SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
99 
METALLURGY, MINERALOGY, AND MINING. 
lherzolite, and the Serpentine of the Pyrenees. — Mr. Townshend M. Hall, 
in a translation of a paper by M. E. Frossard ( Scientific Opinion ), has some 
interesting observations on the above subject. He seems to think that these 
two bodies are more closely related than is generally supposed. Speaking 
of the Lherzolite, he says : — The specific gravity, as determined by me 
from specimens obtained at Medoux, is 2-795, being slightly in excess of the 
specific gravity of serpentine, which ranges from 2-21 to 2 64; but less than 
that of augite, which varies from 3-20 to 3-38. Some of the fragments 
possess a laminar structure, whilst others are compact. The hardness 
slightly exceeds that of serpentine. 
The Combination of Felspar with Soda. — In a note to the Vienna Academy 
Herr Tschermak gave an account of the chemical combination of felspar with 
soda and soda and lime. He agrees with Rammelsberg and Bunsen in re- 
garding these combinations as isomorphous with albite and anorthite. 
The Properties of Esmarkite are thus stated in a paper by M. des Cloi- 
zeaux in the Comptes rendus , Oct. 18. Esmarkite is a greyish-green coloured 
mineral ; its fracture is conchoidal ; hardness holds the middle between 
apatite and orthose ; sp. gr. 2-737. Composition in 100 parts : — Silica, 
47-50; alumina 33-70; lime, 15-40; magnesia, 0-58 ; soda, 184; potassa, 
0-59 ; water, 0-94. 
A New Process for removing Silica from Iron. — Mr. J. Palmer Budd 
describes in the Artizan his new process. Having pointed out the objec- 
tional nature of the existing methods, he states that his process must revo- 
lutionise the present practice in the iron trade. His usual mode of proceed- 
ing is to place a series of iron moulds similar to those used before a refinery, 
as near as convenient to the tap hole of the blast furnace. He makes a paste 
by moistening with water soft hematite ore, which, if gritty, is previously 
ground, and he throws a bucket-full, containing about 60 lbs., into the mould 
in a semi-liquid state, and spreads it evenly on the bottom and sides. The 
mould being quite hot from the previous cast, dries the paste, which adheres 
to the bottom. He then taps as much iron as is required from the blast 
furnace, and allows it to run over and fill the moulds to the depth 
of three and a half to four inches. A great ebullition takes place ; jets of 
flame of a peculiar white colour burn on the surface, which he assumes to 
be combustion of silicon in the oxygen liberated from the hermatite. It 
was proved by repeated analysis that whilst the silicon was 1 per cent, in 
the white cast iron, it is reduced by this simple process to 0-200 or 0-300 
per cent., or from 1 per cent, to l-500th. A cinder is thrown up containing 
silicon, some phosphorus, and sulphur. The carbon is hardly at all removed. 
The appearance of the iron after the process is that of refined metal. Fur 
want of sufficient upward impulsive force a good deal of the scoriae, although 
chemically separated in the process from the iron, is not removed from it 
mechanically, but is mixed with the refined metal ; and, on remelting in 
puddling furnaces, forms a protecting slag. 
The Fluids in Rock Crystals. — At a recent meeting of the Literary Philo- 
sophical Society of Manchester, Dr. Schunck, F.R.S., called attention to a 
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