The development of Western technology since 1500.

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF WESTERN TECHNOLOGY SINCE 1500

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~L-\IN TI-IE~IES

IN EllROPEAN I IIS'TOHY

Bruce ,,Ia::.lish, Geucral Editor THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN l\lODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY edited by Sidney A. Burrell THE DEVELOPl\lENT OF \tVESTERN TECHNOLOGY SINCE 1500 edited by Thomas Parke H11ghes THE

DEVELOPi\IE~T

OF THE l\10DERN STATE edited by Hein: L11bas:

THE RISE OF SCIENCE IN RELATION TO SOCIETY edited by Leonard M. Marsak POPULATION l\10VEMENTS IN MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY edited by Herbert Moller E\lPERIALISi\I AND COLONIALISM edited by George H. Nadel, and Perry CHrtis

Other volumes in preparation

, '" CONCORDfA lJNIVFHSITV UBRAHIES SIR GEORGE WILLIAMS CAMPUS

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF WESTERN TECHNOLOGY SINCE 1500 THOMAS

p ARKE

IjpGHES

7

Massachusetts lnstitt4>te of Technology

THI: \L\C!\IILLAN CO.:\lPA:"Y ,

~E\\'

YORK

1Jnc~ liable to encourage or discourage diffusion or tcchnolo~" . In the concluding remarks Scoville orgul's for a bal11nced interpretation of the impact of the migration upon European tcchnolog''

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T HOMAS PARKE HUGHES

Diffusion of technology has occurred in many ways and has made technology international. While the seventeenth century witnessed the Huguenot episode, the nineteenth century the transfer of skills and know-how to the New World, and the twentieth century the remarkable phenomenon of the dispersal of German science and technology before and immediately after W orld W ar II, diffusion has commonly taken place through the less dramatic means of the printed word, the consulting of foreign experts, or observation tours. In another selection (p. 75) Samuel Smiles gives a dramatic and simplified portrayal of Britain on the eve of the Industrial Revolution as an underdeveloped nation depending upon foreign experts for diffusion of technology (pp. 76-78). H e has not, however, recognized the highly important French con tribution. In the eighteenth century the French pioneered in the gathering together of engineers into professional groups and in the organizing of educational institutions. Among the most important of the French institutions was the £cole des Ponts et Chaussees, founded in 1747 to train the builders of bridges and roads. French engineers also wrote scientific treatises on engineering, blazing trails leading to the impressive development of scientific engineering in Germany in the late nineteenth century. During the era of the French Revolution and Napoleon, the Fr.e nch further contributed to scientific engineering through the creation and promotion of the most distinguished of the early engineering schools, the £cole Polytechnique. While French engineering was generally impressive in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the British led in use of coal, production of cast iron, and development of steam power and machine tools. Remarkably, these British achievements, while diverse technologically, were localized geographically. The Midlands, cen tered upon Birmingham, and the Lancashire district, with Manchester and nearby Liverpool at the heart, witnessed in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the rapid technological-industrial developments aptly termed the British Industrial Revolution. In another essay we shall consider the flourishing of the fa ctory system of production in Lancashire, but the Rhys Jenkins article briefly explores the close interaction of technological events in a limited area of the Midlands. In the vicinity of Coalbrookdale, on the Severn River in Shropsh ire, occurred a technological revolution that was a preliminary to the Industria l Revolution. H ere the Abraham Darbys, father and sons, over the course of the century transcended the natural limitations that fru strated the British iron industry. A shortage of timber on the island so reduced

., INTRODUCTION

7

the supply of charcoal, made from wood and used in smelting iron from ore, that the iron industry languished. Abraham Darby I (1677-1717) found how to substitute coke made from coal for the charcoal in the manufacture of pig iron. This technological triumph would alone have brought lasting fame to the district, but, as Jenkins points out, a complex of invention and innovation developed around the core of the Darby invention. Further efforts at the Darby works helped open the era of mass production of cast-iron implements, and Abraham Darby II, in association with experienced workers, found how to reline the pig iron made with coke into malleable iron (Henry Cort would show how to do this in 1784, using coal fuel instead of charcoal). Thus, the frustrat· ing limitations of the organic process of tree growth were transcended as man ,..improved upon nature." Jenkins suggests a theme of great importance for the understanding of technological history. He points out that in the vicinity of Coal· brookdale there were other firsts: the cast-iron rail, the cast-iron bridge at lronbridge, the use of the boring mill of advanced design to finish cylinders for Boulton and Watt engines, and the use of this engine in 1776 to provide the blast for the iron furnace at Wilkinson's works. In addition, Lord Dundonald introduced a more economic means of making coke for the iron furnaces. We see, then, an aspect of technological progress-interconnected inventions and innovations advancing on a broad front of technology. Advanced and reversed salients on the front revealed needs and dictated the efforts of inventors, engineers, and industrialists. Iron and steam are often taken as synonymous with the British Industrial Revolution. This is a gross simplification of the episode, but the importance of steam in the technological complex making possible the Revolution is undeniable, and a survey of technological history should emphasize the steam engine. The name of Watt is commonplace, that of Thomas Newcomen is less familiar, but these two and the other steam engine inventors-famous and obscure- are sometimes assumed to be practical-minded men with no background or interest in science. Professor Milton Kerker's essay not only calls to mind, or introduces, the leading steam·engine inventors, but also challenges the commonplace that their work can be considered without a reference to the history of science (p. 65). Kerker's article raises questions about the definition of science and technology. The definition workable in the twentieth century does not suit the eve of the Industrial Revolution. Kerker does not make the error of carrying the model of an engineer formally trained in science

8

THOMAS PAlH(·ribcd and illu!.trated all apparatus, vessels, furna ces, utensils, crucihlcs, g la sswurc, and other appurtenances. All thi ~ was done in con sideration of the fact that in your Majesty's kingdoms, principalities,

E y s l\.tt'tli

!d the"' ··• no

later trans. fl our own have also ~gratitude

tterested in Issued varicharacterrre are few >r Gennan ) are most re assayed, is an is handled considered w nothing ng the art ;ieir works what they th fire, or 1k in vain i by these

au.

LAZARUS ERCKER-ASSAYER

nd subject domains there are buried 37 a f d"ff ll" tnany exceU . dePosits o i erent meta ic ores, some of hi h ent nch miner"! · the hope that w . h c have are being workecl ' ancl m h been found and . ff . , \\'lt t e hel f "-' through serious e ort stimulated by complete infonnati P 0 "'Xl ~d be further developed and long maintained h" h on, they nugbt ·nterest of communal enterprise and 10 the a,dw ic \\'ould be in the i vantage of , l Roman Majesty's exchequer. . . . )Our mperial Thus I am confident in my hope that vour Im · M . 1 most graciously accept and will be pleased \vith this~ 1 a)CSt)k: will . . mv wor . which though unworth y, was wntten m honor of )'Our lmpe~l ~ 1 . ' ,\ a1est'\· aud for the use and be ne 6 t of aI1 those miners, public as&ive ·1 . k. . h 6 ho , rs, sme ters, and other artisans wor mg wit re w are in need of further infor· mation and who can pro6t from this well-intended labor of mine. l herewith take most h~ble lea\'e fr~m your Majesty, expressing the wish that God may gi\'e you long life, a blessed reign, and \ictorv against the enemies o~ your Imperial Roman ~lajesl)-, etc. ' Given at Prague, m the one thousand b\'e hundred and seventy· fourth year after the birth of Christ our Redeemer. On the third day of September. Your Imperial Roman :\lajesty's l\lost humble and obedient ser\'ant Chief Superinterident of ~1mes and C.Omptroller In the Kingdom of Bohemia LAZARUS

tany years en moved love and (and also s). Thus, Majesty resources pn paper ividually and with tcristics, purified; cltcd by I have 1

sils, cru· in con ipalitics,

&Ci.Ell

OF S.ID1 AID.'"E!'.."l!D\C

SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES

Tl-IE GRAND CANAL OF LANGUEDOC AND ITS CONSTRUCTOR, PIERRE-PAUL RIQUET DE BONREPOS * Sann1el Smiles The Canal du Midi, more commonly known as the Grand Canal of Languedoc, was one of the most important works of the kind at the time at which it was executed, though it has since been surpassed by many canals in France, as well as in England and other countries. It was commenced in 1666, about a hundred years before Brindley began the Bridgewater Canal, and it was finished in 1681. The magni• Reprinted from Samuel Smiles, Liaes of the E'!Einurs ( London: John ;\lurray, 1874 ), Vol. I, pp. 30 l-312. For etai!&I stuily ihere is, Histoire du Canal de Lmguedoc par les Descendants de Pierre-Paul Riquel de Bonrepos ( Paris, 1805). On French technology in English there are the plates from the Diderot Encyclopedie selected and explained by Charles Gillispie. Unfonunatdy, the num· ber of works in English on the history of French technology in no way matches the significance of the subject. Isis has had articles on eighteenth-century French tech· nology and science: Charles Gillispie, "The Natural History of Industry," Vol. 48 ( 1957), and his "The Discovery 0£ the Leblanc Process," Vol. 48 (1957); and L. Pearce Williams, "Science, Education, and Napoleon I," Vol. 47 ( 1956). Also see Stanley B. Hamilton, "French Civil Engineers 0£ the 18th Century," Transactions of the ewcomen Society, Vol. 22 (1941-42); and Jamt-S Kip Finch's articles on the great books of engineering in Cousulring Engintcr (St. Joseph, Michigan ), which include essays on French engineers: Hubert G3ut1cr ( 1660-1737) in Oct., 1960; J. R. Perronet ( 1708-94) in April. 1962; and Emiland-l\larie G au they (1732-1806) in Sept., 1962. (Editor's note)

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SAl\lUEL Sl\11LES

tude and importance of the work will be understood fro1n the following brief statement of facts. The canal crosses the isthmus which connects France with Spain, alono the valle)' between the Pyrenees and the Rhone, and extends 0 , from the Garonne at Toulouse (which is navigable from thence to the Bay of Biscay) to Cette on the shores of the l\1editerranean, thus uniting that sea with the Atlantic Ocean. The length of the navigation, from Toulouse to Cette, is about 158 English miles, including its passage through Lake Thau, near Cette, where, in consequence of the shallowness of the lake, it is confined for a considerable distance within artificial dykes. The canal is carried along its course over rivers, and under hills, by means of numerous aqueducts, bridges, and tunnels. From the Garonne to the summit it rises 207 feet by twenty-six locks; the summit level is 3~ miles, after which it descends by thirty-seven locks into the Aude near Carcassonne. It then proceeds along the north side of that river, passing over several streams, and descending by twenty-two locks into Lake Thau. There are other locks in the neighbourhood of Toulouse and Cette; the whole number being above a hundred. The fall from the summit at Naurouse to the Mediterranean is 621 ~ feet; a fact of itself which bespeaks the formidable character of the undertaking. The Grand Canal of Languedoc was constructed by Pie rre-Paul Riquet de Bonrepas, a man of extraordinary force of character, bold yet prudent, enterprising and at the same time sagacious and patient, possessed by an inexhaustible capacity for work, and endowed with a fa culty for business, as displayed in his organization of the labours of others, amounting to genius. Yet Riquet, like Brindley 1 was for the most part self-taught, and was impelled by his instincts rather than by his education to enter upon the construction of canals, which eventually became the great business of his life. . . . The union of the Mediterranean with the Atlantic by means of a navigable canal across the South of France had long formed the subject of much curious speculation. The design of such a work will be found clearly sketched out in the 'Memoires de S ully;' but the project seemed to be so difficult of execution, that no steps were taken to carry it into effect until it was vigorously taken in hand by Riquet in the reign of Louis XIV. Though descended from a noble stock ( the ' James Brindley ( 1716-1772), a self-educated millwright and civil engineer, built or proposed hundreds of miles of Britain's early canals, including the historic Duke of Bridgewater Canal from W orsley to Manchester. [Editor's notel

