582 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1795- 



No. 32. Another specimen of ditto 7.787 No. 34. Another specimen of ditto 7.450 



No. 33. Common hammered iron 7.tiOO No. 35. Cast or brittle iron re-melted* ..7.012 



^ 3. Effects of fire. — Until the substance was marie red hot I could not 

 scarcely make any impression with a hammer; nor could it be cut through by a 

 chizzel, or wedge, till it was ignited to be of a pale red colour. It had then 

 the peculiar smell of iron; and was then malleable, but much more liable to be 

 cracked and fractured by the hammer than common steel; or than, I think, 

 even cast steel. Small and thin pieces are perhaps malleable at lower degrees of 

 fire, but very slowly, and not without great care and management. That in- 

 genious artist, Mr. Stodart, forged a piece of wootz, at the desire of the Pre- 

 sident, for a penknife, at the temperature of ignition in the dark. It received 

 the requisite temper -{-. The edge was as fine, and cut as well as the best steel 

 knife. Notwithstanding the difficulty and labour in forging, Mr. Stodart from 

 this trial was of opinion, that wootz is superior for many purposes to any steel 

 used in this country. He thought it would carry a finer, stronger, and more 

 durable edge, and point. Hence it might be particularly valuable for lancets, 

 and other chirurgical instruments. 



Mr. More got a piece of wootz beat into a thin plate: in this state the texture 

 did not seem to be uniform, but appeared to be of diflFerent degrees of hardness 

 or kinds. A large piece also was forged into a thick bar for Sir Thomas Frank- 

 land, (a) The pieces which had been cut in the ignited state above-mentioned 

 had smooth surfaces, with a few small cavities, (b) The substance made white 

 hot, by the forge, had the glassy smooth surface of iron, in what is termed the 

 welding, or the welling + state. On striking it gently under the hammer, it 

 was cracked in many places: and by a hard blow it was broken into a number of 

 small pieces, as crude iron and cast steel are at this degree of ignition, (c) The 

 surfaces of fractured pieces (§ 3. b) were black and ragged, or, as it is termed, 

 had no grain. Two or 3 pieces indeed had yellow and reddish spots; but these 

 were merely tinges from the fire, and disappeared on applying a few drops of 

 muriatic acid. 



(d) The pieces (^ 3. c) when cold were readily broken. Some of the frac- 

 tures exhibited a bright silvery foliated grain, of seemingly an homogeneous sub- 

 stance, as frequently appears on breaking steel which has been quenched, when 

 white hot, in cold water; and as also appears on breaking steel and crude iron 

 which have been repeatedly ignited and cooled gradually ; but many of the frac- 

 tures of the small pieces were gray and close grained, (e) A piece of the sub- 



* Bergman states the specific gravities of steel and iron .is follows: steel 7.643. Ditto 7.775. 

 Ditto 7.727'. Ditto 7.784. Ditto indurated 7. 6y3. Wrought iron 7-758. Ditto 7.829. — Orig. 



t " At the temperature of 450° of Fahrenheit's scale." — Mr. Stodart's letter to the President."— 

 Orig. \ This term being from the German word wellen, — Orig. 



