410 
NATURE 
5) 
! 3, 
| ALarch 23, 1871 



original investigations. Hewrotea “ Book of Almanacs,” 
with an Index of Reference, by which the Almanac may 
be formed for every year up to A.D. 2000, with means of 
finding the day of the new moon from B.C. 2000 to A.D. 
2000. He was also secretary and member of the Council 
of the Royal Astronomical Society for many years. Heand 
his son, George De Morgan, also a mathematician of great 
promise, whose untimely death will be remembered, took 
the most active part in the foundation of the London 
Mathematical Society, of which he was the first president. 
Prof. De Morgan will be buried on Thursday, the 23rd, 
at Kensal Green, but his memory will long be cherished 
among a large circle of attached and admimng friends. 
ARTHUR C, RANYARD 

PAPERS ON IRON AND STEEL 
1V.—THE BESSEMER PROCESS (continued). 
Si hee magnificent shower of sparks which accompanies 
the turning over of the converter is easily explained. 
The blast has, of course, to be maintained during this 
turning over, until the whole of the melted material is 
clear of the openings through which the blast is forced. 
As these cover a considerable area at the bottom of the 
converter, the edge of the liquid passes them successively, 
and at the moment of thus passing the blast cuts the 
surface of the melted matter almost horizontally. But 
what is this melted matter? It is a pool of iron, on the 
top of which is floating a thick scum of silicate of iron, 
&c.—the “cinder.” I use the term “ silicate of iron” 
only in an approximate sense, as I doubt whether the 
silica is completely oxidised. 
My reasons for doubting it are that the particles which 
are driven out of the converter by the blast are, to some 
extent, explosive, they are seen to burst with brilliant 
coruscations which are partly due to further oxidation ; 
and when the granules which shower upon the floor are 
examined in the microscope, they present a very curious 
appearance. They are minute hollow spherules, miniature 
bomb-shells, varying considerably in diameter from one- 
tenth of an inch to one-fiftieth and less in diameter. 
The largest are more or less broken, commonly of a 
basin shape, shown in Figs 1 and 2.* 
The smaller spherules are for the most part perforated. 
My friend, Mr. Joseph Bragg, who has carefully examined 
these, and to whom I am indebted for the drawings from 
which the engravings are copied, says, “I can hardly 
satisfy myself that any are quite without apertures, though 
some have no distinct round holes as most have, but in 
these cases there are minute openings between and under 
the welded scales or plates which often cover the spherules, 
giving them a rough surface.” Conglomerate groups of 
these spherules, such as are shown in Figs. 3* and 4, are 
very common, and some are attached to irregular lumps 
of cinder, as shown by the right-hand fragment on Fig. 3. 
A few are pear-shaped (see Fig. 4). On the right of these 
pear-shaped specimens are shown some of the smaller 
spherules in which the perforations are less evident. In 
the smallest, as the agglomerated and attached specimens 
(Fig. 3), the perforations are very obscure or doubtful. 
Sir Samuel Baker, in his “ Nile Tributaries of Abys- 
sinia,” describes some natural products due to a similar 
action on a vastly larger scale, viz.,the volcanic eruption of a 
flood of gaseous matter through fused silicates. He says, 
“Rows of broken hills, all of volcanic origin, broke the 
flat plain. Conical tumuli of volcanic slag here and there 
rose to the height of several hundred feet. We entered 
a dead level plain of orange-coloured sand, surrounded by 
pyramidal hills ; the surface was strewn with objects re- 
sembling cannon shot and grape of all sizes, froma 32- 
pounder downwards ; the spot looked like the old battle- 
ey 
Figs 1, 2, and 3 will be found in last week's number of Nature, p. 389 
fields of some infernal region. I dismounted to 
examine the Satanic bombs and cannon shot. Many 
of them were as perfectly round as though cast in a 
mould, others were egg-shaped, and all were hollow. With 
some difficulty I broke them, and found them to contain 
a bright red sand ; they were, in fact, volcanic bombs that 
had been formed by the ejection of molten lava to a great 
height from active volcanoes ; these had become globular 
in falling, and having cooled before they reached the earth, 
they retained their forms as hard spherical bodies precisely 
resembling cannon shot. The exterior was brown, and 
appeared rich in iron. The smaller specimens were the 
more perfect spheres, as they had cooled quickly, but 
many of the heavier masses had evidently reached the 
earth when only half solidified, and had collapsed in 
falling. The sandy plain was covered with such vestiges 
of volcanic action, and the infernal bombs lay as imperish- 
able relics of a hailstorm such as may have destroyed 
Sodom and Gomorrah” To a Lilliputian traveller about 
an inch and a quarter high the floor of a Bessemer shop 
would present about the same aspect as this volcanic plain 
presented to Sir Samuel Baker, and would appear on about 
the same scale relative to the traveller’s own dimensions, 

Fic. 4. 
It may have been remarked that in the above I have 
never used the word “slag,” which in chemical works is 
usually applied to the separated silicate of iron, &c., how- 
ever it may have been separated. | have called it ‘‘ cinder,” 
in accordance with the nomenclature of the workshop, 
for in the use of these terms, slag and cinder, the work- 
shop is more learned than the University, even in the 
matter of etymologies, which occupies so absorbing an 
amount of University attention. 
Whenever the silicate is separated by fusion or the 
direct action of the fire he calls it “cinder,” when it is 
squeezed out from a bloom or pile by the blows of the ham- 
mer he calls it “slag.” Now the Scandinavian name of 
Jire refuse or dross is szzner, the German for the same is 
sinter, The Scandinavian for a blow is s/ag, the German 
schlag. 1 have observed with much interest the constancy 
with which the workman adheres to the strictly etymolo- 
gical signification of these words, while learned writers 
uttey ly confound them. Of course the workmen are unac- 
qua: uted with their origin, nor have I ever seen their dis- 
tinctive etymologies pointed out by anybody else. They 
afford an interesting illustration of the technical continuity 
of modern English with its ancient Scandinavian basis. 
Our metal workers, like our sailors, still speak the strong 
tongue of the old Norseman. There are scientific as well 
as etymological reasons for the distinction between cinder 
and slag, and therefore I adopt the workmen’s phrase- 
ology. W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS 

SCIENCE IN GOVERNMENT WORKSHOPS 
qe seems to be a singular antagonism between 
science and officialism. The Government has 
undertaken more than one special manufacture, and 
not without a certain measure of success, but even 
the best of Government factories are tainted with some 
