. He gradually acquired a reputation +for the taste and excellence of design of his green glazed ware, his +tortoiseshell and tinted snuff-boxes, and white medallions. A specially +designed tea-service, representing different fruits and vegetables, sold +well, and, as might be expected, was at once widely imitated. He hired +new works on the site now partly occupied by the Wedgwood Institute, and +introduced various new tools and appliances. His kilns for firing his +fine ware gave him the greatest trouble, and had to be often renewed. +James Brindley, when puzzled in thinking out some engineering problem, +used to retire to bed and work it out in his head before he got up. Sir +Josiah Mason, the Birmingham pen-maker, used to simmer over in his mind +on the previous night the work for the next day. Wedgwood had a similar +habit, which kept him often awake during the early part of the night. +Probably owing to the fortunate execution of an order through Miss +Chetwynd, maid of honour to Queen Charlotte, of a complete cream service +in green and gold, Wedgwood secured the patronage of royalty, and was +appointed Queen's Potter in 1763. His Queen's ware became popular, and +secured him much additional business. + +An engine lathe which he introduced greatly forwarded his designs; and +the wareroom opened in London for the exhibition of his now famous +Queen's ware, Etruscan vases, and other works, drew attention to the +excellence of his work. He started works besides at Chelsea, supervised +by his partner Bentley, where modellers, enamellers, and artists were +employed, so that the cares of his business, 'pot-making and +navigating'--the latter the carrying through of the Grand Trunk +Canal--entirely filled his mind and time at this period. So busy was he, +that he sometimes wondered whether he was an engineer, a landowner, or a +potter. Meanwhile, a step he had no cause to regret was his marriage in +1764 to Sarah Wedgwood, no relation of his own, a handsome lady of good +education and of some fortune. + +Wedgwood had begun to imitate the classic works of the Greeks found in +public and private collections, and produced his unglazed black +porcelain, which he named Basaltes, in 1766. The demand for his vases at +this time was so great that he could have sold fifty or one hundred +pounds' worth a day, if he had been able to produce them fast enough. He +was now patronised by royalty, by the Empress of Russia, and the +nobility generally. A large service for Queen Charlotte took three years +to execute, as part of the commission consisted in painting on the ware, +in black enamel, about twelve hundred views of palaces, seats of the +nobility, and remarkable places. A service for the Empress of Russia +took eight years to complete. It consisted of nine hundred and fifty-two +pieces, of which the cost was believed to have been three thousand +pounds, although this scarcely paid Wedgwood's working expenses. + +Prosperity elbowed Wedgwood out of his old buildings in Burslem, and led +him to purchase land two miles away, on the line of the proposed Grand +Trunk Canal, where his flourishing manufactories and model workmen's +houses sprang up gradually, and were named _Etruria_, after the Italian +home of the famous Etruscans, whose work he admired and imitated. His +works were partly removed thither in 1769, and wholly in 1771. At this +time he showed great public spirit, and aided in getting an Act of +Parliament for better roads in the neighbourhood, and backed Brindley +and Earl Gower in their Grand Trunk Canal scheme, which was destined, +when completed, to cheapen and quicken the carriage of goods to +Liverpool, Bristol, and Hull. The opposition was keen: and Wedgwood +issued a pamphlet showing the benefits which would accrue to trade in +the Midlands by the proposed waterway. When victory was secured, after +the passing of the Act there was a holiday and great rejoicing in +Burslem and the neighbourhood, and the first sod of the canal was cut by +Wedgwood, July 26, 1766. He was also appointed treasurer of the new +undertaking, which was eleven years in progress. Brindley, the greatest +engineer then in England, doubtless sacrificed his life to its success, +as he died of continual harassment and diabetes at the early age of +fifty-six. Wedgwood had an immense admiration for Brindley's work and +character. In the prospect of spending a day with him, he said: 'As I +always edify full as much in that man's company as at church, I promise +myself to be much wiser the day following.' Like Carlyle, who +whimsically put the builder of a bridge before the writer of a book, +Wedgwood placed the man who designed the outline of a jug or the turn of +a teapot far below the creator of a canal or the builder of a city. + +In the career of a man of genius and original powers, the period of +early struggle is often the most interesting. When prosperity comes, +after difficulties have been surmounted, there is generally less to +challenge attention. But Wedgwood's career was still one of continual +progress up to the very close. His Queen's ware, made of the whitest +clay from Devon and Dorset, was greatly in demand, and much improved. +The fine earthenwares and porcelains which became the basis of such +manufactures were originated here. Young men of artistic taste were +employed and encouraged to supply designs, and a school of instruction +for drawing, painting, and modelling was started. Artists such as Coward +and Hoskins modelled the 'Sleeping Boy,' one of the finest and largest +of his works. John Bacon, afterwards known as a sculptor, was one of his +artists, as also James Tassie of Glasgow. Wedgwood engaged capable men +wherever they could be found. For his Etruscan models he was greatly +indebted to Sir W. Hamilton. Specimens of his famous portrait cameos, +medallions, and plaques will be found in most of our public museums. + +The general health of Wedgwood suffered so much between 1767 and 1768 +that he decided to have the limb which had troubled him since his +boyhood amputated. He sat, and without wincing, witnessed the surgeons +cut off his right leg, for there were then no anaesthetics. 'Mr Wedgwood +has this day had his leg taken off,' wrote one of the Burslem clerks at +the foot of a London invoice, 'and is as well as can be expected after +such an execution.' His wife was his good angel when recovering, and +acted as hands and feet and secretary to him; while his partner Bentley +(formerly a Liverpool merchant) and Dr Darwin were also kind; and he was +almost oppressed with the inquiries of many noble and distinguished +persons during convalescence. He had to be content with a wooden leg +now. 'Send me,' he wrote to his brother in London, 'by the next wagon a +spare leg, which you will find, I believe, in the closet.' He lived to +wear out a succession of wooden legs. + +Indifference and idleness he could not tolerate, and his fine artistic +sense was offended by any bit of imperfect work. In going through his +works, he would lift the stick upon which he leaned and smash the +offending article, saying, 'This won't do for Josiah Wedgwood.' All the +while he had a keen insight into the character of his workmen, although +he used to say that he had everything to teach them, even to the making +of a table plate. + +He was no monopolist, and the only patent he ever took out was for the +discovery of the lost art of burning in colours, as in the Etruscan +vases. 'Let us make all the good, fine, and new things we can,' he said +to Bentley once; 'and so far from being afraid of other people getting +our patterns, we should glory in it, and throw out all the hints we can, +and if possible, have all the artists in Europe working after our +models.' By this means he hoped to secure the goodwill of his best +customers and of the public. At the same time he never sacrificed +excellence to cheapness. As the sale of painted Etruscan ware declined, +his Jasper porcelain--so called from its resemblance to the stone of +that name--became popular. The secret of its manufacture was kept for +many years. It was composed of flint, potter's clay, carbonate of +barytes, and _terra ponderosa_. This and the Jasper-dip are in several +tones and hues of blue; also yellow, lilac, and green. He called in the +good genius of Flaxman in 1775; and, for the following twelve years, the +afterwards famous sculptor did an immense amount of work and enhanced +his own and his patron's reputation. Flaxman did some of his finest work +in this Jasper porcelain. Some of Flaxman's designs Wedgwood could +scarcely be prevailed upon to part with. A bas-relief of the 'Apotheosis +of Homer' went for seven hundred and thirty-five pounds at the sale of +his partner Bentley; and the 'Sacrifice to Hymen,' a tablet in blue and +white Jasper (1787), brought four hundred and fifteen pounds. The first +named is now in the collection of Lord Tweedmouth. Wedgwood's copy of +the Barberini or Portland Vase was a great triumph of his art. This +vase, which had contained the ashes of the Roman Emperor Alexander +Severus and his mother, was of dark-blue glass, with white enamel +figures. It now stands in the medal room of the British Museum alongside +a model by Wedgwood. It stands 10 inches high, and is the finest +specimen of an ancient cameo cut-glass vase known. It was smashed by a +madman in 1845, but was afterwards skilfully repaired. Wedgwood made +fifty copies in fine earthenware, which were originally sold at 25 +guineas each. One of these now fetches L200. The vase itself once +changed hands for eighteen hundred guineas, and a copy fetched two +hundred and fifteen guineas in 1892. + +[Illustration: Portland Vase.] + +Josiah Wedgwood now stood at the head of the potters of Staffordshire, +and the manufactory at Etruria drew visitors from all parts of Europe. +The motto of its founder was still 'Forward;' and, as Dr Smiles +expresses it, there was with him no finality in the development of his +profession. He studied chemistry, botany, drawing, designing, and +conchology. His inquiring mind wanted to get to the bottom of +everything. He journeyed to Cornwall, and was successful in getting +kaolin for chinaware. Queen Charlotte patronised a new pearl-white +teaware; and he succeeded in perfecting the pestle and mortar for the +apothecary. He invented a pyrometer for measuring temperatures; and was +elected Fellow of the Royal Society. Amongst his intimate friends were +Dr Erasmus Darwin, poet and physician (the famous Charles Robert Darwin +was a grandson, his mother having been a daughter of Wedgwood's), +Boulton of Soho Works, James Watt, Thomas Clarkson, Sir Joseph Banks, +and Thomas Day. + +We have an example of the generosity of Wedgwood's disposition in his +treatment of John Leslie, afterwards Professor Sir John Leslie of +Edinburgh University. He was so well pleased with his tutoring of his +sons that he settled an annuity of one hundred and fifty pounds upon +him; and it may be that the influence of this able tutor led Thomas +Wedgwood to take up the study of heliotype, and become a pioneer of +photographic science, even before Daguerre. How industrious Wedgwood had +been in his profession is evident from the seven thousand specimens of +clay from all parts of the world which he had tested and analysed. The +six entirely new pieces of earthenware and porcelain which, along with +his Queen's ware, he had introduced early in his career, as painted and +embellished, became the foundation of nearly all the fine earthenware +and porcelains since produced. He had his reward, for besides a +flourishing business, he left more than half a million of money. + + +WORCESTER PORCELAIN. + +One of the most artistic and interesting industries in this country is +the manufacture of porcelain in the ancient city of Worcester. There is +no special local reason for the establishment of such works there, but +Worcester has been noted as the home of the famous porcelain for more +than a century. It was in 1751 that Dr Wall, a chemist and artist, +completed his experiment in the combination of various elements, and +produced a porcelain which was more like the true or natural Chinese +porcelain than any ever devised. This was the more remarkable because +kaolin had not then been discovered in this country. The inventor set up +his factory in Worcester, close to the cathedral, and for a long time he +produced his egg-shell and Tonquin porcelain in various forms, chiefly, +however, those of table services. Transfer-printing was introduced later +on, and was executed with much of the artist's spirit by experts who +attached themselves to the Worcester works after the closing of the +enamel works at Battersea. It was a remarkable century in its devotion +to ceramic art; and it was characteristic of the ruling princes of the +Continent that they should patronise lavishly various potteries of more +or less repute. Towards the end of the century the first sign of this +royal favour was vouchsafed to Worcester. George III. visited the +factories, and under the impetus given by his patronage, the wares of +the city advanced so much in popularity that, in the early part of this +century, it is said, there were few noble families which had not in +their china closets an elaborate service of Worcester, bearing the +family arms and motto in appropriate emblazonment. In 1811, George IV. +being then Prince Regent, several splendid services of Worcester +porcelain were ordered to equip his table for the new social duties +entailed by his regency, and one of these alone cost L4000. In the +museums at the Worcester works there are specimens of many beautiful +services, designed in accordance with the contemporary ideas of pomp and +stateliness. The porcelain artists in those days must have been well +versed in heraldry; for their chief duties seem to have been the +reproduction of crests and coats-of-arms. Some of the services have +interesting stories. There is one of deep royal blue, beautifully +decorated, and bearing in the centre an emblematical figure of Hope. The +story ran that it was ordered by Nelson for presentation to the Duke of +Cumberland, and that the figure of Hope was really a portrait of Lady +Hamilton. This, however, was an error: the service was ordered by the +Duke himself in the ordinary way, and though Lord Nelson did order a +service of Worcester porcelain, he died before it could be completed, +and it was afterwards dispersed. Another story attaches to a plate +adorned with a picture of a ship in full sail approaching harbour. The +Imaum of Muscat sent many presents to the Prince Regent, and hinted that +he would like a ship of war in return. The English authorities, however, +did not see fit to give attention to this request, and sent him instead +many beautiful things, including a service of Worcester ware, bearing on +each piece a scene showing the royal yacht which bore the gifts entering +the cove of Muscat. When the potentate heard, however, that his dearest +wish had been thwarted in this way, he refused to allow the vessel to +enter the harbour, and all the presents had to be brought back again. +The picture on the plate, therefore, is more imaginative than accurate. + +[Illustration: The Worcester Royal Porcelain Works.] + +The Worcester porcelain began to develop in fresh directions soon after +the Great Exhibition of 1851, which gave an impulse to the efforts of +the artists, and the decorative side of the work was brought into a much +more prominent position. For instance, the 'Worcester enamels,' in the +style of those of Limoges, were introduced, and an illustration of this +work is to be seen in a pair of remarkable vases, bearing enamel +reproductions of Maclise's drawings, founded on the Bayeux tapestries. +About this time, too, after several years of experiment, the ivory +ware--an idea inspired by the lovely ivory sculptures in the +Exhibition--was brought to perfection. It is a beautiful, creamy, +translucent porcelain, singularly fitted for artistic treatment, and it +is now the most characteristic of the later developments of the +Worcester work. In fact, the art directors of the enterprise will not +issue now any new wares in the style of those which found favour at an +earlier period, for they know that they would instantly be palmed off on +the unwary as the genuine products of the bygone times. + +To trace the process of the manufacture, from the mixing of the +ingredients to the burning of the last wash in the decorated piece, is +very interesting. It is a process freely shown to visitors, and forms +one of the principal lions in the sober old town which has lain for so +many centuries on the banks of the Severn. The materials are brought +from all parts of the world. Kaolin, or china clay, which is the felspar +of decomposed granite washed from the rocks, is brought from Cornwall, +so is the Cornish or china stone; felspar is brought from Sweden, and +though of a rich red, it turns white when burnt; marl and fire-clay come +from Broseley, in Shropshire, and Stourbridge; flints are brought from +Dieppe; and bones--those of the ox only--come all the way from South +America to be calcined and ground down. The grinding is a slow matter; +each ingredient is ground separately in a vat, the bottom of which is a +hard stone, whereon other hard stones of great weight revolve slowly. +From twelve hours' to ten days' constant treatment by these remorseless +mills is required by the various materials, some needing to be ground +much longer than others before the requisite fineness is attained. It is +essential that all the ingredients should be reduced to a certain +standard of grain; and the contents of each vat must pass through a lawn +sieve with four thousand meshes to the square inch. When the materials +are sufficiently ground to meet this test, they are taken to the +'slip-house,' and mixed together with the clays, which do not need +grinding. A magnet of great strength is in each mixing trough, and draws +to itself every particle of iron, which, if allowed to remain in the +mixture, would injure the ware very much. When properly mixed, the water +is pressed out, and the paste or clay is beaten so that it may obtain +consistency. Then it is ready to be made into the many shapes which find +popular favour. + +The process of manufacture depends on the shape to be obtained. A plain +circular teacup may be cast on a potter's wheel of the ancient kind. +When it is partly dried in a mould, it is turned on a lathe and trimmed; +then the handle, which has been moulded, is affixed with a touch of the +'slip'--the porcelain paste in a state of dilution is the cement used in +all such situations--and the piece is ready for the fire. A plate or +saucer, however, is made by flat pressing; a piece of clay like a +pancake is laid on the mould, which is set revolving on a wheel; the +deft fingers of the workmen press the clay to the proper shape, and it +is then dried. But the elaborate ornamental pieces of graceful design +are made in moulds, and for this process the clay is used in the thin or +'slip' state. The moulds are pressed together, the slip is poured into +them through a hole in one side, and when the moisture has been absorbed +by the plaster moulds sufficiently, the piece is taken out. It is often +necessary, in making a large or complicated piece, to have as many as +twenty or thirty castings. In moulding a figure, for instance, the legs +and arms and hands, even the thumbs in many cases, are cast separately, +and with many other parts of the design are laid before a workman, who +carefully builds up the complete figure out of the apparent chaos of +parts, affixing each piece to the body with a touch of slip. When these +wares are complete, they have to be fired for the first time; and they +are taken to a kiln, and placed with great care and many precautions in +the grim interior. The contraction of the clay under fire is a matter to +which the designers must give much study; and the change which takes +place during forty hours' fierce firing in the kiln is shown by +contrasting an unburnt piece and a piece of 'biscuit' or burnt ware, and +marking the shrinkage. Your ware must be calculated to shrink only so +much; if it shrink a shade further, the whole process may be spoiled. +There is a loss of twenty-five per cent. sometimes in these kilns, in +spite of the assiduous care of the workmen. When the biscuit ware has +cooled, it is dipped in the glaze, which is a compound of lead and borax +and other materials--virtually a sort of glass--and then it is fired for +sixteen hours in the 'glost oven.' There is no contraction in this +ordeal; but there is a risk none the less from other causes. In fact, +there is the danger of injury every time the ware goes to the fire, and +as the highly decorated pieces have to go to the kiln many times, it may +be inferred that the labour of weeks and even months is sometimes +nullified by an untoward accident in the burning. + +It is during the process of decoration that the ornate vases and figures +make so many trips to the fire. The artist department is a very large +and important one. The designers, however, are a class of themselves. +They project the idea; it is the business of the artist, in these +circumstances, to execute it. The painters are taken into the works as +lads and trained for the special service. What you remark chiefly in +going through the decorating rooms is the great facility of the artists. +You see a man with a plate or vase on which he is outlining a landscape, +and you marvel at the rapid, accurate touches with which he does the +work. Flowers, birds, and figures they can reproduce with great skill, +and many of them are artists not merely in facility but in instinct. +They work with metallic colours only. They rely on copper, for +instance, to give black and green, on iron to yield red hues, and so on; +and the gold work is done with what seems to be a dirty brown paste, but +is really pure gold mixed with flux and quicksilver. When the first wash +is put on, the piece must be fired, so that the colours shall be burnt +into the glaze. Then it returns to the painter, who adds the next +touches so far as he can; the firing again follows; the piece is +returned to him once more; and so on it goes till the work is complete. + +It is therefore a highly technical business, especially as the colours +change very much in the fire, and the painter has to work with full +knowledge of the chemical processes in every firing. There is one form +of the decorative process which is very singular--that is, the piercing +work. The artist has the vase in the dried state before the firing, and +with a tiny, sharp-pointed knife he cuts out little pieces according to +the design in his mind, and produces an extremely beautiful perforated +ware, the elaborate pattern and the lace-like delicacy of which almost +repel the idea that the work is done by the unaided hand of man. In the +colour processes, the work is virtually complete when the dull gold has +been burnished; and the porcelain is then ready to be transferred to the +showrooms, or exported to America, which is the greatest patron, at +present, of Worcester art. America, however, failed to retain one lovely +vase no less than four feet high, the largest ever made in the works; it +was taken to the Chicago Exhibition and back without accident, and was +then sold in England for one thousand pounds. + +It is important to remember the distinction between 'pottery' and +'porcelain:' the porcelain is clay purified by the fire, whereas pottery +leaves the oven as it entered it--clay. The purification of the ware is +really an illustration of the process which sustains the artistic +inspiration of the work. The gross, the vulgar, the mean are +eliminated; a standard of beauty is set up, and to it every article must +conform. It is to this ideal, sustained by a long succession of artists +through a century and a half, that Worcester owes its world-wide +reputation as the birthplace of some of the loveliest porcelain ever +burnt in a kiln. + +[Illustration: Chinese Porcelain Vase.] + + + + +[Illustration] + +CHAPTER III. + +THE SEWING-MACHINE. + + Thomas Saint--Thimonnier--Hunt--Elias Howe--Wilson--Morey--Singer. + + +Although the sewing-machine has not put an end to the slavery of the +needle, and although 'The Song of the Shirt' may be heard to the +accompaniment of its click and whirr, just as it was to the 'stitch, +stitch' of Tom Hood's time, yet has it unquestionably come as a boon and +a blessing to man--and woman. Its name now is legion, and it has had so +many inventors and improvers that the present generation is fast losing +sight of its original benefactors. Indeed, we take the sewing-machine +to-day as an accomplished fact so familiar as to be commonplace. And yet +that fact is a product of as moving a history as any in the story of +human invention. + +It is the growth of the last half-century, prior to which the real +sewing-machine was the heavy-eyed, if not tireless, needlewoman, whose +flying fingers seemed ever in vain pursuit of the flying hours. +Needlework is as old as human history, for we may see the beginnings of +it in the aprons of fig-leaves which Mother Eve sewed. What instrument +she used we know not, but we do know from Moses that needles were in use +when the tabernacle was built. Yet, strange to say, it was not until +the middle of last century that any one tried to supersede manual labour +in the matter of stitching. It is said that a German tailor, named +Charles Frederick Weisenthal, was the first to attempt it, but for +hand-embroidery only--with a double-pointed needle, eyed in the middle. +This was in 1755, and fifty years later, one John Duncan, a Glasgow +machinist, worked out Weisenthal's idea into a genuine embroidering +machine, which really held the germ of the idea of the 'loop-stitch.' +But neither of these was a sewing-machine, and before Duncan's invention +some one else had been seized with another idea. + +This was a London cabinetmaker called Thomas Saint, who in or about 1790 +took out a patent for a machine for sewing leather, or rather for +'quilting, stitching, and making shoes, boots, spatterdashes, clogs, and +other articles.' This patent, unfortunately, was taken out along with +other inventions in connection with leather, and it was quite by +accident that, some eighty years later, the specification of it was +discovered by one who had made for himself a name in connection with +sewing-machines. Even the Patent Office did not seem to have known of +its existence, yet now it is clear enough that Thomas Saint's +leather-sewing-machine of 1790 was the first genuine sewing-machine ever +constructed, and that it was on what is now known as the 'chain-stitch' +principle. Rude as it was, it is declared by experts to have anticipated +most of the ingenious ideas of half a century of successive inventors, +not one of whom, however, could in all human probability have as much as +heard of Saint's machine. This is not the least curious incident in the +history of the sewing-machine. + +In Saint's machine the features are--the overhanging arm, which is the +characteristic of many modern machines; the perpendicular action of the +Singer machine; the eye-pointed needle of the Howe machine; the +pressure surfaces peculiar to the Howe machine; and a 'feed' system +equal to that of the most modern inventions. Whether Saint's machine was +ever worked in a practical workshop or not, it was unquestionably a +practicable machine, constructed by one who knew pretty well what he was +about, and what he wanted to achieve. + +Now note the date of Thomas Saint's patent (1790), and next note the +date of the invention of Barthelmy Thimonnier, of St Etienne, who is +claimed in France as the inventor of the sewing-machine. In 1830, +Thimonnier constructed a machine, principally of wood, with an +arrangement of barbed needles, for stitching gloves, and in the +following year he began business in Paris, with a partner, as an army +clothier. The firm of Thimonnier, Petit, & Co., however, did not thrive, +because the workpeople thought they saw in the principal's machine an +instrument destined to ruin them; much as the Luddites viewed +steam-machinery in the cotton districts of England. An idea of that sort +rapidly germinates heat, and Thimonnier's workshop was one day invaded +by an angry mob, who smashed all the machines, and compelled the +inventor to seek safety in flight. Poor Thimonnier was absent from Paris +for three years, but in 1834 returned with another and more perfect +machine. This was so coldly received, both by employers and workmen in +the tailoring trade, that he left the capital, and, journeying through +France with his machine, paid his way by exhibiting it in the towns and +villages as a curiosity. After a few years, however, Thimonnier fell in +with a capitalist who believed in him and his machine, and was willing +to stake money on both. A partnership was entered into for the +manufacture and sale of the machine, and all promised well for the new +firm, when the Revolution of 1848 broke out, stopped the business, and +ruined both the inventor and the capitalist. Thimonnier died in 1857, +in a poorhouse, of a broken heart. + +This French machine was also on the chain-stitch principle, but it was +forty years later than Saint's. In between the two came, about 1832, one +Walter Hunt, of New York, who is said to have constructed a +sewing-machine with the lock-stitch movement. Some uncertainty surrounds +this claim, and Elias Howe is the person usually credited with this +important, indeed invaluable invention. Whether Howe had ever seen +Hunt's machine, we know not; but Hunt's machine was never patented, +seems never to have come into practical working, and is, indeed, said to +have been unworkable. There is, besides, in the Polytechnic at Vienna, +the model of a machine, dated 1814, constructed by one Joseph +Madersberg, a tailor of the Tyrol, which embodies the lock-stitch +idea--working with two threads. But this also was unworkable, and Elias +Howe has the credit of having produced the first really practical +lock-stitch sewing-machine. + +His was a life of vicissitude and of ultimate triumph, both in fame and +fortune. He was born at a small place in Massachusetts in 1819, and as a +youth went to Boston, there to work as a mechanic. While there, and when +about twenty-two years old, the idea occurred to him at his work of +passing a thread through cloth and securing it on the other side by +another thread. Here we perceive the germ of the lock-stitch--the two +threads. Howe began to experiment with a number of bent wires in lieu of +needles, but he lacked the means to put his great idea to a thorough +practical test. Thus it slumbered for three years, when he went to board +and lodge with an old schoolfellow named Fisher, who, after a while, +agreed to advance Howe one hundred pounds in return for a half share in +the invention should it prove a success. Thus aided, in 1845 Howe +completed his first machine, and actually made himself a suit of +clothes with it; and this would be just about the time of Thimonnier's +temporary prosperity in alliance with the capitalist, Mogrini. + +Feeling sure of his ground, Howe took bold steps to 'boom' his +invention. He challenged five of the most expert sewers in a great +Boston clothing factory to a sewing match. Each of them was to sew a +certain strip of cloth, and Howe undertook to sew five strips, torn in +halves, before each man had completed his one strip. The arrangements +completed, the match began, and to the wonder of everybody, Howe +finished his five seams before the others were half done with one seam. +But murmurs instead of cheers succeeded the victory. He was angrily +reproached for trying to take the bread out of the mouth of the honest +working-man, and a cry was raised among the workers (as it has been +heard time and again in the history of industrial development) to smash +the machine. Howe, indeed, had much difficulty in escaping from the +angry mob, with his precious machine under his arm. + +In Howe's experience we thus see one parallel with Thimonnier's; but +there was another. The American was quite as poor and resourceless as +the Frenchman, and the next step in Howe's career was that he went on +tour to the country fairs to exhibit his machine for a trifling fee, in +order to keep body and soul together. People went in flocks to see the +thing as a clever toy, but no one would 'take hold' of it as a practical +machine. And so, in despair of doing any good with it in America, Elias +Howe, in 1846, sent his brother to England to see if a market could not +be found for the invention there. The brother succeeded in making terms +with one William Thomas, staymaker, in Cheapside, London, and he sent +for Elias to come over. + +The price to be paid by Thomas for the patent was two hundred and fifty +pounds, but Howe was to make certain alterations in it so as to adapt +it to the special requirements of the purchaser. While engaged in +perfecting the machine, he was to receive wages at the rate of three +pounds per week, and this wage he seems to have received for nearly two +years. But he failed to achieve what Thomas wanted, and Thomas, after +spending a good deal of money over the experiments, abandoned the thing +altogether. Howe was thus astrand again, and he returned to America as +poor as ever, leaving his machine behind him in pawn for advances to pay +his passage home. And yet there were 'millions in it.' + +This was in the year 1849, and just about the time when Howe was +returning to America, another American, named Bostwich, was sending over +to England a machine which he had invented for imitating hand-stitching, +by means of cog-wheels and a bent needle. And a year or two after Howe's +return, one Charles Morey, of Manchester, attempted to carry out the +same stitch on a somewhat different plan, but failed to find sufficient +pecuniary support. Indeed, poor Morey had a tragic end, for, taking his +machine to Paris in the hope of finding a purchaser there, he incurred +some debt which he could not pay, and was clapped into the Mazas prison. +While there, he inadvertently broke the rules, and was shot by the guard +for failing to reply to a challenge which he did not understand. + +When Howe got back to the United States, he found a number of ingenious +persons engaged in producing or experimenting in sewing-machines, and +some of them were trenching on his own patent rights. He raised enough +money, somehow, to redeem his pawned machine in England, and then raised +actions against all who were infringing it. The litigation was +tremendous both in duration and expense, but it ended in the victory of +Elias Howe, to whom, by the finding of the court, the other patentees +were found liable for royalty. It is said that Howe, who as we have seen +left London in debt, received, before his patent expired in 1867, +upwards of two million dollars in royalties alone. + +But ingenious men were now busy in both hemispheres in perfecting what, +up till about fifty years ago, was regarded as nothing better than a +clever toy. Besides Morey, the Manchester man we have mentioned, a +Huddersfield machinist, named Drake, brought out a machine to work with +a shuttle. About the same time, or a little later, a young Nottingham +man, named John Fisher, constructed a machine with a sort of lock-stitch +movement, which he afterwards adapted to a double loop-stitch. But +Fisher's machine was intended rather for embroidering than for plain +sewing. + +Passing over some minor attempts, the next great development was that of +Allen Wilson, who, without having heard either of Howe's or of any other +machine, constructed one in 1849, the design of which, he said, he had +been meditating for two years. His first machine had original features, +however much it may have been anticipated in principle by Howe's patent. +In Wilson's second design, a rotary hook was substituted for a +two-pointed shuttle, and by other improvements he achieved a greater +speed than had been attained by other inventors. Later still, he added +the 'four-motion feed,' which is adopted on most of the machines now in +general use. + +This idea was an elaboration of a principle which seems to have first +occurred to the unfortunate Morey. In Morey's machine there was a +horizontal bar with short teeth, which caught the fabric and dragged it +forward as the stitches were completed. It took nearly thirty years, +however, to evolve the perfect 'feed' motion out of Morey's first crude +germ. + +While Wilson was working away, perfecting his now famous machine, an +observing and thoughtful young millwright was employed in a New York +factory. One day a sewing-machine was sent in for repairs, and after +examining its mechanism, this young man, whose name was Isaac Singer, +confidently expressed his belief that he could make a better one. He did +not propose either to appropriate or abandon the principle, but to +improve upon it. Instead of a curved needle, as in Howe's and Wilson's +machines, he adopted a straight one, and gave it a perpendicular instead +of a curvular motion. And for propelling the fabric he introduced a +wheel, instead of the toothed bar of the Morey design. + +It need hardly be said that the Singer machine is now one of the most +widely known, and is turned out in countless numbers in enormous +factories on both sides of the Atlantic. It is not so well known, +perhaps, that Singer, who was a humble millwright in 1850, and who died +in 1875, left an estate valued at three millions sterling--all amassed +in less than twenty-five years! + +The machines of Howe, Wilson, and Singer were on the lock-stitch +principle, and the next novelty was the invention of Grover and Baker, +who brought out a machine working with two needles and two continuous +threads. After this came the Gibbs machine, the story of which may be +briefly told. + +About the year 1855, James G. Gibbs heard of the Grover and Baker +machine, and having a turn for mechanics, began to ponder over how the +action described was produced. He got an illustration, but could make +nothing of it, and not for a year did he obtain sight of a Singer +machine at work. As in the case of Singer with Wilson's machine, so +Gibbs thought he could improve on Singer's, and turn out one less +ponderous and complicated. He set to work, and in a very short time took +out a patent for a new lock-stitch machine. But he was not satisfied +with this, and experimented away, with an idea of making a chain-stitch +by means of a revolving looper. This idea he eventually put into +practical form, and took out a patent for the first chain-stitch +sewing-machine. + +Since the days of Elias Howe, the number of patents taken out for +sewing-machines has been legion--certainly not less than one +thousand--and probably no labour-saving appliance has received more +attention at the hands both of inventors and of the general public. +There is scarcely a household in the land now, however humble, without a +sewing-machine of some sort, and in factories and warehouses they are to +be numbered by the thousand. Some machinists have directed their +ingenuity to the reduction of wear and tear, others to the reduction of +noise, others to acceleration of speed, others to appliances for +supplying the machine in a variety of ways, others for adapting it to +various complicated processes of stitching and embroidering. Some users +prefer the lock-stitch, and some the chain-stitch principle, and each +system has its peculiar advantages according to the character of the +work to be sewn. + +A recent development is a combination of both principles in one machine. +Mr Edward Kohler patented a machine which will produce either a +lock-stitch or a chain-stitch, as may be desired, and an embroidery +stitch as well. By a very ingenious contrivance the machinery is altered +by the simple movement of a button, and (when the chain-stitch is +required) the taking out of the bobbin from the shuttle. If the +embroidery stitch is wanted, the button is turned without removing the +bobbin, and the lock-stitch and chain-stitch are combined in one new +stitch, with which very elaborate effects can be produced. It is said +that the Kohler principle can be easily adapted to all, or most, +existing machines. + + + + +[Illustration] + +CHAPTER IV. + +WOOL AND COTTON. + + WOOL.--What is Wool?--Chemical Composition--Fibre--Antiquity + of Shepherd Life--Varieties of Sheep--Introduction into + Australia--Spanish Merino--Wool Wealth of Australia--Imports + and Exports of Wool and Woollen Produce--Woollen Manufacture. + + COTTON.--Cotton Plant in the East--Mandeville's Fables about + Cotton--Cotton in Persia, Arabia, and Egypt--Columbus finds + Cotton-yarn and Thread in 1492--In Africa--Manufacture of Cloth + in England--The American Cotton Plant. + + +WOOL. + +What is wool? 'The covering of the sheep, of course,' replies somebody. +Yes; but what _is_ it? Let us ask Professor Owen. 'Wool,' he says, 'is a +peculiar modification of hair, characterised by fine transverse or +oblique lines from two to four thousand in the extent of an inch, +indicative 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.' At first sight this definition seems +bewildering, but it will bear examination, and is really more tangible +than, for instance, Noah Webster's definition of wool: 'That soft curled +or crisped species of hair which grows on sheep and some other animals, +and which in fineness sometimes approaches to fur.' It is usually that +which grows on sheep, however, that we know as wool, and the number of +imbrications, serratures, or notches indicates the quality of the fibre. +Thus, in the wool of the Leicester sheep there are 1850--in Spanish +merino, 2400--in Saxon merino, 2700, to an inch, and the fewer there are +the nearer does wool approach to hair. + +[Illustration: Wool-sorters at Work.] + +Here is a still more minute description by Youatt, a great authority on +wool: 'It consists of a central stem or stalk, probably hollow, or at +least porous, and possessing a semi-transparency, found in the fibre of +the hair. From this central stalk there springs, at different distances +in different breeds of sheep, a circlet of leaf-shaped projections. In +the finer species of wool these circles seemed at first to be composed +of one indicated or serrated ring; but when the eye was accustomed to +them, this ring was resolvable into leaves or scales. In the larger +kinds, the ring was at once resolvable into these scales or leaves, +varying in number, shape, and size, and projecting at different angles +from the stalk, and in the direction of the leaves of vegetables--that +is, from the root to the point. They give to the wool the power of +felting.' + +This is the estimate of the chemical composition of good wool: Carbon, +50.65; hydrogen, 7.03; nitrogen, 17.71; oxygen and sulphur, 24.61. Out +of a hundred parts, ninety-eight would be organic, and two would be ash, +consisting of oxide of iron, sulphate of lime, phosphate of lime, and +magnesia. What is called the 'yolk' of wool is a compound of oil, lime, +and potash. It makes the pile soft and pliable, and is less apparent on +English sheep than on those of warmer countries, the merino sheep having +the most 'yolk.' + +The fibre of wool varies in diameter, the Saxon merino measuring 1/1370 +of an inch, and the Southdown, 1/1100. Lustrous wool, it is said, should +be long and strong; but if it is very fine it is not long. Strong wool +may be as much as twenty inches in length. The wool of the best sheep +adheres closely, and can only be removed by shearing; but there are +varieties of sheep which shed their wool, as, for instance, the Persian, +which drop the whole of their fleeces between January and May, when +feeding on the new grass. + +This, then, is wool, the first use of which for cloth-making is lost in +antiquity. There is no doubt that the pastoral industry is the oldest +industry in the world; for even when the fruits of the earth could be +eaten without tillage and without labour, the flocks and herds required +care and attention. The shepherd may be regarded as the earliest pioneer +of industry, as he has been for centuries the centre of fanciful +romance, and the personification of far from romantic fact. The old +legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece is in itself evidence of the +antiquity of the knowledge of the value of wool; and much as the +mythologists make out of the legend, there are some who hold that it +merely is meant to record how the Greeks imported a superior kind of +sheep from the Caucasus and made money thereby. + +Australia is now the land of the Golden Fleece, and millions of money +have been made there out of the docile sheep. It is not indigenous, of +course, to the land of the Southern Cross, where the only mammal known +when Europeans discovered it was the kangaroo. Mr James Bonwick, a +gentleman well known in Australian literature, gathered together many +records of the introduction of the sheep into Australia, and of the +marvellous development of the pastoral industry there in his very +interesting book, _The Romance of the Wool-trade_. + +But, first, as to the different kinds of sheep. The Bighorn is the +wild-sheep of Kamchatka, and it may be taken for granted that all +species of the domestic sheep were at one time wild, or are descended +from wild tribes. When the Aryan Hindus invaded India, it is recorded +that they took their flocks with them; but whether the wild-sheep still +to be found on the hills of Northern India are the descendants of +wanderers from these flocks, or descendants of the progenitors of them, +we do not pretend to say. + +Chief among the domesticated sheep of the British Isles is the +Southdown, whose characteristics used to be--although we are told they +are changed somewhat now--thin chine, low fore-end, and rising backbone, +a small hornless head, speckled face, thin lips, woolled ears, and +bright eyes. The wool should 'be short, close, curled, fine, and free +from spiry projecting fibres.' Then there are the Romney Marsh, the +Cotswold, the Lincoln, the Leicester, and the Hardwick sheep, each with +its distinctive marks and value. The Welsh sheep have long necks, high +shoulders, narrow breasts, long bushy tails, and small bones; the wool +is not first class, but the mutton is excellent. The Irish native sheep +are of two kinds, the short-woolled and long-woolled; but Southdowns and +Leicesters have been so long crossed with them that their idiosyncrasies +are no longer marked. The Shetland sheep are supposed to have come from +Denmark, but have also been crossed with English and Scotch varieties. +In Scotland, the Cheviot and the Blackfaced are the two ruling types. +The Cheviot is a very handsome animal, with long body, white face, small +projecting eyes, and well-formed legs. The wool is excellent, as the +'tweed'-makers of the Border know, but is not so soft as that of the +English Southdowns. The Blackfaced is the familiar form we see in the +Highlands, supposed to have come originally 'from abroad,' but now +regarded as the native sheep of Scotland. It is a hardy animal, +accustomed to rough food and rough weather, with a fine deep chest, +broad back, slender legs, attractive face, and picturesque horns. The +wool is not so good as that of the Cheviot variety, but the mutton is +better. Of course, English varieties have been largely crossed with the +two native Scotch kinds; yet these still remain distinct, and are easily +recognisable. + +As long ago as the time of the Emperor Constantine, the wool of English +sheep had a high reputation, and had even then found its way to Rome. Of +English monarchs, Edward III. seems to have been the first to endeavour +to stimulate the pastoral industry by the manufacture of woollen cloths +and the export of raw wool. But Henry VIII. thought that sheep-breeding +had been carried too far, and the farmers were making too much money out +of it; so he decreed that no one should keep more than two thousand four +hundred sheep at one time, and that no man should be allowed to occupy +more than two farms. In the time of Charles II. the export of both sheep +and wool was strictly prohibited. As late as 1788, there were curious +prohibitory enactments with reference to sheep; and the date is +interesting, because it was the date of the settlement of New South +Wales. There was a fine of three pounds upon the carrying off of any +sheep from the British Isles, except for use on board ship; and even +between the islands and the mainland of Scotland, or across a tidal +river, sheep could not be transported without a special permit and the +execution of a bond that the animals were not for exportation. Indeed, +no sheep could be shorn within five miles of the sea-coast without the +presence of a revenue officer, to see that the law was not evaded. + +It is not surprising, then, that the first sheep settled in +Australia--the only great pastoral country that has never had a native +variety--did not go from England. It is very curious that in Australia, +New Zealand, and Tasmania, where now lies a great portion of the +pastoral wealth of the world, there never was any animal in the +smallest degree resembling a sheep until some enterprising Britons took +it there. + +The first sheep introduced into Australia were from the Cape and from +India. The ships which went out with the convicts of 1788 had a few +sheep on board for the officers' mess, which were presumably consumed +before the Cape of Good Hope was reached. There, some animals were +procured for the new settlement. The Cape at the time was in the hands +of the Dutch, who had large flocks of sheep and immense herds of cattle. +The sheep they had were not imported from Europe, but were the native +breed they had found in the hands of the aborigines when the Dutch +colony was founded one hundred and thirty years previously. + +The native African sheep is of the fat-tail kind. Wool was not then an +item of wealth in the Dutch colony; but the fat tails were appreciated +as an excellent substitute for butter. All over Africa and over a large +part of Asia, varieties of the fat-tail species are still to be found. +In Tibet they abound; and the Turcomans have vast flocks of them. But +Tibet has also other varieties, and notably one very like the llama of +Peru, with a very soft and most useful fleece, providing the famous +Tibetan wool. In Palestine and Syria the fat-tail sheep is abundant; and +of the Palestine breed it is recorded that they 'have a monstrous round +of fat, like a cushion, in place of the tail, which sometimes weighs +thirty or forty pounds. The wool of this sheep is coarse, much tangled, +and felted, and mixed with coarse dark-coloured hair.' + +Although the first sheep taken to Australia were from the Cape, the most +important of the earlier consignments were from India, the nearest +British possession to the new colony. Indeed, for over thirty years +Australia was ecclesiastically within the see of the Bishop of Calcutta, +and letters to England usually went by way of the Indian capital. + +The Bengalee sheep are described as 'small, lank, and thin, and the +colour of three-fourths of each flock is black or dark gray. The quality +of the fleece is worse than the colour; it is harsh, thin, and wiry to a +very remarkable degree, and ordinarily weighs but half a pound.' Not a +very promising subject, one would think, for the Australian pastures, +but the flesh was excellent; and climate and crossing of breeds work +wonders. + +That which gave value to the Australian breed of sheep, however, was the +introduction of the Spanish merino, which in time found its way to the +Cape, and thence to Australia. There is an old tradition that the famous +merino sheep of Spain came originally from England; but it appears from +Pliny and others that Spain had a reputation for fine wool long before +the Roman occupation. The Spanish word merino originally meant an +inspector of sheepwalks, and is derived from the Low Latin _majorinus_, +a steward of the household. Some writers believe that the merino came +originally from Barbary, probably among the flocks of the Moors when +they captured Southern Spain. The merinos are considered very voracious, +and not very prolific; they yield but little milk, and are very subject +to cutaneous diseases. Youatt describes two varieties of them in Spain, +and the wool is of remarkable fineness. + +About the year 1790, the Spanish merino began to be imported into the +Cape, and a few years later a certain Captain Waterhouse was sent from +Sydney to Capetown to buy stock for the colonial establishment. He +thought the service in which he was engaged 'almost a disgrace to an +officer;' but when he left the Cape again, he brought with him +'forty-nine head of black-cattle, three mares, and one hundred and seven +sheep'--arriving at Port Jackson with the loss of nine of the cattle +and about one-third of the sheep. Three cows, two mares, and twenty-four +of the sheep belonged to that officer, and with this voyage he founded +not only his own fortune, but also the prosperity of the great +Australian colony. Further importations followed; and a Captain +Macarthur, early in the present century, went home to London to +endeavour to form a company to carry on sheep-rearing on an extensive +scale. He did not succeed, and returned to Port Jackson to pursue his +enterprise himself. Eventually he obtained the concession of a few +square miles of land, and thus became the father of Australian +'squatting.' He located himself on the Nepean River, to the south-west +of Sydney; and to his industry and sagacity is attributed in great part +the origin of the immense wool-trade which has developed between the +colony and the mother-country. + +And what is now the wool wealth of Australasia? In 1820 there were not +more than ten thousand sheep of 'a good sort' in New South Wales; and in +the same year, wool from the colony was sold in London at an average of +three shillings and sevenpence the pound. This led to the circulation of +fabulous reports of the profits to be made out of sheep; and there was +quite a run for some years on the squatting lots. In 1848 some +Australians started sheep-running in New Zealand; and by 1860 the sheep +in these islands had increased to 2,400,000. In 1865 the number there +had grown to 5,700,000; in 1870, to 9,500,000; and in 1894, to +19,000,000. + +In 1886 the pastoral wealth of the whole of the Australian colonies +consisted of 84,222,272 sheep. At only ten shillings per head, this +represents a capital of over forty-two millions sterling, without +counting the value of the land. The number of sheep in 1894 was over +99,000,000. + +But now as to the yield of the flocks. The value of the wool for 1884 +was L20,532,429. + +The total importations of wool into England in 1885-86 were 1,819,182 +bales, of which no fewer than 1,139,842 bales, or nearly three-fourths +of the whole, came from Australasia. The rest came from the Cape and +Natal, India, the Mediterranean, Russia, other European countries, +China, and the Falkland Islands. The imports in 1894, from all quarters, +consisted of 705 million pounds, of a value of L25,000,000. + +It would transcend the limits of our space to attempt to sketch the +history and growth of the woollen industry in the manufacture of cloths. +It is an industry, if not as old as the hills, at least very nearly as +old as the fig-leaves of Eden; for we may assume as a certainty that the +next garments worn by our forefathers were constructed in some way from +the fleecy coats of these bleating followers. We exported woollen and +worsted yarns of a value of over four million pounds sterling in 1894, +and of woollen and worsted manufactures, a value of 14 millions +sterling. + +In the middle ages all the best wool was produced in England, and the +woollen manufacture centred in Norfolk, although both the west of +England and Ireland had also factories. There are in existence specimens +of cloth made in these medieval days which show that the quality of the +wool employed was not equal to that which we now use. The art of weaving +is supposed to have been brought from the Netherlands; at any rate there +were strong political alliances between the English sovereigns and the +weavers of Bruges and of Ghent. In these old days, when Norwich, +Aylsham, and Lynn had the lion's share of the woollen trade, the great +mart for English and foreign cloths was at Stourbridge, near Cambridge, +where a fair was held which lasted a month every year. + +There were 2546 woollen and worsted mills in the United Kingdom in 1890. +The chief seats of the wool manufacture in England in the 14th century +were Bristol, London, and Norwich. Now Wiltshire and Gloucestershire are +famous for broadcloths, while the towns of Leeds and Huddersfield in +Yorkshire are important centres. Galashiels and Hawick are noted for +their tweeds. + + +COTTON. + +The Father of History, in writing about India--'the last inhabited +country towards the East'--where every species of birds and quadrupeds, +horses excepted, are 'much larger than in any other part of the world,' +and where they have also 'a great abundance of gold,' made the following +remarkable statement. 