rtance, that, with the consent of a
friend, I erected an assay and cementing Furnace at the distance of
about two miles from the Clyde Works. Thither I repaired at night, and
sometimes at the breakfast and dinner hours during the day. This plan
of operation was persevered in for the whole of one summer, but was
found too uncertain and laborious to be continued. At the latter end
of the year 1798 I left my chambers, and removed from the Clyde Works
to the distance of about a mile, where I constructed several furnaces
for assaying and cementing, capable of exciting a greater temperature
than any to which I before had access; and thus for nearly two years I
continued to carry on my investigations connected with iron and the
alloys of the metals.

"Though operating in a retired manner, and holding little communication
with others, my views and opinions upon the RATIONALE of iron-making
spread over the establishment. I was considered forward in affecting
to see and explain matters in a different way from others who were much
my seniors, and who were content to be satisfied with old methods of
explanation, or with no explanation at all..... Notwithstanding these
early reproaches, I have lived to see the nomenclature of my youth
furnish a vocabulary of terms in the art of iron-making, which is used
by many of the ironmasters of the present day with freedom and effect,
in communicating with each other on the subject of their respective
manufactures. Prejudices seldom outlive the generation to which they
belong, when opposed by a more rational system of explanation. In this
respect, Time (as my Lord Bacon says) is the greatest of all innovators.

"In a similar manner, Time operated in my favour in respect to the
Black Band Ironstone.[7] The discovery of this was made in 1801, when
I was engaged in erecting for myself and partners the Calder Iron
Works. Great prejudice was excited against me by the ironmasters and
others of that day in presuming to class the WILD COALS of the country
(as Black Band was called) with ironstone fit and proper for the blast
furnace. Yet that discovery has elevated Scotland to a considerable
rank among the iron-making nations of Europe, with resources still in
store that may be considered inexhaustible. But such are the
consolatory effects of Time, that the discoverer of 1801 is no longer
considered the intrusive visionary of the laboratory, but the
acknowledged benefactor of his country a