CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 



175 



Manganese and iron, and perhaps cobalt and nickel, follow this 

 law, but copper varies very much ; for this we can see no reason. 

 Phosphorus and antimony follow the law, but bismuth comes between. 

 What can influence it ? Look at its atomic volume ; it differs fifty- 

 nine from that of phosphorus. We cannot, therefore, be much sur- 

 prised at its having a different melting point. 



FUSION OF PLATINUM. 



M. Deville, the well-known French chemist, has recently succeeded 

 in rapidly melting thirty-eight or forty pounds of platinum in one 

 mass ; a metal till lately considered almost infusible. This discovery 

 will render the extraction of platinum from the ore more, perfect, and, 

 by reducing its cost, will greatly facilitate its application to the arts. 



IMPEOYEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON. 



Prof. Fairbairn, in his address before the British Association, 1861, 

 thus alludes to the recent improvements effected in the manufacture 

 of iron : 



Previously to the inventions of Henry Cort, the manufacture of 

 wrought iron was of the most crude and primitive description. A 

 hearth and a pair of bellows was all that was employed. But since 

 the introduction of puddling, the iron-masters have increased the pro- 

 duction to an extraordinary extent, down to the present time, when 

 processes for the direct conversion of wrought iron, on a large scale, 

 are being attempted. A consecutive series of chemical researches 

 into the different processes, from the calcining of the ore to the pro- 

 duction of the bar, carried on by Dr. Percy and others, has led to a 

 revolution in the manufacture of iron ; and although it is at the pres- 

 ent moment in a state of transition, it nevertheless requires no very 

 great discernment to perceive that steel and iron of any required 

 tenacity will be made in the same furnace, with a facility and cer- 

 tainty never before attained. This has been effected, to some extent, 

 by improvements in puddling ; but the process of Mr. Bessemer 

 affords the highest promise of certainty and perfection in the opera- 

 tion of converting the melted pig direct into steel or iron, and is likely 

 to lead to the most important developments in this manufacture. 

 These improvements in the production of the material must, in their 

 turn, stimulate its application on a larger scale and lead to new con- 

 structions. 



