Mr. Mushet’s Experiments on fVootz . 
* 7 * 
General Remarks. 
The formation of wootz appears to me to be in consequence 
of the fusion of a peculiar ore, perhaps calcareous, or rendered 
highly so by mixture of calcareous earth along with a por- 
tion of carbonaceous matter. That this is performed in a clay 
or other vessel or crucible, is equally presumable, in which the 
separated metal is allowed to cool ; hence the crystallization 
that occupies the pits and cells found in and upon the under 
or rounded surface of the wootz cakes. 
The want of homogeneity, and of real solidity in almost 
every cake of wootz, appears to me to be a direct consequence 
of the want of heat sufficiently powerful to effect a perfect 
reduction ; what strengthens this supposition much is, that 
those cakes that are the hardest, i. e. that contain the greatest 
quantity of carbonaceous matter, and of course form the most 
fusible steel, are always the most solid and homogeneous. On 
the contrary, those cakes, into which the cutting chissel most 
easily finds its way, are in general cellular, replete with laminae, 
and abound in veins of malleable iron. 
It is probable, had the native Hindostan the means of ren- 
dering his cast steel as fluid as water, it would have occurred 
to him to have run it into moulds, and by this means have 
acquired an article uniform in its quality, and convenient for 
those purposes to which it is applied. 
The hammering, which is evident around the feeder and 
upon the upper surface in general, may thus be accounted for. 
When the cake is taken from the pot or crucible, the feeder 
will most probably be slightly elevated, and the top of the 
cake partially covered with small masses of ore and steel iron, 
Z 2 