CANAL OF LANGUEDOC

41

Arrighctti or Riquclli of Florence, to a branch of which Riquetti l\larquis de Mirabeau belonged). Riquet, at the time he took the scheme in hand, was only a simple exciseman (homme de gabelle). His place of residence was at the village of Bonrepos, situated near the foot of the l\1ontagne Noire, where he owned some property. France is there at about its narrowest part, and it had naturally occurred to those who speculated on the subject of a canal, that it would be of great public importance if by such means the large navigable river, the Garonne, which Bowed into the Western Ocean, could be united to the smaller river, the Aude, which Bowed into the l\1editer· rancan. Both had their sources in the Pyrenees, and in one part of their course the rivers were only about fourteen leagues apart. The idea of joining them was thus perfectly simple. The great difficulty was in the execution of the work, the levels being different, and the intervening country rocky and mountainous. The deputies from Languedoc to the States General of Paris had at various times brought the subject of the proposed canal under the notice of the Government, and engineers were even sent into the locality to report as to the feasibility of the scheme; but the result of their examination only served to confirm the general impression which prevailed as to the impracticable character of the undertaking. The situation of Riquet's property at the l\lontagne Noire probably had the effect of directing his attention to the subject of the proposed canal. Though the king had made him a tax-gatherer, nature had made him a mathematician; and his studies having taken a practical tum, he gradually went from geometry to le\•elling and surveving. His instru· ments and appliances were of the simplest sort, but they proved sufficient for his purpose. The Chancellor d'Aguesseau, in the memoir of his father, who personally knew Riquet, says of him that "the only instrument he then possessed was a wretched compass of iron; and it was this, with very little instruction and assistance, that led him, guided mainly by his powerful natural instinct, which often a\•ails more than science, to form the daring conception of uniting the Ocean with the . " Me diterranean. H e carefully examined the course of the streams in his neighbour· hood, trying to find out some practicable method of uniting the Garonne and the Aude, but more especially some means of supplying the upper levels of the Canal which he had in his mind's eye with sufficient water for purposes of navigation. With those objects he made many surveys of the adjacent country, until he knew almost every foot of the ground for thirty miles round. In the mean time he hired one

, SAl\-1 UEL Si\11LES

Pierre, the son of a well-sinker of Revel, to dig a number of experimental little canals under his direction, in his gardens at Bonrepos, where they arc still to he seen. These miniature works included conduits, sluices, locks, and even a model tunnel through a hill. At length, in the year 1662, he brought his plans under the notice of the famous l\1inister Colbert. Addressing h im from the village of Bonrepos, Riquct said, "You will he surprised that I should address you on a matter about which I might be supposed to know nothjng, and that an exciseman should mix himself up with river surveying. But you will excuse my presumption when I inform you that it is by the order of the Archbishop of Toulouse that I write to you." He then proceeded to state that, having made a particular study of the subject, he had formed definite plans for carrying into effect the proposed canal, of which he enclosed a description, though in a very imperfect form; "for," he added, "not having learnt Greek nor Latin, and scarce knowing how to speak French, it is not possible for me to explain myself without stammering." Pointing out the great advantages to the nation of the proposed canal, the time and the money that would be saved by enabling French ships to avoid the long voyage between the west coast and the Mediterranean by the Straits of Gibraltar, while the resources of the rich districts of Languedoc and Guienne would be freely opened up to the operations of commerce, Riquet concluded by stating that when he had the pleasure of learning that the project met with the general approval of the Minister, he would send him the details of his plans, the number of locks it would be necessary to provide, together with his calculations of the exact length, breadth, depth, and other particulars of the proposed canal. Colbert, at that time Controller-General of Finance, was actively engaged in opening up new sources of wealth to France, and Riquet's plan at once attracted his attention and excited his admiration. H e lost no time in bringing it under the notice of Louis XIV., whose mind was impressed by all undertakings which bore upon them the stamp of greatness. The king saw that Riquet's enterprise, if carried out, was calculated to add to the glory of his reign; and he resolved to assist it by all the means in his power. By his order, a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the scheme, examine on the spot the rurection of the proposed navigation, and report the result. Meanwhile Riquet was not idle. He walked over the entire line of the intended canal several times, correcting, amending, and perfecting the details of his plans with every possible care. "I have gone every· where, all over the ground," he wrote to the Archbishop, "with level,

CANAL OP LANGUEDOC

43

compass, and measuring line, so that I am perfectly acquainted with the route, the various lengths, the locks that will be required, the nature of the soil, whether rock or pasture, the elevations, and the number of mills along the line of navigation. In a word, my Lord, I am ignorant of no point of detail in the project, and the plan which l am prepart-d to submit will be faithful, being made on the ground, and with full knowledge of the subject." His survey finished, Riquet proceeded to Paris to see Colbert, to whom he was introduced bv his friend the Arch· bishop; and after many conferences, Riquet returned to Languedoc to prepare for the inspection of the proposed line of na\igation by the Commission. Their labours extended over two months, beginning at Toulouse and ending at Beziers. The result of the investigation was favourable to Riquet's plan, which was pronounced practica'ble, \\ith certain modifications, more particularly as respected the water-supply; and the Commissioners further recommended the extension of the proposed canal to a harbour at Cette. A long correspondence ensued between Riquet and Colbert as to the de~ails of the scheme. Riquet disputed the conclusions of the Com· missioners as to the alleged difficulty of constructing the works near Pierre de Naurouse intended for the supply of water to the canal; and, to show his confidence in his own plans, he boldly offered to construct the conduit there at his own risk and cost: "in undertaking to do which," said he, "I risk both honour and goods; for if I fail in satis· factoril y performing the work, l shall pass for a mere visionary, and at the same time lose a considerable sum of mone\'." So much difference of opinion prevailed upon this point,-the men 'or science alleging the inadequacy of Ricquet's plans, and Riquet himself urging their perfect suff1cicncy,-that Colbert resolved that until this point was decided, no further step should be taken to authorize the c:mal itself to be proceeded with. But in order that Riquet might ha\·e an opportunit~ of \•inclica11ng the soundness of his plans, and not improbably \\uh a 'iew to test his practical ability to carry out the larger works or exca,•ation and con struction, letters patent were issued entrusting him to proceed with the necessary trench or conduit to enable some experience to be obtained of the inclination of the ground and the probability or othcmisc of obtain ing an adequate supply of water for the nangation. Riquet, with his usual prompitude, immediatch bcg.m the cxautiun of this work. The rapidity with which he proceeded surpmed e\CC\ body; and the conduit was very srccdily finished to the entire ~11sfJc tion or the Government inspt>ctors. 1la,·ing gin:n 1his prouf of h1,

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SAl\IUEL Sl\ULES

practical !:kill, and demonstrated the possibility of supplying sufficient water to the summit level, the king determined on authorizing Riquet to proceed with the construction of the canal. The question of providing the requisite money for the purpose formed the next important subject of consideration. As the province of Langucdoc would derive the principal advantages from the navigation being opened out, it was proposed at the assembly of the States, in 1665, that that province should contribute a certain proportion of the cost, on condition that the king should provide the remainder. Notwithstanding, however, the great advantages to the province of the construction of the canal, the States of Languedoc would not untie their purse-strings; and they declared (26th February, 1666) that they vvould neither then nor thereafter contribute towards its cost. On the other hand, the royal treasury had become almost exhausted, a nd any new expense could with difficulty be borne by it. Riquet's demonstration of the possibility of uniting the Mediterranean with the ocean had therefore thus far been in vain. But he had fairly committed himself to the enterprise, and he was not the man now to turn back. Having had the courage to conceive the design, he urged the Government to allow the work to proceed; and he suggested a method by which in his opinion the means might be provided without unnecessarily burdening the public treasury. H e offered to construct the works upon the Srst division of the canal, from T oulouse to Trebes near the river Aude, within a period of eight years, for the sum of 3,630,000 livres; and jn payment of this sum he proposed to the king that he should grant him the sole farming of the taxes in Languedoc, Roussillon, Con0ans, and Cerdagne during six years, on the same terms at which they were then held, and also that the offices of Controllers of peasants'-tax (des tailles), of tradesmen's-tax, and of rights over the salt-works of Pecais, should at the same time be assigned to him. This was a bold offer; but the Council of State accepted it, and the necessary legal powers were accordingly granted to Riquet, upon which measures were taken to enable him to proceed with the works. The plans which Riquet had prepared were revised and settled by M. Cavalier, the Commissaire-General of Forti6cations, who acted on behal f of the king. Riquet's plans had been prepared with such care, that in his speci6cation Cavalier for the most part adopted them, only altering the dimensions which were somewhat increased. The King's £nginccr was careful not to define too rigidly the manner in which the works were to be carried out. He did not even trace a de6nite line to be

CAN AL OF LANCUE DOC

45

followed, but merely marked the general limits \\ithin which the caru.l was to run. He foresaw that, with experience, many modifications might be fou nd necessary in the progress of the works, and he preferred lea\ing the managemen t of the details as much as possible to the skill and judgment of the contracting engineer. Riquet had now to display his genius in a new sphere. Hitheno h e had exhibited himself mainly as a designer; be had drawn pl.ans, advocated and explained them to others, and transacted the part of a diplomatist in getting them adopted. Though bis execution of the cond uit near P ierre de Naurouse had enabled him to give satisfactory proofs of his en gineering skill, the work he was now about to enter u pon was of a much more fonnidable character, calling for the exercise of a varied class of practical qualities. He bad to direct the labow:s of a very large nu mber of men, to select the most suitable persons to superintend thei r various operations, and meanwhile to gi\·e his continuous attention to the carrying out of his plans, which, as in the case of all great undertaki ngs, required constant modification according to the many unforeseen circumstances which from time to rime occurred in the course of t heir execution. Anxious to proceed with the greatest despatch, Riquet began \\ith th e organ ization of his staff of workmen and superintendents. He di\ided them in to a n umber of distinct groups, appointing a chef d'aneuer to each , un der w hom were 6ve brigadiers, each brigadier having the di rection of fi fty workmen. These groups were again combined in departments, a controller-general being appointed over each, and under him w ere travelling controllers, who received the repons of the brigadiers and chefs d'atteliers, an d thus effectually maintained and concentrated the operations of the workpeople, who sometimes numbered from eleven to twelve thousand. Before Riq uet ·had proceeded far with his enterprise, he experienced a difficulty w h ich has proved the bane of many a grand scheme-want of m on ey! The p roduce of the taxes above referred to was not sufficient to enable him to push on the works with vigour; but, rather than they sh ou ld be delayed, he himself incurred heavy debts, selling or mort· gaging all h is available property to raise the requisite means. ;-\oo\iihstanding the early decision of the States of Languedoc not to connibute toward s the cost of constructing 1he canal, Riquet again and again nude urgent appeals to them for help, but for some time in vain. Se\-eral g ran ts h ad been made from the royal treasury 10 enable the contrJCt to proceed, but Louis XIV, having become engaged in one of tu\.

SAl\IUEL Sl\llLES

expensive wars, was no longer able to contribute; and Riquet, having come to the end of his own resources, began to fear lest the canal works should be brought to a complete standstill. Colbert continued his fast friend and supporter, and took the most lively interest in the prosecution of the undertaking. His name was indeed a tower of strength, and his in8uence was in itself equal to a large capital. Of this Riquet on one occasion made very adroit use, for the purpose of inducing the States of Languedoc at length to take part in his enterprise. It is said that, in order to impress upon their minds the confidence reposed in him by the great l\linister, and thus to enhance his credit with them, he persuaded Colbert to allov.r him to try the following ruse. H e asked to be permitted to enter his cabinet while he was engaged with the farmers-general of the province in discussing the renewal of their leases. Colbert consented; and ·while thus occupied, Riquet turned the key of the room-door, and entered and sat do"vn, without saying a word to any one, and without any one speaking to him. The farmers-general looked at Riquet, then at the Minister, who took no heed of him, and then at each other. Strange that Colbert should place such confidence in Riquet as to permit him thus to enter his private chamber at pleasure! A second meeting of the same kind took place, and again Riquet entered as before. After the interview was over, the farmers spoke to Riquet of his canal, and its great utility; and ended by offering to lend him 200,000 livres. Riquet, however, listened to the proposal very coolly, without accepting it. At the end of a third interview with the Minister, at which Riquet was present as before, the farmers raised their terms, and offered to lend him 500,000 livres. Riquet replied that he could do nothing without the sanction of the Minister; and re-entering the cabinet of Colbert, he related to him what had passed. The Minister was very much amused at Riquet's adroitness, and readily gave his sanction to the proposed loan. This advance proved the beginning of a series of loans of great magnitude advanced to Riquet by the States of Languedoc to enable him to complete the canal. Though they were slow to believe in the practicability of the scheme, and for some time regarded it as impossible, thei r views changed when they saw the first part of the canal completed from Toulouse to Trebes, and opened for the purposes of navigation. They were then ready to recognize its great public uses, and from that time forward they exerted themselves to raise the necessary money to enable it to be completed to its junction with the M editerranean at the port of Cecte. But Riquet had numerous difficulties to encounter besides those

