The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-24 00:00:00

Death of Mr. J. B. Neilson, C.E., F.R.S.

Mr. Neilson, of Queenshill, whose death we announced
in our obituary of Friday last, was a distinguished man,
having played an important part in the industrial history
of GI-bat Britain, as well as of other nations, during the
last half century. He was the inventor of the hot-blast,
a discovery of great merit, which has revolutionised the
iron trade, and added largely to the sources of wealth and
happiness throughout the world. Tho West of Scotland
has especially benefited from the stimulus which this
wonder-working invention has given to the development of
their mineral treasures during the last 35 years. Lanark-
shire has become, by that means, not only one of the
largest iron-producing districts in Great Britain, but has
vindicated for herself a full share of many of those kindred
branches of manufacture out of the raw material of iron
which go to enrich an industrious people. In 1828, when the
hot-blast was invented, the produce of the smelting fur-
naces of Scotland was not more than 29,000 tons per an-
num. In 1864 the produce was 1,160,000. In 1828 the
average selling price of a ton of pig iron was above £7,
while in 1864 it was £2 17s. 3d. A large, if not the largest
portion of this increased production and money-saving is to
be traced more or less directly to the general adoption of
the hot-blast process. By scientific as well as by practical
men the hot-blast has been characterised as a " wonderful
discovery," and by one of the leading Scottish ironmasters
it has been said to have been " the making of the iron
trade of Scotland." In fact, without it the extraordinary
seams of blackband ironstone which Mr. Mushet had
brought to light in Lanarkshire about the beginning of
the century could not otherwise have been rendered fully
available in the production of the superior quality of metal
for all foundry uses for which the ironworks in that coun-
try are now celebrated. Is it, then, extraordinary, that from
1828 we have to date the rise of those colossal fortunes
which have been made in the iron trade of the West of
Scotland, in the foundries, the forges, the rolling mills, the
machine shops, and the iron shipbuilding yards of Glasgow
and the Clyde ? But it is not alone in this country that the
hot-blast has been adopted. Even before Mr. Neilson's
patent expired in 1842, the process had become general in all
the iron-producing districts of Europe and America, and was
oven practised in India. Some of our readers, we expect, may
ask us what sort a man was this that worked so large a
change on our industrial occupation in Glasgow ? For Mr.
Neilson had of late years retired in a great measure from
Glasgow and its busy marts, and, although well known to
a large circle of our elder citizens, he may not have been
personally familiar to many even of those whom his genius
has helped to raise themselves into wealth and distinction.
Mr. Neilson was a native of Shettleston, near Glasgow.
He was born in 1792, and was brought up by his humble
but respectable parents as a working mechanic. His edu-
cation had not been neglected, and he possessed consider-
able advantages in the fostering care of the late Mr. John
Neilson, his elder brother, and in finding employtdent
under various ironmasters of skill, such as Dr. Roebuck
and Mr. William Dixon. But his rise in life was chiefly
owing to his own energy and talent. Some of our readers
may remember the subject of this notice engaged in the
erection and superintendence of the Glasgow Gasworks
in 1.817, and for some years afterwards. In that em-
ployment he showed himself an earnest, useful man,
desirous to improve his mind, and willing always to lend
a helping hand to the improvement of others. It was while
thus engaged that some accidental circumstances led him,
in the course of his studies and experiments, to direct his
attention to the process of smelting iron, and after many trials,
and not a few failures, he ultimately satisfied himself that a
vastly increased and improved action of the artificial blast
employed in furnaces could be attained by heating the air
in its passage from the blowing cylinder into the furnace.
This was the hot-blast. A patent was secured, and by the
aid of three of our public-spirited fellow-citizens, to whom
a portion of the profits were made :over in return for capi-
tal and support—Messrs. Chas. Macintosh, Colin Dunlop,
and John Wilson—the invention was rapidly introduced
into the trade. The royalty or license duty asked was very
moderate, only ls. per ton ; but, like all other valuable
patents, its validity was disputed, and much litigation en-
sued. After many years thus spent, to the great vexation
and.loss of Mr. Neilson and his partners, the patent was
pronounced by the court of law both in England and Scot-
;
land to be unassailable, and hetury damages were awarded
for its infringement. The general result was the realisa-
tion of a very large sum of money, of, which Mr. Neilson
of course had his share. Before and since the hot-blast

