THE CORROSION OF IRON AND OTHER 



METALS^ 



" But though such is my view, I put it forth with all the reservation made on 

 former occasions. I do not pretend to explain all points of difficulty. ... I profess 

 rather to point out the difficulties in the way of the views which are at present 

 somewhat too easily accepted and to shake men's minds from their habitual trust 

 in them ; for next to developing and expounding that appears to me the most use- 

 ful and effectual way of really advancing the subject : — it is better to be aware or 

 even to suspect we are wrong than to be unconsciously or easily led to accept an 

 error as right,"— Faraday, On some Poi?its of Magjutic Philosophy^ 1854. 



On account of the ever-increasing use that is made of steel not 

 only in constructing machinery, rail- and tram-ways, bridges and 

 ships of every kind but also as the framework of buildings often 

 of huge dimensions, it is most important that engineers and all 

 who are responsible for the care of iron and steel structures 

 should be fully alive to the conditions under which rusting takes 

 place and to the precautions that must be taken if the metal is to 

 be preserved from decay. The subject was discussed in this 

 Journal in 1907, in the January number, with reference to experi- 

 ments carried out by Dr. G. T. Moody, whose results had been 

 made public in the previous year. In the interval the conclusion 

 Moody arrived at that rusting is necessarily and always /r/wmn'/y 

 conditioned by the presence of acid has either been challenged 

 by more than one observer or the issue obscured by the intro- 

 duction of other considerations. It therefore appears to be 



' The Corrosion and Preservatioti of Iron and Steel. By Allerton S. Cushman, 

 A.M., Ph.D., and Henry A. Gardner. (McGraw-Hill Book Co., 6, Bouverie Street, 

 London, E.G. 1910. Price 17.?.). — "The Corrosion of Iron and Steel." ByW, H. 

 Walker, A. M. Cederholm, and L. N. 'S>Qn\.,fourn. Avier. Chem. Sac. 1907, 25, 394. — 

 "The Rusting of Iron." By William Augustus Tilden, Chem. Soc. Trans. 1908, 

 1365. — " The Rusting of Iron." By J. Newton Friend, fourn. of the Iron and Steel 

 Institute^ 1908, No. 11. — " The Preservation of Iron and Steel." By A. S. Cushman. 

 " The Electrolytic Theory of the Corrosion of Iron and its Applications." By 

 W. H. Walker (with discussion), ibid. 1909, No. i. — " The Rusting of Iron." By J. 

 Newton Friend, Chem. Soc. Proc. 1910, 179.— " The Wet Oxidation of Metals: 

 I. The Rusting of Iron." By Bertram Lambert and J. C. Thomson, Chem. Soc. 

 Trans. 19 10, 2426. 



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