Cast Iron, Steel, and Malleable Iron. 49 



O'll of this yellow powder was melted in a platinum cru- 

 cible with carbonate of soda, and the effervescence was vevy 

 vivid. I separated silica to the amount of 0*1 15. The solu- 

 tion, from which the silica was separated, saturated with car- 

 bonate of ammonia, left alumina with a little silica, which 

 amounted to 0*107; no trace of iron could be detected. 



Fourteen grains of filings of English iron, made after my 

 peculiar method for steel, were then dissolved in a test glass 

 with five drams of hydrochloric acid. The iron dissolved 

 rapidly; a dark gray oily skinny scum collected on the sur- 

 face, and the glass was filled to an inch in height with a whitish 

 gray saline granulated precipitate of protochloride of iron, 

 which, on having removed the acid and substituted distilled 

 water, disappeared completely. The solution, stirred and 

 quickly poured into another vessel, left gray heavy scales of 

 the form of the filings on the bottom. 



These gray- white scales, well washed, were very slowly at- 

 tacked by diluted hydrochloric acid ; concentrated, it acted 

 rather more powerfully, and the liquid became yellow and 

 milky fourteen hours after the action of the acid had ceased. 

 A few black spots remained on the bottom ; a grayish viscid 

 mass floated on the surface, like sulphur, separated by aqua- 

 regia from sulphurets ; the sides of the tube were covered by a 

 layer of yellowish-white substance, which I could sublime over 

 a lamp and volatilize. The fumes escaping had, in a degree, 

 the scent of French brandy and fennel oil. 



The black viscid mass, slowly ignited on a platinum foil, 

 emitted first fumes of volatilized sulphur ; then some sulphur- 

 ous acid appeared ; and lastly, the mass began suddenly to 

 glow like tinder, and burnt without further assistance, leaving 

 a residue of darkish brown powder, which, boiled with muriatic 

 acid, assumed a vivid red colour, was scarcely attacked by 

 aqua-regia, and only dissolved completely after being boiled 

 again in hydrochloric acid. This scaly remainder consisted 

 therefore of Iron and"! , ,-, 



Sulphur/ ^§^'^^^^"^"^'^>'' 



Carbon andl t^^i 



TT 1 r very little ; 



Hydrogen j •' 



probably a sulphuret of carbon mixed with iron, or a carburet 



of iron mixed with sulphur. 



The water, quickly separated from the heavy scales as before- 

 mentioned, became, after a little time, clear, a white precipitate 

 having fallen to the bottom. This precipitate, heated first on 

 a platinum foil, gave out sulphur, then a small quantity of 

 sulphurous acid, when the mass began to glow and a light 

 lahite powder of silica remained. 



Phil. Mag. S. 3. Vol. 16. No. 100. Jan. 1840. E 



