trori 3'9 
It is I fear with some truth that this charge is brought 
against that part of the arts relative to the assaying of iron 
ores. We never find, in the works of those whose atten- 
tion has been directed to this subject, that the least con- 
nected idea ever exists betwixt the assay and the blast- 
furnace, or that the agents used for reduction in the labo- 
ratory, can in general be applied to works in the large way* 
A total silence prevails amongst authors of this class, as to 
the various qualities of crude iron which certain ores and 
certain combinations of fluxes produce : all ores, however 
various, are reduced to the same complex treatment, and 
the operation itself measured by minutes, as if the fusi- 
bility of all the widely diiferently-combined ores was the 
same. 
The celebrated Bergman even, has a degree of com- 
plexity in his receipts for the assaying of iron ores, that 
seems unworthy of the simple elements of science. The 
following one in particular seems to possess an air of in - 
congruity even in the proportions, only equalled by the 
oddity of the assemblage of mixtures brought forward : 
“ 100 Grains of the roasted ore, two parts of the black 
^ flux, (equal parts of borax and nitre,) one part of tartar, 
* one of sal-ammoniac, one of sandever, half of (again) 
* borax, half of glass, one-fourth of clean soot, one-fourth 
* of charcoal ; the whole to be covered with common salt.’* 
This motly association of earths, alkalies, and salts, is 
recommended as the best flux for all iron ores. The 
author however shews, that the advantages which it pos- 
sesses are not complete, from the great caution prescribed 
in the mode of conveying the necessary degree of heat ; 
and the perfection of the operation is rendered altogether 
doubtful by the consequences which the oversight of a 
few minutes may occasion. 
It cannot be well reconciled to our ideas of advance- 
ment in any art, that we have not yet discovered a method 
