104, MR. W. FAIRBAIRN ON THE PROPERTIES OF 
VI.— Experiments to Determine the Properties 
of some Mixtures of Cast Iron and Nickel. 
By Wiuiiam Farrsarrn, F.R.S. 
Read March 9th, 1858. 
Some of my chemical friends in London had got an 
impression from a careful analysis of meteoric iron, that it 
could be produced artificially by the combination of some 
of the same elements that were found to exist in the spe- 
cimen analysed, containing about 24 per cent of nickel. 
In order to determine whether it would be possible to 
obtain an artificial compound of this nature, and to ascer- 
tain the effect produced by mixing a certain proportion 
of nickel with cast iron, the following experiments were 
instituted. They consisted, in the first instance, in the 
extraction of the nickel from the ore which is found in 
the mines of the Duke of Argyle, near Inverary in Scot- 
land. The metal having then been purified by repeated 
meltings, was mixed with cast iron in such proportions as 
to form a compound, containing the same quantity of 
nickel as the specimen analysed. This was done by 
melting 24 per cent of nickel with carefully selected South 
Welsh cast iron from the works of Blaenarvon and Ponty- 
pool. The mixtures were fused in crucibles, and run into 
ingots or bars, which were then tested in regard to their 
mechanical powers of resistance to a transverse strain. 