'They possess likewise,' he said, 'a kind of +plant, which, instead of fruit, produces wool of a finer and better +quality than that of the sheep, and of this the natives make their +clothes.' This was the vegetable wool of the ancients, which many +learned authorities have identified with the byssus, in bandages of +cloth made from which the old Egyptians wrapped their mummies. But did +Egypt receive the cotton plant from India--or India from Egypt--and +when? However that may be, there is good reason to believe that cotton +is the basis of one of the oldest industries in the world, although we +are accustomed to think of it as quite modern, and at any rate as +practically unknown in Europe before the last century. As a matter of +fact, nevertheless, cotton was being cultivated in the south of Europe +in the 13th century, although whether the fibre was then used for the +making of cloth is not so certain. Its chief use then seems to have been +in the manufacture of paper. + +The beginning of the Oriental fable of the Vegetable Lamb is lost in the +dateless night of the centuries. When and how it originated we know +not; but the story of a Plant-Animal in Western Asia descended through +the ages, and passed from traveller to traveller, from historian to +historian, until in our time the fable has received a practical +verification. Many strange things were gravely recorded of this +Plant-Animal: as, that it was a tree bearing seed-pods, which, bursting +when ripe, disclosed within little lambs with soft white fleeces, which +Scythians used for weaving into clothing. Or, that it was a real +flesh-and-blood lamb, growing upon a short stem flexible enough to allow +the lamb to feed upon the surrounding grass. + +There were many versions of the marvellous tale as it reached Europe; +and the compiler and concocter of the so-called Sir John Mandeville's +travels, as usual, improved upon it. He vouched for the flesh-and-blood +lamb growing out of a plant, and declared that he had both seen and +_eaten it_--whereby the writer proved himself a somewhat greater +romancer than usual. Nevertheless, he has a germ of truth amid his lies, +for he relates of 'Bucharia' that in the land are 'trees that bear wool, +as though it were of sheep, whereof men make clothes and all things that +are made of wool.' And again, of Abyssinia, that mysterious kingdom of +the renowned Prester John, he related: 'In that country, and in many +others beyond, and also in many on this side, men sow the seeds of +cotton, and they sow it every year; and then it grows into small trees +which bear cotton. And so do men every year, so that there is plenty of +cotton at all times.' This statement, whencesoever it was borrowed, may +be true enough, and if so, is evidence that, eighteen centuries after +Herodotus, cotton was still being cultivated, as the basis of a textile +industry, both in Western Asia and in Africa. It is said that in the +Sacred Books of India there is evidence that cotton was in use for +clothing purposes eight centuries before Christ. + +The expedition of Alexander the Great from Persia into the Punjab was a +good deal later, say, three hundred and thirty years before Christ. On +the retreat down the Indus, Admiral Nearchus remarked 'trees bearing as +it were flocks or bunches of wool,' of which the natives made 'garments +of surpassing whiteness, or else their black complexions make the +material whiter than any other.' The Alexandrine general, Aristobulus, +is more precise: he tells of a wool-bearing tree yielding a capsule that +contains 'seeds which were taken out, and that which remained was carded +like wool.' And long before Pliny referred to cotton in Egypt--'a shrub +which men call "gossypium," and others "xylon," from which stuffs are +made which we call xylina'--Strabo had noted the cultivation of the +plant on the Persian Gulf. + +At the beginning of the Christian era we find cotton in cultivation and +in use in Persia, Arabia, and Egypt--but whether indigenous to these +countries, or conveyed westward during the centuries from India, we know +not. Thereafter, the westward spread was slow; but the plant is to be +traced along the north coast of Africa to Morocco, which country it +seems to have reached in the 9th century. The Moors took the plant, or +seeds, to Spain, and it was being grown on the plains of Valencia in the +10th century; and by the 13th century it was, as we have said, growing +in various parts of Southern Europe. + +Yet, although the Indian cloths were known to the Greeks and Romans a +century or two before the Christian era, and although in the early +centuries Arab traders brought to the Red Sea ports Indian calicoes, +which were distributed in Europe, we find cotton known in England only +as material for candle-wicks down to the 17th century. At any rate, +M'Culloch is our authority for believing that the first mention of +cotton being manufactured in England is in 1641; and that the 'English +cottons,' of which earlier mention may be found, were really _woollens_. + +And now we come to a very curious thing in the Romance of Cotton. +Columbus discovered--or, as some say, rediscovered--America in 1492; and +when he reached the islands of the Caribbean Sea, the natives who came +off to barter with him brought, among other things, cotton yarn and +thread. Vasco da Gama, a few years later than Bartholomew Diaz, in 1497 +rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached the Zanzibar coast. There the +natives were found to be clothed in cotton, just as Columbus found the +natives of Cuba to be, as Pizarro found the Peruvians, and as Cortes +found the Mexicans. These Europeans, proceeding from the Iberian +Peninsula east and west, found the peoples of the new worlds clothed +with a material of which they knew nothing. Cotton was king in America, +as in Asia, before it began even to be known in Western Europe. + +Not only that, but cotton must have been cultivated in Africa at the +time when the mariners of Prince Henry the Navigator first made their +way cautiously down the west coast. It is, at any rate, upwards of four +hundred years since cotton cloth was brought from the coast of Guinea +and sold in London as a strange barbaric product. Whether the plant +travelled to the Bight of Benin from the land of Prester John, or from +the land of the Pharaohs, or across from the Mozambique coast, where the +Arabians are supposed to have had settlements and trading stations in +prehistoric days, who can now say? But it is curious enough that when +Africa was discovered by Europeans, the Dark Continent was actually +producing both the fibre and the cloth for which African labour and +English skill were afterwards to be needed. The cotton plantations of +Southern America were worked by the negroes of Africa in order that the +cotton-mills of Lancashire might be kept running. And yet both Africa +and America made cotton cloth from the vegetable wool long before we +knew of it otherwise than as a traveller's wonder. + +Even in Asia, the natural habitat of the cotton plant, the story has +been curious. Thus, according to the records above named, cotton has +been in use for clothing for three thousand years in India, and India +borders upon the ancient and extensive Empire of China. Yet cotton was +not used in China for cloth-making until the coming of the Tartars, and +has been cultivated and manufactured there for only about five hundred +years. This was because of the 'vested interests' in wool and silk, +which combined to keep out the vegetable wool from general use. + +To understand aright the romance of cotton we must understand the nature +of the plant in its relation to climate. It has been called a child of +the tropics, and yet it grows well in other than tropical climes. As Mr +Richard Marsden--an authority on cotton-spinning--says: 'Cotton is or +can be grown (along) a broad zone extending forty-five degrees north to +thirty-five degrees south of the equator. Reference to a map will show +that this includes a space extending from the European shores of the +Mediterranean to the Cape of Good Hope, from Japan to Melbourne in +Australia, and from Washington in the United States to Buenos Ayres in +South America, with all the lands intermediate between these several +points. These include the Southern States of the American Union, from +Washington to the Gulf of Mexico, and three-fourths of South America, +the whole of the African Continent, and Southern Asia from the Bosphorus +to Pekin in China. The vast area of Australia is also within the cotton +zone, and the islands lying between that country and Asia.' + +The exact period at which the manufacture of cotton was begun in England +is not known with absolute certainty. But as we have said, the first +authentic mention of it occurs in 1641; and it is in a book called +_Treasure of Traffic_, by Lewis Roberts. The passage runs thus: 'The +town of Manchester, in Lancashire, must be also herein remembered, and +worthily for their encouragement commended, who buy the yarne of the +Irish in great quantity, and weaving it, returne the same again into +Ireland to sell. Neither doth their industry rest here; for they buy +_cotton-wool_ in London that comes first from Cyprus and Smyrna, and at +home worke the same, and perfect it into fustians, vermilions, dimities, +and other such stuffs; and then return it to London, where the same is +vended and sold, and not seldom sent into foreign parts, who have means, +at far easier terms, to provide themselves of the said first materials.' + +But here it should be explained that from the first introduction of the +cotton fibre into this country, and until about the year 1773, in the +manufacture of cloth it was only the weft that was of cotton. Down to +about 1773, the warp was invariably of linen yarn, brought from Ireland +and Germany. The Manchester merchants began in 1760 to employ the +hand-loom weavers in the surrounding villages to make cloth according to +prescribed patterns, and with the yarns supplied by the buyers. Thus +they sent linen yarn for warp, and raw cotton--which the weaver had +first to card and spin on a common distaff--for weft. Such was the +practice when, in 1767, James Hargreaves of Blackburn inaugurated the +textile revolution by inventing the spinning-jenny, which, from small +beginnings, was soon made to spin thirty threads as easily as one. The +thread thus spun, however, was still only available for weft, as the +jenny could not turn out the yarn hard and firm enough for warp. The +next stage, therefore, was the invention of a machine to give the +requisite quality and tenuity to the threads spun from the raw cotton. +This was the spinning-frame of Richard Arkwright, the story of which +every schoolboy is supposed to know. + +Here, then, we reach another point in our romance. The manufacture of +cotton cloths in England from raw cotton is older than the cotton +culture of North America. It is, in fact, only about one hundred years +since we began to draw supplies of raw cotton from the Southern States, +which, previous to 1784, did not export a single pound, and produced +only a small quantity for domestic consumption. The story of the +development of cotton-growing in America is quite as marvellous as the +story of the expansion of cotton-manufacturing in England. In both cases +the most stupendous extension ever reached by any single industry in the +history of the world has been reached in less than a hundred years. + +And yet Columbus found the Cubans, as Pizarro found the Peruvians, and +Cortes found the Mexicans, clothed in cotton. Was it from the same plant +as now supplies 'half the calico used by the entire human race' (as an +American writer has computed)? This estimate, by the way, was arrived at +thus: In 1889-90 the cotton crop of the world was 6094 millions of +pounds, and the population of the world was computed at 1500 millions. +This gave four pounds of raw cotton, equal to twenty yards of calico, +per head; and the proportion of raw cotton provided by the Southern +States was equal to eleven and a half yards per head. The raw cotton +imported by Great Britain in 1894 had a value of nearly 33 million +pounds sterling; the exports of cotton yarn and manufactured goods +amounted to about 66 millions sterling. + +There are several species of the cotton plant; but those of commercial +importance are four in number. Herbaceous Cotton ('Gossypium +herbaceum') is the plant which yields the East Indian 'Surat' and some +varieties of the Egyptian cotton. Its habitats are India, China, Arabia, +Egypt, and Asia Minor. It is an annual: it grows to a height of five or +six feet, it has a yellow flower, and it yields a short staple. Tree +Cotton ('Gossypium arboreum'), on the other hand, grows to a height of +fifteen or twenty feet, has a red flower, and yields a fine silky wool. +Its habitats are Egypt, Arabia, India, and China. Hairy Cotton +('Gossypium hirsutum') is a shrub of some six or seven feet high, with a +white or straw-coloured flower, and hairy pods, which yield the staple +known as American 'Upland' and 'Orleans' cotton. Another variety, called +'Gossypium Barbadense,' because it was first found in Barbadoes, grows +to a height of about fifteen feet, and has a yellow flower, yielding a +long staple, and fine silky wool known as 'Sea Island' cotton. This now +grows most extensively on the coasts of Georgia and Florida; but has +been experimented with in various parts of the world, notably in Egypt, +where it has succeeded; and in the Polynesian islands, where, for some +reason or another, it has failed. + +The cotton plant of the American cotton plantations is an annual, which +shoots above ground in about a fortnight after sowing, and which, as it +grows, throws out flower-stalks, at the end of each of which develops a +pod with fringed calyces. From this pod emerges a flower which, in some +of the American varieties of the general species, will change its colour +from day to day. The complete bloom flourishes for only twenty-four +hours, at the end of which time the flower twists itself off, leaving a +pod or boll, which grows to the size of a large filbert, browns and +hardens like a nut, and then bursts, revealing the fibre or wool encased +in three or four (according to the variety) cells within. This fibre or +wool is the covering of the seeds, and in each cell will be as many +separate fleeces as seeds, yet apparently forming one fleece. + +Upon the characteristics of this fleece depends the commercial value of +the fibre. The essential qualities of good and mature cotton are thus +enumerated by an expert: 'Length of fibre; smallness or fineness in +diameter; evenness and smoothness; elasticity; tensile strength and +colour; hollowness or tube-like construction; natural twist; corrugated +edges; and moisture.' The fibre of Indian cotton is only about +five-eighths of an inch long; that of Sea Island about two inches. Then +Sea Island cotton is a sort of creamy-white colour; and some kinds of +American and Egyptian cotton are not white at all, but golden in hue; +while other kinds, again, are snow-white. + +Although the term 'American Cotton' is applied to all the cotton +produced in the United States of America, it really applies to a number +of different varieties--such as Texas, Mobile, Upland, Orleans, +&c.--each one known by its distinctive name. The differences are too +technical for explanation here; but, generally speaking, the members of +the 'hirsutum' species of the 'Gossypium' tribe now rule the world of +cotton. + +They are the product of what is called the 'Cotton-belt' of the United +States, an area stretching for about two thousand miles between its +extreme points in the Southern States, which are North and South +Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, +and Texas. Over this area, soil and climate vary considerably. The +'Cotton-belt' lies, roughly speaking, between the thirtieth and fortieth +parallels of north latitude. As an American expert says: 'Cotton can be +produced with various degrees of profit throughout the region bounded on +the north by a line passing through Philadelphia; on the south by a line +passing a little south of New Orleans; and on the west by a line +passing through San Antonio. This is the limit of the possibilities.' + +The cotton plant likes a light sandy soil, or a black alluvial soil like +that of the Mississippi margins. It requires both heat and moisture in +due proportions, and is sensitive to cold, to drought, and to excessive +moisture. The American cotton-fields are still worked by negroes, but no +longer slaves, as before the war; and, in fact, the negroes are now not +only free, but some of them are considerable cotton-growers on their own +account. On the other hand, one finds nowadays little of the old system +of spacious plantations under one ownership. Instead, the cultivation is +carried on on small farms and allotments, not owned but rented by the +cultivators. Large numbers of these cotton farmers are 'financed' by +dealers, by landowners, or even by local storekeepers. + +The cotton factor is the go-between of the grower and the exporting +agent in Galveston or New Orleans, or other centre of business. After +the crop is picked by the negroes--men, women, and children--and the +harvest is a long process--the seeds are separated from the fibre by +means of a 'gin;' and then the cotton-wool is packed into loose bales +for the factor, while the seeds are sent to a mill to be crushed for +cotton-seed oil and oil-cake for cattle-feeding. The loose cotton bales +are collected by the factors into some such central town as Memphis, +where they are sorted, sampled, graded, and then compressed by machinery +into bales of about four hundred and forty pounds each, for export. In +calculating crops, &c., a bale is taken as four hundred pounds net. + +The cotton then passes into the hands of the shipping agent, who brands +it, and forwards it by river-steamer to one of the Southern ports, or by +rail to New York or Boston, where it is put on board an ocean steamer +for Europe. The beautiful American clippers with which some of us were +familiar in the days of our youth are no longer to be seen; they have +been run off the face of the waters by the 'ocean liner' and the +'tramp.' Arrived in Liverpool, cotton enters upon a new course of +adventures altogether, and engages the thoughts and energies of a wholly +new set of people. + +[Illustration: Cotton Plant.] + + + + +[Illustration] + +CHAPTER V. + +GOLD AND DIAMONDS. + + GOLD.--How widely distributed--Alluvial Gold-mining--Vein + Gold-mining--Nuggets--Treatment of Ore and Gold in the + Transvaal--Story of South African Gold-fields--Gold-production + of the World--Johannesburg the Golden City--Coolgardie + Gold-fields--Bayley's discovery of Gold there. + + DIAMONDS.--Composition--Diamond-cutting--Diamond-mining--Famous + Diamonds--Cecil J. Rhodes and the Kimberley Mines. + + +In the getting of gold--the metal--for the purpose of possessing +gold--as money--there has always been an element of excitement and +romance. + +'How quickly nature falls into revolt when gold becomes her object!' as +Shakespeare says: + + For gold the merchant ploughs the main, + The farmer ploughs the manor. + +There is a vast difference between the way in which the precious metal +is now extracted and the primitive methods which were considered perfect +in the earlier part of the century. The miner of fifty years ago never +dreamt of machinery, costly and magnificent, capable of crushing +thousands of tons of quartz per week. He 'dollied,' or ground, his +little bits of rock by means of a contrivance resembling a pestle and +mortar, and it was only the very richest stone that repaid him for his +labour. In fact, there was very little crushing in those days, quartz +not being easily found sufficiently rich to make such work a paying +concern, and it was therefore alluvial gold which was chiefly sought +for. The gold-seeker having decided on the place where he was to make +his first venture, provided himself with a shovel and pick and started +for the 'diggings.' Gold-mining was then carried on all over California, +and he had his choice of many camps. + +[Illustration: The Hand-cradle Method of extracting Gold.] + +But what a wild and lawless place was California in those days! Here in +these gold-fields were gathered together thousands of the greatest +desperadoes that the earth could boast of, and thousands of needy, if +harmless, adventurers from every country in the world. Fortunately with +them were mixed thousands of honest hard-working men, of every condition +in life, from the peer to the peasant, men who had been doing well, or +fairly well, at their professions, or in their business offices at home, +but for whom the attractions of this El Dorado had proved too powerful. + +Gold is perhaps the most widely and universally sought product of the +earth's crust. In the very earliest writings which have come down to us +gold is mentioned as an object of men's search, and as a commodity of +extreme value for purposes of adornment and as a medium of exchange. The +importance which it possessed in ancient times has certainly not +lessened in our day. Without the enormous supplies of gold produced at +about the time when the steam-engine was being brought into practical +use it is difficult to imagine how our commerce could have attained its +present proportions; and but for the rush of immigrants to the +gold-fields in the beginning of the second half of this century +Australia might have remained a mere convict settlement, California have +become but a granary and vineyard, and the Transvaal an asylum of the +Boers who were discontented with the Cape government. + +On the score of geographical distribution, gold must be deemed a common +metal, as common as copper, lead, or silver, and far more common than +nickel, cobalt, platinum, and many others. Theorists have propounded +curious rules for the occurrence of gold on certain lines and belts, +which have no existence but in their own fancy. Scarcely a country but +has rewarded a systematic search for gold, though some are more richly +endowed than others, and discoveries are not always made with the same +facility. The old prejudices, which made men associate gold only with +certain localities hindered the development of a most promising +industry even within the British shores. Despite the abundant traces of +ancient Roman and other workings, the gold-mines of Wales were long +regarded as mythical; but recent extended exploitation has proved them +to be rich. This is notably the case in the Dolgelly district, where +considerable gold occurs, both in alluvial gravels and in well-formed +quartz veins traversing the Lower Silurian Lingula beds and the intruded +diabasic rocks called 'greenstone' in the Geological Survey. A +peculiarity of the veins is the common association of magnesian +minerals. The gold is about 20 or 21 carats fine, and often shows traces +of iron sesquioxide. So long ago as 1861 some L10,000 worth of gold per +annum was taken out of the Clogan mine by imperfect methods. Some +samples have afforded 40 to 60 ounces per ton--a most remarkable yield. +There are probably many veins still waiting discovery. + +A calculation was made in 1881 that the total gold extracted from all +sources up to that date from the creation had been over 10,000 tons, +with a value of about 1500 millions sterling. California, to the end of +1888, was reckoned to have afforded over 200 million pounds' worth, and +this figure is exceeded by the Australian colony of Victoria. + +The origin of gold-bearing mineral veins is inseparably connected with +that vexed question, the origin of mineral veins generally. By far the +most common matrix of vein-gold is quartz or silica, but it is not the +only one. To pass by the metals and metallic ores with which gold is +found, there are several other minerals which serve as an envelope for +the precious metal. Chief among them is lime. Some of the best mines of +New South Wales are in calcareous veins. Sundry gold-reefs in +Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Bohemia are full of calcite. +Dolomite occurs in Californian and Manitoban mines; and apatite, +aragonite, gypsum, selenite, and crystalline limestone have all proved +auriferous, while in some cases neighbouring quartz has been barren. +Felspar in Colorado and felsite magnesian slate in Newfoundland carry +gold. + + +NUGGETS. + +[Illustration: Welcome Nugget.] + +The physical conditions under which gold occurs are extremely variable. +Popularly speaking, the most familiar form is the 'nugget,' or shapeless +mass of appreciable size. These, however, constitute in the aggregate +but a small proportion of the gold yielded by any field, and were much +more common in the early days of placer-mining in California and +Australia than they are now. One of the largest ever found, the +'Welcome' nugget, discovered in 1858 at Bakery Hill, Ballarat, weighed +2217 ounces 16 dwt., and sold for L10,500, whilst not a few have +exceeded 1000 ounces. One found at Casson Hill, Calaveras county, +California, in 1854, weighed 180 pounds. The 'Water Moon' nugget, found +in Australia in 1852, weighed 223 pounds. The origin of these large +nuggets has been a subject for discussion. Like all placer or alluvial +gold, they have been in part at least derived from the auriferous veins +traversing the rocks whose disintegration furnished the material forming +the gravel beds in which the nuggets are found. + +The famous nugget known as the 'Welcome Stranger' was discovered under +singular circumstances in the Dunolly district of Victoria, which is one +hundred and ten miles north-west of the capital, Melbourne, by two +Cornish miners named Deeson and Oates. Their career is remarkable, as +showing how fortune, after frowning for years, will suddenly smile on +the objects of her apparent aversion. These two Cornishmen emigrated +from England to Australia by the same vessel in 1854. They betook +themselves to the far-famed Sandhurst Gold-field in Victoria; they +worked together industriously for years, and yet only contrived to make +a bare livelihood by their exertions. Thinking that change of place +might possibly mean change of luck, they moved to the Dunolly +Gold-field, and their spirits were considerably raised by the discovery +of some small nuggets. But this was only a momentary gleam of sunshine, +for their former ill-luck pursued them again, and pursued them even more +relentlessly than before. + +The time at last came, on the morning of Friday, February 5, 1869, when +the storekeeper with whom they were accustomed to deal refused to supply +them any longer with the necessaries of life until they liquidated the +debt they had already incurred. For the first time in their lives they +went hungry to work, and the spectacle of these two brave fellows +fighting on an empty stomach against continued ill-luck must have moved +the fickle goddess to pity and repentance. Gloomy and depressed as they +naturally were, they plied their picks with indomitable perseverance, +and while Deeson was breaking up the earth around the roots of a tree, +his pick suddenly and sharply rebounded by reason of its having struck +some very hard substance. 'Come and see what this is,' he called out to +his mate. To their astonishment, 'this' turned out to be the 'Welcome +Stranger' nugget; and thus two poverty-stricken Cornish miners became in +a moment the possessors of the largest mass of gold that mortal eyes +ever saw, or are likely to see again. Such a revolution of fortune is +probably unique in the annals of the human race. Almost bewildered by +the unexpected treasure they had found at their feet, Deeson and Oates +removed the superincumbent clay, and there revealed to their wondering +eyes was a lump of gold, a foot long and a foot broad, and so heavy that +their joint strength could scarcely move it. A dray having been +procured, the monster nugget was escorted by an admiring procession into +the town of Dunolly, and carried into the local branch of the London +Chartered Bank, where it was weighed, and found to contain 2268-1/2 +ounces of gold. The Bank purchased the nugget for L9534, which the +erstwhile so unlucky, but now so fortunate, pair of Cornish miners +divided equally between them. Whether the storekeeper who refused them +the materials for a breakfast that morning apologised for his harsh +behaviour, history relates not, but the probability is that he was paid +the precise amount of his debt and no more; whereas, had he acted in a +more generous spirit towards two brothers in distress, he might have +come in for a handsome present out of the proceeds of the 'Welcome +Stranger.' + +The 'Welcome' nugget above mentioned, found at Bakery Hill, Ballarat, in +Victoria, on June 15, 1858, was nearly as large as the one just +described, its weight being 2217 ounces 16 dwts. It was found at a depth +of one hundred and eighty feet in a claim belonging to a party of +twenty-four men, who disposed of it for L10,500. A smaller nugget, +weighing 571 ounces, was found in close proximity to it. After being +exhibited in Melbourne, the 'Welcome' nugget was brought to London and +smelted in November 1859. The assay showed that it contained 99.20 per +cent. of gold. + +Another valuable nugget, which was brought to London and exhibited at +the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, was the 'Blanche Barkly,' found by a party +of four diggers on August 27, 1857, at Kingower, Victoria, just thirteen +feet beneath the surface. It was twenty-eight inches long, ten inches +broad in its widest part, and weighed 1743 ounces 13 dwts. It realised +L6905, 12s. 6d. A peculiarity about this nugget was the manner in which +it had eluded the efforts of previous parties to capture it. Three years +before its discovery, a number of miners, judging the place to be a +'likely' locality, had sunk holes within a few feet of the spot where +this golden mass was reposing, and yet they were not lucky enough to +strike it. What a tantalising thought it must have been in after-years, +when they reflected on the fact that they were once within an arm's +length of L7000 without being fortunate enough to grasp the golden +treasure! Kingower, like Dunolly, from which it is only a few miles +distant, is a locality famous for its nuggets. One weighing 230 ounces +was actually found on the surface covered with green moss; and pieces of +gold have frequently been picked up there after heavy rains, the water +washing away the thin coating of earth that had previously concealed +them. Two men working in the Kingower district in 1860 found a very fine +nugget, weighing 805 ounces, within a foot of the surface; and one of +715 ounces was unearthed at Daisy Hill at a depth of only three and a +half feet. + +A notable instance of rapid fortune was that of a party of four, who, +having been but a few months in the colony of Victoria, were lucky +enough to alight on a nugget weighing 1615 ounces. They immediately +returned to England with their prize and sold it for L5532, 7s. 4d. The +place where they thus quickly made their 'pile,' to use an expressive +colonialism, was Canadian Gully, at Ballarat, a very prolific +nugget-ground. There was also found the 'Lady Hotham' nugget, called +after the wife of Sir Charles Hotham, one of the early governors of +Victoria. It was discovered on September 8, 1854, at a depth of 135 +feet. Its weight was 1177 ounces; and near it were found a number of +smaller nuggets of the aggregate weight of 2600 ounces, so that the +total value of the gold extracted from this one claim was no less than +L13,000. As showing the phenomenal richness of this locality, it may be +added that on January 20, 1853, a party of three brought to the surface +a solid mass of gold weighing 1117 ounces; and two days afterwards, in +the same tunnel, a splendid pyramidal-shaped nugget weighing 1011 ounces +was discovered; the conjoint value of the two being L7500. + +A case somewhat similar to one already described was that of the 'Heron' +nugget, a solid mass of gold to the amount of 1008 ounces, which was +found at Fryer's Creek, Victoria, by two young men who had only been +three months in the colony. They were offered L4000 for it in Victoria; +but they preferred to bring it to England as a trophy, and there they +sold it for L4080. + +The 'Victoria' nugget, as its name suggests, was purchased by the +Victorian government for presentation to Her Majesty. It was a very +pretty specimen of 340 ounces, worth L1650, and was discovered at White +Horse Gully, Sandhurst. Quite close to it, and within a foot of the +surface, was found the 'Dascombe' nugget, weighing 330 ounces, which was +also brought to London, and sold for L1500. + +Just as a book should never be judged by its cover, so mineral +substances should not be estimated by superficial indications. A +neglect of this salutary precept was once very nearly resulting in the +loss of a valuable Victorian nugget. A big lump of quartz was brought to +the surface, and, as its exterior aspect presented only slight +indications of the existence of gold, it was at first believed to be +valueless; but as soon as the mass was broken up, there, embedded in the +quartz, was a beautiful nugget of an oval shape. + +New South Wales, the parent colony of the Australian group, has produced +a considerable quantity of gold, but not many notable nuggets. Its most +famous nugget was discovered by a native boy in June 1851 at Meroo +Creek, near the present town of Bathurst. This black boy was in the +employ of Dr Kerr as a shepherd, and one day, whilst minding his sheep, +he casually came across three detached pieces of quartz. He tried to +turn over the largest of the pieces with his stick; but he was +astonished to find that the lump was much heavier than the ordinary +quartz with which he was familiar. Bending down and looking closer, he +saw a shining yellow mass lying near; and when he at last succeeded in +lifting up the piece of quartz, his eyes expanded on observing that the +whole of its under surface was of the same shining complexion. He +probably did not realise the full value of his discovery; but he had +sufficient sense to break off a few specimens and hasten to show them to +his master. Dr Kerr set off at once to verify the discovery; and when he +arrived at the spot, his most sanguine anticipations were fulfilled by +the event. He found himself the possessor of 1272 ounces of gold; and he +rewarded the author of his wealth, the little black boy, with a flock of +sheep and as much land as was needed for their pasture. + + +METHODS OF MINING. + +The more common form of alluvial gold is as grains, or scales, or dust, +varying in size from that of ordinary gunpowder to a minuteness that is +invisible to the naked eye. Sometimes indeed the particles are so small +that they are known as 'paint' gold, forming a scarcely perceptible +coating on fragments of rock. When the gold is very fine or in very thin +scales, much of it is lost in the ordinary processes for treating +gravels, by reason of the fact that it will actually float on water for +a considerable distance. + +From what has been already said it will be evident that gold-mining must +be an industry presenting several distinct phases. These may be classed +as alluvial mining, vein-mining, and the treatment of auriferous ores. + +In alluvial mining natural agencies, such as frost, rain, &c., have, in +the course of centuries, performed the arduous tasks of breaking up the +matrix which held the gold, and washing away much of the valueless +material, leaving the gold concentrated into a limited area by virtue of +its great specific gravity. Hence it is never safe to assume that the +portion of the veins remaining as such will yield anything like so great +an equivalent of gold as the alluvials formed from the portion which has +been disintegrated. As water has been the chief (but not the only) agent +in distributing the gold and gravel constituting alluvial diggings or +placers, the banks and beds of running streams in the neighbourhood of +auriferous veins are likely spots for the prospector, who finds in the +flowing water of the stream the means of separating the heavy grains of +gold from the much lighter particles of rock, sand, and mud. Often the +brook is made to yield the gold it transports by the simple expedient of +placing in it obstacles which will arrest the gold without obstructing +the lighter matters. Jason's golden fleece was probably a sheepskin +which had been pegged down in the current of the Phasis till a quantity +of gold grains had become entangled among the wool. To this day the same +practice is followed with ox-hides in Brazil, and with sheepskins in +Ladakh, Savoy, and Hungary. This may be deemed the simplest form of +'alluvial mining.' If the gold deposited in holes and behind bars in the +bed of the stream is to be recovered, greater preparations are needed. +Either the river-bed must be dredged by floating dredgers, worked by the +stream or otherwise; or the gravel must be dug out for washing while the +bed is left dry in hot weather; or the river must be diverted into +another channel (natural or artificial) whilst its bed is being +stripped. The first-named method is best adapted to large volumes of +water, but probably is least productive of gold, passing over much that +is buried in crevices in the solid bed-rock. The second plan is +applicable only to small streams, and entails much labour. The third is +most efficient, but very liable to serious interference by floods, which +entail a heavy loss of plant. + +In searching for placers it is necessary to bear in mind that the +watercourses of the country have not always flowed in the channels they +now occupy. During the long periods of geological time many and vast +changes have taken place in the contour of the earth's surface. Hence it +is not an uncommon circumstance to find beds of auriferous gravel +occupying the summits of hills, which must, at the time the deposit was +made, have represented the course of a stream. In the same way the +remains of riverine accumulations are found forming 'terraces' or +'benches' on the flanks of hills. Lacustrine beds may similarly occur at +altitudes far above the reach of any existing stream, having been the +work of rivers long since passed away. + +Another form of alluvial digging occurs in Western America and New +Zealand, where the sea washes up auriferous sands. These are known as +'ocean placers' or 'beach diggings,' and are of minor importance. + +Whilst most placers have been formed by flowing water, some owe their +origin to the action of ice, and are really glacial moraines. Others are +attributed to the effects of repeated frost and thaw in decomposing the +rocks and causing rearrangement of the component parts. Yet another +class of deposits is supposed to have been accumulated by an outpouring +of volcanic mud. And, finally, experts declare that some of the rich +_banket_ beds of the Transvaal became auriferous by the infiltration of +water containing a minute proportion of gold in solution. + +In all cases the recovery of alluvial gold is in principle remarkably +simple. It depends on the fact that the gold is about seven times as +heavy, bulk for bulk, as the material forming the mass of the deposit. +The medium for effecting the separation is water in motion. The +apparatus in which it is applied may be a 'pan,' a 'cradle,' or a 'tom,' +for operations on a very small scale, or a 'sluice,' which may be a +paved ditch or a wooden 'flume' of great length, for large operations. +The method is the same in all: flowing water removes the earthy matters, +while obstructions of various kinds arrest the metal. As a rule, it is +more advantageous to conduct the water to the material than to carry the +material to water. In many cases a stream of water, conveyed by means of +pipes, and acting under the influence of considerable pressure, is +utilised for removing as well as washing the deposit. This method is +known as 'piping' or 'hydraulicing' in America, where it has been +chiefly developed, but is now forbidden in many localities, because the +enormous masses of earth washed through the sluices have silted up +rivers and harbours, and caused immense loss to the agricultural +interest by burying the rich riverside lands under a deposit that will +be sterile for many years to come. The plan permits of very economical +working in large quantities, but is extremely wasteful of gold. The +water-supply is of paramount importance, and has led to the construction +of reservoirs and conduits, at very heavy cost, which in many places +will have a permanent value long after gold-sluicing has ceased. These +large water-supply works are often in the hands of distinct parties from +the miners, the latter purchasing the water they use. To give an example +of the results attained in alluvial mining, it may be mentioned that in +a three-months' working in one Victorian district in 1888, over 33,500 +tons of wash-dirt were treated for an average yield of 18-1/2 grains of +gold per ton, or, say, one part in 700,000. Where water cannot be +obtained recourse is had to a fanning or winnowing process for +separating the gold from the sand, which, however, is less efficacious. + +[Illustration: Hydraulic Gold-mining.] + +Vein-mining for gold differs but little from working any other kind of +metalliferous lode. When the vein-stuff has been raised it is reduced to +a pulverulent condition, to liberate the gold from the gangue. In some +cases roasting is first resorted to. This causes friability, and +facilitates the subsequent comminution. When the gold is in a very fine +state, too, it helps it to agglomerate. But if any pyrites are present +the effect is most detrimental, the gold becoming coated with a film of +sulphur or a glazing of iron oxide. The powdering of the vein-stuff is +usually performed in stamp batteries, which consist of a number of +falling hammers. While simple in principle, the apparatus is complicated +in its working parts, and is probably destined to give way to the +improved forms of crushing-rolls and centrifugal roller mills, which are +less costly, simpler, more efficient, and do not flatten the gold +particles so much. One of the most effective is that by Jordan. When the +vein-stuff has been reduced to powder, it is akin to alluvial wash-dirt, +and demands the same or similar contrivances for arresting the liberated +gold and releasing the tailings--that is, mercury troughs, amalgamated +plates, blanket strakes, &c.; but, in addition, provision is made for +catching the other metalliferous constituents, such as pyrites, which +almost always carry a valuable percentage of gold. These pyrites or +'sulphurets' are cleansed by concentration in various kinds of +apparatus, all depending on the greater specific gravity of the portion +sought to be saved. + +Of the metals and minerals with which gold is found intimately +associated in nature are the following: Antimony, arsenic, bismuth, +cobalt, copper, iridium, iron, lead, manganese, nickel, osmium, +palladium, platinum, selenium, silver, tellurium, tungsten, vanadium, +and zinc, often as an alloy in the case of palladium, platinum, +selenium, silver (always), and tellurium. The methods of separation vary +with the nature of the ore and the conditions of the locality. + + +TREATMENT OF ORE AND GOLD IN THE TRANSVAAL. + +The method of treatment of ore and gold in the Transvaal, the most +perfect and effective known at the present time, has thus been described +by Arthur Stenhouse: + +The rock when hoisted out of the mine is first assorted, the waste rock +being thrown on one side and the gold-bearing ore broken into lumps by a +stone-breaker. The lumps of ore now pass by gravitation and feeders +through a battery (or stamp mill), each stamp of which weighs about 1150 +pounds, every stamp being lifted and dropped separately by the cam shaft +at a speed of about 95 drops a minute. A stream of water is introduced, +the ore is crushed into fine sand, and is carried by the water over a +series of inclined copper plates, which are coated with quicksilver. The +free gold in the sand at once amalgamates with the quicksilver on the +plates, and the sand-laden stream continues on its course. + +The sand, having now passed over the plates, is carried by launders on +to the concentrators, or frue vanners. These concentrators separate and +retain the heavy sand (or concentrates), whilst the lighter sand is +carried by gravitation through a trough (or launder) to the cyanide +vats. + +The stream of water carrying the lighter sand empties itself into the +cyanide vats, and as each successive vat is filled up, the water is +allowed to drain through the sand. A solution of cyanide of potassium is +then pumped up and evenly distributed (by