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On the Manufacture of Bar Iron in India. By Captain 

 J. Campbell, 21st Regiment M, N. I. 



No. 3. 



1. In India, our means of procuring information of the 

 march of science in Europe are still so imperfect, that it is 

 very difficult to find out what part of a new discovery may 

 be known to others who have taken in hand similar investi- 

 gations. We are therefore obliged to veil in obscure ex- 

 pressions, general descriptions which it becomes expedient to 

 publish, to prevent the idea of the whole mode of operation 

 becoming revealed to those whose attainments enable them 

 to take a hint. 



% I am now indebted to a friend high in office at Madras, 

 for what has lately been discovered in America and England, 

 and to the 85th No. of the Civil Engineer's Journal, (pub- 

 lished in October 1844,) for the state of the iron manufac- 

 ture in France ; from which it appears, that methods of 

 treating the pure ores of iron, similar to those resulting from 

 my own investigations, have been practically applied on the 

 large scale both in America and in England, proving thus 

 beyond a doubt, the feasibility of the plans I have advocated 

 as the best adapted for India; and also, that if in France 

 where wood fuel is so very dear, it can still be economically 

 employed in the iron manufacture, that of course the same 

 can be done by proper management in India, where the 

 wood is so very cheap and abundant ; and ores similar to 

 those of France exist in profusion. 



3. In my last paper, I have used the term " bloomery 

 furnaces," and given calculations of expenses based on ex- 

 periments with them. Furnaces of this kind, as generally 

 known, may be defined as *' cupola bloomeries," from the 

 general resemblance of their shape to the cupolas for melt- 

 ing cast iron ; and although they are cheap and simple 

 to manage, and the best adapted for commencing operations 



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