Intelligence and Miscellanies. 1 85 



think that if more care were taken by our iron masters, in 

 observing the progress of their furnaces, and the products 

 which they yield, it might be found in many other places ; 

 certainly it must have been formed in the old Franklin fur- 

 nace, in Sussex county, New-Jersey, where so many fruit- 

 less attempts were made to work the Franklinite. 



Before I conclude these remarks, I must observe, that it 

 does not appear that the presence of zinc aiFects the proper- 

 ties of iron. In Belgium the iron is of good quality ; and 

 it is an interesting fact, that the bar-iron of Ancram is in 

 great demand at $120 per ton, a higher price than is at pres- 

 ent paid for any imported iron. The castings from the An- 

 cram furnace are in such a repute, that no other pigs are 

 used at the West Point foundry for the heavy guns (32 and 

 42 pounders) now casting for the United States' navy. 



The Ancram furnace equals, in beauty of workmanship, 

 and economy of means, any that we have seen ; and we en- 

 tertain no doubt, that all works carried on v^^ilh such admira- 

 ble perfection, must and will always prove equally honoura- 

 ble and profitable to their owners and directors. 



8, Injiammahility of Ammoniacal Gas. 



I have recently found that ammoniacal gas is much more 

 inflammable than it is described to be in the books. Hav- 

 ing filled with this gas, over mercury, some jars* which were 

 eight inches longbytwoandthree quarters in diameter,! found 

 on bringing a pendent candle over one whose mouth was 

 covered with a glass plate, which was withdrawn at the 

 moment, that the gas burned readily as it rose through the 



^The same that belonged to Dr. Hare's first deflagrator. 



6, 1819. I visited the furnace of Verrieres, in the department de la Vienne, 

 in France. The director mentioned that his ore was good, and that the iron 

 it produced was likewise good. He complained, however, of a substance 

 •which formed in the furnace, five feet below its orifice ; it was in the form of 

 a ring. It would, he said, liave choked the furnace if not removed, which 

 at times was a difficult undertaking. I mentioned to him that it appeared to 

 be analagous to the cadmia of Belgium. The specimens which I took with 

 me were heavy, compact, and of a dark colour." — I have not had an oppor- 

 tunity of analyzing them since ; but my suspicions on this subject were con- 

 firmed, when, on returning to Paris in the autumn of 1820, 1 was inform- 

 ed that the Engineer of mines De Cressac had discovered calamine in that 

 vicinity the year before. 



Vol. VI.— No. 1. 24 



