S4 French National lufl'i'uie, 



C. Guvton has declared in the affirmative. AgreeaLiy fo 

 the views whiclv directed Clouet in his difcovery of makins; 

 c^ft jkelj C. Guvton changed foft iron into thai ftcel with the 

 diamond alone in a clofc veflel ; find common charcoal did 

 not produce fteel but when treated with fume agent capable 

 of depriving it of its oxygen. Many poets have compared 

 the hanlnefs of the armour of their heroes to that of the dia- 

 mond, without knowing that their comparifon was founded 

 on fo real an intimacy. (See Phil. Mag. Vol. V.) 



The fame chemift has directed his attention to two nie- 

 tallit fubftaiiccs little known, though fufilciently abundant. 

 One of them, named nichel, is not yet generally confidered 

 as a particular metal : fome cheiiiills think tliai it is only 

 an alloy of feveral metals. C. Guy ton is of a different opi- 

 nion : he thinks that it niav be poffible to take from nickel 

 all the iron with which it is mixed, and that it will even 

 then retain properties hitherto found only in iron — that of 

 attrafting the magnetic needle, and that of becoming mag- 

 netic itfelf. 



The fecond metallic fubftance he examined is tungjltn; a 

 word which fignifies heavy Itone, becaufe fonie of its ores 

 have a ftonv appearance. It is not long fince it was known 

 to be a metal, and hitherto it had been reduced and meltetl 

 only in an imperfeft manner. C. Guvton, having fuceeedcd 

 better than his predeceflbrs, has found that the fpecitic gra- 

 vity of this metal is much lefs than what had been fuppofcd ; 

 it does not nuich furpafs that of copper. He is of opinion 

 that tungften can be of little ufe but by the property which 

 it? ovyds have of fixin<x vegetable colours. 



The public has been informed a year ago of the fuccefs of 

 the refearches of C. Fourcroy and Vauquelin on the (lone of 

 'the bladder. This concretion, w-hich occafions the moll px- 

 cruciatinir pain, and which the Faculty defpaired of being 

 ever able to diffolve, may be dilfolved in certairi cafes by 

 assents fufficicntly mild not to injure the bladder. Thcfe 

 two chemifts have alfo miited their efforts this year, and 

 turned their attention to the liquid in which the ftone is 

 formed. Notwithftanding the numerous labours of which 

 unne has been the objcft, they found in it new and very re- 

 markable 