distributors) over the sand, +and dissolves the gold in its progress, leaving pure sand alone in the +vat. The gold-containing liquid (or solution) having left the vat, is +led into a series of boxes filled with zinc shavings, the gold separates +from the liquid, and settles on the zinc shavings in the shape of a +small black powder. The cyanide solution now freed from the gold runs +into the solution vats, and is restrengthened and ready for further use. + +_Gold Recovery._--In the mill or battery the copper plates are scraped +daily, and the amalgams (that is, quicksilver and gold) are weighed and +placed in the safe in charge of the battery manager. This amalgam is +generally retorted once a week, that is to say, the quicksilver is +evaporated (but not lost) and the gold is left in the retort. This +retorted gold is then smelted into bars. + +The concentrates recovered by the frue vanners are generally treated by +chlorination (roasted). This process is gone through so that the iron +can be separated from the gold. Concentrates are sometimes treated by +cyanide, but the process, if cheaper, is slow and less effective. +Chlorinated gold is also smelted into bars. + +_Cyanide._--The gold from the zinc shavings is recovered by retorting. +It is afterwards melted into bars and called 'cyanide gold.' + +Slimes (or float gold) are generally conserved in a dam, and when the +quantity is sufficient they are treated by chlorination, or by a +solution of cyanide of potassium. + +After treatment all sand is still retained, and is really a small +unbooked asset of the various gold-mining companies. The Rand +undoubtedly is the best field to-day for students who wish to acquire +the details of gold recovery. In no other country has science produced +such excellent results. At least 95 per cent. of the gold in the ore can +now be recovered, and scientific men from all countries are resident on +the fields, and advantageous discoveries in the treatment of various +ores are of almost daily occurrence. + + +STORY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN GOLD-FIELDS. + +There is material for the philosopher in the fact of gold-finding having +occurred in connection with a part of the world to which King Solomon +the Wise sent for supplies of gold and 'almug-trees,' for the mysterious +Ophir has been located in Mashonaland, and the Queen of Sheba identified +with the Sabia districts, which, though not in 'the Randt,' are +curiously connected with the rise and progress of the mania. + +Let us briefly trace that romantic history, merely mentioning by the way +that, even in European history, African gold is no novelty, for the +Portuguese brought back gold-dust (and negro slaves) from Cape Bojador +four hundred and fifty years ago. The ruins of Mashonaland were +discovered in 1864 by Karl Mauch, who also discovered the gold-field of +Tate on the Zambesi, of which Livingstone had reported that the natives +got gold there by washing, being too lazy to dig for it. When Karl Mauch +came back to civilisation, people laughed at his stories of ruined +cities in the centre of Africa as travellers' fables, but a number of +Australian gold-diggers thought his report of the Tate gold-field good +enough to follow up. So about 1867, a band of them went out and set up a +small battery on the Tate River for crushing the quartz. This may be +called the first serious attempt at gold-mining in South Africa since +the days of the lost races who built the cities whose ruins Karl Mauch +discovered and which Mr Theodore Bent has described. A Natal company +assisted the Tate diggers with supplies, and enough gold was found to +justify the floating of the Limpopo Mining Company in London. This was +in 1868, and was practically the foundation of the 'Kaffir Circus,' +though its founders knew it not. Sir John Swinburne was the moving +spirit of this enterprise, and went out with a lot of expensive +machinery, only to meet with a good deal of disappointment. The diamond +discoveries in Griqualand soon drew away the gold-seekers, who found the +working expenses too heavy to leave gold-mining profitable, and for a +time the Tate fields were deserted. They were taken up again, however, +twenty years later by a Kimberley enterprise, out of which developed the +Tate Concession and Exploration Company, to whom the unfortunate +potentate Lobengula granted a mining concession over no less than eight +hundred thousand square miles of Matabeleland. + +Just as the Australians were breaking ground on the Tate, Thomas Baines, +the traveller, was making up his mind to test the truth of tales of gold +in the far interior, which the Portuguese from Da Gama onwards had +received from natives. In 1869 he set forth from Natal with a small +expedition, and in 1870 received from Lobengula permission to dig for +gold anywhere between the rivers Gwailo and Ganyona. Some seventeen +years later this same concession was repeated to Mr Rudd, and became the +basis from which sprang the great Chartered Company of British South +Africa. + +In the course of his journey, Baines encamped on the site of the present +city of Johannesburg, without having the least idea of the wealth +beneath him, and intent only upon that he hoped to find farther inland. +On the map which he prepared of this journey is marked the 'farm of H. +Hartley, pioneer of the gold-fields,' in the Witwatersrandt district. +Hartley was known to the Boers as 'Oude Baas,' and was a famous +elephant-hunter, but as ignorant as Baines himself that he was dwelling +on the top of a gold-reef. And it was not in the Witwatersrandt, +foremost as it now is, that the African gold boom began. + +While the Tate diggers were pursuing their work and Baines his +explorations, a Natalian named Button went, with an experienced +Californian miner named Sutherland, to prospect for gold in the +north-east of the Transvaal. They found it near Lydenburg, and companies +were rapidly formed in Natal to work it. Such big nuggets were sent down +that men hurried up, until soon there were some fifteen hundred actively +at work on the Lydenburg field. The operations were fairly profitable, +but the outbreak of the Zulu war, and then the Boer war, put an end to +them for some years. + +And now we come to one of the most romantic chapters in the golden +history of South Africa, a history which was marked by hard and +disheartening days what time the lucky diamond-seekers at Kimberley were +swilling champagne, as if it were water, out of pewter beer-pots. There +is more attraction for adventurers, however, in gold-seeking than in +diamond-mining, for gold can be valued and realised at once, whereas +diamonds may not be diamonds after all, and may be spoilt, lost, or +stolen, before they can find a purchaser. + +It is to be noted that much as the Transvaal Republic has benefited from +gold-mining, the Boers were at first much averse to it, and threw all +the obstacles they could in the way of the miners. And it was this +attitude of the Boers, especially towards the Lydenburg pioneers, that +led to the next development. + +One of the tributaries of the Crocodile River (which flows into Delagoa +Bay) is the Kaap River, called also the River of the Little Crocodile, +which waters a wide deep valley into which projects the spur of a hill +which the Dutch pioneers called De Kaap (the cape). Beyond this +cape-like spur the hills rise to a height of three thousand feet, and +carry a wide plateau covered with innumerable boulders of fantastic +shape--the Duivel's Kantoor. The mists gather in the valley and dash +themselves against De Kaap like surf upon a headland; and the face of +the hills is broken with caves and galleries as if by the action of the +sea, but really by the action of the weather. Upon the high-lying +plateau of the Duivel's Kantoor were a number of farms, the chief of +which was held by one G. P. Moodie. + +One day a Natal trader named Tom M'Laughlin had occasion to cross this +plateau in the course of a long trek, and he picked up with curiosity +some of the bits of quartz he passed, or kicked aside, on the way. On +reaching Natal he showed these to an old Australian miner, who instantly +started up-country and found more. The place was rich in gold, and +machinery was as quickly as possible got up from Natal, on to Moodie's +farm. On this farm was found the famous Pioneer Reef, and Moodie, who at +one time would gladly have parted with his farm for a few hundreds, sold +his holding to a Natal company for something like a quarter of a +million. Then there was a rush of diggers and prospectors back from the +Lydenburg district, and the De Kaap 'boom' set in. The beginning was in +1883, and two years later the whole Kaap valley and Kantoor plateau was +declared a public gold-field. Two brothers called Barber came up and +formed the centre of a settlement, now the town of Barberton. Every new +reef sighted or vein discovered was the signal for launching a new +company--not now in Natal only, but also in London, to which the +gold-fever began to spread (but was checked again by the De Kaap +reverses). + +Some fifteen Natalians formed a syndicate to 'exploit' this country +on their own account. Some were storekeepers in the colony, some +wagon-traders, and some merely waiters on fortune. Only eleven of them +had any money, and they supplied the wherewithal for the other four, who +were sent up to prospect and dig. After six months of fruitless toil, +the money was all done, and word was sent to the four that no more aid +could be sent to them. They were 'down on their luck,' when as they +returned to camp on what was intended to be their last evening there, +one Edwin Bray savagely dug his pick into the rock as they walked +gloomily along. But with one swing which he made came a turn in the +fortunes of the band, and of the land, for he knocked off a bit of +quartz so richly veined with gold as to betoken the existence of +something superexcellent in the way of a 'reef.' All now turned on the +rock with passionate eagerness, and in a very short time pegged out what +was destined to be known as 'Bray's Golden Hole.' + +But the syndicate were by this time pretty well cleaned out, and capital +was needed to work the reef, and provide machinery, &c. So a small +company was formed in Natal under the name of the Sheba Reef Gold-mining +Company, divided into 15,000 shares of L1 each, the capital of L15,000 +being equitably allotted among the fifteen members of the syndicate. +Upon these shares they raised enough money on loan to pay for the +crushing of 200 tons of quartz, which yielded eight ounces of gold to +the ton, and at once provided them with working capital. Within a very +few months the mine yielded 10,000 ounces of gold, and the original +shares of L1 each ran up by leaps and bounds until they were eagerly +competed for at L100 each. Within a year, the small share-capital +(L15,000) of the original syndicate was worth in the market a million +and a half sterling. This wonderful success led to the floating of a +vast number of hopeless or bogus enterprises, and worthless properties +were landed on the shoulders of the British public at fabulous prices. +Yet, surrounded as it was by a crowd of fraudulent imitators, the great +Sheba Mine has continued as one of the most wonderfully productive mines +in South Africa. Millions have been lost in swindling and impossible +undertakings in De Kaap, but the Sheba Mountain, in which was Bray's +Golden Hole, has really proved a mountain of gold. + +The De Kaap gold-field had sunk again under a cloud of suspicion, by +reason of the company-swindling and share-gambling which followed upon +the Sheba success, when another startling incident gave a fresh impetus +to the golden madness. + +Among the settlers in the Transvaal in the later seventies were two +brothers called Struben, who had had some experience, though not much +success, with the gold-seekers at Lydenburg, and who took up in 1884 the +farm of Sterkfontein in the Witwatersrandt district. While attending to +the farm they kept their eyes open for gold, and one day one of the +brothers came upon gold-bearing conglomerates, which they followed up +until they struck the famous 'Confidence Reef.' This remarkable reef at +one time yielded as much as a thousand ounces of gold and silver to the +ton of ore, and then suddenly gave out, being in reality not a 'reef' +but a 'shoot.' There were other prospectors in the district, but none +had struck it so rich as the Strubens, who purchased the adjacent farm +to their own, and set up a battery to crush quartz, both for themselves +and for the other gold-hunters. The farms were worth little in those +days, being only suitable for grazing; but when prospectors and company +promoters began to appear, first by units, then by tens, and then by +hundreds, the Boers put up their prices, and speedily realised for +their holdings ten and twenty times what they would have thought +fabulous a year or two previously. And it was on one of these farms that +the city of Johannesburg was destined to arise as if under a magician's +wand, from a collection of huts, in eight years, to a city covering an +area three miles by one and a half, with suburbs stretching many miles +beyond, with handsome streets and luxurious houses, in the very heart of +the desert. + +[Illustration: Prospecting for Gold.] + +It was one Sunday evening in 1886 that the great 'find' was made which +laid the base of the prosperity of the Johannesburg-to-be. A +farm-servant of the brothers Struben went over to visit a friend at a +neighbouring farm, and as he trekked homeward in the evening, knocked +off a bit of rock, the appearance of which led him to take it home to +his employer. It corresponded with what Struben had himself found in +another part, and following up both leads, revealed what became famous +as the Main Reef, which was traced for miles east and west. + +A lot of the 'conglomerate' was sent on to Kimberley to be analysed, and +a thoughtful observer of the analysis there came to the conclusion that +there must be more good stuff where that came from. So he mounted his +horse and rode over to Barberton, where he caught a 'coach' which +dropped him on the Rand, as it is now called. There he quietly acquired +the Langlaagte farm for a few thousands, which the people on the spot +thought was sheer madness on his part. But his name was J. B. Robinson, +and he is now known in the 'Kaffir Circus' and elsewhere as one of the +'Gold Kings' of Africa. He gradually purchased other farms, and in a +year or two floated the well-known Langlaagte Company with a capital of +L450,000, to acquire what had cost him in all about L20,000. In five +years this company turned out gold to the value of a million, and paid +dividends to the amount of L330,000. The Robinson Company, formed a +little later to acquire and work some other lots, in five years produced +gold to the value of one and a half million, and paid to its +shareholders some L570,000 in dividends. With these discoveries and +successful enterprises the name and fame of 'the Rand' were established, +and for years the district became the happy hunting-ground of the +financiers and company promoters. The Rand, or Witwatersrandt, is the +topmost plateau of the High Veldt of the Transvaal, at the watershed of +the Limpopo and the Vaal; and on the summit of the plateau is the +gold-city of Johannesburg, some five thousand seven hundred feet above +the sea. + +Soon the principal feature in Johannesburg was the Stock Exchange, and +the main occupation of the inhabitants was the buying and selling of +shares in mining companies, many of them bogus, at fabulous prices. The +inevitable reaction came, until once resplendent 'brokers' could hardly +raise the price of a 'drink;' though, to be sure, drinks and everything +else cost a small fortune. To-day the city is the centre of a great +mining industry, and the roar of the 'stamps' is heard all round it, +night and day. From a haunt of gamblers and 'wild-catters,' it has grown +into a comparatively sedate town of industry, commerce, and finance, and +the gold-fever which maddened its populace has been transferred (not +wholly, perhaps) to London and Paris. + +The Stock Exchange of Johannesburg sprang into existence in 1887, and +before the end of that year some sixty-eight mining companies were on +its list, with an aggregate nominal capital of L3,000,000. During the +1895 'boom' in the market for mining shares in London and Paris, the +market value of the shares of the group of South African companies was +in the aggregate over L300,000,000! It is true that these are not all +gold-mining shares, but the great majority are of companies either for +or in connection with gold-mining. In 1887 the Transvaal produced only +about 25,000 ounces of gold; in 1894 the output was 2,024,159 ounces; in +1895 it was 2,277,633 ounces. + +Just before the Californian discoveries--namely, in 1849, the world's +annual output of gold was only about L6,000,000. Then came the American +and Australian booms, raising the quantity produced in 1853 to the value +of L30,000,000. After 1853 there was a gradual decline to less than +L20,000,000 in 1883. This was the lowest period, and then the De Kaap +and other discoveries in Africa began to raise the total slowly again. +Between 1883 and 1887 the El Callao mine in South America and the Mount +Morgan in Australia helped greatly to enlarge the output, and then in +1807 the 'Randt' began to yield of its riches. The following are the +estimates of a mining-expert of the world's gold production during 1890, +L23,700,000; 1891, L26,130,000; 1892, L29,260,000; 1893, L31,110,000; +1894, L36,000,000; 1895, L40,000,000. + +As to the future of the South African sources of supply, it is estimated +by Messrs Hatch and Chalmers, mining engineers, who have published an +exhaustive work on the subject, that before the end of the present +century the Witwatersrandt mines alone will be yielding gold to the +value of L20,000,000 annually; that early next century they will turn +out L26,000,000 annually; and that the known resources of the district +are equal to a total production within the next half century of +L700,000,000, of which, probably, L200,000,000 will be clear profit over +the cost of mining. + +These estimates are considered excessive by some authorities; +nevertheless it is to be remembered that the productivity of deep level +mining has not yet been properly tested, that even the Transvaal itself +has not yet been thoroughly exploited, and that there is every reason +to believe that Matabeleland and Mashonaland are also rich in gold. But +we have not to look to Africa alone. In Australia, besides the regular +sources of supply which are being industriously developed, new deposits +are being opened up in Western Australia at such a rate that some people +predict that the 'Cinderella of the Colonies' will soon become the +richest, or one of the richest, members of the family. + +The following shows the contributions towards the world's gold supply on +the basis of 1894: + + United States L7,950,000 + Australasia 8,352,000 + South Africa 8,054,000 + British Columbia and South America 2,000,000 + Russia 4,827,000 + Other Countries 4,807,000 + ----------- + L35,990,000 + + +JOHANNESBURG--THE GOLDEN. + +The railway journey from Capetown to Johannesburg of about three days is +through a seemingly endless sandy country, with range succeeding range +of distant mountains, all alike, and strikes a greater sense of vastness +and desolation than an expanse of naked ocean itself. First and second +class have sleeping accommodation, the third being kept for blacks and +the lowest class Dutch. Well, we reach Johannesburg, which has not even +yet, with all its wealth, a covered-in railway station; whilst by way of +contrast in the progress of the place, just across the road is a huge +club, with tennis, cricket, football, and cycling grounds, gymnasium, +military band, halls for dancing, operas, and oratorios, &c., which will +bear comparison with any you please. Its members are millionaires and +clerks, lodgers and their lodging-house keepers, all equal there; for +we have left behind caste, cliques, and cathedral cities, and are +cosmopolitan, or, in a word, colonial. An institution like this gives us +the state of society there in a nutshell, for, as wages are very high, +any one in anything like lucrative employment can belong to it; and the +grades in society are determined by money, and money only. + +Johannesburg, the London of South Africa, which was a barren veldt +previous to 1886, is now the centre of some one hundred thousand +inhabitants, and increasing about as fast as bricks and mortar can be +obtained. It is situated directly on top of the gold, and on looking +down from the high ground above, it looks to an English eye like a huge, +long-drawn-out mass of tin sheds, with its painted iron mine-chimneys +running in a straight line all along the quartz gold-reef as far as you +can see in either direction. The largest or main reef runs for thirty +miles uninterruptedly, gold-bearing and honeycombed with mines +throughout. This, even were it alone, could speak for the stability and +continued prosperity of the Transvaal gold trade. In a mail-steamer +arriving from the Cape there is sometimes as much as between L300,000 +and L400,000 worth of gold, and the newspapers show that usually about +L100,000 worth is consigned by each mail-boat. + +As we enter the town we find fine and well-planned streets, crossed at +places with deep gutters--gullies rather--to carry off the water, which +is often in the heavy summer rains deeper than your knees. Crossing +these at fast trot, the driver never drawing rein, the novice is shot +about, in his white-covered two-wheeled cab with its large springs, like +a pea in a bladder. Indeed, one marvels at the daintily dressed +_habitue_ of the place being swung through similarly, quite unconcerned, +and without rumpling a frill. We pass fine public buildings, very high +houses and shops--somewhat jerry-built, it is true--but now being added +to, or replaced by larger and more solid buildings. Indeed, bricks +cannot be made fast enough for the demand, both there and in some of the +outlying Transvaal towns where the 'gold boom' is on. There are lofty +and handsome shops, with most costly contents, which can vie with London +or Paris. + +Let us watch from the high-raised stoep outside the Post-office, looking +down over the huge market-square. What strikes us first are the +two-wheeled two-horse cabs with white hoods, recklessly driven by Malays +in the inseparable red fez, and these with the fast-trotting mule or +horse wagons show the pace at which business or pleasure is followed. As +a contrast comes the lumbering ox-wagon with ten or twelve span of oxen, +a little Kaffir boy dragging and directing the leading couple by a thong +round the horns, and the unamiable Dutch farmer revolving around, +swearing, and using his fifteen-foot whip to keep the concern in motion +at all. Then passes a body of some two hundred prisoners, Kaffirs, and a +few whites leading, marched in fours by some dozen white-helmeted police +and four or five mounted men, all paraded through the main streets, +innocent and guilty alike, to the court-house, and many escaping _en +route_ as occasion offers. Well-dressed English men of business, and +professional men, women in handsome and dainty costumes, hustle Jews of +all degrees of wealth; carelessly dressed miners, and chaps in rags come +in from prospecting or up-country, with the Dutchman everywhere in his +greasy soft felt and blue tattered puggaree, Chinese shopkeepers, +Italians, Poles, Germans; whilst outside in the roadways flows a +continual stream of Kaffirs in hats and cast-off clothing of every sort +imagination can picture, who are not allowed by law to walk upon the +pavement. + + +GOLD-FIELDS OF COOLGARDIE. + +It was at one time generally believed that the unexplored regions of the +vast Eastern Division of Western Australia consisted merely of sandy +desert or arid plains, producing at most scrub and spinifex or 'poison +plants.' In recent years, however, a faith that the interior would prove +rich in various mineral resources began to dawn, and rose in proportion +as each report of a new 'find' was made to the government. But only a +few ventured to cherish a hope that tracts of fertile country were lying +beyond their ken, awaiting the advent of the explorer whose verdict upon +the nature of the soil, or possibilities of obtaining water, would +result in settlement, and prosperity, and civilisation. + +By the opening up of the country surrounding Coolgardie--situated at a +distance of three hundred and sixty-eight miles inland from Fremantle, +the port of Perth--it has been proved that not only thousands of square +miles of auriferous country are contained in these once despised 'back +blocks,' but also large areas of rich pasturage and forest-lands. + +At Coolgardie the country is undulating; and in the distance Mount +Burgess makes a bold and striking feature in the landscape, isolated +from the neighbouring low hills. A few miles to the south lies the +vigorous little town, surrounded by a halo of tents. It is situated +thirty-one degrees south, one hundred and twenty-one degrees east; the +climate is therefore temperate, though very hot during the dry season. +It has been judiciously laid out, and promises to be one of the +prettiest inland towns in the colony. In the principal street all is +bustle and activity: teams arriving from Southern Cross; camels +unloading or being driven out by picturesque Afghans; diggers and +prospectors setting out for distant 'rushes;' black piccaninnies +rolling in the dust, or playing with their faithful kangaroo dogs--their +dusky parents lolling near with characteristic indolence--and men of +every nation and colour under heaven combine to give the scene a +character all its own. In March 1896 Coolgardie was connected by rail +with Perth. + +There are good stores, numerous thriving hotels; and a hospital has +lately been started in charge of two trained nurses. The spiritual needs +of the population are supplied by Wesleyan services and Salvation Army +meetings, and other agencies. As yet the public buildings are not +architecturally imposing; the principal one is a galvanised-iron shed +which does duty for a post-office. When the mail arrives, the two +officials, with the aid of an obliging trooper, vainly endeavour to sort +the letters and newspapers quickly enough to satisfy the crowd, all +eager for news from home. During the hot dry months, Coolgardie has been +almost cut off from the outside world. It was found necessary to limit +the traffic between it and Southern Cross, owing to the great scarcity +in the 'soaks' and wells along the road. Condensers have been erected at +various stations close to the salt lakes, and the water is retailed by +the gallon; by this means the road can be kept open till the wet season +sets in. + +Prospectors are energetically exploring the country in every direction +around Coolgardie, and from all sides come glowing accounts of the +quality of the land, which, besides being auriferous, is undoubtedly +suitable for agricultural and pastoral purposes. To the eastward lie +many thousands of acres of undulating pasture-land, wooded like a park +with morrell, sandalwood, wild peach, zimlet-wood, salmon-gum, and other +valuable timbers. The soil is a rich red loam, which with cultivation +should equal the best wheat-growing districts of Victoria. So green and +abundant is the grass that it has been described as looking like an +immense wheat-field before the grain has formed. Several kinds of grass +are to be found: the fine kangaroo variety; a species of wild oats; and +a coarse jointed grass, all of which stock eat with relish, and thrive, +it is said. + +A Water-supply Department has been formed by the Western Australian +government, and measures are being taken to obtain supplies of artesian +water, as well as to construct a system of reservoirs and dams on a +large scale. + +Mr Bayley's discovery of Coolgardie might serve as an apt illustration +of the 'early-bird' theory. While on a prospecting expedition in +September 1892, he went one auspicious morning to look after his horse +before breakfast. A gleaming object lying on the ground caught his eye. +It was a nugget, weighing half an ounce. By noon, he, with his mate, had +picked up twenty ounces of alluvial gold. In a couple of weeks they had +a store of two hundred ounces. It was on a Sunday afternoon that they +struck the now world-famed Reward Claim, and in a few hours they had +picked off fifty ounces. Next morning they pegged out their prospecting +area. But whilst thus profitably employed, they were unpleasantly +surprised by the arrival of three miners who had followed up their +tracks from Southern Cross. The discoverers worked on during the day at +the cap of the reef, and by such primitive methods as the 'dolly-pot,' +or pestle and mortar, easily obtained three hundred ounces of the +precious metal. The unwelcome visitors stole two hundred ounces of the +gold, a circumstance which obliged them to report their 'find' sooner +than they would otherwise have done, fearing that, if they delayed, the +thieves would do so instead, and claim the reward from the government. + +On condition that they would not molest his mate during his absence, Mr +Bayley agreed to say nothing about their having robbed him, and set out +on his long ride to Southern Cross. He took with him five hundred and +fifty-four ounces of gold with which to convince the Warden that his +discovery was a genuine one. The field was declared open after his +interview with the authorities. + + +DIAMONDS. + +The diamond is a natural form of crystallised carbon, highly valued as a +precious stone, but of much less value than the ruby. The lustre of the +diamond is peculiar to itself, and hence termed 'adamantine.' In a +natural condition, however, the surface often presents a dull, +lead-gray, semi-metallic lustre. The high refractive and dispersive +powers of the diamond produce, when the stone is judiciously cut, a +brilliancy and 'fire' unequalled by any other stone. A large proportion +of the incident light is in a well-cut diamond reflected from the inner +surface of the stone. The diamond, especially when coloured, is highly +phosphorescent, that is to say, after exposure to brilliant illumination +it emits the rays which it has absorbed, and thus becomes self-luminous +in the dark. Its excessive hardness serves to distinguish the diamond +from other gem-stones: any stone which readily scratches ruby and +sapphire must be a diamond. Notwithstanding its hardness the diamond is +brittle, and hence the absurdity of the ancient test which professed to +distinguish the diamond by its withstanding a heavy blow struck by a +hammer when placed on an anvil. + +In recent years, highly refined researches on this subject have been +made by Dumas, Stas, Roscoe, and Friedel, all tending to prove that the +diamond is practically pure carbon. Chemists have generally +experimented, for the sake of economy, with impure specimens, and have +thus obtained on combustion a considerable amount of ash, the nature of +which has not been well ascertained. It has been shown, however, that +the purer the diamond the smaller is the proportion of ash left on its +combustion. + +[Illustration: Square-cut Brilliant.] + +[Illustration: Round-cut Brilliant.] + +[Illustration: Rose-cut Diamond.] + +The art of cutting and polishing the diamond is said to have been +discovered in 1456 by Louis de Berguem of Bruges. As now practised, the +stone is first, if necessary, cleaved or split, and then 'bruted' or +rubbed into shape. The faces of the stone thus 'cut' are ground and +polished on flat metal discs, fed with diamond dust and oil, and +revolving with great rapidity by steam-power. Antwerp comes first, then +Amsterdam as the chief home of this industry, and the trade is chiefly +in the hands of Jews; but diamond cutting and polishing are also now +extensively carried on in London, Antwerp, &c. The common form of the +diamond is either the _brilliant_ or the _rose cut_. The brilliant +resembles two truncated cones, base to base, the edge of the junction +being called the _girdle_, the large plane on the top is the _table_, +and the small face at the base the _culet_; the sides are covered with +symmetrical facets. The rose has a flat base, with sides formed of rows +of triangular facets rising as a low pyramid or hemisphere; but this +form of diamond is daily becoming less fashionable, and is therefore of +comparatively little value. + +Although the term 'carat' is applied to diamonds as well as to gold, it +does not mean the same thing. Used with regard to the metal, it +expresses quality or fineness--24-carat being pure gold; and 22-carat +equal to coined gold. But applied to the diamond, carat means actual +weight, and 151-1/2 carats are equal to one ounce troy. + +India was formerly the only country which yielded diamonds in quantity, +and thence were obtained all the great historical stones of antiquity. +The chief diamond-producing districts are those in the Madras +Presidency, on the Kistna and Godavari rivers, commonly though +improperly termed the Golconda region; in the Central Provinces, +including the mines of Sumbulpur; and in Bundelkhand, where the Panna +mines are situated. + +At present the diamond production of India is insignificant. It is +notable, however, that in 1881 a fine diamond, weighing 67-3/8 carats, +was found near Wajra Karur, in the Bellary district, Madras. The stone +was cut into a brilliant weighing 24-5/8 carats, and is known as the +'Gor-do-Norr.' + +Brazil was not regarded as a diamond-yielding country until 1727, when +the true nature of certain crystals found in the gold washings of the +province of Minas Geraes was first detected. Diamonds occur not only in +this province, but in Bahia, Goyaz, Matto Grosso, and Parana. The +geological conditions under which the mineral occurs have of late years +been carefully studied by Professors Derby, Gorceix, and Chatrian. The +diamonds are found in the sands and gravels of river-beds, associated +with alluvial gold, specular iron ore, rutile, anatase, topaz, and +tourmaline. In 1853 an extraordinary diamond was found by a negress in +the river Bogagem, in Minas Geraes. It weighed 254-1/2 carats, and was +cut into a brilliant of perfect water, weighing 125 carats. This +brilliant, known as the 'Star of the South,' was sold to the Gaikwar of +Baroda for L80,000. + +Both the Indian and the Brazilian diamond-fields have of late years been +eclipsed by the remarkable discoveries of South Africa. Although it was +known in the last century that diamonds occurred in certain parts of +South Africa, the fact was forgotten, and when in 1867 they were found +near Hopetown, the discovery came upon the world as a surprise. A +traveller named O'Reilly had rested himself at a farm in the Hopetown +district, when his host, a man named Niekerk, brought him some +nice-looking stones which he had got from the river. O'Reilly, when +examining the pebbles, saw a diamond, which afterwards realised L500. +Niekerk afterwards bought a diamond from a native for L400 which +realised L10,000. The principal mines are situated in Griqualand West, +but diamonds are also worked in the Orange River Free State, as at +Jagersfontein. The stones were first procured from the 'river diggings' +in the Vaal and Orange rivers. These sources have occasionally yielded +large stones; one found in 1872 at Waldeck's Plant on the Vaal weighed +288-3/8 carats, and yielded a fine pale yellow brilliant, known as the +'Stewart.' + +[Illustration: Kimberley Diamond-mine.] + +It was soon found that the diamonds of South Africa were not confined to +the river gravels, and 'dry diggings' came to be established in the +so-called 'pans.' The principal mines are those of Kimberley, De Beer's, +Du Toit's Pan, and Bultfontein. The land here, previously worth only a +few pence per acre, soon rose to a fabulous price. At these localities +the diamonds occur in a serpentinous breccia, filling pipes or +'chimneys,' generally regarded as volcanic ducts, which rise from +unknown depths and burst through the surrounding shales. The 'blue +ground,' or volcanic breccia containing fragments of various rocks +cemented by a serpentinous paste, becomes altered by meteoric agents as +it approaches the surface, and is converted into 'yellow earth.' At +Kimberley the neighbouring schists, or 'reefs,' are associated with +sheets of a basaltic rock, which are pierced by the pipes. About 2000 +white men are employed in the industry, and about 4000 blacks, who earn, +on an average, about L3 a week. In the year 1887 the production of the +principal mines was over L4,000,000. The production for 1894 was +somewhat less, while the total value of diamonds exported from 1867 to +1894 was about L70,000,000. + +The great number of large stones found in the mines of South Africa, as +compared with those of India and Brazil, is a striking peculiarity. In +the earliest days of African mining a diamond of about 83 carats was +obtained from a Boer. This stone, when cut, yielded a splendid +colourless brilliant of 46-1/2 carats, known as the 'Star of South +Africa,' or as the 'Dudley,' since it afterwards became the property of +the Countess of Dudley, at a cost of L25,000. Some of the African stones +are 'off coloured'--that is, of pale yellow or brown tints; but a large +gem of singular purity was found at Kimberley in 1880. This is the +famous 'blue-white' diamond of 150 carats, known from the name of its +possessor as the 'Porter Rhodes.' At the De Beer's Mine was found, in +1889, the famous stone which was shown at the Paris Exposition. It +weighed 428-1/2 carats in the rough, and 228-1/2 carats when cut. It +measured one inch and seven-eighths in greatest length, and was about an +inch and a half square. + +Even larger than this remarkable stone is a diamond found in the +Jagersfontein Mine in 1893, and named the 'Jagersfontein Excelsior.' +This is now the largest and most valuable diamond in the world. It is of +blue-white colour, very fine quality, and measures three inches at the +thickest part. The gross weight of this unique stone was no less than +969-1/2 carats (or about 6-1/2 oz.), and the following are its recorded +dimensions: Length, 2-1/2 inches; greatest width, 2 inches; smallest +width, 1-1/2 inches; extreme girth in width, 5-3/8 inches; extreme girth +in length, 6-3/4 inches. It is impossible to say what is the value of so +phenomenal a gem. We do not know that an estimate has been even +attempted; but it may easily be half a million if the cutting is +successful. The diamond has, however, a black flaw in the centre. It is +the property of a syndicate of London diamond merchants. The native who +found it evaded the overseer, and ran to headquarters to secure the +reward, which took the form of L100 in gold and a horse and cart. + +Previous to this discovery, the most famous of the African diamonds was, +perhaps, the 'Pam' or 'Jagersfontein' stone, not so much from its size, +as because the Queen had ordered it to be sent to Osborne for her +inspection with a view to purchase, when the untimely death of the Duke +of Clarence put an end to the negotiations. The 'Pam' is only of 55 +carats now; but it weighed 112 carats before being cut, and is a stone +of remarkable purity and beauty. Its present value is computed at about +twenty-five thousand pounds sterling. + +The most valuable diamond in the world is (if it is a diamond) the +famous 'Braganza' gem belonging to Portugal. It weighed in the rough +state 1680 carats, and was valued at upwards of 5-1/2 millions sterling. + +It has long been known that diamonds occur in Australia, but hitherto +the Australian stones have been all of small size, and it is notable +that these are much more difficult to cut, being harder than other +diamonds. Although Victoria and South Australia have occasionally +yielded diamonds, it is New South Wales that has been the principal +producer. The chief diamond localities have been near Mudgee, on the +Cudjegong River, and near Bingera, on the river Horton. + +Borneo also yields diamonds. The stone known as the 'Matan' is said to +have been found in 1787 in the Landak mines, near the west coast of +Borneo. It is described as being an egg-shaped stone, indented on one +side, and weighing, in its uncut state, 367 carats. Great doubt, +however, exists as to the genuineness of this stone, and the Dutch +experts who examined it a few years ago pronounced it to be simply +rock-crystal. Among other diamond localities may be mentioned the Ural +Mountains and several of the United States. The largest diamond yet +recorded from North America was found at Manchester, Chesterfield +county, Virginia. It weighed 23-3/4 carats, and yielded, when cut, a +brilliant known as the 'Ou-i-nur,' which weighed, however, only 11-3/4 +carats. + +A few special diamonds, from their exceptional size or from the +circumstances of their history, deserve notice. Of all the great +diamonds, the 'Koh-i-nur' is perhaps the most interesting. While +tradition carries it back to legendary times, it is known from history +that the Sultan Ala-ed-din in 1304 acquired this gem on the defeat of +the Rajah of Malwa, whose family had possessed it for many generations. +In 1526 it passed by conquest to Humaiun, the son of Sultan Baber. When +Aurungzebe subsequently possessed this stone, he used it as one of the +eyes of the peacock adorning his famous peacock throne. On the conquest +of Mohammed Shah by Nadir Shah in 1739, the great diamond was not found +among the Delhi treasures, but learning that Mohammed carried it +concealed in his turban, Nadir, on the grand ceremony of reinstating +the Mogul emperor on the throne at the conclusion of peace, offered to +exchange turbans, in token of reconciliation, and by this ruse obtained +possession of the gem. It was when Nadir first saw the diamond on +unfolding the turban, that he exclaimed 'Koh-i-nur,' or 'Mountain of +Light,' the name by which the gem has ever since been known. At Nadir's +death it passed to his unfortunate son, Shah Rokh, by whom it was +ultimately given to Ahmed Shah, the founder of the Durani Afghan empire. +By Ahmed it was bequeathed to his son, Taimur Shah; and from his +descendants it passed, after a series of romantic incidents, to +Runjit-Singh. On the death of Runjit, in 1839, the diamond was preserved +in the treasury of Lahore, and on the annexation of the Punjab by the +British in 1849, when the property of the state was confiscated to the +East India Company, it was stipulated that the Koh-i-nur should be +presented to the Queen of England. It was consequently taken in charge +by Lord Dalhousie, who sent it to England in 1850. After the Great +Exhibition of 1851, where it had been exhibited, it was injudiciously +re-cut in London by Voorsanger, a skilful workman from Messrs Coster's +factory at Amsterdam. The re-cutting occupied 38 days of 12 hours each, +and the weight of the stone was reduced from 186-1/16 to 106-1/16 +carats. The form is that of a shallow brilliant, too thin to display +much fire. According to Lady Burton, it is believed to bring ill-luck to +its possessor. + +The 'Nizam' is the name of a stone said to have been found in the once +famous diamond-mines of Golconda. Sir William Hunter, however, gives us +to understand that there were really no diamond-mines at Golconda, and +that the place won its name by cutting the stones found on the eastern +borders of the Nizam's territory, and on a ridge of sandstone running +down to the rivers Kistna and Godavery, in the Madras Presidency. +However that may have been, both regions are now unproductive of +valuable stones. The 'Nizam' diamond is said to weigh 340 carats, and to +be worth L200,000; but we are unable to verify the figures. + +The 'Great Table' is another Indian diamond, the present whereabouts of +which is not known. It is said to weigh 242-1/2 carats, and that 500,000 +rupees (or at par, L50,000) was once refused for it. The 'Great Table' +is sometimes known as 'Tavernier's' diamond. It was the first blue +diamond ever seen in Europe, and was brought, in 1642, from India by +Tavernier. It was sold to Louis XIV. in 1668, and was described then as +of a beautiful violet colour; but it was flat and badly cut. At what +date it was re-cut we know not, but, as possessed by Louis Le Grand, it +weighed only 67-1/2 carats. It was seized during the Revolution, and was +placed in the Garde Meuble; but it disappeared, and has not been traced +since. Some fifty years later, Mr Henry Hope purchased a blue diamond +weighing some 44-1/2 carats (now known as the 'Hope' diamond), which it +was conjectured may have been part of the 'Great Table.' It is preserved +in the Green Vaults, Dresden, and is regarded as one of the most superb +coloured diamonds known. + +Another famous Indian diamond is the 'Great Mogul,' which appears to +have been found about 1650, in the Kollur mine, on the Kistna. It was +seen by the French jeweller Tavernier at the court of Aurungzebe in +1665, and is described as a round white rose-cut stone of 280 carats. +Its subsequent history is unknown, and it is probable that at the +sacking of Delhi by Nadir Shah in 1739 it was stolen and broken up. Some +authorities have sought to identify the Great Mogul with the Koh-i-nur, +and others with the Orloff. + +[Illustration: SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD: _a_, Great +Mogul; _b_, Star of the South; _c_, Koh-i-nur; _d_, Regent; _e_, Orloff. +All actual size.] + +The 'Orloff' is an Indian stone which was purchased at Amsterdam in 1776 +by Prince Orloff for Catharine II. of Russia. The stone at one time +formed the eye of an idol in a temple in the island of Seringham, in +Mysore, whence it is said to have been stolen by a French soldier, who +sold it to an English trader for L2000. The Englishman brought it home, +and sold it for L12,000 to a Jew, who passed it on at a profit to an +Armenian merchant. From the Armenian it was acquired, either by +Catharine of Russia, or, for her, by one of her admirers, for L90,000 +and a pension. It is now valued at L100,000. It weighs 193 carats, is +about the size of a pigeon's egg, and is mounted in the imperial sceptre +of the Czar. + +Other famous stones are: The 'Austrian Yellow,' belonging to the crown +of Austria, weighing 76-1/2 carats, and valued at L50,000; the +'Cumberland,' belonging to the crown of Hanover, weighing 32 carats, and +worth at least L10,000; the 'English Dresden,' belonging to the Gaikwar +of Baroda, weighing 76-1/2 carats, and valued at L40,000; the +'Nassak'--which the Marquis of Westminster wore on the hilt of his sword +at the birthday ceremonial immediately after the Queen's +accession--which weighs 78-1/2 carats, and is valued at L30,000. + +The 'Regent' is a famous diamond preserved among the national jewels in +Paris. It was found in 1701, at the Parteal mines, on the Kistna, by a +slave, who escaped with it to the coast, where he sold it to an English +skipper, by whom he was afterwards treacherously killed. Thomas Pitt, +grandfather of the first Earl of Chatham, at that time governor of Fort +St George, purchased the stone, and had it re-cut in London, whence it +is often known as the 'Pitt.' Its original weight was 410 carats, but it +was reduced in cutting to 136-3/4; the result, however, was a brilliant +of fine water and excellent proportions. Pitt sold it in 1717, through +the financier John Law, to the Duke of Orleans, then Regent of France +during the minority of Louis XV. The price paid was L135,000, and its +value has since been estimated at L480,000. The stone is now among the +French jewels in the Museum of Paris. + +The large 'Sancy' is an historical diamond, about which many +contradictory stories have been told. It appears that the Sancy was an +Indian stone, purchased about 1570 by M. de Sancy, French ambassador at +Constantinople. It passed temporarily into the possession of Henry III. +and Henry IV. of France, and was eventually sold by Sancy to Queen +Elizabeth of England. By James II. it was disposed of to Louis XIV., +about 1695, for L25,000. At the beginning of the 19th century it passed +to the Demidoff family in Russia, and by them it was sold in 1865 to Sir +Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy. In 1889 it was again in the market, the price +asked being L20,000. + +The Russian diamond, 'Moon of Mountains,' is set in the imperial +sceptre, weighs 120 carats, and is valued at 450,000 roubles, or, say, +about L75,000. The 'Mountain of Splendour,' belonging to the Shah of +Persia, weighs 135 carats, and is valued at L145,000. In the Persian +regalia there is said to be another diamond, called the 'Abbas Mirza,' +weighing 130 carats, and worth L90,000. + + +THE HON. CECIL J. RHODES, THE DIAMOND KING. + +We get a good insight into the character of Mr Rhodes from all his +utterances and public acts; and an anecdote about him when busy with the +work that made him famous as the 'Diamond King,' the amalgamation of the +diamond-mines, shows up the man. He was looking at a map of Africa hung +in the office of a Kimberley merchant. After looking at it closely for +some time, he placed his hand over a large part of Southern and Central +Africa, right across the continent, and turning to a friend at his +side, said, 'There, all that British! That is my dream.' 