Nearly two hundred specimens of curious works in arts and manufacture have
already been laid before the committee of this establishment; the opening
of which will take place in a few days.


_Iron Trade_.


In 1820, the whole iron made in Great Britain was 400,000 tons: in 1827,
it had increased to 690,000 tons, from 284 furnaces. About three-tenths of
this quantity are of a quality suitable for the foundry, which is all used
in Great Britain and Ireland, with the exception of a small quantity
exported to France and America. The other seven-tenths are made into bars,
rods, sheets, &c., of which a large quantity is exported to all parts of
the world.--_Repertory of Arts_.


_Indian Claystone_.


In some parts of India, the claystone contains numerous small _nodules_ or
lumps of clay iron-stone, which seldom exceed the size of a walnut. These
are picked up by the natives, and are smelted by means of charcoal in a
very small, rude furnace, blown by the hand-bellows, common all over
India, and still used in Europe by the Gipsies. Many of the hills composed
of claystone are neatly devoid of vegetation; their surface being bare and
smooth, and of a red or black colour. The soil produced by the action of
the atmosphere is not very productive; and so liable is it, in some
places, to consolidate, when deprived of its moisture, that, if it be not
constantly cultivated, it soon becomes hard and bare, and checks all