Joseph-Louis LaGrange from France developed differential
equations. Natural history museums were established. A group split
off from the Royal Society to show collections of curiosities.
In 1754, a self-educated mechanic founded the Society for the
Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce. It had sections
on agriculture, manufactures, mechanics, chemistry, liberal arts,
and trade and colonies. It sponsored contests at which prizes were
given, such as that in 1761 for the best invention of a machine
that would spin six threads of wool, flax, cotton, or silk at
onetime with only one person attending it.
Machines still mostly relied on human, animal, and water power.
Abraham Darby was a Quaker and millwright who made large cooking
pots of iron, which cost less than bronze. Around 1713, he
experimented with various substances to take the place of wood
charcoal in iron smelting. Coal was a remote possibility. In
forging or working metals coal had more or less the same qualities
as wood charcoal, but this was not the case in smelting ores,
especially iron ore. Coal contained sulphur compounds which caused
the iron ore to deteriorate. So he controlled the burning of coal
to burn out these impurities, which produced coke. His son took
over after his death and improved the methods of coking,
strengthened the bellows, and added ore limestone and other
reagents to the mixture.
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