force acting on the piston. Watt made his living making scientific
instruments for Glasgow University. Around 1764, he was fixing one
of Newcomen's engines belonging to the university, when he saw its
inefficiencies, such as the loss of heat when the cylinder was
cooled. He saved this heat energy by having the steam condensed in
another vessel distinct but connected to the cylinder. This
condenser was kept constantly cool by cold water. So the condensed
steam was pumped back into the boiler and it circulated
continuously, thus obviating the need for constant resupply of
water. In order to avoid the necessity of using water to keep the
piston air-tight, and also to prevent the air from cooling the
cylinder during the descent of the piston, he used the expansion
of the steam to push the piston instead of atmospheric pressure.
Then, in order to expand the use of the steam engine beyond that
of a pump, he converted the oscillating motion of the beam into
rotary motion. He formed a partnership with John Roebuck, who had
a two-thirds interest. But when Roebuck needed money, he sold his
interest to Matthew Boulton. Boulton wanted better power that that
of his watermill for his workshops that made metal buttons, watch
chains, shoebuckles of engraved steel, ornamental bronzes, vases,
chandeliers, tripods, silver and plated wares, and imitation gold
and tortoiseshell work. In dry weather, about eight horses were
needed to aid in driving the machinery. A steam pump could pump
water from the bottom of the watermill to the top to be used
again. He had built up this factory of five buildings and six
hundred workers, with 9,000 pounds derived from his marriage to an
heiress. By 1774, the partnership had built a model steam engine
with rotary power whose design could be sold. The price of the
engine was set as the amount of money saved on fuel costs in the
first three years of its operation. This machine was a relatively
economical user of energy, capable of performing almost any kind
of work.
About 1750, John Wilkinson, the son of a farmer who also oversaw
an iron furnace, substituted mineral coal for wood charcoal in the
smelting and puddling of iron ore. In 1766 he made it possible to
transport coal out of mines on rail wagons drawn by horses. As
father of the iron industry, he made iron chairs, vats for
breweries and distilleries, and iron pipes of all sizes. He
provided Watt with metal cylinders of perfectly accurate shape,
which were necessary for the smooth working of Watt's steam
engine. In 1775 he bought a pumping steam engine from Boulton and
Watt's company for his ironworks. It pumped three times as fast as
Newcomen's engine.
Watt's steam engine came to be used for power-loom weaving and
then for all sorts of manufactures. It would put England ahead of
every manufacturing country in the world. Millwrights built,
installed, and later designed not only steam engines but the
machinery that they drove. These men were essential in setting up
the first factories. They were the most imaginative and
resourceful craftsmen. They knew how to use a turner's, a
carpenter's and a blacksmith's tools and had supervised or done
smith work, brick-laying or stone-mason's work in erecting and
maintaining windmills with their many gears and bearings. There
was a good deal of variety in mills, as well as in the structure
and workmanship of them, some being worked by horses, some by
wind, and others by water. They had some knowledge of arithmetic
and practical mechanics. They could draw out a plan and calculate
the speed and power of a wheel. Although technically in a branch
of carpentry, the millwrights learned to work with metal as well.
Metal was superior to wood not only because of its strength but
because wood parts were irregular in motion and wore out rapidly.
So iron and brass parts came to replace wood and leather parts.
In 1728, J. Paine got a patent for rolling iron instead of
hammering it. The iron bars, being heated in a long hot arch or
cavern passed between two large metal rollers, which had certain
notches or furrows on their surfaces.
Around 1740, clockmaker and Quaker Benjamin Huntsman was struck
with the difficulty of finding finely tempered steel for the
springs of his watches and pendulums of his clocks. He
experimented for years to find a homogeneous and flawless metal,
and finally invented cast steel, which was much harder than
ordinary steel. He did this by remelting refined high quality
wrought iron bars at very high temperatures in sealed fireclay
crucibles, together with small quantities of charcoal and ground
glass as reagents. This distributed the carbon evenly in the
metal, which hammering could not do. He approached the Sheffield
cutlers, who finally agreed to try his cast steel for fear of
losing their business to some other manufacturers who were
approaching Huntsman. Since Huntsman had no patent, he worked at
night and employed only men who would keep his secret. His steel
was made at night. His factory became prosperous about 1770 and
the excellence of his steel manufacture was never equalled. Steel
and wrought iron was scarce and expensive.
