V4 Pyrozvress in Science. [Tuly, 
aE oO t wv 
From Nova Scotia we have received the Annual Report of the Inspector of 
Mines, Mr. H.S. Poole. The statistics here given show that in 1874 there 
were in the Province 30 coal-mines, producing 872,720 tons of coal, and 
33 gold-workings, yielding g14z ounces of gold. Compared with the produce 
of the preceding year there is a falling off, which may in part be accounted 
for by the general dulness of trade. In addition to the statistical information, 
the Report contains some general observations, by Mr. Poole, on such 
branches of mining as are carried on in the Province. 
The last number of the ‘Annales des Mines” opens with a long memoir 
on the Sulphur-Mines of Sicily, by M. C. Ledoux. During a visit to some of 
the more important sulphur-yielding localities, in 1871, he colle&ed a good 
deal of information on this branch of industry; and although important me- 
moirs on the subje& have been written by Parodi and Mottura, the present 
paper presents—in a convenient and accessible form—a general sketch of the 
geological structure of the sulphur-producing districts, the working of the ore, 
and its treatment for the production of sulphur. 
Mr. Warington W. Smyth, of the Royal School of Mines, recently delivered 
to the Iron and Steel Institute an interesting lecture on the Ores of Iron, con- 
sidered in their Geological Relations. It is to be hoped that this lecture will 
be published in the Journal of the Institute. 
METALLURGY. 
At the recent metropolitan meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute the 
newly-elected president, Mr. Menelaus, devoted the greater part of his Address 
to a review of the chief modern improvements in the manufacture of wrought- 
iron and steel, The satisfactory working of Danks’s system at the Erimus 
Tron-Works, near Stockton, was explained by Mr. J. A. Jones. The other 
forms of puddling machinery were noticed by Mr. Menelaus, who concludes 
that mechanical puddling is now an established success, arid that better 
results may be thus obtained than by the old method of manual puddling. 
Turning to steel, the president referred to the advantage of converting pig- 
iron into Bessemer steel by running the crude metal dire@ from the blast- 
furnace into the converter, and thus saving the cost of melting. With 
reference to the wide application of steel in the Arts, he gave the results of 
the experience of some of our leading mechanical engineers in favour of the 
use of a mild steel for purposes of construction. 
The Bessemer medal has this year been awarded to Dr. C. W. Siemens. 
In continuation of his valuable researches on the consumption of heat in 
the blast-furnace, Mr. I. L. Bell has recently read a paper “On the Sum of 
Heat Utilised in Smelting Cleveland Ironstone.” He calculates that in the 
combustion of the best South Durham coke only 51°27 per cent of its heating 
power is utilised, the remainder being carried from the tunnel-head. In 
seeking to determine how this may best be utilised, he has been led to effe& 
certain improvements in the construction of the boilers and hot-blast pipes at 
the Clarence Iron-Works, whereby the heating-power of the waste gases is so 
econoiised that all the heat needed for generating steam and heating air for 
furnaces is thus obtained, with some to spare, whilst in the old system, at the 
same Works, it was always found necessary to supplement the heat afforded 
by the waste gases. 
An interesting process is now carried on by the Great Snowdon Copper 
Mining Company, for extracting copper from poor ores. ‘The ore having been 
crushed is mixed with a small proportion of lime, and made up into a shape 
convenient for stacking in a kiln; the kiln of ore is then fired, and the roasted 
ore afterwards crushed and lixiviated. By this means the sulphide of copper 
originally present in the ore becomes converted into a soluble sulphate, and 
on passing sulphuretted hydrogen through the solution the metal is precipi- 
tated as a sulphide sufficiently pure to be at once smelted. 
A paper on “ The Extraction of Silver from Cupreous Iron-Pyrites,” read 
