Cast Steel 
441 
lave found bars of steel as full of veins and irregularities 
as wood, and have been enabled to select the best and 
! most uniform pieces for works of the greatest delicacy ; 
I whereas, before I thought of this mode of trial, I have 
Very often had the mortification to fail in the last stage of 
experimental processes, upon which much cost and la- 
bour had been bestowed. 
Account of an Experiment to imitate the Damascus Sword 
Blades , in a letter from Mr. James Stodart, to Mr. 
Nicholson. 
Dear Sir, 
Having lately had an opportunity of examining some 
sword blades, which appeared to be defective, I was in- 
duced to make the following experiment. The subject 
is surely of some importance, and perhaps never more so 
than at the present moment. We hear of swords having 
broken in battle, and we can hardly imagine a more dis- 
tressing circumstance. Those which I have seen are cer- 
tainly in no danger of failing in that way, for on the 
contrary they are evidently too soft, and consequently can- 
not form a good cutting edge. I am not acquainted with 
the process used in making sword blades, but am inclined 
to suspect that the price allowed, is not equal to the labour 
necessary to form a good instrument. The following me- 
thod, which I believe to be nearly the same as that prac- 
tised at Damascus, but which I suspect would be too 
difficult and expensive for general application, may per- 
haps lead to some more simple method of accomplishing 
the desired purpose. I took six small bars of good mal- 
leable iron, and the same number of sheer steel, and laid 
them one on another alternately, as if forming a galvanic 
pile ; I then with the assistance of an expert workman, 
committed them to a clean forge fire, and with care we 
succeeded ia welding them into a solid lump. This was 
