was then a principal seat of the
metal manufacture, and its mechanics were reputed to be among the most
skilled in Britain. Dr. Roebuck's attention was early drawn to the
scarcity and dearness of the material in which the mechanics worked,
and he sought by experiment to devise some method of smelting iron
otherwise than by means of charcoal. He had a laboratory fitted up in
his house for the purpose of prosecuting his inquiries, and there he
spent every minute that he could spare from his professional labours.
It was thus that he invented the process of smelting iron by means of
pit-coal which he afterwards embodied in the patent hereafter to be
referred to. At the same time he invented new methods of refining gold
and silver, and of employing them in the arts, which proved of great
practical value to the Birmingham trades-men, who made extensive use of
them in their various processes of manufacture.

Dr. Roebuck's inquiries had an almost exclusively practical direction,
and in pursuing them his main object was to render them subservient to
the improvement of the industrial arts. Thus he sought to devise more
economical methods of producing the various chemicals used in the
Birmingham trade, such as ammonia, sublimate, and several of the acids;
and his success was such as to induce him to erect a large laboratory
for their manufacture, which was conducted with complete success by his
friend Mr. Garbett. Among his inventions of this character, was the
modern process of manufacturing vitriolic acid in leaden vessels in
large quantities, instead of in glass vessels in small quantities as
formerly practised. His success led him to consider the project of
establishing a manufactory for the purpose of producing oil of vitriol
on a large scale; and, having given up his practice as a physician, he
resolved, with his partner Mr. Garbett, to establish the proposed works
in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. He removed to Scotland with that
object, and began the manufacture of vitriol at Prestonpans in the year
1749. The enterprise proved eminently lucrative, and, encouraged by
his success, Roebuck proceeded to strike out new branches of
manufacture. He started a pottery for making white and brown ware,
which eventually became established, and the manufacture exists in the
same neighbourhood to this day.

The next enterprise in which he became engaged was one of still greater
importance, though it proved eminently unfortun