52 



REPORT — 1839. 



believed ; and the real amount of carbon could only be ascertained by 

 Berzelius's method of burning iron in a current of oxygen, or mixed 

 with chlorate of potash and chromate of lead in a glass tube, used first 

 by Berzelius for analysis of organic bodies. 



The author maintained that steel was an entirely mechanical produc- 

 tion of the forge hammer, which tore the molecules of certain species 

 of white cast iron out of their original position, into which the forces 

 of attraction, in respect to the centres as well as to the position of the 

 molecules, had arranged those molecules by the slow action of heat. 

 Steel, as it came out of the converting furnace or the crucible, was 

 nothing more or less than white cast iron, of which Indian steel, called 

 Wootz, was the fairest specimen. 



The author finally gave an analysis of two specimens of cast iron and 

 one of steel. The first specimen was French gray iron, from Vienne, 

 Department de I'lsere, obtained from a mixture of pea-iron-ore with 

 red hematite, by means of coal from Rive de Gier and heated air, spe- 

 cific gravity 6*898. The second iron was Welsh iron, from the tin- 

 plate manufactory of the Maesteg ironworks, near Neath, in South 

 Wales, obtained from a mixture of clay iron-stone and Cumberland red 

 ore, by means of coke and heated air. It was silvery white, without 

 signs of crystallization : specific gravity 7'467. The third specimen 

 was a fragment of a razor forged in the author's presence, in the work- 

 shop of Mr. Rodgers, of Sheffield, of the specific gravity of 7-92. 





Gray 

 French iron. 



White 

 Welsh iron. 



Steel. 



Silicon 



4-86430 

 1-00738 

 0-75130 

 0-00000 

 0-00000 

 0-00000 

 0-54000 

 0-17740 

 0-00000 

 3-38000 

 8900740 

 00-27222 



1-00867 

 0-08571 

 traces. 

 0-00000 

 1-59710 

 0-00000 

 0-08553 

 0-32018 

 0-76371 

 4-30000 

 91-52282 

 00-31428 



0-52043 

 0-00000 

 1-92000 

 0-93400 

 0-12100 

 traces. 

 0-00000 

 1-00200 

 048310 

 1-42800 

 93-79765 

 0-09382 



Aluminum 



Manganese 



Arsenic 



Antimony 



Tin 



Phosphorus 





Carbon 



Iron „ 



Loss...... . 





100-00000 



100-00000 



100-00000 



On the Composition of Idocrase. By Mr. T. Richardson. 



With the view of assisting in explaining the discrepancies regarding 



the composition of idocrase, which exist in our best chemical works, 



the author presented in this communication the result of five analyses 



of this mineral from specimens furnished to him by Mr. Wm. Hutton. 



1. Specimen from Egg in Norway. 

 The colour was olive-green ; lustre vitreous, semi-transparent, and 

 fracture uneven. It was analysed in the usual way, every precaution 



