102 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 4. 



years of 41.6% against 30% for the nation; it includes 

 the states where agriculture and the carrying trade 

 are to be built up, requiring coal and iron; and they 

 can be obtained under the most favorable conditions. 

 Its significance was long ago noted by Isaac Lothian 

 Bell, who found its ores richer and its fluxes much 

 nearer than in Yorkshire; and he said that the region 

 matched and more than matched anything in Great 

 Britain. Abram Hewitt regarded it as important, 

 reckoning not by the wages paid, but by the number 

 of days of labor necessary to produce a given quan- 

 tity. Dr. Hunt predicted a most remarkable future 

 for the coal and iron regions of Alabama. 



President Rothwell stated that he must disclaim 

 any credit for original investigations, his first knowl- 

 edge coming from a careful survey and plan made by 

 Joseph Squires. 



Dr. Hunt replied, that, had he been aware of it, he 

 would have been glad to give due recognition to the 

 labors of Mr. Squires. 



Changes in the structure of block-tin. 



BY PROP. E. H. EICHARDS OF BOSTON. 



The speaker exhibited a pig of the metal, which in 

 December last appeared to be perfectly good mallea- 

 ble block-tin ; Feb. 15, the pig was found to be brittle, 

 and had undergone a change in its molecular condi- 

 tion which involved about half of the mass. It made 

 itself apparent by enlargement in spots which took 

 on a darker color, and which revealed a crystalline 

 structure very like that of stibnite. It was surmised 

 that the change was due to imperfect retorting, leav- 

 ing in the tin a small percentage of the mercury with 

 which the metal was originally treated; and an analy- 

 sis of a portion of the pig, using a current of hydro- 

 gen at a bright red heat, showed by the direct method 

 the presence of 2.62 parts of mercury to 97.24 of tin; 

 or, by difference, 2.76% of mercury and 97.24% of 

 tin. 



Dr. T. Sterry Hunt said that such changes had been 

 Ijreviously noted in tin supposed to be in a state of 

 purity, the metal becoming so ci7stalline that it was 

 almost ready to fall in pieces. Under certain condi- 

 tions, very like those stated by Prof. Richards, it had 

 been ascertained that block-tin would undergo these 

 changes. 



A suggested cure for blast-furnace chills. 



BY H. M. HOWE OF BOSTON. 



These chills, as well known, are the results of afall- 

 ing of the temperature below that needed for the fusion 

 of the slag, from 1,800° C. to 1,900° C. The com- 

 mon remedies are the injection through the tuyeres 

 of liquid petroleum, or of air-gas, and the increase 

 in the temperature of the blast, rather than hastening 

 the latter; since this tends to lower tlie temperature 

 at the tuyeres, just as, up to a certain point, blowing 

 a match, or fire, or candle, will increase its combus- 

 tion, but beyond that point will decrease it. The 

 diflaculty with the use of liquid petroleum is, that it is 

 not generated at a suiiiciently high temperature, and 

 the process of vaporizing it within the furnace also 

 requires additional heat. He suggested, that instead 

 there should be used vapor of petroleum or coal-gas, 

 heated externally, so that the energy needed for that 

 operation would not be taken out of the furnace. 

 When cold liquid petroleum is used, there is not 

 enough margin in temperature to avoid chills. The 

 results of his observations were expressed by the fol- 

 lowing figures, the temperature being in centigrade 

 degrees : — 



In discussing the paper. Dr. Raymond of Cam- 

 bridge said, that, at the Durham furnace, a chill had 

 caused a large scaffolding, which had fallen suddenly, 

 and had choked up the hearth. Liquid petroleum 

 introduced through the tuyeres, with the blast at 900° 

 Fahr., had burned a large hole in the mass, although 

 it was not thoroughly successful in doing away with 

 the obstruction; but a very high temperature was 

 produced within a few inches of the tuyeres. He 

 questioned whether the petroleum in the form of a 

 fine mist, or sj)ray, would not give a higher result 

 than the vapor. 



A member said that the chills were produced by 

 the formation of scaffoldings, which prevented the 

 descent of the fuel, and the proper reducing atmos- 

 phere could not be maintained. He was of opinion 

 that the petroleum vapor would not remedy this 

 unless carbon were introduced with it. Mr. Howe 

 replied that he would introduce an excess of the gas. 



President Rothwell asked if the combination of 

 carbonic oxide and hydrogen, known as water-gas, 

 had been tried. In recent experiments in Germany,, 

 in pipe.-making and for welding purposes, introduced 

 with air it had given a very high temperature. 



Mr. C. Constable, of Constableville, N.Y., thought 

 that 'chilling,' as here used, was a misnomer; that 

 the air of the blast was only capable of burning so 

 much, and, when in excess, a portion of it was driven 

 up in the furnace, and caused the scaffolding. His 

 remedy was a reduction of the blast. 



The metallurgy of nickel in the United States. 



BY PKOF. W. P. BLAKE OP NEW HAVEN. 



Nickel has for a long time, and until within a few 

 years, been a compound rather than a simple element, 

 so far as it was known commercially. It was ex- 

 tracted as a secondary product from cobalt sj)ia, and 

 of necessity was a very impure result, being contami- 

 nated with a great many other substances, especially 

 arsenic, iron, and sulphur, which were present in smalt 

 quantities, but suflScient to destroy, to a great extent, 

 the true properties of the metal. In this respect 

 nickel is essentially the same as iron, and these met- 

 als and steel offer many analogies when in a state of 

 alloy or combination. For a long time cobalt was 

 the principal object sought, and nickel was a by-prod- 

 uct; but the production of artificial ultramarine di- 

 minished the demand for cobalt, and at the same- 

 time the introduction of nickel-plating and kindred 

 industries increased the call for nickel, until now the 

 conditions are reversed, and the latter metal is in the 

 greater demand. But to the scientific chemists, who 

 prepared nickel in a state of purity, its properties 

 were not wholly unknown ; yet between them there 

 was a great diversity of opinion, — one declaring it 

 to be malleable, and another the reverse. Its malle- 

 ability was diminished by the presence of carbon or 

 manganese; and, reduced by carbon, its ductility was 

 less than that of zinc. These results, however, were 

 confined to chemists and laboratories, and were not 

 known to the arts ; and the production of nickel con- 