CANAL OF LANGUEDOC

47

arising from want of money in the course of his undenaking. The prosecution of the works involved constant anxiety and unremitting labour. One of his greatest troubles was the conciliation of the owners of the land through which the canal passed, many of whom were extremely hostile to the enterprise, and feared that it would inllict irreparable injury upon their property. Worse than all was the malice, misrepresentation, and calumny that pursued him. He was denounced as an impostor, attempting to do an impossible thing; he wa~ wasting public money upon a work which, even if 6nished, could ne\'er be of any use. Before he began the canal, it was predicted that water enough could never be collected to supply the summit level; and after that difficulty had been satisfactorily solved, local detraction was directed against the works. "Indeed," writes M. de Froidour to 1\1. de Barillon, "the people of the locality are so agreed in decrying them that the wonder is to find a person who has not arrived a·t the foregone conclusion that this enterprise can never succeed." Notwithstanding the alleged uselessness of the canal, the insufficiency of the works, and the prophecies of its failure even if completed, Riquct bravely bore up, amidst toil, and disappointments, and bodily suffering. H e never lost hope or courage, but persevered through all. Writing to Colbert in April, 1667, he said, "I now know the strong as well as the weak points of my work better than I before knew them: and I can assure you in all truth that it would not be easy to imagine a grander or more useful undertaking; I have all the water-supply that I require, a nd the invention of my reservoirs will furnish me during summer with sufficient to render the navigation perpetual." At another time he wrote to Colbert:-"l\ly enterprise is the dearest of my offspring: I look chic0y to the glory of it, and your satisfaction, not my profit; for though I wish to leave the honour to my children, I have no ambition to leave them great wealth." And again-"My object is not to e nrich myself, but to accomplish a useful work, and prove the soundness of my design, which most people have hitherto regarded as impossible." About the beginning of 1670, after three years' labour, part of the canal was opened, from T oulouse to Dupcrier, and used for the transport of materials. This was a comparatively easy section of the undertaking. But R iquct was desirous of exhibiting the practical uses of the canal at the earliest possible period, not only for the purpose of mitigating the popular opposition, but of encouraging the king, Colbert, and the States-General, to support him with the necessary means to complete the re mainder of the navigation from Trebes to Cette. Two

SAl\'1UEL Sl\HLES

years later, a further portion was finished and opened for public tra ffic. The Archbishop embarked at :\'aurouse, and sailed along the ne\v canal down to T oulouse. Four large barques ascended from the Garonne to Naurouse, and returned freighted with provisions and merchandise. The merchants of Gaillac, who had before been unable to send their wines to Bordeaux for sale, were now enabled to do so, a nd they established a packet-boat which regularly went bctvveen Naurouse and T oulouse three times a week. The remaining portions of the canal were in full progress. The basins, the conduits, the locks, were all well advanced as far as Castelnaudary, and Riquet was vigorously grappling with and successively overcoming the great difficulties which occurred in the construction of the works between that place and the Mediterranean. N ot the least among the number of his obstructions were the quarrels be tween the two Commissioners appointed by the king on the one hand, and by the States of Languedoc on the other, to superintend the execution of the undertaking. Each represented particular local interests, and whilst one desired to keep the canal to the north, the other wished it to proceed more to the south by way of Narbonne. Benveen their contentions, Riquet had sometimes a difficult course to steer. Thus, at Malpas, where it was necessary to carry the canal by a tunnel under the hill of Enserune, both Commissioners pronounced the work to be impracticable, because the hill appeared to consist chiefly of a sandy stuff permeable to water, and apt to give way. But they were far from agreed as to the remedy, each urging upon Riquet the adoption of an opposite course, one that he should carry the canal northward by Maureillan, the other that he should carry it southward by Nissau and Vendres. They both wrote to Colbert, pointing out that Riquet's plan could never be carried out; that the scheme threatened to prove a total failure, because his work had run its head into a sand-hill, at a point where it had a lake on each side of it, from twenty-five to thirty feet belo\v its level. In the m ean time the Commissioners gave Riquet orders to suspend the further prosecution of the works. Riquet put the orders in his pocket, and coolly resolved to carry out his own plan. T o conceal his design, he pretended to abandon the trench leading to the mountain, and sent the workmen to that part of the canal which lay between Beziers and Agde. H e then privily set a number of excavators to work upon the mountain-side n ear Malpas, and in six days he had vanquished the "impossibility," and cut a clear passage through it for his canal! When the work was finished, h e sent invitations to the C ardinal de Bonzy and to the two Commissioners to

CANAL OF LANGUEDOC

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come and inspect what he had done. Greatly to their surprise, he Jed them right through his tunnel, lit up with l:lambeaux; and his triumph was complete. It was not so easy to overcome the constantly recurring difficulties occasioned by the want of money. Nothing but money would satisfy his thousands of workmen and workwomen (for of the latter about six h undred were employed), and he was often put to the greatest straits for want of it. We find him, in 1675, writing to Colbert in very urgent terms. U nless supplied with funds, he represented that it would be impossible for him to go on. "People tell me," said he, "that I am only digging a canal in which to drown myself and my family." The king ordered a remittance to be sent to Riquet, but it was insufficient for his purposes. T he costly harbour works at Cette were now in full progress, absorbing a great deal of money; and Riquet's creditors grew more and more clamorous. Colbert urged the States of Languedoc to give h im more substantial help, and they complied so far as to vote him a loan of 300,000 livres. But this money was only to be advanced at different and remote periods. Thus it did little to help him either in credit or in funds. "I am doing everything that is possible," he again wrote to Colbert, on the 21st of January, 1679, "to find persons that will lend me money to enable me to finish the canal in the course of the presen t year. But I am so overwhelmed with debt, that nobody trust m e, so that I am under the necessity of again having recou~se to you, and i n fonning you of my needs; you will see what they are by the e nclosed statement; I venture to ask that you will state your wishes alongside of each item, so that I may be put in a position to bring my enterprise to a successful termination: it is my passion, and I shall be in despair if I cannot finish it. T ime flies; and once lost, it can never be recovered." Riquet had indeed reason to be apprehensi\•e that he might not live to complete h is work. The strain upon his mind and body for the fifteen years during which the canal was in progress had been \'cry great, and he had more than one serious attack of illness. But still the enterprise went forward. T he organization established by him was so perfect that his occasional absence from this cause was scarcely felt; besides, his eldest son was now in a manner competent to supply his place. The third portion of the undertaking, consisting of the harbour and sea entrance to the canal at Cette, was being \•igorouslr pushed on , and the canal was almost ready for opening throughout from one encl of it to the other, when, worn out by toil and disease, Riquct breathed his last, wi thout having the satisfaction of seeing his glorious

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work brought to completion. The canal was finished under the superintendence of his son, and was opened for public traffic about six m onths after Riquet's death. The total cost of the canal was about sixteen million livres, equal to 1,320,000l. sterling. Riquet sank all his own means in it, and when he died it was found that his debts amounted to more than two million · livres. T o defray them, his representatives sold the principal part of the property he held in the concern, and it was not until the year 1724, forty years after the navigation had been opened, that it began to yield a revenue to Riquet's heirs. As in the case of many other great works, Rique t's merits have n ot been left u ndisputed. Thirty years after his death, a claim was set up on behalf of one of his assistants, M. Andreossy, as having been the designer of the canal; while, more recently, a like claim has been m a d e on behalf of M. Cavalier, the king's engineer. Although all conte m porary witnesses had died before Riquet's merits, till then undisputed, were thus called in question, happily the Arch ives of the canal as well as the Colbert correspondence survive to prove that, beyond the sh adow o f a doubt, Riquet was not only the inventor and the d esigner, but the constructor, of the Grand Canal of Languedoc. . . .

THE HUGUENOTS AND THE DIFFUSION OF TECHNOLOGY * Warren C. Scoville Most economic historians are all too familiar with the fact that during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries the rate of diffusion for new processes and new machines in any given industry \.vas • Reprinted from Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 60 ( 1952), 294-3 11 , 392.-4 11 , by permission of The University of C hicago Press. © 1952, University of Chicago Press. Professor Scoville has also written "Minority, MigTation s and the Diffusion of T echnology," Journal of Economic History, Vol. 1 1 ( 195 1 ), and The Persecmion of Huguenots and French Economic Development, 1680-1720 ( Berkeley: University of California Press, I 960). Diffusion of " know·how" from Fronce to Britain is also discussed in Stanley B. H amilton's "Continental

Influences on Drilish Civil Er;iginecring to 1800," Arcliives l 11ter11ntionales d' /l istoire des Sciences, Vol. 42 C1958). [Editor's no1e]

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painfully slow within a country and even slower between countries. At least thirty-five years after Abraham Darby had successfully burned coke in his iron-smelting blast furnace, for example, many English smelters were under the impression that only wood could be used. Frenchmen first melted glass in coal furnaces almost a century after an English innovator had done so, and they acquired the secret of making iljot or lead glass from the English after a lag of more than a century and a half. Improvements in intercommunjcation channels, the devel~tait of an international science and technology, the closing of technological gaps between areas in Western civilization, the realization on the part of entrepreneurs and governments of the ultimate futility of trying to keep certain methods secret and their subsequent recogni· tion of the desirability of relying upon patent protection instead, and the shift in modern technology from primary emphasis upon personal skills and craftsmanship to impersonal machine processes-all these help to account for the speeding-up of the rulfusion process during the last hundred years. Consequently, the migration of indi\•iduals, groups of craftsmen in particular industries, or religious or political minorities who represent a variety of economic activities and, sometimes, a "way of life" has decreased in relative importance as a method of rulfusing technology. 1-urthermore, since diffusion by rrugration is more rusruptive of social processes and hence more likely to leave distinct craces for subsequent investigators to follow than is the more normal, continuous process which I have elsewhere called, for want of a better term, "ruffusion by radiation," there is the possibility that econorruc historians ha\'e overestimated the role of migration in western Europe even for the centuries preceding the nineteenth. This observation, of course, is in· tended in no way to belittle the consequences of various rrugratioos whkh have actually transpired but rather to suggest that the number of significant migrations has probably been too small to account for most of the diffusion which has occurred. One of the mass movements of people who in recent centuries have carried superior skills and processes from one country to other areas which were in some respects "backward" was the exodus of the Huguenots from France, preceding and following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. A study of this movement may throw some light on the effectiveness of any minority migration as a rulfuser of technology. The H u~ots had engaged in finance, commerce, and many different industries in France and had developed a different attitude to economic activity than had most Frenchmen. They settled abroad in large enough groups to make it comparati\•ely easy for them to retain and propagate

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their various attitudes and institutions. They carried with t he m skilled manpower, technical know-how, and some liquid capital rat her than specific machines or other capital goods. On the whole, t h e governments of most host areas warmly welcomed them, gave the m exte nsive privileges, and in other ways facilitated their efforts to transpla n t new processes. On the other hand, however, the 1-luguenots showed a tendency toward clannishness, and their n ew neighbors frequently manifested resentment of their financial success, favored position, and foreign attitudes. These developments naturally constricted t he ch ann els of communication between the two groups. l "h e technological gap separating some of the host areas from France was great e nough to form a real obstacle to rapid and thorough diffusion, whereas in other areas the gap was easily bridged. And , finally, it is significan t that t he 1-Iuguenots in France had become a penalized minority and t h at many of them eventually emigrated primarily because of religious rathe r than economic differences. . . . . . . It is my personal opinion, based · upon an evaluation of . . . calculations made by more than a hundred authors as well as upon the inferences I have drawn from the scattered statistics in contemporary manuscripts, that approximately 200,000 Frenchmen sought haven in foreign countries as a result of events preceding an d following the revocation. This would mean that about IO per cent of the Protestants in France, or only I per cent of the total population , Red during 1680-1720. They settled in nearly every quarter of the globe, but the vast majority found homes and various employments in England, Ireland, H olland, Germany, and Switzerland. It is the purpose of the present paper to examine the effects which these refugees had on the economic development of these five countries 1 w hich offered them haven . . . .

