68 



NA TURE 



{JSfov. 18, 1880 



It can hardly be questioned that until the School of Mines 

 was established the metallurgical success and reputation of this 

 country rested to a remarkable extent on the exceptional skill of 

 its technical men. I think therefore we may fairly be asked to 

 consider whether the metallurgical teaching of the School has 

 been justified, and how far advance has been due to trained 

 scientific thought. 



Of all the metallurgical operations conducted in this country, 

 those connected with iron are, of course, the most important. 

 The production of pig-iron alone in the United Kingdom has 

 increased from two million seven hundred thousand tons in 1852 

 to six million two hundred thou-and tons last year, a maximum 

 slightly in excess of this figure having been reached in the year 

 1872. Now the Bessemer process, the first patent in conneciion 

 with which was taken out in 1S55, has reduced the cost of steel 

 from 50/. to 6/. per ton, and has changed the whole aspect of the 

 iron and steel manufacture ; indeed, the success with which thi- 

 process alone is conducted may almost be regarded as an index 

 of our nation.al prosperity. Notwithstanding the almost universal 

 depression of trade during the last few years, the outturn of steel 

 has been steadily increasing ; and it is estimated that in 1879 this 

 country produced nearly a million tons in the Bessemer con- 

 verter, double the entire produce of the remainder of the world 

 in the year 1870 by the same process.^ The outturn of Bessemer 

 steel in America has, hoviever, advanced with still more rapid 

 strides ; for last year she actually produced, with far fewer 

 converters, ninety-four thousand tons more than this country. 

 It will be evident, therefore, that every improvement effected in 

 this process is of truly national importance, and I would briefly 

 refer to the greatest that has been introduced in recent years. 



In 1855 the fact was established that pig-iron from the 'ilast- 

 furnace contains the greater part of the phosphorus originally 

 present in the ore. Dr. Percy pointed out that phosphorus is 

 not eliminated in a sensible degree in the Bessemer pr.jces, as it 

 is in the old process of puddling ; and he stated that if the 

 Bessemer process is to be "generally applicable in this country, it 

 must be supplemented by the discovery of a process of proriucmj 

 pig-iron sensibly free from sulphur and phosphorus, with the fuel 

 and ores which are now so extensively employed in our blast- 

 furnaces." 2 The problem, so far as it relates to the elimination 

 of phosphorus, has received the attention of many of the fir-t 

 metallurgists in this and other countries;^ but the practical 

 application of basic linings in the Bessemer converter is the out- 

 come of Dr. Percy's teaching; for Mr. S. G. Thomas was a 

 student of the School of Mines, and his partner, Mr. Gdchrisf, 

 is an Associate. Mr. Snelus is al-o an Associate, and Mr. Kdey 

 long worked in the metallurgical laboratory. The process not 

 only gives hope that it will be pos-ible to utilise the large quan- 

 tities of ore in the well-known Cleveland district, but is also 

 widely practised with success on the Continent.^ It is probable 

 therefore that the large deposits of ore in the basin of the Saar, 

 and those of Lorraine and Luxembourg, which in extent are 

 equal to the Cleveland district, while containing a much greater 

 j.mount of phosphorus, will now be available. During a recent 

 visit to the Hoerde Works in \Vestphalia, where I witnessed the 

 operation, Herr Massenez, the director, told me that 10,000 tons 

 of "Thomas-Gilchrist" metal have already been proruced there 

 since the adoption of the process a few months ago. . . . 



I had intended to indicate the metallurgical work done by the 

 more prominent men who have been associated with the school, 

 but I found that it would not be possible, in the brief time at my 

 disposal, to do justice to such as IJauernian, Dick, Gihb, Hack- 

 ney, Matthey, Pearce, Riley, Willis, and others, whose labours 

 have placed them so high in the ranks of English metallurgists. 

 You will, however, as the course proceeds, have opportunity of 

 becoming familiar with their names. 



In referring to the past teaching of the school I must remind 

 you of the importance of rigorous and minute inorganic analysis ; 

 and it is the more necessary that I should do so from the fact 

 that the peculiar charm of organic research appears, as has 

 been pointed out by Prof. Abel,^ to lead the younger chemists 

 to " under-estimate the value and importance, in reference to the 

 advancement of science, of the labours of the plodding investi- 



^ Times, December 31, 1079. 



'■' " Metallurgy— Iron and Steel " (1864), p. 8ig. 



3 M. Gruner, Aniiaks As Mittcs (1SC9). t. xvi. p. 190. 



« M. Gruner, Amtales lies Mines, part : (1870), p. 146: H. von Tunner, 

 Zettsehri/t der berg- mid hilitcnmiinnisclicn Vcrcins fur Steyermark 11. 

 Karnteti, x.i. Jahrg.. Mai-Jum i83o; Herr J. Massenez, Engineering, vol. 

