the memoir of Joseph Clement, assisted by Mr. Wilkinson, Clement's
nephew. The Author has also had the valuable assistance of Mr.
William Fairbairn, F.R.S., Mr. J. O. March, tool manufacturer (Mayor
of Leeds), Mr. Richard Roberts, C.E., Mr. Henry Maudslay, C.E., and
Mr. J. Kitson, Jun., iron manufacturer, Leeds, in the preparation of
the other memoirs of mechanical engineers included in this volume.

The materials for the memoirs of the early iron-workers have in like
manner been obtained for the most part from original sources; those
of the Darbys and Reynoldses from Mr. Dickinson of Coalbrookdale, Mr.
William Reynolds of Coed-du, and Mr. William G. Norris of the former
place, as well as from Mr. Anstice of Madeley Wood, who has kindly
supplied the original records of the firm. The substance of the
biography of Benjamin Huntsman, the inventor of cast-steel, has been
furnished by his lineal representatives; and the facts embodied in
the memoirs of Henry Cort and David Mushet have been supplied by the
sons of those inventors. To Mr. Anderson Kirkwood of Glasgow the
Author is indebted for the memoir of James Beaumont Neilson, inventor
of the hot blast; and to Mr. Ralph Moore, Inspector of Mines in
Scotland, for various information relative to the progress of the
Scotch iron manufacture.

The memoirs of Dud Dudley and Andrew Yarranton are almost the only
ones of the series in preparing which material assistance has been
derived from books; but these have been largely illustrated by facts
contained in original documents preserved in the State Paper Office,
the careful examination of which has been conducted by Mr. W. Walker
Wilkins.

It will thus be observed that most of the information embodied in