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TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 57 
On the Chemical Character of Steel. By JAMES NASMYTH. 
Were we to-assume as our standard of the importance of any investigation the 
relation which the subject of it bears to the progress of civilization, there is no one 
which would reach higher than that which refers to the subject of steel; seeing that 
it is to our possession of the art of producing that inestimable material that we owe 
nearly the whole of the arts. Mr. Nasmyth is desirous of contributing a few ideas 
on the subject, with a view to our arriving at more distinct knowledge as to what 
(in a chemical sense) steel is, and so of laying the true basis for improvement in the 
process of its manufacture. 
It is well known that steel is formed by surrounding bars of wrought iron with 
charcoal placed in fire-brick troughs from which air is excluded, and keeping the iron 
bars and charcoal in contact and at a full red heat for several days; at the end of 
which time the iron bars are found to be converted into steel. What is the nature 
of the change which the iron has undergone we have no certain knowledge; the 
ordinary explanation is, that the iron has absorbed and combined with a portion of 
the charcoal or carbon, and has in consequence been converted into a -carburet of 
iron: but it has ever been a mystery, that on analysis so very minute and question- 
able a portion of carbon is exhibited. It appears that the grand error in the above 
view of the subject consists in our not duly understanding the nature of the change 
which carbon undergoes in its combination with iron in the formation of steel. 
Those who are familiar with the process of conversion of iron into steel, must have 
observed the remarkable change in the outward aspect of the bars of iron after their 
conversion, namely, that they are covered with blisters. These blisters indicate the 
evolution of a very elastic gas which is set free from the carbon in the act of its com- 
bination with the iron. Mr. Nasmyth is led to think that these blisters are the result 
of the decomposition of the carbon, whose metallic base enters into union with the 
iron and forms with it an alloy, while the other component element of the carbon is 
* given forth, and so produces in its escape the blisters in question. On this assump- 
tion, that steel is an alloy of iron with the metallic base of carbon, it would be a most 
interesting subject of investigation to endeavour to ascertain what is the nature of 
the evolved gas which produces these blisters. In order to do this, the author pro- 
poses the following process :—Fill a wrought iron retort with a mixture of pure 
carbon and iron filings, subject it to a long-continued red heat, and receive the 
evolved gas over mercury. Having obtained the gas in question in this manner, then 
permit a piece of polished steel to come in contact with this gas, and in all probabi- 
lity we shall then have reproduced, on the surface of the steel, a coat of carbon re- 
sulting from the reunion of its two elements, namely, that of the metallic base of 
the carbon then existing in the steel with the (as yet) unknown gas, thus synthe- 
tically, as well as by analytic process, eliminating the true nature of steel and that of 
the elements or components of carbon. ~ 
On some of the Alloys of Tungsten. By Joun Percy, M.D., F.R.S. 
Dr. Percy detailed a series of experiments upon the economic use of tungsten in 
alloys. The tungsten employed was obtained in the form of steel-gray powder from 
tungstate of ammonia in the usual way. It was heated at a very high temperature 
with gold, silver, copper, nickel, and the alloy of metal, copper and zinc, called 
German silver, respectively, charcoal powder being added to prevent oxidation. 
Apparent alloys were thus obtained ; but on testing them by the ordinary manufac- 
turing processes of rolling, scratching and polishing, it became evident that the 
tungsten was simply diffused through the mass in minute grains. A mixture, for it 
cannot be called an alloy proper, of copper and tungsten was produced containing 
22 per cent. of tungsten; the colour of the copper was not thereby very minutely 
altered, so that tungsten does not possess the whitening property of nickel. The 
results of these experiments were quite unsatisfactory in regard to the economic 
application of tungsten. The subject still deserves the attention of metallurgists. 
