s so great
that very few persons have the physical endurance to stand it. So great
is it that the clothes upon the person frequently catch fire. Such a
strain upon the physical powers naturally leads those subjected to it to
indulge in excesses. The perspiration which flows from the puddlers in
streams while engaged in their work is caused by the natural effort of
their bodies to preserve themselves from injury by keeping their normal
temperature. Such a consumption of the fluids of the body causes great
thirst, and the exhaustion of the labor, both bodily and mental, leads
often to the excessive use of stimulants. In fact, the work is too
laborious. Its conditions are such that no one should be subjected to
them. The necessity, however, for judgment, experience and skill on the
part of the operator has up to this time prevented the introduction of
machinery to take the place of human labor in this process. The
successful substitution in modern times of machines for performing
various operations which formerly seemed to require the intelligence and
dexterity of a living being for their execution, justifies the
expectation that the study now being given to the organization of
industry will lead to the invention of machines which will obviate the
necessity for human suffering in the process of puddling. Such a
consummation would be an advantage to all classes concerned. The
attempts which have been made in this direction have not as yet proved
entirely successful.

In the squeezer the glowing ball of white-hot iron is placed, and forced
with a rotary motion through a spiral passage, the diameter of which is
constantly diminishing. The effect of this operation is to squeeze all
the slag and cinder out of the ball, and force the iron to assume the
shape of a short thick cylinder, called "a bloom." This process was
formerly performed by striking the ball of iron repeatedly with a
tilt-hammer.

[Illustration: COLD SAW.]

The bloom is now re-heated and subjected to the process of rolling. "The
rolls" are heavy cylinders of cast iron placed almost in contact, and
revolving rapidly by steam-power. The bloom is caught between these
rollers, and passed backward and forward until it is pressed into a flat
bar, averaging from four to six inches in width, and about an inch and a
half thick. These bars are then cut into short lengths, piled, heated
again in a furnace, and re-rolled. After going through this process they
form the b