1685.-A process was patented by John Briscoe for making English paper 66 as white as any French or Dutch."

Before this time, nearly all the writing and printing paper used in England was imported from France and Holland, at a cost to the country of £100,000 a year. Among the refugees whom the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) drove to England were some paper-makers. From them the English learned the secrets of the manufacture.

1801.-Fourdrinier, a Frenchman, obtained a patent in England for paper-making machinery.

It is believed that the machine was first suggested by Louis Robert of Paris, who sold his model to Francis Didot, the great French printer. Didot took the model to London, and, with Fourdrinier's help, made improvements on it.

1805.-Joseph Bramah, the inventor of the Bramah lock and the hydraulic press, patented improvements on the paper-machine.

1807.-Fourdrinier obtained a second patent--for manufacturing paper in a web of indefinite length.

1856.--The use of Esparto, or Spanish grass, was introduced and patented by E. Rutledge.

Where was

1857.—Parchment paper was invented and patented by W. E. Gaine. Paper is passed through diluted sulphuric acid, and is immediately converted into a tough, skin-like material. A similar discovery had been made at Paris in 1846. 1861. The paper duty was repealed by the British Parliament. QUESTIONS.-Who invented parchment? | English paper-mill erected? When? What was used for writing on before that time? What is the origin of the word paper? Who are said to have first used paper made of pulp? When? By whom was the manufacture first introduced into Europe? To what year does the earliest specimen of linen paper found in Europe belong? Where and when was the first

most of the white paper used in England got before 1685? Who patented the first paper-making machine? Who was the inventor of it? What English inventor made improvements on it? When was the use of Esparto patented? What is parchment paper? When was the paper duty repealed?

THE ART OF PRINTING.

1438 A.D.-Lawrence Coster of Haarlem, in Holland, invented printing from movable wooden types.

He was in the habit of cutting letters out of beech-tree bark for the amusement of his grandchildren. On one occasion he had wrapped some of these letters in parchment, and observed the impression they had left upon it. In the block books in use before his time, a separate block had to be cut for each page. Coster could arrange and reärrange his wooden letters in any order he liked. He is said also to have invented a printing ink, and to have made some experiments with lead and pewter types. Coster was warden of a church at Haarlem.

1444.-John Guttenberg of Mentz, in South Germany, invented printing from cut metal types. He learned the art of printing, so far as it had been developed, from Coster, with whom he became acquainted at Haarlem.

Persecuted at Strasburg, and driven penniless from the town, he returned to Mentz. There he started a printing office in partnership with John Fust and Peter Schoeffer (Fust's son-in-law). The jealousy of his enemies drove Guttenberg from Mentz; but his partners contrived to conciliate them. Guttenberg retired to Nassau, where he printed many works, and died in 1468.

1452.-Printing from metal types cast in moulds was invented by Peter Schoeffer; but no work was produced from them till 1459.

Schoeffer continued in partnership with his father-in-law, Fust, at Mentz, for some years longer. The Sack of Mentz, about 1464, spread the art of printing to other towns. Fust died about 1467, and Schoeffer in 1502.

1471.-William Caxton, a London mercer, set up the first English printing-press at Westminster.

He had learned the art in Flanders, where he had gone as the agent of the Mercers' Company of London. He died in 1491.

1509.-Printing was first introduced into Scotland.

1730.-Stereotyping was invented by William Ged, a goldsmith of Edin

burgh.

In stereotyping, a plaster mould of the page of type is taken; and from this mould a solid plate in type-metal is cast, which corresponds exactly with the original types. The types are thus set free for other work, while the stereotype plates are stored and may be used at any time.

1800.-An improved printing-press was invented by the Earl of Stanhope. The Stanhope press came into general use about 1806.

1814.-The first steam printing-machine was erected in the office of The Times, London.

1818.-A simpler machine was introduced by Cowper and Applegath. 1827.-Cowper and Applegath constructed a four-cylinder machine, producing 5000 copies in an hour.

1848.-Applegath's eight-cylinder machine, having the types arranged in vertical columns on a central drum, was erected in the Times Office. It produced 12,000 copies in an hour, printed on one side.

1850.-Electrotyping began to be generally applied to stereotype plates. It covers the plates with a deposit of copper, which makes them much more durable.

1858.-Hoe's American machine, with ten feeding cylinders, and stereotype plates on the central drum, was erected in the Times Office. It printed on one side 20,000 copies in an hour.

1866.-The first "Walter Press" was completed in the Times Office. It feeds itself with paper from a continuous web; prints both sides at one operation; supplies itself with ink; damps the paper; cuts it into sheets; and registers the number of impressions. It produces from 12,000 to 15,000 perfected copies (printed on both sides) in an hour.

