118 Scientific Intelligence. 
Ill. METALLURGY. 
1. Metallurgy. The art of extracting metals from their ores, and 
adapting them to various purposes of manufacture; by Joun Percy, 
4» F.RS., Lecturer on Metallurgy at the Government School of Mines. 
8vo, pp. 635. Murray, London, 1861.—This volume—after a brief intro- 
fact, so for: as our own knowledge extends, this work contains more ose 
ble original matter (oe any other treatise on ipa Metallurgy which 
has been published since the classic work of Karsten. The book will prove 
of great service to both chemists and practical mestellargiet. t is 
eharacteri y great clearness and accuracy in its statements, giving 
careful reference to authorities when quoted, exercising a Siecxieaines 
criticism when needful, and withal * frankness 3 in dealing with unset- 
tled and questionable points, whic ds the respect and Ke 
fidence of the reader. The work is x ag by more than one hundred 
and fifty wood engravings, which are remarkable for their great accu- 
racy. We look with interest for the second and final volume, and trust 
that it will soon appear, inasmuch as the author promises to haye it 
ready for publication before the end of 1862. It will treat of the sub- 
jects Iron, Lead, ee Gold, Platinum, Nickel, Cobalt, Arsenic, —_ 
Antimony, Tin, te. 
Occurrence of piatinse rsa Silicon in Pig-Lron—Pr a a 
pe has discovered crystallized silicon in a specimen of erystallized 
pig-iron from a furnace at Gradaz in Carniola (Austria), Fragments of 
e iron were treated with dilute chlorhydric acid until all evolution 
gas c ; the residue was thrown on a filter, washed, dried and then 
heated in a platinum crucible in a stream of oxygen gas until all the car- 
bon and iron were completely oxydized. The oxydized residue was boiled 
with concentrated chlorhydric acid, and after solution of the oxyd of iron 
there recnniie a quantity of graphite-like scales, which, examined under 
the microscope had a perfect metallic lustre, and a silver-white color. 
These cae remained- unchanged when heated in oxygen, and were 
unacted upon when treated with chlorhydric and nitric acids: hea 
with nitre and carbonate of soda the scales were rapidly cag hoa and on 
further treatment the product of this oxydation proved to be si ic acid. 
The knowledge of the occurrence of silicon in pig-iron is a ste off im- 
portance for the ironmaster, as this may sometimes be the cause of 
the difficult welding, and other undesirable properties of some kinds of 
iron. For this crystallized silicon cannot be removed by the ordinary 
process of puddling ; as has already been shown, it. is not oxydized even 
when heated in oxygen gas. To remove crystallized silicon from iron in 
puddling process it would be necessary to add soda, or perhaps litharge 