Around 1748, iron founder Samuel Walker, discovered Huntsman's
secret by appearing at Huntsman's factory disguised as a shivering
tramp who asked to warm himself by the furnace fire. He feigned
sleep while watching the whole process. When he began to make cast
steel, his annual output grew from 900 pounds in 1747 to 11,000
pounds in 1760 and he made a fortune.
Silver was plated over copper from 1751. White metal from tin and
antimony was used from about 1770.
The brass industry was beginning to produce brass from copper and
zinc that was as good as foreign brass. The secret of plate-glass
manufacture came to England in the 1770s.
In 1773, a corporation was set up for the manufacture of plate
glass. It could raise joint-stock because of the great risk and
large expense of the undertaking.
In 1775, chemist William Cookworthy was given a fourteen year
patent for the discovery of certain clay and stone in England from
which he made England's first true porcelain, i.e. that which
could sustain the most extreme degree of fire without melting, and
also had grain as smooth and lustrous, and the transparency and
beauty of color, equal in degree to the best Chinese or Dresden
porcelain.
The import duties on diamonds, pearls, rubies, emeralds and other
precious stones and jewels was dropped to increase the business of
cutting and polishing them.
The world's first chocolate factory was set up in England in 1728.
The Fanmakers were incorporated in 1709.
A linen company to sell cambricks [a fine white linen] and lawns
[a thin and fine linen] was incorporated in 1763.
A free market for fish was established in Westminster to
supplement the free fish market in London to prevent forestalling
and monopolizing of the fish industry and to increase the number
of fishermen. Duties for its maintenance were paid by the
fishermen. Certain men were given the right to incorporate
fisheries of white herring for twenty one years to improve the
fisheries and give employment to the poor. They were authorized to
sell subscriptions and to build ships provided the fishery employ
100,000 in such fishery. There were restrictions on taking fish
from rivers during their breeding season. Herring fishermen were
allowed to land and dry their nets and erect tents and pickle,
cure, and reload fish on uncultivated land up to 100 yards beyond
the high water mark all any shore, forelands, harbors, and ports,
without paying the landholder. Later, a bounty of 30s. per ton was
authorized to be given for vessels that were fitted out and used
for white herring fishery.
Anyone wishing to be admitted to the Levant (Turkey) trading
company was to be made free of such on paying 20 pounds, so that
this trade may be increased.
In the 1760s the first cooking school was established by Mrs.
Elizabeth Raffald, a servant.
As for health, there were many occupational hazards. These
included paralysis by mercury of refiners of silver and gold,
paralysis by mercurial fumes of molten lead by plumbers, palsy of
glaziers working with melted lead and of watch gilders, lead
poisoning of painters, blinding by sawdust of sawyers, and the
affects of fumes on pewterers and letter founders. Particles of
copper were breathed in by copper workers, whose hair and beards
then turned green. Braziers became deaf. Hairdressers, bakers,
masons, bricklayers' laborers, coal heavers, chimney sweeps, flax
and feather dressers, and workers in leather warehouses suffered
pulmonary diseases. Chimney sweeps also had warty skin cancer from
their bodies being habitually covered with soot and the lethal
cancer of the scrotum. Working with charcoal fires affected
confectioners, chocolate makers, and sail-cloth makers. Tanners,
catgut makers, and tallow-candle makers became nauseous. Heavy
work weakened many bodies and caused hernias. Bending over work
for long hours caused stooped posture and hump backs.
