208 



DENMARK. 



DEPHOSPHORIZATION OF IRON. 



trality might be doubtful in the event of a 

 war between Germany, France, and perhaps 

 Russia, in which case it would probably be 

 deemed necessary " to set all doubts at rest by 

 decisive action." The approaches to Copen- 

 hagen are very difficult for ships of war. The 

 town could be most readily bombarded from 

 the southeast, but on that side also great natu- 

 ral obstacles would have to be encountered. 

 The channel between the island of Saltholm, 

 in the middle of the sound, and that of Ama- 

 ger (on Avhich a part of Copenhagen stands), 

 is divided by the great Middelbank into two 

 passages, the eastern one of which is called the 

 Great Passage, and the western one the King's 

 Passage. It was through the latter that Nel- 

 son penetrated on April 2, 1801, in order to 

 attack the Danish fleet. No such dangerous 

 achievement would now be necessary for bom- 

 barding Copenhagen, as rifled guns could reach 

 the center of the town with their shot if fired 

 from ships of war stationed in the Great Pas- 



The relations between Denmark and Ger- 

 many have become more pleasant. The King 

 having paid a visit to Berlin in January, short- 

 ly afterward, the deputies from Schleswig, who 

 had persistently refused, since that province 

 was annexed to Prussia, to take the oath of al- 

 legiance to the Prussian Government, signified 

 their willingness to comply with the prescribed 

 formality. It was believed that the dispute 

 about North Schleswig had been brought to a 

 close, and that the visit of the King to the 

 Prussian court might be regarded as an out- 

 ward proof that he had accepted the new or- 

 der of things. The deputy Larsen, who was 

 elected as a deputy from North Schleswig to 

 the German Parliament, published a statement 

 declaring that, while he still adhered to his po- 

 litical opinions, he would, in consequence of 

 the changes brought about by the abrogation of 

 the fifth article of the Treaty of Prague, take 

 the oath of allegiance to the German Constitu- 

 tion. 



A trifling incident, which happened at Co- 

 penhagen in August, became the occasion of 

 some embarrassment in the social relations 

 between the representatives of Denmark and 

 Germany. At a public dinner given in honor 

 of a French actress, Baron Magnus, the Ger- 

 man ambassador, proposed a toast to France 

 in terms complimentary to the actress. The 

 actress replied in a speech, at the close of which 

 she expressed a hope that the toast of the Ger- 

 man Minister had been to the whole of France 

 including Alsace-Lorraine. TheDanish mem- 

 bers of the party cheered this remark, and the 

 actress responded to the cheers by intoning the 

 "Tapfere Landsoldat," the well-known war- 

 song of 1863. A member of the French lega- 

 tion then spoke of the intimate relations which 

 formerly existed bet ween Denmark and France, 

 and was also greeted with cheers. At this mo- 

 ment the Danish gentleman who presided at 

 the banquet thought it was time to rise from 



the table. Prince Bismarck was said to be 

 much vexed at the affair, and Baron Magnus 

 was given a leave of absence on account of it. 



The credentials of Nagaska Meringoshi, as 

 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipoten- 

 tiary of the Japanese Government to the Danish 

 court, were received in November. 



The project of law relative to the purchase 

 of the railways of Zealand by the state was 

 adopted by the Chambers in July. 



A meeting of merchants was held at the 

 exchange at Copenhagen in the first week of 

 July to consider what steps could be taken for 

 the protection of Danish commerce against the 

 consequences of the changes that were being 

 made in the German customs duties, and of the 

 proposed withdrawal from Hamburg of the 

 privileges of a free port. Among the measures 

 discussed were, the reduction of certain duties, 

 the abolition of harbor dues, and the formation 

 of a treaty with France. A commission was 

 appointed to make definite proposals. 



A formal meeting of the Rigsdag was called 

 and opened October 4th, but was immediately 

 prorogued till November 9th, the time for the 

 opening of the regular session. At the open- 

 ing of the Folkething on the latter day, it was 

 announced that the estimates of the budget, 

 which were balanced at 50,000,000 crowns, 

 showed an estimated increase in the revenues 

 of 2,750,000 crowns, and in the expenditure of 

 5,500,000 crowns as compared with the previ- 

 ous year, the additional outlay being due to 

 the purchase of the railways of Zealand by the 

 state, and the carrying into effect of the new 

 military law. 



DEPHOSPHORIZATION OF IRON. A 

 process for eliminating the phosphorus of 

 iron while being converted into steel in the 

 Bessemer retort or the Siemens furnace, thus 

 admitting a large class of ores in the manufac- 

 ture of soft steel, notably many Cleveland and 

 German ores, which were before unworkable, 

 is the joint invention of two young English- 

 men, Sidney Thomas and Sidney Gilchrist, the 

 one a practical chemist, the other an amateur 

 student of metallurgy, who were efficiently 

 aided in the development of their idea by 

 Windsor Richards, a well-known English met- 

 allurgist, the superintendent of works be- 

 longing to Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. The 

 inventors were first permitted to experiment 

 in the smaller establishment of that house at 

 Blaenavon; then Mr. Richards tested it at 

 Eston, and devoted much time and study to 

 perfecting it, finally putting it in practice with 

 a full plant at the same firm's Cleveland Steel 

 Works. The process has been brought to a 

 point where it can be commercially applied, 

 although by the removal of some remaining 

 difficulties it will prove much more profitable. 

 The metallurgists of Germany, where there 

 are large quantities of phosphoric ore, have 

 done much to improve the process, and are now 

 employing it on a large scale. It is called the 

 basic process, and is characterized by replacing 



