Intelligence and Miscellanies. 183 



takes place in the furnace; that the zinc sublimes and oxy- 

 dates as it rises, and settles in the form of a ring at the infe- 

 rior part of the charge, where the temperature of the furnace 

 is considerably lowered by the successive additions of cold 

 ore, charcoal, he. 



This substance is not, it is true, found at present forming 

 in the Ancram furnace; but this may in a great measure be 

 owing to a better roasting of the ore, previous to its intro- 

 duction into the furnace. It may also be occasioned by the 

 circumstance that all the ore destined for Ancram is picked 

 with great care, at the ore bed. I must not, however, omit 

 to state that I found in the flue erected above the orifice of 

 the furnace, for the protection of the workmen, a red, pul- 

 verulent substance, to which the workmen have given the 

 name of sulphur, a name which, as the editor of the Empo- 

 rium has well observed, has been most unfortunately o-iven 

 by furnace and forge men, to every product which puzzles 

 them, and without any regard to its real composition: this 

 powder I supposed to be a mixture of ashes and fine ore, 

 blown out of the furnace by the rapid current of air ; 1 con- 

 ceived that if there was any zinc with the ore, it would be 

 likely to be detected in this substance, accordingly I found 

 by analysis, about eight per cent, of oxide of zinc, a quanti- 

 ty much greater than 1 expected. It would require a more 

 accurate study of the progress of the furnace than I could 

 make in two days, and a belter knowledge of the methods 

 formerly in use, to determine why cadmia are not formed 

 there at present, as they were formerly. Dr. Torrey has, I 

 believe, never visited Ancram, and the information which he 

 received on the subject may have led him into error. For 

 instance, he was misinformed (I think) when he stated, that 

 "it was found when taking down one of the old walls of the 

 furnace erected in the year 1744." We were told by 

 Mr. Patterson, that it had never been found but in taking 

 down a wall connected with the furnace, and which having 

 been built after the furnace, may have contained mate- 

 rials which had been extracted from it at different times. 

 This observation is of more importance than it at first appears; 

 for if, as Mr. Patterson told us, the Ancram furnace was 

 the first erected in the colonies of North America, or at 

 least, the first in the province of New York, and if, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Torrey, the cadmia had been found in the wall 



