CHEMICAL SC1UXCE. 293 



PRESENT STATE OF THE BESSEMER QUESTION. 



It is only some few months since all Europe was standing on tip-toe, in 

 expectation of witnessing a great and marvellous revolution in the manu- 

 facture of iron and steel, by a new and ingenious process, to which it is only 

 necessary to allude in passing as that patented I/y Mr. Bessemer. It was 

 something quite astounding to those who knew by what tedious and expen- 

 sive means steel was produced from iron in the olden time, to be told that, 

 by the new process, steel was the easier and cheaper production of the two. 

 It was no less wonderful in the eyes of those who had considered iron as, at 

 least in the open air, an incombustible, to be shown that it was, in fact, a 

 highly combustible material ; and that, if once heated by fire to a certain 

 point, it might then, by strong air currents be actually itself set on Jire, and 

 made to bum with a fierce incandescence. 



It is humiliating to think upon what small matters great ones often de- 

 pend. There appears to be no reasonable doubt that Mr. Bessemer would 

 have realized all he promised to accomplish but for one slight circumstance, 

 which it is our intention now to explain, and the difficulty connected with 

 which has, at least for the present, frustrated his expectations. 



The subject of iron-founding has been so completely popularized by the 

 discussions of this patent in the public press, that it will only be necessary 

 for tis to recall attention to the fact, that iron ore contains several foreign 

 matters in intimate combination, and that upon their expulsion during the 

 founding process depends the success of the ironmaster's work. These 

 foreign bodies arc chiefly carbon, silicon, sulphur, and phosphorus. The 

 old methods of roasting, casting, refining, puddling, and rolling were found 

 to effect the object in view sufficiently for all practical purposes. In Mr. 

 Bessemer's process, all these substances, except phosphorus, are effectually 

 expelled. It would seem that up to the present time this material lias re- 

 sisted all the efforts of Mr. Bessemer. It defies the utmost heat of his fur- 

 naces, 'and has no sufficient affinity for oxygen, or any other body brought in 

 contact with it, to consent, for its sake, to let go its tenacious grasp of the 

 iron. Now, phosphorus in iron is, as it appears, fatal to the useful qualities 

 of the metal ; it renders the iron brittle and unserviceable ; and as no por- 

 tion of it can be detected in the slag of the furnace, it would seem that, so 

 far as its expulsion is concerned, Mr. Bessemer has as yet altogether failed. 

 But it would surely not be at all philosophical to conclude that the question 

 is finally set at rest, however serious tiic objection may be to which we have 

 now called attention. It can hardly be too much to expect that in. the re- 

 sources of modern science some ingredient may yet be discovered, the re- 

 sults of which, in the instance before us, will be no less striking than those 

 of soda, borax, and potash, when used as fluxes in various industrial opera- 

 tions. We should not be surprised any d:iy to hear that some such depurg- 

 ativc had been discovered, and that its admixture with the incandescent iron 

 in the furnace was found to detach the phosphorus, and leave the iron in a 

 perfectly pure state. We wish we could go further than suggest the exist- 

 ence of some such drug, or metal, or mineral, whatever it may be. We sus- 



