president's address — SECTION B. 59 



feasible. Hence they are also referred to as " rapid oxidation pro- 

 cesses," and, in a great measure, it is quite correct that the feature of 

 rapidity is the predominating one. 



From the nature of the case, rapid oxidation is, however, bound 

 to rapid supply or delivery of the oxidising agent, therefore also to an 

 adequate perfection of the mechanical apparatus serving this purpose ; 

 and, as I need not remind you, the oxidation theory and the improve- 

 ment of motive power by the introduction of the use of steam were 

 practically contemporaneous, so that advancement in the metallurgical 

 application of the former was necessarily conditioned on the advance- 

 ment of the latter. In other words, the chemical utilisation of pneu- 

 matic energy was wholly dependent on its mechanical production, 

 and, in consequence, had to wait on the latter, even after the battle of 

 the new combustion theory had been fully fought out. This required 

 some time, in fact, quite three-quarters of a century. There is no 

 doubt, however, that if the mechanical perfection of blast-producing 

 machinery in the days of Lavoisier had been anything like what it now 

 is, the pneumatic smelting processes would have reached their present 

 status much earlier. The bent to draw the last practical inferences 

 and corollaries from the new chemical theory was strong in those who 

 accepted it, as is evidenced by the literature of the time immediately 

 following, but the machinery at their disposal was weak, and current 

 ideas as to the practicable magnitude of smelting paraphernalia remained 

 cramped, particularly in the metals other than iron. 



It is patent also that, as long as the nature of oxidation was not 

 itself understood, the idea of reaping special benefits from it, by ex- 

 pediting it in connection with " chemical fuels," could not occur. But 

 the feeble blast machinery of those days (from the beginning of things 

 up to the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the 

 nineteenth) was incidentally responsible for instilling obstructive 

 traditional notions of other kinds also, based on mere hereditary respect 

 for existing practices, and carried to censurable lengths. For instance, 

 we find it was considered a serious error, even in the middle of the last 

 century, to blow air into lead and copper furnaces through more than 

 a single tuyere ; and, to further illustrate this spirit, it may be remarked 

 that, if the proper diameter of this solitary tuyere, as determined by 

 custom and estabUshed practice, was Ifin., only the most disastrous 

 results were expected to follow, and the smelting to be completely 

 ruined, if it was increased to 2in. It is obvious that under the sway 

 of such ultra-conservative tendencies even the rapid oxidation of 

 carbonaceous fuel would suffer a check, let alone that of combustibles 

 not carbonaceous. Fortunately, our present day reverence for estab- 

 lished practice is less, and our progressiveness greater. 



Metals and Metalloids as Fuels. — With regard to such non-car- 

 bonaceous fuels, and more particularly metallic fuels, it is true that 

 even the ancients possessed a certain fund of knowledge. The easily 

 observable combustibility of lead and copper supplied examples. But 

 the chemical feeling which renders the combustibility of metals a 

 familiar notion is not widespread even to-day, and primitive attitudes 



