general approbation. Before the company, however, could carry on business on an extensive scale, a man of some distinction, having made himself acquainted with Yarranton's process, obtained a patent for this art; and the first undertakers were obliged to give up their enterprise, which had cost them a great deal of money, and yet no use was made of the patent which had been obtained.*

About the year 1720, which, on account of the many new schemes and the deceptive trade carried on in consequence of them, will ever be memorable in the history of English folly, among the many bubbles, as they were then called, was an establishment for making tin plate; and this was one of the few speculations of that period which were attended with advantage. The first manufactory of this kind was established in Monmouthshire, perhaps at the village of Pontypool, where tin plate was at any rate made so early as 1730.† At present, the English assert that their iron plate is covered with pure block tin, which in colour, splendour, and pliability, exceeds all the foreign. The first part of this assertion, however, is by foreigners doubted. In France, the first

* This is related by Anderson and Watson, from a book which I have never seen, entitled, England's improvement by sea and land, by And. Yarranton, gent. 1698.

+ Watson's chemical essays, iv. p. 203. Anderson's Hist. of Commerce.

See Rinmann's Anleitung zur Bearbeitung des Eisens, p. 132.

experiment to introduce this branch of manufacture was made under Colbert, who procured workmen, some of whom were established at Chenesey, in Franche-Comté, and others at Beaumont-la-Ferriere in the Nivernois. But the want of skill and proper support rendered this expensive undertaking fruitless. Some manufactories, however, were brought to be productive in the last century; the oldest of which was established at Mansvaux in Alsace, in the year 1726. This was followed, in 1733, by another at Bain in Lorraine, which obtained its privilege from Duke Francis III, and this was confirmed by Stanislaus in 1745.*

That tin, in modern times, has been brought from the East Indies to Europe is well known; but I have never been so fortunate as to discover when this trade began. It is, however, known, that at the cemmencement of the sixteenth cen

* This is related by Diderot in his article Fer-blanc in the Encyclopédie. That the Fer-blanc of the French is tin plate every one knows; but what are we to understand by ferrum candidum, a hundred talents of which were given as a present to Alexander in India? No commentator has noticed this appellation. In the index, however, to Snakenburg's Curtius, I find the conjecture that it may mean the ferrum Indicum, which, lib. xvi. § 7. ff de publicanis, or Digest. xxxix. 4. § 16. 7, is named among the articles liable to pay duty; but some editions in this passage have ebenum Indicum. The reader is referred also to Photii Biblioth. p. 145, where Ctesias relates a fable in regard to Indian iron. Pliny, xxxiv. 14, p. 667 mentions ferrum Sericum, which, in his time, was considered as the best; but still it may be asked, why is the epithet white applied in particular to the Indian iron? Compare Aristot de Mirab. Auscult, p. 96 and 426.

*

tury a good deal of information had been obtained in Europe in regard to East India tin. Louis Barthema, who was then in India, speaks of Malacca tin, as does also F. Mendez Pinto,† who was there in 1537, and Odoard Barbosa mentions that which was carried from Caranguor to Malacca. Barbosa wrote in 1516. Munster, Mercator, and other old geographers, relate, that before the establishment of the Portuguese dominion in India, large tin coins were in circulation in the island of Sumatra.

The greater part of the East-Indian tin comes from Siam, Malacca, and Banca. In the last-mentioned place, which is an island near the southeast coast of Sumatra, the mines are said to have been discovered in 1711. At present, there are ten pits, which are worked by Chinese, on account of the king of Palimbang. One hundred and twentyfive pounds cost him only five rix dollars; and for this quantity he receives from the Dutch EastIndia company, to whose government he is subject, from thirteen to fifteen dollars. The greater part goes to China, or is used in India; but in the year 1778 the company sent 700,000 pounds to Europe, which was sold at the rate of a hundred pounds for forty-two florins. Malacca furnishes

* Navigazioni et viaggi raccolte da Ramusio. In Venetia 1613 fol. i. p. 166. c.

+ Algem. Hist. der Reisen. x. p. 376. Ramusio, i. p. m. 317. d.

yearly about three or four hundred thousand pounds; but the principal part of it remains in India. In the year 1778 the company sold 100,000 pounds in Amsterdam. A great deal of tin is sold also in its factory at Siam.* All the tin sold by it at Amsterdam between the year 1775 and 1779 amounted to 2,421,597 pounds.†

It is however, remarkable, that of late years English tin has been sent to India, because the Dutch cannot sell theirs so cheap. In 1790 twelve hundred tons were sent to China, and ten tons to Bombay; and by this sale the price of tin rose in Cornwall from fifty-eight to seventy-two shillings per cent.

SOWING-MACHINES.

THAT under the terms sowing-machines, semoir, drill-plough, macchine per seminare, are understood implements by which the seeds of those plants cultivated on a large scale, and particularly the different species of corn, can be regularly deposited in the earth, and at any distance from each

Beknopte beschryving der Oostindische Etablissementen. Door Ary Huysers. Amsterd. 1798. 8vo.

+ Ricard's Handbuch der Kaufleute. Greifswald, 1783. 4to. i. p. 57.

Transactions of the society for the encouragement of arts, vol. x.

other, at pleasure, is at present generally known. The principal part of the machine consists of a box, having within it a cylinder furnished with cogs, which forms the axes of two wheels, and which as it revolves, assists the seed put into the box to escape through holes formed at a proper distance from each other in the bottom.

At first, these machines were exceedingly simple, and had only in the fore-part a ploughshare; but afterwards a harrow was applied behind, so that with such an apparatus one could plough, sow, and barrow, at the same time. It was attended, however, with the common fault of all very complex machines; it was too artificial, too expensive, and too easily deranged. The greater part, therefore, of those lately made have only a harrow behind them.

Since the beginning of the last century, so many machines of this kind have been invented, that to give a complete catalogue of them would be difficult. The invention, however, does not belong either to our period or to the English, who have hitherto paid the greatest attention to the improvement and employment of it. I have some where read, that a proposal for a machine of this kind occurs in Theophrastus; but I have not yet been able to discover the passage. I am much rather inclined, from the information I have hitherto obtained, to place this invention in the sixteenth century, and to ascribe the merit of it to the Italians.