as may contribute to flux each other, being with difficulty 
fluxed alone. 
Hence also, appears the necessity of this knowledge, in- 
order to save coals, to save time, and to prevent the iron 
from being entangled and enveloped in a thick unyield- 
ing refractory slag, or scoria. 
Hence also, the necessity of beginning your operations^ 
by trying what earth, and in what proportions your ore 
contains : that is, to analyse your ore* 
Of course, my next section will treat of 
The Analysis of Iron ores . Chemists usually agree 
that the constituent parts of an ore, cannot be accurately 
known unless by analysing it in the moist way ; that i% 
by solution in acids or alkalies, and by precipitating the 
substances dissolved, by means of what are called re- 
agents. I am of this opinion too. But such an accu- 
rate analysis is not practically necessary, nor is it practi- 
cally true : for in the course of operations of a large manu- 
facture, it is not to be expected that the iron yielded by a 
thousand ton of ore, will correspond with the result of 
the analysis of an ounce. 
The best mode in my opinion is to proceed in the 
small way, pretty nearly upon the same plan that you 
proceed in the large way. 
The two objects then are, first, to find out what propor. 
tion of flux your ore will require, and of what kind, so as 
to be fused most compleatly at the slightest expence. 2dly, 
Find out how much iron you can procure by means of 
fire and fluxes, out of a given weight of ore. 
If you have not the means of a good wind furnace^ 
you must go to a blacksmith’s shop for the purpose. 
But every establishment of iron works, ought to have an 
assay furnace, of which the surface, should be 3 feet from 
the ground : the furnace hole 20 inches deep, 14 inches 
wide at the bottom, 12 inches wide at the top : the cruel- 
