1823.] Messrs. Stodart and Faraday on the Alloys of Steel. 199 



The peculiarities of this serum consist in its containing oil, 

 which exists in the form of an emulsion, and in this case amounts 

 to 44- per cent.; in its having about double the usual quantity of 

 albumen assigned to the serum of blood by the experiments of 

 Berzelius and others ; and in its diminished proportion of saline 

 ingredients. It is worthy of remark, that these peculiarities in 

 the three cases were connected with inflammatory disease ; and 

 in the two last were accompanied by decided inflammation of 

 the liver. I have had an opportunity of examining the blood of 

 one of the patients when he was in health, and found nothing 

 peculiar in it. I may also state, that I examined some time ago 

 a serum which resembled, in colour and consistence, thin water- 

 gruel; but in this I could detect no oil; and it seemed to owe 

 its peculiarities to an excess of albumen. 



I am, respectfully yours, 



Thomas Stewart Traill. 



Article X. 



On the Alloys of Steel. By J. Stodart, Esq. FRS. and Mr. 

 M. Faraday, Chemical Assistant in the Royal Institution.* 



The alloys of steel made on a small scale in the laboratory of 

 the Royal Institution proving to be good, and the experiments 

 having excited a very considerable degree of interest both at 

 home and abroad, gave encouragement to attempt the work on a 

 more extended scale, and we have now the pleasure of stating, 

 that alloys similar to those made in the Royal Institution, have 

 been made for the purpose of manufacture ; and that they prove 

 to be, in point of excellence, in every respect equal, if not supe- 

 rior, to the smaller productions of the laboratory. Previous, 

 however, to extending the work, the former experiments were 

 carefully repeated, and to the results were added some new 

 combinations, namely, steel with palladium, steel with iridium 

 and osmium, and latterly, steel with chromium. In this last 

 series of experiments, we were particularly fortunate, having, by 

 practice, acquired considerable address in the management of 

 the furnaces, and succeeded in procuring the best fuel for the 

 purpose. Notwithstanding the many advantages met with in 

 the laboratory of the Royal Institution, the experiments were 

 frequently rendered tedious from causes often unexpected, and 

 sometimes difficult to overcome; among these, the failure of 

 crucibles was, perhaps, the most perplexing. We have never 



* From the Philosophical Tratttac ions for 1822. Part II. 



