66 PROCEEDINGS of the POLITICAL CLUB, &. man breathing, and no wife man will B Feb. Our wooden walls, and bid defiance to all the powers of Europe. This, Sir, is eafily faid, but it was never thought practicable by any man of common understanding; for even the French alone would foon render themfelves fuperior to us at sea, if they had nothing to fear from any attack upon the continent: What then might not the French do, were they to be fupported in a war against us, by the Dutch and all the other maritime powers in Europe? Befides, if they had an inconteftable fway at every court in Europe, they would command them to shut all their ports against the fhips of this nation, and to prohibit all our manufactures, which would put an end to our commerce, and this in a little time would put an end to our navy; for ships of war without feamen are of no fignification, and without an exten, five commerce, it is impoffible to have a fufficient number of feamen. Suppose we had refolved upon this felfish and foolish maxim at the beginning of the late war, what would have been the confequence? The house of Bavaria would have been established upon the Imperial throne, and put in poffeffion, at leaft, of the Auftrian Netherlands: Spain, or the Spanish branch of the house of Bourbon, would have got all the Austrian dominions in Italy; and by this means the French would have been rendered abfolutely fecure against being attacked by land. In thefe circumftances they might, perhaps, have allowed us to go on with our war againft Spain for a year or two, until they had augmented their navy, especially as they knew, that, in attempting any conquefts upon Spain in America, we had more to fear from the climate, than from the enemy. But as foon as they had fufficiGently augmented their navy, they would have fent us their orders to fubmit to Spain upon what terms they might have thought fit to prefcribe, and if we had refufed, they That the concurrence of the emperor is neceffary for the election of a king of the Romans, I believe, no C one will doubt, Sir, who knows any thing of the constitution of the German empire; and as to the continuance of the Imperial diadem in the house of Austria, as there is but a mere trifle of a revenue annexed to that high office, no other prince, ca- D pable of being chofen, could be at the expence of fupporting its grandeur and dignity, without a penfion, or what, in the modern phrafe, is called a fubfidy, from France; and to have an emperor of Germany de. pending for his fupport upon the crown of France, is what that political court has been long aiming at, and what would give it an incontestable fway in Europe; which this nation has more reafon to guard against than any other, not only because we have moft to lofe, but be- F cause the French are naturally more inveterate enemies to us than to any people in the world, which proceeds from a difference in our tempers and manners, as well as from the many bloody wars that have happened between the two nations. I know it is faid, Sir, that if the powers upon the continent will not defend their own liberties, we have Rething to do but to retire within E would 1752. Of the Nature and Qualities of IRON. would have iffued their orders for all "the maritime powers of Europe to join with them, in order to correct the infolence of the English. This, Sir, is a true picture of what would probably have been the confequences, had we refolved upon A 'this selfish maxim at the beginning of the late war; and this may convince us, how neceffary it is even for this nation, notwithstanding our fituation "in an island, to have the power of the houfe of Auftria preferved, and the Imperial diadem continued in B that family. To have the archduke Jofeph chofen king of the Romans, is therefore a measure, which we ought to pursue with all the vigour and all the dispatch in our power; and for this purpofe nothing could "be more effectual than the treaty now C under our confideration. It is true, there is not in this treaty, nor could there have been, an exprefs ftipulation for the elector of Bavaria's giving his vote for the young archduke to be king of the Romans: Such a ftipulation would have been contrary D to the fundamental laws of the em - pire; but every one knows the intention of this treaty, and, I believe, no one doubts of the elector of Bavaria's being refolved to join with his majesty in that election, as foon as it may be thought proper to bring it upon the carpet, which, I hope, will be before our meeting here the next 67 the fuccefs with respect to the election itself, it must be granted, that this is a wife and a neceffary step tówards it; and even fuppofe we should be disappointed as to the election, yet the detaching of the house of Bavaria from the French intereft, and uniting that houfe again with the houfe of Auftria, is fuch a change in favour of the common caufe of Europe, as deserves a much higher price than we are by this treaty to pay for it; therefore I fhall add no more, but conclude with moving, That the fum of, &c. [This JOURNAL to be continued in our next.] To the AUTHOR of the LONDON SIR, for encouraging the importation OME time ago an aɛt rvas passed, of pig and bar iron from the colonies of America, and to prevent the making of feel there: And as I am concerned in the manufacturing of iron and steel, I have made the following remarks on the nature and qualities of iron; which, if you think they will be of ufe to the publick, are at your E Service. BRITANNICU?. Y tough iron is meant that, feafon ; for in all appearance there B which will endure bending is already a majority of the electors, ready to concur in this election, backwards and forwards a great therefore