On the Identity of Silex and Oxygen, 357 



soon after, or even at that very period when, the ^^ Earth 

 was without form and void.** 



The inlimacy between silex and iron, and the consecutive 

 oxidizement of the latter, need not be further urged ; it oc- 

 curs in such numberless cases, that whoever is at ail conver- 

 sant in mineralogy, and will take the trouble to search with 

 candour, can be at no loss for evidence, sufficient to establish 

 this singular concomitance. Thus, let us take, as an instance, 

 that substance, familiarly known by the name of emery. 

 Here, the iron is truly united to the silex in a very close man- 

 ner, and not as a mere mixture, for the metal is oxidized and 

 imbedded in this surplus of oxygen. "This,** says M.Haiiy, 

 speaking of emery, " is a true combination of quartz and 

 iron, in which the two substances contract a stronger ad- 

 herence than a mere interposition of their molecules.*' 



Though iron is considered ^s a pure metal and a simple 

 substance, that is, when divested, by the usual methods, of 

 the common impurities, to which it has a habitual affinity, 

 particularly of these, viz. carbon, phosphorus, and silex; still, 

 there is strong reason to believe that it has never been totally 

 exempt from one or other of these substances. Indeed, it ap- 

 pears that some of these very impurities are required to render 

 the metal more perfect, to add to its splendour, ductility, 

 and other properties, which the arts demand. Thus, to make 

 good steel there must be an addition of carbon as well as 

 silex ; and, if brilliancy, hardness, and a susceptibility of 

 higher polish are to be considered as improvements, the 

 carbon and the silex, in this case, seem to render the metal 

 still more metallic, if such a term may be allowed. 



In an analysis of four different specimens of steel, by 

 M. Vauquelin, the result was this, taking it on an average 

 to avoid fractions : that one hundred thousand parts of these 

 samples of metal consist of 9817 of iron, 723 of carbon, 

 870 of phosphorus, and rather more than 288 of silex. That 

 it is very difficult to deprive iron of all foreign matters, may 

 be readily conjectured from this philosopher's labours, and 

 the following observation confirms this truth, that iron is 

 never pure. " The analysis of the varieties of steel,** says 

 this very accurate chemist, *^ is one of those parts of the. 



Z 3 science 



