ANALYSIS OF MAGNETIC IRON-ORE. 53 



After all the titanium had been separated from 

 the insoluble part of the ore, there still remained 

 a small portion of white matter. It was fused 

 with potash, — softened with water, — neutralized 

 with muriatic acid, and then evaporated nearly 

 $0 dryness. It assumed the form of an insoluble 

 Jelly. Hence this insoluble portion was silica, not, 

 however, quite free from iron, for it was slightly 

 coloured. 



Such was the process followed in the analysis, 

 and such the substances obtained : 100 grains of 

 the ore being treated in this manner, yielded 

 126.5 grains of red oxide of iron, 4.2 grains of 

 white oxide of titanium, and 2.4 grains of si- 

 lica. 



From the great quantity of red oxide obtained 

 in the present case, it is obvious, that the ore is 

 not a mixture of black and red oxides of iron.. 

 Had it consisted of black oxide alone, the quan- 

 tity of red oxide which it would have yielded, 

 would have been less. The only possible con- 

 clusion, is, either that the iron in magnetic iron- 

 ore is a mixture of iron in the metallic state, 

 and of black oxide of iron, or that it is in a 

 state of oxydizement different from any at 

 present known, and in which the metal is com- 

 bined with less oxygen than in black oxide. 



Theory would lead us to conclude, that iron 

 is capable of combining with three different doT^es 



J)4 



