- 
‘ 
May 2, 1884.] 
papers read and discussed at the meetings held 
during the last fourteen years cover not only 
the practical, but the theoretical ground of 
the iron-manufacture. 
As its name indicates, this society confines 
itself to the consideration of iron and steel, 
and allied subjects. In the volumes before us 
we have sixteen papers, which, with the dis- 
cussions, occupy 389 pages. There are 43 
plates of illustrations. The remainder of the 
‘volumes, 400 pages in all, consists of notes on 
“the progress of the iron and steel industries of 
the United Kingdom and of foreign countries. 
‘These notes are arranged for the different coun- 
tries under the following heads: ores and fuel, 
blast-furnace practice, “manufacture of steel, 
manufacture of iron, mechanical and phy sical 
properties of iron and steel, chemical prop- 
erties of iron and steel, statistics. These 
notes contain also summaries of important 
papers in foreign publications. 
The most valuable papers in these volumes, 
those on the temperature best for the greatest 
production of iron at least expense of coke, 
and on coke and gaseous fuel, have been no- 
e already in Science, Nos. 33, 50, and 
09. 
~ Vol. i. opens with a discussion on Mr. G. J. 
Snelus’s paper on the physical and chemical 
characters of iron and steel. In view of the 
great increase of attention paid to this subject, 
the points of the discussion are worth a mo- 
ment’s notice. One of the more important 
points to be settled is the relation of the chem- 
ical composition and the physical treatment, 
hammering, heating, compression, etc., to the 
toughness : and dur erp of steel used for rails 
and machinery. 
The first researches on the subject seem to 
have been those of Messrs. J. T. Smith and 
SCIENCE. 
51 
Price Williams (Proc. inst. civ. eng., 1875-76). 
The conclusion arrived at, that soft rails low 
in carbon resisted wear better than harder 
rails high in carbon, was contrary to the gen- 
eral opinion of metallurgists and engineers, 
which had been, that steel would wear better, 
the harder it was. C. B. Dudley’s investiga- 
tions in 1878 and 1880 (Trans. Amer. inst. 
min. eng., vols: vil. and ix.) led him to advo- 
cate the use of soft steel for rails. The late 
Professor Gruner agreed with this view. But 
many engineers remained unconvinced ; since, 
they argued, the rails tested might have had 
other causes of weakness than an unsuitable 
‘amount of carbon. 
In the course of the discussion of Mr. Snelus’s 
paper, M. Cazes, chief of the permanent way 
of the Chemin de fer du midi de France, gave 
some interesting tables, showing that the hard 
rails used on that road lasted much longer than 
those on the Cologne-Minden railroad, which 
have a composition more nearly approaching 
Dr. Dudley’s proposed formula. There is as 
yet no commonly accepted measure of the work 
done by arail. It is usually measured either 
by the tonnage borne or by the number of 
trains which have passed over it ; but in nearly 
all estimates the speed of the train, which is 
an important element in the measure, has been 
left out of the consideration. 
In view of all these discordant results, the 
physical side of the question is coming into 
prominence. It is said that a sudden cooling 
or a powerful compression favors the passage 
of the carbon into ‘hardening carbon ;’ and 
upon this chemical effect. of a phy sical cause, 
M. L. Clemandot’s new process of tempering 
steel by compression is based. It is evident 
that many more experiments are needed before 
any satisfactory theory can be adopted. 
INTELLIGENCE FROM AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC STATIONS. 
GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS. 
Geological survey, 
Microscopic rock-investigation. — In addition to the 
microscopic examination of thin rock-sections being 
made in the various divisions of the survey, espe- 
cially in the Rocky-Mountain division at Denver, and 
by Mr. R. D. Irving and his assistants in the ale 
Superior region, arrangements have been perfected 
to carry on similar work at Washington, under the 
direction of Mr. J. S. Diller, who has recently been 
engaged in arranging the machinery and appliances 
for this work. The work of cutting and grinding 
rock-specimens has been carried on by Mr. Newman, 
under the immediate supervision of Mr. Diller. It 
is also intended, in this connection, to make the pho- 
tographie division available; and preparatory meas- 
ures, with this object in view, are being taken by 
Mr. Hillers, the photographer of the survey. 
Rocks of Lassen’s Peak. — Last July Mr. Diller, be- 
fore undertaking the reconnoissance of the Cascade 
Range, made a six-days’ trip from Red Bluff, Cali- 
fornia, to Lassen’s Peak (or Butte), and collected a 
number of interesting rocks; and of these Mr. Newman 
made thin sections, the microscopic study of which 
occupied Mr. Diller’s time during January. They 
included basalts, hypersthene andesites, hornblende 
andesites, dacites, and basaltic and andesitic tufas. 
