40 Experiments on ll'ootz. , 



general chemical characters ; and I have been informed that 

 an analvsis of it, made by the Hev. William Gregor some 

 months'sincc^ proves thai it consists of similar ingredients. 

 Dr. Dabington has proposed to call the fossil from Devon- 

 shire WdfcllUe, from Dr. Wavel, the gentleman who dis- 

 covered if; but if a n:.me founded upon its chemical com- 

 position be preferred, it may be denominated hydrargillite, 

 from ■^i--i^:> water, and acyAAoj clay. 



.VI. Lxpcrbnents on IVootz. Bij Mr. David Mushet*. 



X- HE following experiments were made at the request of 

 sir .Iose])h Banks, on five cakes of wootz, with which he 

 supplied me for that purpose. As the cakes, which were 

 numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, were not all of the same qnalit}', 

 it will be proper first to describe the differences observable 

 in their external form and appearance. 



No. 1 . was a dense solid cake, without any flaw or fungous 

 appearance upon the flat, or, what I suppose to be, the upper 

 side. The round or under surface was covered with small 

 pits or hollows, two of whlc{i were of considerable depth ; 

 one throua;h which the slit or cut had run, and another 

 nearly as Targe towards the edge of the cake. These de- 

 pressions, the effects, as I suppose, of a species of crystal- 

 lization in cooling, were continued round the edges, and 

 even approached a little way upon the upper surface of the 

 wootz. 



The c^ke was a quarter of an inch thicker at one extre- 

 mity of the diameter than that at the other ; from which I 

 infer, that the pot or crucible in which this cake had been 

 made had not occupied the furnace in a vertical position. 

 Its convexity, compared to that of the other five, was se- 

 cond. Upon breaking the thin fin of steel, which connects 

 the half cakes together, f found it to possess a very small 

 dense white grain. Thi;^ appearance never takes place but 

 with steel of the best quality, and is less fre(|uent in very 

 high steel, though the quality be otherwise good. 



Upon examining the break with attention, I perceived 

 several laminae and minute cells filled with rust, which iti 

 workiuff are never expected to unite or shut together. The 

 grain otherwise was uniformly regular in pomt of colour 

 and size, and possessed a favourable appearance of steel. 



• i'rom the Transacticiu of the Royal Sotiity for 1805. 



No. 2. 



