| Page | |
| CHAPTER I. | |
| IRON AND STEEL. | |
| Pioneers of the Iron and Steel Industry—Sir Henry Bessemer—SirWilliam Siemens—Werner von Siemens—The Krupps ofEssen | [9] |
CHAPTER II. | |
| POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. | |
| Josiah Wedgwood and the Wedgwood Ware—WorcesterPorcelain | [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—Antiquityof Shepherd Life—Varieties of Sheep—Introductioninto Australia—Spanish Merino—Wool Wealth of Australia—Importsand Exports of Wool and Woollen Produce—WoollenManufacture | [81] |
| Cotton.—Cotton Plant in the East—Mandeville's Fablesabout Cotton—Cotton in Persia, Arabia, and Egypt—Columbusfinds Cotton-yarn and Thread in 1492—In Africa—Manufactureof Cloth in England—The American Cotton Plant | [91] |
CHAPTER V. | |
| GOLD AND DIAMONDS. | |
| Gold.—How widely distributed—Alluvial Gold-mining—VeinGold-mining—Nuggets—Treatment of Ore and Gold in theTransvaal—Story of South African Gold-fields—Gold-productionof the World—Johannesburg the Golden City—Coolgardie Gold-fields—Bayley'sdiscovery of Gold there | [102] |
| Diamonds.—Composition—Diamond-cutting—Diamond-mining—FamousDiamonds—Cecil J. Rhodes and the KimberleyMines | [135] |
CHAPTER VI. | |
| BIG GUNS, SMALL-ARMS, AND AMMUNITION. | |
| Woolwich Arsenal—Enfield Small-arms Factory—Lord Armstrongand the Elswick Works—Testing Guns at Shoeburyness—HiramS. Maxim and the Maxim Machine Gun—The ColtAutomatic Gun—Ironclads—Submarine Boats | [152] |
CHAPTER VII. | |
| THE EVOLUTION OF THE CYCLE. | |
| In praise of Cycling—Number of Cycles in Use—MedicalOpinions—Pioneers in the Invention—James Starley—CyclingTours | [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—EarlySteamships—First Steamer to cross the Atlantic—Rise ofAtlantic Shipping Lines—The Great Eastern and the NewCunarders 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—ThePost-office on Wheels—Early Telegraphs—Wheatstoneand Morse—The State and the Telegraphs—Atlantic Cables—Telephones—Edisonand the Phonograph | [247] |
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.
rancis 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!