Steel Magnetism. 24$ - 



It may be cast in moulds, it may be made soft, like 

 common iron, or hardened in a moment almost like 

 the diamond. And between these extremes, any 

 >f hardness can be secured that the workman 

 lie can divide the bar, and from one por- 

 tion make a blade that shall cut the other part as 

 though it were wax. He can obtain from it the 

 most brilliant surface and the keenest edge ; he can 

 form the strongest links, and the most delicate 

 springs, that, fine as a thread, for a whole lifetime 

 shall never tire in controlling the delicate balance 

 of the watch. 



All these diverse properties in rast and wrought- 

 iron, and in steel, fit this metal to become the great 

 instrument of progress in the hands of man, but it 

 is great to him only as he is an intellectual being. 

 Its properties are developed, and its uses discovered, 

 as in his advancing civili/ation he feels conscious of 

 new wants. There are in iron, unbounded possibili- 

 But it is to all creatures on the globe, except 

 to man, like the sand or rocks that make the soil. 



I must not omit to mention the magnetic power of 

 iron and its relation to electricity. One of its ores is 

 the loadstone, which was for ages a me e curiosity or 

 wonder to men in early days of science. But in that 

 curious mineral was the latent power, that in the hands 

 of man was to give him the magnetic needle, and in 

 wider application, the magnetic telegraph. The 

 needle of steel, touched with this mysterious stone, 

 thenceforth became a guide to the manner upon the 

 deep, when storms and clouds shut out the friendly 



