shirt which he wears next his skin, the shoes which cover his feet, the bed which he lies on, and all the different parts which compose it, the kitchen grate, at which he prepares his victuals, the coals which he makes use of for that purpose, dug from the bowels of the earth, and brought to him, perhaps, by a long sea and land carriage; all the other utensils of his kitchen, all the furniture of his table, the knives and forks, the earthen or pewter plates upon which he serves up and divides his victuals, the different hands employed in preparing his bread and his beer, the glass window which lets in the heat and the light, and keeps out the wind and the rain; with all the knowledge and art requisite for preparing this beautiful and happy invention, without which these northern parts of the world would scarce have afforded a very comfortable habitation, together with the tools of all the different workmen employed in producing those different conveniences. If we examine, I say, all things, and consider what a variety of labour is employed about each of them, we shall be sensible that without the assistance and co-operation of many thousands, the very meanest person in a civilized country could not be provided, even according to what we very falsely imagine the easy and simple manner in which he is commonly accommodated. Compared, indeed, with the more extravagant luxury of the great, his accommodation must no doubt appear extremely simple and easy; and yet it may be true, perhaps, that the accommodation of European princes does not always so much exceed that of an industrious and frugal peasant, as the accommodation of the latter exceeds that of many an African king, the absolute master of the lives and liberties of ten thousand naked savages."

LXI.—On fine and delicate Steel Works. By the EDITOR. THE French term these fine steel works, jewellery works, or bijouterie d'acier; such, for instance, as dress swords, buttons, &c. &c., many of which exceed in price articles made in gold or silver, by reason of the great quantity of ingenious workmanship employed in their manufacture. And, indeed, they exhibit a great display of skill in the tasteful arrangement or combination of the various parts composing them, and such indeed as is only to be found in a few excellent workmen, and who of course obtain high prices for their productions. Still, however, the component parts of these exquisite works are, for the most part, made in the large way by persons whose business it is, and who afford them at a cheap rate, both by the division of labour, and by employing women and children to perform the chief part of the operations, in situations where iron and coal are abundant, and a living is to be obtained on moderate terms. Such parts are the diamond cut steel beads and studs in particular, and which are largely employed in the decorations of the various articles.

These steel beads and studs are formed either of well annealed sheet or hoop iron; or, which is better, of cast steel decarbonated, and which is thereby reduced to the state of the softest and purest iron, and is entirely free from the defects of the ordinary iron, such as flaws, blisters, &c., which are often found in articles made of common iron, after being case-hardened, but upon which, nevertheless, much expensive work had been bestowed. Some, indeed, of the more experienced workers in these steel works, select that kind of Swedish bar iron for this purpose which, on being broken, presents a shining crystallized fracture; but we should always prefer the decarbonated cast-steel.

If small steel beads are to be made, small holes are first pressed through the sheets of iron, by means of the tools termed beds and punches, used in fly-presses; and the beads are then afterwards pressed out, by other similar

tools, of rather larger sizes, according to the intended beads; and the punches being also formed with slender points, to enter the holes already pressed, and with shoulders, which act in the larger holes formed in the beds; and thus they press or cut out the blanks to form the beads, with holes through the centre of each. These blanks are then shaped to the spherical form, by taking each up upon a pointed steel tool, held in a file haft, and laying it upon a hard wood filing-block, with a proper file, rounding each end of it in succession. The beads are then ready to be case-hardened, previous to their being cut into facets, both of which operations will be described hereafter.

