232 
of ore getting mixed with it; in the course of ages by laborious 
perseverance it would be discovered that, not only high temperature 
was necessary, but that ore thus heated should not be directly 
exposed to the action of that air which was the source of temper- 
ature.” 
This would lead to the practice of keeping the ore surrounded 
as much as possible with fuel, while the process of conversion was 
going forward; hence would arise the first attempt at a furnace. 
In time, after the construction of furnaces had developed to a 
condition of. comparative efficiency, bellows, which might have 
been previously used for forging iron only, might be applied to its 
manufacture, these gradually developing to the powerful blowing 
machines of the present day. 
I fear there does not now exist a clue by which the rise and 
progress of this art can, with certainty, be traced ; an art which has 
given man the mastery over all other metals and minerals, and 
has conferred on him the unrivalled dominion of the universe. 
Greatly delighted must the early worker in iron have been, 
when, through patience and perseverance, he acquired reliable 
rules of process by which he could obtain uniform results, and 
discovered the powerful effects of air directed on the burning fuel in 
raising the temperature, resulting in the earliest form of furnace. 
Though we cannot precisely say what was the peculiar 
form of the iron furnaces, or air bloomeries, of the Greeks 
and Romans, yet we may form some idea from what is now 
practised by other nations in the infancy of the art. In the 
interior of Africa, a low conical furnace is used, which seems 
an easy and natural structure for a rude age. Small 
openings at the lower end of the cone to admit the air, and 
a larger orifice at the top, would, with charcoal, be sufficient 
to give a considerable degree of heat. The furnace would, in the 
first instance, be filled with layers of charcoal and iron ore 
alternately, and the fire applied to the openings in the lower 
extremity of the furnace; the heat might be regulated by narrowing 
or increasing those apertures, and a renewal of the fuel, when 
necessary, be easily effected by the funnel at the top. 
> 
— 