if it be delayed, it can on- many times, when cold, without ly be to endeavour to have it unani- F cracking or breaking. Cold-fhort mous, which is certainly to be aim-iron is the reverfe, and will not en'ed at, and perhaps may be obtained. Gentlemen need not therefore be afraid, Sir, of our being led into any greater expence upon this account; for I have very good reason to expect from the prefent afpect of the affairs of Europe, that this wished-for election may be very speedily brought on, and ended without any oppofition. But whatever may be G dure bending cold, without cracking or breaking. What is meant by malleable is expanding under a hammer, when hot.. All bar-iron is more or lefs malleable, as the parts are more or lefs compact, porous or fpungy; therefore both cold-fhort, and tough iron, may be very malleable, tho' the first is commonly more fo.. Pig 68 English, American, and Swedish IRON. Pig-iron is not in any degree malleable, because it will not expand at all under a hammer, when hot, but break and fly in pieces at one ftroke or blow; therefore, is never termed malleable iron. Red-fhort is a vicious quality, A which is fometimes found in all kinds of iron, tho' more frequently in the tough, as in most iron of that fpecies the pores are fmaller and more numerous. There is in all malleable iron (when hot) a fluid, which iron-makers commonly call B cinder; this flows to and fro in the pores or veins of the iron, and without it no iron is or can be malleable; it being as nourishing to iron, as oil is to leather. Now when this cinder is quite thin, and the pores of the iron large c enough to let it fluctuate to and fro in the iron, and emit the furplus, when violently preffed with a hammer, the iron is quite free from redfhort; but when the pores are too minute, and this cinder too thick and glutinous to emit upon a violent D preffure of a hammer, it burfts the iron into cracks, and is then termed red-fhort, being brittle when red-hot. All English iron is either of the foft tough kind, or the brittle. The American iron, which has hitherto come into England, either in pigs or bars, is all of it of these two fpecies of iron. The firft is exceeding well adapted to all manufactures where iron and fteel are laid together, as in all carpenters and joiners tools, fcythes, fickles, fheers, fciffars, fpades, and fhovels; because, being fpungy and porous, it will with leis degree of heat open its pores large enough to receive the particles, and intermix or weave its furface with the furface of the fteel laid to it. Now Swedish iron is equally as tough as the best fort of English or American iron, but much harder than either, being of a more compact body, and fo will not join with fteel without a more intense heat than is neceffary for the English or F Feb. American iron; and as an intense heat deftroys the very nature and effence of steel, which requires, and will only bear a low, mild heat, therefore fteel and Swedish iron cannot fo properly be joined togethe as iron which is more porous and fpungy, and doth not require an intense heat to expand the pores wide enough to imbibe a fufficient quantity of the particles of steel to make them firm together, without prejudice to the steel by too intense a heat. Cold-short iron, from its brittlenefs when cold, can be adapted but to few purposes, except making of fmall nails, for which it is most particularly useful; for, firft, it will work exceeding foft, and confequently may be wrought cheaper than any other iron whatever, because it will expand with little more than half the force under the hammer; and will alfo point more minutely than any other iron, without cleaving, partly owing to the particles being fquare, by which they reft more equally one upon another; and partly because what we call cinder being thinner and in lefs quantities between the particles, the cohefion is not fo much weakened as in tough iron, where the particles are more like round ftrings or fibres, which give room for more of the cinder to lodge in the cavities, which weakens the cohefion; and as the particles are near upon a round, they do not reft fo fecurely one upon another as the iron compofed of fquare particles, fo will cleave or flide one befide another, and render the point, when fmall, splintered, and incapable of being driven into any hard fubftance. It is likewife better for small nails in another respect, which is, that it will drive into hard wood without bending, being very stiff, owing, in fome measure, to what is observed above (viz. the fquareness of the particles) and yet when it is hammered into fo fmall a fubftance as a fmall 1752. Manner of making STEEL. fmall nail, the particles are rendered fo minute and compact, as to have toughness enough for the ufes they are applied to. Note, There is none of this kind of iron imported from Sweden; and here has come pig-iron from Ame- A rica, which produces iron of this quality from the feveral furnaces annexed, as appears by their marks. Bristol furnace, col. Spotfwood's furnace; both on Rapahannock river. A furnace on York river. R. F. O. C. Potomuck, Tuball, F. C.