AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 567 



tbe intiocluction of impurities at the time of aggregation of the ores in the 

 common mass, having a predominant and violent affinity for iron. These 

 impurities are such as resist all the remedies applied in the hot blastfurnace 

 and puddle, and adhere to the pig and the bar, rendering them unreliable 

 in uses where the greatest tenacity, durability, resistance, and fineness of 

 texture are required. They baffled the skill of iron masters and tried the 

 patience of blacksmiths, until a recent date, when chemical suggestion or 

 empirical trials or both discovered that the remedy for impure iron was to 

 be found in iron ores themselves. 



To make a complete description of the impurity of iron, and a directory 

 for the application of the remedies, is a task which must be referred to the 

 future laboratory of the American Institute, or of the national school of 

 mines. But even if this good work were done, the owners of the impure 

 iron might not be always ready to apply the remedy. 



The maker of the pillars for the Lawrence factory knew that his custo- 

 mer wanted impure iron. The maker of the rail which broke on the Erie 

 road knew that his customer wanted cheap iron, and, in the trade, cheap is 

 another name for impure iron. The medicine is dear. The diseased iron 

 will fill the contract. 



Every iron of English ore wants the remedial ores of Norway, New 

 York or New Jersey. When the owner of the New Jersey remedial ore 

 offered it to a great iron maker in England, the maker of bad iron replied: 

 "I malkie the worst iron in the world; my father did so before me ; my 

 children will do so after me ; and we get our price for all we can make. 

 Our ores will make none but bad iron. If we mix your rich ores and make 

 good iron, you may fail to supply us, and then our good name may ruin us. 

 We will make bad iron and keep our independence." And so the bad iron 

 of England is laid on our railroads, and paid for in bonds of as little value, 

 while the actual receipts of the road go to pay for broken limbs. 



But the good time of applied science is coming. It is well understood 

 in this country, that no iron maker can succeed without some mixture of 

 the remedial ores with the ores diseased by sulphur, phosphorus and 

 arsenic. 



The ores of the Adirondack and the Hudson river are carried to the 

 furnaces of Pittsburgh. The ruinous cost of accidents is teaching a salu- 

 tary lesson to owners of buildings, engines and railroads. The required 

 strength of iron (for many purposes) is obtained in bolts, beams and sheets, 

 diminished in weight as they rise in quality; and, therefore, the best iron 

 is found to be the most economical at first cost. The clear and decided 

 tendency in this country is towards the improvement of iron, by applying 

 the best ores to cure the defects of the inferior. 



Precisely at this point in the history of iron, and for this specific office 

 ■of curing the defects of inferior iron, the frankliuite has pushed its way 

 anto notice. 



The franklinite ore was deemed intractable until 1852, when it was 

 areduced with anthracite coal at the furnace in Stanhope. From that time 



