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S T E 



our own language in the adjective 

 chalybeate.) Iron combined with 

 carbon. The proportion of carbon 

 has, perhaps, never been accurately 

 ascertained ; but steel containing 

 one-sixtieth of its mass of carbon 

 is said to have the maximum degree 

 of hardness. The following are 

 some of the properties of steel: 

 It is so hard as to be unmalleable 

 when cold ; it is brittle, resists the 

 file, cuts glass, affords sparks with 

 flints, and retains the magnetic 

 virtue for an indefinite length of 

 time. By being ignited, and after- 

 wards slowly cooled, it loses its 

 hardness. It fuses at 130 Wedge- 

 wood. When red-hot it is malle- 

 able. It is more sonorous than 

 iron, and may be hammered out 

 into much thinner plates. The 

 conversion of iron into steel is 

 effected by combining it with 

 carbon. This combination is per- 

 formed in three ways, by three 

 different processes, and the products 

 are distinguished by the names of 

 natural steely steel of cementation, 

 and cast-steel. Of these, the most 

 valuable is cast-steel, its texture 

 being the most compact, and it 

 admitting of the finest polish. The 

 manufacture of articles of steel, 

 says Mr. Babbage, affords a most 

 striking example of the value con- 

 ferred by human labour on the raw 

 produce of nature. The value of a 

 pound of crude iron is twopence. 

 This pound of iron, after having 

 been converted into steel, is manu- 

 factured into balance-springs for 

 watches. One of these springs 

 weighs ^ of a grain and sells for 

 twopence. After deducting for 

 waste, a pound of iron will make 

 fifty thousand springs, and the 

 twopennyworth of iron becomes 

 worth 416 13s. The value of 

 the charcoal is too minute to be 

 taken into the calculation. 

 STEL'NIIEILITE. A variety of iolite, a 

 mineral of a blue colour. 



STE'LLA MARI'NA. The name employed 

 by Linck, on the authority of 

 Pliny, to signify the asteria or 

 star -fish. 



STE'LLATED. (from stetta, Lat. a star.) 

 Having the fibres diverging all 

 round a common centre. 



STELLE'RID-E. The name assigned by 

 Lamarck to the Linnsean genus 

 Asteria; of this genus Lamarck 

 has formed a family comprehending 

 four genera. 



STELLE'EIDAN. An animal resembling 

 an asteria. Fossil stelleridans have 

 not been discovered in strata more 

 ancient than the muschel-kalk. 



STE'LLITE. A fossil asteria or star- 

 fish. 



STELLI'FE-ROUS. (from stella, a star, 

 and fero, to bear, Lat.) Having 

 stars, as some of the corallines. 



STE'LLULAE. Having markings re- 

 sembling stars. The surface of the 

 tubipora, or organ-pipe coral, is 

 covered with a green fleshy sub- 

 stance, studded with stellular polypi. 



STENEOSAU'ETJS. A genus of fossil 

 Saurians, with long and narrow 

 beaks ; thus named by M. Geoffrey 

 St. Hilaire. In the Steneosaurus 

 the arrangement of the nostrils was 

 nearly the same as in the gavial, 

 opening upwards, and of nearly a 

 semicircular form on either side. 



STE'ENAL. (from sternum, the breast- 

 bone.) Pertaining to the sternum 

 or breast-bone. 



STE'ENUM. (<rrepvov, Gr. sternum, 

 Lat.) The breast-bone. In the 

 human subject the sternum is di- 

 vided into three parts; in some 

 vertebrated animals it is formed of 

 nine elementary species, each pro- 

 ceeding from a separate centre of 

 ossification. "Few subjects in 

 comparative osteology," says Dr. 

 Roget, " are more curious and in- 

 structive than to trace the develop- 

 ment of these several elementary 

 parts in the different classes of 

 animals, from the rudimental states 

 of this bone as it occurs in fishes, 

 2 H 



