250 METALS. 



GENERAL REMARKS ON IRON AND ITS ORES. 



The metal iron has been known from the most remote historical 

 period, but was little used until the last centuries before the Christian 

 era. Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, was the almost universal sub* 

 stitute, for cutting instruments as well as weapons of war, among the 

 ancient Egyptians and earlier Greeks ; and even among the Romans 

 (as proved by the relics from Pompeii) and also throughout Europe, it 

 continued long to be extensively employed for these purposes. 



The Chalybes, bordering on the Black Sea, were workers in iron and 

 steel at an early period ; and near the year 500 B. C, this metal was 

 introduced from that region into Greece, so as to become common for 

 weapons of war. From this source we have the expression chalybeate 

 applied to certain substances or waters containing iron. 



The iron mines of Spain have also been known from a remote epoch, 

 and it is supposed that they have been worked " at least ever since the 

 times of the later Jewish kings ; first by the Tyrians, next by the Car- 

 thagenians, then by the Romans, and lastly by the natives of the coun- 

 try '." These mines are mostly contained in the present provinces of 

 New Castile and Aragon. Elba was another region of ancient works, 

 "inexhaustible in iis iron," as Pliny states, who enters somewhat fully 

 into the modes of manufacture. The mines are said to have yielded 

 iron since the time of Alexander of Macedon. The ore beds of Styria 

 in Lower Austria, were also a source of iron to the Romans. 



Iron ores. The ores from which the iron of commerce is obtained, 

 are the spathic iron or carbonate, magnetic iron, specular iron, brown 

 Iron ore or hemalite, and bog iron ore. In England, the principal ore 

 used is an argillaceous carbonate of iron, called often clay iron stone, 

 found in nodules and layers in the coal measures. It consists of car- 

 bonate of iron, with some clay, and externally has an earthy, stony 

 look, with little indication of the iron it contains except in its weight. 

 It yields from 20 to 35 per cent, of cast iron. The coal basin of 

 South Wales, and the counties of Stafford, Salop, York, and Derby, 

 vield by far the greater part of the English iron. Brown hematite 

 is also extensively worked. In Sweden and Norway, at the famous 

 works of Dannemora and Arendal, the ore is the magnetic iron ore, 

 and is nearly free from impurities as it is quarried out. It yields 50 to 

 60 per cent, of iron. The same ore is worked in Russia, where it 

 abounds in the Urals. The Elba ore is the specular iron. In Germany, 

 Styria, and Carinthia, extensive beds of the spathic iron are worked. 

 The bog ore is largely reduced in Prussia. 



In the United States, all these different ores are worked. The local- 

 ities are already mentioned. The magnetic ore is reduced in New 

 England, New York, northern New Jersey, and sparingly in Penisyl- 



What was the usual substitute for iron among the ancients 1 What 

 s said of the Chalybes 1 What of the working of the Spanish mines ? 

 What of the Elba mines 1 What are the common ores of iron ? What 

 s said of the most common in England 1 in Sweden anc Norway? a| 

 Elba, Styria, and Carinthia 1 What ores abound in the United States 1 