The H uguenots in Germany As in the case of Ireland, the technological gap sepa rating G erma ny from France was much greater than the difference between the D utc h and English economies, on the one hand, and the French eco_nomy, on the other. Germany, like Ireland, had been depopulated by warfare in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and by 1685 she had become anxious to repeople her villages and farms. Certain a reas were predomi1

W e are reprinting only the material concerning one country. [Editor's note]

.. HU G U ENOTS AND DIFFUSION OF TECHNOLOCY

53

nantly Lutheran; others were staunchly Catholic; and the ones which had an admixture of the two religions were the most generous in their t reatment of the C.1lvinists. Since there was no true Germany but only a conglomeration of Germanic kingdoms, principalities, dukedoms, and f rec cities, each with its own largely autonomous go\·crnment and differ· ing public policies, it is difficult to generalize as to the go\'emment's and t he public'~ atti t ude to the Huguenots, the number 0£ immigrants who settled there, or the effect the~ had upan raising the le,el of technological practice. \Vith the exccpuon of Austria, Prussia or Branden· burg) had become the Foremost German slate by the second half of the seventeenth century. Certainly, viewed as a refoge for the French Protestants, it was the most impart.ant. I lence most of what follows pertai ns chiefly to Prussia rather than to all of Germany. T wen ty-one days after loujs XlV rC\·oked the Ediet of :'\antes the G reat Elector Frederick \Villiam issued his famous Potsdam decree written in both French and German. Since this decree became somethin g of a model for other German rulers, it will be worth while to a nalyze its contents in some detail. The Elector ordered his agents at Amsterdam and H amburg to provide sustenance and transpanation to all Hug uenots who traveled that route to Berlin or other Prussian cities where they wished to dwell. Those who chose to enter hjs realm via F rankfort-on-the-i\l ain could get money, boat passage on the Rhine, and passports rrom his agent in that city. The immigrantS could Freel~ ch oose their locality, occupation or trade, and the materials the~ would need to set up shop or build themseh·es a house. The Elector promised to provide them free of charge with any ruined dwellings and enough ma terials to repair them or to allow them several \'cars' free occupJncy of whatever empty houses he could find pro\•ided the\ set to worl.. to construct their own. They might bring \\ith them dut\'·£rec all their furniture, personal effects, and properties useful in their trade. the\ were accorded all city and guild rightS which natural born citizens enjoyed; nnd the Elector promised to grant them all pm·ileges and tJx exemptions which would materially help them start a new manufacton and even to advance them money, tools, and raw matl'rials to do so in so far as possible. F rench nobles were to enjoy noble status in their adopted country; all were to ha\'e complete freedom 0£ worship. and the government offered to pay the salan of one minister for CJ~h 1own: .ind until they b dfiri«ndy 1ha1 it made mom·y both for 1he mine owners and the n>mpanv of proll1 ~eki ng bu,im''>'>mcn tha1 acquired Savery's patent. If om· ron!lidcr!I 1he limited ran~c of materials available for construe•ion and rlw utter crudcnetudic) : Tiii' Huilwa)' Hevo/111io11: Gcor~t· uml Hobert S tepl1c11so11 ( ' l"W York: S1. i\1urtim Pre)\, 1962) ; T l10111as T 1•/funl ( I omlon: Longm.ms, Grl'cll, 1959) ; C:1ct11 I 11~int•c1s ( l..ondon: C. Bdl, 1962 ) . Conrad i\ l at!>cho~s· Mn c1111t•r tier Tec/111ic ( Ucrlin: VDl-Vcrlug, 1925 ) i) the bci.t :.ingle-volumc.•

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the most fertile, has been reclaimed and embanked from the sea. The two thousand square miles of land in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, forming the Great Level of the Fens, would, bur for human skill and industry, be lying under water, the haunt of wild birds. Who does not know of the business of our Workshops?-of the employment they give to large numbers of the population; of the tools they fabricate; of the articles of commerce they produce; of the demands they supply for consumers in all parts of the world. Then, with respect to Lord Bacon's "easy com·eyance for men and commodities from one place to another:" have we not our Roads, our Canals, and our Railways; and has not England also been the originator of the Steam engine, the Steamboat, and the Screw ship? Although the inventions of British engineers now exercise so great an inBuence all over the world, it may possibly excite some surprise to find how very recently England has taken up her present posillion in regard to Engineering. Indeed, skilled Industry may be said to form the youngest outgrowth of our national life. . . . Many branches of industry have been established in England b}' foreigners. The Flemings introduced cloth-making, stuff-making, and linen-weaving. The brothers Elers, Dutchmen, began the pottery manufacture. Spillman, a German, established the first paper-mill a't Danford; and Bromen, another Dutchman, brought the first coach into England. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, a large number of Huguenot manufacturers established various branches of industry in England and Ireland which, until then, had for the most part been conducted abroad. We owe the first working of our mines to the Gennans, who brought with them nearl y all the mining terms still in use among us. Elizabeth invited skilled miners from Germany to settle in different pans of Eng· land, for the purpose of teaching our people the best methods of working the ores. Two of these, H ochstetter and Thurland, of Augsburg, biogrnphical dictionary of engineers (cspt.'Cially good on ninetcenth«ntury Ger· man engineers). 13cginning in March, 1962, the Cliartered Mechanical iEnginur ( Londnn ) published a series of essay$ on great engineers wriuen by authoriti~ on their re;pcctive subjects. Begun in June, 1959, Consulting Engi,.ecr (St. Joseph, IV!ichigan) has n series on "Great Books of \Vestero Engineering:· b)• Jn mes Kip Find1, which ~crves as an excellent introductiol\ to )Ourco. written by the grcnt cnginL>ers of history. Thomas J. Higgins has ~1·~ral bibliographical nrtic:les diat mention books on engineers and scientists, including '"A BiogrJphical Bibliogrnphy of Electrical Enginl'Crs nnd Electrophy,ici;ts." Trcl111olog) an.I Culture, Vol. 2, 1961. (Editor·~ note) 1 [Ed~tor's title]

SAMUEL SMILES

established copper-works at Keswick, which were worked to such advantage that the Queen said she had left more brass than she had found iron ordnance in England. Not many centuries since, Italy, Spain, France, and HoJland, looked down contemptuously on the poor but proud islanders, contending with nature for a sustenance amidst their fogs and their mists. Though surrounded by the sea, we had scarcely any Royal navy until within the last three hundred years. An old writer; in his eulogium of Henry VII. , said: "He built a chapel; he built a ship." But we had no Commercial navy. The carrying trade of the world was then performed by the Dutch, the Genoese, the Venetians, and the Portuguese. When we wanted any skilled work done, we almost invariably sent abroad for foreigners to do it. Our first ships were built by Danes, Venetians, and Genoese. When the royal ship, the 'Mary Rose,' sank at Spithead in 1545, a company of Venetians was hired to raise her. On that occasion Peeter de Andreas was employed, assisted by his ship carpenters and sailors, with "sixty English maryners to attend upon th em. " Our first lessons in mechanical and civil engineering were principally obtained from the F1emings and Dutchmen, who supplied us with our fuSt wind-milJs, water mills, and fulling-mills. . . . Holland even sent us the necessary engineers and labourers to execute our first great works of drainage. The Great Level of the Fens was drained by Verrnuyden, a native of l.ealand. . . . When a new haven was required at Yarmouth, Joas Johnson, the Dutch engineer, was employed to plan and construct the works. When Dover harbour was threatened with ruin in the reign of Henry VIII., Ferdinand Poins, a Fleming, was invited to come over to plan a new quay for the purpose of preserving the haven. Matthew Hake, of Gravelines, in Flanders, was also sent for about the same time, for the purpose of repairing a serious breach which had been made in the banks of the river Witham, at Boston; and he brought with him not only the mechanics but the manufactured iron required for the work. Indeed very little English iron was then used. Almost the only iron in England was imported by the Foreign Merchants of the Steelyard Company. The Spaniards prided themselves upon the superiority of their armour, and regarded the scarcity of iron in England as an im· portant element of success in their invasion of this country by the great Armada. Down to the end of last century, England was principal1y indebted for its iron to Sweden, Germany, Spain, and Russia. . . . Bridge building also must have greatly fal1en off. Little more than a hundred years ago, there were few architects or masons able to build

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a bridge of any extent: and when a second bridge had to be erected over the Thames at London, the French engineer Labelye, a native of Switzerland, was sent for to build it; though the original Westminster Bridge is already destroyed, and replaced by a new strueture. In short, we depended for our engineering, C\·en more than we did for our pictures or our music, upan foreigners. At a time when Holland had completed its magnificent system of water communication, and when France, Germany, and even Russia, had opened up impartant lines of inland communication, England bad not cut a single canal, while our roads were about the worst in Europe. The first English canal was made by a workman taken from the lowest rank of society. He could not write his own name. But be was a persevering, ingenious man, possessed of a shrewd mother wit. Brindley would have become great in bis own trade-that of a millwright; but having succeeded in accomplishing several imponant works which he had undertaken, he attracted the attention of the Duke of Bridgewater, who employed him to make the first English canal between \Vorsley and M anchester. W ater was the great difficulty of the early Engineer. First be bad to dam it out or bale it out, like Vermuyden. Or be erected a lighthouse upon a rock in the ocean, to withstand its power, like Smeaton. Or he founded piers, bridges, and docks, in the midst of it, like Rennie. The Engineer had also to make water serve his purposes. He led it into a mill-stream, and made it grind bis com and work his machinery. Or he collected it into reservoirs to supply a large city with water, like Myddelton; or, like Brindley, he made it fill long canals, extending between one town and another, and thus made a great water road to convey coal, and minerals, and merchandise. Thus, in the bands of the Engineer, water, instead of being a tyrant, became a servant; instead of being a destroyer, it became a useful labourer and a general civiliser. Richard Cobden has said, that "the opening up of the internal com· munications of a country, is undoubtedly the first and most impartant element of its growth in commerce and civilisation. Hence our canals were regarded by Baron Dupin as the primary material agents of the wealth of Great Britain." Roads, however, are more important than canals; and at the time when the first canals were made, the roods of England still remained in a deplorable condition. Down to the middle of the last century, it was almost impossible to travel with speed or comfort in any direction. Everything was carried on horse·back, and sometimes on bullock-back. O>rn, coal, wool, iron, and such like articles, were carried through the country on pack-horses. The

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roads were not roads so much as tracks; and when the old tracks became dangerous through depth of mud, new tracks were struck out across the adjoining fields. Guides were employed to keep travellers out of the mud; for it was often thick and slab. During the civil war, some eight hundred horse were taken prisoners while sticking in the mud in Buckinghamshire. Where all merchandise was carried by pack-horses over bad roads, domestic commerce was simply imPossible. Hence the commerce of London was mostly Foreign. We bought cloth from Belgium, silk from France, cutlery from Italy, hats from Flanders, Delftware from Holland, and iron from Spain, Sweden, and Russia. It cost so much less to bring goods from Hamburg, Amsterdam, or Havre by sea, than from Norwich, Birmingham, or Manchester by land. The English highroads were also a good deal beset by highwaymen. The traveHer often passed along bridleways through fields, where frequent gibbets warned him of his perils. When the roads were attempted to be made suitable for carts, waggons, and carriages, they were very little improved. The stone or metal was put on, and the roads were simply left to manage them selves. They soon became mere slumpers of stones and mud. If they were mended at all, it was only by throwing big stones into the biggest holes. Arthur Young when travelling in the northern counties of England, in 1768, measured the depth of the tracks he travelled through. Between "proud Preston" and Wigan, he says, "I actuaHy measured ruts of four feet deep, Boating with mud only from a wet summer; and between the towns I actuaHy passed three carts broken down in those eighteen miles of execrable memory." In another place, he says, ''You will form a clear idea of these roads, if you suppose them to represent the roofs of houses, and the roads to run across them." In winter, be says, it would have cosc n o mort! money to make the roads navigable, than to make them hard. Even near London, the roads were often impassable gulfs of mud. It then took a longer time for a carriage to reach twenty miles out of London, than it now docs to reach York or Manchester. . . . Nevertheless, considerable progress was made in the improvement of the roads, especially after the last Highland rebellion. Between 1760 and 1780, about six hundred Acts were passed, authorising the construct ion of new roads and bridges; and by the end of the century, the m ai n roads were in n very fair condition. The early roads of Scotl and and Wales were even worse, if possible, than those of England. Sometimes they lay along the bed of a river. 1\t