patent expired Mr. Neilson has also been engaged in
extensive and lucrative mining and manufacturing works
in and near Glasgow. In 1851 he bought a beautiful small
estate in Kirkcudbrightshire, where he has since resided,
Mr. Neilson was, like many men of real genius, a quiet,
reflective, unassuming, and earnest man, thoroughly ho-
nourable and straightforward. He was kind-hearted and

fond of harmless mirth and social intercourse ; he was ever

anxious to perform his duties towards God and his fellow-
men. He had been twice married, but both his wives pre-
deceased him. He has left a numerous family to lament
his loss, some of whom are settled amongst us.—North
British Daily Mail.

European Recruiting for the Federal Army.

The New York Herald contains the following in
regard to the recruiting in Europe for the Federal
army :
" It is generally known that agents of the Stat e
of Massachusetts imported from Europe, as labour-
ers, a large number of men (about 1,100), landed
them on one of the numerous islands in the vicinity
of Boston, and made active preparations to put them
into the army by the most liberal promises of pay,
clothing, land, &c., to be credited, of course, on her
quota. But they, as a general thing, utterly refused
to enter the army, though some of them assented.
They were finally, however, all sent to Washington,
when, on an investigation of the whole subject con-
nected with their importation, deceptions practised,
and moneys promised, of which they had received

little or none, the Government positively refused to
muster them into the service of the United States or
credit them to the Massachusetts quota ; conse-
quently they are lost to that State, and all the ex-
pense she has been to concerning them is thrown
away, to say nothing of the loss of character td her
citizens. Large numbers of these men were wholly un-
fit for military duty, and how Government officers
could have been found in Boston to have passed them
is &mystery of which:Boston alone holds the secret.
Now, these men are afloat upon the world, and most
of them have arrived in this city penniless, and in
want. The able-bodied ones—and there are men
among them who would do credit as soldiers to any
army in the world—are willing and anxious to enlist
if they can keep clear of Massachusetts. With
this object a squad of twenty or more visited Mr.
Blunt's office lately, and, though foreigners, would
answer for substitutes were any of our citizens,
wanting substitutes, present to secure them. Yet
the misfortune is they desire as a body to go into
the New York Battery Regiment. The War De-
partment having just issued an order that all future
enlistments must be for the infantry alone, the
supervisor is deprived the privilege of receiving
these men, and the consequence is we are likely
to lose men enough out of this Massachusetts lot
to fill our quota. It is hoped that the difficulty in
the way of their reception may be overcome.
Mr. Blunt was in consultation recently with
General Hays in reference to the subject,
who immediately telegraphed to the War Depart-
met for a special order to enlist these men, who are
able-bodied, in a iNew York artillery regiment. It
is hoped a favourable answer will be received. In
the meantime Chairman Blunt has placed them in
.good quarters, where they will be well fed and
taken proper care of, much to their delight, it
being, they say, the first good treatment they have
received since arriving in this country. This man-
ner of filling State quotas Massachusetts has dis-
covered will not work."

A RESCUED CREW.—On the night of the 13th
inst. the captain and crew of the Dutch schooner Braziln
Packet was driven on the coast of Cornwall. Not long
before she went to pieces her captain and crew were rescued
by the Portuguese schooners Mercurio and Sereira. Mr.
H. Nyman, the master of the shipwrecked vessel, who has
no other means of expressing his gratitude, requests us to
state that but for the exertions of Captain Domingo dos
Santos, of the Mercurio, and Captain Manoel Jozo de
Loura, of the Sereira, he must have perished with the
wreck. ThAy and the seamen under their command dis-
played the utmost courage on the occasion referred to, and
for their exertions and their kindriess afterwards he desires
through our columns to express to them his most t3incem
gratitude.