70 Jottings on Copper. 



union of phosphorus and copper is the apparent capacity of the 

 alloy to withstand the action of sea-water. It seems that, in 

 1848, Dr. Percy furnished Colonel Sir Henry (then Captain) 

 James with various specimens of copper, which he placed in 

 sea-water for nine months, and the result appeared so com- 

 pletely to establish the protecting influence of phosphorus, that 

 the Admiralty was induced to grant £50 for further experiments; 

 and accordingly Dr. Percy caused more plates to be made, in 

 which \ per cent, of phosphorus was introduced. These sheets 

 were placed upon buoys in three different dockyards, and after 

 a year or two, all that could be ascertained was that the 

 authorities had caused them to be " painted all over." Some 

 years after this, Sir Henry James discovered that the phospho- 

 rized sheets had resisted corrosion twice as well as others with 

 which they had been compared ; but the " Board," that service- 

 able screen for jobbery and ignorance, could not be induced to 

 take further steps in the matter. 



We have not pretended, in these brief remarks, to write a 

 review of Dr. Percy's work. As might have been expected 

 from the author's opportunities and reputation, it contains a 

 large amount of important matter ; but we confess it does not 

 appear to us to have been sufficiently digested. It is not a 

 very convenient book for reference, nor does it exhibit that 

 faculty of generalization which characterizes the higher kinds of 

 scientific works. It was also an error to issue it as if it had 

 been a complete treatise. It is a misnomer to call it ' ' Percy's 

 Metallurgy," of which it is no more than the first volume— only 

 two metals, copper and zinc, being dealt with. It may likewise 

 be questioned whether it was judicious to devote so many pages 

 to such matters as charcoal and coke burning ; and we should 

 imagine most students would have preferred the omission of 

 elaborate details of this kind, in order that more of the actual 

 science of metallurgy might have been condensed in a given 

 space. The remainder of the work is promised during the 

 current year, and when it is all before us, our opinion of its 

 merits may be materially improved. 



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