[2] The statistics of agriculture, trade, and manufactures is ably and fully discussed in Mr. M’Culloch’s Dictionary already referred to.
The following summary of our manufactures is extracted from Mr. Macqueen’s General Statistics of the British Empire, published in 1836. It shows the amount of capital embarked in the various departments of manufacturing industry, and of the returns of that capital:—
| Capital. | Produce. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | ||
| Cotton | manufactures | 40,973,872 | 52,513,586 |
| Woollen | ditto | 36,000,000 | 44,250,000 |
| Silk | ditto | 8,000,000 | 10,000,000 |
| Linen | ditto | 12,000,000 | 15,421,186 |
| Leather | ditto | 13,000,000 | 16,000,000 |
| Iron | ditto, to making pig iron | 10,000,000 | 7,098,000 |
| Ditto, | hardware, cutlery, &c. | 25,000,000 | 31,072,600 |
| Copper and brass | 3,600,000 | 4,673,186 | |
| China, glass, &c. | 8,600,000 | 10,892,794 | |
| Paper, furniture, books, &c. | 10,000,000 | 14,000,000 | |
| Spirits (British), ales, soap, &c. | 37,600,000 | 47,163,847 | |
| Sundries additional | 9,000,000 | ||
| Totals | 204,773,872 | 262,085,199 | |
In consequence of an arrangement with Mr. William Newton, patent agent, and proprietor of the London Journal of Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures, I have been permitted to enrich this Dictionary with many interesting descriptions and illustrative figures of modern patent inventions and improvements, which I could not otherwise have presented to my readers. Mr. Newton has lately enhanced the value of his Journal by annexing to it a catalogue raisonnée, entitled “An Analytical Index to the Subjects contained in the 23 Volumes,” which constitute the first and second series. The subsequent 13 volumes, of his Conjoined Series, are of still superior interest; and the whole form a vast storehouse of Mechanical and Chemical Invention.
Although I am conscious of having used much diligence for many years in collecting information for this work, from every quarter within my reach, the utmost pains in preparing it for publication, and incessant vigilance during its passage through the press, yet I am fully aware that it must contain several errors and defects. These I shall study to rectify, should the Public deem this volume worthy of a supplement. In this hope, I earnestly solicit the suggestions of my readers; trusting that ere long our Post Office system will cease to be such an obstacle as it has long been to the collection and diffusion of useful knowledge, and a tax upon science which the remuneration of its literature cannot by any means bear.
Since this book is not a Methodical Treatise, but a Dictionary, one extensive subject may be necessarily dispersed through many articles. Thus, for example, information upon the manufacture of Colours will be found under azure; black pigment; bone-black; bronze; brown dye; calico-printing; carmine; carthamus; chromium; cochineal; crayons; dyeing; enamels; gold; gilding; gamboge; gray dye; green dye; green paints; indigo; kermes; lac dye; lakes; madder; massicot; mercury, periodide of; Naples yellow; orange dye; orpiment; paints, grinding of; ochres; paper-hangings; pastes; pearl white; Persian berries; pottery pigments; Prussian blue; purple of Cassius; red lead; rouge; Scheele’s green; Schweinfurth green; stained glass; terra di Sienna; ultramarine; umber; verditer; vermilion; vitrifiable colours, weld, white lead; woad; yellow, king’s.
A casual consulter of the Dictionary, who did not advert to this distribution, might surmise it to be most deficient, where it is in reality most copious.
The elaborate and costly Encyclopedias, and Dictionaries of Arts, which have appeared from time to time in this country, and abroad, have, for the most part, treated of the mechanical manufactures, more fully and correctly than of the chemical. The operations of the former are, in fact, tolerably obvious and accessible to the inspection of the curious; nor are they difficult to transfer into a book, with the aid of a draughtsman, even by a person but moderately versed in their principles. But those of the latter are not unfrequently involved in complicated manipulations, and depend, for their success, upon a delicate play of affinities, not to be understood without an operative familiarity with the processes themselves. Having enjoyed the best opportunities of studying the chemical arts upon the greatest scale in this kingdom and on the Continent, I may venture, without the imputation of arrogance, to claim for my work, in this respect, more precision and copiousness than its predecessors possess. I have gone as far in describing several curious processes, hitherto veiled in mystery, as I felt warranted, without breach of confidence, to go; regarding it as a sacred duty never to publish any secret whatever, without the consent of its proprietor. During my numerous tours through the factory districts of Great Britain, France, &c., many suggestions, however, have been presented to my mind, which I am quite at liberty to communicate in private, or carry into execution, in other districts too remote to excite injurious competition against the original inventors. I am also possessed of many plans of constructing manufactories, of which the limits of this volume did not permit me to avail myself, but which I am ready to furnish, upon moderate terms, to proper applicants. I conclude by pointing attention to the very insecure tenure by which patents for chemical or chemico-mechanical inventions are held; of which there is hardly one on record which may not be readily evaded by a person skilled in the resources of practical chemistry, or which could stand the ordeal of a court of law directed by an experienced chemist. The specifications of such patents stand in need of a thorough reform; being for the most part not only discreditable and delusive to the patentees, but calculated to involve them in one of the greatest of evils—a chancery suit.
London:
13. Charlotte Street, Bedford Square,
March 1. 1839.