Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century: Some Contemporary European Accounts c6.s2.17

c6.s2.17

But the substance which seems to have evoked most scientific and technical interest in the Britain of the 1790s was the sample of *wootz* steel sent by Dr Scott to Sir J. Banks, the President of the British Royal Society. The sample went through examination and analysis by several experts.35 It was found in general to match the best steel then available in Britain, and according to one user, ‘promises to be of importance to the manufactures’ of Britain.36 He found it ‘excellently adapted for the purpose of fine cutlery, and particularly for all edge instruments used for surgical purposes.’ After its being sent as a sample in 1794 and its examination and analysis in late 1794 and early 1795, it began to be much in demand; and some 18 years later the afore-quoted user of steel stated, ‘I have at this time a liberal supply of wootz, and I intend to use it for many purposes. If a better steel is offered to me, I will gladly attend to it; but the steel of India is decidedly the best I have yet met with.’37