JUNE 20, 1884, ] 
editor. This periodical devotes special attention to 
the study of the Basque dialects, traditions, and lit- 
erature. 
The tribes of northern and north-western Australia, 
of which so little is known, have been sketched by 
Edward Palmer in the Journal of the anthropologi- 
cal institute, 1884, pp. 276-334. His article contains 
statements which evidently come from an experienced 
traveller. Nine tribes are described as to their physi- 
eal and social characteristics, cannibalism, food, cook- 
ing and hunting, weapons, manufactures, amuse- 
ments, superstitions, bora-ceremonies, funerals, etc. 
The chapter on gentes, or, as Palmer calls them, 
class-systems, brings together a large amount of new 
facts; and the seven vocabularies concluding the 
paper extend over more thana hundred and sixty 
terms. A. S. GATSCHET. 
MODERN RAIL-MAKING. 
THE making of steel rails consists of three distinct 
processes: the production of cast-iron from the ore; 
converting the cast-iron into steel in a Bessemer con- 
verter, and casting it into ingots; and rolling out the 
ingots into rails. According to the most recent prac- 
tice, these operations follow each other so closely as 
to seem almost one. 
Cast-iron is obtained from iron ore by reducing the 
ore in a blast-furnace with coke for fuel, and lime- 
stone as a flux to facilitate the reduction. The blast- 
furnace consists of an approximately cylindrical iron 
structure about seventy-five feet high, lined with 
bricks of refractory material, leaving an internal 
diameter of about twenty feet. A similarly lined 
bottom is securely fastened on, but can be removed 
forrepairs. The top is closed by a cone-shaped cover 
suspended inside of the top of the furnace, which is 
here reduced in diameter. This cone is held in place 
by a lever and counter-weight. Airis supplied under 
pressure by blowing-engines, which are simply large 
alr-compressing pumps, through openings, or tuyéres, 
near the bottom of the furnace. The hot gases of 
combustion escape through openings near the top of 
the furnace, and are conducted away by pipes and 
underground conduits,—part to heat the boilers, 
which supply steam to the blowing-engines; and part 
to ‘stoves,’ to heat the air-blast on its way from the 
engines to the furnace. These stoves consist of a 
number of up-and-down passages built in fire-brick. 
Gas from the furnace is burned in one of them until 
it is highly heated; then the gas is turned into a cool 
stove, and the air-blast forced through the hot one. 
The iron ore, as received from the mines, is stored 
in a large yard, each kind of ore occupying a specified 
place. The coke is stored in a large and high shed, 
into which it is unloaded from cars run in on over- 
head railroad-tracks. Supposing the blast-furnace to 
be in operation, the ore, limestone, and coke are 
loaded in hand-carts, as required; hoisted on an ele- 
vator to the charging-floor, which is on a level with 
the top of the furnace; and dumped upon the cone 
cover before mentioned. When the requisite number 
of loads of each kind of material is deposited on it, 
SCIENCE. | 
761 
the cone is lowered for an instant, and the charge 
slides over its edge into the furnace. ‘The ore is re- 
duced, forming iron, which sinks by its weight to the 
bottom of the furnace, and a glassy slag containing 
most of the impurities, which floats on the top of the 
iron. The molten iron is drawn off through an open- 
ing at the bottom of the furnace, and, flowing through 
a channel in the sand floor, runs into a cup-shaped 
ladle holding between five and ten tons. ‘This ladle 
is mounted on a narrow-gauge car on a track which 
leads to the converter. This completes the first stage 
of the process. If the iron drawn from the blast- 
furnace were run into channels on a sand floor, and 
allowed to cool, it would be the ordinary form of cast- 
iron known as pig-iron. 
The converter, which is the essential feature of the 
Bessemer process of making steel, consists of a cylin- 
drical iron casing, on which is placed a tapering por- 
tion, connecting it to a nozzle of smaller diameter. 
This nozzle is inclined at an angle of about forty-five 
degrees to the cylindrical part. The whole casing 
encloses a thick lining of highly refractory material. 
The bottom is double, the upper part being made of 
material like the lining, and pierced with numerous 
small holes, through which the air is forced in. The 
converter is supported on two hollow trunnions, 
through which the blast is supplied, and led by pipes 
to the double bottom. We will suppose that the con- 
verter has been heated, and is ready for a charge. 
The ladle of molten iron from the blast-furnace is 
drawn by a locomotive on an elevated track to a 
point a few feet above and in line with the converter. 
The latter is turned on its trunnions until the iron is 
readily poured into it from the ladle, through the 
nozzle or mouth. The blast of air is turned on ata 
pressure increasing to twenty-five pounds per square 
inch, and the converter turned upright. Rapid com- 
bustion takes place, the principal impurities in the 
iron are first attacked and burned out, the free or 
uncombined carbon burns next, then the combined 
carbon begins to leave the iron, and shortly a nearly 
pure iron is left in the converter. It is now turned 
as before, and the blast stopped: if continued, the 
iron itself would be oxidized. This portion of the 
process usually occupies about ten minutes, although 
some ores do not require over six, and twenty may 
be necessary with others. 
In the mean time, an iron rich in carbon and 
manganese, called spiegeleisen, has been melted in 
a cupola resembling the blast-furnace. A definite 
quantity, determined by experience and analysis, has 
been run into a car-ladle; and, as the converter is 
turned at the end of the ‘blow,’ this car is drawn out 
on the track before mentioned, and the spiegeleisen 
poured into the converter. This is to replace, to a 
certain extent, the carbon burned out during the 
blow; the quantity being exactly determined by the 
quality of steel required, according to the general 
principle that the more carbon added, the harder is 
the product. The converter is now turned down; 
and the molten steel, which may be as much as ten 
tons, is poured from the nozzle into a ladle. This 
ladle is mounted on a hydraulic crane which stands 
