298 report -1879. 



5th. It has been said that the result of the process will be uncertain. In prac- 

 tice this is not found to be the case ; in 20 blows the phosphorus was found to 

 range from 0-04 to 0-14 per cent., and the analysis of numerous samples proves the 

 steel to be of excellent quality. In a few cases, however, when the blast was not 

 continued long enough, as much as 0-2 per cent, has been found. 



6th. The sources of extra cost may be summed up as follows : — 



1. The slightly increased waste. 



2. The labour necessary to deal with the extra slag. 



3. The cost of the bassic additions. 



4. The extra cost of linings. 



5. The decreased output of the plant, it being necessary to blow smaller charges 

 owing to the slag, and the risk of splashing ; and also the time occupied in taking 

 samples. 



6. The smaller production of the blast furnace while' smelting poor phosphoretic 

 ores, than when smelting rich haematite ores. This, however, it is contended, is 

 already considered in the price of such iron. 



The margin between Cleveland and Bessemer pig iron is now about 10s. per 

 ton, but when prices reach a normal state it will be more than this. There is, 

 therefore, that sum to work upon, and it does not appear that the items mentioned 

 will amount to even 7s. Qd. per ton. 



As a set-off against the cost of the process may be considered the fact that 

 enormous deposits of cheap iron ore, now worthless for steel making, will be 

 utilised, and that existing works will prolong their lives, especially those within 

 easy reach of coal and ironstone. 



It bas been gravely asserted that steel made by any of the processes described 

 cannot be of equal quality to that made from pure iron. This is simply an assertion 

 not based on fact. Steel of good chemical composition, sound and clean, is as good 

 as any other of the same composition, irrespective of how, where, or from what it 

 is made It appears to be every day more and more probable that Bessemer and 

 Siemens steel will gradually replace the liner qualities, now made by very ex- 

 pensive processes. 



4. A New Process in Metallurgy. By John Hollway. 



The theory of this process has been developed from known principles, aided by 

 experimental work undertaken for the purpose of investigating the action of rapid 

 oxidation upon pyritous substances, with a view to their metallurgic treatment 

 upon a large scale. Before these experiments were made, metallurgists had not 

 realised the fact that pyrites and other sulphides (even with the addition of a 

 considerable proportion of incombustible materials) can be decomposed and fused by 

 the heat developed in the oxidation which takes place whenever air is rapidly 

 brought into contact with an excess of molten sulphides. When this is effected by 

 introducing air under pressure through apertures of a few millimetres in diameter 

 in the bottom of a hearth upon which the molten sulphides lie, the results pro- 

 duced are very remarkable. Thus when cupreous pyrites was so treated, a true 

 combustion of the more oxidisable constituents took place, flame and incandescence 

 resulted, and the decomposition was effected with great rapidity. 



It was primarily surmised that in this manner, neglecting the influence of 

 mass, the elements would be burnt in the regular order of their relative affinities 

 for oxygen, and that the second atom of sulphur in iron pyrites, which can be ex- 

 pelled by fusion, would escape oxidation in the molten bath and be volatilised in 

 the current of sulphurous acid and nitrogen emerging from the surface of the 

 molten liquid. The more volatile oxides and sulphides in the material operated 

 upon, such as those of arsenic, antimony, lead, and zinc would volatilise with this 

 freed sulphur, and condense partly before the latter, though more or less contami- 

 nating that product. If the oxidation be arrested at a point determinable by prac- 

 tice, calculation, or some marked change in the spectrum, two products of different 

 specific gravity will be obtained, namely a slag of silicate of iron, lime, alumina, 



