Edgar Thompson Steel Works, the largest in America. There is also the City of Bessemer, Botetourt County, Virginia; the City of Bessemer, Natrona County, Wyoming; and the City of Bessemer, Gaston County, North Carolina."

In the latter part of 1856 and the commencement of 1857, I steadily pursued my experiments, with a view to improve the quality of the steel I was making, and to get rid of red-shortness. I sought for information on this point in old books and encyclopaedias, where very little information could be gained. I also re- perused such metallurgical works as I possessed, and had already skimmed over too lightly, and in one of them I found some most valuable information, which I at once saw was applicable to my case. It related to an invention that had been introduced into the Sheffield steel trade, about sixteen years previously, by means of which iron of inferior quality was made to produce excellent steel, and to receive the property of welding. The article referred to was written by my old and esteemed friend, Dr. Andrew Ure, and appeared in a supplement to the third edition of his Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, published by Longmans and Co. in l846.

It has many times been remarked that some of the most important events which shape and control our lives or fortunes, arise from fortuitous circumstances which apparently have no possible connection with the events they have in reality brought about. My readers will remember that in the early part of this volume (page 13) I gave an account of my acquaintance with Dr. Ure, and related how I had shown him some medallions which I had coated with a thin deposit of copper from its acid solution. I told of the great interest Dr. Ure had taken in my discovery, and how, in November, 1846, he published a supplement to his work, in which he gave an account of my invention under the article "Electro-Metallurgy." Hence, I naturally purchased a copy of this, to me, most interesting volume. It was an article on the manufacture of steel, contained in this supplement, which first enlightened me on the subject of manganese and Heath's invention; this culminated in the production of ferro-manganese.

I read this account of Heath's invention with deep interest, and at the same time I scored a line under a few of the sentences which very forcibly struck me; in order that my readers may see precisely the kind of information this article furnished, I have had the whole page photographed, and I reproduce it in Fig. 77, Plate XXXIV.

On reading this well-authenticated account of Heath's invention, I at once saw that red-shortness would be cured by its use, for I had found that my red-short steel crumbled away under the hammer if raised to a welding heat. Here, in the book of my old friend, Dr. Ure, was ample proof that inferior brands of iron could be made into weldable cast steel simply by alloying them with 1 per cent. of carburet of manganese. This fortunate discovery of what had already been practised for years came like a revelation to me; and as this patent of Heath's had long expired, and his invention had become public property, I at once investigated the whole subject, commencing with inquiries into the law proceedings referred to by Dr. Ure, where I gained much additional information. In the reports of "Noted Cases on Letters Patent for Inventions," by Thos. Webster, barrister-at-law, published in 1855, I found the complete specification of Heath's patent, and also much evidence given in the Exchequer Court, in the case of "Heath v. Unwin," Hilary Term, 1844, by experts who had studied the subject both theoretically and practically. From these reports I subjoin the following extract :--

Evidence was given on behalf of the plaintiff by manufacturers of steel, and of long experience in the trade, to the effect that cast steel suitable for the manufacture of cutlery, before the introduction of the plaintiff's process, could only be made from high-priced foreign iron, that the use of carburet of manganese in the manufacture of welding cast steel was new at the date of the plaintiff's patent; that the introduction of the plaintiff's invention caused a revolution in the trade; that the plaintiff had, after long investigation and experiments, discovered that when black oxide of manganese was combined in such proportions with carbonaceous matter as to form a carburet, it enabled the manufacturer to produce a welding cast steel suitable for the manufacture of cutlery from low-priced British iron, which had never been done before, and which reduced the price of the steel from about 70L. to about 35L. per ton.