Wellington PliUosopldcal Socieftj. 437 



Tliis paper was principally in reference to a newly-invented Eern-cutting 

 Macliiue, a model of wliicli was exhibited. 



4. " On a new Chiton from "Wellington Harbour, by W. T. L. Travers, 

 F.L.S. 



5. " On a Fluke from the intestinal Canal of a Snapper," by W. T. L. 

 Travers, E.L.S. 



Specimens of both were exhibited. 



6. " On Suggestions and Experiments on the Smelting of Taranaki Iron- 

 sand," by E. Pharazyn, E.E.Gr.S. 



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, — 



Silica 38- 



Lime ... ... ... ... ... ... 50' 



Alumina ... ... ... ... ... 6" 



and a small percentage of magnesia and manganese. In Muspratt's transla- 

 tion of Plattner's work on the blow-pijDO, a tabular view is given of the 

 action of the different fluxes employed in what may be called smelting 

 loorJcs on a small scale, from which it would be easy to arrive at some 

 conclusion as to what might best be used in extensive 023erations. In the 

 " Jurors' Eeports of the New Zealand Exhibition, 1865," p. 452, a tabular 