'I give you ten +years,' said his friend. When he was in power at the Cape, and the times +were ripe, his dream was realised, and the shield of the great White +Queen was thrown over North and South Zambesia, and railway and +telegraphic communication was being pushed on towards the equator. + +The Right Hon. Cecil John Rhodes is the fourth son of a clergyman, of +Bishop Stortford, where he was born in 1853. He was educated at the +local school, but his health being far from good, he was sent to Natal +to join his elder brother, a planter there. Both brothers made for +Kimberley at the first diamond rush, Cecil going into partnership as a +diamond digger with Mr C. D. Rudd, who had also gone out to South Africa +for his health. While at Kimberley, young Rhodes read sufficiently to +enable him to pass at Oxford. His crowning achievement of the union of +the De Beers Company and the Kimberley Central Company was not the work +of a day, but it was accomplished largely through Mr Rhodes's financial +skill, and became known as the De Beers Consolidated Mines, of which he +was elected chairman and one of the life governors. The capital +valuation of the company now stands at about twenty-five millions. +Regular dividends of twenty-five per cent. have been paid for some +years. It was natural that an influential man like Mr Rhodes should be +sent to the Cape Parliament, and in 1889 he rose to be a member of the +Cabinet. Another successful attempt at company promoting was his +association with Mr Rudd in the Transvaal gold-fields. At first their +mines on the Witwatersrandt did not turn out well; but it is long since +they began to pay enormously, the net profits of 1894 being over two +millions, while the market value of the concern is ten millions +sterling. + +Several gold prospectors had dealings with and concessions from +Lobengula, in Matabeleland, before Mr Rudd and Mr Rhodes joined forces +in 1888 and secured mineral concessions covering the whole of his +kingdom. Then came the launching of the Chartered Company, incorporated +in October 1889, with a capital of one million, which has since been +raised to two and a half millions. Then Mashonaland was prospected, and +forts built and roads were made, and the telegraph was carried on to +Salisbury, giving connection with the Cape. When it was found that the +settlers could not live in peace with Lobengula, a force under Dr +Jameson, the administrator, broke the power of the Matabele in the +autumn of 1893. The only serious affair was the deaths of forty-nine men +of Wilson's column. Since that time the country has been slowly settled, +and the railway is being pushed on to Buluwayo. Mr Rhodes has interested +himself also in pushing on the telegraph system towards the Great +Central African lakes, by way of Zumbo, in the Central African +Protectorate, under the capable rule of Sir H. H. Johnston. Matabeleland +is an excellent pastoral country, and if a sufficient number of +agricultural emigrants could be got to remain and develop the territory, +its future would be secured. Unfortunately, this class of emigrant has +hitherto been lacking in South Africa--the gold and diamond fields have +been too tempting--but in time, doubtless, the slow and sure sort of +emigrant will find it to his interest to develop the land. + +The residence of Mr Rhodes is at Groote Schnur, Rondebosch, near Cape +Town. In the twelve hundred acres which surround the house there are +charming views, and a natural Zoo, upon which he is said to have spent +at least one hundred thousand pounds. He has thrown this place open to +pleasure-seekers from the Cape for all time coming. He enjoys riding +over his estate, and watching the visitors enjoying themselves. Lord +Salisbury once termed him a 'remarkable man.' This is well borne out by +all who have come in contact with him. 'He presents,' says the _African +Review_, 'a character that is well worthy of analysis--that is a curious +compound of generosity and almost repellent cynicism, of +disinterestedness and ambition, of large aims that are dependent on +things that are essentially trivial; the keen, hard-tempered character +of a self-made man who has carved a career out of Kimberley finance and +Cape Colonial politics.... Of giant force of mind and will, with +practised judgment that nearly amounts to intuitive perception, with a +grasp of cause and effect that is founded upon a microscopic observation +of the laws of nature, he is decidedly a big man. He is a rarely +accurate critic of his fellow-mortals.' + +Dr Jameson prophesied, when in this country in 1895, that the annexation +and occupation of Matabeleland and Mashonaland meant more than mere +annexation of territory, but would lead to a commercial union, +amalgamation, or federation of South African states. In Rhodesia, a +country nearly as large as Europe, white men and women could live, and +white children could be reared in health and vigour. Gold was to be +found there, and coal and iron. The country has been settled since the +power of Lobengula was broken, and the road and railway are doing their +beneficent work. The revenue for 1894 nearly balanced the expenditure. + +When Mashonaland and Matabeleland needed the railway, Mr Rhodes was +still the key of the position. 'Krueger will not let us take the +Kimberley line into his country? Very well,' in effect said Mr Rhodes, +'we will take it round him, and beyond, on the way to the Transvaal of +the Zambesi.' And so the matter was arranged between the Imperial and +Colonial government and the Chartered Company. So much land was to be +given for taking the line to Vryburg, so much to Mafeking, in +connection with the main trunk line from the Cape. + +Dr Jameson's raid into Transvaal territory, early in 1896, ostensibly +taken for the purpose of helping the people of Johannesburg, who +complained of their treatment by the Boer government, and the +complications which ensued, led to the resignation of Mr Rhodes as a +member of the Cape government, when he turned his attention to the +development of Rhodesia, the new and promising territory, which has been +so named after him. + +[Illustration: African Village.] + + + + +[Illustration] + +CHAPTER VI. + +BIG GUNS, SMALL-ARMS, AND AMMUNITION. + + Woolwich Arsenal--Enfield Small-arms Factory--Lord Armstrong and + the Elswick Works--Testing Guns at Shoeburyness--Hiram S. Maxim and + the Maxim Machine Gun--The Colt Automatic Gun--Ironclads--Submarine + Boats. + + +WOOLWICH ARSENAL. + +Since early days, Woolwich has been an important centre for warships and +war-material. Here ships were built and launched when England first +began to have a navy of specially constructed men-of-war, for Henry +VIII. established the Woolwich dockyard, and also appointed +Commissioners of the navy, and formed the Navy Office. Some of the +earliest three-deckers, or, as we may almost call them, five-deckers, +were built at this dockyard; and of these the most famous was the _Great +Harry_, so named after the king, which was launched here in 1514. For +the period, the ship was a large one, being of a thousand tons burden; +though we should not think much of her size now, when we have ironclads +of over eleven thousand tons. There are models of her in the Greenwich +Naval Museum, which is not far from Woolwich; and a curious lofty wooden +castle she is, rising far up above the water-line, and offering a fair +target, if the cannon of those days had any accuracy. + +[Illustration: The _Great Harry_.] + +On June 3, 1559, Queen Elizabeth came down to Woolwich to witness the +launch of a large ship called after her name. In 1637 a ship half as +large again as the _Great Harry_ was launched at Woolwich. She was the +marvel of her days, and though named the _Royal Sovereign_, was more +often called the _Golden Devil_, from the amount of mischief she wrought +in the Dutch fleet. Her guns were probably of small size; but she +carried enough of them on her three flush-decks, her forecastle, her +half-deck, her quarter-deck, and in her round-house; for in her lower +tier were sixty ports; in the middle, thirty; in the third, twenty-six; +in her forecastle were twelve; in her half-deck were fourteen. She was +decorated in the emblematical style of the time with gilding and +carvings; and these designs were the work of one Thomas Haywood, an +actor, who has left us an account of the ship which he adorned, in a +quarto volume published the same year in which she was launched. We can +imagine what she looked like, with her lofty forecastle and poop, the +latter provided with five lanterns, one of which, we are told, was large +enough to contain ten persons. + +Old Samuel Pepys gives us many references to Woolwich in his famous +_Diary_. He paid frequent visits to the dockyard on his duties as +Secretary to the Admiralty, and seems to have looked after his business +well. For instance, on June 3, 1662, he writes: 'Povy and Sir W. Batten +and I by water to Woolwich; and there saw an experiment made of Sir R. +Ford's Holland yarn, about which we have lately had so much stir; and I +have much concerned myself for our rope-maker, Mr Hughes, who +represented it so bad; and we found it to be very bad, and broke sooner +than, upon a fair trial, five threads of that against four of Riga yarn; +and also that some of it had old stuff that had been tarred, covered +over with new hemp, which is such a cheat as hath not been heard of.' +The next month he is looking after the hemp again, and writes: 'To +Woolwich to the rope-yard, and there looked over several sorts of hemp, +and did fall upon my great survey of seeing the working and experiments +of the strength and charge in the dressing of every sort; and I do think +have brought it to so great a certainty, as I have done the king some +service in it, and do purpose to get it ready against the Duke's coming +to town to present to him.' He adds pathetically: 'I see it is +impossible for the king to have things done as cheap as other men.' + +Of as early date probably as the dockyard, was the 'Warren,' the name by +which the Arsenal was formerly called. This establishment seems to have +begun as a cannon-foundry, and such, indeed, it chiefly continues to be. +Moreover, in other days when the dockyard flourished, stores of ships' +cannon were kept here, ready to be placed on ships as soon as +commissioned. But now that the dockyard is a thing of the past, and now +that the large building-slips, workshops, and ropewalk are empty, the +cannon at the Arsenal are chiefly those for the royal artillery and for +forts. The dockyard has been closed since 1869; its broad roads are +deserted, its workshops are silent, and its large sheds are only used +for stores; but the Arsenal has increased in magnitude; and the +'Warren,' in which, before the establishment of the Plumstead magazines, +powder was proved ('before the principal engineers and officers of the +Board of Ordnance, to which many of the nobility and gentry were often +invited, and afterwards sumptuously entertained by them'), has now +become an enormous establishment, covering acres of ground, and +containing workshops provided with the most complicated machinery, and +foundries of enormous size. It is round this Arsenal that we propose to +take the reader. + +Having gained admittance, the visitor is put in charge of a guide. The +tapping of the great furnace is a remarkable sight. A stream of molten +steel runs into a huge tank which can contain four or five tons of +metal, and this tank is dragged off by some score of men to fill the +various moulds. It is remarkable, also, to see a huge steam-hammer of +some forty tons' force welding a mass of metal at white-heat. + +The Arsenal is divided into four departments--the Laboratory, the Gun +Factory, the Gun-carriage Department, and the Stores; and of these four +divisions, the first two contain the chief things not to be found in +very many other places. + +The Gun-carriage Department has workshops both for metal and wood work, +and each branch contains many subdivisions. There is nothing, however, +in this department which is peculiar to the Arsenal, with the exception, +of course, of the special articles which are manufactured; that is to +say, forging, steam-carpentering, wheel-making, and so on, are carried +out as they would be executed elsewhere. The guides always make a point +of showing the wheel-shoeing pit, as it is called, in which the tyre is +put on a gun-wheel. The machinery in this department is very complete, +especially in the carpenters' shops, where the lathes which work +automatically, and turn wheel-spokes and such things according to a +given pattern, and the steam-saws for cutting dovetails for sides of +boxes, and other machinery, are all constructed on highly ingenious +principles. With regard to the articles constructed, the trail of a gun +may be followed in all stages of its construction until it appears +complete with its wheels, and ready for the gun to be placed on it. +Here, too, may be seen the ingenious Moncrieff gun-carriage, by which +the gun is only raised above a fortification at the moment when it is +fired, the 'sighting' being done from below by an arrangement of +mirrors. + +The Stores, again, are remarkable only for the quantity of material +stowed away ready for use. For instance, there are ten thousand complete +sets of harness for guns and baggage wagons always kept in stock. But +when the visitor has just walked once through these storehouses, he will +probably have seen all that he cares to see there. + +It is, however, when we come to the Gun Factory that the special +interest of the Arsenal begins. Imagine a huge mass of steel welded--for +casting would not give sufficient strength--into the form of the trunk +of a large fir-tree, and you have the first stage of a gun's existence. +This solid mass is to form the tube of a cannon, and the solid core has +to be removed by ingenious and powerful machinery. It takes a week or +two to bore the interior of some of the larger guns. Some of the +machines are constructed to bore a hole which is continually enlarged by +successive tools; while others actually cut out a round solid mass from +the interior. The tube has also to be subjected to the process of being +turned both within and without, and it is then fit for the next process, +which is that of cutting the grooves within it which give the required +spin to the projectile, commonly called rifling. This is a delicate and +intricate process, for the utility of the gun of course depends largely +on the accuracy with which the grooves are made. The actual cutting is +performed by a machine which travels up the tube at the required spiral; +but as the work proceeds, the man in charge carefully examines the +grooves along their whole length with the aid of a candle fixed at the +end of a long rod which he pushes up the tube. + +But when the tube has been bored, turned, and rifled, the gun is by no +means finished. The tube by itself would be far too delicate for the +large charges of powder employed; and, consequently, it has to be fitted +at the breech end with two or three outer cases or jackets, the outside +one of which bears the trunnions on which the gun rests. At last the gun +is completed; and the next thing is to subject it to a severe test by +firing from it a charge of powder proportioned to its size. For this +purpose, it has to be taken to Plumstead Marshes, a portion of which +forms the testing-ground and powder-magazines connected with the +Arsenal. Lines of railway run down to the marshes, and the gun is +mounted on a truck and dragged off by a locomotive to the place +appointed for its trial. It may be mentioned that lines of railway run +in all directions through the Arsenal, one of narrow gauge being +introduced into most of the workshops, so that the visitor has to keep a +lookout lest a tiny locomotive with a train of what may almost be called +toy trucks should bear down upon him as he is walking along.--But to +return to the gun. When it has been finally tested, cleaned, polished, +and stamped, it is coated with a particular varnish, and is fit for +service. + +The next most interesting place to the Gun Factory is the Laboratory, +where shells and bullets are manufactured. Shells are cast rough, and +then finished off in a lathe. A band of copper now usually takes the +place of the copper studs which were formerly inserted to enable the +shell to fit into the rifled grooves. This band is expanded by the force +of the explosion when the gun is fired, and fills up the grooves, so as +to give the necessary spin to the shells. Shells are charged with their +interior bullets at the Laboratory; but the powder is added down at the +marshes. A shell when completed has become a very expensive article, +especially if it is a large one. Some of those projectiles are so heavy +that the guns from which they have to be fired are provided with small +cranes for lifting them up to the breech. The shells are, like the guns, +beautifully finished off and varnished, and then sent off to the stores. + +Perhaps the most interesting place in the Laboratory department is the +Pattern Room, which is a sort of museum where shot and shells of all +sorts are to be seen, from the old-fashioned chain-shot, made of round +balls fastened together, to the most perfect specimens of modern shells. +Here, also, are to be seen those strange weapons of modern warfare +called torpedoes, amongst them the famous 'fish torpedo,' which with its +complicated mechanism may be almost described as an under-water ship. It +is so constructed that it finds its way unseen and unheard, with its +terrible charge of dynamite, to the side of a hostile vessel. + + +THE ENFIELD SMALL-ARMS FACTORY. + +It is at Enfield, on the river Lea, some twelve miles down the Great +Eastern Railway, that small-arms are manufactured, almost entirely, as +required by our army. + +Enfield Factory has not, like Woolwich Arsenal, an ancient history of +its own. In the days of Henry VIII. and of Elizabeth, of the Duke of +York and his faithful secretary, Samuel Pepys, Woolwich was famous for +the production both of ships and of guns; but the small-arms factory on +the borders of Essex dates only from the early part of this century. Its +site seems to have been chosen regardless of any peculiar advantages for +manufacturing purposes. It is simply a collection of workshops built in +the flat meadows through which run the various branches, natural and +artificial, of the lazy Lea; and the nearest town, about a mile and a +half distant, is quiet and remote little Waltham, chiefly known for its +Abbey Church, the burial-place of King Harold, which rises in its midst. + +The situation of the Enfield Factory is, however, advantageous in this +way: the canals form a safe means of water transit for the gunpowder +which is manufactured in the adjacent mills at Waltham, and which is +required at Enfield for use in the proving of the barrels of firearms; +while the far-stretching marshes provide an apparently interminable +range for carrying out the necessary experiments and trials with regard +to the accuracy of the weapons manufactured. + +Where one of the canals has been conducted into a square-shaped basin, +the older and principal buildings of the manufactory have been located. +They form a quadrangle of some extent; and here, too, are situated the +offices and the quarters of the executive staff, which is composed +partly of civilians and partly of military officers. Behind these, on +the east side of the enclosure, and on the banks of one of the canals, +are rows of workmen's cottages. Near the entrance gates are situated +schools for the workmen's children; and at the other end of this street, +as we may call it, is a church, which is served by the clergy of the +parish of Enfield. On the west side extend north and south the flat +meadows or marshes which form so convenient a spot for the testing and +proving of the rifles. + +All sorts of personal weapons required for the arming of a soldier in +the English army are made here, not only firearms, such as rifles and +revolvers, but lances, swords, and bayonets, the last having now become +a sort of short sword. There is also one class of weapons which occupies +a sort of intermediate position between those carried by the soldier +himself and those drawn by horses--that of machine guns, as they are +called, which, though not carried by men on their shoulders or in their +hands, are drawn about by them on small carriages. These machine guns +are classed with personal arms, because they are usually employed in +connection with infantry; and also because--which is a far more +important reason--the ammunition required for them is similar to that +used in rifles. In fact, they are in principle only a collection of +infantry rifles fastened together, or, as we shall see, a single rifle +barrel with machinery attached which enables it to discharge with great +rapidity. + +There is one more general principle which we shall do well to bear in +mind before we enter the factory. It is this, that of course the +manufacture of small-arms is in as much a condition of uncertainty as +that of larger warlike weapons in these days. What we see now may become +obsolete in a very short time, and we shall be shown specimens of +firearms which formed the universal weapons of the British army only a +very few years ago, but are now as much out of date for practical +purposes as cross-bows. Remembering this, let us go first when we enter +to one of the offices, where we shall see arranged in a rack against the +wall, amongst others, specimens of the old Enfield muzzle-loader, of the +same weapon converted into a breech-loader, of the Martini-Henry rifle, +and of the latest pattern of all, the magazine rifle. While, stored +away in some out-of-the-way corner, it is just possible we might come +across a specimen of the old smooth-bore or 'Brown Bess,' which formed +the weapon of certain English linesmen so late as the beginning of the +Crimean War. + +The Enfield workshops are of course in appearance much like other +workshops. There are the same processes of forging and casting, and the +same machinery for hammering and turning and boring and drilling which +we see elsewhere. + +A rifle, as every one knows, consists of three portions--the wooden +stock, the barrel, and the lock. The stock is usually made of walnut +wood, and is manufactured in what we should perhaps describe as a +carpenter's shop. Formerly, the stock of a rifle was formed out of one +long piece of timber; but now the complicated machinery of the breech +and lock cannot be contained in a hollow in the wood, as was formerly +the case, but has to be enclosed in a steel case, to which the wooden +butt and barrel support are screwed. To the rifles of the newest pattern +there hangs, just below the lock, the magazine, in which are carried +five or, in some cases, ten cartridges, which spring up into place in +turn, ready to be discharged. In short, the rifle has become, as regards +its rapidity of action, something similar to a revolver pistol. We shall +find that a lock has in its manufacture to pass through an almost +infinite number of processes, each part having to be forged or beaten +out till the whole can be fitted together. + +Let us pass on to the barrel-making shop. Rifle barrels are made from a +solid round bar of steel, which is at first considerably shorter and +stouter than the finished barrel will be. This steel bar is heated +red-hot, and is passed between several pairs of rollers, which convert +it outwardly into the required form. It has, however, afterwards to be +bored and then rifled--that is, furnished with the spiral grooves +within, which gives the bullet the necessary spin. Of course the barrel +is by far the most important portion of a firearm, and the barrels of +rifles are, at Enfield, tested and proved in the most ingenious and +searching manner. The first proof takes place after the barrel has been +bored, but before it is rifled. The barrels are loaded with cartridges +of considerably greater weight both in powder and bullet than those +which will be used in them when they are ready for service, and are +enclosed in a sort of strong box which has one side open. They are then +discharged through the open side into a heap of sand, and examined; but +it is a rare event to find a barrel that has not been able to bear this +test. The second proof, which takes place after the rifling, is of a +similar character. + +But these proofs are only to test the strength of a barrel; the test of +its accuracy is a much more delicate operation. Of course the machinery +by which it is bored and rifled works with the most admirable precision; +but yet it is necessary to put this machine-work to trial. There are, +amongst others, two highly ingenious methods for doing this. In the one +case it is placed on a stand which is so constructed that on it the +barrel can be made to revolve rapidly. The barrel is pointed towards a +window, and in front of it is a fixed sight. The workman looks through +it while it is revolving; and if the sight remains steady to his eye, +that is a proof that the barrel may be said to be straight. But there is +yet another method. The mechanism of this testing apparatus is rather +difficult to describe, but is something of this fashion. The barrel is +made to revolve as before; but this time there is inserted in it a +spindle, on which is fixed a short arm with a point which touches very +lightly the interior of the barrel. If there is any inequality, or if +the barrel is not perfectly straight, this short arm is of course +shaken, and when this is the case, the motion is further communicated to +a long arm at the end of which is an indicator, which is looked at by +the workman through a magnifying glass. + +[Illustration: Gatling Gun on Field Carriage.] + +Barrel, stock, and lock being at last completed and tested, the rifle is +put together; but even then it is subjected to one more trial. This is +carried out on the proof-ground in the marshes, and takes the form of an +actual discharge of the weapon at a target. The rifle is screwed to a +fixed and firm support, and then a certain number of rounds are fired at +ranges of five hundred and one thousand yards respectively. In this test +the hitting of the centre of the target, or 'bull's-eye,' is not the end +in view, as it is in ordinary target practice. That sort of shooting +depends of course on the steadiness with which the marksman holds the +rifle. In this case, however, the fixed _rest_ may be directed on any +portion of the target, and the _grip_ will always be the same. The only +object of the test is to see whether the rifle throws the bullet at each +round on or near the same spot. A marker at the butt examines the +position of each shot, and the smaller the space on which they strike, +the better the weapon. + +We have not yet spoken of the machine guns. These weapons are, as part +of the regular equipment of armies, quite modern, though the idea of +binding together a quantity of barrels and then discharging them at +once, or with great rapidity one after another, is not altogether novel. +Sometimes, instead of a number of barrels, one only is required, and the +cartridges are discharged from short barrels or chambers which are +brought in turn into position with the longer one. This is the ordinary +revolver system; but modern machine guns are a great improvement on this +method, and entirely dispense with the necessity of loading separate +chambers. Machine guns have succeeded one another with extraordinary +rapidity, and a gun seems only to be adopted in order to be superseded. +Thus we have had during the last few years a series of these weapons +bearing the names of Gatling, Gardner, Nordenfelt, and Maxim, described +on a later page. + +[Illustration: Nordenfelt-Palmcrantz Gun mounted on Ship's Bulwark.] + +As we walk about the factory we see, besides the workmen, here and there +groups of men in military uniform. These are armourer sergeants, who +attend classes at which they are taught the mysterious mechanism of the +breech-loaders and machine guns. In former days, Tommy Atkins could be +instructed how to keep his weapon in order, lock and all; but now its +complications are beyond the power of his understanding or of his +fingers, perhaps of both, and he has to hand over his rifle to a more +skilled superior when it is out of order. Truly, military matters, from +the movement of the vast army corps of the present day down to the +mechanism of the soldier's weapons, have become a highly technical +matter. + + +LORD ARMSTRONG AND THE ELSWICK WORKS. + +Sir W. G. Armstrong, the chairman and founder of this great firm of +warship builders and makers of big guns at Elswick, Newcastle-on-Tyne, +is the son of a Cumberland yeoman, and born at Newcastle in 1810. He +early showed a turn for mechanical contrivances, and delicate youth as +he was, when confined to the house he was quite happy making toys of old +spinning-wheels and such-like things. He would also spend hours in a +joiner's shop, copying the joiner's work, and making miniature engines. +He had ample opportunity in his father's house of making himself +acquainted with chemistry, electricity, and mechanics. In spite of his +turn for mechanics, he was articled to a solicitor, who, at the finish +of his apprenticeship, made him his partner. In his leisure hours he +conducted his experiments. Fishing was also a favourite pastime with +him, and in 1836, while rambling through Dent Dale, he saw a stream +descending from a great height and driving only one single mill. This +led him to think that there might be a more economical use of this water +hydraulically, with the result that he produced a hydraulic engine, +which was followed by the invention of a hydraulic crane for raising +weights at harbours and in warehouses. It was soon adopted at the +Albert Dock, Liverpool, and elsewhere. + +[Illustration: LORD ARMSTRONG.] + +Next he invented an apparatus for extracting electricity from steam, +afterwards introduced into the Polytechnic Institution, London. Napoleon +III. heard of this famous machine, and sent experts to examine it. +Armstrong began to receive recognition; he was elected a member of the +Royal Society in 1846, and a year later, aided by some friends, he began +on a small scale the Elswick Engine-works in the suburbs of Newcastle, +which have grown to be the largest concern of the kind in the country. +At first the enterprise chiefly consisted in the manufacture of +hydraulic cranes, engines, accumulators, and bridges. + +The addition of ordnance and shipping, for which Armstrong became +chiefly known, came later. Previous to the year 1853, the weapon used by +the infantry portion of the British army was a clumsy smooth-bore +musket, which was only effective up to three hundred yards at the +farthest; the usual distance at which practice was made by the soldier +seldom exceeding one hundred yards. In the above-named year, an arm was +brought into use, termed, from the locality of its manufacture, the +Enfield rifle. This weapon being lighter, and possessing a much greater +range than the old small-arm, Brown Bess, as it was called, threatened +very seriously to diminish the effect of field-artillery, if not to +abolish that arm entirely, as, indeed, many infantry officers were +sanguine enough to predict. Nor were they without good reason for their +boasting, the only field-artillery consisting of 6-pounder brass guns +for horse-artillery, 9-pounder guns for field-batteries, and sometimes +12-pounder and 18-pounder guns as batteries of position--that is to say, +batteries used when the general of a force meant to make any stand in a +suitable position; on these occasions, the guns were taken to the +requisite places, and there left. Now, all these guns were +smooth-bored; and as the range of the 6 and 9 pounders was limited in +practice to about one thousand yards, it was a fair enough supposition +that a company of concealed riflemen with their Enfield rifles could +pick off the gunners and remain themselves comparatively secure, +especially as their muskets being sighted up to, and effective at, +eleven hundred yards, the guns also would be a good mark to aim at, and +the riflemen hard to see, even if exposed. + +Such was the state of affairs when Armstrong stepped in to the rescue of +the artillery, and provided the British government with the rifled +cannon now in use, and about which so much has been written. + +Armstrong, during the Crimean War, made an explosive apparatus for +blowing up ships sunk at Sebastopol. This led him to turn his attention +to improvements in ordnance. He invented a kind of breech-loading +cannon, and soon had an order for several field-pieces after the same +pattern. He began with guns throwing 6 lb. and 18 lb. shot and shells, +and afterwards 32 lb. shells; and the results at the time were deemed +almost incredible. He had both reduced the weight of the gun by +one-half, reduced the charge of powder, and his gun sent the shell about +three times farther. His success led to his offering to government all +his past inventions, and any that he might in the future discover. A +post was created for him, that of Chief Engineer of Rifled Ordnance for +seven years provisionally. + +The founder of this great firm was knighted by the Queen in 1858, and +made C.B. In 1887 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Armstrong of +Cragside. His mansion and estate of Cragside is at Rothbury, and it is +fitted up with the electric light and every convenience of wealth and +taste. Armstrong's peculiar partnership between government and the +Elswick Works was brought to a close in 1863, since which time the +progress of the firm has been continuous. In 1882 an amalgamation took +place between the Elswick Works and the firm of Charles Mitchell & Co., +shipbuilders at Low Walker. Dr Mitchell, who was a native of Aberdeen, +and a munificent donor to Newcastle and Aberdeen, was one of the +directors of Armstrong, Mitchell, & Co. till his death in 1895. + +This firm are now the leading warship builders in the world. Krupp's +works at Essen (described in the earlier part of this book) are the only +parallel to them in Europe. The engineering works, begun, as we have +seen, in 1847, now occupy about nine acres; the ordnance works, founded +ten years later, occupy about forty acres; while about five thousand men +are employed. The shipbuilding yards are at Low Walker, nearer the sea. +The hydraulic machinery for the Tower Bridge and the Manchester Ship +Canal were both produced by this great firm. + +Some years ago one of his biographers wrote: 'He entertains the great +institutes of England when they visit his native city on royal lines, in +regal splendour. His works at Elswick enjoy all modern improvements. His +home at Jesmond is the abode of art, literature, and luxury. When his +health complained under its heavy load, he cultivated agriculture, +botany, and forestry for recreation; bought an estate at Rothbury, where +the kindly invigorating air had healed him in days gone by; converted +the barren hills into an earthly paradise; lighted his Cragside mansion +with Swan's lamp and his own hydraulic power; applied water-power to his +conservatory, that his plants might secure the sun. But amid all the +luxuries which surround him, his life is as simple as nature; and now, +at the ripe age of seventy-three, he maintains the freshness and +elasticity of youth. He was wont to run like a deer along the moors of +Allenheads to examine the target fired at by the original Armstrong +gun.' + +Lord Armstrong has been honoured both at home and abroad, and has done +much for the amenity of Newcastle; and Jesmond Dene, part of his Jesmond +estate, was thrown open to the public by the Prince of Wales while his +guest at Cragside. The high-level bridge, giving easy access to the park +for the town, cost L20,000. Other benefactions have been L12,500 towards +a museum; a hall for the literary society, a mechanics' institute, +schools at Elswick, &c. + +A recent purchase was at Bamborough, the ancient capital of the +Northumbrian kings, where, nearer our own time, Grace Darling was born +and died. Already great improvements are in progress there in the shape +of workmen's houses; and the parish church is being restored. Bamborough +Castle, which is also included in the purchase, is an imposing mass of +masonry, standing on a pile of columnar basalt, which is mentioned early +in history; there was a castle here as early as the fifth century. By +the will of Lord Crewe it had been devoted as far back as 1721 to +charitable purposes. + +In the autumn of 1893, Lord Armstrong told the Elswick shareholders that +he believed the time was coming when armoured ships would be as obsolete +as mail-clad men. 'Do what we will,' he said, 'I believe that the means +of attack will always overtake the means of defence, and that sooner or +later armour will be abandoned.' His reason for this statement was the +use of high explosives and quick-firing guns. In the future, light +vessels of great speed, armed with quick-firing guns, are likely to be +the order of the day. The life of a battleship, he also said, was far +too valuable to be staked on the use of its ram; special ships should +therefore be built for ramming. On another occasion he discussed the +improvements in the manufacture of cordite which had made it possible to +secure enormous power even with moderate-sized guns. With a 6-inch gun +of 45 calibre, and a 100 lb. projectile, a velocity of nearly 3000 feet +per second has been reached, giving an energy of 5884 tons, as against +the 5254 tons of the 8-inch gun of ten years ago. This last gun could +only fire four rounds in five minutes; now we hear of ten and eighteen +rounds in three minutes. As to speed, some warships built for the +Argentine Republic and for Japan had reached a speed of 26-1/4 miles an +hour, and were at the time the fastest war-vessels afloat. + +At the annual meeting of shareholders in 1895, Lord Armstrong said that +the war-material which they supplied for the great naval war in the East +thoroughly stood the test, and the quick-firing guns of the Japanese +navy had greatly helped their victory. The heavily-armed high-speed +cruisers also deserve a share of the credit, and these had been built by +their firm. + +In connection with an official inquiry it was found that in 1896 there +were 18,000 men employed in the arsenal at Elswick alone, and that 13 +ironclads and cruisers, and 1400 guns were being built. + + +TESTING GUNS AT SHOEBURYNESS. + +It is at Shoeburyness, in the county of Essex, that experiments are +carried out with the guns, large and small, manufactured at Woolwich and +Enfield. + +Shoeburyness has become a military centre, not because of any advantages +afforded by its position on the sea, but because it consists of a large +tract of dreary marshes flanked to the south and east by the +far-stretching Maplin sands, which are almost entirely uncovered at +low-water. These sands form the attraction from a scientific point of +view. + +The first connection of Shoeburyness with modern military matters +appears to have been made so lately as the time of the Crimean War, +when the flat rough marshland was employed as a camping ground for men +and horses with the view of accustoming both to the hard work which lay +before them in the East. This tract of country has thus become the +property of the War Department, and that administrative body soon found +another use for it, in which the half-submerged sands were to bear an +important part. The idea was conceived that targets might be erected on +these sands, and that the projectiles which were fired at them might be +recovered at low-water. Hence the first connection of Shoeburyness with +the artillery of the present day. A safe range can be found across the +sands to almost any distance, and these marshes have therefore become +the stage on which our great guns, such as Armstrongs and Whitworths, +have made, so to speak, their first _debut_. + +To reach Shoeburyness we take the railway which runs along the south +coast of Essex and the northern bank of the Thames. As we near the mouth +of the estuary we pass Southend, beloved of _trippers_, with its pier +stretching out in its length of over a mile, and then cross the base of +the ness itself, when we reach the sea again. On the south-eastern face +of the ness we are at our journey's end, and the railway also, so far as +the general public is concerned, has come to a full stop. We walk +through the little town or village, and on the farther side find what we +may call the original settlement of gunnery experiments, now for the +most part a group of barracks and quarters such as we might find at any +military station. A few differences we notice, however, for, as we pass +through the barrack-yard, we observe that one building is labelled +'Lecture-room,' and other evidences there are here and there that the +artillerymen who are quartered here are not altogether engaged in their +ordinary duties. We shall probably not linger long at the barracks, but +we shall not fail to observe that the officers' quarters and mess-room +occupy an extremely pleasant position on a wooded bank above the sea, +and that at high-water the waves come rippling up to the very trees +themselves. Farther on are the houses appropriated to married officers, +all alike situated on the pleasant sea-bank. + +We see in front of us huge wooden erections standing on the edge of the +shore. These are conning-towers from which, when practice is going on, a +view is obtained of the direction of the shot. Beneath them are the +batteries from which the guns are fired, and here go on the courses of +instruction in practical artillery work, which are necessary for newly +joined officers. + +But we have by no means seen the most important part of Shoeburyness +when we have visited the barracks and the batteries. We notice that a +line of rails winds its way in and out amongst guns and storehouses, and +if we have timed our visit right we shall find a little miniature train +just about to start for what is called _The New Range_. Taking our +places in this train we shall be carried first through the village and +past the terminus of the public line, and then along a private railway +which winds along amongst the corn-fields, until we reach a retired spot +on the sea-shore hemmed in by lofty trees. In this private place are +carried on all the experiments for which Shoeburyness is famous, and +here both guns and explosives are tested to their utmost capability. + +It is not altogether an unpicturesque spot at which we have arrived. +Grouped together in this immediate neighbourhood are certain nice old +farmhouses and other buildings which have been taken possession of by +the military. The space in front would no doubt be an admirable +rabbit-warren, only the whole ground is now covered by guns of various +sizes, targets, shields, breastworks, and models of portions of ironclad +and other vessels. Amongst these run lines of rails by which guns and +materials can be moved to any part of the ground; and in places there +are overhead travelling cranes by which heavy cannon may be hoisted on +to or off from their carriages or into trucks, as need may require; and +we again see lofty conning-towers, though target practice at a distance +is not carried on here to the same extent as it is in that portion of +the establishment which we first visited. The work at _The New Range_ is +connected rather with experiments as to the force of explosives and the +penetrating power of projectiles than with accuracy of aim and the +direction of the shot. + +We ought first to say a few words about modern explosives. Old-fashioned +gunpowder, or _black_ powder as it is now usually called, is composed, +as everybody knows, of saltpetre, charcoal, and sulphur mixed together +in the proportion usually of seventy-five, fifteen, and ten parts +respectively. + +Two chief varieties of the new brown powders are now made, and are known +as 'slow-burning cocoa'--from the fact that cocoa-nut fibres were first +employed in the experiments--and 'Prism brown I.' The former contains +about four per cent. of sulphur, and burns rather more rapidly than the +latter, which contains only two per cent. Baked straw is the material +now used to supplant the charcoal, as it provides a form of cellulose +which may be readily reduced to a fine state of division. The shape is +still the perforated hexagonal prism introduced in America. + +The burning of these powders is steady and the increase of pressure +gradual, attaining a maximum when the bullet is about half-way down the +barrel of the gun. The damage inflicted on the firing-chamber is very +slight; perhaps as slight as ever will be obtained with such large +charges of powder. + +Uniformity of velocity is secured by ensuring that in the making the +proportions employed shall be accurate and the mixing complete. The +prisms of any given class of powder are made exactly the same in weight +and composition, and in consequence, a charge composed of a given number +of prisms will give in every case almost exactly the same propelling +force. It is thus that fine aiming adjustments are made possible, as two +consecutive bullets of the same weight may be propelled almost exactly +the same distance--varying only a few yards in a range of several +miles--by equal weights of powder of uniform composition. + +But explosives of the present day are composed of other substances. +Cordite, of which we now hear so much, is made of nitro-glycerine, +gun-cotton, and mineral jelly in the proportion of fifty-seven, +thirty-eight, and five parts. It is also steeped in a preparation of +acetone. Gun-cotton itself is dipped in a mixture of three parts of +sulphuric to one of nitric acid. The force of cordite over gunpowder may +be judged from the following facts. A cartridge containing seventy +grains of black powder fired in the ordinary rifle of the army will give +what is called a muzzle velocity of one thousand three hundred and fifty +feet a second, while thirty grains only of cordite will give a velocity +of two thousand feet. In larger arms, a little less than a pound of +cordite fired in a twelve-pounder gun will give more velocity than four +pounds of black powder fired in the same weapon. It need hardly be said +that in the experiments at Shoeburyness it is the new-fashioned +explosive which is chiefly used. + +Let us examine one of the guns, a breech-loader, and see what +improvements have been made which may conduce to rapidity of fire. We +see that in the older pattern three motions were necessary to open the +breech. First the bar which is fixed across the base of the block had to +be removed, then a half turn had to be given to the block to free it in +its bed, and then it had to be pulled forward. Firstly, it had to be +thrown back on its hinge so as to open the gun from end to end. We are +shown that in later patterns the cavity or bed into which the block fits +is made in the form of a cone, so that the breech-block itself can be +turned back without any preliminary motion forward. In artillery work, +time is everything, and any one motion of the gunner's hands and arms +saved is a point gained. Now let us look at the mechanism by which the +recoil or backward movement of the gun is checked at the moment of +firing. The gun slides in its cradle, and its recoil is counteracted by +buffers which work in oil, something in the fashion of the oil springs +which we see on doors. Iron spiral springs push the gun back again into +place. Another interesting piece of mechanism is the electric machinery +by which the gun is fired. When the recoil has taken place, the wire, +along which runs the electric current, is pushed out of place, so that +it is impossible to fire the gun, even though it be loaded, until it has +been again fixed in its proper position on the cradle. Truly a modern +cannon is a wonderful machine, and yet it is only a development from the +sort of iron gas-pipe which was used in the middle ages. Hard by is a +gun which has come to grief. In experiments which are carried on at +Shoeburyness, guns are charged to their full, or, as in this case, more +than their full strength. There is an ugly gash running down the outer +case or jacket, as it is called, of the gun, and the latter has broken, +and nearly jumped out of its cradle. Nursery phraseology certainly comes +in strongly in the technical slang of gunnery when we have to do with +_Woolwich Infants_. + +After looking at the guns we naturally go on to look at the targets at +which they are fired. Targets at _The New Range_ are not so much marks +as specimens of armour-plates and other protections. Some of these are +built up with a strength which to the uninitiated appears to be proof +against any attack. Here, for instance, we find a steel plate of +eighteen inches in thickness, and behind this six inches of iron, the +whole backed up by huge balks of timber. But notwithstanding its depth, +the enormous mass has been dented and cracked, and in places pierced. +When we look at plates which are not quite so thick, we see that the +shells have formed what are pretty and regular patterns, for small +triangles of metal have been splintered off and turned back, so that the +aperture is decorated with a circle of leaves, and resembles a rose with +the centre cut out. Where the shell has entered the plate before it +bursts, the pattern remains very perfect; but when it explodes as it +touches the surface, some of the encircling leaves are entirely cut off. + +One target is pointed out to us which represents the iron casing of the +vulnerable portions of a torpedo boat, consisting of engine-room, +boilers, and coal-bunkers. These compartments have been riddled again +and again. Even a service-rifle bullet can penetrate one side, and a +shell of the smallest size will go through both, for torpedo boats are +not very heavily built. + + +HIRAM S. MAXIM AND THE MAXIM MACHINE GUN. + +Statisticians inform us that the entire loss of life in wars between +so-called civilised countries from the year 1793 down to 1877 had +reached the enormous amount of four million four hundred and seventy +thousand. To many persons these figures convey a sad and salutary +lesson. But, leaving the sentimental part of the subject aside, all will +readily unite in admiring the wonderful mechanism which makes the Maxim +Machine Gun an engine of terrible destructiveness. Stanley provided +himself with this formidable weapon, to be used defensively in the +expedition on which he started for the relief of Emin Bey. It obtained a +gold medal at the Inventions Exhibition, and has been approved of, if +not actually adopted, by many governments. + +[Illustration: Rifle-calibre Maxim Gun.] + +Its rate of firing--770 shots a minute--is at least three times as rapid +as that of any other machine gun. It has only a single barrel, which, +when the shot is fired, recoils a distance of three-quarters of an inch +on the other parts of the gun. This recoil sets moving the machinery +which automatically keeps up a continuous fire at the extraordinary rate +of 12 rounds a second. Each recoil of the barrel has therefore to +perform the necessary functions of extracting and ejecting the empty +cartridge, or bringing up the next full one and placing it in its proper +position in the barrel, of cocking the hammer, and pulling the trigger. +As long as the firing continues, these functions are repeated round +after round in succession. The barrel is provided with a water jacket, +to prevent excessive heating; and is so mounted that it can be raised or +lowered or set at any angle, or turned horizontally to the left or to +the right. The bore is adapted to the present size of cartridges; and +the maximum range is eighteen hundred yards. The gun can therefore be +made to sweep a circle upwards of a mile in radius. + +Nor is the gun excessively heavy, its total weight being only one +hundred and six pounds, made up thus: Tripod, fifty pounds; pivot (on +which the gun turns and by which it is attached to the tripod), sixteen +pounds; gun and firing mechanism, forty pounds. The parts can be easily +detached and conveniently folded for carriage, and may be put together +again so quickly that, if the belt containing the cartridges is in +position, the first shot can be delivered within ten seconds. It would +therefore be extremely serviceable in preventing disaster through a body +of troops being surprised. Reconnoitring parties, too, would deem it +prudent to pay greater