328 Dr. Pearson's Experiments 
(g) A piece of the substance, about 500 grains in weight 
(wrapped in paper to afford carbon enough to prevent oxi- 
dation, without supersaturating the metal with carbon) was 
exposed in a close vessel for above an hour to a pretty consi- 
derable fire. On cooling, the substance was found to have re- 
tained its form, but it was of a slate-blue colour, and many 
round particles as large as pins heads adhered to its surface, 
as if matter had oozed out by melting. The degree of fire, 
indicated by Wedgwood's pyrometer, was 140°. 
A piece of our steel, which had been a part of a file, was ex- 
posed in a similar manner,, but to rather more fire. It retained 
its form, and its surface remained smooth. 
A piece of crude, or cast iron, by exposure to this degree of 
fire, under the circumstances just mentioned, was fused : but in 
a temperature of about 120 0 its surface became covered with a 
number of smooth roundish masses, as if fusion had begun. 
( b ) 500 grains of wootz were exposed as in the former ex- 
periment, but to a fiercer fire, in my forge. The temperature 
was 14,8°; which is 23 0 more than Mr. Wedgwood states he 
could produce in a common smith's forge. My forge is move- 
able : the fuel is contained in a pan of cast iron lined with 
fire-bricks, as proposed by Mr. More : the bellows are only 
of the 22 inch size. In this fire the substance was melted 
with the loss of a few grains in weight. The surface was 
quite smooth. It broke under the hammer like cast steel. 
It received as fine a polish as that which had not been melted. 
Under a lens the polished surface appeared quite uniform and 
close, with a few pores at equal distances. The polished un- 
melted wootz had still fewer pores, and at unequal distances, 
but with several fissures. Its grain, in the opinion of Mr. 
