350 
Cast Steel. 
Account of the Experiments of Citizen Clouet , on the dif- 
ferent states of Iron , and its conversion into Cast-steel 
The learned reporter begins his account, by giving an 
historical sketch of the scientific and correct information 
we possess, respecting the art of steel-making. He states* 
that from the time when the labours of Reaumur had en- 
lightened the practice of making natural steel, and steel by 
cementation, the theory remained stationary, notwitb stand- 
ing the numerous and valuable experiments of Bergman, 
Rinmann, Priestley, &c\ until the appearance of the ex- 
cellent memoir of Vandermonde, Berthollet, and Monge* 
in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences for 1786. 
That the English, who had long supplied the European 
market with steel of cementation, remained also in the ex- 
clusive possession of the article known by the name of 
cast-steel, which, though confined to certain fine works f, 
is, nevertheless, a very valuable branch, of national indus- 
try ; that various experiments have been made with suc- 
cess, on a confined scale, in France, to imitate this pro- 
duct, since the time when Jars published an account of 
the method used at Sheffield ; but that from a want of 
precision in the narrations of these processes, and the dif- 
ference which is, with justice, considered to subsist be- 
tween the experiments of the laboratory, and those of the 
manufacturer in his extensive operations, the art of mak- 
ing cast-steel was considered, by the most eminent French 
chemists, as very far from being publicly known : and 
Vandermonde, Monge, and Berthollet, notwithstanding 
their acquaintance with these facts, thought fit to declare, 
* From the report of Citizen Guyton, made to the National In- 
stitute of France, on 16th Messidor in the year VI. (July 4, 1798) 
inserted in the Annales de Chimie, XXVIII. 19. 
t It is used in a great variety of common tools and works in 
England. 
