Chapter I: 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

ROMANCE OF INDUSTRY

AND

INVENTION.