In 1831, thirteen years later, the dimensions of rolled plates were no doubt raised; but few then would have supposed it possible there should be rolled such plates as are now produced for boiler purposes, and still fewer would have believed that in the year 1881 we should make, for warlike purposes, rolled plates 22 inches in thickness and 30 tons in weight. I have said there is very little alteration in the process of making wrought iron by puddling, and I do not think there is likely to be much further, if any, improvement in this process, because I believe that, with certain exceptions, the manufacture of iron by puddling is a doomed industry. I ventured to say, in a lecture I delivered at the Royal Institution three years ago on "The Future of Steel," that I believed puddled iron, except for the mere hand wrought forge purposes of the country blacksmith, and for such like purposes, would soon become a thing of the past. Mr. Harrison, the engineer of the North-Eastern Railway, told me that about eighteen months ago the North-Eastern Railway applied for tenders for rails in any quantities between 2,000 and 10,000 tons, and they issued alternative specifications for iron and for steel. They received about ten tenders. Some did not care to tender for iron at all; but when they did tender alternatively, the price quoted for the iron was greater than for the steel. I have no doubt whatever that, in a short time, it will be practically impossible to procure iron made by the puddling process, of dimensions fit for many of the purposes for which a few years ago it alone was used.