The association between dirt and disease was just beginning to be
made. The principles of infection and hygiene were not well
understood. Bathing every couple of months was not unusual. There
was some theological feeling that cleanliness betokened pride and
filthiness humility. Most houses had a bathtub that could be
placed beside the fire in a bedroom. About 80% of the population
had been getting smallpox, which blinded, maimed or disfigured
many. Deaths from smallpox were only occasional in the country,
but constant in London, where about 13% of every generation died
from it. Making death commonplace, especially in the winter months
when thick, dirty clothes were worn day and night, were typhus,
which was carried by lice; typhoid, which was spread by flies from
horse dung; tuberculosis; and influenza. Dysentery and diarrhea
made death commonplace especially in the summer when flies
transmitted bacteria from filth to food and the water was its most
foul. There was great meaning in the prayer "Now I lay me down to
sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep; if I should die before I
wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." Thyphus spread easily in
hospitals and gaols where vermin could live in the beds made of
wood. Colds and toothache were also common. Venereal disease was
not uncommon among the well-to-do in London. Condoms were used to
deter disease, but were still crude, coarse, uncomfortable, and
unreliable. London had almost double the mortality rate of the
nation. The number of baptisms in London were about 80% of its
burials. About 40% of the deaths in London were among children
under two, due to infantile diseases fostered by malnutrition,
maternal ignorance such as giving babies adult food, ill-health,
bad water, dirty food, poor hygiene, and overcrowding. Many
children died from diptheria, measles, scarlet fever, and
smallpox. Ten or twelve children with three or four surviving was
a common family pattern. Many well-to-do in London kept their
children in the country for their better health. No matter what
the ailment, physicians regularly bled patients and often gave
them enemas with wooden funnels. Sometimes a blister or irritant
was applied to the skin to draw out the evil humors. Cupping was
used to provide suction to remove pressure from various parts of
the body. Also used were poultices, ointments, and herbal
treatments, notably quinine. Opium was given to deaden pain. There
were about 70 drugs in use. Charms, spells, astrology, and folk
remedies still played a major role in medicine. A physician
attended surgeries to give advice. Physicians could visit
apothecary shops once a year and throw away any drugs falling
below an arbitrary standard of excellence. In 1703 the House of
Lords decided a jurisdictional contest between the College of
Physicians and the Society of Apothecaries. It permitted the
apothecaries to direct the remedies as well as to prepare them,
although they could only charge for the drugs they provided. The
poor sought advice from apothecaries.
There was progress in health. Scurvy virtually disappeared as a
cause of death due to the eating of more vegetables. And people
were cleaner when wearing cotton, which had to be washed. In 1721,
free inoculations for smallpox began in England, pioneered by Lady
Mary Wortley Montague, also a poet and letter writer. She led the
way by having herself and her son inoculated. Theologicians
denounced this practice as a diabolical interference with disease
sent by Providence for the punishment of sin. In 1727 surgeon
William Cheselden, whose master was specially licensed to perform
the operation of removing stones in the hospital, reduced the
death rate for removing stones due to hemorrhage, shock, and
infection down to 17% by his invention of a lateral operation. He
also published an anatomy book and treated certain kinds of
blindness by forming an opening in the eye to serve as an
artificial pupil. Sarah Wallen Mapp was a famous bone-setter.
Nutritional deficiency diseases were beginning to be understood.
In 1753, James Lind, a surgeon in the navy who noted that more men
died of scurvy than in battle, published his work on his
controlled experiment on seamen showing that oranges, lemons,
limes, green food, and onions cured scurvy. He published his
methods of prevention and cure of malarial fevers and his method
of disinfecting ships with the smoke of wood and gunpowder. In
1761, he discovered that steam from salt water was fresh, and
proposed a method of distillation to supply ships with fresh
water. In 1761 Giovanni Morgagni from Italy opined that disease
resulted from a breakdown of organs and tissues that was viewable
on autopsy. He wrote an extensive book showing the anatomy of
diseases, e.g. affections of pericardium and aorta, (e.g.
aneurysm), valve diseases, ulceration, rupture, dilation, and
hypertrophy. He associated clinical observation with anatomy of
disease, e.g. attacks on upper part of chest on left side and
difficulty breathing and numbness of left arm all ceasing with
exertion with dilation of aorta and hardening of arteries, causing
delay of blood in the aorta, in the heart, and in the lung
vessels. Bernoulli showed that the living human body constantly
changes so that all its particles are renewed in a certain number
of years. Frenchman Dr. Pierre Fauchard, the father of dentistry,
recommended rubbing one's teeth and gums with a piece of sponge.
His book of 1728 described methods and instruments.
Since three out of four babies died shortly after birth, beds in
hospitals for pregnant women were established starting in 1739.
The next year physicians began to replace midwives. A hospital was
established for abandoned foundling children in 1739 so they
wouldn't die, as they usually did, in the care of parishes or
workhouses or be exposed in the streets or left on door steps of
the wealthy. It was besieged by women with babies in their arms.
In 1762 a statute made the principles of the foundling hospital
obligatory for all London parish children under six; they were to
be sent to nurses outside London who were to be paid at least 2s.
a week by the parish. In 1766, this was extended to all parishes,
and nurses who cared for a child well for a year was given a
reward of at least 10s. Also, parish children were not allowed to
be apprenticed for more than seven years or until age 21 and an
apprentice fee of at least 4 pounds, 2s. was to be paid to the
master or mistress by the parish.
