Chemical Observations upon Spathic Iron. 31 7 

 wines of the antients, so precious in atonic and colliquative 

 fluxes; it is of course necessary to have it of the very best 

 quality. It must not be resorted to in constipations. 



Patients of the lower class often request that their wine 

 may be mixed with their soups. It can be attended with no 

 inconvenience to grant them this indulgence; but when 

 Alicant wine is made use of, they ought to be told that a 

 most disgusting beverage results from such a mixture. It 

 is even prudent not to allow fat soups to be taken at the 

 same time with Alicant wine, when treating such as have 

 delicate stomachs. To conclude: the decomposition of Ali- 

 cant wine in the stomach can have no more bad conse- 

 quence than all the other wines have upon meeting with the 

 digestive juices ; and particularly with the bile, which con- 

 tains pure soda. Every thing which cannot form part of 

 the chyle necessarily goes into the alvine secretions. 



XLIX. Chemical Observations upon Spathic Iron. By 

 M. Collet Descostils, Engineer of Mines, 



[Continued from p. 251.] 



-L he results which I have related, in my opinion, prove 

 that the ores of spathic iron vary in their composition, and 

 consequently explain the difference of those obtained by 

 Bergman, Bucholz, and Drappier. Perhaps from new ana- 

 lyses still more variations may be made known. 



It would no doubt be very advantageous to be able to di- 

 stinguish each variety by its exterior characters, because 

 their different compositions ought to have a different treat- 

 ment in order to obtain the iron from them. The form of 

 the laminae, and their texture, serves to distinguish spathic 

 iron into two species in the iron-works of Old Dauphiny. 

 The one which is named vioillat is composed of large flat 

 lamina; ; the other, the crystallization of which is confuse J, 

 and the laminae rounded, is called rives. The first fuses with 

 difficulty; the second, or that with small grains, is, on the 

 contrary, remarkable for its fusibility and tor the quality of 

 its pigs, which yield steel easily. The latter is generally 



white, 