ENGINEERS AND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

other times they crossed a barren mountain. In the lower grounds, bogs were always in the way. The Life of Telford will show \\hat that able engineer did towards opening up Scotland and \Vales, and making the roads passable, for pleasure or for business, at all times of the year. The construction of the Highland roads had also an important moral influence. The roads stimulated industry amongst a people who had hitherto been unused to it. In constructing them, the people learnt to work, to use tools, and to apply themseh·es to continuous labour. Telford himself regarded the Highland roads in the light of a \Vorking Academy, which annually turned out about eight hundred impro,·ed workmen . . . . After the turnpike roads had been completed-after the hills had been cut down and the valleys raised, so as to )e,·el the roads in a11 directions- after the mails were able to tra,•el at ten miles an hour from London almost to John O'Groat's-and when a11 complaints as to the quickness of travelling seemed to be removed,-lo! the Locomoti\'e was invented, and all that Telford had done was, to a certain extent, undone by the Stephensons. One of the last works of Telford was the improvement of the high road between London and Birmingham, so as to enable the coach-road to compete with the rail-road. He was levelling the top of the hill at Weedon, near D aventry, while the railway excavators were working underneath. Near that point, three remarkable things are to be scen,the remains of Watling Street, the original Roman road,-Telford's last turnpike road,-and the first great rail-road between London and the north. I t will thus be seen, that notwithstanding our delays in opening up our internal communications, we ha\'e at last effectually made up our long arrears. We have no longer to send for foreign engineers to execute our necessary works in Embankments and Bridge building. Our native engineers can make docks and harbours \\~thout extraneous assistance. We can make our own iron, and our own tools. In fact, instead of borrowing engineers from abroad, we now send them to all pans of the world. British built ships ply on every sea. \Ve export machinery to all countries, and supply Holland itself with pumping engines. D uring the last hundred years, our native engineers h.ivc completed a magnificent system of canals, turnpike roads, bridges, and railways, by means of which the internal communications of the country have been completely opened up. They ha\'e built lighthouscs- fingcr·posts of the sea-rou nd our coasts, by which ships freighted with the produce of all l::incls arc safely lighted to their destined ha\·ens. They ha\e hewn

p SAMUEL Sl\11LES

out and built docks and harbours for the accommodation of a gigan tic commerce; whilst their inventive gen ius has rendered iro n, fire, and water, the most untiring workers in all branches of industry, and the most effective agents in locomotion by land and sea. The remarkable thing is, that nearly aJl this has been accomplished during the last hundred years, and much of it within the life of the present generation . Smeaton did not erect and light up the first stone lighthouse in Britain, until the year 1759. Brindley made the first canal for the Duke of Bridgewater in 176 1. Although Watt had been engaged for about ten years in inventing his condensing steam-engine, it was not until 1776 that h e erected and sold his first engine. It was patented in 1769, the same year in ·which Arkwright patented his machine for spinning by rollers. It was not until the end of last century that England was able to dispense with the supply of the greater part of its iron from abroad ; for Henry Cort did not inven t his puddling process, which so enormously increased the production of iron, until the years 1783 and 1784. . . . The greatest stimulus to English engineerin g h as been Trade-the increase of our commerce at home, and the exten ding of it abroad. England was nothi ng, compared with continental nations, until she h ad become commercial. She fought wonderfully, and boasted of many victories; but she was gradually becoming less powerful as a Sta te, until about the middle of last century, when a number of ingenious and inventive men, without apparent relation to each other, arose in various parts of the kingdom, and succeeded in giving an immense impulse to all the branches of the national industry; the result of w hich h as been a harvest of wealth and prosperity, perhaps without a para llel in the history of the world. . . . W ith the increase of her commerce, about the end of last century, E ngland became more "quick" than she had been before. Intercourse between town and town became more frequ ent, for the purposes of trade. Then the roads became improved; canals were made; bridges were built; docks and harbours were con stru cted ; and, above all, the steam-engine was invented. Within a few years, Watt's inve ntio n created a large number of new industries, and gave employm e nt to immense numbers of people. The engine was pe rfected while England was engaged in the Revolutionary war with France; and it n o t on ly kept our armies in the field, paid the interest upon our debt, but le ft che nation more powerful than ever it had been before. . . . Government has done next to nothing to promote e ngi neering w o rks.

ENGINEERS AND I N DUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

T hese h ave been the result of the liberality, public spirit, and commercial ente rprise of merchants, traders, and manufacturers. Baron Dupin, in his review of the engineering works of England, observes that "fewer years sufficed for a few individuals to execute and construct, at their private expense, the docks of England, which receive the trading Rcets of the two hemispheres, than it required for the triumphant government of Fran ce to erect some of the quays of the Seine. These are truly the prodigies of the seas." Canova is said to have wondered, while in England, that the trumpe ry Chinese bridge, then in St. James's Park, should have been the production of the Government, while vVaterloo Bridge was the enterprise of a private company. Baron Dupin, speaking of Rennie's masterpiece, uses these words:"If, from the incalculable effect of the Revolutions to which empires are subject, the people of the earth should one day inquire, 'Which was formerly the New Phoen icia and the Western Tyre, which covered the ocean with h er vessels?'-The greater part of her edifices, consumed by a destructive climate, will no longer stand to answer with the dumb language of m onuments; but Waterloo Bridge will ever exist to repeat to the m ost rem ote generations, 'Here stood a rich, industrious, and powerful city!' The traveller at this sight will imagine that some great prince sou ght to signalise the end of his reign by many years of labour, and to immortalise the glory of his actions by this imposing structure. But if tradition tell him that six years sufficed to begin and complete this work- if he learn that a mere company of merchants built this mass, worthy of Sesostris and the Caesars- he will the more admire the nation where similar e nterprises could be the fruit of the effons of merchants and private individuals. And if he should then reRect on the causes of the prosperity of empires, he will understand that such a nation must have possessed w ise laws, powerful institutions, and a well-protected liberty; for these are stam ped in the grandeur and utility of the works completed by h e r citizen s." The incidents connected with the Lives of the Engineers them· selves arc of much interest. In the first place, the early engineers thoroughly represented the national character. Baron Dupin took this view. 1--Ic said we could not understand the astounding successes of English commerce and the sustained skill and enterprise of English engineers, with out taking into consideration that pcrse,·erancc in all undertakings a nd that constancy of character on which their su~ mainly d epended. There is a prom ptitude about the Engineer that we do not find in

SA1\1UEL SMILES

the Architect. The late Prince Consort is reported to have said: "If we want any work done of an unusual character, a nd send for an architect, he hesitates, debates, tri£les: we send for an engineer, a nd be does it.'' H ence the Prince usually relied on Engineers for carrying out the important works with which he \vas connected. The greater number of the early engineers \Vere the offspring of necessity. Some great work required to be done, and forthwith a skil1ed worker (for there were no so-called engineers in those days) was called upon to do it. The work which he had undertaken to accomplish often presented great difficulties, and his efforts to overcome them amounted to a succession of individual struggles, sometimes rising almost to the heroic. In one case we 6nd the self-born engineer to be a London goldsmith, like M yddelton ; in another, a retired sea-captain, like Perry; a wheelwright, like Brindley; an attorney's derk, like Smeaton; a m athematical instrument maker, like Watt; a millwright, like Rennie; a working mason, like Telford; a slater, like Clement; or an engine brakesma n, like Stephenson. These men were strong-minded , resolute, and ingenious, and were impelled to their special pursuits by the force of their constructive instincts. In most cases they had to make for themselves a way; for there were none to point out the road , which, until they entered upon their undertakings, had for the most part been untrave11ed. T o our mind, there is almost a dramatic interest in their noble efforts, their defeats, their triumphs; and their constant rise, in spite of manifold obstructions and difficulties, from obscurity to fame. It will scarcely be supposed that men so uneducated as these, had anything to do with the making of the history of England. H istory is principally monopolised by the deeds and misdeeds of kings, warriors, and statesmen; and there is little room left for the engineer or the mechanic. But Peace has its battles and its victories as well as War; the results being much more beneficent in the one case than they are in the other. Our engineers may be regarded in some measure as the makers of modern civilisation. The problems of political history cannot properly be interpreted without reference to the people themselves-how they lived and how they worked, and what they did to promote the civilisation of the nation to which they belonged. H ence English engineers are not unworthy to be considered in the history of their country. For what were England without its roads, its bridges, its canals, its docks, and its harbours. What were it without its tools, its machinery, its steam-

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engine, its steam-ships, and its locomotive. Are not the men who ha\'e made the motive power of the country, and immensely increased its productive strength, the men above all others who have tended to maJ..e the country what it is?

ORIGINS OF THE SOCIETY OF

CIVIL ENGINEERS *

I

froni Preface to the Reports of the Late John Smeaton The origin of the Society of Civil Engineers, took its rise from the followi ng circumstances. Before or about the year 1760, a new era in all the arts and sciences, learned and polite, commenced in this coun· try. Every thing which contributes to the comfort, the beauty, and the prosperity of a country, moved forward in impro\·ement, so rapidly. an d so obviously as to mark the period with particular distinction. The learned societies extended their views, their labours, and their objects of research.- The professors of the polite arts associated together, for the first time; and they now enjoy a protection favourable to improvement, and not less honourable to real merit than to the public, and th e throne, wh ich have, with one accord, promoted their prosperity. Nor h ave these exertions failed of producing the adequate effects. comparing the present \\rith the past state of things. M ilitary and naval establishments were made, or enlarged, to promote and extend the true knowledge on which these sciences depend. The n avy of England sails now uncontrolled in every part of the " Reprinted from the preface to Reports of the late John Smeaton F.R.S. ( Lon· don: M. Taylor, 1837), vol. 1, pp. ix-xxiii. For more on the Society, Stt "The Society of Civil Engineers," Transactions of the 1ewcomen Society, Vol. 17 (1938). As yet, there is no thorough study 0£ John Smeaton, perhar the grea~est of the eighteei:ith-ce~tury engineers.. and pillar 0£ the Society o Civil Engineers. Samuel Smiles, Lives of the Eng•neei;s, V~l. 2, ~ st\eraJ hundred pages given to Smeaton. Also sec John Simat:cns Diary of h~s ~ourney ro the Low Countries (London: The Newcomen Society, 1938). (Editors note) 1 (Editor's title)

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4

SOCIETY OF C IVIL ENGINEERS

habitable world; and her ships of war defy the combined power of all other maritime nations. It was about the same period, that manufactures were extended on a new plan, by the enterprise, the capital, and, above all, by the science, of men of deep knowledge and persevering industry engaged in them. It was perceived, that it would be better for establishments to be set down on new situations, best suited for raw materials, and the labour of patient and retired industry, than to be plagued with the miserable little politics of corporate towns, and the wages of their extravagant workmen. This produced a new demand, not thought of till then , in this counrry,-intemal navigation. T o make communications from factory to factory, and from warehouses to harbours, as well as to carry raw materials to and from such establishments, became absolutely necessary. H ence arose those wonderful works, not of pompous and useless magnificence, but of real utility, which are at this time carrying on to a degree of extent and magnitude, to which as yet there is n o appearance of limitation. The ancient harbours of this island, it may be said, have ever been neglected, considering the increase of its naval power, and a foreign commerce of which there never has been an example in the history of mankind. The seaports were ( I had almost said a·re) such as n ature formed and Providence has bestowed upon us; and they were but little better previous to that period, notwithstanding some jetties and piers of defence, ill placed, had been made and repeatedly altered, without knowledge and judgment, at mun icipal, not government, expense. This general situation of things gave rise to a new profession and order of men , called Civil Engineers. In all the polished nations of Europe, this was, and is, a profession of itself, and by itself.-Academies, or some parts of such institutions, were appropriated to the study of it, and of all the preparatory science and accomplishments necessary to form an able artist, whose profession comprehends the variety of objects on which he is employed; and of which the present work is an example and a proof. Jn this country, however, the formati on of such artists has been left to chance; and persons leaned towards the public call of employ· ment, in this way, as their natural LUm of mind took a bias.-There was no public esiablishment, except common ~chool s, for the rud imcn ral knowledge necessary to all arts, naval, milirary, mecha nical, and others. Civi l Engineers are a self-crea ted set of men, whose profession owes

SOCIETY OP C IVIL ENGINEERS

its origin, not to power or influence, but to the best of all protection, the encouragement of a great and powerful nation;-a nation lx.'COme so from the industry and steadiness of its manufacturing worl.men, and their superior knowledge in practical chemistry, mechanics, natural philosophy, and other useful accomplishments.... The same period gave rise, also, to an association of some- gentlemen, employed as above mentioned. They often met accidentally, prior to that union, in the Houses of Parliament, and in courts of jusuce, each maintaining the propriety of his own designs, without knowing much of each other. It was, however, proposed by one gentleman to l\1r. SMEATON, that such a state of the Profession, then crude and in its infancy, was improper: and that it would be well, if some son of occasional meeting, in a friendly way, was to be held; where they might shake hands together, and be personally known to one another; - that thus, the sharp edges of their minds might be rubbed off, as it were, by a closer communication of ideas, nowise naturally hostile; might promote the true end of the public business upon which thev should happen to meet in the course of their employment, without jostling one another with rudeness too common in the unworthy part of the advocates of the law, whose interest it might be to push them on perhaps too Far in discussing points in contest. Mr. SMEATON immediately perceived the utility of the idea, and at once embraced it. In March 1771, a small meeting was first t-stablished, on Friday evenings, after the labours of the day were O\er, at the Queen's I lead Tavern, Holborn. And, from a few members at first, it soon increased; so that, in the space of twenty years, they amounted to sixty-five and upwards. But of these there were only about fifteen who were real Engineers, employed in public works or private undertakings of great magnitude. Among these, we find the names of YEOMAN, SMEATON, GRUNDY, MYLNB, NtCKALLS, jEssoP, CoLOOl\NB, \VtrrTWORTll, EowARDS, Jos. PnrESTLY [sic], l\lajor \VATSON, BouLTON, \V11rrE11unsT, R~NNtE, WAn·, and M>me others. The other members were either Jmawur>, or in· genious workmen and artificers, connected with, and emplo)Cd in, \\Orl.s of engineering. This as.\OCiation declared itself a Societ). and a register \~.ls Lept or the names ond numbers of its members. Comers.mun, 1lrh'Um~nr . and a social communication of ideas and Lnmdedgc, rn rhc p.im,u!Jr walks of coch member, were, at the same time, the amuo,ement .inJ the business of the meetings.