After 1740, there was a steady growth of population due to
improved midwifery. William Smellie taught scientific midwifery in
London from 1741 and wrote a "Treatise on Midwifery" in 1752,
which had a clear explanation of the mechanism of labor. At this
time there were several maternity hospitals. Forceps existed for
difficult deliveries. In 1750, Dr. Cadogan wrote his book: "An
Essay on the Nursing and Management of Children, which made a
great improvement in the care of young children. For instance, it
recommended loose clothing, no tight swaddling clothes, and a
simple diet. Swaddling clothes were used to retain a baby's
evacuations but produced discomfort and serious skin conditions. A
hospital was founded for venereal diseases in 1746, another as an
asylum for the penitent and orphaned girls who might otherwise be
inclined to prostitution, and yet another for prostitutes in 1758.
Coitus interruptus was widely used for birth control. There were
also clandestine abortions and intentional neglect of newborns.
Melancholy was widespread. Suicides were frequent and drugs were
sold for this purpose. In 1725, the mentally ill were classified
as curable or incurable. There were many private lunatic asylums.
A lunatic who was furiously mad and dangerous was required to be
safely locked up or chained in his place of settlement. There were
frequent and dangerous abuses in madhouses, so in 1774, no one may
keep or confine more than one lunatic without a license granted by
the Royal College of Physicians or forfeit 500 pounds. A Justice
of the Peace and a physician inspected all madhouses to observe
conditions and care of patients there. If refused admittance, the
license was forfeited.
In 1712 was the last time a monarch touched a person to cure him
of a malady such as scrofula.
In 1743 surgery students began to dissect corpses with their own
hands to better learn anatomy. In 1744 the Company of Surgeons was
separated out of the Company of Barber-Surgeons. The barbers were
proscribed from performing surgery and had to have a separate
corporation from the surgeons because of the ignorance and
unskillfulness of barbers healing wounds, blows, and hurts e.g. by
blood letting and drawing of teeth. There was a Surgeon's Hall,
officers chosen by the surgeons, and bylaws. The surgeons were
required to examine candidates for the position of surgeon in the
king's army and navy. They were exempted from parish, ward, and
leet offices, and juries. In 1752, a statute provided that the
corpses of murderers were to be sent to the Surgeon's Hall to be
anatomized, for the purpose of deterring murders. The penalty for
rescuing the corpse of a murderer was to suffer death.
The first dispensary for the poor was established in 1769 to give
free medicine and treatment to the infant poor, and then to the
infants of the industrious poor.
The progress of science was seen to threaten the authority of the
church. There was a general belief in God, but not much attention
to Jesus. Feared to come were free thought, rationalism, and
atheism. There was still a big gap between local parsons and
bishops, who were educated, well-off, and related to the
aristocracy. On the whole, preachers talked about morality and
Christian belief. They stressed good works and benevolence. But
many Protestant clergy were more concerned with their own livings
than with their parishioners. They were indolent and did not set a
good example of moral living.
From 1715, Freemasonry spread and swiftly provided a spiritual
haven for those who believed in God and desired ritual and
mysticism.
About 1744, John Wesley became the leader of the Methodist
religious movement for the mining and industrial laborers. He lead
an aesthetic life, eating bread and sleeping on boards. The
movement was called Methodist because of its methodical regularity
of living. It was characterized by an evangelical revival and a
promise of individual salvation. The person to be saved from the
horrors of eternal damnation in hell was to discipline himself to
regular prayer, self-criticism, and hard work and to forsake
worldly pleasures such as drinking, overeating, and even frivolous
talk. Wesley believed in witchcraft and in magic. He opined that
bodily diseases and insanity could be caused by devils and some
dreams are caused by occult powers of evil. With the Methodist
movement, there was a concomitant growth of philanthropic
activities by the Methodists. They gave to the poor, and visited
the sick and the imprisoned. Wesley preached in the open air where
all who wanted to attend could and also could wear whatever
clothes they had. Though large crowds of poor people were feared
because of their mob potential, their meetings were stormed as has
been Quaker meetings, with the shouts of "the church in danger".
