164 



January 16, - 0-10 



21, -0-10 



„ 26, + 0-15 



31, + 0-25 



+ 0-20 



February 5, -f 0 • 1 5 



„ 10, - 0-25 



„ 15, ....,.+ 0-15 



„ 20, +0-55 



„ 25, -0-05 



March 2, +0-35 



7, - + 0-40 



12, +0-55 



17, +0-20 



22, +0-45 



„ 27, ....... 0-15 



+ 1-80 



April 1, . . , . . . + 0 -50 



„ 6, - 0-25 



+ 0 -55 



Mr. Edwaed Clibboei^" read a paper — 



Ojst the partial CoMBusTioisr OF Fluid Iron, described by Mandelslo in 

 1639; AND OP Solid Iron, now publicly practised in Dublin by 



MEANS OE A CoLD BlAST OF CoMMON AlR. 



The first process referred to in the title of this communication is de- 

 scribed at p. 160 of the English version of Mandelslo's travels, published 

 in London, in 1669. "We there find that ''They {the Japanese) have, 

 among others, a particular invention for the melting of iron, without 

 the using of fire, casting it into a tun done about on the inside with 

 about half a foot of earth, where they keep it (melting''''-) with continual 

 blowing, and take it out by ladles full, to give it what form they please, 

 much better and more artificially than the inhabitants of Liege are able 

 to do." When these remarks were written in 1639, this city produced 

 the best fabrics in iron then manufactured in Europe. 



To a cursory reader this extract conveys the notion, that the Japa- 

 nese, amongst other processes for working the metals, then unknown in 

 Germany, were acquainted with one which enabled them to melt iron 

 without the use of fire in any form. But a judicious person, acquainted 

 with the iron manufacture, will perceive that the words, '^casting it (the 

 iron) into a tun^^ qualify the previous statement, '' without the using of 

 firef for they imply that the iron, having been previously melted by fire, 

 was afterwards cast, in the liquid state, not into wooden flasks or boxes 

 of various shapes and sizes, containing sand moulds, in which the melted 

 iron would, under ordinary treatment, have been allowed to remain at 

 rest, and cool, and harden into all sorts of shapes, with or without the 

 impact of air, in the Japanese plan, on the contrary, was, " cast" into, 

 or allowed to flow from a melting furnace into an open wooden " tun," 

 or large tub, such as might have been used in a German brew-house about 

 230 years ago. This tun was lined internally, as he tells us, '' with 

 about half a foot of earth," or fire-cla}'-, and not moulding sand. This clay, 

 from its tenacity, was necessary to fit it for the purpose. It was not 

 superficial or common earth, but a sort of fire-lute, not only capable of 



* The context shows that this M'ord is understood. 



