JVbb0t0b:ur|) Iron 



By Mr. T. B. GROVES, P.C.S. (of Weymouth.) 



HE elementary substance, Iron, is one of the most 

 widely distributed of bodies, but it only rarely 

 occurs in Nature in the metallic form, and never 

 in a state of purity. Mankind in comparatively 

 early times recognised its superiority over alloys 

 of copper in the manufacture of weapons and tools, 

 but it was not till civilisation had made some progress that iron 

 ores, comparatively so refractory, could be reduced to the metallic 

 state and made to do useful service. As ores of iron more or less 

 rich occur in almost every geological formation, so their composition 

 varies almost as greatly as their situation. But for practical 

 purposes all iron ores may be divided into the proto-carbonates 

 and the peroxides, the former of which would, if pure, contain 

 about 48 per cent., the latter 70 per cent., of metallic iron. This 

 condition of purity is never realised in Nature, though some 

 specimens of crystalline haematite come very near it. These 

 forms, however, may be regarded rather as curiosities than useful 

 sources of metallic wealth. The substances contaminating the 

 ores are either basic or acid. Of the former class manganese, 

 alumina, magnesia, and lime are of frequent occurrence ; of the 

 latter silicic, carbonic, phosphoric acids, with sulphur in some 



