520 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



METALLURGY. 



tent to act as attorney s-at-1 aw ; that although the 

 word " citizen," used in its most common and com- 



Kehensive sense, included women, yet the Legislature 

 the statute under consideration was not presumed 

 to intend to use it as including women, because such 

 construction would reverse the policy of its predeces- 

 sors and introduce a fundamental change in long-estab- 

 lished principles of law. These considerations, which 

 were controlling in that case, have no application to 

 the question before us. The statute of 1879 does not, 

 upon the construction we give it, introduce any new 

 policy or make any change in established principles 

 of law. On the contrary, it is in accordance with the 

 policy established by former legislation. 



We are of opinion that, under the provisions of the 

 second section of chapter 291 of the acts of 1879, it was 

 competent for the Governor , with the advice and con- 

 sent of the Council, to appoint a woman as a member 

 of the State " Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity." 

 This being so. the effect of the first section of chapter 

 79 of the .Public Statutes undoubtedly was to confirm 

 and continue in office the members of the board dur- 

 ing the terms for which they were appointed. 



Party Conventions. The Republican State Con- 

 vention met in Worcester on the 19th of Sep- 

 tember, and nominated the following ticket : 

 For Governor, George D. Robinson ; Lieu ten- 

 ant- Governor, Oliver Ames; Secretary of State, 

 Henry B. Pierce ; Treasurer, Daniel A. Glea- 

 son ; Attorney-General, Edgar J. Sherman ; 

 Auditor, Charles R. Ladd. 



The Prohibitory State Convention met in 

 Boston on the 20th of September, and nomi- 

 nated the following ticket : For Governor, 

 Charles Almy, of New Bedford ; Lieutenant- 

 Governor, John Blackmer, of Springfield ; Sec- 

 retary of State, Solomon F. Root, of Barre ; 

 Treasurer and Receiver-General, Thomas J. 

 Lothrop, of Taunton ; Auditor, Jonathan Buck, 

 of Gloucester ; Attorney-General, Samuel M. 

 Fairfield, of Maiden. 



The Democratic State Convention met in 

 Springfield on the 25th of September, and 

 nominated the following ticket: For Governor, 

 Benjamin F. Butler, of Lowell ; Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Frederick O. Prince, of Boston; 

 Secretary of State, Charles Marsh, of Spring- 

 field ; Auditor, John Hopkins, of Millbury ; 

 Treasurer, C. H. Ingalls, of North Adams ; At- 

 torney-General, J. W. Cummings, of Fall river. 



Mr. Prince declined, as did also Samuel A. 

 B. Abbott, of Boston, substituted by the State 

 Committee, which finally placed James S. Grin- 

 nell, of Springfield, in nomination. 



On the same day the Greenback-Labor party 

 held its State Convention in Boston, and nomi- 

 nated the following ticket : For Governor, Ben- 

 jamin F. Butler; f or Lieutenant-Governor, John 

 Howes, of Worcester; for Secretary of State, 

 Nicholas Furlong, of Boston; for Treasurer 

 and Receiver-General, Wilbur F. Whitney, of 

 Ashburnbam; for Auditor, A. H. Wood, of 

 Lunenburg; for Attorney-General, George Fos- 

 ter, of Lynn. 



N. S. Gushing, of Middlebord', was after- 

 ward substituted for Mr. Howes, and Hiram 

 W. K. Eastman, of Lawrence, for Mr. Whitney. 



Election Returns. At the election in Novem- 

 ber, the Republican ticket received a majority. 

 The following is the vote for Governor : George 



D. Robinson, of Chicopee, 160,092; Benjamin 

 F. Butler, of Lowell, 150,228 ; Charles Aliny, 

 of New Bedford, 1,881. 



Of the 8 members of the Executive Council, 5 

 are Republicans and 3 are Democrats. 



In the Senate there are 25 Republicans, 14 

 Democrats, and 1 Independent Democrat. 



In the House there are 137 Republicans, 92 

 Democrats, 3 Greenbackers, 6 Independents, 1 

 Independent Republican, and 1 Independent 

 Democrat. 



METALLURGY. Iron and Steel. A new con- 

 tinuous direct process for the dephosphoriza- 

 tion of iron in a charcoal-furnace is described 

 by Prof. Sarnstrom as having been experiment- 

 ally tried at Nyhammar, in Sweden, with satis- 

 factory results. The old Osmund or Catalan 

 process, formerly used in Sweden to produce 

 excellent iron, was intermittent and expensive, 

 involving a large waste of fuel, and had to give 

 way to blast processes. These, being adapted 

 only to ores weak in phosphorus, precluded 

 the use of a large proportion of the magnetic 

 ores of Sweden. It is clear that if the process 

 of conversion takes place in a shaft, as in a 

 blast-furnace, without the temperature becom- 

 ing so great as to effect any coalescence or 

 complete smelting, and the mass is, at this 

 stage, transferred in a convenient manner to 

 a hearth where the further process of fusing 

 the iron particles can take place, the process 

 will at once become continuous and direct, 

 and will have the advantages of saving fuel 

 and removing impurities in the bloom at the 

 same time. The furnace can be kept closed 

 during the operation, so that the reduction by 

 hot carbonic oxide may proceed continuously. 

 The furnace at Nyhammar consists of a reduc- 

 tion-shaft connected with the hearths by small 

 culverts. These hearths can be closed, having 

 heavy dampers so balanced as to be easily 

 raised and lowered, with holes in their lower 

 part, by which the gases generated by the fuel 

 may pass through the shaft and thus act the 

 part of gas in an ordinary blast-furnace. Char- 

 coal and iron are charged in the shaft of the 

 furnace in proper proportions. The ore will 

 then, as it settles in the shaft, be subjected to 

 the same process of conversion as in the ordi- 

 nary reduction-zone of a blast-furnace. When 

 it is desired to transfer the spongy iron to an- 

 other hearth, the raking-down, which is kept up 

 for the purpose of having the furnace always 

 well filled with charcoal and iron until the 

 smelting is nearly effected, is stopped ; a hook 

 is passed through the upper holes of the damp- 

 ers of the culvert through which the raking- 

 down is performed, and the bloom is allowed 

 to go down into the hearth. It may then 

 be easily broken up when one of the damp- 

 ers is opened. One fire-place should always 

 be kept charged during the operation, so as 

 to maintain a gas pressure in the furnace 

 constantly higher than the pressure of air 

 from without, in order to prevent all suc- 

 tion of air through the open hearth. As soon 



