December 29, 1892] 



NA TURE 



197 



The poorer ore of Cleveland consumes 348 cwt. of 

 coke, as against only 1-42 cwt. in the richer ore used at 

 Pittsburg for the future of the slag. 



The quantity of slag determines the fuel required for 

 its consumption, and here is the chief difference in the 

 amount of fuel required, amounting to 206 cwts. The 

 Clarence furnace consumed I9"99 cwt. of coke per ton of 

 iron ; the Pittsburg furnace consumed 16 80, difference 

 3 '19, and deducting 2'o6 from I9"99 cwt. = 17 '93, show- 

 ing an excess of ri3 against the English furnace. This 

 is practically the only margin we have for economy in 

 the other sources of waste tabulated in Sir L. Bell's 

 comparison of heat distribution. 



A positive saving is effected of only ri3 cwt., and 

 reasons are given showing that, all things considered, this 

 may be counterbalanced by the increased expenses in- 

 curred in American practice. As instance pp. 172-174 

 there are now four furnaces in action at the Clarence 

 works performing duty well after 17^ years' service, as 

 against the hard-driven furnaces in America with lining 

 worn out, and useless in one-sixth of the period. 



The limitation is well defined in the following words, 

 pp. 182-183: — 



" As one who has been fifty years at blast furnaces, 

 I am greatly impressed with the pitch of excellence 

 to which the Americans have brought this useful in- 

 vention. 



" While saying so much I have not in my mind the 

 enormous makes. 



"In respect to this we must remember that neither in 

 materials nor in labour can we look for any economy in 

 this country. 



" On the subject of large makes I must admit that I 

 failed to shake the belief of my friend, Mr. E. C. Patter, 

 that there is a great advantage in tasking the endurance 

 of the furnace to the extent of reducing it to a wreck 

 about every three years. 



" I cannot say I am quite a convert to his creed, but 

 recent experience, and the unswerving conviction of my 

 American friends, have raised in my mind the disposition 

 to make a trial of Cleveland ironstone, on what I have 

 thought a questionable mode of action." 



The question of heat intensity, or actual temperature, 

 which must vary with the rate at which the fuel or coke 

 is consumed, has not been mooted, and we admit there is 

 no positive reason why it should. 



Yet it is evident that a certain fuel — coke, for instance 

 — may be so burnt as only to give a heat intensity barely 

 sufficing for the fusion of lead. On the other hand, it 

 may be so manipulated, i.e. rapidly consumed by a 

 quick draught or forced blast "as to attain a heat 

 intensity (temperature) sufficing for the fusion of pig 

 iron." 



Working with high pressure blast and driving in a 

 large volume of air (87-15 cwts. Clarence, as against 71-20 

 cwts. Pittsburg, see p. 172), the heat intensity must be 

 greater in the latter instance, and must, " according to 

 the law of heat exchanges," result in the more rapid 

 economic fusion of iron in the hearth, also intensifying the 

 ? usual chemical reactions. This seems worth considera- 

 tion ; temperature is an important factor— in saying this 

 it must not be inferred that the estimation of the calorics 

 which a given fuel evolves, and their distribution, must be 

 NO. 1209, VOL. 47] 



set aside ; on the contrary, they remain the fundamental 

 basis of any study bearing on the economic uses of fuel. 

 Finally, one gathers on the whole that American practice 

 is not universally superior to ours, and competent 

 authorities areas a rule inclined to a compromise. In 

 other words we might graft or partially adapt their practice 

 to ours, so reaping the benefits of both ; for something 

 may be urged in favour of either system. 



John Parry. 



I A COUNTY FAUNA. 



j The Fauna and Flora of Gloucestershire. By Charles 

 A. Witchell and W. Bishop Strugnell. (Stroud : 

 James, 1892.) 

 T T would really be almost difficult to discuss this book 

 ;( J ous spirit were it not that the publication of so 

 ambitious a work as the Natural History of a County 

 must always be regarded as a serious undertaking. The 

 reader who has struggled through the volume will lay it 

 down with a sigh —not of regret at leaving it, but at the 

 thought that time has been wasted in its compilation. 



A glance at the index is almost enough to condemn the 

 book, without making any attempt at further acquaint- 

 ance. Among nearly a score of errors in spelling, 

 subuteo, oesalon, tinninculus, occur as three consecutive 

 words. Nor is this carelessness by any means confined 

 to the index. Such blemishes disfigure the book from 

 beginning to end ; and when, among a host of errors, we 

 find such mistakes as haliotidce and helliborus, we 

 can hardly ascribe all the blame to the printer. The 

 compilers usually give us " Cotteswold," but in the 

 introduction the name is spelt " Cotswold," and there 

 are pages on which both forms occur — in one case only 

 a line apart. 



A more serious fault is the want of balance in the 

 work. The space allotted to birds occupies eighty-two 

 pages, while the chapter on ants takes up nearly twenty, 

 and that on wasps and bees close upon fifty pages. We 

 may say at once that the two latter are so good, and 

 stand out in such marked contrast to the rest of the work 

 that, in spite of their disproportionate length, we hardly 

 grudge a line of the room they occupy. Perhaps, how- 

 ever, it is the length of these papers which makes one of 

 the writers on mosses omit " many other interesting 

 species," for want of space. Another contributor calls 

 his list of fungi "short and very imperfect." If the 

 list is as complete as it is possible to make it, no one 

 can fairly complain of its shortness ; but surely it is 

 scarcely worth while to print an avowedly imperfect list 

 in what professes to be a County Flora. 



The fauna opens with a brief account of the bats, a 

 mere list of names, among which we look in vain for any 

 evidence of observation. The notices of the quadrupeds 

 contain some interesting particulars, but they present 

 little that is new. In the article on the badger a good 

 deal of information is given on the authority of a gentle- 

 man who appears to think no observations but his own 

 are worthy of credence. One of his own observations is 

 thus worded : "Any one who has caught badgers at night 

 knows only too well that it is certain death to a dog 



