188 



On Indian Iron and Steel. 



published in 1814, and they also contain an account of both processes, 

 along with a very interesting letter from the late Mr. Stoddart upon 

 the quality of Indian steel, which he pronounces to be decidedly superior 

 to any other description of steel ; yet in page 223, of the first volume 

 of the Treatise on Mefals, lately published, it is stated, " that the wootz 

 of India, in the state in v\ hi(;h we receive it, is the immediate product 

 of the ore, seems to be undoubted." 



The principle of the Indian process is so different from that practised 

 in England for making cast-steel, that it is not surprising that in the 

 absence of all informati<>n upon the subject, Dr. Pearson should have 

 formed an errcmeous opinion as to its nature. It has always appeared 

 to me one of the most astonishing facts in the history of the arts, that 

 the Hindus should be in possession of a process, the theory of which is 

 extremely recondite, and in the discovery of which, there seems so 

 little room for the agency of cbance: it is impossible to suppose, how- 

 ever, that the process was discovered by any scientific induction, for 

 the theory of it can only be explained by the lights of modfMn chemis- 

 try : in fact, all speculation upon the origin of the discovery seems use- 

 less. It appears an easy matter to trace the successive steps of the 

 steel manufacture in Europe. In Europe, steel seems first to have been 

 made in modern times in Germany ; the process consisted in partially 

 decarbonating cast-iron in a finery, and bringing the metal under the 

 hammer before the process for converting it into malleable iron was 

 completed: this was, of course, the work of chance, as was also the fur- 

 ther discovery that the iron manufactured from some kinds of iron ore, 

 was fitter for making this natural steel, as it is called, than that made 

 from other ore : this was for a long time the only description of steel 

 made in Europe, and although the manufacture of cutlery has been 

 established in England for some centuries, yet the only steel used for 

 this purpose, for a very long period, was the natural steel of Germany. 



As soon as chemical investigation had discovered that steel consist- 

 ed of pure iron united to a very small proportion of carbon, an obvious 

 experiment would be to endeavour to form steal by synthesis ; and 

 hence the process of subjecting pure malleable iron to a high heat in 

 contact with carbon, producing blistered steel as the result. This step 

 in the manufacture was found to be a great improvement upon the Ger- 

 man steel, and the next step which would immediately suggest itself, 

 that of welding several bars of blistered steel together, and drawing 

 them down into a single bar under a very heavy hammer, forming what 

 is called shear-steel, was found still further to improve the quality; 

 still it was found that all these descriptions of steel possessed defects 

 which rendered them unfit tor purposes which required a high polish 

 and a fine and strong edge : these defects could evidently be traced 



