METALS. 



539 



western History," a prose volume for which 

 his profound interest in the subject and the 

 researches of early years furnished him abun- 

 dant materials, which were clothed with all 

 the beauties of his diction and the graces of 

 his poetic pen. These works attained a wide- 

 spread reputation at home and abroad, being 

 ( highly lauded by the English press. His next 

 undertaking was a " History of Alabama," for 

 which he was arranging and compiling the 

 abundant materials at his disposal, but unfor- 

 tunately the hand of death prevented the com- 

 pletion of his greatest work, and the his- 

 toric annals of his State have suffered an irre- 

 parable loss. The personal appearance of 

 Judge Meek was very striking, and would 

 arrest attention in any concourse. Rising to 

 the commanding height of six feet four inches, 

 he towered above the heads of common men, 

 and it was a favorite jest among his friends that 

 although " Meek, he was by no means lowly." 

 His eyes were blue, his complexion florid, his 

 forehead high and massive, features good, and 

 when lit up by his genial smile, remarkably 

 attractive. His conversational powers were 

 brilliant, his fund of anecdote exhaustless, his 

 wit free and flashing, and his knowledge of 

 men and manners and literature thorough. 

 Judge Meek was an accomplished and skilful 

 chess-player, and achieved much distinction in 

 competition with some of the most eminent 

 chess-players both in this country and in 

 Europe. 



METALS, SOME POINTS IK THE WOBKIXG OF. 

 Iron of Remarkable Purity. Dr. Stahlschmidt 

 has obtained with better success than other 

 chemists the nitride of iron, by means of passing 

 ammoniacal gas through a tube heated to duS 

 redness, and containing the sublimed protochlo- 

 ride of that metal. Among the products of the 

 reaction is the new nitride, NFe 4 , which remains 

 in the tube. 



By decomposing with hydrogen the compound 

 named, the author succeeded in separating iron 

 in a state of very remarkable purity. He de- 

 scribes the metal in this condition as " of a sil- 

 ver-white color, extraordinarily ductile, and so 

 soft that it may with ease be cut with a knife. 

 It oxidizes in the air as readily as ordinary iron, 

 and in moist air more readily. It possesses the 

 property of condensing water on its surface 

 when in contact with atmospheric air." Itg 

 specific gravity is as low as 6.03. It dissolves 

 in acids without leaving the slightest residue ; 

 and it appears to be purer than any iron ob- 

 tained by any other method. 



Exceedingly Hard Iron. Some years ago, 

 M. Gaudin found that by heating iron, tolerably 

 free from carbon, with a small quantity of 

 boron and to a very high temperature, he ob- 

 tained a product which could not be forged, but 

 which possessed extraordinary hardness. He 

 has now found that an equally hard iron may 

 be produced by adding to ordinary cast-iron in 

 fusicn some phosphate of iron and peroxide of 

 manganese. The product cannot be forged, 



but it casts easily ; and it is therefore applica- 

 ble to the construction of such machines or 

 parts of them as require extreme hardness, 

 rather than tenacity. The metal so produced 

 is, moreover, singularly sonorous ; and M. Gau- 

 din has proposed it as a material for bells. 



Cant-Iron and Steel hardened with Tungsten. 

 M. Gaudin finds that a metal still harder 

 than that just referred to, is produced by ad- 

 dition of tungsten to the materials for cast- 

 iron. He states that, as a material for cutting 

 rocks, this tungsten iron surpasses every thing 

 previously known ; and that crystals of it "will 

 cut glass as readily as the diamond. 



A statement appears in the Mechanics' Maga- 

 zine, September 8, 1865, to the effect that the 

 tungsten steel so much talked of a few years 

 since, and in* the processes for which Mr. Mushet 

 especially was largely interested (see IRON and 

 STEEL, CYCLOPAEDIA, 1863), proves to have no 

 sufficient superiority in value to warrant its 

 production. M. Le Guen, however, in a note to 

 the French Academy, so late as November 7, 

 1864, reasserts as the result of his experiments 

 that the addition of tungsten to steel, up to 2 

 per cent., greatly increases its tenacity ; though 

 the effect is less when the iron is cemented with, 

 wood charcoal than when with coke. 



In regard to the beneficial effects of the addi- 

 tion of tungsten to cast-iron, greater unanimity 

 of opinion exists; and on this point M. Le 

 Guen still maintains his former views. He 

 states that results of experiments lately made 

 at the Marine Foundry at Nevers go to show 

 that cast-iron has its tenacity improved to the 

 extent of about one-sixth by the addition of 2 

 per cent, of tungsten. As the metal itself haja 

 not been hitherto available in sufficient quanti- 

 ties, the addition is made in form of the min- 

 eral wolfram. 



Economical Production of Metallic Tungsten. 

 Up to the present time, tungsten had been 

 isolated only in small quantities, or in form of a 

 highly infusible powder, or otherwise \insuita- 

 ble for use. It is now stated that a Swedish 

 metallurgist has discovered a method of reduc- 

 ing tungsten, by which he obtains it at once in 

 the state of fusion, and that ingots of the pure 

 metal, weighing several pounds, have been on 

 exhibition at Stockholm. As obtained by the 

 new process, tungsten does not cost more than 

 a few shillings per pound. If really obtainable 

 so cheaply, and providing also it can be work- 

 ed, a metal of so great density, and which 

 bears exposure to so intense heat without un- 

 dergoing fusion, is almost sure to prove of 

 very great value in certain of the arts. While 

 the specific gravity of platinum is 21.5, and that 

 of gold about 19.4, that of tungsten is not less 

 than 17.5 ; so that this last takes rank among 

 the heaviest known metals. 



Iron from Titaniferous Ores. The tnetal re- 

 cently obtained at West Bromwich and else- 

 where, England, by the smelting of a titaniferoua 

 iron-sand brought from New Zealand, is spoken 

 of as an " almost unprecedented^ fine quality of 