QUESTIONS.-When was printing from wooden types invented in Europe? By whom? What suggested the invention? What office did Coster hold? Who invented printing from cut metal types? When? What led him to interest himself in printing? How was Guttenberg treated at Strasburg and at Mentz? When were metal types first cast in moulds? By whom? What spread the art of printing from Mentz to other towns? By whom was printing introduced into England? When? How

had Caxton learned the art? When was printing introduced into Scotland? When was stereotyping invented? By whom? Who invented an improved printing-press in 1800? When and where was the first steam printing-press erected? What was the peculiarity of Applegath's machine of 1848? What is electrotyping? When did it begin to be used? What American invention improved upon Applegath's? When? What is remarkable in the Walter Press? Where was it first erected?

IRON MANUFACTURE.

1740 A.D.—About this time coal began to be used in the smelting of iron. Previously it had been smelted entirely with charcoal, which proved a great barrier to cheap production. The consequence was, that Britain had to import from Sweden and Russia two-thirds of the bar-iron she needed. In 1740 the amount of iron produced in England and Wales was little over 17,000 tons; in 1850 it was 2,000,000; and in 1865, 4,800,000.

1785.-Henry Cort, an ironmaster at Gosport near Portsmouth (Hampshire), invented the process of converting pig-iron into malleable iron by the flame of coal in the puddling furnace. He further invented a process for drawing wrought-iron into bars by means of grooved rollers.

The frauds of a partner, who held a government office, involved Cort in ruin-for he was deprived of his patent-rights-and he died ten years later broken-hearted and poor. The puddling consisted originally in stirring the melted iron in the furnace with rakes, so as to bring every portion of it in contact with the air. This was afterwards accomplished by means of a blast-furnace-a large conical furnace, in which blasts of air are sent through the iron by means of tubes inserted at several places.

1828.-The hot-air blast was invented by James Neilson of Glasgow. This improvement effected an enormous saving of fuel, as the cold-air blast greatly reduced the heat of the furnace.

1856.--A plan for improving the manufacture of iron and steel, by means of forcing jets of air through the melted iron, was made known by Henry Bessemer.

QUESTIONS.-When did coal begin to be | For what purpose? How was this afterused in the smelting of iron? What had previously been used? What was the consequence of this to Britain? What were Cort's two inventions? What caused his ruin? In what did the puddling consist? | known?

wards effected? When was the hot-air blast invented? By whom? How did it effect an enormous saving of fuel? What is Bessemer's process? When was it made

THE STEAM-ENGINE.

1615 A.D.-A French engineer raised water from a well to a chamber placed over it, by filling the chamber with steam, and then condensing it, so as to create a vacuum. The water was, in this case, forced up to fill the vacuum by the pressure of the atmosphere.

1663.-The Marquis of Worcester described a machine which raised water by the pressure of steam on its surface.

1698.-An apparatus for raising water both by vacuum and by pressure was patented by Captain Savery, an Englishman.

1705.-A separate steam apparatus, with cylinder, piston, and beam, was patented by Thomas Newcomen, a locksmith of Dartmouth (Devonshire). This was called an atmospheric engine. No important change was made on it till 1765.

He

1765.-James Watt constructed a working model of an engine in which the condensation was performed in a vessel separate from the cylinder. obtained his first patent for this in 1769.

Watt was born at Greenock in 1736. While yet a child of six years he was found amusing himself with geometrical problems. After a year spent in London, he became, in 1756, mathematical instrument maker to Glasgow College. In this capacity he had a model of Newcomen's engine intrusted to him for repair. Its working was so unsatisfactory that he was led to devise improvements, the most important of which was the separate condenser. In 1775, his patent being renewed by Act of Parliament, Watt entered into partnership with Matthew Boulton for the manufacture of engines on a large scale at Soho, near Birmingham. He introduced further improvements in his engines from year to year. In 1800, having been very prosperous, he retired from business, and occupied himself with his favourite studies till his death, in 1819.

QUESTIONS.-What was the earliest ap- | tus made? What great improvement did plication of steam to a mechanical pur- Watt make on this engine? When and pose? When was this machine made? where was Watt born? How was the subHow was the water raised by the Marquis ject of the steam-engine brought under his of Worcester's machine? What was the notice? Into what business did he then nature of Savery's patent? When was the enter? How did he occupy the later first engine with a separate steam appara- years of his life? When did he die?

STEAM NAVIGATION.

1785 A.D.-Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, in Dumfries-shire, invented paddle-wheels,-patented, 1787.

