made ivith a View to its Improvement. 31 



oxidation, though certainly not to the extent that has at times 

 been given to it. It is a curious fact, that the same quantity of 

 the nickel alloyed with steel, instead of preventing its rusting, 

 appeared to accelerate it very rapidly. 



Platinum and rhodium have, in the course of these experi- 

 ments, been alioved with iron, but these compounds do not ap- 

 pear to possess any verv interesting properties. With gold we 

 have not made the experiment. The alloys of other metals with 

 iron, as far as our experience goes, do not promise much useful- 

 ness. The results are verv different when steel is used; it is 

 only, however, of a few of its compounds that we are prepared 

 to give any account. 



Together with some others of the metals, the following have 

 been alioved with Ijoth English and Indian steel, and in various 

 proportions ; platinum, rhodium, gold, silver, nickel, copper and 

 tin. 



All the above-named metals appear to have an affinity for steel 

 sufficiently strong to make them combine; alloys of platinum, 

 rhodium, gold and nickel, may be obtained when the heat is 

 sufficiently high. This is so remarkable with platinum, that it 

 will fuse when in contact with steel, at a heat at which the steel 

 itself is not affected. 



With respect to the alloy of silver, there are some very curious 

 circumstances attending it. If steel and silver be kept in fusion 

 together for a length of time, an alloy is obtained, which appeals 

 to be very perfect while the metals are in the fluid state, i)Ut on 

 solidifying and cooling, globules of pure silver are expressed from 

 the mass, and appear on the surface of the button. If an alloy 

 of this kind be forged into a liar, and then dissected by the ac- 

 tion of dilute sulphuric acid, the silver appears, not in combina- 

 tion with the steel, but in threads throughout the mass; so that 

 the whole has the appearance of a bundle of fibres of silver and 

 steel, as if they had been united bv welding. The appearance 

 of these silver fii)res is very beautiful; they are sometimes one- 

 eighth of an inch in lengtli, and suggest the idea of giving n)e- 

 chanical toughness to steel, where a very perfect edge may not be 

 rei)uired. 



At other times, when silver and steel have been very long in a 

 state of perfect fusion, the sides of the crucible, and frequently 

 the top also, are covered with a fine and beautiful dew of minute 

 Klobules of silver; this effect can be produced at pleasure. At 

 first wc were not successful in detecting silver by chemical tests 

 ill these buttons; and finding the steel uniformly imjjroved, vvere 

 disposed to attribute its excellence to an effect of the siher, or 

 to a (piantity too small to be tested. By subsequent experiments 



we 