deference to an enemy's lonely sentry on advanced +outpost duty if the latter were provided with this new Machine Gun, +instead of the ordinary rifle. + +Immediately below the barrel of the gun, a box is placed, containing the +belt which carries the cartridges. The belts vary in length. Those +commonly used are seven feet long, and capable of holding three hundred +and thirty-three cartridges; shorter ones hold one hundred and twenty +cartridges; but the several pieces can be joined together for continuous +firing. Single shots can be fired at any time whether the belt is in +position or not--in the former case by pressing a button, which prevents +the recoil; in the latter, by hand-loading in the ordinary way. To start +firing, one end of the belt is inserted in the gun, the trigger is +pulled by the hand once, after which the movement becomes continuous and +automatic as long as the supply of cartridges lasts. At each recoil of +the barrel, the belt is pushed sufficiently onward to bring the next +cartridge into position; the mechanism grasps this cartridge, draws it +from the belt, and passes it on to the barrel. Should a faulty or an +empty cartridge find its way in, and the gun does not go off in +consequence, there is of course no recoil to keep up the repeating +action, and the mechanism ceases to work until the obstruction is +removed. + +To devise and adjust the necessary parts of the machine with such +precision that each part performs its proper function at the exact +moment pre-arranged for it--to do all this while the gun fires at the +enormous rate of six hundred rounds a minute, must have cost an +immensity of thought, of labour, and of time. + +The 'Colt Automatic Gun,' a new machine gun manufactured by the Colt +Firearms Company, of Hartford, Connecticut, promised in 1896 to be a +rival to the Maxim, as it fired 400 shots a minute. + +Hiram S. Maxim was born in the state of Maine in 1840, and in his +fourteenth year was apprenticed to a carriage-builder. From his father, +who had a wood-working factory and mill, he learned the use of tools and +derived his inventive turn of mind. After some experience in +metal-working in his uncle's works at Fitchburg, he was in turn a +philosophical instrument maker, and on the staff of some ironworkers and +shipbuilders. About 1877 he became a consulting electrical engineer, a +branch of science which he studied and became master of in a short time. +Some of the earliest electric lights in the States were devised and +erected by him. He was in England and Europe in 1880 in order to +investigate electrical methods there. He was back in London in 1883, and +after that visit, like Siemens, he made it his headquarters. What +leisure he now had (1883-4) on hand he devoted to inventing his +automatic machine gun, which should load and fire itself, and the +British government was the first to recognise its merits and adopt it. +The making of it has been taken over by the Maxim-Nordenfelt Gun +Company, which has a capital of about two millions sterling. + +Like Edison he has taken out about a hundred different patents, some of +which are connected with oil motors and smokeless gunpowder. His +flying-machine, as described in his paper at the British Association in +1894, burns oil fuel, which developed three hundred and sixty +horse-power. It was driven at sixty miles an hour horizontally, and the +machine contained an aeroplane sloping six degrees to the horizon. The +weight to be lifted was eight thousand pounds. After running nine +hundred feet, the machine exerted an upward thrust of two thousand +pounds greater than its own weight. The machine, after one thousand +feet, broke loose; the steam was shut off, and it fell. The experiments +have been conducted at Bexley, in Kent, where Mr Maxim had a light track +of railway laid down, sixteen hundred feet long, on which the machine +moved. The back part of the machine having been liberated from the +check-rail too soon caused the accident at the experiment, and sent the +whole machine off the track. There is sufficient evidence that it did +rise from the ground, and Lords Rayleigh and Kelvin have become +believers in its possibilities. This machine, as described at the time, +with its four side sails and aeroplanes set, is over one hundred feet +wide, and looks like a huge white bird with four wings instead of two. +It is propelled by two large two-bladed screws, resembling the +screw-propellers of a ship, driven by two powerful compound engines. + + +IRONCLADS. + +A modern ironclad is an enormous piece of complicated mechanism. In +order to protect this mechanism from hostile shot, the greater part of +it is placed under water and covered by a thick steel deck; the +remainder above water being protected by vast armour-plates varying from +eight to twenty-four inches in thickness. From the exterior, an ironclad +is by no means a thing of beauty; one writer has described it as 'a +cross between a cooking apparatus and a railway station;' but in place +of this ingenious parallel, imagine a low flat-looking mass on the +water; from the centre rises a huge funnel, on either side of which are +a turret and a superstructure running to the bow and stern; two short +pole masts, with platforms on the top for machine guns, complete an +object calculated to bring tears to the eyes of the veteran sailor who +remembers the days of the grand old line-of-battle ship, with its tall +tapering masts and white sails glistening in the sun. A stranger going +on board one of our newest types of ironclads would lose himself amid +the intricacies and apparent confusion of the numerous engines, +passages, and compartments; it is a long time, in fact, before even the +sailors find their way about these new ships; and the Admiralty allow a +new ironclad to remain three months in harbour on first commissioning +before going to sea, in order that the men may become acquainted with +the uses of the several fittings on board, each ironclad that is built +now being in many ways an improvement on its predecessor. + +Those who have not been on board a modern ironclad can form no idea of +the massiveness and solidity of the various fittings; the enormous guns, +the rows of shot and shell, the huge bolts, bars, and beams seem to be +meant for the use of giants, not men. Although crowded together in a +comparatively small space, everything is in perfect order, and ready at +any moment to be used for offensive or defensive purposes. It is not, +perhaps, generally known that the captain of a man-of-war is ordered to +keep his ship properly prepared for battle as well in time of peace as +of war. Every evening before dark the quarters are cleared and every +arrangement made for night-battle, to prevent surprise by a better +prepared enemy. When at anchor in a harbour, especially at night, the +ship is always prepared to repel any attempts of an enemy to board or +attack with torpedoes or fireships. In addition to the daily and weekly +drills and exercises, once every three months the crew are exercised at +night-quarters, the time of course being kept secret by the captain, so +that no preparations can be made beforehand, the exercise being intended +to represent a surprise. In the dead of night, when only the officers of +the watch and the sentries posted in the various parts of the ship are +awake, the notes of a bugle vibrate between the decks; immediately, as +if by magic, everything becomes alive; men are seen scrambling out of +their hammocks, and lights flash in all directions; the huge shells are +lifted by hydraulic power from the magazines, placed on trucks, and +wheeled by means of railways to the turrets; men run here and there with +rifles, boarding-pikes, axes, cases of powder and ammunition; others are +engaged laying fire-hose along the decks, others closing the water-tight +doors; while far down below, the engineers, stokers, and firemen are +busy getting up steam for working the electric-light engines, turrets, +&c. At the torpedo ports, the trained torpedo-men are placing the +Whiteheads in their tubes; others are preparing cases of gun-cotton for +boom-torpedoes. In ten minutes, however, all is again silent and each +man stands at his station ready for action. The captain, followed by his +principal officers, now walks round the quarters and inspects all the +arrangements for battle, after which various exercises are gone through. +A bugle sounds, and numbers of men rush away to certain parts of the +ship to repel imaginary boarders; another bugle, and a large party +immediately commence to work the pumps; another low, long blast is a +warning that the ship is about to ram an enemy, and every man on board +stretches himself flat on the decks until the shock of the (supposed) +collision takes place. After a number of exercises have been gone +through, the guns are secured, arms and stores returned to their places, +the men tumble into their hammocks again, and are soon fast asleep. + +[Illustration: One of the 'Wooden Walls of Old England.' _The Duke of +Wellington_ Screw Line-of-Battle Ship. One hundred and thirty-one Guns.] + +It would be interesting to glance at some of the principal offensive and +defensive capabilities of a modern ironclad. The first-class +line-of-battle ship of fifty years ago carried as many as a hundred and +thirty, what would be called in the present day, very light guns; in +contrast to this, her Majesty's armour-plated barbette ram _Benbow_ +carries _two_ guns weighing a hundred and ten tons each. These enormous +weapons are forty-three feet eight inches long, and are capable of +sending a shot weighing three quarters of a ton to a distance of seven +miles. The effect of a shell from one of these guns piercing the armour +of a ship and bursting would be very disastrous, and there are few, if +any, ships whose armour, when fairly hit at a moderate distance, could +withstand such a blow. + +Guns, however, although terrible in effect, are now supplemented by +other and more deadly means of offence. Foremost amongst these stands +the Whitehead or Fish Torpedo. This infernal machine can be discharged +from tubes in the side of a ship to a distance of a thousand yards under +water at a speed of twenty-five miles per hour. Armed with its charge of +gun-cotton it rushes forth on its mission; and, if successful in +striking the ship against which it is aimed, explodes, and rends a large +hole in her side, through which the water pours in huge quantities. In +order to protect a man-of-war from this danger, she can be surrounded at +short notice with thick wire-nettings, hanging from projecting +side-spars, against which the torpedo explodes with harmless effect. +These nettings are, however, principally intended for use when ships are +at anchor in harbour at night; they could not well be employed in action +with an enemy, as they offer such resistance to the water as to reduce +the speed of the ship by four or five knots, and so encumber her as to +render her liable to be rammed by a more active opponent. + +All large ironclads now have two or three torpedo boats. These craft are +constructed of steel one-sixteenth of an inch thick, and steam at a +speed of sixteen knots, some of the larger kind reaching twenty or +twenty-one knots an hour. Carrying two Whiteheads, they are valuable +auxiliaries to the parent ship; their rapid movements, together with +their dangerous freight, distracting the attention of an enemy. + +[Illustration: The _Majestic_.] + +Machine-guns, however, form a very effective remedy for them; a single +torpedo boat attacking an ironclad would, directly she got within range, +be riddled with Gardner and Nordenfelt shot, and sunk in about fifteen +seconds. It is only when three or four approach in various directions, +or during night attacks, that they become really dangerous. The electric +search-lights, with which most large men-of-war are now provided, will +show a torpedo boat at the distance of a mile on the darkest night; but +there is of course always a chance of their getting close enough to a +ship to discharge a torpedo before they are discovered. + +The bow of many of our ironclads is constructed for the purpose of +ramming (running down and sinking) an antagonist. To use a ram requires +great speed and facilities for turning and manoeuvring quickly; for +the latter purposes, short ships are better than long ones. It would +be a comparatively easy thing for a ship steaming fourteen knots to +ram another that could only steam ten; a small ship might also +outmanoeuvre and ram a long one; but it would be extremely difficult, +in fact almost impossible, for a ship to ram another vessel of equal +speed and length. To secure facilities in turning and manoeuvring, all +our modern ships are built as short as possible, and have two screws, +each worked by entirely separate sets of engines, so that one can go +ahead whilst the other goes astern. If one set of engines is disabled, +the other can still work independently, and a fair speed be maintained. +We always think that two ships at close quarters trying to ram one +another, must be like a game at chess, requiring the closest observation +of your opponent's movements and the nicest judgment for your own, a +wrong move being fatal to either. + +It is the opinion of many naval men of authority that a modern naval +battle would only occupy about half the time of a fight in the old +Trafalgar days; that half the ships employed would be sunk, and that +most of the remainder would be so battered as to be unfit for further +service for months to come. + +In connection with the Navy Estimates for 1896-7 it was announced in +the House of Commons that the following vessels would be constructed: 13 +first-class battleships, 10 first-class cruisers, 16 second-class +cruisers, 7 third-class cruisers, and 48 torpedo-boat destroyers. + + +SUBMARINE BOATS. + +In 1864, during the American civil war, a submarine boat succeeded in +sinking the Federal frigate _Housatonic_. This boat, however, was hardly +an unqualified success, as, running into the hole made by its torpedo, +it went down with the ship; and three crews had previously been lost +while carrying out its initial experiments. Since then, many methods of +submersion have been tried; but it is only within recent years that +naval powers have awakened to the fact that a submersible boat, though +by no means so formidable for offensive purposes as its name at first +leads one to believe, is a factor which might have to be taken into +consideration in the next naval war. + +Modern types of these boats are the Holland, Nordenfelt, Tuck, and +Goubet. The Holland boat comes to us from over the Atlantic, and is +peculiar in its weapon of offence. It is fifty feet long, eight feet in +diameter, and is driven by a petroleum engine carrying sufficient fuel +for two days' run. The diving is effected by means of two horizontal +rudders, one on each side of the stern. This only allows of submersion +when the boat is in motion; and the boat cannot be horizontal while +submerged. It carries ten-inch gelatine blasting shells, fired from a +pneumatic gun twenty feet long, whose radius of action is two hundred +yards under water and one thousand yards above. The use of gelatine is +also objectionable, as the confined space and the vibration of the boat +prevent such explosives being carried without some risk of premature +explosion. It is for this reason that gun-cotton is adopted in torpedo +work, as it will not explode on concussion, and is little affected by +change of temperature. + +The principal features of the Nordenfelt boat are its method of +submersion and its propulsion by steam. The boat is one hundred and +twenty-five feet long, twelve feet beam, and displaces two hundred and +fifty tons when entirely submerged, one hundred and sixty tons when +running on the surface. Her propelling machinery consists of two double +cylinder compound engines, with a horse-power of one thousand, and +propelling the boat at fifteen knots on the surface. The submersion of +the boat is effected by means of two horizontal propellers working in +wells at each end. Two conning-towers project about two feet above the +deck, of one-inch steel, surmounted by glass domes, protected with steel +bars, for purposes of observation. The boat usually runs on the surface +with these towers showing, unless the buoyancy, which is never less than +half a ton, is overcome by the horizontal propellers, when the boat +becomes partially or totally submerged according to their speed. To +ascend to the surface it is only necessary to stop the horizontal +propellers, which also stop automatically on reaching a set depth. In +the forward tower are the firing keys, machinery and valves necessary +for driving or steering the vessel, for controlling the horizontal +propellers, and for discharging the Whitehead torpedoes. Four of these +are carried, and they are discharged with powder from two tubes in the +bows. In the conning-tower are also placed the instruments indicating +the depth, level, and course. When the boat is awash, the funnels have +to be unshipped and the boat closed up before submersion. The length of +time, twenty-five minutes, required for this operation is an objection +to this boat, though when submerged it does not get unpleasantly hot. +The temperature after a three hours' submerged run was only ninety +degrees Fahrenheit. The crew consists of a captain and eight men. + +The Tuck also comes from America. It is of iron, cigar-shaped, thirty +feet long and six feet in diameter. It is submerged by means of a +horizontal rudder in the stern and a horizontal propeller acting +vertically amidships beneath the boat. It is driven by electricity, +supplied from storage batteries packed closely in the bows. Compressed +air is carried in reservoirs, but a supply is usually obtained when the +boat is not far from the surface, by means of an iron pipe twenty feet +long, which usually lies on deck, but which can be raised to an upright +position by gearing from within. The top then rises above the surface of +the water, and by opening a valve in the foot and attaching a pump, +fresh air is drawn into the interior. The crew need not exceed three +men. + +[Illustration: Section of the Goubet Submarine Boat.] + +The Goubet class are of iron, sixteen feet long, three feet wide, and +about six feet deep. The motive power is a Siemens motor driven by +storage batteries. Fifty of these boats were purchased by the Russian +government. They have no rudder, but a universal joint in the screw +shaft permits of the screw being moved through an arc of ninety degrees. +The torpedo is carried outside the boat, secured by a catch worked from +inside. On arriving under the enemy, the torpedo is released, and +striking the ship's bottom, is held there by spikes. The boat then +withdraws, unreeling a connecting wire; and when at a safe distance, +fires. The absence of a rudder, however, causes erratic steering, and +the spikes with which the torpedo is fitted might fail to stick in +steel-bottomed ships. + +Submarine boats cannot be driven under water at a speed exceeding six +knots. If driven beyond, they are inclined to dive, and in deep water, +before the corrective forces against a dive have had time to act, might +reach a depth where the pressure would drive in the sides or compress +them to a sufficient extent to seriously reduce the displacement. In +shallow water, the boat might be driven on to the bottom, and if it be +clay, held there, an accident attended with fatal consequences in the +case of one boat. + +It is also difficult to direct the course of a submarine boat; and it is +doubtful whether the advantage of not being seen counteracts the +disadvantage of not being able to see. According to Mr Nordenfelt in a +lecture on Submarine Boats, 'The mirror of the surface throws a strong +light into the boat; you cannot see forward at all, and you cannot see +far astern; it is as black as ink outside; you can only see a sort of +segment.' This means that you cannot safely advance at a great speed +under water. It is impossible to think of a submarine boat as a boat +that actually manoeuvres and does its work under water. The boat should +run awash, and you can then see where you are. When we consider, then, +that a boat totally submerged cannot be driven over six knots, and +cannot be properly directed; when we consider the speeds of seventeen +and eighteen knots attained by modern battleships, we arrive at the +conclusion that boats totally submerged are useless against modern +battleships in motion. Running awash, they could be tackled by torpedo +catchers and torpedo boats. + + + + +[Illustration] + +CHAPTER VII. + +EVOLUTION OF THE CYCLE. + + In praise of Cycling--Number of Cycles in Use--Medical Opinions-- + Pioneers in the Invention--James Starley--Cycling Tours. + + +Sir Walter Scott once told a friend that if he did not see the heather +once a year he would die. He saw it much oftener than once a year. When +the building and planting of Abbotsford had become a passion with him, +and when the vacation came round in connection with his duties in the +Court of Session, he would not stay ten minutes longer in Edinburgh than +he could help. Sometimes his carriage would be waiting in Parliament +Square to bear him off as swiftly as possible to Abbotsford. John Locke +says there is a good vein of poetry buried in the breast of most +business men; there is at least in the breast of most men, strong or +latent, a longing, a passion for freedom, for change. When the buds +swell and burst; when the May-blossom breaks forth on the hawthorn, and +makes a spring snowstorm in the valley; when the cuckoo is heard, and +the lark rains down his drops of melody above the springing clods; when +the lambs gambol in the green fields, and the hives are murmurous with +their drowsy insect hum--the awakening comes in man, too, for freedom, +freshness, change. They are happy who can enjoy such, and be rested and +refreshed; for millions are chained to the oar, and know not what they +miss, and millions more have not had their eyes or their desires +awakened to what they miss. Lowell expresses the feeling: + + What man would live coffined with brick and stone, + Imprisoned from the healing touch of air, + And cramped with selfish landmarks everywhere, + When all before him stretches, furrowless and lone, + The unmapped prairie none can fence or own? + What man would read and read the self-same faces, + And like the marbles which the windmill grinds, + Rub smooth for ever with the same smooth minds, + This year retracing last year's, every year's, dull traces, + When there are woods and unpenfolded spaces? + + * * * * * + + To change and change is life, to move and never rest: + Not what we are, but what we hope, is best. + The wild, free woods make no man halt or blind; + Cities rob men of eyes and hands and feet. + +We want, then, to recover our eyes, and hands, and feet, remembering the +story of eyes and no eyes. For this end, few things are better than a +day now and then in the open air, in order to bring a man to himself. +The best stimulant in the world is mountain air, and the grandest +restorative music the rhythmic beat of the waves along the shore. + +The cyclist covers a wonderful stretch of country, going and returning, +and comes back refreshed too, though tired, thinking that nobody in the +universe can have had a better or pleasanter holiday than he has +enjoyed. He has whizzed along leafy lanes, with glimpses of running +streams to right and left; he has heard the musical monotony of the hill +burns as he rested on the bridge; he has awakened sleepy villages, and +enjoyed his repasts at country inns. And so the cyclist has a ready +power to give himself the requisite and healthful change of scene. + + +CYCLING. + +The pastime of cycling, at first only patronised by athletic youth, has +now spread to every class of the community. The vast improvement in +machines, and the health and exhilaration to be gained by the exercise, +have had much to do with its popularity alike with aristocracy and +democracy. Like golf, it has come to stay, although many who take +cycling up for amusement will drop it again as they would do anything +else. But there will always remain a strong and increasing contingent, +fully aware, by practical experience, of its health and pleasure giving +powers, who will place it second to no existing recreation. And so the +cyclist gets gleams and glances of beauty from many a nook and corner of +the land, where railway, coach, or his unaided pedestrian powers would +never carry him. It has widened a twenty-mile radius to a forty-mile +radius, and increased man's locomotive powers threefold. Let no one +imagine that there is not a considerable amount of exertion and fatigue, +and sometimes hardship. But it is of a wholesome kind, when kept within +limits, and physically, morally, and socially, the benefits that cycling +confers on the men of the present day are almost unbounded. + +Truly, we have here a great leveller; as one says: 'It puts the poor man +on a level with the rich, enabling him to "sing the song of the open +road" as freely as the millionaire, and to widen his knowledge by +visiting the regions near to or far from his home, observing how other +men live. He could not afford a railway journey and sojourn in these +places, and he could not walk through them without tiring sufficiently +to destroy in a measure the pleasure which he sought. But he can ride +through twenty, thirty, fifty, even seventy miles of country in a day, +without serious fatigue, and with no expense save his board and +lodging.' This is very well put. Another enthusiast has said: 'If you +want to come as near flying as we are likely to get in this generation, +learn to ride on a pneumatic bicycle.' 'Sum up,' says another, 'when +summer is done, all the glorious days you have had, the splendid bits of +scenery which have become a possession for ever, your adventures worth +telling, and see how you have been gladdened and enriched.' + +An enthusiastic journalist who had been burning the candle at both ends +betook himself to the wheel, and found it of so much service to body and +mind that he straightway, in the columns of his newspaper, began to +advise the whole world to learn the bicycle. He could hardly tell the +difference it had made to his feelings and general health, and he knew +of no exercise which brought so easily such a universal return in good +health, good spirits, and amusement. Mr G. Lacy Hillier, of the +Badminton volume on Cycling, confirms this. The cyclist seems to enter +into the spirit of Emerson's saying as thoroughly as Thoreau might have +done: 'Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of empires +ridiculous.' Many overdo the exercise, then renounce it, or give it a +bad name; others, by over-rapid riding in towns, make themselves public +nuisances, and vastly increase the dangers of overcrowded streets. The +sensible cyclist rides for health, increase of knowledge, and amusement. + +Though at one time Mr Ruskin was prepared to spend all his best bad +language in abusing the wheel, the world has gone its own way, and the +careering multitudes in Battersea Park and elsewhere, on country and +suburban roads, in crowded towns, have been the means of creating new +manufactures, which have vastly benefited our home industries. Mr H. J. +Lawson, inventor of the rear-driving safety, lately estimated the annual +output of cycles at over a million, and the money spent at over ten +millions. But in the absence of statistics this is only guesswork. The +periodical called _Invention_ has stated that in 1884 there were 8 +bicycle factories, which turned out 6000 machines. In 1895 there were +about 400 factories, with an estimated output of 650,000 bicycles. The +bicycle tax in France is said to yield not less than L80,000 a year. In +the United States, where cycling has become a greater craze than with +us, two hundred and fifty thousand cycles at least were purchased in +1894; in 1895 more than four hundred thousand changed hands. When the +proposal was made some time ago to impose a tax on cycles, it was +calculated that there were at least eight hundred thousand riders in the +United Kingdom. Now the number is estimated at over a million. The past +few seasons have witnessed quite a 'boom' in cycling and a great +increase in the number of riders. Ladies have taken more rapidly to the +pastime in America and France than in England. The rubber and then the +pneumatic or inflated tyre have wrought a marvellous revolution; the +high 'ordinary,' the tricycle, and the heavy 'solid,' and even the +'cushion,' have in most cases been relegated to the home of old iron. +The Pneumatic Tyre Company, with a capital of four millions sterling, +when in full swing, turns out twenty-five thousand tyres per week. The +profits of this concern in 1896 were at the rate of L432,000 a year. +Coventry, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, London, and other towns, have +largely benefited by the cycle trade. + +Sir B. W. Richardson has often called attention to the benefit of +cycling in the case of dwellers in towns. Dr Turner finds that nothing +neutralises better the poison introduced into the blood through faulty +digestion than gentle and continued exercise on the wheel. Mr A. J. +Watson, the English amateur one-mile and five-mile champion in 1895, +declared that he never suffered from any ill effects, save perhaps +during the hard days in winter, when prevented from riding. Dr Andrew +Wilson once quoted a budget of correspondence from ladies who had tried +the wheel, all of which was in the same direction, provided that +overstrain was avoided. Where the heart is weak, cycling should be left +alone. The muscles of the legs are developed and the circumference of +the chest increased in the case of healthy riders. + +Here are a few hints by a medical man: 'Never ride within half an hour +of a meal, either before or after. Wheel the machine up any hill the +mounting of which on the wheel causes any real effort. See that the +clothing round the stomach, neck, and chest is loose. Have the +handle-bar sufficiently raised to prevent stooping. Be as sparing as +possible of taking fluids during a long ride. Unless the wind, road, +&c., be favourable, never ride more than ten miles an hour, save for +very short distances, and never smoke while riding.' + +The cycle as we know it did not burst upon the world in all its present +completeness, but has been a gradual evolution, the work of many a busy +hand and brain, guided by experience. As far back as 1767 we find that +Richard Lovell Edgeworth had something of the nature of a velocipede; +and about the same date, William Murdoch, inventor of gas for +illuminating purposes, had a wooden horse of his own invention upon +which he rode to school at Cumnock. + +The French appear to be entitled to whatever of credit attaches to the +original invention of the hobby-horse, a miserable steed at best, which +wore out the toes of a pair of boots at every journey. M. Blanchard, the +celebrated aeronaut, and M. Masurier conjointly manufactured the first +of these machines in 1779, which was then described as 'a wonder which +drove all Paris mad.' The Dandy-horse of 1818, the two wheels on which +the rider sat astride, tipping the ground with his feet in order to +propel the machine, was laughed out of existence. In 1840, a blacksmith +named Kirkpatrick Macmillan, of Courthill, parish of Keir, +Dumfriesshire, made a cycle on which he rode to Glasgow, and caused a +big sensation on the way. This worthy man died in 1878, aged 68. The +notable fact regarding Macmillan's cycle is, that he had adapted cranks +and levers to the old dandy or hobby-horse. Gavin Dalziel, of +Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, had a bicycle of his own invention in daily use +in 1846. The French are probably justified, moreover, in claiming as +their own the development of the crude invention into the present +velocipede, for, in 1862, a M. Riviere, a French subject residing in +England, deposited in the British Patent Office a minute specification +of a bicycle. His description was, however, unaccompanied by any drawing +or sketch, and he seems to have taken no further steps in the matter +than to register a theory which he never carried into practice. +Subsequently, the bicycle was re-invented by the French and by the +Americans almost simultaneously, and indeed, both nations claim priority +in introducing it. It came into public notoriety at the French +International Exhibition of 1867, from which time the rage for them +gradually developed itself, until in 1869 Paris became enthusiastic over +velocipedes. Extensive foundries were soon established in Paris for the +sole purpose of supplying the ironwork, while some scores of large +manufactories taxed their utmost resources to meet the daily increasing +demand for these vehicles. + +There was a revival of cycling between 1867-69. An ingenious Frenchman, +M. Michaux, had some years before fitted pedals and a transverse handle +to the front wheel of what came to be irreverently known as the +'bone-shaker.' This embryo bicycle had a considerable vogue, and was +introduced to Mr Charles Spencer's gymnasium in London in 1868. Spencer +was in Paris in 1868, in company with Mr R. Turner, representative of +the Coventry Machinists' Company, and they were each admiring the +graceful evolutions of Henri Tascard on his velocipede over the broad +asphalt paths of the Luxemburg Gardens. 'Charlie, do you think you could +do that?' said Turner. Spencer said he thought he would have a trial, +and would take home a machine that very night. He accordingly brought +over a machine to London, practised riding stealthily in some of the +most out-of-the-way London streets, and soon gained sufficient +confidence to appear in public. Mr John Mayall, jun., photographer, +Regent Street, witnessed the arrival of one of the first bicycles at +Spencer's gymnasium, in Old Street, St Luke's. 'It produced but little +impression upon me,' he says, 'and certainly did not strike me as being +a new means of locomotion. A slender young man, whom I soon came to know +as Mr Turner of Paris, followed the packing-case and superintended its +opening. The gymnasium was cleared, Mr Turner took off his coat, grasped +the handles of the machine, and, with a short run, to my intense +surprise, vaulted on to it, and putting his feet on the treadle made the +circuit of the room. We were some half-a-dozen spectators, and I shall +never forget our astonishment at the sight of Mr Turner whirling himself +round the room--sitting on a bar above a pair of wheels in a line, that +ought, as we inadvertently supposed, to fall down as soon as he jumped +off the ground.' + +It is almost laughable, now, to read how Spencer at first always rode on +the pavement, and how politely everybody cleared out of his way. Even +Policeman X helped to make a passage for him. Some wiseacre, on being +quizzed as to the uses of this strange new machine, would reply, 'Why, +it is a machine for measuring roads, of course;' and a street arab would +shout, 'Oh, crikey, Bill, 'ere's a lark. A swell a ridin' on two +wheels. Mind how you fall, sir,' &c. Spencer's speed at first was but +five miles an hour. Soon there were many inquiries for this wonderful +new aid to locomotion. Spencer and Turner entered heartily into the +business. An order for 500 machines was given to the Coventry +Machinists' Company in the end of 1868. This was the firm with which Mr +James Starley, inventor of the 'Coventry Tricycle,' was connected, and +this order helped the start of what has grown to be an enormous and +beneficial industry to the town of Coventry. + +The account of feats of long-distance riding, of forty and fifty miles a +day, got abroad--the feat by Turner, Spencer, and Mayall particularly, +in riding to Brighton and back in a day, in February 1869, further +popularised cycling. Charles Dickens and James Payn were amongst those +who were bitten by the velocipede 'mania.' + +Yet the bone-shaker craze might have died a natural death but for the +introduction of the rubber tyre and other improvements. Mr James +Starley, of Coventry, through whose inventive genius the tricycle was +evolved from the bicycle, was also an improver and pioneer. Starley says +of his improvements: 'I regarded the rider as the motive force; and +believing it absolutely necessary that he should be so placed that he +could exert the greatest amount of power on his pedals, with the least +amount of fatigue to himself--believing, also, that the machine of the +future must be so made that such essentials as the crank-shaft, pedals, +seat, and handles could easily be made adjustable--I decided to change +my shape, make my wheels of a good rolling size, place my crank-shaft as +near the ground as safety would permit, connect my back wheel with my +crank by means of a chain, so that the gear might be adjusted and varied +at pleasure, and a short, strong man could ride with a fifty, a sixty, a +seventy, or even a higher gear, while a tall, weak man could ride with a +lower gear than the short, strong one; to give my saddle a vertical +adjustment so that it could be raised or lowered at will; so to place my +handles that they could be set forward or backward, raised or lowered, +as might be desired; and finally, to make it impossible for the +pedalling to interfere with the steering.' In the 'Rover' bicycle he +gave an impetus to the early history of the machine, which has been +crowned in the pneumatic tyre, the invention of John Boyd Dunlop, born +at Dreghorn, Ayrshire, in 1840. Mr Dunlop was engaged as a veterinary +surgeon near Belfast, where he built himself an air-wheel from ordinary +thin rubber sheets, with rubber valve and plug. Mr C. K. Welch followed +with the detachable tyre. The big, ungainly looking wheels were at first +laughed at, but when pneumatic tyred machines won race after race, they +became the rage. And when the company formed to make the Dunlop tyre +sold their interest in the concern, in 1896 it was worth about +L3,000,000. The capital originally subscribed was L260,000, and L658,000 +had been paid in dividends. + +A cycling tour is health-giving and enjoyable when gone about rationally +and prudently. It is pleasant to plan, and no less so to carry out, as +it is always the unexpected which happens. There are halts by the +wayside, conversations with rustics, fine views; and every part of the +brain and blood is oxygenated, giving that kind of wholesome +intoxication which Thoreau said he gained by living in the open air. +One's own country is explored as it has never been explored before. Some +wheelmen have been credited with seven and eight thousand miles in a +single season. Others, more ambitious, have made a track round the +globe. Mr Thomas Stevens, starting from San Francisco in April 1884, +occupied three years in going round the world. Mr T. Allen and Mr L. +Sachtleben, two American students, as a practical finish to a +theoretical education, occupied three years in riding round the +world--15,404 miles on the wheel. They climbed Mount Ararat by the way, +and interviewed Li Hung Chang, the Chinese viceroy. The wheel ridden by +these 'foreign devils' was described by one Chinaman as 'a little mule +that you drive by the ears, and kick in the sides to make him go.' + +Mr Frank G. Lenz, who started from America in June 1892 to ride round +the world, was unfortunately killed by six Kurds, sixty-five miles from +Erzeroum, between the villages of Kurtali and Dahar, on May 10, 1894. +There have been many interesting shorter rides. Mr Walter Goddard of +Leeds, and Mr James Edmund of Brixton, started from London and rode +entirely round Europe on wheels; Mr Hugh Callan rode from Glasgow to the +river Jordan; Mr R. L. Jefferson, in 1894, rode from London to +Constantinople, between March 10 and May 19. In 1895 the same gentleman +rode from London to Moscow, 4281 miles, and had nothing good to say of +Russian inns or roads. A lady of sixty has done seventy miles in one +day; while an English lady tourist did twelve hundred miles in her +various ups and downs between London and Glasgow during one holiday. + +The lighter the machine, the more expensive it is. Racing-machines are +built as light as twenty pounds in weight. Some of the swiftest +road-riders patronise machines of twenty-six or twenty-seven pounds; but +for all-round work, one of thirty-three pounds, without lamp or bell, is +a good average machine. As to speed, we have had 460 miles in the +twenty-four hours on the racing-track, and 377 miles on the road. Huret, +a French rider, has done 515 miles between one midnight and another; the +Swiss cyclist Lesna has done 28 miles an hour; while Mr Mills and Mr T. +A. Edge, in a ride from Land's End to John o' Groat's on a tandem, beat +all previous records, doing the journey in three days four hours and +forty-six minutes. + +A very sensible American rider, when on tour, starts shortly after +breakfast, and with a brief rest for lunch, has his day's work of about +fifty miles over by four P.M. Then he changes underclothing--a most +important and never-to-be-forgotten matter--has dinner, and an enjoyable +ramble over the town or village where he stays over-night. But he is a +luxurious dog, and not many will carry such an abundant kit in the +triangular bag below the handle bar. Imagine three light outing shirts, +three suits, gauze underclothing, a dark flannel bicycle suit, laced +tanned gaiters, light-weight rubber coat, comb; clothes, hair, and tooth +brushes; soap and towel, writing-pad and pencil, map and matches, and +tool bag! Many a cyclist carries a hand camera, and brings home a +permanent record of his journeys. + +It has been well said that many a boy will start in life with a more +vigorous constitution because of the bicycle, and many a man who is +growing old too fast by neglect of active exercise will find himself +rejuvenated by the same agency. Only let the getting over a certain +distance within a certain time not be the main object. And winter +riding, when the roads permit, need not be neglected, for nothing is +more invigorating than a winter ride. The doctors tell us that as long +as one can ride with the mouth shut, the heart is all right. A fillip +should be given to the appetite; whenever this is destroyed, and +sleeplessness ensues, cycling is being overdone. + +Cycling, of course, as we have already said, is not all pleasure or +romance. There is a considerable amount of hard work, with head-winds, +rain, mud, hills, and misadventures through punctures of the tyre. This +last may happen at the most inopportune time; but the cyclist is +generally a philosopher, and sets about his repairs with a cool and easy +mind. + +A word in closing about accidents, which are often due to carelessness +and recklessness. A cyclist has no right to ride at ten or fourteen +miles an hour in a crowded thoroughfare. He takes his life--and other +people's!--in his hands if he does so. No less is caution needed on +hills, the twists and turns in which are unseen or unfamiliar, and where +the bottom of the incline cannot be seen. As the saying goes, 'Better be +a coward for half an hour than a corpse for the rest of your lifetime.' +But experience is the best guide, and no hard-and-fast rules can be laid +down for exceptional circumstances. + +[Illustration: The Dandy-horse.] + + + + +[Illustration] + +CHAPTER VIII. + +STEAMERS AND SAILING-SHIPS. + + Early Shipping--Mediterranean Trade--Rise of the P. and O. and + other Lines--Transatlantic Lines--India and the East--Early + Steamships--First Steamer to cross the Atlantic--Rise of Atlantic + Shipping Lines--The _Great Eastern_ and the New Cunarders + _Campania_ and _Lucania_ compared--Sailing-ships. + + +THE CARRYING-TRADE OF THE WORLD. + +Of all the industries of the world, that which is concerned with the +interchange of the products of nations is suffused with the most +interest for the largest number of people. Not only is the number of +those who go down into the sea in ships, and who do business on the +great waters, legion, but three-fourths of the population of the globe +are more or less dependent on their enterprise. The ocean-carrying trade +we are accustomed to date from the time of the Phoenicians; and +certainly the Phoenicians were daring mariners, if not exactly +scientific navigators, and their ships were pretty well acquainted +with the waters of Europe and the coasts of Africa. But the +Phoenicians were rather merchant-adventurers on their own account than +ocean-carriers, as, for instance, the Arabians were on the other side of +Africa, acting as the intermediaries of the trade between Egypt and East +Africa and India. In the early days, too, there is reason to believe +that the Chinese were extensive ocean-carriers, sending their junks both +to the Arabian Gulf and to the ports of Hindustan, long before Alexander +the Great invaded India. But there is nothing more remarkable in the +history of maritime commerce than the manner in which it has changed +hands. + +Even down to the beginning of the present century, almost the whole of +the carrying-trade of the Baltic and the Mediterranean was in the hands +of the Danes, Norwegians, and Germans, while our own harbours were +crowded with foreign ships. This was one of the effects of our peculiar +Navigation Laws, under which foreigners were so protected that there was +hardly a trade open to British vessels. It is, indeed, just ninety years +since British ship-owners made a formal and earnest appeal to the +government to remove the existing shackles on the foreign trade of the +country, and to promote the development of commerce with the American +and West Indian colonies. One argument of the time was the necessity for +recovering and developing the Mediterranean trade, as affording one of +the best avenues for the employment of shipping and the promotion of +international commerce. It was a trade of which England had a very +considerable share in the time of Henry VII., who may very fairly be +regarded as the founder of British merchant shipping. He not only built +ships for himself for trading purposes, but encouraged others to do so, +and even lent them money for the purpose. And it was to the +Mediterranean that he chiefly directed his attention, in eager +competition with the argosies of Venice and Genoa. There resulted a +perfect fleet of what were called 'tall ships' engaged in carrying +woollen fabrics and other British products to Italy, Sicily, Syria, and +the Levant, and in bringing home cargoes of silk, cotton, wool, carpets, +oil, spices, and wine. + +Steam has worked a change in favour of this country nowhere more +remarkable than in the Mediterranean trade. When the trade began to +revive for sailing-vessels, by a removal of some of the irksome +restrictions, Lisbon was the most important port on the Iberian +Peninsula for British shipping. There was a weekly mail service by +sailing-packets between Falmouth and Lisbon, until the Admiralty put on +a steamer. Some time in the 'thirties,' two young Scotchmen named Brodie +Wilcox and Arthur Anderson had a small fleet of sailing-vessels engaged +in the Peninsular trade, and in the year 1834 they chartered the steamer +_Royal Tar_ from the Dublin and London Steam-packet Company. This was +the beginning of the great Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation +Company, destined to revolutionise the carrying-trade both of the +Mediterranean and the East. When the Spanish government negotiated for a +line of steamers to be established between England and Spain, Wilcox and +Anderson took up the project, organised a small company, and acquired +some steamers, which at first did not pay. They persevered, however, +until shippers saw the superiority of the new vessels to the old +sailers, and at last the Peninsular Company obtained the first +mail-contract ever entered into by the English government. This was in +1837; the Cunard and Royal Mail (West Indian) lines were not established +until 1840. In a couple of years the Peninsular Company extended their +line through the Straits to Malta and Alexandria, and again to Corfu and +the Levant. In 1840 they applied for and obtained a charter as the +Peninsular and Oriental Steam-navigation Company, with the object of +establishing a line of steamers on the other side of the Isthmus of +Suez, from which have developed the great ramifications to India, China, +Japan, the Straits Settlements, and Australia. It was, indeed, through +the Mediterranean that we obtained our first hold on the Eastern +carrying-trade. + +In considering the development of maritime commerce, it is always to be +remembered that the design of Columbus and the early navigators in +sailing westwards was not to find America, but to find a new way to +India and Far Cathay. Mighty as America has become in the world's +economy, its first occupation was only an incident in the struggle for +the trade of the Far East. But with the occupation of America came two +new developments in this carrying-trade--namely, one across the +Atlantic, and one upon and across the Pacific. To the eventful year in +which so many great enterprises were founded--namely, 1840--we trace the +beginning of steam-carrying on the Pacific, for in that year William +Wheelwright took or sent the first steamer round Cape Horn, as the +pioneer of the great Pacific Steam-navigation Company. Within about a +dozen years thereafter, the Americans had some fifty steamers constantly +engaged on the Pacific coast of the two Continents, besides those of the +English company. Out of one of those Pacific lines grew Commodore +Vanderbilt's Nicaragua Transit Company, a double service of two lines of +steamers, one on each side of the Continent, with an overland connection +through Nicaragua. Out of another grew the New York and San Francisco +line, connecting overland across the Isthmus of Panama--where M. de +Lesseps did _not_ succeed in cutting a Canal. And out of yet another of +those Pacific enterprises, all stimulated by Wheelwright's success, grew +in the course of years a line between San Francisco and Hawaii, and +another between San Francisco and Australia. Some forty years ago the +boats of this last-named line used to run down to Panama to pick up +passengers and traffic from Europe, and it is interesting to recall that +at that period the design was greatly favoured of a regular steam +service between England and Australia _via_ Panama. A company was +projected for the purpose; but it came to nothing, for various reasons +not necessary to enter upon here. But as long ago as the early fifties, +when the Panama Railway was in course of construction, there were eight +separate lines of steamers on the Atlantic meeting at Aspinwall, and +five on the Pacific meeting at Panama. Later on, when the Americans had +completed their iron-roads from ocean to ocean across their own +dominions, they started lines of steamers from San Francisco to China +and Japan. And later