Wellington Philosophical Society. 437 
This paper was principally in reference to a newly-invented Fern-cutting 
Machine, a model of which was exhibited. 
4. “Ona new Chiton from Wellington Harbour, by W. T. L. Travers, 
ELS. 
5. “On a Fluke from the intestinal Canal of a Snapper,” by W. T. L. 
Travers, F.L.S. 
Specimens of both were exhibited. 
6. * On Suggestions and Experiments on the Smelting of Taranaki Iron- 
sand," by R. Pharazyn, F.R.G.5. j 
ABSTRACT. 
The author had frequently heard it stated that one of the most serious 
difficulties in producing iron or steel from the well-known titaniferous iron- 
sand of Taranaki, was owing to its mechanical condition, which made it 
exceedingly troublesome to smelt, the whole mass of iron in a furnace falling 
to the bottom like a fluid, thus preventing the blast from acting properly 
upon it. 
It appeared to him that a remedy might be found by making, as it were, 
an artificial iron ore of the sand, and thus smelting it in the ordinary 
manner. He had tried some simple blow-pipe experiments, and found that 
although he could not obtain a temperature sufficiently high to melt the 
ironsand, yet it was easy to produce an ore compact and hard enough to 
stand considerable pressure. By mixing one-third in bulk of ordinary 
impure sandy clay with two-thirds in bulk of ironsand, at a full red heat, a 
hard ironstone was produced. This mixture of binding materials with the 
 ironsand would in no way interfere with the subsequent process of manu- 
facture, but might indeed be of assistance, since it is well known that about 
half as much limestone as iron, by weight, is used as a flux to promote the 
fusion of ordinary iron ores. 
Mr. Pharazyn quoted from Percy’s “Metallurgy” on the composition 
and qualities of slags and fluxes, and the way they aid in the extraction of 
particular metals. One of these consists of nearly the same combination of 
materials usually found in poor clays, with lime added, namely,— 
iliea ... 6 i 
^ Lime ... Pu be Sas Ake u oU 
Alumina is ae T OIM I 
and a small percentage of magnesia and manganese. In Muspratt's transla- 
tion of Plattner's work on the blow-pipe, a tabular view is given of the 
action of the different fluxes employed in what may be called smelting 
works on a small scale, from which it would be easy to arrive at some 
. eonelusion as to what might best be used in extensive operations. In the 
* Jurors' Reports of the New Zealand Exhibition, 1865," p. 452, a tabular. 
