The use of the "steel pen" did not spring immediately from that of the "quill pen." There were several intermediate stages adopted before the fitness of steel for this purpose was sufficiently known, From about 1800 to 1835 the number of proposed substitutes for the quill pen was very considerable. Horn pens, tortoise-shell pens, nibs of diamond or ruby imbedded in tortoise shell, nibs of ruby set in fine gold, nibs of rhodium and of iridium imbedded in gold,-- all have been adopted at different times, but most of them have been found too costly for general adoption. Steel is proved to be sufficiently elastic and durable to form very good pens, and the ingenuity of manufacturers has been exerted to give to such pens as many as possible of the good qualities possessed by the quill pen. The original flexible iron pen of modern times was an experimental affair probably, being mentioned by Chamberlayne as far back as 1685. The first steel pens in regular use were made by Wise, in London, in 1803, and for many years thereafter. His pen was made with a barrel, by which it was slipped upon a straight handle. In its portable form it was mounted in a bone case for the pocket. Prejudice, however, was strong against them, and up to 1835 or thereabouts quills maintained their full sway, and much later among the old-fashioned folks. To him, however, is due the credit of being the inventor of the modern steel pen. It has been the thought of some people that Gillott was the progenitor of the steel pen, but he was not. Arnoux, a French mechanic, made metallic pens with side slits in 1750. Samuel Harrison, an Englishman, made a steel pen for Dr. Priestly in 1780. Peregrine Williamson, a native of New York, while engaged as a jeweler in the city of Baltimore, made steel pens in 1800. Perry's first pens were of steel, rolled from wire, the material costing seven shillings a pound. Five shillings each was paid the workman for making them; this was afterward reduced to thirty-six shillings per gross, which price was continued for several years.