MASTERS OR WORKMEN'.

24“

the edges a little overlapping. It was then placed ina furnace, raised to a welding heat, and taken out,when a triblet, or cylinder of iron, being placed in it,it was passed quickly through a pair of rollers. Theeffect of this was, that the welding was performed ata single heating, and the remainder of the elongationnecessary for bringing it to the length of the musketbarrel, was performed in a similar manner, but at alower temperature. The workmen who had com-bined were, of course, no longer wanted, and insteadof benefiting themselves by their combination, theywere reduced permanently, by this improvement inthe art, to a considerably lower rate of wages : foras the process to which they had been habituatedrequired peculiar skill and considerable experience,they had hitherto been in the habit of earning muchhigher wages than other workmen of their class.On the other hand, the new method of weldingwas far less injurious to the texture of the iron,which was now exposed only once, instead of threeor four times, to the welding heat, so that the publicderived advantage from the superiority, as well asfrom the economy of the process. Another advan-tage has also arisen from its introduction ; for thenew process is now applied to the manufacture ofiron tubes, which can thus be made at a price whichrenders their employment very general. They arenow to be found in the shops of all our larger iron-mongers, in various lengths, and of different diame-ters, with screws cut at each end ; and are in constantuse for the conveyance of gas for lighting, or of waterfor warming our houses.

(281.) Similar examples must have presented