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In this manner, sometimes well attended, and at other times not so, as the members were dispersed all over England, the Society proceeded . until May 1792; when it ceased to exist, by mutual con sent of the principal members. Some untoward circumstances, in the behaviour of one gentleman towards Mr. S!'.iEATON, gave rise to the disunion. No one was ever more obliged than that gentleman ( who is now deceased) to Mr. Sl\tEATO;'.'\ for promoting him in business, and many essential offices in life. The offence given was done away by an apology, at the desire of the Company, and by the goodnature of MR. SMEATON; but the remem· brance of it had an effect on all present. Afterwards, it was conceived and intended to renew this Society, in a better and more respectable form. Steps were taken for that purpose, and Mr. SMEATON agreed to be a member. But, alas! before the first meeting could be held, he was no more. He died on the 28th of O ctober, 1792; and their first meeting was in April 1793. It was conceived it would be a better plan, that the m embers should dine together, at a late hour, after attendance in P arliam ent; a nd pass the evening in that species of conversation, which provokes the commu· nication of knowledge, more readily and rapidly than it can be obta ined from private study, or books alone. The first meeting of this new institution, The S ociety of Civil Engineers, was h eld on the 15th of April, 1793, by Mr. JESSOP, Mr. MYLNE, Mr. RENNIE, and Mr. WHITWORTH. The constitution was agreed on, and afterwards acc~ed to b y all; - That there should be three classes in the Society: The First Class, as ordinary members, to consist of real engin eers, actually employed as such, in public or in private service. The Second Class, as honorary members, to consist of men of science and gentlemen of rank and fortune, w ho had applied their minds to subjects of Civil Engineering, and who might, for talents and knowledge, have been real e ng ineers, if it had not been their good fortune to have it in their power to e mploy others in this profession; and also of those who are employed in o the r public service, where such and similar kinds of knowledge is necessary. And, the Third Class, as honorary members, also to consist of vario us artists, whose professions and employments are necessary and useful to, as well as connected with, civil engineering. The meetings are held at the Crown and A nchor, in the Strand, every other Friday, during the session of Parliament. And the list of members are of the [three classes as shown in the following roster].

• FACTORY SYSTEM OF PRODUCTION

FIRST CLASS.-ORO!NARY MEMBERS. WILLIAM JnssoP. RonBRT W111TWORTH, JoHN RENNI E, F.R.S. Ed., ROBERT MYLNE, F.R.S., }AMES WATT, F.R.S.L. and Ed., JAMES GOLDORNE,

Sir THOMA< H . PACE, Kn1. F.R.S ., Jo11N OuNCOMBB, Captain JosEPH HuDOART, f.R.S., HENRY EASTBURNE, WILLIAM CHAPMAN, i\l.R.l.A., }AMES CocKSHUTT.

SECOND CLASS.-HONORARY MEMBERS. The Right H on. Sir JOSEPH BANKS, Bart. P .R .S., Knight of the Order of the Bath, &c. Sir GEORCE A. SHuCKBURGH Evn· LYN, Bart. F.R.S. MATHEW BOLTON [sic], Esq. F.R.S. General BENTHAM, JosEPH PRJESTLY [sic), Esq.

Doctor CHARLES HuTTON, F.R.S. HENRY OXENDON, Esq. The Right Hon. the Earl of MORTON, F.R.S. JoHN Li.om, Esq. F.R.S. Right Hon. CHARLES CREVILLB, Esq. F.R.S.

THJRD CLASS.- HONORARY MEMBERS. W1LLIAM FADllN, Geographer, }Essn RAMSDllN, F.R.S. Instrument· Maker, &c. JoHN TROUCHTON, Instrument· i\l aker, &c.

JoHN FouLos, i\liU-\Vright, &c. SAMUEL PHILLIPS. Engine-Maker, SA~IUEL BROOKE, Printer, JoHN \ VATTE, Land-Surveyor, &c.

FACTORY SYSTEi\tl OF PRODUCTION

J#.

1

A11clrew Ure . . . The term Factory System, in technology, designates the com· bined operation of many orders of work·people, adult and young, in tending with assiduous skill a series of producth·e machines continuously • Reprin1cd from Andrew Ure. The Pliilosophy of Ma11ufactur" (l.nndnn: Charles Knigh1, 1835), pp. 1-23: 32-45. Bo1h the Smiles and Ure sclccrions are in harmony wilh the conccp1 of 1he revolulionary nature of Bri1ish tech· nologicul nnd industrial development between 1750 and 1850. This interprcta·

• ANDREW URE

impelled by a central power. This definition includes such organizations as cotton-mills, Sax-mills, silk-mills, woollen-mills, and certain e n gineering works; but it excludes those in which the mec hanisms do n ot form a connected series, nor are dependent on one prime mover. Of the latter class, examples occur in iron-works, dye-works, soap-works, brass-foundries, &c. Some authors, indeed, have comprehended under the title factory, all extensive establishments wherein a numbe r of people cooperate towards a common purpose of art; and would therefore rank breweries, distilleries, as well as the workshops of carpenters, turners, coopers, &c., under the factory system. But I conceive th at this title, in its strictest sense, involves the idea of a vast automaton , com posed of various mechanical and intellectual organs, acting in uninterrupted concert for the production of a common object, all of them being subordinated to a self-regulated moving force. If the marshalling of huma n beings in systematic order for the execution of any technical ente rprise were allowed to constitute a factory, this term might embrace every department of civil and military engineering,- a latitude of application quite inadmissible. In its precise acceptation, the Factory system is of recent origin, and may claim England for its birthplace. The mills for throwing silk, or making organzine, which were mounted centuries ago in several of the Italian states, and furtively transferred to this country by Sir Thomas Lombe in 17 18, contained indeed certain elements of a factory, and probably suggested some hints of those grander and more complex combinations of self-acting machines, which were first embodied half a century later in our cotton manufacture by Richard Arkwright, assisted by gentlemen of D erby, well acquainted with its celebrated silk establishment. But the spinning of an entangled Sock of fibres into a smooth thread, which constitutes the main operation with cotton , is in silk superBuous; being already performed by the unerring instinct of a worm, which leaves to human art the simple task of doubling and tion should be contrasted with the evolutionary concept outlined in several articles by John U. Nef: "The Progress of T echnology and the Growth of Large Scale Industry in Great Britain, 1540- 1640," EcOn omic H istory Review, Vol. 5 ( 1934), and "The Industrial Revolution Reconsidered," The Journal o f Economic H istory, Vol. 3 ( 1943). Abbott P . Usher, author of the standard l/istory of M echanical lnventio1i ( New York : McGraw-Hill, 1929) , adds his prestige to the evolutionary school and sketches his argument in "The lndustrialiwtion of Modern Britain," Tec1mology and Culture, Vol. I ( 1960) . For a new ·icwpoint on the essence of the Industrial Revolution, see E. A. Wrigley, "The ui>ply of Raw Materials in the Industrial Revolution ," Economic History Re1cw, Vol. I 5, 1962. [Editor's note] 1 [Editor's title)

FACTORY SYSTEM OF PRODUCTION

91

twisting its regular filaments. The apparatus requisite for this purpose is more elementary, and calls for few of Lhosc gradations of mxhine~· which arc needed in the carding, drawing, ro..,;ng, and spinning processes of a cotton-mill. When the first water-frames for spinning couon were erected 3l Cromford, in the romantic vaJle)' of the Dcn,-ent, about sixty years ago. mankind were little aware of the mighty revolution which the new system of labour was destined by Providence to achie,·e, not only in the structure of British society, but in the fortunes of the world at large. Arkwright alone had the sagacity to discern, and the boldn~ to predict in glowing language, how vastly producti\C human inc.luMry would become, when no longer proportioned in its results to muscuJar effort, which is by its nature fitful and capricious. but ''hen m;ide to consist in the task of gujding the work 0£ mechanical fingers and arms, regularly impelled with great velocity by some indefatigable physical power. What his judgment so clearly led him to percei,·e, rus ener~ of will enabled him to realize with such rapiruty and success. as would have done honour to the most in8uential indh'iduals, but were trul~ wonder£ul in that obscure and indigent artisan. T he main difficulty did not, to my apprehension, lie so much in the invention of a proper self-acting mechanism for drawing out and twisting cotton into a continuous thread, as in the distribution of the different members of the.apparatus into one co-operative body, in impelling each organ with its appropriate delicacy and speed, and abo,·e all, in training human beings to renounce their desultory habits of work, and to identify themselves with the unvarying regularity of the complex automaton. To devise and administer a successful code of factory discipline, suited to the necessities of factory diligence, was the 1lerculcan enterprise, the noble achievement of Arkwright. fa·en at the present day, when the system is perfoctly organized, and iu labour lightened to the utmost, it is found nearly impossible to com·en persons past the age of puberty, whether drawn from rural or from handicraft occupations, into useful factory hands. After struggling for a while to conquer their listless or restive habits, they either renounce 1he employment spontaneously, or arc dismissed by the overlookers on acrount of inattention. If the factory Briareus could have been created by mechanical genius alone, it should have come into being thirty years sooner.... It required, in fact, a man of a Napoleon nerve and ambition to subdue the refractory tempers of work-people accustomed to irregular p;iroxysms of diligence, and to urge on his multifarious and intricate constructions in the face of prejudice, passion, and envy. Such was Arh\Tight, who,

• 92

AN DRE W

U RI:

suffcring nothing to stay or turn aside h is progress, arrived g loriously at the goal, and has for ever affixed h is name to a great e ra in the annals of mankind,-an era which has laid open unbounded p rospects o f wealth and comfort to the industrious, ho wever much t hey m ay h ave been occasionally clouded by ignorance a nd folly. P rior to this period, manufactures were everywh ere feeble and Auctuating in their development; shooti ng forth lux uri a ntly for a season, and again withering almost to the roots, like a nnual plants. Their perennial growth now began in Englan d, and a ttracte d capital in copious streams to irrigate Lhe rich domains of ind ustry. Whe n this new career commenced, about the year 1770, the annual con sumption of cotton in British man ufactures was under four m illion s of pounds weight, and that of the whole of Christendom was probably n o t m ore than ten millions. Last year 1 the consumption in Great B ritain and Ireland was about two hundred an d seventy million s of pounds, a nd that of Europe and the United States together four hundred and e ig hty millions. This prodigious increase is, w ithout doubt, almost e ntire ly due to the factory system founded and u preared by the intrepid native of P reston. If, then, this system be not merely an in evitable ste p in the social progression of the world, but the one which gives a comma nding station and inRuence to the people who most resolute ly take it, it does not become any man, far less a den izen of this favoured la nd, to vilify the author of a benefaction, w hich , wisely administe red, may becom e the best tem poral gift of Providence to the poor,-a blessin g d estined to m itigate, and in some measure to repeal, the primeval curse p ro n o unced on the labour of man, "in the sweat of thy face sh alt tho u eat bread ." A rkwright well deserves to live in h onoured remembran ce a m on g those ancient master-spirits, who persuaded their roaming compa nio n s to exchange the precarious toils of the chase, for the settled comfo rts of agriculture. In my recent tour, contin ued during several months, thro ug h the m anufacturing districts, I have seen tens of thousands of old, young, a n d middle-aged of both sexes, many of them too feeble to get the ir daily bread by any of the former modes of industry, earning abundant food , raime nt, and domestic accommodation , without perspiring a t a single pore, screened meanwhile from the summer's sun and the winte r's frost, in apartments more airy and salubrious than those of the m e tropolis in which our legislative and fa shionable aristocracies assemble. 2 J834 [Edi tor's note] Social critics- M arx among them-found U re's views on the condition uf labor distorted. [Editor's notej 1

