112 Chronicles of Science. [Jan., 
a driving power common to all the furnaces, by means of an inter- ~ 
mediate shaft with pulley and strap; and at each furnace the strap 
is provided with a tightening lever, which is lowered or raised for 
starting or stopping the apparatus. By this means the rabble 
receives a rectilinear movement backwards and forwards across the 
furnace, and, at the same time, a much slower travelling motion 
from right to left and vice versa—in the direction of the length of 
the furnace doors. In consequence of this double movement the 
rabble works over the entire furnace floor, and effects a uniform and 
complete stirrmg of the metal, with a rapidity and regularity of 
which few puddlers are capable. 
It is well known that a peculiar ferruginous sand is found on 
the coast of Taranaki, not far from Whanganni, in New Zealand. 
Attention has been from time to time called to this sand, which 
appears by analysis to consist of— 
Protoxide of Iron . : . ° : 88°45 
Oxide of Titanium and Silica . . “ 11°43 
Numerous difficulties attendant on smelting this ore have 
hitherto prevented its being employed in the manufacture of iron. 
It is, however, now stated that Mr. Charles Martin, C. I. of London, 
has successfully produced good pig-iron from the Taranaki sand by 
smelting it in small furnaces with coke for fuel. The examples of 
iron and of steel manufactured from it which have been exhibited 
are of a very high character, which is supposed to be mainly due 
to the presence of Titanium. 
Amongst the most remarkable illustrations of the powers of 
modern Metallurgy may be noticed the fact, that on the 17th _ 
October Messrs. Bessemer and Sons, at East Greenwich, cast a 
cubic block of steel of the enormous weight of 100 tons. Large 
as this block is, it was far exceeded by what has been done at 
Bolton by the aid of Messrs. Ireland and Sons’ patent upper twyer 
cupola furnace, where a block of steel weighing 250 tons was cast. 
This furnace melts at the rate of thirteen tons of Bessemer steel in 
an hour, and is charged with three hundredweight of coke to fifty 
hundredweight of metal. The saving of fuel is one of the 
advantages of these furnaces, of which there are ten at Woolwich 
Arsenal, effecting an economy of coke to the extent of 2,0002. a 
year. The large block of steel cast at Woolwich and another 
somewhat smaller are to serve as anvils for steam hammers in the 
works of the Messrs. Bessemer, which are now approaching 
completion. 
‘Guide Pratique des Alliages Métalliques, by M. Guettier, 
Engineer and Director of Foundries, and author of ‘ La Fonderie en 
France,’ has just been published at Paris. This work treats the 
question of alloys with much care. 
