656 
Temperature of the Sun. 
[October, 
and into its mouth is poured about 15,000 pounds of fluid 
pig-iron, whose temperature as it flows in from an adjacent 
furnace, where it has previously been melted, is about 
1400° C. Then the “ converter ” is lifted to an ereCt posi- 
tion, and an air-blast from a powerful blowing-engine is 
forced up through its liquid contents. In the 15,000 pounds 
of impure iron there are ordinarily found about 230 pounds 
of silicon and 540 of carbon ; and as each pound of carbon 
gives 8,000 calories, and each pound of silicon 12,000 to 
14,000, in connection with the air-blast’s unlimited supply 
of oxygen, the temperature of the already molten metal 
rapidly rises under this enormous inflow of several million 
calories of heat. After the blast has continued eighteen to 
twenty minutes, the temperature of the contents is from 
1800° to 2000° C., or higher than that of melted platinum, 
taking the lowest estimate ; and now the “ converter ” is 
again lowered, and about 1500 pounds more of melted iron 
added. The temperature here, perhaps, falls slightly, but 
its effedt may be judged by any one who sees this second 
lot of iron poured in. Melted iron by itself, every one 
knows, seems dazzlingly bright ; but as this streams into 
the open mouth, the interior is so much brighter still, that 
the stream is deep-brown by comparison, presenting a con- 
trast like that of dark coffee poured into a white cup. The 
contents are no longer iron, but liquid steel leady for pour- 
ing into the cauldron ; and, looking from in front into the 
inclined vessel, we see the almost blindingly bright interior 
dripping with the drainage of the metal running down its 
sides, so that the circular mouth, which is twenty-four 
inches in diameter, presents the effeCt of a disk of molten 
metal of that size, were it possible to maintain such a disk 
in a vertical position. In addition, we have the aCtual 
stream of falling metal which continues nearly a minute, 
and presents an area of some square feet. The shower of 
scintillations from this liquid cataraCt of what seems at first 
“ sun-like ” brilliancy, and the immense area whence such 
intense heat and light are for a brief time radiated, make 
the spectacle a most striking one. 
Platinum dipped in the steel as it pours from the lip 
melts away; and not to rely on this evidence, which might 
be alleged to be due to an alloying rather than a true 
melting, I procured some platinum wire which Mr. Preusser, 
the chemist of the works, stretched, at my request, across 
the open mouth of the “ converter ” when in an ereCt 
position. The platinum, here several yards above the 
metal, was melted by the blast which came from it. 
