ao6 Experiments on the immediate 



the procefles and productions which have more particularly 

 attracted the attention of Government ; but we cannot ter- 

 minate this report without pointing out, in a few words, the 

 truths of the theory arifing from them. It is well knowu 

 that iron does not become fteel, but by afluming about 

 0-2013 °f ' ,s weight or " carbon : here it is furnifhed only in 

 the ftate of carbonic acid ; this acid then is decompofed. This 

 is a very important phenomenon, which the observation of 

 C. Clouct has added to the proofs of the doctrine of the 

 French chemifts. But how is this decompofition effected ?— 

 It evidently refults from the eventual or predifpofing affinity 

 which a portionof the iron exercifes upon the oxygen of the 

 acid, at the fame time that the remainder of the iron tends 

 to unite itfelf with the carbon ; and a concurrence of thefe 

 attractions produces a rcfult which one would not have 

 expected, and which would not indeed have been poffible 

 by fnnple affinity. Thus in this operation the vitreous 

 flux is always fecn charged with the oxyd of iron, the prc- 

 fence of which difcovers itfelf by a very dark green colour. 

 The experiment in which the iron was not fufed, has enabled 

 us to exhibit to you a proof of it. Hence it might perhaps 

 be inferred, that this indifpcnfible oxydatioir of a portion of 

 the iron occafions in the product a decrcafe of fo much the 

 more importance, as iron only of the beft quality can be 

 employed in the operation. This confideration made us pay 

 attention to the decreafe, in order that we might at leaft 

 give fome idea of its probable limits. In the operation 

 conducted at the wind furnace, the decrcafe was not altogether 

 a twelfth ; in another experiment made at the forge of the 

 School of Mines, before C. Vauquelin, in 428 grammes of 

 iron there was a lofs only of 19 grammes, that is to fay, lefs 

 than a twenty-fecond part. We may then reft allured that 

 this lofs will be compenfated by the value which the reft of 

 the matter will acquire ; and that, in-ftead of incrcaiing, it 

 puift be cliniiniftied v hen working on a large feale, for it is 



evident 