-N. B. or B New Birmingham. I have heard of feveral more forts of this fpecies of metal, but never ufed any but those which can operate on English iron only, being much of the fame nature with the cold-fhort iron made in England, C which is used for fmall nails only. The Swedish iron is of a more compact body than any, either English or American, known in England; owing, as I apprehend, to the particles being more numerous, closer connected, and made up of more D various fhaped fibres and particles, which fit each other more exactly, and do not leave fuch large cavities to be filled up with cinder; which, tho' abfolutely neceffary to render iron malleable, yet is by far the weakest part in iron; therefore the E more minute and numerous the pores are in iron, the cinder lodges in less quantities; tho' there is enough to mollify the harder particles of iron, when heated, so as to render it malleable, tho' not near fo ductile and foft, as iron whose pores are large, F and the cinder lodged in larger quantities. Thefe qualities render this iron the moft useful of all others, where there is much friction, as in coach, waggon, or cart tire or ftrakes, fhoes for horfes, especially in ftony G or gravelly countries, which fret and chafe foft fpungy iron away in little more than half the time. These qualities alfo render it of much less value than English or American in 69 all manufacturing places, from its being fo ftubborn and inductile when hot, from its unfitness to join with steel, and from its hardness to file or grind. Steel is made from the most compact, ftrong bodied iron hitherto known in this kingdom, which is the Swedish Orgrounds iron. The manner of making it is laying the bars in long ftone troughs or chefts, in a very large furnace, and the bars are feparated one from another by fand and pulverized charcoals. These troughs or chefts are heated by a very intense heat for feveral days, until it is almost ready to liquify: This exhausts a great deal of the matter we call cinder, and in its place is imbibed fome exceeding minute particles from the fand, which from the intense heat is turned into a glafly substance, which contributes to render the body more compact, and by confequence more elaftick; and when quenched in water, which is the common method of hardening fteel, it fhrinks or condenfes into almoft an intire folid body; fo will penetrate or cut any body lefs compact or folid. Now as the best tough English or American iron is much more porous (that is, the pores larger, and not fo numerous) fo in making it into steel, it imbibes the glaffy matter above-mentioned in too large particles, which breaks the cohesion, and renders it tender and rotten; so, tho' it may be hard, yet as the particles are not minute enough, a very little preffure burfts the parts afunder, in the fame manner as having too much glue or cement in a joint between two pieces of wood. We fhall be obliged to our correfpondent for more on this fubject. To the AUTHOR of the LONDON SIR, A S your Magazine falls into fo many hands, and is in fuch A Criticism on a Text of SCRIPTURE. high repute with difcerning readers, I beg you will give this a place. Whereas in the 2d chapter of St. Luke's gofpel, ver. 49. there is a miftranflation, which makes that paffage fomewhat unintelligible, the Feb. his family with 6 children more. Happy the country, where luxury and foftness of manners do not make fuch a number of children feared! And, what is very remarkable, this fecond wife became a common mo reader is defired to take notice, that, A ther to all her husband's children, inftead of the expreffion-about my Father's bufinefs, it ought to run thus-in my Father's house. The Greek word, in rag oixsîong, will juftify its being rendered in this manner, and thereby the fenfe will be eafy, obvious, and plain to every B capacity. The whole paragraph runs thus. Son, why haft thou thus dealt with us? Thy Father and I have fought thee forrowing. Jefus faid unto them, How is it that ye fought me? Wift ye not that I must be about my Father's bufinefs? An anfwer dark and obfcure, that we may well take up the words of the Eunuch, and fay-How can I understand this, except fame one fhall guide me ? Acts viii. 31. But rendering the Greek in the foregoing manner, as it is a just tranflation, it will throw in light D fufficient.- -How, and wherefore did ye feek me? when your own thoughts would have fuggefted to you, that I must be in my Father's bouse? I am, SIR, equally fond of all, tenderly beloved by all. The father, both from a natural love and a neceffary economy, was tutor to his fons as long as he could. He foon difcovered excellent qualities in Herman, and defigned him to fill a place like his own, his ambition taking no higher a flight: He had already, at 11 years old, taught him a good deal of Latin, Greek, and polite literature; and whilft he was thus forming his mind, Che took care to ftrengthen his body by fome moderate exercises in agriculture; for he could not afford to be at much expence for his education. E In the mean time, at about 14 years of age, the young Boorhaave was attacked with an ugly ulcer in his left thigh; he was tormented for near 4 years with this fore, and with the remedies that were applied to it; at length, after having exhaufted all the art of the phyficians and furgeons, he took it into his head frequently to foment himself with urine, wherein he had diffolved fome falt; and by this means he cured himself: A prefage of his future fame in the medical way. His long indifpofition did not, however, prevent the courfe of his ftudies. By his natural tafte he had a great defire of knowledge, and he had too much need of it by the fate of his fortune. At 14 years of age he had entered into the publick fchools of Leyden; he paffed rapidly from clafs to clafs, and carried the prizes every where. He was but 15, when his father's death left him without affiftance, without counfel, without estate. Altho * To render our correspondent's remark the ckarer, our readers will obferve, that our Saviour was at this time in the Temple, which, in John ii. 16. be calls bis Father's houfe. But, after all, we cannot help noting, that, whatever copy be made use of, we cannot find the word Muitos in any copy of the Gresk Teftament we have by us, |