I R O 



C 133 ] 



I R O 



it for the endless uses to which it is 

 applied. Man has only to purify gold, 

 silver, &c. but he has, as it were, to 

 create iron. It does not appear to have 

 been known so early, or wrought so easily, 

 as gold., silver, and copper. For its dis- 

 covery we must have recourse to the 

 nations of the East. The writings of 

 Moses furnish us with the most ample 

 proof at how early a period it was known 

 in Egypt and Phoenicia. He mentions 

 furnaces for working iron, " and brought 

 you out of the iron furnace ;" the ores 

 from which iron was extracted, " a land 

 whose stones are iron ;" and he states 

 that swords, knives, axes, and tools for 

 cutting stones, were at that time made of 

 iron, " and if he smite him with an in- 

 strument of iron, so that he die, he is a 

 murderer," "and his hand fetcheth a 

 stroke with the axe to cut down the 

 tree," " thou shalt not lift up any iron 

 tool upon them." The knowledge of 

 iron was brought over from Phrygia to 

 Greece by the Dactyli, according to He- 

 siod, as quoted by Pliny, who settled in 

 Crete during the reign of Minos I. about 

 1431 years before Christ. It would ap- 

 pear that a knowledge of iron obtained 

 even before the deluge, for in Genesis we 

 read " And Zillah, she also bare Tubal- 

 Cain, an instructor of every artificer in 

 brass and iron." 



Iron forms a constituent part of many 

 animal and vegetable substances ; it enters 

 into the composition of the blood ; and 

 the various shades of hue of some of the 

 most delicate flowers are more or less 

 owing to its presence. 



Iron is of a bluish-white colour, and 

 when polished, has a considerable degree 

 of brilliancy. It has a styptic taste, and 

 emits a smell when rubbed. Its specific 

 gravity is 7' 7 7. 



Iron is placed the eighth in order, as 

 regards its malleability, possessing this 

 quality in a less degree than gold, silver, 

 copper, tin, platinum, lead, and zinc. In 

 ductility it ranks fourth, being inferior 

 only to gold, silver, and platinum, and it 

 may be drawn out into wire as fine as a 

 human hair. In tenacity it ranks first, 

 an iron wire one-twelfth of an inch in 

 diameter being capable of supporting 995 

 pounds without breaking. Iron is fusible 

 at a temperature of 1797 Fahr. 



Iron is found native, and is generally 

 considered to be of meteoric origin, being 

 alloyed with nickel and other metals ; 

 these masses are called meteoric iron, 

 and it certainly appears that they have 

 fallen from the atmosphere. A mass was 

 discovered in Siberia by Prof. Pallas, weigh- 

 ing 1680 Ibs. A mass discovered in Bahia, 

 in Brazil, is estimated to weigh 14,000 Ibs. 



A singular structure is frequently ob- 

 served in the argillaceous iron ores of 

 coal districts. The substance of the iron 

 ore is formed into conical sheaths, in- 

 volving one another, and marked by con- 

 centric undulations and radiating stria?. 

 Large spheroidal masses of iron ore, 

 weighing at least a ton, are thus found, 

 in connexion with the coal, at Ingleton, 

 in Yorkshire ; and in the coal fields of 

 Staffordshire and South Wales, it is a 

 well known form of aggregation. 



The quantity of iron manufactured in 

 Great Britain is enormous ; in the year 

 1827 it was calculated at 690,000 tons ; 

 nearly one-half of which, or 296,000 

 tons, was manufactured in Wales, and 

 upwards of 200,000 in Staffordshire. 

 For the manufacturing of this immense 

 quantity, three millions seven hundred 

 and ninety-five thousand tons of coals 

 would be required. 



In a supplementary note to Professor 

 Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise, it is 

 stated, " Ehrenberg has ascertained that 

 a soft yellow ochreous substance, called 

 Raseneisen, which is found in large 

 quantities every spring in marshes about 

 Berlin, covering the bottom of ditches, 

 and in the footsteps of animals, is com- 

 posed of iron secreted by infusorial ani- 

 malcules of the genus Gaillonella. This 

 iron may be separated from the siliceous 

 shields of these animals, which retain 

 their form after the extraction of the iron. 

 I'RONSTONE. A heavy mineral, possessing 

 sometimes a specific gravity of 3*6, and 

 composed chiefly of iron combined with 

 oxygen, carbonic acid, silex, and water, 

 with, in some instances, calcareous earth. 

 When of a superior quality, it will yield 

 upwards of 36 per cent, of iron. Mr. 

 Bakewell observes, "We know nothing, 

 however, certain, respecting the forma- 

 tion of ironstone ; but it appears to have 

 been deposited in fresh water, as it oc- 

 curs in fresh-water strata in the regular 

 coal formation, and in the coal strata 

 of the oolites of Yorkshire, and among 

 the clay and sandstone strata in the 

 wealds of Kent. Few geologists have 

 attempted to explain the formation of 

 ironstone. It may have been a deposi- 

 tion from chalybeate waters, or was r 

 perhaps, the produce of decomposed ve- 

 getation, as bog or peat iron is supposed 

 to have been. If ever we arrive at just 

 conclusions respecting the origin of iron- 

 stone, it must be by an accurate exami- 

 nation of the strata in which it occurs, 

 and the relation of these strata to each 

 other. In the Missouri there is a mass 

 of iron ore 300 feet in height, and five 

 miles in extent, which yields 75 per cent, 

 of fine malleable iron. 



