585 
Cast Iron^ Steel, and Malleahle Iron, 
cemented steel has obtained the name of blistered steel, and 
the oxygen of the part of this gas which is in contact with 
the sides of the blister occasions those fine tints of yellow and 
blue with which the inside of the blisters is generally covered. 
It is generally asserted that the outside of the cemented 
bar of steel contains more carbon than the inside, and that 
therefore the fusion of the cemented bar served to spread the 
carbon more equally throughout the mass. This is contrary 
to fact. When the iron bar which is to be cemented is of a 
suitable thickness, the process of carbonization commences, 
like the process of the reduction of iron ores, almosrsimul- 
taneously at the centre and at the outside of the bar ; and I 
have often found that the inside of the cemented bar contained 
a greater quantity of carbon than the outside. The quantity 
of carbon imbibed by each portion of the bar depends en- 
tirely on the quantity of carbon first contained in the differ- 
ent parts of the iron bar, as well as on the carburet of silicon 
contained in it ; and this different degree of carbonization may 
even be detected by the eye, from the various forms of cry- 
stallization contained in the bar. 
This, as well as other chemical phaenomena which have 
not received sufficient attention, may be explained by the 
law which causes one atom of water in the voltaic circuit to 
evolve hydrogen and oxygen at the same moment at two di- 
stant points. 
In conclusion, I annex an analysis of the best English cast 
steel, to controvert the modern assertion that the best cast- 
steel bars consist only of a pure compound of carbon and 
iron. The analysed specimen was a fragment of an excellent 
razor, forged in my presence, in the workshop of Mr. 
Rodgers, of Sheffield, of the specific gravity of 7*92. 
Silicon . . 
. 0*52043 
Aluminum 
. 0-00000 
Manganese 
. 1*92000 
Arsenic 
. 0*93400 
Antimony . 
. 0-12100 
Tin . . . 
. Traces. 
Phosphorus 
. 0-00000 
Sulphur . 
. P00200 
Azote . , 
. 0-18310 
Carbon 
. 1-42800 
Iron . . 
. 93-79765 
Loss . . 
. 0-09382 
100-00000 
Fliil, Mag, S, 3. Vol. 16. No. 106. SiippLJuly 1840, 2 11 