The Methodists' homes were invaded and their belongings destroyed
or taken or their persons beaten with tacit permission of
authorities. Some Justices of the Peace drafted preachers into the
army or navy as vagabonds. Eventually, however, the Methodist
revival imbued energy and piety into the lethargic clergy of the
established church. A new moral enthusiasm and philanthropic
energy grabbed the nation. Prisons were reformed, penal laws made
more wise, slave trade abolished, and popular education given
momentum. In the established church, charity gained precedence
over theology and comfort over self-examination and guilt.
Evangelist George Whitfield preached Calvinism and it split off
from Methodism. Calvinism went into full decline. Presbyterianism
collapsed into unitarianism and there was a general tendency
towards deism.
Church sanctuary was abolished for those accused of civil
offenses.
There was much travel by scheduled coaches, which usually carried
several passengers and were drawn by four horses. Regular service
of public vehicles to and from London went four miles an hour; it
took two days to go from London to Oxford. It was not unusual for
a coach to bog down or overturn. Sometimes it had to detour around
an impassable stretch of road or borrow a couple of oxen from a
nearby farm to get out of a quagmire. Men and horses drowned in
some of the potholes. Robbery was endemic and some of the roads
were so unsafe from highwaymen that bands of armed horsemen were
hired to accompany the coaches. It was not unusual to come across
gibbets for hanging at crossroads. At coach headquarters in inns
in London, there were casual workers who associated with gangs of
thieves specialized in passengers' goods. Traveling merchants
preferred packhorses to carts because they could cross overland or
through watercourses more easily. These pack horses traveled in
regular caravans in single file. The leader had a bell around his
neck to warn, from a distance, riders or carts coming in the
opposite direction. Carts traveled about two miles an hour. In
1711 the trustee system superseded administration by the Justices
of the Peace of the turnpike system, including tolls and toll
booths. The toll booths were frequently attacked by riotous mobs.
So anyone pulling down or destroying turnpike gates at which tolls
are to be paid shall go to prison or put to hard labor in a House
of Correction for three months without bail. He shall also be
whipped in the market place between 11:00 and 2:00. If he offends
a second time, he shall be transported for seven years. Later the
penalty of prison up to three years was added as an alternative.
The hundred was to pay the damages up to 20 pounds. The penalty
for threatening the toll collector or forcibly passing through was
5 pounds for the first offense, and 10 pounds for the second
offense with imprisonment for one year for those who couldn't pay.
By 1750, about 60 miles could be made in a day. The turnpike
trusts took over most of London's major highways during the 1700s.
There was no travel on Sundays until 1750.
In 1745, shocked by the difficulty caused by bad roads in
concentrating the royal army to stop the Scottish invasion, the
king began systematically to improve all the roads. There was much
road and highway widening and repair, and also river bank and pier
repair, going on all over the country. Marsh lands were drained.
Harbors were deepened. There were numerous statutes trying to
adjust the needs of travel with the condition of the roads. For
instance, there must be a pole between the wheel horses or double
shafts. Carriages, wagons, or carts drawn by more horses, oxen, or
animals or with wheels bound iron tires, or with very heavy loads
were observed to cause more damage, so they were restricted or had
to pay higher tolls. Then broad and smooth iron tires were
observed to not cause the amount of damage as did narrow or
irregular iron tires and their use was encouraged. From 1741,
weighing machines were kept at toll gates. By 1766, turnpike roads
had to be at least 30 feet wide; hedges and fences thereon had to
be taken down by their owners. Cartways to markets had to be at
least 20 feet wide, and horseways 3 (later 8) feet wide. There
were ditches, drains, and gutters to carry off water. Names and
abodes of owners were to be put on carriages, wagons, and carts or
forfeit 2-5 pounds, except for carriages or coaches of a nobleman
or gentleman for his private use or those drawn by only one horse
or two oxen, or those with wide wheels and a light load. There
were town name signs, direction posts, and milestones. In 1773,
the Surveyors and the Commissioners of Turnpikes were given
authority to requisition local men, carts and draught animals for
compulsory labor, or money instead, in maintaining the roads and
making new ditches and drains. They could take any local sand,
gravel, chalk, or stone from waste or common land or, if not
needed by and satisfaction is made to the owner, from enclosed
land. The surveyor was to be chosen locally for a year and could
be given an allowance. New roads required the consent of the
landowners and a negotiated price.