The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-03-07
Tn. NranafAc,rre Of iron.

We have seen Of late, In several quarters
notices OF work lately published Ia Great
Britain by Mr.. ScMvgSoR, purporting to be
a history Of the iron trade II carried out IS
il ought to he, such a work would be one Of
/ the most in Interesting which could De presen ted
! to the world In the opinion OF many NH
/ losophers, iron has been q far more important
metal to mankind than even gold or silver
II were scarcely too bold figure to saw that
It's history is the history OF civilization. To
/. we owe every thing that we are and ali
that we possess. Agriculture. art, commerce
seience--everything that man is or has, In
the highest state of civilization. is i'm n
second degree at least, its work II has
Cleared the forests, slain the beasts that in
Tested them, titled the ground, moved the
crops, built the granaries, for thousands of
years. 1t has erected the edfices " hich
ara the pride OF civilized man. not less than
the cabin in which the settler squats.-
lis agency Ia felt in the construc ton and nayi-
cation of ships, in the steamboat, III the rail
road, In everything fashioned by the hands OF
man. What would man be without it, Trace
'at what the Indians were when Capt. john
~afru first came here, and you will perceive
IL is irn possible TO conceive Of any one imple
inent OF use or ornament employed by evil
zed man, from the huge gun that burns
twenty pounds of powder at an explosion
,!own to the Plus that fasten the clothes OF
yaby, from the plate on the rich mans side
BOARD 10 the crockery on the shelf OF free ne
5ro's cabin, from the golden dinner set OF
queen VICTORIA down TO the wedding ring on
Iadys 6uger, which has not, in some way,
,elt it's influence, or been wrought into its
present shape by its action. The very pen
With which this article is written, the ink
With which il is charged, the paper on which
operates, the type in which 1t Will be set,
he press by which it Will be struck off, all
re indebted TO this metal, or consist. TO some
'xtent, Of it 1t is, indeed, the universal
gent. We find that exactly in proportion to
nc growth of its use among men, has been the
progress of society.
Three thousand years before the Christian
era, and about five hundred before the Deluge,
we are told that TrBAL CAIN instructed men in
the working of brass and iron. It's hardly pos
-ible to believe that the Pyramids. the Laby
in tn and the other vast works of Egypt, were
Completed without the use of this all-cOn
luering metal. Yet, we find, in the poems of
HOMER, very little mention made Of it. There.
verythinG that ought to be IRON is brass.-
The points of the spears are brass, the shields
sre brass, the clasps and fastenlDgs OF the
oeits all of brass. Vulcan is there the god
If the fire, the anvil, and the forge, the pa
iron of all workers in metal. We are intro
iuced to his forgive see him Mt work-we
ire exactly instructed in his processes-we are
made acquainted with the metals he employs
they are chiefly gold and brass Occa-
sonaIly a little tin, or little silver is thrown
n but We hcar-to the best of our recollec-
tion--nothing of the use of iron in his ex-
Jeriments. The armor which he made
or ACHILLES was of brass, gold, and tin.
lie made trinkets for all the Gods. He built
them mansions on Olympus. He made their
furniture lie fashioned their arms. He en-
tued them all with a self moving power. But
either wood nor iron enters into their com
position. Other writers, much later than
HOMER, tell us OF nnumerahle other thing
which he made. The collar OF Harmouias the
fre-brenthng huils Of Etcs. the dogs of Alci-
nous, all were of brass or gold OF silver
from MI this we are led to infer, that in varv
'7rlv times brass q metal much more,
'ommon in nsa than iron In fact ii was very
ratural that il should he so. ''Gold silver
nd copper" says Mr.. SCRrvRxoR care found
n their perfect state and were accordingly
ne metals first known, md first applied TO
1se But iron, the most sprvicnabla OF all, il
lever discovered in its perfect state Ite
~ross and stubborn ms tAri%l muet twice feel
he force Of fire and co through two lahorions
N-oc"sses before II becomes At for usn" Pv sSa
nnrfect state" of course is meant = metallic
tare. Here is the lateness of the improve
nents in iron naturally accounted for
In FnGland for many centuries after the
10mans had abandoned the island, but little
rroGress was made I'm producing iron. The
population wanted it badly ENOUGH. They
wefe conquered bv the Saxone the Saxona
we're invaded nv the Danes. perpetual war
'Sisted on the Northern frontier. In fact, the
wretched inhabitants, whether Briton or
Saxon, seem never to have been at peace -
Vet so scarce was the great article of demand
FOR the uses of war, that at q much later pc
~iod-as late, even, as the time of the Plan
'Hgenets, the Scots made an inroad for the
purpose of ting all they could of it. Their
avn country, in the meantime, could have
implied them with enough 10 furnish the
world, had they known how 10 get at it