1786. James Symington made a working model of a locomotive engine, which he exhibited in Edinburgh.

1788.-Symington and Miller constructed a small steamboat (with engine and paddle-wheels) which was launched in Dalswinton Loch, in Dumfriesshire (called "the cradle of the steamboat"), and went at the rate of five miles an hour.

1802. Symington started a steamboat on the Forth and Clyde Canal; but it was disused, as the company feared injury to the banks of the canal. 1803.-Robert Fulton, an American, placed a steamboat on the Seine, which attracted the notice of Napoleon.

He was an artist by profession, but from boyhood he was passionately fond of mechanics. In England, he made the acquaintance of Dr. Cartwright, the inventor of the power-loom; the Duke of Bridgewater, the great canal projector; and the Earl of Stanhope, the inventor of a printing-press. He visited Scotland in 1806, and was introduced to Symington, who supplied him with every information respecting his steamboats.

1807.-Fulton started a steamboat (Clermont) on the river Hudson in America. He died in 1815.

1812.-The first steamboat used in Europe for commercial purposes (The Comet) was built on the Clyde by Henry Bell.

Bell procured the funds necessary for his enterprise while carrying on the trade of carpenter in Glasgow. Wealthy rivals soon drove him off the field; and he sank into poverty and neglect. He obtained a small annuity from the Clyde Trustees, and died in 1830. Before that time, steam navigation had made great advances. David Napier of Glasgow had started steam-packets between Greenock and Belfast, Dover and Calais, Holyhead and Dublin, Liverpool and Greenock, and other parts.

1819.-A steam-vessel (The Savannah) for the first time crossed the Atlantic, from New York to Liverpool.

1825.-Captain Johnson was awarded £10,000 for making the first steam voyage to India, in The Enterprise, which sailed from Falmouth to Calcutta. 1838.-Steam-vessels began to ply regularly between England and America. The Sirius from Cork, and The Great Western from Bristol, made the first passage, arriving at New York on the same day, 23rd April. In the same year war-steamers began to be built in England.

1858. The largest steam-vessel in the world, The Great Eastern, was launched at Millwall (London). This vessel is 692 feet long, and 83 feet broad. In 1864 she was used to convey the Atlantic Telegraph cable.

gow?

QUESTIONS.-Where and when was the | What trade had Bell followed in Glasfirst steamboat launched? By whom was she made? What led these two men to work together? Where was the first steamboat started for traffic? Why was she disused? From whom had Fulton obtained information respecting the invention? Where and when did he start a steamboat? By whom was the first steamboat used in Europe built? Where and when was she launched?

In what circumstances did he die? When did the first steam-vessel cross the Atlantic? When was the first steam voyage to India made? What regular traffic began in 1838? When did war-steamers begin to be built? Which is the largest steam-vessel in the world? Give her length and breadth. For what purpose was she used in 1864?

COTTON MANUFACTURE.

1767 A.D.-James Hargreaves, a weaver near Blackburn (Lancashire), invented a spinning-jenny with eight spindles. Spinning had previously been done by hand, with the help of a spinning-wheel.

Hargreaves' neighbours destroyed his jenny, and drove him from the place. When he took out a patent for his machine, the manufacturers leagued themselves against him, and he died in obscurity and distress in 1777.

1769.-Richard Arkwright patented his water-frame spinning-machine; so called because at first driven by water power.

He began life as a barber at Bolton (Lancashire). He was at first persecuted and neglected; but he secured the partnership of Messrs. Need and Strutt of Nottingham, and became very prosperous. In 1771 he erected large spinning mills in Derbyshire. He was knighted; and at his death in 1792 he left a fortune of half a million.

1779.-The mule, in which the spindles are arranged in a movable carriage, was invented by Samuel Crompton, a native of Lancashire. It produced yarn of treble the fineness of any previously made in England, and very much softer.

This invention gave a great impetus to the cotton manufacture, and through it to civilization and comfort. Crompton did not patent his invention, but threw it open to the world. It is believed that there are now thirty millions of these mules in use in Great Britain alone. Crompton received a vote of £5000 from Parliament in 1812; but this was swallowed up in paying his debts, and he died in poverty and neglect in 1827.

1785.-Dr. Cartwright invented the power-loom weaving machine. Weaving had previously been done by hand-looms; but it was found that the spinning-machine lately invented could produce far more yarn than the handlooms could employ.

Cartwright, who began life as a country clergyman, was maligned and persecuted both by masters and by men, and very soon lost the large fortune which he had embarked in his schemes. In 1808 Parliament voted him a grant of £10,000. He died in 1823.