''Metallum Martis'', a 1665

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ...

Dud Dudley Dudd (Dud) Dudley (1600–1684) was an English metallurgist, who fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War as a soldier, military engineer, and supplier of munitions. He was one of the first Englishmen to smelt iron ore using coke. B ...

, is the earliest known reference to the use of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

metallurgical Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a c ...

. The book is also referred to as ''Iron made with Pit-Coale, Sea-Coale, &c. And with the same Fuell to Melt and Fine Imperfect Mettals, And Refine perfect Mettals.'' Many attendant difficulties had to be overcome before this

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy b ...

could be applied to the purpose of

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

. Dudley does not describe in his book how he was using coal, only that he was. In so doing, he described his use successively of an ironworks on Pensnett Chase and at Cradley, of a furnace at

Himley Himley is a small village and civil parish in the English ceremonial county of Staffordshire, situated 4 miles west of Dudley and 5 miles southwest of Wolverhampton. At the time of the 2011 Census, Himley had a population of 802.It is most n ...

, and of a furnace at Hasco Bridge near Gornal. Dudley does mention several things that indicate what he was doing. The coal he used was the small pieces and slack which were "little or of no use in that inland country" and so brought in no money. This coal debris was left in heaps and "crowded moist slack heat naturally, and kindle in the middle of these great heaps, often sets the coal works on fire" and that "Also from these sulphurous heaps, mixed with ironstone (for out of many of the same pits is gotten much ironstone or mine), the fires heating vast quantities of water, passing through these soughs or adits becometh as hot as the bath at

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Pl ...

". Dudley describes two rival attempts to smelt iron with coal instigated by supporters of Parliament during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

and the

Interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...

. Dudley visited both sites and having examined their furnaces and production methods, when asked his opinion, informed the proprietors that they would fail. The first attempt was by Captain Buck, with the backing of many parliamentary officers including Oliver Cromwell, with technical help from Edward Dagney, an Italian. In the second attempt in the late 1656–67 by Captain John Copley also failed despite Dudley, at no charge, improving the efficiency of Copley's bellows. Dudley reapplied for a patent from Charles II, in 1660 stating "and seeing no man able to perform the mastery of making of iron with pit-coal or sea-coal, ... ithout mylaudable inventions the author was, and is, unwilling

hat they A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

should fall to the ground and die with him".Scrivenor quoting Dudley, A significant feature of his great work ''Metallum Martis'' is a map showing Dudley Castle where he correctly identifies the order and geographic layout of

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as e ...

of coal and

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...

under survey. Considered to be the earliest of recorded

geologic map A geologic map or geological map is a special-purpose map made to show various geological features. Rock units or geologic strata are shown by color or symbols. Bedding planes and structural features such as faults, folds, are shown with s ...

s, ''Metallum Martis'' marks a turning point in the evolution of scientific rationale concerning the recording and interpretation of

geological Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other E ...

information. It is considered to have been made at Castle Hill in Dudley by Dud Dudley in 1665.

Notes

References

* *. *{{Citation , last=Scrivenor , first=Harry , year=1854 , title=A comprehensive history of the iron trade , location=London , publisher=Longman,Brown Green and Longmans , page
37–55
} It includes an 18-page extract from, ''Metallum Martis''. 1665 books Theories