1872.! Metallurgy. 259 
the top of the beam so as to support the load, whilst the released rope is 
carried upwards by the continued winding. 
Through the Geological Society of London, Mr. G. Milner Stephen, of 
Sydney, announces the recent discovery of a very valuable deposit of tin ore 
in New South Wales. The ore occurs in crystals and rolled fragments, in 
beds of conglomerate and in granite. It appears that the deposit extends over 
an area of several miles in the district of New England. 
From the same authority we learn that a party of four men, induced by the 
offer of a reward by the French Government, have discovered gold on the 
banks of the River Bondé, on the N.E. coast of New Caledonia. Hitherto 
only auriferous drift has been found, but it is expected that quartz reefs will 
soon be discovered. 
In a paper “‘On Gossans,” by Mr. W. Argall, of Great Huel Vor, recently 
tead before the Miners’ Association of Cornwall and Devon, the author sug- 
gested that a collection of these products might advantageously be preserved 
for reference in some central museum, the collection being accompanied by 
analyses of the specimens and records of the conditions under which they oc- 
curred. Remembering the great value set by miners upon the occurrence of 
gossan as superficial indications of mineral deposits beneath, the suggestion 
seems to be worthy of notice. Unfortunately, however, these gossans are 
rather unattractive to the eye, consisting as they generally do of ochreous 
oxide of iron mixed with cellular quartz; the result, in fact, of the alteration 
of the upper part of the ore by atmospheric and other influences. Some of 
the richest deposits, especially copper lodes, bear masses of this unsightly 
gossan on the outcrop, or ‘‘ back,” of the vein; and Continental miners, not 
less than Cornishmen, attach great importance to the occurrence of this 
Chapeau de Fer, or Eiserne Hut, as likely to betoken the existence of a pro- 
ductive vein of ore. A collection of gossans, chiefly Cornish, has for many 
years past been exhibited in the Museum of Pra@ical Geology. 
With the opening of the new year there appeared a new monthly magazine 
devoted to the mining interest of this country. Under the editorship of Mr. 
Nelson Boyd, F.G.S., the ‘“‘ Mining Magazine and Review” promises to become 
a technical journal of much value to those engaged in mining, quarrying, me- 
tallurgy, and kindred pursuits. The three numbers already issued contain 
many interesting articles bearing upon these branches of industry. 
METALLURGY. 
Our chronicles last quarter contained a brief account of Danks’s rotary fur- 
nace for puddling iron by machinery. Soon after the publication of that 
number, Messrs. Jones, Snelus, and Lester, the three Commissioners appointed 
by the Puddling Committee of the Iron and Steel Institute, having returned 
from their visit to the United States, issued their Report. This Report has 
been published in the Journal of the Institute, and contains an elaborate 
description of the furnace, details of the mode of fettling, the consumption of 
fuel, and the quality of the iron produced. The visit of the Commissioners 
has convinced them that the process can be successfully carried out, and that 
even in its present state it ae commercial advantages over hand-puddling. 
At the same time they believe that the process is only yet in its infancy, and 
is capable of rapid development. Materials were taken out from this country 
to be experimented upon in the presence of the Commissioners, and samples 
of the fettling materials and of the iron produced in the furnace have been 
brought home. It has been arranged with the inventor that the royalty to be 
paid in Great Britain shall not exceed two shillings per ton on machine-made 
puddled iron. 
We learn from the ‘“‘ Mining Journal” that an improved furnace for puddling 
iron by machinery, the invention of Mr. A. Spencer, has recently been at work, 
with the most encouraging results, at the West Hartlepool Iron Works. 
Spencer’s revolving furnace is a box-like vessel, of square or rhomboidal 
transverse section, furnished with circular ends having apertures.through which 
