V. NEW MINERAL DISCOVERIES IN NOVA SCOTIA. BY EDWIN 

 GILPIN, JR., A. M., LL. D., F. R. S. C., Inspector of 

 Mines, Halifax, N. S. 



(Read 13th March, 1899.) 



The early operations in mining, metallurgy, engineering, etc., 

 were much more simple than those of the present day. They 

 were based of course upon the same general principles that 

 underlie them to-day. The difference, however, in exactness and 

 precision have permitted of vastly greater and cheaper pro- 

 ductions. In smelting iron ore, for instance, the composition, 

 weight, and relative proportions of the fluxes, fuels, and ores, are 

 calculated to a nicety, so that the analysis and composition of 

 the resulting pig iron can be safely predicted. The direct out- 

 come of the application of exactness is the opportunity for 

 increasing and cheapening productions. The day of the rule of 

 thumb has passed in iron making as well as in other metallur- 

 gical processes. 



In this Province we are to some extent interested in iron 

 ore, but at present the adaptability of our coals for coke making 

 is a subject of much enquiry. For many years coal was made 

 into coke by burning off its volatile ingredients in round ovens, 

 resembling bee hives, with more or less admission of air. The 

 matter driven off somewhat resembled in composition the gas 

 made in gas works, and contained a large amount of combus- 

 tible matter. The illuminating gas made in gas works was 

 produced from retorts into which no air was admitted during 

 the operation of heating. The problem was the production of 

 coke in ovens, on a large scale, equal to that used in the blast 

 furnace, and at the same time to secure the largest amount of gas, 

 or volatile matter, from the coking coal, with as little deteriora- 

 tion as possible from the admission of the nitrogen bearing 

 atmosphere. 



(79) 



