270 
Steel . 
of good steeL When the crude iron is of such a nature 
as to afford, brittle steel, it is usual to mix in the refining 
furnace a quantity of another kind of crude iron, which 
may modify its quality. 
Though iron and steel are distinguishable by very strik- 
ing qualities, there is, nevertheless, a point of contact at 
which they are confounded : the softest steel may be con- 
sidered as a very hard iron, and, in fact, the several kinds 
of iron differ in hardness by the same principle which con- 
stitutes steel. They all retain a small portion of charcoal, 
which escapes the operation of refining. Those which 
contain the least are under like circumstances more flexi- 
ble, soft, ductile, and susceptible of acquiring by the ac- 
tion of the hammer that fibrous form which constitutes 
what is called the grain of iron. Hence it is that different 
kinds of bar iron are sometimes obtained from the same f 
crude iron, though the operation is apparently the same. 
It is sufficient for this effect that the inclination of the 
tuver be changed. 2 Nich. Jour. qto. p. 66. 
The next kind of steel, is 2dly, Steel of cementation ; 
blistered steel. 
Observations on Iron and SteeL By Joseph Collier . From i 
the Transactions of the Manchester Society — with ' 
notes by T. C. 
AFTER examining the works of different authors 
who have written on the subject of making iron and steel, |J 
I am persuaded that the accounts given by them of the 
necessary processes and operations are extremely imper- 
fect. Chemists have examined and described the various 
compound minerals containing iron with great accuracy, 
but have been less attentive to their reduction. This ob- 
servation more particularly applies to steel, of the making 
of which I have not seen any correct account* It is sin- 
