296 



On Cast Iron and Steel. 



be wasted or burnt out during its exposure to the blast of the 

 refinery; and that the resulting bar iron should still contain the 

 same quantity of 15^ per cent, originally in the cast iron. 



The French chemists very early doubted the presence of man- 

 ganese in iron and steel, and subjected some of their best steel to a 

 rigid analysis. I find the following record of their experiments by 

 Vauquehn, in Nicholson's Journal, quarto series, vol. ii. p. 212. 

 Steel, No. 864 . . Carbon . . . . 0-007S9 

 Silex .. .. 0-00315 

 Phosphorus . . 0*00345 

 Iron .. .. 0-98551 



No. S64 (Large piece) 



No. 977. 



No. 1024. 



1-00000 

 The approximation of the results of these experiments to each 

 other, in which the presence of manganese was not at all disco- 

 vered, is a strong proof of their accuracy: but as VaiKjuelin and 

 Bergman in no case seem to have analysed the same iron, it 

 does not prove the non-existence of manganese in the Swedish 

 iron analysed by the latter. Those who consider the excellence 

 of steel to be derived from the presence of metallic manganese, 

 may deduce an inference from the experiments of Vauquelin in 

 favour of their own theory ; as it is confessed in the comparative 

 experiments detailed in that memoir, that the steel of France 

 will not stand comparison with the best steel of England : the 

 latter in this country being always manufactured from the best 



Swedish 



