Polytechnic Association. 745 



admirably furnished with coal, so conveniently communicating with 

 the gulf, will be of infinitely more consequence to us for its iron than 

 it has ever been for its cotton. There is the foundation for an 

 industry and a prosperity which no curse of slavery, no rebellion, no 

 interference with commercial laws can ever overturn. 



One word about the applicability of the ores. As I have said, 

 they all contain phosphorus. The quantity is too great to permit its 

 being made into steel by any known process. It is useless to talk 

 about its producing steel. It is hard because it contains phosphorus ; 

 and what is bad iron can hardly be good steel. It is fitted admirably 

 for the face of rails, and for bar iron generally. By mixture we can 

 make these cold-short irons neutral. I think this will be a region of 

 coke-made iron on a scale grander than has ever been witnessed on 

 the inhabitable globe. The present production in the Cleveland 

 region, where in 1853 there was not a furnace, is now two millions 

 of tons ; and very soon it will be four millions. The production here 

 will far exceed that. 



The difficulty in the south at present is the want of a market from 

 the incomplete state of the lines of railway which are now extend- 

 ing in all, directions, and which will soon connect this region not 

 only with the north, but with the gulf. 



These remarks apply to the region of east Tennessee with equal 

 force as to Alabama. In conclusion, let me testify to the spirit of 

 perfect frankness with which Mr. Colton has presented this interest- 

 ing subject to the Association, to whose thanks he is justly entitled. 



Adjourned. 



December 29, 1871. 



Prof. S. D. Tillman, in the chair ; Mr. Robert Weir, Secretary. 

 The President read the following scientific notes : 



I. Apparent Volatilization of Silicon and Boron. 

 Messrs. Troots and Hautefeuille have presented a memoir to the 

 French Academy of Sciences, containing an account of experiments 

 made with pure silicon and boron, each by itself, placed in porcelain 

 tubes, kept at a very high temperature (in a slow current of dry and 

 pure hydrogen gas), and the reaction which ensues by the admission 

 into the tube of flouride of silicon, chloride of silicon and flouride 

 of boron. Silicon is, under these conditions, apparently volatilized, 



