49 
Cast Iron^ Steely and Malleable Iron. 
0’41 of this yellow powder was melted in a platinum cru- 
cible with carbonate of soda, and the effervescence was very 
vivid. I separated silica to the amount of 0*115. The solu- 
tion, from which the silica was separated, saturated with car- 
bonate of ammonia, left alumina with a little silica, which 
amounted to 0*107; no trace of iron could be detected. 
Fourteen grains of filings of English iron, made after my 
peculiar method for steel, were then dissolved in a test glass 
with five drams of hydrochloric acid. The iron dissolved 
rapidly; a dark gray oily skinny scum collected on the sur- 
face, and the glass was filled to an inch in height with a whitish 
gray saline granulated precipitate of protochloride of iron, 
which, on having removed the acid and substituted distilled 
water, disappeared completely. The solution, stirred and 
quickly poured into another vessel, left gray heavy scales of 
the form of the filings on the bottom. 
These gray-white scales, well washed, were very slowly at- 
tacked by diluted hydrochloric acid ; concentrated, it acted 
rather more powerfull}", and the liquid became yellow and 
milky fourteen hours after the action of the acid had ceased. 
A few black spots remained on the bottom ; a grayish viscid 
mass floated on the surface, like sulphur, separated by aqua- 
regia from sulphurets ; the sides of the tube were covered by a 
layer of yellowish-white substance, which I could sublime over 
a lamp and volatilize. The fumes escaping had, in a degree, 
the scent of French brandy and fennel oil. 
The black viscid mass, slowly ignited on a platinum foil, 
emitted first fumes of volatilized sulphur ; then some sulphur- 
ous acid appeared ; and lastly, the mass began suddenly to 
glow like tinder, and burnt without further assistance, leaving 
a residue of darkish brown powder, which, boiled with muriatic 
acid, assumed a vivid red colour, was scarcely attacked by 
aqua-regia, and only dissolved completely after being boiled 
again in hydrochloric acid. This scaly remainder consisted 
therefore of Iron and 
Sulphur/ quantity; 
Carbon andl 
Hydrogen | ''^ry little; 
probably a sulphuret of carbon mixed with iron, or a carburet 
of iron mixed with sulphur. 
The water, quickly separated from the heavy scales as before- 
mentioned, became, after a little time, clear, a white precipitate 
having fallen to the bottom. This precipitate, heated first on 
a platinum foil, gave out sulphur, then a small quantity of 
* sulphurous acid, when the mass began to glow and a light 
*white yonsoder of silica remained. 
Phil. Mag, S. 3. Vol. 16. No. 100. Jan, 1840. E 
