Bibliography. 377 



ant functions of a representative government. With this view the au- 

 thor of this report undertook the gratuitous labor of making it, in hopes 

 that the state of Maryland, already signalized by having caused an early 

 geological, and the first trigonometrical survey of a state territory, 

 might also by her example, induce her sister states to enter upon this 

 career — only another branch of the same general enquiry — by care- 

 fully collecting statistical facts in relation to different domestic resources 

 and manufactures, exhibiting their actual condition and providing for 

 further periodical statements as to their progress. 



So far as this Journal has influence, we should be happy to employ 

 a portion of its pages in disseminating impressions and arguments hav- 

 ing the object indicated above, and we have to regret that our engage- 

 ments have prevented an earlier notice of the labors of Mr. Alexander 

 on the subject of iron. It is magnanimous in this gentleman to perform 

 this great and responsible duty gratuitously — pro bono publico — and it 

 is happy that in this respect, science as well as liberty can occasionally 

 boast a Washington ; but we feel bound to protest against such a course 

 as a general one. This country is abundantly able to pay for all the 

 scientific investigation which its interests demand, and the public sen- 

 timent should be formed to the full admission of this duty. 



The report now before us has evidently been prepared with great 

 care and labor. It exhibits abundant proof of a careful investigation 

 of authorities — in the history, in the science, and in the arts relating 

 to iron — with a wide range of personal observations carefully made 

 both at home and in foreign countries, in all the most important prac- 

 tical operations, from the mining of the ores of iron to the conversion 

 of this most important metal into the numerous forms in which it is 

 demanded by the necessities of civilization. It is, in an important de- 

 gree, a monograph of its subject, which, if carried into full detail in 

 all its bearings, would demand volumes for its elucidation. Mr. Alex- 

 ander's report is a full half of a full octavo, and he still finds his limits 

 too narrow for all that he desires to communicate. Without wishing to 

 confine his active and well furnished mind within more narrow bounds, 

 we would venture to suggest the expediency of giving, in a separate 

 pamphlet, a condensed abstract of the most important practical facts, 

 for the use of iron masters and manufacturers, omitting many histori- 

 cal details and some of those scientific views which are most interest- 

 ing to those who cultivate science for its own sake. 



Did our limits permit, we would gladly recapitulate many interest- 

 ing and important facts which are brought out in the present report. 

 Among them are the results of the microscopic examination of the dif- 

 ferent varieties of cast iron, and also of bar iron. It appears that their 

 minute particles have different crystalline forms, varying with the qual- 



Vol. xLi, No. 2.— July-Sept. 1841. 48 