 XXX. (1880), p. ig8. 



5 British Association Report, Plymouth (1877). p. 44. 



gator of analysis." I am satisfied, however, that, if we bear the 

 traditions of the chemical and metallurgical laboratories of the 

 School of Mines in view, we are not likely to under-rate the im- 

 portance of analytical work ; and much conclusive evidence as to 

 the value of the teaching of the past thirty years is afforded by 

 the labours of the accomplished analysts who have from time to 

 time worked under Dr. Percy's direction. 



The direct infiuence of the School on the success with which 

 metallurijy has been practised in this country has been most 

 marl-ed, and would alone afford an answer to the question 

 whether the pos-ession of high scientific attainments is generally 

 advantageous to the successful conduct of metallurgical works. 

 It must not be forfotten that our subject is constantly receiving 

 valuable aid from branches of science other than chemistry ; and 

 this can hardly be better shown than by the growing importance 

 of physical research in connection with metallurgical problems. 

 I would incidentally remind you that it is the more important 

 f )r us to consider this, because special attention was directed to 

 the question in the evidence given before the Royal Commission 

 on Scientific Instruction,' whose recommendations will, it is to 

 be hoped, extend the influence of the School of Mines. 



In connection with this branch of our subject a most promi- 

 nent position must be given to the production of high tempera- 

 tures, as it will be obvious that we have principally to consider 

 the reactions of the elements when under the influence of heat. 

 Ill the first half of the present century temperatures higher than 

 the melting point of zinc were not known with any degree of 

 certainty; but in 1856^ M. Henri Ste. Claire-Deville pointed 

 out that chemistry at high temperatures, that is to say, up to the 

 blue-" hite heat at which platinum volatilises and silica fuses, 

 remained to be studied. Since then, in conjunction with M. 

 Troost, he has given us certain fixed points, such for instance 

 as the boiling points of cadmium and zinc ; and Deville's re- 

 searches on dissociation have entirely modified the views gene- 

 rally entertained in regard to the theory of combustion. Indeed 

 we owe so much to this illustrious teacher, that the best homage 

 we can offer him will be to work in the directions he has indi- 

 cated. M Stas has proved that it is perfectly easy to distil even 

 large quantities of silver from one lime ciaicible to another,' a 

 fact which has been taken advantage of by Mr. Lockyer and 

 myself in ^ome experiments on the absorption-spectra of the 

 vap lurs of certain metals at high temperatures.' 



As regards scientific advance of a more essentially practical 

 character, the gradual discovery of the fact that in certain cases 

 fuel can be best employed if it be previously converted into gas, 

 a' d the recognition of the advantages to be derived from a 

 preliminary heating of the gases and the air, has led to the wide 

 adoption of the regenerative system, by which the waste heat of 

 the furnace is utilised for heating the incoming air or combustible 

 mixture of air and gas necessary to effect the required operation. 

 Dr. Siemens has thus shown us how to economise fuel to a vast 

 extent, it being now possible to produce a ton of steel by the use 

 of 12 cW't. of small coal instead of three tons of coke required to 

 n.elt it in the old form of furnace. By the command of high 

 temperatures, moreover, he has developed new processes in the 

 metallurgy of iron, which are resulting in the replacement of the 

 old "cinder-mixed" wrought iron by "cinder-free" ingot iron 

 and steel. ^ The degree of heat attainable by the regenerative 

 furnace is, however, limited to the temperature of dissociation 

 of carbonic acid and aqueous vapour, so that the temperature 

 never can exceed about 2600° C. ; but during the present year ' Dr. 

 Siemens has employed the far greater heat of the electric arc for 

 the fusion of steel and platinum.'' Bearing in mind the interest 

 excited by recent experiments on the effect of intense heat on 

 bodies now considered to be elementary, we may expect physi- 

 cists to look to us for aid in developing the methods of employing 

 hinh temperatures. 



The essential difference in the properties of certain alloys 

 produced by a small difference of composition brings me to one 

 very distinctive feature of metallurgy, the enormous influence 



' Report, vol. ii. Minutes of Evidence, p. 86 (1874). 



= Ann. Chiin. et Pliys. (3], t. xlvi. p. 182; Comjites rcndus, t. xc. (loSo), 



3 " Sur les Lois des Proportions chimiques"(i865), p. 37. 

 -> Proc. Roy. Soc. vol. xxiii. (1875), p. 344. 



5 Akerman. 7o;/ra»/of the Iron and Steel Institute, No. 2 (187S), p. 360. 



6 Engineering, vol. xxix. (1S80). p. 478. 



7 Figures convey but little impression as to such high temperatures ; tut it 

 may be mentioned that Dewar has given 7000° C. as approximately the 

 temperature of the electric arc (Hrit. Assoc, liep. 1873, p. 466), and, accordni| 

 to Rossetti, ihe true temperature of the sun can hardly be less than 10..000 

 C. or more than 20,000° C.—Phil. Mag. [5I, vol. viii. p. 550 (1879). 