2

FACTORY SYSTEM OF PRODUCTION

93

In those spacious halls the benignant power of steam summons around him his myriads of willing menials, and assigns to each the regulated task, substituting for painful muscular effort on their part, the energies of his own gigantic arm, and demanding in return only attention and dexterity to correct such little aberrations as casually occur in his workmanship. The gentle docility of this moving force qualifies it for impelling the tiny bobbins of the lace-machine with a precision and speed inimitable by the most dexterous hands, directed by the sharpest eyes. Hence, under its auspices, and in obedience to Arkwright's polity, magnificent edifices, surpassing far in number, value, usefulness, and ingenuity of construction, the boasted monuments of Asiatic, Egyptian, and Roman despotism, have, within the short period of fifty years, risen up in this kingdom, to show to what extent capital, industry, and science may augment the resources of a state, while they meliorate the condition of its citizens. Such is the factory system, replete with prodigies in mechanics and political economy, which promises in its future growth to become the great minister of civilization to the terraqueous globe, enabling this country, as its heart, to diffuse along with its commerce the life-blood of science and religion to myriads of people still lying "in the region and shadow of death." When Adam Smith wrote his immortal elements of economics, automatic machinery being hardly known, he was properly led to regard the division of labour as the grand principle of manufacturing improvement; and he showed, in the example of pin-making, how each handicraftsman, being thereby enabled to perfect himself by practice in one point, became a quicker and cheaper workman. In each branch of manufacture he saw that some parts were, on that principle, of easy execution, like the cutting of pin wires into uniform lengths, and some were comparatively difficult, like the formation and fixation of their heads; and therefore he concluded that to each a workman of appropriate value and cost was naturally assigned. This appropriation forms the very essence of the division of labour, and has been constantly made since the origin of society. The ploughman, with powerful hand and skilful eye, has been always hired at high wages to form the furrow, and the ploughboy at low wages, to lead the team. But what was in Dr. Smith's time a topic of useful illustration, cannot now be used without risk of misleading the public mind as to the nght principle of manufacturing industry. In fact, the division, or rather adaptation of labour to the different talents of men, is little thought of in factory employment. On the contrary, wherever a process requires peculiar dexterity and steadiness of hand, it is withdrawn as soon as pos·

94

ANDREW U RE

sihlc from the cunning workman, who is prone to irregu larities of man y kinds, and it is placed in charge of a peculiar mechanism, so self-regulating, that a child may superintend it. Thus,- to take an example from the spinning of cotton-the first operation in delicacy and importance, is that of laying the fibres truly parallel in the spon gy slivers, and the next is that of drawing these out into slen der spon gy cords, called rovings, with the least possible twist; both bein g perfectly uniform throughout their total length. T o execute either of these processes tolerably by a hand-wheel would require a degree of skill n ot to be met with in one artisan out of a hundred. But fine yarn could not be made in factory-spinning except by taking these steps, n or w as it ever made by machinery till Arkwright's sagacity contrived the m. Moderately good yarn may be spun indeed on the hand-wheel w ithou t any drawings at all, and with even indifferent rovings, beca use t he thread, under the twofold action of twisting an d exten sion , hns a tendency to equalize itself. The principle of the factory system then is, to substit ute m echa n ical science for hand skill, and the partition of a process into its essential constituents, for the division or graduation of labou r a mon g artisan s. On the handicraft plan, labou r more or less ski lled was u suaJly the m ost expensive elemen t of production-Materietn su perabat opus; but on the automatic plan, skilled labour gets progressively superseded , a n d wilI, eventually, be replaced by mere overlooke rs of machines. By the infirm ity of h uman nature it h appens, that the m ore skilful the workman , the more self-willed and intractable he is apt to becom e, an d, of course, the less fit a component of a mech an ical syste m , in wh ich, by occasional irregu larities, he may do great damage to the w h ole. T he grand object therefore of the modern manufacturer is, throug h the union of capital and science, to reduce the task of h is work-p eople to the exercise of vigilance and dexterity,-faeulties, w h en con centred to one process, speedily brought to perfection in the young. In the infa ncy of mechanical engineering, a machine-factory d isplayed the d ivision of labour in manifold gradations- the file, the drill, the la the, h avin g each its different workmen in the order of skill : but the dextrou s h an ds of the fi ler and driller are now superseded by the planing, the key-groove cutting, :ind the drilling-machines; and those of the iron a nd brass turners, by the self-acting slide-lathe. Mr. Anthon y Strutt, w h o con d ucts the mechanical department of the great cotton factories of Bel pe r and Milford, has so thoroughly departed from the old routin e of the schools, that he will employ no man who has learned his craft by regular apprenticeship; but in contempt, as it were, of the di vision of

..

FACTORY SYSTEM OF PRODUCTION

95

labour principle, he sets a ploughboy to rum a shah ol perlups 5e'enl tons weight, and never has reason to repent his preference, because he infuses into the turning apparatus a precision of action, equal, if no< superior, to the skill of the most experienced journeyman. An eminent mechanician in l\1anchester told me, that be docs no< choose to make any steam-engines at present, because, \\itb his e-" than in England. Pr(). fc~~ional 1ecognition of this by engml't'rs '"''s witll·~rre.ul though not universal l'rom 1850; but it h.1~ bel•n the sub}l'Ct of rrdilo('\\\l'C\' h\' ~ur­ ce!>.,ive generation~ of journ.1li~ts, aml it' l'a1h· ph,1~-. hel\wt•n \S'\O .mtl 1870, hns hel'n 1wgll'l'tt'd ll\' Fngli'h his1111i,111~. In 1h1·~ \'t'.lt~ it w.1,

n.

• l\11pd11tt•d I will l•rcllHHlllr II 1\1111 v. \ '.11. l l \I) 10- ~ \II'· 2111 ~II, \•I' \''>1 ), \\ •hl1•111'try' which soon became the focal point for the dissem ination of technical knowledge in Prussia. Here he established a library of technical books, periodicals and engravings. Here scientific laboratories and engineering workshops were set up. Herc a valuable collection of machinery and models was assembled. l\lany of the machines came from abroad despite the fact that foreign governments pr~ hibitcd or restricted the export of machinery. \Vithin a few years the collection included models of various kinds of textile machines, steam engines, a blast furnace and a fire extinguisher. \Vhile the models were a permanent collection the machinery was continually changing. After a mac hine had been tested by Beuth and his colleagues it was presented to a Prussian manufacturer. By 1822 Beuth had established a group of organizations which served him well for over twenty years. As head of the go\·ernmmt department responsible for trade and industry, as director of the T echnical Commission, as principal of the Industrial Institute, and as chairman of the Association for the P romotion of Industrial Knowledge, Beuth was in a unique position to foster the improvement of the technical efficien cy of Prussian industry. Information concerning new machines and processes was collected in the 'H ouse of Industry' and was passed on to the manufocturers and to students. The published transactions o( the Association for the Promotion of Industrial Knowledge show how thoroughly Beuth and his colleagues were im·estigating the technical advances that were bein g made at home and abroad ... .1 1

Several articles described the industrial and technical progress that "u being made in Britain. T he early volumes or the transactions or thc Aslocuoon for the Promotion of Industrial Knowledge contained accounts by Peter Beuth of the Glasgow manufacturing region (1824), by K. F. Schinkel on the English highways ( 1827), by von Oeynnausen on the Thames runnel ( 1828), by \"On Dtdcn on English roils ( 1829), by Dr Egen on the Manchester and Livcipool rnlw~> ( 1833), by J. W . W edding on Maud>iay". ~nginccring works ( 1833), ind E. L Schubarth on English ironworks ( 1841, 1842). There were al.o articles on Prussia's economic development. Kunth descnbed Jacob Ader's plans for the DC\\ Rhenish-W est Indies Company ( 1822); Peter Beuth contributed reporu on thc Berlin industrial exhibition of 1822 ( 1823) and on steamJii~ on the R.,cr Rhine ( 1827); Karsten wrote an article on COilmining in PruWa IS2"' ;

• l

18

The achievements of the Cockerills, Egells and Borsig may sen ~ ae illustrate the part played by Beuth in introducing po"ver-drh-en m a i.- .. ery into Prussia. In 1814 Beuth ( then serving with Liitz.ow's cavah. was billeted on the Cockerills at Liege. The elder William Cockeri!lwho had made a name for himself as a constructor of textile mach i~ had just retired, leaving his business to his sons William, James a:nC John. At Beuth's invitation John Cockerill established a modern ~ textile factory and engineering works for the construction of texrilemachinery in Berlin while William Cockerill ( junior) set u p a wooJ. spinning mill at Guben in Lower Lansitz ( 1819). A n attempt was m ade to persuade John Cockerill to establish ironworks at P eitz. The negocit tions fell through, however, and John Cockerill returned to Belgium where he set up a great new engineering establishment at Seraing. The Prussian authorities remained in close touch with John Cockerill " -ho was visited by Beuth in 1826 and by M otz ( Fina nce Minister) in 1827. William Cockerill (junior) and his brother James settled in Prussia-the former as a spinner of worsted yarn at Gu b_en and the latter as a machine builder at Aachen. John Cockerill owned wool-textile factories at Cottbus, Grunberg and Guben .. J. A. F. Egells (1788-1854), a locksmith from Rheine (Westphalia) . was sent by Beuth to England at government expense to study machinebuilding. In August 1820 the P russian consul in London reported that Egells had acquired 'a thorough knowledge of everything conn ected with new machine tools and of all those things which should be encouraged in Prussia as quickly as possible. Aided by a state subsidy Egells established an iron foundry and engineering works in the Chausseestrasse in Berlin. In 1824 he con structed a hydraulic press and in 1825 he delivered his first steam-engine to the Alberti brothers at Waldenberg. Several of Germany's future leadin g engineers-such as Borsig and Wohlert-received their early training in E gells's workshops. August Borsig ( 1804-54), a joiner by trade, studied at the Berlin Industrial Institute ( 1823-5) and then secured a post in Egells's engineering workshops. He became manager of the foundry and machinebuilding works and in 1836 he set up a small machine-building works of his own at the Oran ienburger T or. Borsig built his first locomotive for the Berlin-Anhalt railway in 1841 and his locomotive 'Beuth' atH ennbstadt desc.r ibed the p roduction of sugar beet ( 1827); von Turke examined the position of the .Brandenb~rg. silk. indusur ( 1834 ) ; and H o rstmann surveyed the progress ~ade m. road-building m Prussia ( 1834). A d escr iption by Bomg of the locomonve which he showed at the G erman indu strial exhibition of 1844 appeared in the transactions in 1846.