still, when the Canadian Pacific Railway was +completed across Canada, a British line of ships was started across the +Pacific to Far Cathay, and afterwards to Australia and New Zealand. So +that the dream of the old navigators has, after all, been practically +realised. + +The repeal of the corn laws gave an immense impetus to British shipping, +by opening up new lines of traffic in grain with the ports of the +Baltic, the Black Sea, and Egypt; and the extension of steamer +communication created another new carrying-business in the transport of +coals abroad to innumerable coaling stations. Thus demand goes on +creating supply, and supply in turn creating new demand. + +From the old fruit and grain sailers of the Mediterranean trade have +developed such extensive concerns as the Cunard line (one of whose +beginnings was a service of steamers between Liverpool and Havre), which +now covers the whole Mediterranean, and extends across the Atlantic to +New York and Boston; the Anchor line, which began with a couple of boats +running between the Clyde and the Peninsula, and now covers all the +Mediterranean and Adriatic, and extends from India to America; the Bibby +line, which began with a steamer between Liverpool and Marseilles, and +now covers every part of the Mediterranean (Leyland line), and spreads +out to Burma and the Straits. These are but a few of many examples of +how the great carrying-lines of the world, east and west, have +developed from modest enterprises in mid-Europe. And even now the goods +traffic between the Mediterranean and the United Kingdom, North Europe +and America, is less in the hands of these great lines than in that of +the vast fleets of ocean tramps, both sail and steam. + +One of the most wonderful developments in the carrying-trade of the +world is the concern known as the Messageries Maritimes of France--now +probably the largest steamer-owning copartnery in the world. Prior to +the Crimean War, there was an enterprise called the Messageries +Imperiales, which was engaged in the land-carriage of mails through +France. In 1851 this company entered into a contract with the French +government for the conveyance of mails to Italy, Egypt, Greece, and the +Levant; and as years went on, the mail subsidies became so heavy that +the enterprise was practically a national one. During the war, the +Messageries Company's vessels were in such demand as transports, &c., +that the company had to rapidly create a new fleet for mail purposes. +With peace came the difficulty of employing the enormously augmented +fleet. New lines of mail and cargo boats were therefore successively +established between France and the Danube and Black Sea; Bordeaux and +Brazil and the River Plate; Marseilles and India and China, &c. In fact, +the Messageries Company's ramifications now extend from France to Great +Britain, South America, the whole of the Mediterranean, the Levant, the +Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the China Seas, and the +South Pacific. + +Few people, perhaps, have any conception of the numbers of regular and +highly organised lines of steamers now connecting Europe and America. +Besides the Messageries, the Austro-Hungarian Lloyd's and the Italian +mail lines run between the Mediterranean and the River Plate. Argentina +and Brazil are connected with different parts of Europe by about a +dozen lines. Between the United States and Europe there are now about +thirty distinct regular lines of steamers carrying goods and passengers; +and about a dozen more carrying goods only. Four of these lines are +direct with Germany, two with France, two with Holland, two with +Belgium, one with Denmark, and two with Italy, one of which is under the +British flag. All the rest of the passenger lines and most of the cargo +lines run between the United Kingdom and the United States. As for the +'tramps' steaming and sailing between North America and Europe, they are +of all nations; but again the majority fly the British flag, though once +upon a time the American-built clippers, of graceful lines and +'sky-scraping' masts, used to monopolise the American carrying-trade +under the stars and stripes. Once upon a time, too, these beautiful +American clippers had the bulk of the China tea-trade, and of the +Anglo-Australian general trade. But they were run off the face of the +waters by the Navigation Laws of America and the shipping enterprise of +Britain. The great and growing trade between the United States and +India, too, is now nearly all carried in British vessels; and a large +part of the regular steam service between New York and the West Indies +is under the British flag. That a change will take place when America +repeals the laws which forbid Americans to own vessels built abroad or +manned by foreigners is pretty certain. + +With regard to India, the growth in the carrying-trade has been enormous +since Vasco da Gama, four hundred years ago, found his way round the +Cape of Good Hope to Calicut. For an entire century, down to 1600, the +Portuguese monopolised the trade of the East, and as many as two and +three hundred of their ships would often be gathered together in the +port of Goa, taking in cargo for different Eastern and European ports. +To-day, Goa is a deserted port, and the Portuguese flag is rarely +seen--a ship or two per annum now being sufficient for all the trade +between Portugal and India. In the century of Portuguese prosperity the +English flag was hardly known in Eastern waters. It was the Dutch who +drove out the Portuguese; and the reason why the Dutch were tempted out +to India was because the rich cargoes brought home by the Portuguese +could not be disposed of in Portugal, and had to be taken to Amsterdam, +or Rotterdam, or Antwerp, where the opulent Dutch merchants purchased +them for redistribution throughout Europe. This is how the Dutch came +into direct relations with the Indian trade before the English, and why +Barentz and others tried to find a near way to India for the Dutch +vessels by way of the north of Europe and Asia. Failing in the north, +the Dutch followed the Portuguese round the Cape, and reaching Sumatra, +founded the wide domain of Netherlands-India. This occupation was +effected before 1600; and between that year and 1670 they expelled the +Portuguese from every part of the Eastern Archipelago, from Malacca, +from Ceylon, from the Malabar Coast, and from Macassar. + +The Dutch in turn enjoyed a monopoly of the Indian trade for about a +hundred years. Then with the rise of Clive came the downfall of the +Dutch, and by 1811 they were stripped of every possession they had in +the East. Later, we gave them back Java and Sumatra, with which Holland +now does a large trade, reserved exclusively to Dutch vessels. But in +India proper the Dutch have not a single possession, and it is doubtful +if in all the Indian Peninsula there are now a hundred Dutchmen +resident. + +Two immense streams of trade are constantly setting to and from India +and Europe through the Suez Canal and round the Cape. Not only is the +bulk of that trade conducted by the well-known Peninsular and Oriental, +British India, City, Clan, Anchor, and other lines (though the +Messageries Maritimes, North German Lloyd's, and other foreign lines +have no mean share), but the whole coast-line of India is served by the +steamers of the British-India and Asiatic lines; and British vessels +conduct the most of the carrying-trade between India and Australia, +China, Japan, the Straits, Mauritius, &c. + +A new carrying-trade was created when the Australasian colonies were +founded one after the other--in the taking out of home manufactures, +implements, machinery, &c., and bringing back wool and tallow; and then +gold, wheat, fruit, and frozen meat. This colonial trade is now divided +between sailers and steamers, and in the steamer traffic some of the +foreign lines are eagerly bidding for a share. Similarly, a new +carrying-trade has been of quite recent years developed by the opening +up of South Africa, and this is practically all in British hands. + +An important item of international carriage of recent development is the +mineral oil of America and Russia. The carriage of these oils is a trade +of itself. Another special branch of the world's carrying-trade is +connected with the sea-fisheries. All the fishing-grounds of the +Atlantic and North Sea may be said to be now connected with the +consuming markets by services of steamers. The cod-fishers off the Banks +of Newfoundland transfer their dried and salted fish to vessels which +speed them to the good Catholics of Spain and France and Italy, just as +the steam auxiliaries bring to London the harvests gathered by the boats +on the Dogger Bank. + +Of late years not unsuccessful efforts have been made, especially by +Captain Wiggins, to establish direct communication between Great Britain +and the arctic coasts of Russia once every summer. And hopes are +entertained that on the completion of the railway from Winnipeg to Fort +Churchill, the greatly shorter sea-route _via_ Hudson Strait and Hudson +Bay may greatly facilitate communication with Manitoba and the Canadian +North-west. + +It is computed that on the great ocean highways there are not fewer than +ten thousand large and highly-powered steamers constantly employed. If +it be wondered how sailing-vessels can maintain a place at all in the +race of competition in the world's carrying-trade, a word of explanation +may be offered. Do not suppose that only rough and low-valued cargo is +left for the sailers. They still have the bulk of the cotton and wheat +and other valuable products, not only because they can carry more +cheaply, but because transport by sailing-vessels gives the merchant a +wider choice of market. Cargoes of staple products can always be sold +'to arrive' at some given port, and it is cheaper to put them afloat +than to warehouse them ashore and wait for an order. + +What, then, are the proportions borne by the several maritime nations in +this great international carrying-trade? The question is not one which +can be answered with absolute precision, but the tables of the Marine +Department of the Board of Trade enable one to find an approximate +answer. In 1893 the tonnage of steam and sailing vessels of all +nationalities in the foreign trade entering and clearing at ports in the +United Kingdom was 74,632,847, of which 54,148,664 tons were British, +and 20,484,183 tons were foreign. In the foreign total, the largest +proportions were Norwegian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, and French. +The Teutonic races have thus the most of the ocean-carrying; the United +States proportion of the above total was small. + +So far the United Kingdom. Now let us see what part British shipping +plays in the foreign trade of other countries. We find that the total +tonnage of the British Empire was 10,365,567. The other principal +maritime countries owned 12,000,000 tons. Therefore, roughly speaking, +the British Empire owns about five-elevenths of the entire shipping of +the world. Even so recently as thirty years ago, about two-thirds of the +ocean-carrying trade was performed by sailing-vessels; to-day, about +four-fifths of it is performed by steamers. + + +THE FIRST STEAMER TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC. + +The earliest steamers the world ever saw, not reckoning the experimental +craft constructed by such men as Fulton, Bell, Symington, and Watt, were +those employed in the transatlantic trade. As far back as the year 1819, +the Yankee paddle-steamer _Savannah_, of three hundred tons burden, +crossed from the port of that name, in Georgia, to Liverpool. She +occupied twenty-five days upon the passage; but, as she was fully +rigged, and under all sail during at least two-thirds of the voyage, the +merit of her performance, as an illustration of the superiority of the +engine over canvas, is somewhat doubtful. Yet she was beyond dispute the +first steamer to accomplish a long sea-voyage, and to the Americans +belong the credit of her exploit. Indeed, from the time of their last +war with us, down to within a quarter of a century ago, our Yankee +neighbours generally seemed to be a little ahead of this country in +maritime matters. They taught us a lesson in shipbuilding by their +famous Baltimore clippers, and they were the first to demonstrate in a +practical manner, and to the complete capsizal of the learned Dr +Lardner's theories, the possibility of employing steam for the purposes +of ocean navigation. + +Although in 1838 the _Sirius_ and the _Great Western_ successfully made +the journey from England to America, yet five years before that date, +Canadian enterprise accomplished the feat of bridging the Atlantic +Ocean with a little vessel propelled wholly by steam. This was the +_Royal William_, whose beautiful model was exhibited at the British +Naval Exhibition in London, where she attracted the attention and +curiosity of the first seamen in the empire. The _Royal William_--named +in honour of the reigning sovereign--was built in the city of Quebec by +a Scotchman, James Goudie, who had served his time and learned his art +at Greenock. The keel was laid in the autumn of 1830; and her builder, +then in his twenty-second year, writes: 'As I had the drawings and the +form of the ship, at the time a novelty in construction, it devolved +upon me to lay off and expand the draft to its full dimensions on the +floor of the loft, where I made several alterations in the lines as +improvements. The steamship being duly commenced, the work progressed +rapidly; and in May following was duly launched, and before a large +concourse of people was christened the _Royal William_. She was then +taken to Montreal to have her engines, where I continued to superintend +the finishing of the cabins and deck-work. When completed, she had her +trial trip, which proved quite satisfactory. Being late in the season +before being completed, she only made a few trips to Halifax.' + +The launching of this steamer was a great event in Quebec. The +Governor-general, Lord Aylmer, and his wife were present, the latter +giving the vessel her name. Military bands supplied the music, and the +shipping in the harbour was gay with bunting. The city itself wore a +holiday look. The _Royal William_, propelled by steam alone, traded +between Quebec and Halifax. While at the last-named place, she attracted +the notice of Mr Samuel Cunard, afterwards Sir Samuel, the founder of +the great trans-continental line which bears his name. It is said that +the _Royal William_ convinced him that steam was the coming force for +ocean navigation. He asked many questions about her, took down the +answers in his note-book, and subsequently became a large stockholder in +the craft. + +The cholera of 1832 paralysed business in Canada, and trade was at a +standstill for a time. Like other enterprises at this date, the _Royal +William_ experienced reverses, and she was doomed to be sold at +sheriff's sale. Some Quebec gentlemen bought her in, and resolved to +send her to England to be sold. In 1833 the eventful voyage to Britain +was made successfully, and without mishap of any kind. The _Royal +William's_ proportions were as follows: Builder's measurement, 1370 +tons; steamboat measurement, as per Act of Parliament, 830 tons; length +of keel, 146 feet; length of deck from head to taffrail, 176 feet; +breadth of beam inside the paddle-boxes, 29 feet 4 inches; outside, 43 +feet 10 inches; depth of hold, 17 feet 9 inches. On the 4th of August +1833, commanded by Captain John M'Dougall, she left Quebec, via Pictou, +Nova Scotia, for London, under steam, at five o'clock in the morning. +She made the passage in twenty-five days. Her supply of coal was 254 +chaldrons, or over 330 tons. Her captain wrote: 'She is justly entitled +to be considered the first steamer that crossed the Atlantic by steam, +having steamed the whole way across.' + +About the end of September 1833, the _Royal William_ was disposed of for +ten thousand pounds sterling, and chartered to the Portuguese government +to take out troops for Dom Pedro's service. Portugal was asked to +purchase her for the navy; but the admiral of the fleet, not thinking +well of the scheme, declined to entertain the proposition. Captain +M'Dougall was master of the steamer all this time. He returned with her +to London with invalids and disbanded Portuguese soldiers, and laid her +up off Deptford Victualling Office. In July, orders came to fit out the +_Royal William_ to run between Oporto and Lisbon. One trip was made +between these ports, and also a trip to Cadiz for specie for the +Portuguese government. + +On his return to Lisbon, Captain M'Dougall was ordered to sell the +steamer to the Spanish government, through Don Evanston Castor da Perez, +then the Spanish ambassador to the court of Lisbon. The transaction was +completed on the 10th of September 1834, when the _Royal William_ became +the _Ysabel Segunda_, and the first war-steamer the Spaniards ever +possessed. She was ordered to the north coast of Spain against Don +Carlos. Captain M'Dougall accepted the rank and pay of a Commander, and, +by special proviso, was guaranteed six hundred pounds per annum, and the +contract to supply the squadron with provisions from Lisbon. The _Ysabel +Segunda_ proceeded to the north coast; and about the latter part of 1834 +she returned to Gravesend, to be delivered up to the British government, +to be converted into a war-steamer at the Imperial Dockyard. The crew +and officers were transferred to the _Royal Tar_, chartered and armed as +a war-steamer, with six long thirty-two pounders, and named the _Reyna +Governadoza_, the name intended for the _City of Edinburgh_ steamer, +which was chartered to form part of the squadron. When completed, she +relieved the _Royal Tar_ and took her name. + +In his interesting letter, from which these facts are drawn, to Robert +Christie, the Canadian historian, Captain M'Dougall thus completes the +story of the pioneer Atlantic steamer: 'The _Ysabel Segunda_, when +completed at Sheerness Dockyard, took out General Alava, the Spanish +ambassador, and General Evans and most of his staff officers, to Saint +Andero, and afterwards to St Sebastian, having hoisted the Commodore's +broad pennant again at Saint Andero; and was afterwards employed in +cruising between that port and Fuente Arabia, and acting in concert with +the Legion against Don Carlos until the time of their service expired +in 1837. She was then sent to Portsmouth with a part of those discharged +from the service, and from thence she was taken to London, and detained +in the City Canal by Commodore Henry until the claims of the officers +and crew on the Spanish government were settled, which was ultimately +accomplished by bills, and the officers and crew discharged from the +Spanish service about the latter end of 1837, and _Ysabel Segunda_ +delivered up to the Spanish ambassador, and after having her engines +repaired, returned to Spain, and was soon afterwards sent to Bordeaux, +in France, to have the hull repaired. But on being surveyed, it was +found that the timbers were so much decayed that it was decided to build +a new vessel to receive the engines, which was built there, and called +by the same name, and now [1853] forms one of the royal steam-navy of +Spain, while her predecessor was converted into a hulk at Bordeaux.' + +This, in brief, is the history of the steamer which played so important +a role in the maritime annals of Canada, England, and Spain. Her model +is safely stored in the rooms of the Literary and Historical Society of +Quebec, where it is an object of profound veneration. At the request of +the government, a copy of the model was made, and formed part of the +Canadian exhibit to the World's Fair at Chicago in 1893. + +It was not, however, until five years later that the successful passages +of two memorable vessels from England to America fairly established the +era of what has been called the Atlantic steam-ferry. These ships were +respectively the _Sirius_ and the _Great Western_. The former was a +craft of about 700 tons burden, with engines of three hundred and twenty +horse-power: she sailed from Cork on the 4th of April 1838, under the +command of Lieutenant Roberts, R.N., bound for New York. The latter +vessel was a steamer of 1340 tons, builders' measurement, with engines +of four hundred and forty horse-power: she was commanded by Captain +Hoskins, R.N., and sailed from Bristol on the 8th of April in the same +year, bound likewise for New York. The _Sirius_, it was calculated, had +a start of her competitor by about seven hundred nautical miles; but it +was known that her utmost capabilities of speed scarcely exceeded eight +knots an hour; whilst the _Great Western_, on her trial trip from +Blackwall to Gravesend, ran eleven knots an hour without difficulty. + +The issue of the race was therefore awaited with the utmost curiosity on +both sides of the Atlantic. Contemporary records usually afford good +evidence of the significance of past events, and the interest in this +novel ocean match was prodigious, to judge from the accounts with which +the Liverpool and New York papers of the day teemed. The following is in +brief the narrative of the voyage of these two famous ships across the +Western Ocean. The _Sirius_, after leaving Cork on the 4th of April, +encountered very heavy weather, which greatly retarded her progress. She +arrived, however, off Sandy Hook on the evening of Sunday, the 22d of +April; but going aground, she did not get into the North River until the +following morning. When it was known that she had arrived, New York grew +instantly agitated with excitement. + +'The news,' ran the account published by the _Journal of Commerce_ in +the United States, 'spread like wildfire through the city, and the river +became literally dotted all over with boats conveying the curious +to and from the stranger. There seemed to be a universal voice in +congratulation, and every visage was illuminated with delight. A tacit +conviction seemed to pervade every bosom that a most doubtful problem +had been satisfactorily solved; visions of future advantage to science, +to commerce, to moral philosophy, began to float before the "mind's +eye;" curiosity to travel through the old country, and to inspect +ancient institutions, began to stimulate the inquiring. + +'Whilst all this was going on, suddenly there was seen over Governor's +Island a dense black cloud of smoke spreading itself upward, and +betokening another arrival. On it came with great rapidity, and about +three o'clock in the afternoon its cause was made fully manifest to the +accumulated multitudes at the Battery. It was the steamship _Great +Western_, of about 1600 tons burden (_sic_) [the difference probably +lies between the net and the gross tonnage], under the command of +Lieutenant Hoskins, R.N. She had left Bristol on the 8th inst., and on +the 23d was making her triumphant entry into the port of New York. This +immense moving mass was propelled at a rapid rate through the waters of +the Bay; she passed swiftly and gracefully round the _Sirius_, +exchanging salutes with her, and then proceeded to her destined +anchorage in the East River. If the public mind was stimulated by the +arrival of the _Sirius_, it became almost intoxicated with delight upon +view of the superb _Great Western_. The latter vessel was only fourteen +clear days out; and neither vessel had sustained a damage worth +mentioning, notwithstanding that both had to encounter very heavy +weather. The _Sirius_ was spoken with on the 14th of April in latitude +45 deg. north, longitude 37 deg. west. The _Great Western_ was spoken on +the 15th of April in latitude 46 deg. 26' north, longitude 37 deg. west. +At these respective dates the _Great Western_ had run 1305 miles in seven +days from King Road; and the _Sirius_ 1305 miles in ten days from Cork. +The _Great Western_ averaged 186-1/2 miles per day, and the _Sirius_ +130-1/2 miles; _Great Western_ gained on the _Sirius_ fifty-six miles per +day. The _Great Western_ averaged seven and three-quarter miles per hour; +the _Sirius_ barely averaged five and a half miles per hour.' + +Such was the first voyage made across the Atlantic by these two early +steamships, and there is something of the true philosophy of history to +be found in the interest which their advent created. It is worthy of +passing note to learn what ultimately became of these celebrated +vessels. The _Sirius_, not proving staunch enough for the Atlantic +surges, was sent to open steam-communication between London and St +Petersburg, in which trade she was for several years successfully +employed. The _Great Western_ plied regularly from Bristol to New York +until the year 1847, when she was sold to the Royal Mail Company, and +ran as one of their crack ships until 1857, in which year she was broken +up at Vauxhall as being obsolete and unable profitably to compete with +the new class of steamers being built. + +The success of these two vessels may be said to have completely +established steam as a condition of the transatlantic navigation of the +future. 'In October 1838,' says Lindsay, in his _History of Merchant +Shipping_, 'Sir John Tobin, a well-known merchant of Liverpool, seeing +the importance of the intercourse now rapidly increasing between the Old +and New Worlds, despatched on his own account a steamer to New York. She +was built at Liverpool, after which place she was named, and made the +passage outwards in sixteen and a half days. It was now clearly proved +that the service could be performed, not merely with profit to those who +engaged in it, but with a regularity and speed which the finest +description of sailing-vessels could not be expected to accomplish. If +any doubts still existed on these important points, the second voyage of +the _Great Western_ set them at rest, she having on this occasion +accomplished the outward passage in fourteen days sixteen hours, +bringing with her the advices of the fastest American sailing-ships +which had sailed from New York long before her, and thus proving the +necessity of having the mails in future conveyed by steamers.' + +In fact, as early as October 1838, the British government, being +satisfied of the superiority of steam-packets over sailing-ships, issued +advertisements inviting tenders for the conveyance of the American mails +by the former class of vessels. The owners of the _Great Western_, big +with confidence in the reputation of that ship, applied for the +contract; but, not a little to their chagrin, it was awarded to Mr +(afterwards Sir Samuel) Cunard, who as far back as 1830 had proposed the +establishment of a steam mail service across the Atlantic. The terms of +the original contract were, that for the sum of fifty-five thousand +pounds per annum, Messrs Cunard, Burns, and MacIver should supply three +ships suitable for the purpose, and accomplish two voyages each month +between Liverpool and the United States, leaving England at certain +periods; but shortly afterwards it was deemed more expedient to name +fixed dates of departure on both sides of the Western Ocean. +Subsequently, another ship was required to be added to the service, and +the amount of the subsidy was raised to eighty-one thousand pounds a +year. The steam mail service between Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston was +regularly established in 1840, the first vessel engaged in it being the +_Britannia_, the pioneer ship of the present Cunard line. + +We get an admirable idea of what these early steamships were from +Dickens's account of this same _Britannia_, which was the vessel he +crossed to America in on his first visit to that country in 1842. In one +of his letters to John Forster, describing a storm they were overtaken +by, he unconsciously reflects the wondering regard with which the world +still viewed the triumphant achievements of the marine engine. 'For two +or three hours,' he writes, 'we gave it up as a lost thing. This was not +the exaggerated apprehension of a landsman merely. The head-engineer, +who had been in one or the other of the Cunard vessels since they began +running, had never seen such stress of weather; and I afterwards heard +Captain Hewitt say that nothing but a steamer, and one of that strength, +could have kept her course and stood it out. A sailing-vessel must have +beaten off and driven where she would; while through all the fury of +that gale they actually made fifty-four miles headlong through the +tempest, straight on end, not varying their track in the least.' What +would the skipper of one of the modern 'Atlantic greyhounds' think of +such a feat? And, more interesting speculation still, what must Dickens +himself have thought of the performances he lived to witness as against +this astonishing accomplishment on the part of the old _Britannia_? + +There exists a tendency to ridicule the early steamers as they appear in +portraits, with their huge paddle-boxes; tall, thin, dog-eared funnels; +and heavily-rigged masts, as though their engines were regarded as quite +auxiliary to their sail-power, and by no means to be relied upon. +Contrasted with some of the leviathans of the present day, the steamers +of half a century ago are no longer calculated to strike an awe into the +beholder; but, in truth, some very fine vessels were built whilst the +marine engine was still quite in its infancy. In a volume of the +_Railway Magazine_ for 1839 is an account of what are termed colossal +steamers. 'An immense steamer,' runs the description, 'upwards of two +hundred feet long, was lately launched at Bristol, for plying between +England and America; but the one now building at Carling & Co.'s, +Limehouse, for the American Steam-navigation Company, surpasses anything +of the kind hitherto made. She is to be named after our Queen, the +_Victoria_; will cost from eighty to one hundred thousand pounds, has +about one hundred and fifty men now employed daily upon her, and is +expected to be finished in November next. The extreme length is about +253 feet; but she is 237 feet between the perpendiculars, 40-1/4 feet +beam between the paddle-boxes, and twenty-seven feet one inch deep from +the floor to the inner side of the spar-deck. The engines are two, of +250 horse-power each, with six feet four inch cylinders, and seven feet +stroke. They are to be fitted with Hall's patent condensers, in addition +to the common ones. She displaces at sixteen feet 2740 tons of water; +her computed tonnage is 1800 tons. At the water-line every additional +inch displaces eighteen and a half tons. The average speed is expected +to be about two hundred nautical miles a day, and consumption of coal +about thirty tons. The best Welsh coal is to be used. It is calculated +she will make the outward passage to New York in eighteen days, and the +homeward in twelve, consuming 540 tons of coal out, and 360 home. +Expectation is on tiptoe for the first voyage of this gigantic steamer, +alongside of which other steamers look like little fishing-boats.' + +The next route on which steam-navigation was opened, following upon that +of the North Atlantic passage, was between Great Britain and India. The +steamers of the Honourable Company had indeed doubled the Cape nearly +two years before the _Sirius_ and _Great Western_ sailed upon their +first trip. The _Nautical Magazine_ for 1836 contains the original +prospectus issued by a syndicate of London merchants upon the subject of +steam-communication with the East Indies. As an illustration of the +almost incredible strides that have been made in ocean travelling since +that period, this piece of literature is most instructive. The circular +opens by announcing that it is proposed to establish steam traffic with +India, extending, perhaps, even to Australia! It points out in sanguine +terms how those distant parts of the earth, by the contemplated +arrangement, 'will be reached at the outset in the short period of +seventy-three days; and, when experience is obtained, this time will in +all probability be reduced by one-third; shortening the distance by the +route in question, from England to Australia, in forty days' steaming, +at ten miles an hour. If two days be allowed for stoppages at stations, +not averaging more than a thousand miles apart throughout the line, the +whole time for passing between the extreme points would only be sixty +days, but a relay of vessels will follow, if the undertaking be matured, +in which case twenty-four hours will be ample time at the depots, and a +communication may be expected to be established, and kept up throughout +the year, between England and Australia, in fifty days. It is reasonably +expected that Bombay will be reached in forty-eight days, Madras in +fifty-five, Calcutta in fifty-nine, Penang in fifty-seven, Singapore in +sixty, Batavia in sixty-two, Canton in sixty-eight, and Mauritius in +fifty-four days.' + +The _Nautical Magazine_ writer gravely comments upon this scheme as +quite plausible. He is indeed inclined to be anticipatory. Instead of +seventy-three days to Australia, he is of opinion that the voyage may +ultimately be accomplished in fifty, and that the table of time +generally may be reduced by about one-third throughout; although, to +qualify his somewhat daring speculations, he admits that it is well to +base the calculations on the safe side. But the Honourable East India +Company asserted their prerogatives, and put a stop to the scheme of the +New Bengal Steam Company, as the undertaking was to have been called. +This raised a strong feeling of dissatisfaction, and the Court of +Directors was obliged to provide a substitute in lieu of the new line +they had refused to sanction. Their own homely, lubberly craft were +quite unequal to the requirements of 'prompt despatch' which even then +was beginning to agitate the public mind. The possibility of +establishing steam-communication between England and India had been +clearly demonstrated as early as the year 1825, when the _Enterprise_, +of 480 tons and 120 horse-power, sailed from London on the 16th of +August, and arrived in Calcutta on the seventh of December. She was the +first steamer to make the passage from this country to our great Eastern +Empire; the first, indeed, ever to double the stormy headland of the +Cape. + +But it was not until the people of India began to petition and the +merchants of London to clamour for the adoption of steam-power in the +Indian navigation that the conservative old magnates of John Company +were stimulated into action. Lieutenant Waghorn's Overland Route had +almost entirely superseded the sea-voyage by way of the Cape; but the +want of an efficient packet service between London and Alexandria, and +Suez and Bombay, was greatly felt. Accordingly, in December 1836, the +steamship _Atalanta_ was despatched from Falmouth to ply on the Indian +side of the route. She was a vessel of 630 tons burden, with engines of +210 horse-power, and was built at Blackwall by the once famous firm of +Wigram & Green. The orders of Captain Campbell, who commanded her, were +that he was to steam the whole distance, only resorting to sail-power in +case of a failure of machinery, in order fully to test the superiority +of the marine engine over canvas. She sustained an average speed of +about eight knots an hour during the entire passage, and but for her +repeated stoppages would undoubtedly have accomplished the quickest +voyage yet made to India. She was followed, in March 1837, by the +_Bernice_, of 680 tons and 230 horse-power. This vessel, which likewise +made the run without the assistance of her sails, left Falmouth on March +17, and arrived at Bombay on the 13th of June. + +As the race between the _Sirius_ and the _Great Western_ may be said to +have inaugurated the steam-navigation of the Atlantic, so did the +voyages of the _Atalanta_ and _Bernice_ first establish regular +communication by steamers between Great Britain and India. True, there +had been desultory efforts of enterprise prior to this time, and the +pioneer of the Peninsular and Oriental steamers, the _Royal Tar_, had +sailed some three years before; but there was no continual service. The +_Times_ of November 11, 1838, pointed out the approaching change. +'Scarcely,' it says, 'has the wonder created in the world by the +appearance of the _Great Western_ and _British Queen_ begun to subside, +when we are again called upon to admire the rapid strides of enterprise +by the notice of an iron steamship, the first of a line of steamers to +ply between England and Calcutta, to be called the _Queen of the East_, +2618 tons, and 600 horse-power. This magnificent vessel is designed by +Mr W. D. Holmes, engineer to the Bengal Steam Committee, for a +communication between England and India. Great praise is due to Captain +Barber, late of the Honourable East India Company's service, the agent +in London for the Steam Committee in Bengal, who has given every +encouragement to Mr Holmes in carrying forward his splendid undertaking. +When these vessels are ready, we understand the voyage between Falmouth +and Calcutta will be made in thirty days.' + +From this time ocean steamers multiplied rapidly. One after another of +the now famous shipping firms sprang up, beginning with the Cunard and +the Peninsular and Oriental lines. The first British steamship was +registered at London in the year 1814: in 1842 there were 940 steamers +registered; and already was the decay of the sailing-ship so largely +anticipated, that Mr Sydney Herbert, in a Committee of the House of +Commons, had this same year pointed out 'that the introduction of +steamers, and the consequent displacement of the Leith smacks, Margate +hoys, &c., would diminish the nursery for seamen by lessening the number +of sailing-vessels.' + + +THE NEW CUNARDERS. + +Less than fifty years ago the Eastern Steam-navigation Company having +failed to obtain the contract to carry the mails from Plymouth to India +and Australia--in vessels of from twelve hundred to two thousand tons, +with engines of from four to six hundred horse-power, which were never +built--began to consider a new enterprise, suggested by the late +Isambard K. Brunei. This was to build the largest steamer ever yet +constructed, to trade with India round the Cape of Good Hope. The +general commercial idea was, that this leviathan vessel was to carry +leviathan cargoes at large freights and great speed, to Ceylon, where +the goods and passengers would be rapidly trans-shipped to smaller swift +steamers for conveyance to various destinations in India, China, and +Australia. The general mechanical idea was, that in order to obtain +great velocity in steamers it was only necessary to make them +large--that, in fact, there need be no limit to the size of a vessel +beyond what might be imposed by the tenacity of material. On what was +called the tubular principle, Brunei argued--and proved to the +satisfaction of numerous experts and capitalists--that it was possible +to construct a vessel of six times the capacity of the largest vessel +then afloat that would steam at a speed unattainable by smaller vessels, +while carrying, besides cargo, all the coal she would require for the +longest voyage. + +Thus originated the _Great Eastern_, which never went to India, which +ruined two or three companies in succession, which cost L120,000 to +launch, which probably earned more as a show than ever she did as an +ocean-carrier--except in the matter of telegraph cables--and which +ignobly ended a disastrous career by being sold for L16,000, and broken +up at New Ferry, on the Mersey. + +We are now entering upon a new era of big ships, in which such a monster +as the _Great Eastern_ would be no longer a wonder. Two additions to the +Cunard fleet, the _Campania_ (1892) and _Lucania_ (1893), are within a +trifle as large as she, but with infinitely more powerful engines and +incomparably greater speed. + +We need not suppose, however, that the idea of big ocean steamers has +been the monopoly of this country. So long ago as 1850 or thereabouts, +Mr Randall, a famous American shipbuilder, designed, drafted, and +constructed the model of a steamer for transatlantic service, 500 feet +long by 58 feet beam, to measure 8000 tons. A company was formed in +Philadelphia in 1860 to carry out the project; but the civil war broke +out soon after, and she was never built. + +The _Great Eastern_ was launched in January 1858, and her principal +dimensions were these: Length between perpendiculars, 680 feet; breadth +of beam, 83 feet; length of principal saloons, 400 feet; tonnage +capacity for cargo and coals, 18,000 tons; weight of ship as launched, +12,000 tons; accommodation for passengers, (1) 800, (2) 2000, (3) 1200 = +4000; total horse-power, 7650. She had both screw and paddles for +propulsion, and her displacement was 32,160 tons. + +By this time the Cunard Company had been eighteen years in existence. +They started in 1840 with the _Britannia_--quickly followed by the +_Acadia_, _Columbia_, and _Caledonia_, all more or less alike--which was +a paddle-steamer of wood, 207 feet long, 34 feet broad, 22 feet deep, +and of 1156 tons, with side-lever engines developing 740 indicated +horse-power, which propelled the vessel at the average speed of nine +knots an hour. There was accommodation for 225 tons of cargo and 115 +cabin passengers--no steerage in those days--who paid thirty-four +guineas to Halifax and thirty-eight guineas to Boston, for passage, +including provisions and wine. + +At the time of the _Great Eastern_ the latest type of Cunarder was the +_Persia_, and it is interesting to note the development in the interim. +This vessel was 380 feet long, 45 feet broad, 31 feet deep, of 3870 +tons, with engines developing 4000 indicated horse-power, propelling at +the rate of thirteen and a half knots an hour. The _Persia_ and the +_Scotia_, sister-ships, were the last of the Atlantic side-wheelers. In +1862 the first screw-steamer was added to the Cunard fleet. This was the +_China_, built by the Napiers of Glasgow, 326 feet long by 40-1/2 feet +broad, and 27-1/2 feet deep, of 2600 tons, and with an average speed of +about twelve knots. + +Such was the type of Cunarder in the early days of the _Great Eastern_, +whose dimensions have now been nearly reached. The _Campania_, however, +was not built with a view to outshine that huge failure, but is the +outcome of a wholly different competition. The _Campania_ and the +_Lucania_ represent the highest development of marine architecture and +engineering skill, and are the product of long years of rivalry for the +possession of the 'blue ribbon' of the transatlantic race. + +[Illustration: The _Great Eastern_ and the _Persia_.] + +The competition is of ancient date, if we go back to the days when the +American 'Collins' Company tried to run the Cunard Company off the +waters; and during the half-century since the inauguration of steam +service the Cunard Company have sometimes held and sometimes lost the +highest place for speed. The period of steam-racing--the age of +'Atlantic greyhounds'--may be said to have begun in the year 1879, when +the Cunard _Gallia_, the Guion _Arizona_, and the White Star _Britannic_ +and _Germanic_ had all entered upon their famous careers. It is matter +of history now how the _Arizona_--called the 'Fairfield Flyer,' +because she was built by Messrs John Elder & Company, of Fairfield, +Glasgow--beat the record in an eastward run of seven days twelve and a +half hours, and a westward run of seven days ten and three-quarter +hours. To beat the _Arizona_, the Cunard Company built the _Servia_, of +8500 tons and 10,300 horse-power; but she in turn was beaten by another +Fairfield Flyer, the _Alaska_, under the Guion flag. The race continued +year by year, as vessels of increasing size and power were entered by +the competing companies. While all the lines compete in swiftness, +luxury, and efficiency, the keenest rivalry is now between the Cunard +and the White Star companies. And just as the _Campania_ and _Lucania_ +were built to eclipse the renowned _Teutonic_ and _Majestic_, so the +owners of these boats prepared to surpass even the two Cunarders we +describe. + +Let us now see something of these marvels of marine architecture. They +are sister-ships, both built on the Clyde by the Fairfield Shipbuilding +and Engineering Company, and both laid down almost simultaneously. They +are almost identical in dimensions and appointments, and therefore we +may confine our description to the _Campania_, which was the first of +the twins to be ready for sea. + +This largest vessel afloat does not mark any new departure in general +type, as the _Great Eastern_ did in differing from all types of +construction then familiar. In outward appearance, the _Campania_, as +she lies upon the water, and as seen at a sufficient distance, is just +like numbers of other vessels we have all seen. Nor does her immense +size at first impress the observer, because of the beautiful proportions +on which she is planned. Her lines are eminently what the nautical +enthusiast calls 'sweet;' and in her own class of naval art she is as +perfect a specimen of architectural beauty as the finest of the grand +old clippers which used to 'walk the waters as a thing of life.' The +colossal size of St Peter's at Rome does not strike you as you enter, +because of the exquisite proportions. And so with the _Campania_--you +need to see an ordinary merchant-ship, or even a full-blown liner, +alongside before you can realise how vast she is. + +Yet she is only 60 feet shorter than the mammoth _Great Eastern_, and +measures 620 feet in length, 65 feet 3 inches in breadth, and 43 feet in +depth from the upper deck. Her tonnage is 12,000, while that of the +_Great Eastern_ was 18,000; but then her horse-power is 30,000 as +against the _Great Eastern's_ 7650! + +This enormous development of engine-power is perhaps the most remarkable +feature about these two new vessels. Each of them is fitted with two +sets of the most powerful triple-expansion engines ever put together. A +visit to the engine-room is a liberal education in the mechanical arts, +and even to the eye of the uninitiated there is the predominant +impression of perfect order in the bewildering arrangement of pipes, +rods, cranks, levers, wheels, and cylinders. The two sets of engines are +placed in two separate rooms on each side of a centre-line bulkhead +fitted with water-tight doors for intercommunication. Each set has five +inverted cylinders which have exactly the same stroke, and work on three +cranks. Two of the cylinders are high-pressure, one is intermediate, and +two are low-pressure. Besides the main engines, there are engines for +reversing, for driving the centrifugal pumps for the condensers, for the +electric light, for the refrigerating chambers, and for a number of +other purposes--all perfect in appointment and finish. In fact, in these +vast engine-rooms one is best able to realise not only the immense size +and power of the vessel, but also the perfection to which human +ingenuity has attained after generations of ceaseless toil--and yet it +is only half a century since the _Britannia_ began the transatlantic +race. + +Each of the various engines has its own steam-supplier. The main engines +are fed by twelve double-ended boilers, arranged in rows of six on each +side of a water-tight bulkhead. The boilers are heated by ninety-six +furnaces, and each set of six boilers has a funnel with the diameter of +an ordinary railway tunnel. In the construction of these boilers some +eight hundred tons of steel were required, the plates weighing four tons +each, with a thickness of an inch and a half. From these mighty machines +will be developed a power equal to that of 30,000 horses! Compare this +with the _Great Eastern's_ 7650 horse-power, or even with the later +'greyhounds.' The greatest power developed by the two previous additions +to the Cunard fleet, the _Etruria_ and _Umbria_, is about 14,000 horses, +which is the utmost recorded by any single-screw engines. The _City of +Paris_ has a power of 18,500, and the _Teutonic_ a power of 18,000 by +twin-screw engines. The _Campania_, therefore, is upwards of half as +much again more powerful than the largest, swiftest, and most powerful +of her predecessors. + +These engines of the _Campania_ work two long propeller-shafts, each +carried through an aperture in the stern close to the centre-line, and +fitted to a screw. Unlike other twin-screw vessels, the propellers and +shafts are, as it were, carried within the hull, and not in separate +structures. Abaft of the screws, the rudder is completely submerged, and +is a great mass of steel-plating weighing about twenty-four tons. + +With a straight stem, an elliptic stern, two huge funnels, and a couple +of pole-masts--intended more for signalling purposes than for +canvas--the _Campania_ looks thoroughly business-like, and has none of +the over-elaborated get-up of the _Great Eastern_, with her double +system of propulsion and small forest of masts. The bulwarks are close +fore and aft; and from the upper deck rise two tiers of houses, the +roofs of which form the promenade deck and the shade deck. In the +structure of the hull and decks enormous strength has been given, with +special protection at vital parts, as the vessel is built in compliance +with the Admiralty requirements for armed cruisers. Below the line of +vision are four other complete tiers of beams, plated with steel +sheathed in wood, on which rest upper, main, lower, and orlop decks. The +last is for cargo, refrigerating-chambers, stores, &c.