j 2, On the immediate Coiiverjioii 



be employed with advantage ; that glafs, too fufible, rendei - 

 fteel difficult to be forged ; that fteel kept a long time in 

 fuiion, takes up move glafs than it ought j arid laftly, that 

 the metal muft be furred, and the glafs taken carefully away 

 before it is poured out, in order that it may not mix itfelt 

 with the fteel. After giving a Ihort view of the obfervations 

 of C. Clouet, and the practical confequenecs which he 

 deduces from them, it would have remained for us only to 

 lay before you fome fpecimens produced by his operations, 

 had we not thought it our duty to add the rcfults of the ex- 

 periments which we made ourfelves, by following his pro- 

 celfes for the immediate converfion of iron into caft fteel, 

 and of which it is of importance that we (hould defcribe the 

 principal eircumftanccs. 



The members of the Council of Mines having permitted 

 us to make ufe of the forge conftructed in their laboratory, we 

 put into a luted Heflian crucible 6 hectogrammes (1-23 lb.) of 

 the points of horl'e-lhoe nails, and 4 (-81 lb.) of a mixture of 

 equal parts of the carbonat of lime (white marble) and 

 burnt clay, from a Heffian erucibie, all reduced to powder. 

 The mixture was heaped up to furround the iron fragments 

 on every fide; and the crucible placed upon its ftand in the 

 middle of the furnace, the heat of which was urged by three 

 blaits. In our lirft trial we found, after about an hour and 

 a half, that the matter was fufed ; but the crucible having 

 burft, we were prevented from pouring it out. On repeating 

 the operation at the fame forge, and in the fame manner, 

 we obtained an ingot ; a portion of which we now fubmit 

 to the infpecT.ion of the Clafs. It forms a fquare bar, each 

 face of which is from 26 to 27 millimetres (about one inch 

 Englifh). 



The frequent and almoft unavoidable accidents which 

 crucibles experience by being expofed to the blaft of bellows, 

 made us think it a point of importance to al'eertain whether 

 the operation would fucceed equally well in a reverberating 

 furnace or any other wind furnace, as C. Clouet announces. 



We 