For steel studs, whether round or oval, the blanks are to be cut out of sheet iron, by means of beds and punches, in the fly press; but no holes are made through them; instead of which, a shallow slit is cut or indented in the middle of each, by a small chisel-shaped punch, with the aid of a small hammer, and which slit is made to receive the chisel-shaped point of an iron wire, and to retain it sufficiently firm, when driven in, that it may not fall out during the after progress of brazing or soldering it, and which process is effected in a nearly similar manner to that described in the article on making solid and hollow screws, namely, by enclosing a considerable number of them in a wrapper of coarse wetted paper, together with scraps of brass, and a little borax; and then enveloping the whole in a casing of plastic clay, and leaving only a small aperture in it; and, when it is become sufficiently dry and hard, exposing it to the heat of a forge fire, carefully turning it about from time to time, until the fumes of the melted zinc are seen to escape through the aperture, when it must be taken out of the fire, and be rolled about upon the ground, to diffuse the brass equally amongst the studs. When cold, it must be broke open, and the wire shanks will then be found to be firmly affixed or soldered to the backs of the studs, and ready to be screwed or riveted into the different pieces, to which they are to be finally affixed,

as the nature of the works may require. The faces of the round or oval studs are then to be rounded off with files, they being firmly held in pliers, by means of their shanks, during that operation. They will then be ready to be casehardened, and which operation is to be performed upon them, as in the case of the beads, previous to cutting facets upon them, the shanks, however, are to be enclosed in small masses of clay, to prevent the action of the casehardening upon them.

To case-harden the Studs or Beads.-This process. is performed upon a considerable number of these at once, by putting them into shallow boxes or trays, made of sheetiron, by turning up their sides at a right-angle all around, pinching the corners close, and securing them, by turning them back, and riveting them to the sides or ends. A layer of bone-dust, from which the volatile parts had been previously removed, by the distillers of ammonia, is then spread over the bottom of a box, then a layer of the studs or beads, upon which another layer of bone-dust is to be spread; then another of the beads or studs, and so on, until the tray is nearly filled, the uppermost layer being always composed of the bone-dust. The tray thus filled is then placed in a grate ordinarily formed of a few bars of iron, laid upon bricks, and with others in front, placed between loose bricks, which constitute the sides of the grate, and are generally built up within a recess or fire-place, furnished with a proper chimney, so as to afford a gentle draught, capable of maintaining an uniform red heat in the fuel, which is pit coal, as well as in the tray and its contents, for several hours; or until the carbon in the bonedust has performed its office of converting the iron into steel. The tray is then to be removed from the fire, and ts contents, bone-dust and all, are to be thrown red-hot into cold water. The studs or beads will now be found in the state of hardened steel, with the exception of the wireshanks in the studs, which are still soft iron.

The facets are cut upon the beads or studs by means of

a flat horizontal lap, as it is termed, or a wheel of pewter, rapidly turned round, and fed with flour emery and water, applied upon a few bristles tied together in the manner of a painter's brush or tool, the lap running in a shallow flat cistern, with a border around it, to prevent the emery and water from escaping; and another border around the hole in its centre, through which the spindle of the lap passes in the usual manner.

The beads are held upon pointed steel stems, driven through the holes in them, whilst cutting the facets upon them; and the studs are held by their wire shanks, in a kind of hand-vices, during that operation. The steel stems for the beads, and the hand-vices for the studs, being affixed in cylindrical wooden hafts or handles, which have several rows of flattened faces formed around them, their whole length, and which are equally divided, according to the number of facets which are to be cut upon the studs or beads. These flattened parts of the handles lodge or rest upon horizontal bars or supports, which are held by screws upon upright wings affixed in the table, around the lap, and so that their positions can be varied, according to the different inclinations to be given to the studs or beads whilst cutting the facets upon them, and are regulated, accordingly, for every different form or size of the studs or beads, as may be requisite; but, as many dozens of the same kind are always cut at one time, so these alterations do not often require to be made.

In this manner, and by regularly changing the circular and angular positions of the studs or beads, during the operation of cutting the facets upon them, and by dint of the skill acquired from being constantly in the habit of doing such work only, a great number may soon be cut.

The polishing of the studs or beads.-This is effected, in the case of the studs, by affixing a number of them upon a cement-block, by warming the cement before a fire, until it is sufficiently softened to permit the shanks of the studs to be stuck into it, and their flat backs be brought into