SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS, F.R.S. 363 



such :IM extent as to make the metal perfectly applicable to the 

 production of steel. The question as to the relative merit of the 

 two modes of doing it was one of expense, and on that subject 

 they were still without sufficient information. Mr. Bell had given 

 rertjiin data which commenced with Cleveland pig metal. He 

 subjected the material to a refining process, and in that operation 

 he used 10 cwt. of oxide of iron to the ton of metal. Now with- 

 out desiring in any way to discourage Mr. Bell and his friends, 

 he thought they would have to modify that process before they 

 could tempt steel manufacturers to use it practically. The 

 employment of 10 cwt. of rich oxide of iron, which could nob be 

 valued at less probably than lUs., would form an item of expense 

 altogether out of proportion to what was now practically admis- 

 sible. Adding to that, the cost of the operation itself, and the 

 fuel used, he thought there would be no margin in favour of using 

 the cheaper Cleveland as compared with the dearer Cumberland 

 metal. But, as Professor Williamson had said, some bases might 

 be found to take the place of oxide of iron ; and Mr. Snelus had 

 brought forward a scheme, which he had been working out, to 

 employ lime for lining. For his own part, he could not look with 

 much favour on that proposal. At his experimental works at 

 Birmingham, he had made an experiment with a lining of that 

 description. The difficulty he found was that the lining was not 

 sufficiently hard to resist the action of the charges. He thought 

 that as much heat was applied as the material could stand, but 

 the limestone employed contained a percentage of magnesia, which 

 rendered it fusible to some extent, and probably prevented satis- 

 factory results from being obtained. With regard to the extent 

 of phosphorus allowable in the steel, he might speak with some 

 confidence, having made a great many experiments, and having 

 seen the results on a large scale in a process of making steel from 

 materials containing a considerable percentage of phosphorus. 

 There was no difficulty, for instance, in converting old iron rails 

 which might be to a great extent Cleveland rails into steel 

 rails of such quality as would satisfy all the mechanical tests that 

 engineers insisted on. The limit he would assign to phosphorus 

 in such a material was j per cent. In increasing the amount of 

 phosphorus in steel beyond per cent., there was great danger of 

 making the steel brittle that was to say, of making it liable to 



