28 On Serpentine. 



" In cylinder drawing one workman liolds tlie loup in a pair of 

 tongs, and passes it into the first of tlie grooves ; another work- 

 man, on the other side, receives it, and passes it back to the first, 

 who passes it into a second and smaller set, and so on, until it is 

 reduced to a bar, three or four inches broad, and two in thickness. 

 This is then cut by powerful shears into short lengths, called 

 "blooms," which are afterwards subjected to a refining process. 



" So great is the dexterity displayed in these various processes, 

 and. so admirable the adaptation of the machinery, that the rude 

 ball, as it comes from the forge, is converted into mill bar iron 

 before it has had time to cool. The whole operation is accom- 

 plished in a little more than a minute. 



"The bars are next subjected to the refining process, which 

 consists in heating them in the oven above described, and bring- 

 ing to a welding heat, which is accomplished in the course of one- 

 half or three-quarters of an hour. Where great tenacity is re- 

 quired, they are re-heated and rolled. From the oven they are 

 passed to the extension rollers, where they are fashioned into the 

 required form, whether round, square, oval, or rectangular."* 



The iron made in this way, will resist a pressure of over '70,000 

 lbs. to the square inch. 



The above facts were collected from various sources, with the 

 view of showing that iron can be manufactured in this country, 

 although we are destitute of mineral coal. It would be well for 

 the Province were this branch of industry introduced and encou- 

 raged to the utmost. The vast forests in the neighbourhood of 

 the mines, are fast disappearing before the axe of the sturdy set- 

 tler, and the only fuel we have to convert our rich stores of metal 

 into the elements of national v/ealth, is being thus destroyed, 

 without being made serviceable to man to the full amount of its 

 capabilities. 



E. B. 



ARTICLE IV. — On Seiyeyitiyie, and some of its uses. 



This mineral species was known to antiquity, and received from 

 the Greeks the name of ophitis, in allusion to its variegated 

 greenish colors and peculiar lustre, which were supposed to 



* Foster ^ Whitney^ s Report on the Geology of the Lake Superior Re- 

 gion. Page 79. 