DEUTH AND RISE OF PRUSSIAN I NDUSTRY

I I

9

tracted considerable attention at the Berlin industrial exhibition of 1844. In 1847 Borsig e rected his own iron and steel works at l\1oabit. When he died in 1854, at the age of fifty, Borsig had built some 500 railway engines and was the leading builder of locomotives in Prussia. Another distinguished pupil of the Berlin Industrial Institute was Ferdinand Schichau ( 1814-96) who set up his engineering works at Elbing in October 1837 and was soon constructing steam-engines, locomotives and equipment for rolling-mills, saw-mills and sugar refineries. E,·entually he became a shipbuilder and in 1855 he constructed the first Prussian iron screw-propelled steamship., The holding of industrial exhibitions was another method by which Beuth spread technical knowledge and promoted a healthy rivalry among Prussian manufacturers. These exhibitions, held in Berlin in 1822, 1827 and 1844, provide evidence of the progress made by Prussian manufacturers while Beuth was in office. The first two exhibitions were in the nature ·of experiments and were not fully representative of Prussian industry. Only I 76 manufacturers exhibited in 1822 and only 208 in 1827. Some manufacturers considered that the cost of exhibiting would be too great while others feared that competitors would cop)' anything that was shown in public. The two exhibitions of the I820's were dominated by textile products and textile machines. The exhibition held in the Berlin arsenal in 1844 was more successful. It was open to manufacturers from all German states and it was the first large-scale all-German industrial exhibition. There were 3,040 exhibitors of whom nearly two-thirds ( 1,932) were from Prussia; 1,033 came from other German states w h ile 75 came from Austria. At this exhibition a much wider range of products was shown than in the previous exhibitions. The metal-working and engineering industries were well represented on this occasion. The event marked the climax of Beuth's official career. The King of P russia showed a lively interest in the exhibition and ordered that a special commemorative medal should be struck. . . . T owards the close of his tenure of office Beuth's Depanment in the ~Jinist ry of. Finance was criticized for failing to keep abreast with the rimes. Delbriick suggests that Beuth had lost the enthusiasm with which he had o nce throv.m himself into the task of raising the standard of technical knowledge in Prussia. Beuth was no longer very rccepth·e to new ideas. It was certainly surprising to find this champion of the machine age p reaching caution in the expansion of the Prussian railwa~ \) stem. And by 1840 Beuth had ceased to undertake tours at home and abroad to obtain first-hand information of new machinery and impro\ (\ be attributed to many factors- to the Union's success in the Civil \Var,

l\'1ERLB CORTI

to increasing exports and growing competition in world markets, to the chan ging emphases in foreign travel books dealing with the United States, to cite but a few. However, among the factors that demonstrated to the rest of the world the emergence of a new an d powerf ul America \Vere the international exhibitions. These exhibits have a genuine im· portance that has not hitherto been appreciated. This study clearly shows that American technology, at least in certain fields, won European praise much earlier and more generally than h as commonly been supposed. American participation in these grand displays also facilitated the adoption and modification by Europeans and Japanese of American technological innovations. It is not possible here to evaluate the inBu· ence of these exhibitions in attracting skilled artisans and unemployed capital to America and in promoting exports, though doubtless they contributed in some way to these objectives. American participation in the international exhibitions did something to break do\vn American provin cialism and helped to develop an American readiness to meet Europe's criticisms of America by showing what America was a nd what it could produce. In discussions on the advisability of American official participation and of governmental subsidies, all the arguments that involved America's reputation in the world community were can vassed. The final upshot was a victory for those who maintained that it was no longer sufficient for America to meet foreign criticism merely by verbal defenses, that it was no longer enough just to sit back and watch, but that now the time had come actively to advertise American power and greatness fo the world.

COAL TAR DYE MANUFACTURE AND THE ORIGINS OF THE MODERN INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH LABORATORY* John]. Beer T o the best of my knowledge, the industrial research laboratory, as we know it today, first appeared in the German dyestuffs industry dur· ing the second half of the nineteenth century. It is not surprising that this important scientific institution should have made its initia~ appearance in the chemical industry, for during the middle of the last ccntur\ chemistry was further advanced in its technological applications than any other science, with the possible e.'l:ception of that branch of physic~ we call mechanics. That it should ha,·e been the dycstuffs branch of chemical manufacture that first dc,·eloped the industrial laboratory can in large part be explained in terms of the peculiarity of the dyestuffs trade, which, being an auxiliary of the dry goods and clothing business, was highly susceptible to the whimsical Auctuations of taste and the insatiable appetite for novelty characteristic of the fashion world. New colors enjoyed only brief popularity. For two or three years they could be sold at high profits, but thereafter the price plunged rapidly down ward, often to a point considerably below the actual price of manufacture. T o remain in business under such circumstances, the dye manufacturer ( usually a chemist himself) was obliged to do two things. First, he had to improve the efficiency and quality of his production in order p:utially to offset the inevitable downward trend of dye prices; and second, he had to fi nd new colors to replace the old that were no longer profitable. At first he conducted his own scienti6c and technological .. Reprinted from Isis, Vol. 49, 1958, pp. 123-131, by pennission. © 1958 by the H istory of Science Society, Inc. Beer has also written Tlte Emugc11« of IM Gcr11111n Dye ltl d11stry ( U rbana, Ill.: U nfrcrsity of Illinois Press, 1959) . The history of a major industrinl lnborstory in another industry is given in K~ndill Birr, Pioneering iu l ndustrial Research: TJ1e Srory of tlte Ch!Dal Eltctnc R.. search Laborntory (Washington: Public Affairs Preu, 1957) . For i gencnl suncy of the ch em ical indu stry in the nineteenth century concisely presented, :.cc Aaron Jdhe, "Chem ical Industry, 1780-1900," Journal of World Hutory, Vol. 4, 1958 (Editor's no te)

JOHN J . DEER

in\'estigations; but in the two decades that followed the founding of the coal tar color industry in 1857, as competition between the mushrooming color factories intensified, and as the chemistry of a romatic compounds grew e\'er more comple.'C, he found that he alone could n o longer master the diversified researches becoming indispensable to the survival of his business. He therefore began to hire help, and in this manner was born the industrial laboratorv. The establishment of commercially sponsored researc h, h owever, was not as simple as all that-as witnessed by the fact that both the French and the British, despite their initial leadership in the manufacture of aniline colors, were unable to set up a single industrial research laboratory worthy of the name during the entire pe riod that preceded the First World War. They paid for this failure with the total collapse of their once thri"ing dyestuffs and fine chemical industry. The Swiss, and more particularly the Germans, were more successful at introducing organized science into industry. They owed their success to several factors, the most important of which were their ample supply of academically trained chemists, their national tradition of painstaking work, and their pressing need to convert the few raw materials which they possessed into \'aluable products so as to be able to provide for their rapidly expanding populations. N or must it be assumed that the research laboratory, as we now think of it, came into being merely with the employment of one or more research assistants. It took a period of more than forty years, from 1868 to 1910, for that institution to mature. H owever, when it comes to making broad statements about the evolution of the industrial laboratory, it must be confessed that in the past we ha,•e not possessed a single case history upon which to base such generalizations. In order, therefore, to bring the history of corporate industrial research down to specific cases, most of the remainder of this paper will be devoted to a consideration of the growth of the laboratories of the Fa rbenfabriken vorm. Friedrich Bayer & Co., of Elberfeld in W estphalia. Since, however, this firm was not among the very first dye companies to gather a research staff, and as it has been selected for study on the sole ground that it is the only plant with an adequate record of its own past, I would, before launching into its history, brieBy turn to a consideration of two other dye companies among the pioneers in this fi eld. These firms, the Farbwerke vorm. Meister Lucius & Bruning of H & hst, near Frankfort-onthe-f\1ain, and the Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik of Ludwigshafen, 1 1

a

The Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik was founded in I 865, but was actually of the firm, Sonntag, Engclhom & Clemm ( 1863), which in turn

~ucce~wr

ORIGI NS OP THE RESEARC H LABORATORY

as early as 1868 began systematically to hire university trained chemists. It is regrettable that their company records shed little light on the specific purpose for wh ich these men were employed. In all likelihood, the event which drove both plants into the rapid acquisition of a research staff was their eagerness to develop a commercially feasible reaction for the manufactu re of alizarin, an old natural dye with an immense market, wh ich the ch em ists, Carl Graebe and Carl Lieberman, had succeeded in synthesizi ng from anthracene a short time before in their Berlin laboratory. Little is known about the operation of the laboratories in either of these two pioneering companies. We have no complete record of their staffs, of the problems they studied, or of the manner in which they coordina ted the investigations of their chemists. The only item abou t which we do have some information relates to the close ties they maintained with such noted professors of organic chemistry as August W ilhelm H ofmann and Adolph Baeyer. By leaning heavily on academic consultants and by employing the same rigorous, theoretical approach to scien tific problems as practiced in the universities, these two factory laboratories provided their plants with such a steady Bow of useful discoveries th at they thoroughly convinced the management that the promotion of research was a profitable venture. Because of their progressive attitude toward science, both the Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik and the Farbwerke of H ochst in the l870's rose into Erst and second place respectively amon g the dye factories of the world. If it is a pity that our knowledge of these two pioneering plants is so skim py, we do, in now turning our attention to the aforementioned Bayer Compan y of Elberfeld, at least have this advantage, that we obtain an insight into what a smaller, less progressive dye factory was obliged to do in the line of scientific research in order to keep pace with the leading com petitors in the field. We thus ha\•e the opportunity to observe the typical rather than the exceptional, and for that reason will be less likely to obtain a distorted picture of the rate at which the dye industry em braced science. was a successor to the aniline dye company, located in ~iannheim, by the name of Chemische Fabrik Dyckerhoff, Clemm & CA., (1861). The guiding spirits of these Snns were the two brothers, August and Carl Clemm, both able chemists who h ad receiived their training under Liebig in Giessen. Associated with them was a Mannheim industrialist, Friedrich Engelhom, a man of rcmarbble business genius and foresight. From the beginning, tbe Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabnk was a large-scale undertaking which distilled its own coal tar, _made most o( ib own heavy chemicals, and, of all the German dyestuffs fact0nes, n:wnubcturcd the widest variety of coal tar dyes. Dr. August Clemm conducted the company'i research ( prob ab1y single-handed) till 1868,_ when. n~·o or three chemists were hi red, among them the celebrated dye chenust, Hemnch

uro....

JOHN J. BEER

Like all the dozen or more dye factories that sprang up in Germany in the early 1860's, the ani line company founded b y the Westphalian businessman, Friedrich Bayer, copied its manufacturing processes from the British and the French, who had pion eered in the discovery and large-scale production of coal tar colors in the p revious decade. The skill of Friedrich Bayer's business partner, Friedrich Weskott, a successful dyer by profession, was adequate enough to plan and operate a manufacturing process comparable in quality and efficie ncy to that of other dye firms. But after three years of operation, as competition between the plants intensified and greater efficiency was called for, Weskott and Bayer felt the need of the services of a university-trained chemist to help them improve the efficiency of the synthesis of their most important product, the dye fu chsin. The man they hired, a certain Dr. Schoenfeld, seems not to have come up to the owners' expectation s, for he was shortly dismissed. That he was not replaced by another academic ch emist indicates that the factory solved its problem by other m eans. That same year the company employed a vocationally train ed fore man, fresh from the newly founded textile trade school of Krefeld. This man, Eduard Siller by name, proved equal to the task of rationalizing the firm's fu chsin production, and the company immediately proceeded to add three ~ore foremen of similar schooling to its payroll. For a full decade, from 1864 to 1874, these vocationally trained foremen were in sole charge of production and research at the Bayer plant. In this decade they adapted several new colors to large-scale produc· tion, most notably alizarin. So indispensable did two of these four men become, that the management took them into partnership lest they leave to found independent factories of their own. The type of experimenting done by these vocational chemists was confined almost exclusively to the improvement and adaptation to production of manufacturing processes about which they had heard or read . They did a little, but not much, in the line of trying to improve the methods by which dyes are applied to cloth. If ever they did make an effort to find new colors, they never succeeded. Though their m ethod of research was not blindly empirical, it could n ot be te rmed theoretical or highly rational. They had been taught to reason by crude analogy, to think in such simple terms as oxidation or reduction and alka linity, acidity, or neutrality; and they were acquainted with the reagents ncccs· sary to achieve these chemical conditions. Their "laboratory" consisted of a lead-covered table in a corner of the plant, upon which stood a few reagent bottles and some chemical glassware. Many expe riments

ORIGI NS OF THE RESEARCH LABORATORY

133

...vere made on a large scale while manufacturing was in progress; that is to say, the conditions or ingredients ordinarily used to make a batch of dyestuffs were altered slightly to see what effect the change would have on the yield or the quality of the product. To hide failures from the management, production flgurcs were often falsified. About the year 1874, the Bayer Company again undertook to employ university-trained chemists, for the foremen were becoming increasingly incapable of dealing with the growing complexity of higher require· ments of dye manufacture. A determined effort was made to obtain men with some experience in the supervision of dyestuffs production. The company therefore resorted to luring chemists away from other factories. It was particularly skillful at enticing one fuchsin and two alilarin specialists away from I l&hst. Yct, despite occasional successes, the policy of hiring chemists from competing 6rrns pro\·ed unsatisfactory. Competitors bent every effort to keep their best men. Those who defectcd were usually second-rate scientists, their originality part! y burned out, and they could never be full y trusted. It was expected that the new chemists would spend the bulk of their time in the plant itself, occupying themselves with problems of cost, quality, and yield. In a compara tivcly short time their duties tended to become administrative ancl routine, with no time to search for new colors. T wo events in the year 1876 forced the Bayer Company to give serious attention to the problem of discovering new dyes. That year the German patent act was passed, replacing the hopele~!> patchwork of patent laws that had existed in Germany prior to that country's unification in 187 1, with a single law applicable to the entire nation. Almo~t overnight the copying practices, used heretofore with idling succe)S by the G erman dyo firm s, came to an encl. Factories would now have to find their own new colors or be threatened with cxtinuion. A similar fate would await them it they failed to take advantage of the recent discoveries of Peter Griess, Otto Witt, and Z. Rou~in , who in the year 1876 opcm:d up the vast, immensely promising field of the azo