1869. } TATE AND HOLDEN—IRON-ORES WITH BASALTS. 163 
occasion of the reading of the Duke of Argyll’s paper on the “ Leaf- 
beds of the Isle of Mull.” The plant-remains were obtained on the 
shores of Lough Neagh, near Shane’s Castle, and opposite Ram’s 
Island, on the east shore of the Lough. These and other species ad- 
ditional to those enumerated by Mr. Baily from the Antrim basalt 
concur to fix the period of their growth on the horizon of the 
Upper Miocene, and to establish a contemporaneity with the florula 
of the Basalts of Mull. 
Amongst the plant-remains from the ash-beds on the shore of 
Lough Neagh, collected by Dr. Bryce, we recognize Platanus ace- 
roides, Sequoia Langsdorfi, species of Juglans, Fagus, Laurus, &e. 
And from the sedimentary ochreous beds at Ballypalidy we have col- 
lected the following unrecorded forms :—Hucalyptus oceanica, Ung., 
Hakea, sp., Celastrus, sp., Daphnogene Kani, Heer ?, Graminites, sp., 
&e. 
V. Economics AND MINERAL STATISTICS. 
The Antrim iron-ore, though of but recent introduction, has 
already attracted some attention among the iron-masters in England. 
Its freedom from deleterious substances, such as phosphorus and 
sulphur, and from any qualities injurious to the production of superior 
iron, commends it highly, while the presence of titanic acid in 
the pisolite-bed adds much to its value for the production of steel. 
But it is the high percentage of alumina that claims for this ore 
peculiar importance. 
Mr. 8. Evans, who has introduced much of this ore into England, 
informs us that its value as a flux is becoming more and more appre- 
ciated, and that the furnaces of Cumberland and Lancashire are now 
supplied with large quantities for mixing with the siliceous hema- 
tites of that district. The effect of combining these two ores in the 
furnace is to soften the slag and to produce what is called a ‘loose 
load,” which allows the metal to pass through with facility, and 
at the same time acts as a protection to the inner casing of the 
furnace. But, in addition to these valuable properties, the alumina 
determines the separation of the silica from the hematite-ores, 
thereby producing from a given quantity a larger percentage of 
metallic iron than could otherwise be obtained. 
The great difficulty hitherto has been to produce an iron free from 
silica for the Bessemer process of steel-iron making. The Cumber- 
land ore has been found well adapted for producing this steel; but 
the contained silica has always been a drawback, injurious and diffi- 
cult to remove. The great demand is for an iron free from silica ; 
and since the Antrim ore has entered the market this desideratum 
has been accomplished: it contains little or nothing deleterious, and 
yet has within itself the essential properties for making a superior 
steel-iron, while the large excess of alumina acts as a purifier to the 
richer ferruginous ores, and has thus enabled the Cumberland and 
Lancashire furnaces to stand first in producing the most suitable 
iron for Bessemer’s process. 
It is not difficult to discern that other districts will soon learn the 