--all the others +are devoted to the accommodation of passengers. + +The _Campania_ is fitted to carry 460 first-class passengers, 280 +second-class, and 700 steerage passengers--in all, 1440, besides a crew +of 400. She has cargo-space for 1600 tons, which seems a trifle in +comparison with her size, but then it is to be remembered that the fuel +consumption of those 96 furnaces is enormous, and requires the carrying +of a very heavy cargo of coals for internal consumption. + +[Illustration: The _Campania_.] + +The accommodation for passengers is probably the most perfect that has +yet been provided on an ocean steamer, for here the experience of all +previous developments has been utilised. The dining-room is an apartment +100 feet long and 64 feet broad, furnished in handsome dark old +mahogany, to seat 430 persons. The upholstery is tastefully designed, +and the fittings generally are elegant; but the peculiar feature is a +splendid dome rising to a height of thirty-three feet from the floor to +the upper deck, and designed to light both the dining-room and the +drawing-room on the deck above it. The grand staircase which conducts to +these apartments is of teak-wood; the drawing-room is in satin-wood +relieved with cedar and painted frieze panels. The smoking-room on the +promenade deck is as unlike a ship's cabin as can be imagined; it is, +in fact, a reproduction of an old baronial hall of the Elizabethan +age, with oaken furniture and carvings. The other public apartments, +library, boudoir, &c., are all more remarkable for quiet taste and +artistic effect than for the gorgeousness of gilded saloons affected on +some lines, but the prevailing feeling is one of luxurious comfort. The +staterooms for first-class passengers occupy the main, upper, and +promenade decks, and they are as much like real bedrooms as the old type +of 'berths' are not. Besides the single bedrooms, there are suites of +rooms for families or parties, finely appointed with ornamental woods, +rich carpets, and with brass bedsteads instead of the old wooden bunks. +All the sleeping-rooms are as light, lofty, and well ventilated as the +sleeping-rooms on the old liners were the reverse. + +The first-class passengers are placed amidships; the second-class are +placed aft; and the steerage, forward. The steerage accommodation is +superior to anything yet provided in that class; while the second-class +accommodation is quite up to the usual first-class, with spacious, +beautifully furnished staterooms, a handsome dining-room in oak, an +elegant drawing-room in satin-wood, and a cosy smoking-room. Indeed, +some of the second-class apartments look as if they were intended to be +utilised for first-class passengers in times of extra pressure. + +These are details of interest to possible passengers and to those who +have already experienced the comforts and discomforts of the Atlantic +voyage. But the great interest of the ship, of course, is in her immense +size and enormous power. The navigating-bridge from which the officer in +charge will direct operations, is no less than sixty feet above the +water-level, and from there one obtains a survey unique of its kind. The +towering height, the vast expanse of deck, the huge circumference of the +funnels, the forest of ventilators indicative of the hives of industry +below, the great lighthouse structures which take the place of the old +angle-bedded side-lights--everything beneath you speaks of power and +speed, of strength and security. + +The following table shows at a glance how the _Campania_ compares with +her largest predecessors in point of size and power: + + Tonnage. Length Breadth Horsepower. + in feet. in feet. + + Great Eastern 18,900 682 82 7,650 + Britannic 5,000 455 46 5,500 + Arizona 5,150 450 45 6,300 + Servia 8,500 515 52 10,300 + Alaska 6,400 500 50 10,500 + City of Rome 8,000 545 52 11,890 + Aurania 7,270 470 57 8,500 + Oregon 7,375 500 54 7,375 + America 5,528 432 51 7,354 + Umbria 7,700 501 57 14,320 + Etruria 7,800 520 57 14,500 + City of Paris 10,500 560 63 18,500 + Teutonic 9,860 582 57-1/2 18,000 + Normannia ---- 520 57-1/4 16,350 + Campania } + Lucania } 12,950 620 65 30,000 + +As to speed, the record of course has been broken. In 1850 the average +passage of a Cunarder westward was thirteen days, and eastward twelve +days sixteen hours; in 1890, the average was reduced to seven days +fifteen hours twenty-three minutes, and seven days four hours and +fifty-two minutes, respectively. The fastest individual passages down to +1891 were made by the _Etruria_, westwards in six days one hour and +forty-seven minutes; and by the _Umbria_, eastwards in six days three +hours and seventeen minutes. But these were beaten by the _Teutonic_, +which reduced the homeward record to five days and twenty-one hours; and +by the _City of Paris_, which reduced the outward passage to five days +and sixteen hours. Roughly speaking, these new Cunarders are about ten +times the size and forty times the power of the pioneers of the fleet, +and the _Campania_ will run every twenty minutes almost as many miles as +the _Britannia_ could laboriously make in an hour. + +Is it possible that within the next fifty years we shall be able to make +the voyage to New York in three days? The old _Britannia_ took fourteen +days to Boston, and it was not until 1852 that the ten days' record to +New York was broken by the 'Collins' Company. If, then, in forty years +we reduced the record from ten to five, who can say that the limit of +speed has yet been reached? + + +SAILING-SHIPS. + +A modern sailing-ship replete with labour-saving appliances is a +veritable triumph of the naval architect's art, and an excellent object +lesson on man's power over the forces of nature. If Christopher Columbus +could revisit our planet from the shades, he would doubtless be +astonished by a critical comparison between the tiny wooden caravel with +which he discovered a New World, and a leviathan four-masted steel +sailing-ship, now navigated in comparative comfort to every possible +port where freight is obtainable. Wooden cargo-carrying craft impelled +by the unbought wind are surely diminishing in numbers; and in the near +future it is not improbable that a stately sailing-ship will be as +seldom seen on the waste of waters as a screw steamship was half a +century ago. Even looking leisurely backward down the imposing vista of +the last thirty years of the Victorian era, it will be readily perceived +with what marvellous mastery iron and steel have supplanted, not only +wood in the hulls, masts, and yards of sailing-ships, but also hemp in +their rigging. + +[Illustration: Clipper Sailing-ship of 1850-60.] + +A radical revolution has been effected in the form, size, and +construction of these cargo-carriers during such a relatively +insignificant interval, and the end is not yet. The old-fashioned type +of wooden merchantman remained practically invariable for more than a +hundred years; but change is all-powerful at present, so that a vessel +is almost of a bygone age before she shall have completed her maiden +voyage. It would appear, however, that the limit of size has been +reached. Ship-owning firms and shipbuilders will probably soon be +compelled to keep the modern steel sailing-ship within more moderate +dimensions. Vessels of exceptionally large carrying capacity are in +demand owing to the fact that experience proves them to be the best kind +for affording a fair return to the capital invested. Salvage appliances +and docks do not keep pace with the requirements of such leviathans; so +that underwriters evince an increasing dislike to big ships, and the +premium for insurance rises accordingly, to compensate for extra risk. + +Many mariners and some shipbuilders were at one time quick to express a +pronounced opinion that it was quite unnatural for an iron ship to +remain afloat. Wood was made to swim, but iron to sink, said these +sincere but mistaken admirers of the good old days. Their misgivings +have proved to be without foundation in fact, for iron ships have ousted +wooden craft almost utterly from the ocean-carrying traffic. Iron has +also reached its meridian altitude, and steel is rapidly rising above +the horizon of progress. The shipbuilding yards of Nova Scotia, Canada, +the United States of America, and British Columbia, however, still +launch wooden sailing-vessels, although in decreasing numbers, and, as a +rule, of inconsiderable tonnage. + +It seems scarcely credible that only as recently as 1870 there were not +more than ten sailing-ships afloat of two thousand tons register and +upwards under the red ensign of the British mercantile marine. To-day we +have more than that number of splendid steel sailing-ships, each having +a register tonnage in excess of three thousand. During the twelve months +of 1892 there were turned out from one yard alone on the Clyde, that of +Messrs Russell & Co., no fewer than thirteen huge sailing-vessels, +varying in register tonnage from two thousand three hundred to three +thousand five hundred! One of the largest wooden sailing-ships afloat in +1870 was the _British Empire_, of two thousand seven hundred tons +register, which, under the command of Captain A. Pearson, was an ark of +safety to the families of European residents in Bombay during the Indian +Mutiny. She had been originally intended for a steamship, and this will +account for her exceptional dimensions. The shipbuilding firm of A. +Sewall & Co., of Bath, Maine, U.S.A., in 1889 built the _Rappahannock_, +of 3054 tons register; in 1890, the _Shenandoah_, 3258 tons; in 1891, +the _Susquehanna_, 2629 tons; and in 1892, the _Roanoke_, of 3400 tons +register. + +Several cities claim to be the birthplace of Homer, and there exists +similar rivalry with respect to the first iron ship. This at least is +certain, that the first iron vessel classed by Lloyd's was the British +barque _Ironsides_, in 1838. She was but 271 tons register. The Clyde +stands _facile princeps_ in this most important branch of industry. +Vessels built on the banks of that river have rendered a praiseworthy +account of themselves on every sea and under every flag. No other +country, save ourselves, launched any iron or steel ships of 2000 tons +register or above, but preferred to obtain them from our shipbuilding +yards. The so-called protection of native industry principle prevailing +in America precludes ship-owners over there from taking advantage +directly of the cheapest market. Several of the large sailers, however, +built on the Clyde for citizens of the United States are therefore +necessarily sailed under the British, Hawaiian, or some flag other than +that of the country to which they actually belong. + +The number of seamen carried per one hundred tons in the modern +four-masted sailing-ship is cut down to the uttermost limit consistent +with safety; and, as a consequence, dismasting and tedious passages are +not infrequent. The _Hawaiian Isles_, 2097 tons register, a United +States ship under a foreign flag, bound to California with a cargo of +coal, found it impossible to weather Cape Horn by reason of violent +westerly gales. She was turned round, ran along the lone Southern Ocean, +before the 'brave west winds' so admirably described by Maury, and +eventually reached her destination by the route leading south of +Australia. She was one hundred and eighty-nine days on the passage, and +no fewer than sixty guineas per cent. had been freely paid for her +re-insurance. A similar ship, the _John Ena_, carrying a substantial +cargo of 4222 tons of coal from Barry to San Francisco, also encountered +bad weather, made a long passage, and twenty guineas per cent. was paid +on her for re-insurance. Another new ship, the _Achnashie_, 2476 tons +register, got into still more serious difficulty under like +circumstances. She had to put back to Cape Town, damaged and leaky, +after attempting in vain to contend against the bitter blast off Cape +Horn. There, her cargo was discharged, and she went into dry-dock for +the absolutely necessary repairs. The _Austrasia_, 2718 tons register, +was almost totally dismasted near the island of Tristan da Cunha, in the +South Atlantic, on her maiden passage, while bound from Liverpool to +Calcutta with a cargo of salt. By dint of sterling seamanship she was +brought to Rio Janeiro in safety, returned to Liverpool under improvised +masts, discharged her cargo, refitted, took in quite a different cargo +at London, and sailed for California. The _Somali_, 3537 tons register, +the largest sailing-ship launched in 1892, was dismasted in the China +Sea. Everything above the lower masts had to be made for her on the +Clyde; yet, within fifteen days of the order being received by Messrs +Russell & Co., the spars and gear were completed and shipped for passage +to the _Somali_ at Hong-kong. Underwriters suffer severely with such +ships. + +One of the largest sailing-ships afloat is the French five-master, _La +France_, launched in 1890 on the Clyde, and owned by Messrs A. D. Bordes +et Fils, who possess a large fleet of sailing-vessels. In 1891 she came +from Iquique to Dunkirk in one hundred and five days with 6000 tons of +nitrate; yet she was stopped on the Tyne when proceeding to sea with +5500 tons of coal, and compelled to take out 500 tons on the ground that +she was overladen. There is not a single five-masted sailing-ship under +the British flag. The United States has two five-masters, the _Louis_ of +830 tons, and the _Gov. Ames_ of 1778 tons, both fore-and-aft schooners, +a rig peculiar to the American coast. Ships having five masts can be +counted on the fingers of one hand; but, strange to say, the steamship +_Coptic_, of the Shaw, Savill, & Albion Co., on her way to New Zealand, +in December 1890, passed the _Gov. Ames_ in fourteen degrees south, +thirty-four degrees west, bound for California; and two days later, in +six degrees south, thirty-one degrees west, the French five-master, _La +France_, bound south. Passengers and crew of the _Coptic_ might travel +over many a weary league of sea, and never again be afforded two such +excellent object lessons in the growth of sailing-ships in quick +succession. + +Some large sailing-ships experience a decided difficulty in obtaining +freights that will repay expenses, even ignoring a margin for profit, +and we are reluctantly compelled to confess that the days of +sailing-ships are almost numbered. The cry for huge sailers is an +evidence that steam is determining the dimensions of the most modern +cargo-carriers under sail. + +[Illustration: _La France._] + + + + +[Illustration] + +CHAPTER IX. + +POST-OFFICE--TELEGRAPH--TELEPHONE--PHONOGRAPH. + + Rowland Hill and Penny Postage--A Visit to the Post-office--The + Post-office on Wheels--Early Telegraphs--Wheatstone and Morse--The + State and the Telegraphs--Atlantic Cables--Telephones--Edison and + the Phonograph. + + +THE STORY OF ROWLAND HILL AND PENNY POSTAGE. + +The story of Penny Postage and its inception by Sir Rowland Hill is full +of romantic interest, and that great social reform, introduced more than +fifty years ago, has unquestionably spread its beneficial influence over +every country in which a postal system of any kind exists. + +The Hill family were, we know, in those bygone days far from being well +off, and were often hard put to to find the money to pay the high +postage on letters which they received. Born in 1795, Rowland Hill was +considerably past middle life before he entertained any idea of +practising his reforming hand on the Post-office, and had passed a busy +existence chiefly as a schoolmaster, in which capacity he had indulged +in many schemes, scholastic and otherwise, with more or less success. At +the time that his attention was first directed to Post-office matters, +he was employed as Secretary of the Commissioners for the Colonisation +of South Australia. He was no doubt attracted to the subject of postal +reform by the frequent discussions which were then taking place in +parliament in regard to the matter. Mr Wallace of Kelly, the member for +Greenock, who was the champion of the cause in the House of Commons, was +fierce in his denunciation of the existing abuses and irregularities of +the post, and subsequently proved a strong and able advocate of the +scheme for postage reform. + +Once arrested by the subject which has since made his life famous, +Rowland Hill went to work in a very systematic manner. Firstly, +he read very carefully all the Reports relative to the Post-office; +then he placed himself in communication with Mr Wallace and the +Postmaster-general, both of whom readily supplied him with all necessary +information. In this manner he made himself acquainted with his subject, +with the result that, in 1837, he published his famous pamphlet on +_Post-office Reform: its Importance and Practicability_, the first +edition being circulated privately amongst the members of parliament and +official people; while some months later a second edition was published +which was given to the public. + +We have to remember that at this time the postage charges were +enormously high, that they depended not upon weight alone, but also upon +the number of enclosures, and that they varied according to distance. +Thus, for example, a letter under one ounce in weight and with one +enclosure (that is, sheet or scrap of paper) posted in London for +delivery within the metropolitan area, or even, we believe, fifteen +miles out, cost 2d.; if for delivery thirty miles out, 3d.; eighty miles +out, 4d.; and so on. Again, as showing how the charges according to +enclosure operated, a letter with a single enclosure from London to +Edinburgh was charged 1s. 1-1/2d.; if double, 2s. 3d.; and if treble, +3s. 4-1/2d. Moreover, the charges were not consistently made, for +whereas an Edinburgh letter (posted in London) was charged 1s. 1-1/2d., +a letter for Louth, which cost the Post-office fifty times as much as +the former letter, was only charged 10d. + +The public, however, found means of their own of remedying the evil, +which, if not wholly legitimate, were under the circumstances to be +regarded with some degree of leniency. Letter-smuggling was a not +unnatural result of the high and disproportionate charges referred to, +and was almost openly adopted to an extent that is hardly credible. +Thus, many Manchester merchants--Mr Cobden amongst the number--stated +before the Post-office Inquiry Committee appointed in 1838, their belief +that four-fifths of the letters written in that town did not pass +through the Post-office. A carrier in Scotland confessed to having +carried sixty letters daily for a number of years, and knew of others +who carried five hundred daily. A Glasgow publisher and bookseller said +he sent and received fifty letters or circulars daily, and added that he +was not caught until he had sent twenty thousand letters otherwise than +through the post! There were also other methods of evading the postage +rates at work. Letters were smuggled in newspapers, which in these days +passed free within a stated period through the post, the postage being +covered by the stamp-duty impressed on the papers. Invisible ink, too, +was used for inditing messages on the newspapers themselves; while the +use of certain pre-arranged codes on the covers of letters was likewise +systematically adopted, the addressees, after turning the letters over +and learning from the covers all they desired to know, declining to take +in the letters on the ground that they could not afford to pay the +postage. + +The system of 'franking' letters in the high-postage days led to an +appalling abuse of that privilege, which belonged to peers and members +of the House of Commons. It was no doubt originally allowed to enable +members to correspond with their constituents; but under the +circumstances it is perhaps not surprising that the plan soon became +abused, and was ultimately used to cover all kinds of correspondence, +not only members' but other people's as well. At one time, indeed, all +sorts of curious packages passed free under the franking privilege, such +as dogs, a cow, parcels of lace, bales of stockings, boxes of medicine, +flitches of bacon, &c. Sometimes, indeed, franked covers were actually +sold; and they have even been known to be given in lieu of wages to +servants, who speedily converted them into ready money. + +This abuse, taken together with the illicit traffic in letters, so +openly and widely carried on, formed of course a most important argument +in favour of the proposals for cheap postage formulated by Rowland Hill, +and no doubt did much to damage the cause of his opponents. But there is +one other abuse to which Londoners were subject which may just be +mentioned. At that time the Twopenny Post was in operation in the +English metropolis, and would have fairly served the inhabitants in +postal matters if it had not been for the practice which existed of +allowing commercial houses and other firms who were willing to pay for +the privilege to have their letters picked out from the general heap and +delivered by special postmen, and so enable them to get their +correspondence an hour earlier than those who did not pay the +'quarterage,' as it was called, of five shillings (per quarter), and +which, it appears, went into the pockets of the postmen concerned, many +of whom, we are told, and it can easily be understood, thus made incomes +of from three to four hundred pounds a year. However beneficial such a +system was to commerce and trade in London, it operated most unfairly on +ordinary correspondents, and it was certainly not the least of the evils +which the introduction of Penny Postage swept away. + +It is not necessary to enter at any length into all the arguments that +weighed with Rowland Hill in propounding his great scheme. It need only +be very briefly stated that the great point to which he applied himself +was the cost to the Post-office of receiving, transmitting, and +delivering a letter. Having roughly and, as subsequently proved, not +inaccurately calculated the average postage at sixpence farthing per +letter, he then went to work to ascertain the expenses of management; +and the result of his investigations showed that, no matter what +distance had to be traversed, the average cost of each letter to the +government was less than one-tenth of a penny! From this there was only +one conclusion that could well be forced on his mind, and that was a +uniform rate of postage. Having solved this great problem, there were +many other matters of adjustment and improvement to which his attention +had to be given. He was, for example, not long in deciding that the +charge according to enclosures was an iniquitous one, and that a just +and fair tax could only be made according to weight. Then, again, he +clearly saw that the principle of throwing the postage on the recipients +of letters was an improper one, while it was also a burden on the +Post-office employees. The prepayment of postage became necessarily a +feature of his plan; but he experienced some difficulty in arriving at a +feasible method of adopting it. At first he considered that this might +be carried out by payment of money over the counter; but he subsequently +came to the conclusion that the purposes of the public and the +Post-office would be better served by the use of some kind of stamp or +stamped covers for letters, and this arrangement he brought forward and +fully explained before the Commissioners of Post-office Inquiry, +referring to it as 'Mr Knight's excellent suggestion.' Charles Knight +had suggested the idea of stamps for prepayment in 1833-34. The +following extract from the Commissioners' Report, which gives a brief +description of the proposed arrangement, may perhaps be read with +interest at the present time: + +'That stamped covers, or sheets of paper, or small vignette stamps--the +latter, if used, to be gummed on the face of the letter--be supplied to +the public from the Stamp-office, and sold at such a price as to include +the postage. Letters so stamped to be treated in all respects as franks. +That each should have the weight it is entitled to carry legibly printed +upon the stamp. That the stamp of the receiving-house should be struck +upon the superscription or duty stamp, to prevent the latter being used +a second time. The vignette stamps being portable, persons could carry +them in their pocket-books.' + +The proposed arrangement met with approval from the Commissioners, and +also from the Committee on Postage in 1837 and 1838; and, in +consequence, the Penny Postage Act of 1840 contained a clause providing +for the use of such stamps and stamped covers. + +Such were the main points of Rowland Hill's plan, which was so logical +and reasonable in all its features, and so intelligible to the popular +mind, that it can be readily understood how heartily it was embraced by +the general public. But popular as his scheme was with the mass of the +people, it encountered the bitterest opposition from many quarters; and +in successfully carrying it through, Rowland Hill had, like most other +great reformers, to overcome huge difficulties and obstacles. It is very +amusing at this distance of time, when we have become so accustomed to +the immense advantages of Penny Postage as to view them almost as part +of the ordinary conditions of life, to recall some of the arguments used +fifty years ago against the measure. Lord Lichfield, as +Postmaster-general, in adverting to the scheme in the House of Lords, +described it thus: 'Of all the wild visionary schemes which I have ever +heard of, it is the most extravagant;' and endorsed this statement six +months later when he had given more attention to the subject, being +'even still more firmly of the same opinion.' On a subsequent occasion +he contended that the mails would have to carry twelve times as much in +weight as before, and therefore the charge would be twelve times the +amount then paid. 'The walls of the Post-office,' he exclaimed, 'would +burst; the whole area in which the building stands would not be large +enough to receive the clerks and letters.' Outside the Post-office, too, +as well as by both the government and opposition, much animosity was +exhibited against the proposal. + +If, however, the opposition against the introduction of Penny Postage +was strong, the advocacy of the plan was no less powerful, while, +moreover, it was thoroughly backed by popular opinion. Complaints as to +the high rates of postage flowed in, and parliament was nearly inundated +with petitions in favour of the scheme, which also received much +literary support. The Mercantile Committee during all the time of +agitation actively spread information of the progress of the measure, +with a view to rouse the public to a sense of its importance. The _Post_ +circular kept circulating; and handbills, fly-sheets, and pictorial +illustrations were freely distributed. One print took a dramatic form, +representing 'A Scene at Windsor Castle,' in which the Queen, being in +the Council Chamber, is made to say: 'Mothers pawning their clothes to +pay the postage of a child's letter! Every subject studying how to evade +the postage without caring for the law!'--(To Lord Melbourne): 'I trust, +my lord, you have commanded the attendance of the Postmaster-general and +Mr Rowland Hill, as I directed, in order that I may hear the reasons of +both about this universal Penny Postage plan, which appears to me likely +to remove all these great evils.' After the interview takes place, the +Queen is made to record the opinion that the plan 'would confer a great +boon on the poorer classes of my subjects, and would be the greatest +benefit to religion, morals, to general knowledge, and to trade.' This +_jeu d'esprit_, which was published by the London Committee, was +circulated by thousands, and proved extremely useful in bringing the +burning question home in an attractive form to the masses of the nation. + +The agitation as to Rowland Hill's scheme lasted for two years, and with +such vehemence that the period has become an epoch in the history of +this country. The end of the story of this memorable reform is soon +told; for an agitation which may be said to have shaken the nation to +its core and was felt from end to end of the kingdom could have but one +conclusion, and that a successful one. A Parliamentary Committee was +appointed to inquire into the whole matter; and after a session of +sixty-three days, reported in favour of Penny Postage. That was in +August 1838. Next year a Bill for Cheap Postage passed through +parliament with slight opposition; and on the 12th of November 1839 the +Treasury issued a Minute authorising a uniform rate of fourpence for +inland letters. This was, however, merely a temporary measure, in which +Rowland Hill concurred, and was resorted to chiefly to accustom the +Post-office clerks to a uniform rate and the system of charging by +weight. The full measure of the Penny Postage scheme was accomplished a +few months later on, when, on the 10th of January 1840, the uniform rate +of One Penny for letters not exceeding half an ounce in weight was +officially introduced. + +Such in brief is the story of Penny Postage, which has caused such a +revolution not only in the postal arrangements of this country, but in +the conditions of all sections and grades of society. In the first year +of its operation the number of letters posted was more than doubled, +the number sent in 1840 being 169,000,000, as against 82,000,000 posted +in 1839, including 6,500,000 letters sent under the franking privilege, +which was abolished with the introduction of the Penny Postage system. +In 1851 the number of letters posted in Great Britain and Ireland had +risen to 670,000,000; while in 1895 the quantity sent reached the +fabulous number of 1771 millions, or about forty-five letters per head +of the population. This refers to letters pure and simple. If we take +into account post-cards, newspapers, book-packets, &c., the aggregate +number of postal packets posted in 1895 will be found to fall not far +short of 1134 millions. Truly may it be said that the results of Penny +Postage have been stupendous. But more than this; the net revenue +derived from postage has long, long since exceeded that which accrued +under the old system. + +The story of Penny Postage would be incomplete if we did not add a word +as to how the great reformer fared at the hands of his country. With the +introduction of his scheme he of course became associated with the +Post-office, although at first he held a Treasury appointment, from +which, however, after about three years' service, he was dismissed on +the ground that his work was finished. Public indignation was aroused at +this treatment of one who had already done so much for his country; and +the nation seemed to think that the right place for Rowland Hill was at +the Post-office, where further useful reforms might well be expected to +follow from one who had begun so well. At all events, in 1846 he was +restored to office, being appointed Secretary to the Postmaster-general, +and eight years later he became Chief Secretary of the Post-office, an +appointment which he held for ten years, when, from failing health, he +retired with full pay into private life, full of years and honours. Soon +after his dismissal from the Treasury, a grateful country subscribed +and presented him with the sum of fifteen thousand pounds; and on his +retirement, parliament voted him the sum of twenty thousand pounds. In +1860 he received at Her Majesty's hands the dignity of Knight Commander +of the Bath; and both before and after his retirement he was the +recipient of many minor honours. In 1879 Sir Rowland Hill was presented +with the freedom of the City of London; but he was an old man then, and +only lived a few months to enjoy this civic honour. He had a public +funeral, and was accorded a niche in the temple of fame at Westminster. + + +A VISIT TO THE POST-OFFICE. + +Without a personal visit to the Post-office, it is perhaps difficult to +gain any correct impression of its immensity, or of the perfect +discipline and order which prevade the buildings devoted to postal and +telegraphic work. It is a visit which should be made by every one +interested, if possible. They would then marvel that we get our letters +and papers in the short time we do, if they were to see the thousands +upon thousands that are poured into St Martin's-le-Grand day by day. The +General Post-office never sleeps save on Sunday between twelve and +half-past one. The work is never at a standstill. + +We began our visit to St Martin's-le-Grand by inspecting what is known +as the 'blind' department, where letters with indistinct, incomplete, +and wrongly spelt addresses are puzzled out by those specially trained +in solving such mysteries. Scrap-books are kept in this department, into +which the curious and amusing addresses originally inscribed on the face +of letters transmitted through the Post-office are copied and preserved. +Whilst we were looking at these a post-card was handed in to one of the +officials merely addressed Jackson. Whether the sender thought it would +go around to the various Jacksons in London, we know not, but anyway it +was decided to take the trouble to return it to the sender, advising him +that it was insufficiently addressed. The trouble careless persons give +the Post-office is inconceivable, and the way some try to cheat in the +manner of registering letters needs to be seen to be believed. + +From the 'blind' department we were conducted to the 'hospital,' where +badly done up letters and parcels which have come to grief are doctored +and made sufficiently secure to reach their destination. When it is +recollected that postage is so cheap, the outside public might at least +take the trouble to do up letters and parcels properly without putting +the Post-office to the enormous trouble thus caused--needless trouble +sustained without a murmur and without extra charge. Some are put into +fresh envelopes, others are sealing-waxed where slits have occurred, and +others are properly tied up with string. All this trouble might be saved +by a little forethought on the part of the senders. + +The number of samples that different firms send through the post each +day is astonishing. It is said that 1,504,000 pattern and sample packets +are posted annually in the metropolis. In addition to those just +mentioned, alpaca, corduroy, gloves, ribbons, plush, whalebone, muslin, +linen, biscuits, oilcakes, pepper, yeast, toilet soap, sperm candles, +mustard, raisins, &c, are sent by sample post. One firm alone posted +125,418 packets containing spice. + +The time to visit the sorting process at the Post-office is between +half-past five and eight o'clock in the evening. At closing time the +letters are simply poured by thousands into the baskets waiting to +receive them, and each one as soon as full is wheeled off in an instant +to the sorters and other officials waiting to deal with them. When they +have been deposited on the innumerable tables, the first process is to +face the letters--not so easy a task when the shapes and sizes of the +letters are so varied. As soon as the facing process is over, they are +passed as quick as lightning on to the stampers, who proceed to deface +the Queen's head. The noise whilst this process is being gone through is +deafening. Some stampers have a hand-machine, whilst others are making a +trial of a treadle stamping-machine which stamps some four hundred +letters per minute. From the stampers the letters pass on to the +sorters. Whilst all this is proceeding, the visitor should step up into +the gallery for a minute or two and look down on the busy scene below. +It is a sight well worth seeing and not likely to be forgotten--the +thousands of letters heaped on the tables, and the hundreds of workers +as hard at work as it is possible for them to be. The envelopes are +separated and placed in the several pigeon-holes which indicate the +various directions they are to travel. Liverpool, Manchester, +Birmingham, Edinburgh, and Glasgow have special receptacles for +themselves, as the first three cities have on an average fifteen +thousand letters a day despatched to each; and further, there are eight +despatches a day to these places, eleven thousand per day go to Glasgow, +and between eight and nine thousand to Edinburgh. All official +letters--that is, 'On Her Majesty's Service'--have a special table to +themselves. Some eighty-nine thousand Savings-bank books pass through St +Martin's-le-Grand daily. Some sorters get through between forty and +fifty letters a minute, whilst a new-comer will not be able to manage +more than twenty or thirty. + +The nights on which various mails go out are extra busy ones, especially +Friday evening, when the Indian, Chinese, and Australian mails are sent. +The reduction of the postage has made an enormous difference in the +contents of the mail-bags to these parts of the world. It may be +interesting here to note how the mails are dealt with at Brindisi. Van +after van conveys the mail-bags from the train to the ship, where two +gangways are put off from the shore to the ship's side. Lascars run up +one and down the other with the bags. Each lascar has a smooth flat +stick like a ruler, and as he deposits his mail-bag on a long bench over +the hold, he gives up his stick to a man standing by. When five lascars +have arrived, the sticks go into one compartment of a small wooden box; +and when the box is full--that is, when a hundred have been put in--the +box is carried off and another brought forward. Three hundred and +ninety-two bags is a good average, and they take just under forty +minutes to put on board. The French and Italian mails are included in +these; but no other European mails go by the Peninsular and Oriental +Company. At Aden, two sorters come on board and spend their days in some +postal cabins sorting the mails for the different parts of India, &c. +The bags in which these mails are enclosed are only used once. They are +made in one of our convict prisons, and fresh ones are distributed each +week both outward and homeward. + +Turning from the General Post-office South, which is now exclusively +utilised for letters and papers, we proceed to the General Post-office +North, which is devoted solely to the telegraph department. The +Savings-bank department was originally in the same building as the +telegraph; but owing to the rapid increase in both departments, the +Savings-bank has been removed to Queen Victoria Street. Coldbath-Fields +Prison was converted into a home for the Parcel Post. Some three +thousand male and female clerks are employed in the telegraph department +alone. The top floor of the building is devoted to the metropolitan +districts. A telegram sent from one suburb of London to another is bound +to pass through St Martin's-le-Grand; it cannot be sent direct. The +second floor deals with the provinces. The pneumatic tube is now used a +great deal; and by means of it some fifty telegrams can be sent on at +once, and not singly, as would be the case if the telegraphic instrument +was the only instrument in use. The tube is mostly used at the branch +offices. + +The press is a great user both of the postal and telegraphic department. +In the postal department the representatives can call for letters at any +hour, provided their letters are enclosed in a distinctive-coloured +envelope, such as bright red or orange. Of course this privilege has to +be paid for. In the telegraph department the press can obtain their +'private wires' after six in the evening, as the wires are no longer +required for commercial purposes. The plan adopted in sending the same +message to every provincial town which has a daily journal is the +following: all along the route the operators are advised of the fact, +and whilst the message is only actually delivered at its final +destination, the words are caught as they pass each town by means of the +'sounder.' By this ingenious arrangement, dozens of towns are placed in +direct communication with the central office whence the message is +despatched. To carry on our telegraphic arrangements three miles of +shelves are needed, on which are deposited forty thousand batteries. + + +THE POST-OFFICE ON WHEELS. + +The particular portion of the 'Post-office on Wheels' which we purpose +describing is the Special Mail which leaves London from Euston Station +daily. We have selected this mail, not only because all the duties +appertaining to the Travelling Post-office are performed therein, but +also because it is the most important mail in the United Kingdom, +probably in the whole world. In the Special Mail, the post-office +vehicles are forty-two feet in length, and one of thirty-two feet. There +is a gangway communication between all the carriages, so that the +officers on duty can pass from one to another throughout the entire +length without going outside. All the carriages are lighted with gas. + +The pair-horse vans which convey the London bags for provincial towns +come dashing into the station in rapid succession, and as there are only +fifteen minutes before the train starts, no time is to be lost. The bags +are quickly removed from the vans, the name of each being called out in +the process, thus enabling an officer who stands near to tick them off +on a printed list with which he is provided. They are then stowed away +in the respective carriages in appointed places. + +Having proceeded to the principal sorting carriage, we see that there +are some thousands of the letters which have come from the London +offices still to be disposed of. They lie on the desks in large bundles; +but every minute there is a perceptible diminution of their numbers by +means of the vigorous attacks of the men engaged. From end to end of one +side of the carriage--that farthest from the platform--rows of +sorting-boxes, or 'pigeon-holes,' are fixed nearly up to the roof, +starting from the sorting-table, which is about three feet from the +floor. The boxes into which the ordinary letters are sorted are divided +into sets, numbered consecutively from 1 to 45, and one sorter works at +each set. The numbers on the boxes are in accordance with a prescribed +plan, each number representing the names of certain towns, and into such +boxes the letters for those towns are sorted. The plan mentioned is +carried out as follows: Suppose we say that No. 10 represents Rugby, of +course when the mail-bag for that town is despatched the box is empty. +It is then used, say, for Crewe, and when the bag for that place is gone +the box again becomes empty. It is then used for some other town farther +down the line, and so on to the end of the journey. The set of boxes +nearest the fore-end of the carriage is used by the officer who deals +with the registered letters. This set can be closed by means of a +revolving shutter, which is fitted with a lock and key; so that, should +the registered-letter officer have to quit his post for any purpose, he +can secure the contents of his boxes, and so feel satisfied that they +are in a safe place. This officer also disposes of all the letter-bills +on which the addresses of the registered letters are advised. + +The set of boxes into which the newspapers and book packets are sorted +is about twice the size of an ordinary letter set, and occupies the +centre part of the whole box arrangement. This space is assigned to the +newspaper boxes for two reasons: the set is exactly opposite the doorway +through which the bags are taken in at the stopping station, so that +they lie on the floor behind the sorter who opens them; he has therefore +simply to turn round and pick them up one by one as he requires them, +thereby saving both time and labour. Again, as the bags are opened, the +bundles of letters which are labelled No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, in +accordance with the list supplied to postmasters for their guidance, +have to be distributed to the letter-sorters--No. 1 bundles to the left, +No. 2 to the right; and this distribution could not be so conveniently +performed with the newspaper or bag-opening table placed in a different +position. Most of the newspaper boxes, as we have said, are about twice +the size of a letter box; some, however, such as those used for large +towns like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, &c., are four times the +size; and the necessity for this can be readily understood. + +We will now look at the other side of the carriage--or that nearest the +platform. Along the whole length of that side, strong iron pegs are +fixed about an inch apart, and on these pegs the bags to be made up and +despatched on the way are hung. Most of the bags used in the Travelling +Post-office are of one size--three feet six inches long, and two feet +four inches wide; but for the large towns, bags of greater dimensions +are required. Each bag is distinctly marked on both sides with the name +of the town to which it is to be forwarded, the letters forming the name +being an inch and a quarter in length. The name is also stencilled +inside the mouth of the bag, so that the sorter has it immediately +before his eyes when putting the letters, &c., away. On reaching its +destination the bag is emptied of its contents, is turned inside out, +and then the name of the Travelling Post-office from which it was +received appears in view. The bag is then folded up and kept ready for +the return despatch on the following night. In this way it passes and +repasses until it is worn out, when it is withdrawn, and a new one takes +its place. + +We will now assume the train is fairly on its way, and that we are +approaching Harrow, the first station at which the mail-bags are +received by means of the apparatus. As the machinery constituting the +apparatus is of great importance in the system of working, we shall here +endeavour to describe it. + +We may say that the apparatus in the Special Mail is worked in a +separate carriage which runs immediately behind the one to which we have +referred in the preceding details. A large and very strong net is firmly +fixed on the side of the carriage on the near end, and the woodwork +being cut away, an aperture is formed through which the pouches +containing the bags are taken into the carriage. The net is raised or +lowered by pressing down a lever very similar in structure and +appearance to the levers which are seen in a signalman's cabin. When the +net is lowered, a strong rope is seen to stretch across from the +fore-part, and this rope, being held in position by a chain attached to +the back-part of the net, forms what is called a detaching line in the +shape of the letter V placed thus, <; and as the carriage travels along, +the rope at the point forming the angle strikes the suspended pouch, and +detaches it from the standard, when it falls into the net, and is +removed by the officer attending to the apparatus. The machinery is also +arranged so that a bag can be despatched as well as received. A man +doing this work should possess keen eyes, steady nerves, and a full +average amount of strength. On a dark or foggy night it is difficult to +see the objects which serve as guides to the whereabouts of the train, +and which are technically known in the office as 'marks.' + +The net is now lowered for the receipt at Harrow. In a second or two, a +tremendous thud is heard, and a large pouch comes crashing into the +carriage through the aperture, the men meanwhile keeping a respectful +distance. I should perhaps explain that in the Special Mail a new form +of net is used. The bottom of it is flush with the carriage floor, and +as the lower portion is constructed with an angle of about forty-five +degrees, the pouches roll into the carriage by their own weight. + +We will now see what the pouch from Harrow contains. It is quickly +unstrapped; the bags are taken out; and it is then laid aside, to be +used for despatch at a subsequent station. There are three bags for the +Travelling Post-office received in this pouch--two containing +correspondence for England and Scotland, and one for Ireland. The bags +are immediately opened by the proper officers. The first duty is to +find the letter-bill; and if there are any registered letters, to +compare them with the entries on the bill, when, if correct, the bill is +signed and passed over, together with the registered letters, to the +officer who disposes of that class of correspondence, and by whom an +acknowledgment of the receipt of the letters is at once given to the +bag-opener. It is in this way that a hand-to-hand check is established +which ensures the practical safety of such letters. + +The bag-opener then proceeds to pick out from amongst the mass of +correspondence the bundles of ordinary letters, and to pass them to the +right or left according as they are labelled No. 1 or No. 2. These +bundles are cut open by the respective sorters who work at the several +sets of boxes, the letters being laid in a row on the desk, and the men +then proceed to sort them in accordance with the addresses they bear. As +the boxes (each of which will hold about one hundred and fifty) become +full, the letters are tied up securely in bundles, and the sorters, +turning round, drop them into the bags which hang along the other side +of the carriage. And so the work goes on in the same way throughout the +entire journey. + +Let us now try to show to how great an extent the Travelling Post-office +has contributed to the acceleration of correspondence from place to +place. On an examination of the letters received from Harrow, it is +found that there are three for Aberdeen; and a similar number for that +city will be received from the several towns between London and Rugby, +and so on. Of course, the number of letters mentioned would not be +sufficient for a direct bag between each of these places and Aberdeen; +but the small numbers referred to being brought together in the +Travelling Post-office, it is found that when the train arrives at +Carlisle a sufficient amount of correspondence for the northern city +has been received to fill a large bag. This bag is therefore closed at +that point, and a fresh one hung up, to contain the correspondence for +that city received northwards of Carlisle. The same may be said of the +other large towns in Scotland. Now, if there were no Travelling +Post-office, how would the few letters for Aberdeen emanating from the +various towns in England be dealt with? In the first place, they would +have to be picked up by a stopping train, and even if this train ran +direct to Aberdeen, there would be a difference in the time of arrival +of at least eight hours. But the letters could not go direct in such a +case, as that would mean the making-up of separate bags at each place; +and we have already shown that the letters are too few in number to +justify such an arrangement. They would have to be collected at some +central office, say at Birmingham, where they would of necessity be +detained some time; so that altogether it is probable they would not +arrive at their destination early enough to be delivered on the day +following that of posting. What, however, is the case now? Thanks to the +Travelling Post-office with its mail-bag apparatus, the letters are +whirled along at close upon fifty miles an hour without intermission, +thus admitting of the delivery of letters from London at so remote a +place as Aberdeen long before noon on the following day. + +We will now assume that the train has arrived at Rugby--the distance +eighty-four miles. At this station mails for Coventry, Birmingham, &c., +are left to be forwarded by a branch train. After a stop of four +minutes, the train again speeds on its way, the next stopping-place +being Tamworth. Here a large number of mail-bags are despatched, +including those for the Midland Travelling Post-office, going north to +Newcastle-on-Tyne, which serves Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and the whole +country-side bordering on the north-east coast; for the Shrewsbury +mail-train, which serves the whole of Mid-Wales; and for the Lincoln +mail-train, which serves Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. + +The next halt is at Crewe, where formerly a large exchange of bags took +place, having been passed without stopping. Crewe is, for Travelling +Post-office purposes, by far the most important junction in the kingdom. +Within three hours--that is, between half-past eleven at night and +half-past two in the