( 497 ) 
the broken Caps or Notches of a Razor, for in(Vance'> 
and the greater and courfer the Parts are, of which thofe 
Metals are compofed, as we may fee in Caft-Iron, the kfs 
valuable arc the faid Metals ; but the finer the Particles 
are^the more valuable in my Opinion will be the Steel 
and Iron which they compofe. 
Now when we view the fmall broken Parrs of Cold, 
Silver, Steel, Iron, d^c. We muft coniider that each of 
thofe Particles, as fmall a$ they appear to us, are again 
compofed of a great number of other exceeding fmaller 
Particles, which Nature has knit together 5 and that thefe 
coagulated Particles are yet-more flrongly united by Fire, 
and after that are fo confolid.ated by the Strokes and 
Preflure of the Smith’s Hammer, that they feem to us 
to be but one Body, tho’ they do confiQ: of a great 
many fmall Particles, the courfeft of which are always 
obvious when we come to break the Mettals : and how 
often foever you melt any of thefe Mettals, and break 
them again after they are cold, you will always be 
able to difcover the grainy Particles thereof $ but you 
wi l find them fo ftrongly joyn’d and riveted in oie 
another, that they appear to be but one Body. 
When the Steel is prepared and* made into a Ra- 
zor, and fet upon a Hone, we may perceive a great 
many long Streaks or Scratches of the faid Stone up- 
on the Razor; and the Courfer the Hone is with 
Sand, the Courfer and Deeper thofe Streaks are in 
the Steel. They pafs the Razor thus prepared upon 
one Stone, oftentimes upon a finer, to the end that 
they may Grind out the aforefaid long Streaks, which 
it had acquir’d upon the courfe Stone ; for every one 
of fuch Streaks in the Steel, when it is Sharpned or 
Ground again, becomes a Notch; when fuch Notches 
are Ground out of the Razor upon a fine Qyl-ftone 
or Hone, the Steel, where any of thefe Notches were, 
appears to the Eye as fmooth as Ckfs; but when 
E e e e wc 