morning--over a dozen mail-trains, each with +sorting-carriages attached, arrive and depart; whilst the weight of +mails exchanged here within the hours mentioned is not less than twenty +tons. A great amount of labour is involved in receiving and delivering +such an immense weight of bags, the work being all done by hand, and the +mail-porters have to exercise great care in keeping them in proper +course for the respective trains. Nevertheless, these responsible duties +are remarkably well performed, mistakes very rarely occurring. + +The Irish mail which runs from London to Holyhead, and in which +correspondence for Ireland is almost exclusively dealt with, branches +off at Crewe, the remainder of the journey being run by way of Chester +and North Wales. + +Leaving Warrington, the next stoppage is at Wigan. Here the mails for +Liverpool are despatched, and the receipt includes bags which have been +brought through a long line of country, stretching from +Newcastle-on-Tyne through York, Normanton, and Stalybridge, and thence +to Wigan. The mails for Preston and East Lancashire are left at Preston, +and, running through Lancaster, Carnforth is soon reached. At this +station the mails for North-west Lancashire and West Cumberland are +despatched, and this is the last stopping-place before arriving at +Carlisle, which is the terminal point of the North-Western Railway. + +Mention should be made of the noteworthy despatch of mails by apparatus +at Oxenholme, the junction for Kendal, Windermere, and the Lake +District. It is the largest despatch by that method in the kingdom, as +many as nine pouches being delivered into two nets. Each pouch at this +station weighs on an average fifty pounds, so that altogether four +hundred and fifty pounds of mail-matter is despatched at this one +station--no inconsiderable feat. + +At Carlisle the mails for the Waverley route country and for the whole +of the south-west of Scotland, including Ayrshire, are left. There is +another long run over the Caledonian Railway--about seventy-eight +miles--without a stop, the apparatus being worked seven times in that +distance until Carstairs is reached. Here, one of the sorting-carriages +is detached, and proceeds to Edinburgh; and a few miles farther on three +more are detached, and proceed to Glasgow from Holytown Junction. From +that point, therefore, only two sorting-carriages remain in the train, +and these go on to Aberdeen. + +The next stop is at Stirling, where the bags for the Western Highlands +are left; and we then run on to Perth. + +At Perth, the mails for Dundee and the northern Highlands are +despatched, the latter being forwarded by a mail-train which runs on the +Highland Railway _via_ Inverness. Again the Special Mail starts on its +way, there being only one stop--at Forfar--before arriving at Aberdeen, +where the journey ends. Here the last bags are despatched. The carriage +is clear. The sorting-boxes are carefully searched, to see that no +letters have been left in them; and the carriage is then taken charge of +by the railway officials, to be thoroughly cleansed and made ready for +the return journey on the following day. The duties on the way to London +are performed in a precisely similar manner to those on the journey +northwards. + + +EARLY TELEGRAPHS. + +The ancient Greeks and Romans practised telegraphy with the help of pots +filled with straw and twigs saturated in oil, which, being placed in +rows, expressed certain letters according to the order in which they +were lighted; but the only one of their contrivances that merits a +detailed description was that invented by a Grecian general named Aeneas, +who flourished in the time of Aristotle, intended for communication +between the generals of an army. It consisted of two exactly similar +earthen vessels, filled with water, each provided with a cock that would +discharge an equal quantity of water in a given time, so that the whole +or any part of the contents would escape in precisely the same period +from both vessels. On the surface of each floated a piece of cork +supporting an upright, marked off into divisions, each division having a +certain sentence inscribed upon it. One of the vessels was placed at +each station; and when either party desired to communicate, he lighted a +torch, which he held aloft until the other did the same, as a sign that +he was all attention. On the sender of the message lowering or +extinguishing his torch, each party immediately opened the cock of his +vessel, and so left it until the sender relighted his torch, when it was +at once closed. The receiver then read the sentence on the division of +the upright that was level with the mouth of the vessel, and which, if +everything had been executed with exactness, corresponded with that of +the sender, and so conveyed the desired intimation. + +We must here pause a moment to point out one great advantage that this +contrivance, simple as it undoubtedly was, will be seen to possess over +the more scientific ones that follow, and that was, its equal efficacy +in any sort of country and in any position, whether on a plain, on the +summit of a hill, or in a sequestered valley. + +To descend to more modern times. Kessler in his _Concealed Arts_ advised +the cutting out of characters in the bottom of casks, which would appear +luminous when a light was placed inside. In the _Spectator_ of December +6, 1711, there is an extract from Strada, an Italian historian, who +published his _Prolusiones Academicae_ in 1617. In the passage referred +to, the modern system of telegraphy is curiously indicated. It is as +follows: 'Strada, in one of his Prolusions, gives an account of a +chimerical correspondence between two friends by the help of a certain +loadstone, which had such virtue in it, that if it touched two several +needles, when one of the needles so touched began to move, the other, +though at never so great a distance, moved at the same time and in the +same manner. He tells us that the two friends, being each of them +possessed of one of these needles, made a kind of dial-plate, inscribing +it with the four-and-twenty letters, in the same manner as the hours of +the day are marked upon the ordinary dial-plate. They then fixed one of +the needles on each of these plates in such a manner that it could move +round without impediment so as to touch any of the four-and-twenty +letters. Upon their separating from one another into distant countries, +they agreed to withdraw themselves punctually into their closets at a +certain hour of the day, and to converse with one another by means of +this their invention. Accordingly, when they were some hundred miles +asunder, each of them shut himself up in his closet at the time +appointed, and immediately cast his eye upon his dial-plate. If he had a +mind to write anything to his friend, he directed his needle to every +letter that formed the words which he had occasion for, making a little +pause at the end of every word or sentence, to avoid confusion. The +friend, in the meanwhile, saw his own sympathetic needle moving of +itself to every letter which that of his correspondent pointed at. By +this means they talked together across a whole continent, and conveyed +their thoughts to one another in an instant over cities or mountains, +seas or deserts. + +It was not till near the close of the seventeenth century that a really +practical system of visual signalling from hill to hill was introduced +by Dr Hooke, whose attention had been turned to the subject at the siege +of Vienna by the Turks. He erected on the top of several hills having a +sky-line background three high poles or masts, connected at their upper +ends by a cross-piece. The space between two of these poles was filled +in with timbers to form a screen, behind which the various letters were +hung in order on lines, and, by means of pulleys, run out into the clear +space between the other two, when they stood out clear against the +sky-line. The letters were thus run out and back again in the required +order of spelling, and were divided into day and night letters--the +former being made of deals, the latter with the addition of links or +lights; besides which there were certain conventional characters to +represent such sentences as, 'I am ready to communicate,' 'I am ready to +receive.' In his description of the device, read before the Royal +Society on the 21st of May 1684, Dr Hooke, after claiming for it the +power of transmitting messages to a station thirty or forty miles +distant, said: 'For the performance of this we must be beholden to a +late invention, which we do not find any of the ancients knew; that is, +the eye must be assisted with telescopes, that whatever characters are +exposed at one station may be made plain and distinguishable at the +other.' A cipher code was subsequently added by an ingenious Frenchman +named Amontons. + +In 1767 we find Mr Richard L. Edgeworth, the father of Maria Edgeworth, +employing the sails of a common windmill for communicating intelligence, +by an arranged system of signals according to the different positions of +the arms. The signals were made to denote numbers, the corresponding +parties being each provided with a dictionary in which the words were +numbered--the system in vogue for our army-signalling till 1871, when +the Morse alphabet was substituted for it. + +A great stride was made in 1793 by M. Chappe, a citizen of Paris, when +the French Revolution directed all the energies of that nation to the +improvement of the art of war; reporting on whose machine to the French +Convention in August of the following year, Barere remarked: 'By this +invention, remoteness and distance almost disappear, and all the +communications of correspondence are effected with the rapidity of the +twinkling of an eye.' It consisted of a strong wooden mast some +twenty-five feet high, with a cross-beam twelve feet by nine inches +jointed on to its top, so as to be movable about its centre like a +scale-beam, and could thus be placed horizontally, vertically, or anyhow +inclined by means of cords. To each end of this cross-beam was affixed a +short vertical indicator about four feet long, which likewise turned on +pivots by means of cords, and to the end of each was attached a +counterweight, almost invisible at a distance, to balance the weight of +it. This machine could be made to assume certain positions which +represented or were symbolical of letters of the alphabet. In working, +nothing depended on the operator's manual skill, as the movements were +regulated mechanically. The time taken up for each movement was twenty +seconds, of which the actual motion occupied four; during the other +sixteen, the telegraph was kept stationary, to allow of its being +distinctly observed and the letter written down by those at the next +station. All the parts were painted dark brown, that they might stand +out well against the sky; and three persons were required at each +station, one to manipulate the machine, another to read the messages +through a telescope, and the third to transfer them to paper, or repeat +them to No. 1 to send on. The first machine of this kind was erected on +the roof of the Paris Louvre, to communicate with the army which was +then stationed near Lille, between which places intermediate ones from +nine to twelve miles apart were erected, the second being at Montmartre. +The different limbs were furnished with argand lamps for night-work. + +Shortly after this, our own government set up lines of communication +from the Admiralty to Deal, Portsmouth, and other points on the coast, +which we find thus reported in the _Annual Register_ for 1796: + +March 28th. 'A telegraph was this day erected over the Admiralty, which +is to be the point of communication with all the different sea-ports in +the kingdom. The nearest telegraph to London has hitherto been in St +George's Fields; and to such perfection has this ingenious and useful +contrivance been already brought, that one day last week information was +conveyed from Dover to London in the space of only seven minutes. The +plan proposed to be adopted in respect to telegraphs is yet only carried +into effect between London and Dover; but it is intended to extend all +over the kingdom. The importance of this speedy communication must be +evident to every one; and it has this advantage, that the information +conveyed is known only to the person who sends and to him who receives +it. The intermediate posts have only to answer and convey the signals.' + +The machines used consisted of three masts connected by a top-piece. The +spaces between the masts were divided into three horizontally, and in +each partition a large wooden octagon was fixed, poised upon a +horizontal axis across its centre, so that it could be made to present +either its surface or its edge to the observer. The octagons were turned +by means of cranks upon the ends of the axles, from which cords +descended into a cabin below. By the changes in the position of these +six octagonal boards, thirty-six changes were easily exhibited, and the +signal to represent any letter or number made: thus, one board being +turned into a horizontal position so as to expose its edge, while the +other five remained shut or in a vertical position, might stand for A, +two of them only in a horizontal position for B, three for C, and so on. +It was, however, found that the octagons were less evident to the eye at +a distance than the indicators of Chappe's machine, requiring the +stations to be closer together; nor could this telegraph be made to +change its direction, so that it could only be seen from one particular +point, which necessitated having a separate machine at the Admiralty for +each line, as well as an additional one at every branch-point. It was, +moreover, too bulky and of a form unsuitable for illumination at night. + +Here we may notice that in 1801 Mr John Boaz of Glasgow obtained a +patent for a telegraph which effected the signal by means of twenty-five +lamps arranged in five rows of five each, so as to form a square. Each +lamp was provided with a blind, with which its light could be obscured, +so that they could be made to exhibit letters and figures by leaving +such lamps only visible as were necessary to form the character. + +The next improvement again came from France, in 1806, when an entirely +new set of telegraphs on the following principle was established along +the whole extent of the coast of the French empire. A single upright +pole was provided with three arms, each movable about an axis at one +end--one near the head, the other two at points lower down, all painted +black, with their counterpoises white, so as to be invisible a short way +off. Each arm could assume six different positions--one straight out on +either side of the pole, two at an angle of forty-five degrees above +this line, and two at forty-five degrees below it. The arm near the head +could be made to exhibit seven positions, the seventh being the +vertical; but as this might have been mistaken for part of the pole, it +was not employed. The number of combinations or different signals that +could be rendered by this machine, employing only three objects, was +consequently three hundred and forty-two against sixty-three by that of +our Admiralty just described, and which employed six objects. + +It was not long, however, before we copied the advancement of our +neighbours across the Channel, and in some respects improved upon it, +the main differences being that only two arms were employed--one at the +top, the other half-way down, and that the mast was made to revolve on a +vertical axis, so that the arms could be rendered visible from any +desired quarter. Its mechanism, the invention of Sir Home Popham, +enabled the arms to be moved by means of endless screws worked by iron +spindles from below, a vast improvement on the old cords, the more so as +they worked inside the mast, which was hollow, hexagonal in section, and +framed of six boards bound together by iron hoops, and were thus +protected from the weather. Inside the cabin he erected two dials, one +for each arm, each having an index finger that worked simultaneously +with its corresponding arm above, on the same principle as the little +semaphore models to be seen nowadays in our railway signal cabins. + +We have now described the most prominent of the numerous contrivances +which, prior to the application of electricity to that end, were devised +and made use of for telegraphic communication, all of which, unlike that +subtle power that is not afraid of the dark and can travel in all +weathers, possessed a common weakness in their liability to failure +through atmospheric causes, fog, mist, and haze. To us who live in this +age of electrical marvels, when that particular science more than all +others progresses by leaps and bounds, it appears passing strange and +almost incredible that so many years were allowed to elapse before the +parents of the electric telegraph, the electrical machine and magnetic +compass, were joined in wedlock to produce their amazing progeny, which +now enables all mankind, however distant, to hold rapid, soft, and easy +converse. + + +THE TELEGRAPH OF TO-DAY. + +A veil of mystery still hangs around the first plan for an electric +telegraph, communicated to the _Scots Magazine_ for 1753 by one 'C. M.' +of Renfrew. Even the name of this obscure and modest genius is doubtful; +but it is probable that he was Charles Morrison, a native of Greenock, +who was trained as a surgeon. At this period only the electricity +developed by friction was available for the purpose, and being of a +refractory nature, there was no practical result. + +But after Volta had invented the chemical generator or voltaic pile in +the first year of our century, and Oersted, in 1820, had discovered the +influence of the electric current on a magnetic needle, the illustrious +Laplace suggested to Ampere, the famous electrician, that a working +telegraph might be produced if currents were conveyed to a distance by +wires, and made to deflect magnetic needles, one for every letter of the +alphabet. This was in the year 1820; but it was not until sixteen years +later that the idea was put in practice. In 1836 Mr William Fothergill +Cooke, an officer of the Madras army, at home on furlough, was +travelling in Germany, and chanced to see at the university of +Heidelberg, in the early part of March, an experimental telegraph, +fitted up between the study and the lecture theatre of the Professor of +Natural Philosophy. It was based on the principle of Laplace and +Ampere, and consisted of two electric circuits and a pair of magnetic +needles which responded to the interruptions of the current. Mr Cooke +was struck with this device; but it was only during his journey from +Heidelberg to Frankfort on the 17th of the month, while reading Mrs Mary +Somerville's book on the _Correlation of the Physical Sciences_, that +the notion of his practical telegraph flashed upon his mind. Sanguine of +success, he abandoned his earlier pursuits and devoted all his energies +to realise his invention. + +The following year he associated himself with Professor Wheatstone; a +joint patent was procured; and the Cooke and Wheatstone needle telegraph +was erected between the Euston Square and Camden Town stations of the +London and Birmingham Railway. To test the working of the instruments +through a longer distance, several miles of wire were suspended in the +carriage-shed at Euston, and included in the circuit. All being ready, +the trial was made on the evening of the 25th of July 1837, a memorable +date. Some friends of the inventors were present, including Mr George +Stephenson and Mr Isambard Brunel, the celebrated engineers. Mr Cooke, +with these, was stationed at Camden Town, and Mr Wheatstone at Euston +Square. The latter struck the key and signalled the first message. +Instantly the answer came on the vibrating needles, and their hopes were +realised. 'Never,' said Professor Wheatstone--'never did I feel such a +tumultuous sensation before, as when, all alone in the still room, I +heard the needles click; and as I spelled the words I felt all the +magnitude of the invention, now proved to be practical beyond cavil or +dispute.' + +It was in 1832, during a voyage from Havre to New York in the packet +_Sully_, that Mr S. F. B. Morse, then an artist, conceived the idea of +the electro-magnetic marking telegraph, and drew a design for it in his +sketch-book. But it was not until the beginning of 1838 that he and his +colleague, Mr Alfred Vail, succeeded in getting the apparatus to work. +Judge Vail, the father of Alfred, and proprietor of the Speedwell +ironworks, had found the money for the experiments; but as time went on +and no result was achieved, he became disheartened, and perhaps annoyed +at the sarcasms of his neighbours, so that the inventors were afraid to +meet him. 'I recall vividly,' says Mr Baxter, 'even after the lapse of +so many years, the proud moment when Alfred said to me, "William, go up +to the house and invite father to come down and see the +telegraph-machine work." I did not stop to don my coat, although it was +the 6th of January, but ran in my shop-clothes as fast as I possibly +could. It was just after dinner when I knocked at the door of the house, +and was ushered into the sitting-room. The judge had on his +broad-brimmed hat and surtout, as if prepared to go out; but he sat +before the fireplace, leaning his head on his cane, apparently in deep +meditation. As I entered his room he looked up and said, "Well, +William?" and I answered: "Mr Alfred and Mr Morse sent me to invite you +to come down to the room and see the telegraph-machine work." He started +up, as if the importance of the message impressed him deeply; and in a +few minutes we were standing in the experimental room. After a short +explanation, he called for a piece of paper, and writing upon it the +words, "A patient waiter is no loser," he handed it to Alfred, saying, +"If you can send this, and Mr Morse can read it at the other end, I +shall be convinced." The message was received by Morse at the other end, +and handed to the judge, who, at this unexpected triumph, was overcome +by his emotions.' The practical value of the invention was soon +realised; by 1840 telegraph lines were being made in civilised +countries, and ere long extended into the network of lines which now +encircle the globe and bring the remotest ends of the earth into direct +and immediate communication. + + +ATLANTIC CABLES. + +A year or two before the first attempt to lay an Atlantic cable, there +were only eighty-seven nautical miles of submarine cables laid; now, the +total length of these wonderful message-carriers under the waves is over +160,500 English statute miles. There are now fourteen cables crossing +the Atlantic, which are owned by six different companies. + +The charter which Mr Cyrus W. Field obtained for the New York, +Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company was granted in the year 1854. +It constructed the land-line telegraph in Newfoundland, and laid a cable +across the Gulf of St Lawrence; but this was only the commencement of +the work. Soundings of the sea were needed; electricians had to devise +forms of cable most suitable; engineers to consider the methods of +carrying and of laying the cable; and capitalists had to be convinced +that the scheme was practicable, and likely to be remunerative; whilst +governments were appealed to for aid. Great Britain readily promised +aid; but the United States Senate passed the needful Bill by a majority +of one. + +But when the first Atlantic cable expedition left the coast of Kerry, it +was a stately squadron of British and American ships of war, such as the +_Niagara_ and the _Agamemnon_, and of merchant steamships. The +Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, Directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, +and of British railways, were there, with representatives of several +nations; and when the shore-end had been landed at Valentia, the +expedition left the Irish coast in August 1857. When 335 miles of the +cable had been laid, it parted, and high hopes were buried many fathoms +below the surface. + +The first expedition of 1858 also failed; the second one was successful; +and on the 16th of August in that year, Queen Victoria congratulated the +President of the United States 'upon the successful completion of this +great international work;' and President Buchanan replied, trusting that +the telegraph might 'prove to be a bond of perpetual peace and +friendship between the kindred nations.' But after a few weeks' work, +the cable gave its last throb, and was silent. + +Not until 1865 was another attempt made, and then the cable was broken +after 1200 miles had been successfully laid. Then, at the suggestion of +Mr (afterwards Sir) Daniel Gooch, the Anglo-American Telegraph Company +was formed; and on 13th July 1866 another expedition left Ireland; and +towards the end of the month, the _Great Eastern_ glided calmly into +Heart's Content, 'dropping her anchor in front of the telegraph house, +having trailed behind her a chain of two thousand miles, to bind the Old +World to the New.' + +But the success of the year was more than the mere laying of a cable: +the _Great Eastern_ was able, in the words of the late Lord Iddesleigh, +to complete the 'laying of the cable of 1866, and the recovering that of +1865.' The Queen conferred the honour of knighthood on Captain Anderson, +on Professor Thomson, and on Messrs Glass and Channing; whilst Mr Gooch, +M.P., was made a baronet. The charge for a limited message was then +twenty pounds; and it was not long before a rival company was begun, to +share in the rich harvest looked for; and thus another cable was laid, +leading ultimately to an amalgamation between its ordinary company and +the original Anglo-American Telegraph Company. + +[Illustration: The _Great Eastern_ paying out the Atlantic Cable.] + +Then, shortly afterwards, the Direct United States Cable Company came +into being, and laid a cable; a French company followed suit; the great +Western Union Telegraph Company of America entered into the Atlantic +trade, and had two cables constructed and laid. The commencement of +ocean telegraphy by each of these companies led to competition, and +reduced rates for a time with the original company, ending in what is +known as a pool or joint purse agreement, under which the total receipts +were divided in allotted proportions to the companies. These companies +have now eight cables usually operative; and it was stated by Sir J. +Pender that these eight cables 'are capable of carrying over forty +million words per annum.' + +In addition to the cables of the associated companies, the Commercial +Cable Company own two modern cables; and one of the two additional ones +was laid by this company--the other by the original--the Anglo-American +Company. But the work is simple now to what it was thirty years ago. +Then, there were only one or two cable-ships; now, Mr Preece enumerates +thirty-seven, of which five belong to the greatest of our telegraph +companies, the Eastern. The authority we have just named says that 'the +form of cable has practically remained unaltered since the original +Calais cable was laid in 1851;' its weight has been increased; and there +have been additions to it to enable it to resist insidious submarine +enemies. The gear of the steamships used in the service has been +improved; whilst the 'picking-up gear' of one of the best known of these +cable-ships is 'capable of lifting thirty tons at a speed of one knot +per hour.' And there has been a wide knowledge gained of the ocean, its +depth, its mountains, and its valleys, so that the task of cable-laying +is much more of an exact science than it was. When the first attempt was +made to lay an Atlantic cable, 'the manufacture of sea-cables' had been +only recently begun; now, 140,000 knots are at work in the sea, and +yearly the area is being enlarged. When, in 1856, Mr Thackeray +subscribed to the Atlantic Telegraph Company, its share capital was +L350,000--that being the estimated cost of the cable between +Newfoundland and Ireland; now, five companies have a capital of over +L12,500,000 invested in the Atlantic telegraph trade. The largest +portion of the capital is that of the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, +which has a capital of L7,000,000, and which represents the Atlantic +Telegraph Company, the New York, and Newfoundland, and the French +Atlantic Companies of old. + +Though the traffic fluctuates greatly, in some degree according to the +charge per word (for in one year of lowest charges the number of words +carried by the associated companies increased by 133 per cent., whilst +the receipts decreased about 49 per cent.), yet it does not occupy fully +the carrying capacity of the cables. But their 'life' and service is +finite, and thus it becomes needful from time to time to renew these +great and costly carriers under the Atlantic. + + +THE STATE AND THE TELEGRAPHS. + +Since the telegraphs of the United Kingdom passed into the hands of the +State, the changes which have taken place during that period in the +volume of the business transacted, the rapidity in the transit of +messages, and the charges made for sending telegrams, are little short +of marvellous. It was in the year 1852 that the acquisition of the +telegraph system by the State was first suggested, but not until late in +the year 1867, when Mr Disraeli was Chancellor of the Exchequer, did the +government definitely determine to take the matter up. At that time, as +Mr Baines, C.B., tells us in his book, _Forty Years at the +Post-office_: 'Five powerful telegraph companies were in existence--The +Electric and International, the British and Irish Magnetic, the United +Kingdom, the Universal Private, and the London and Provincial Companies. +There were others of less importance. Terms had to be made with all of +them. The railway interest had to be considered, and the submarine +companies to be thought of, though not bought.' With strong and +well-organised interests like these fighting hard to secure for +themselves the very best possible terms, the government had not +unnaturally to submit to a hard bargain before they could obtain from +Parliament the powers which they required. However, after a severe +struggle, the necessary Bill was successfully passed, and the consequent +Money Bill became law in the following session. As the result of this +action, the telegraphs became the property of the State upon the 29th of +January 1870, and upon the 5th of the following month the actual +transfer took place. The step seems to have been taken none too soon, +for under the companies the telegraphs had been worked in a manner far +from satisfactory to the public. Many districts had been completely +neglected, and even between important centres the service had been quite +inadequate. Moreover, charges had been high, and exasperating delays of +frequent occurrence. + +Six million pounds was the sum first voted by Parliament for the +purchase of the telegraphs, and this was practically all swallowed up in +compensation. The Electric and International Company received +L2,938,826; the Magnetic Company, L1,243,536; Reuter's Telegram Company, +L726,000; the United Kingdom Company, L562,264; the Universal Private +Company, L184,421; and the London and Provincial Company, L60,000. But +large as these amounts were, they only made up about one-half of the +expenditure which the government had to incur, and the total cost +ultimately reached the enormous sum of eleven millions. Some idea of the +manner in which the extra five millions was expended may be gathered +from the fact that between October 1869 and October 1870, about 15,000 +miles of iron wire, nearly 2000 miles of gutta-percha-covered copper +wire, about 100,000 poles, and 1,000,000 other fittings were purchased +and fixed in position, 3500 telegraph instruments and 15,000 batteries +were acquired, and about 2400 new telegraphists and temporary assistants +were trained. The total expenditure was so vast that the Treasury +eventually took fright, and in 1875 a committee was appointed 'to +investigate the causes of the increased cost of the telegraph service +since the acquisition of the telegraphs by the State.' + +This committee found that the following were the three main causes of +the increase: The salaries of all the officials of the telegraph +companies had been largely increased after their entry into the +government service; the supervising staff maintained by the State was +much more costly than that formerly employed by the companies; and a +large additional outlay had been forced upon the government in +connection with the maintenance of the telegraph lines. 'It would not,' +they say in their report, 'be possible, in our opinion, for various +reasons, for the government to work at so cheap a rate as the telegraph +companies, but ... a reasonable expectation might be entertained that +the working expenses could be kept within seventy or seventy-five per +cent. of the gross revenue, and the responsible officers of the +Post-office telegraph service should be urged to work up to that +standard. Such a result would cover the cost of working, and the sum +necessary for payment of interest on the debt incurred in the purchase +of the telegraphs.' In regard to this question of cost, Mr Baines most +truly remarks that the real stumbling-block of the Department was, and +still is, 'the interest payable on L11,000,000 capital outlay, equal at, +say, three per cent, to a charge of L330,000 a year.' + +The transfer of the telegraphs to the State was immediately followed by +a startling increase in the number of messages sent. In fact, the +public, attracted by the shilling rate, poured in telegrams so fast, and +were so well supported by the news-agencies, who took full advantage of +the reduced scale, that there was at first some danger of a collapse. +Fortunately, however, the staff was equal to the emergency, and after +the first rush was over, everything worked with perfect smoothness. + +During the next four years the enlargement of business was simply +extraordinary. In 1875 the rate of increase was not maintained at quite +so high a level, but nevertheless nearly 1,650,000 more messages were +dealt with than during the previous year. The quantity of matter +transmitted for Press purposes was also much greater than it had ever +been before, and amounted to more than 220,000,000 words. + +In 1895 the number of telegraph offices at post-offices was 7409, in +addition to 2252 at railway stations, or a grand total of 9661. The +number of ordinary inland messages sent during the year was 71,589,064. + +In regard to the great increase of pace in the transmission of +telegraphic messages, Mr Baines tells us that, 'looking back fifty +years, we see wires working at the rate of eight words a minute, or an +average of four words per wire per minute, over relatively short +distances. Now, there is a potentiality of 400 words--nay, even 600 or +700 words--per wire per minute, over very long distances. As the +invention of duplex working has been supplemented by the contrivances +for multiplex working (one line sufficing to connect several different +offices in one part of the country with one or more offices in another +part), it is almost impossible to put a limit to the carrying capacity +of a single wire.' In 1866 the time occupied in sending a telegram +between London and Bournemouth was two hours, and between Manchester and +Bolton, two hours and a quarter; while in 1893 the times occupied were +ten minutes and five minutes respectively. + +Press telegrams have enormously increased in number and length since the +purchase of the telegraph system by the State. When the companies owned +the wires, the news service from London to the provinces was ordinarily +not more than a column of print a night. At the present time the news +service of the Press Association alone over the Post-office wires to +papers outside the metropolis averages fully 500 columns nightly. Since +1870 this Association has paid the Post-office L750,000 for telegraphic +charges, and in addition to this, very large sums have been paid by the +London and provincial daily papers for the independent transmission of +news, and by the principal journals in the country for the exclusive +use, during certain hours, of 'special wires.' Some of the leading +papers in the provinces receive ten or more columns of specially +telegraphed news on nights when important matters are under discussion +in Parliament; and from this some idea may be formed of the amount of +business now transacted between the Press and the Telegraph Department. + + +THE TELEPHONE. + +So much have times altered in the last fifty years, that the electric +telegraph itself, which now reaches its thin arms into more than six +thousand offices, is threatened in its turn with serious rivalry at +the hands of a youthful but vigorous competitor, the telephone. Its +advantages are such that its ultimate popularity cannot be a matter +of doubt. It is no small benefit to be able to recognise voices, to +transact business with promptitude by word of mouth, to get a reply, +'Yes' or 'No,' on the spot, instead of having to rush to the nearest +telegraph office. + +Great inventions are often conceived a long time before they are +realised in practice. Sometimes the original idea occurs to the man who +subsequently works it out; and sometimes it comes as a happy thought to +one who is either in advance of his age, or who is prevented by adverse +circumstances from following it up, and who yet lives to see the day +when some more fortunate individual gives it a material shape, and so +achieves the fame which was denied to him. Such is the case of M. +Charles Bourselle, who in 1854 proposed a form of speaking-telephone, +which, although not practicable in its first crude condition, might have +led its originator to a more successful instrument if he had pursued the +subject further. + +The telephone is an instrument designed to reproduce sounds at a +distance by means of electricity. It was believed by most people, and +even by eminent electricians, that the speaking-telephone had never been +dreamed of by any one before Professor Graham Bell introduced his +marvellous little apparatus to the scientific world. But that was a +mistake. More than one person had thought of such a thing, Bourselle +among the number. Philip Reis, a German electrician, had even +constructed an electric telephone in 1864, which transmitted words with +some degree of perfection; and the assistant of Reis asserts that it was +designed to carry music as well as words. Professor Bell, in devising +his telephone, copied the human ear with its vibrating drum. The first +iron plate he used as a vibrator was a little piece of clock-spring +glued to a parchment diaphragm, and on saying to the spring on the +telephone at one end of the line: 'Do you understand what I say?' the +answer from his assistant at the other end came back immediately: 'Yes; +I understand you perfectly.' The sounds were feeble, and he had to hold +his ear close to the little piece of iron on the parchment, but they +were distinct; and though Reis had transmitted certain single words some +ten years before, Bell was the first to make a piece of matter utter +sentences. Reis gave the electric wire a tongue so that it could mumble +like an infant; but Bell taught it to speak. + +The next step is attributed to Mr Elisha Gray of Chicago, who sent +successions of electrical current of varying strength as well as of +varying frequency into the circuit, and thus enabled the relative +loudness as well as the pitch of sounds to be transmitted; and who +afterwards took the important step of using the variations of a steady +current. These variations, positive and negative, are capable of +representing all the back-and-fore variations of position of a particle +of air, however irregular these may be: and he secured them by making +the sound-waves set a diaphragm in vibration. This diaphragm carried a +metallic point which dipped in dilute sulphuric acid; the deeper it +dipped the less was the resistance to a current passing through the +acid, and _vice versa_: so that every variation in the position of the +diaphragm produced a corresponding variation in the intensity of the +current: and the varying current acted upon a distant electro-magnet, +which accordingly fluctuated in strength, and in its attraction for a +piece of soft iron suspended on a flexible diaphragm: this piece of soft +iron accordingly oscillated, pulling the flexible diaphragm with it; and +the variations of pressure in the air acted upon by the diaphragm +produced waves, reproducing the characteristics of the original +sound-waves, and perceived by the ear as reproducing the original sound +or voice. Mr Gray lodged a _caveat_ for this contrivance in the United +States Patent Office on 14th February 1876; but on the same day +Professor Alexander Graham Bell filed a specification and drawings of +the original Bell telephone. + +Bell's telephone was first exhibited in America at the Centennial +Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876; and in England, at the Glasgow +meeting of the British Association in September of that year. On that +occasion, Sir William Thomson (now Lord Kelvin) pronounced it, with +enthusiasm, to be the 'greatest of all the marvels of the electric +telegraph.' The surprise created by its first appearance was, however, +nothing to the astonishment and delight which it aroused in this country +when Professor Bell, the following year, himself exhibited it in London +to the Society of Telegraph Engineers. Since then, its introduction as a +valuable aid to social life has been very rapid, and the telephone is +now to be found in use from China to Peru. + + +THOMAS ALVA EDISON AND THE PHONOGRAPH. + +The Phonograph is an instrument for mechanically recording and +reproducing articulate human speech, song, &c. It was invented by Mr T. +A. Edison in the spring of 1877, at his Menlo Park Laboratory, New +Jersey, and came into existence as the result of one of the many lines +of experiment he was then engaged upon. + +Thomas Alva Edison, this notable American inventor, was born at Milan, +Ohio, 11th February 1847, but his early years were spent at Port Huron, +Michigan. His father was of Dutch, and his mother of Scotch descent; the +latter, having been a teacher, gave him what schooling he received. +Edison was a great reader in his youth, and at the age of twelve he +became a newsboy on the Grand Trunk Line running into Detroit, and began +to experiment in chemistry. Gaining the exclusive right of selling +newspapers on this line, and purchasing some old type, with the aid of +four assistants he printed and issued the _Grand Trunk Herald_, the +first newspaper printed in a railway train. A station-master, in +gratitude for his having saved his child from the front of an advancing +train, taught him telegraphy, in which he had previously been greatly +interested; and thenceforward he concentrated the energies of a very +versatile mind chiefly upon electrical studies. + +[Illustration: Edison with his Phonograph.] + +Edison invented an automatic repeater, by means of which messages could +be sent from one wire to another without the intervention of the +operator. His system of duplex telegraphy was perfected while a +telegraph operator in Boston, but was not entirely successful until +1872. In 1871 he became superintendent of the New York Gold and Stock +Company, and here invented the printing-telegraph for gold and stock +quotations, for the manufacture of which he established a workshop at +Newark, N.J., continuing there till his removal to Menlo Park, N.J., in +1876. Ten years later he settled at Orange, at the foot of the Orange +Mountains, his large premises at Menlo Park having grown too small for +him. + +His inventive faculties now getting full play, he took out over fifty +patents in connection with improvements in telegraphy, including the +duplex, quadruplex, and sextuplex system; the carbon telephone +transmitter; microtasimeter; aerophone, for amplifying sound; the +megaphone, for magnifying sound. Thence also emanated his phonograph, a +form of telephone, and various practical adaptations of the electric +light. His kinetoscope (1894) is a development of the Zoetrope, in which +the continuous picture is obtained from a swift succession of +instantaneous photographs (taken 46 or more in a second), and printed +on a strip of celluloid. Of late he has devoted himself to improving +metallurgic methods. He has taken out some 500 patents, and founded many +companies at home and in Europe. + +Following up some of his telegraphic inventions, he had developed a +machine which, by reason of the indentations made on paper, would +transfer a message in Morse characters from one circuit to another +automatically, through the agency of a tracing-point connected with a +circuit-closing device. Upon revolving with rapidity the cylinder that +carried the indented or embossed paper Mr Edison found that the +indentations could be reproduced with immense rapidity through the +vibration of the tracing-point. He at once saw that he could vibrate a +diaphragm by the sound-waves of the voice, and, by means of a stylus +attached to the diaphragm, make them record themselves upon an +impressible substance placed on the revolving cylinder. The record being +made thus, the diaphragm would, when the stylus again traversed the +cylinder, be thrown into the same vibrations as before, and the actual +reproduction of human speech, or any other sound, would be the result. +The invention thought out in this manner was at once tried, with +paraffined paper as the receiving material, and afterwards with tinfoil, +the experiment proving a remarkable success, despite the crudity of the +apparatus. In 1878 Mr Edison made a number of phonographs, which were +exhibited in America and Europe, and attracted universal attention. The +records were made in these on soft tinfoil sheets fastened around metal +cylinders. For a while Mr Edison was compelled to suspend work on this +invention, but soon returned to it and worked out the machine as it +exists practically to-day. It occupies about the same space as a hand +sewing-machine. A light tube of wax to slide on and off the cylinder is +substituted for the tinfoil, which had been wrapped round it, and the +indenting stylus is replaced by a minute engraving point. Under the +varying pressure of the sound-waves, this point or knife cuts into the +tube almost imperceptibly, the wax chiselled away wreathing off in very +fine spirals before the edge of the little blade, as the cylinder +travels under it. Each cylinder will receive about a thousand words. In +the improved machine Mr Edison at first employed two diaphragms in +'spectacle' form, one to receive and the other to reproduce; but he has +since combined these in a single efficient attachment. The wax cylinders +can be used several hundred times, the machine being fitted with a small +paring tool which will shave off the record previously made, leaving a +smooth new surface. The machine has also been supplemented by the +inventor with an ingenious little electric motor with delicate governing +mechanism, so that the phonograph can be operated at any chosen rate of +speed, uniformly. This motor derives its energising current either from +an Edison-Lalande primary battery, a storage battery, or an +electric-light circuit. + +The new and perfected Edison phonograph has already gone into very +general use, and many thousands are distributed in American business +offices, where they facilitate correspondence in a variety of ways. They +are also employed by stenographers as a help in the transcription of +their shorthand notes. Heretofore these notes have been slowly dictated +to amanuenses, but they are now frequently read off to a phonograph, and +then written out at leisure. The phonograph is, however, being used for +direct stenograph work, and it reported verbatim 40,000 words of +discussion at one convention held in 1890, the words being quietly +repeated into the machine by the reporter as quickly as they were +uttered by the various speakers. A large number of machines are in use +by actors, clergymen, musicians, reciters, and others, to improve their +elocution and singing. Automatic phonographs are also to be found in +many places of public resort, equipped with musical or elocutionary +cylinders, which can be heard upon the insertion of a small coin; and +miniature phonographs have been applied to dolls and toys. The value of +the phonograph in the preservation of dying languages has been perceived +too, and records have already been secured of the speech, songs, +war-cries, and folklore of American tribes now becoming extinct. It is +also worthy of note that several voice records remain of distinguished +men, who 'being dead yet speak.' Their tones can now be renewed at will, +and their very utterances, faithful in accent and individuality, can be +heard again and again through all time. + +Improvements are being made in the wholesale reproduction of +phonographic cylinders, by electrotyping and other processes; and the +machine, in a more or less modified form, is being introduced as a +means of furnishing a record of communications through the telephone. +Phonographic clocks, books, and other devices have also been invented by +Mr Edison, whose discovery is evidently of a generic nature, opening up +a large and entirely new field in the arts and sciences. + + +THE END. + + +Edinburgh: + +Printed by W. & R. Chambers, Limited. + + + + +BOOKS COMPILED BY + +ROBERT COCHRANE + +PUBLISHED BY + +W. & R. CHAMBERS, LIMITED. + + + ADVENTURE AND ADVENTURERS. Being True Tales of Daring, + Peril, and Heroism. Illustrated. 2/6 + + GOOD AND GREAT WOMEN. Lives of Queen Victoria, Florence + Nightingale, Jenny Lind, &c. Illustrated. 2/6 + + BENEFICENT AND USEFUL LIVES. Lives of Lord Shaftesbury, + George Peabody, Sir W. Besant, Samuel Morley, Sir J. Y. + Simpson, &c. Illustrated. 2/6 + + GREAT THINKERS AND WORKERS. Lives of Thomas Carlyle, Lord + Armstrong, Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens, W. M. Thackeray, + Sir H. Bessemer, James Nasmyth, &c. Illustrated. 2/6 + + RECENT TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE. Travels of H. M. Stanley, + Lieutenant Greely, Joseph Thomson, Dr Livingstone, Lady + Brassey, Arminius Vambery, Sir Richard Burton, &c. + Illustrated. 2/6 + + GREAT HISTORIC EVENTS. Indian Mutiny, French Revolution, + the Crusades, Conquest of Mexico, &c. Illustrated. 2/6 + + +LONDON AND EDINBURGH. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANCE OF INDUSTRY AND +INVENTION*** + + +******* This file should be named 38329.txt or 38329.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/8/3/2/38329 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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