LIVERPOOL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
53 
globe ; and notwithstanding the dictum of the Lords of the Admiralty only a few years 
ago, that telegraphs w T ere of no use in time of peace, and that during war the semaphore 
answered all required purposes, we have thousands of miles of electric telegraph wire 
suspended, by which to transmit our thoughts, words, and actions, literally as quick 
as lightning, over a large portion of the civilized world; and the mere entertainment of 
the possibility of this latter fact would at no very distant period have laid the believer in 
its accomplishment open to the charge of wishing to search into the hidden things of 
God, and to possess himself with that power which belongeth only to Omnipotence itself 
and not to created beings. And those of you who witnessed in this room a few weeks ago 
the marvellous performance of the telegraphic machine invented by Chevalier Hughes,, 
will recognize the rapid strides which science and invention are yet making. 
In conclusion, I may observe, that in the language of a late author, “the progress of 
natural science is indeed leading us apace to a more intimate acquaintance with creation 
and its objects, but the capacity of man’s intellect has not yet enabled him to discover 
the whole of the work of the Almighty Hand; but there is a feeling worthy to mix in 
the pure contemplation of nature and science, and that is the anticipation of the pleasure 
we may have to bestow on kindred minds with our own in sharing with them our dis¬ 
coveries and acquirements ; and the gratification of communicating virtuous disinterested 
pleasure to those who have the same tastes with ourselves, or of guiding young ingenuous 
minds to worthy pursuits and facilitating the acquisition of what we have already 
obtained, is truly an object worthy of a good man. Some there are, perhaps, that will 
ask, where is the good ?—considering not, as regards botany for instance, that our food, 
our clothing, and our medicine principally, are directly or indirectly dependent on the 
vegetable kingdom, and therefore the more we know of its productions the more efficiently 
shall we value and supply ourselves wfith these ’benefits. This consideration, however, 
should not be the whole aim and end of our existence, but, in the language of Sir J. E. 
Smith, “ Is it not desirable to call the soul from the feverish agitation of worldly pur¬ 
suits to the contemplation of divine wisdom in the beautiful economy of nature ? Is it 
not a privilege to walk with God in the garden of creation and hold converse with His. 
Providence?” If such elevated feelings do not lead to the study of nature, it cannot far 
be pursued without rewarding the student by exciting them. 
An excursion of this Society to Runcorn Gap and Garston took place on Friday, the 
3rd of July. About thirty members and friends assembled at the Garston Railway Sta¬ 
tion, and proceeded by the 11.55 a.m. train to Runcorn Gap. On arriving there they 
walked to the Woodend Copper Works of Messrs. Charles Lambert and Co., where they 
were met by the manager, Mr. Hopkins, who led them through the works, and explained 
to them the various processes connected with copper-smelting as carried on in those works 
on a very extensive scale, Messrs. Lambert and Co. being one of the largest copper- 
smelting firms in the kingdom. The ore-yard was first visited, and there the various 
kinds of ore, and the methods of preparing them for smelting, were examined. The 
calcining furnaces were next inspected, where the ores are subjected to the process of 
roasting in order to expel the sulphur and some other substances which they contain. 
The sulphur in the works of Messrs. Lambert is employed for the manufacture of sul¬ 
phuric acid ; but in many copper works the sulphurous gases are allowed to escape up the 
chimney into the atmosphere to the annoyance and damage of the surrounding country. 
From the calciners the party proceeded to the melting furnaces, in which the calcined ore 
is converted into regulus, or, as it is technically known, ‘ coarse metal.’ This operation 
consists in melting the ore with a certain quantity of sand or slag (sometimes a little 
coal and lime is added to the charge). The iron and other impurities separate in the 
form of slag, which is principally silicate of iron, whilst the copper is converted into 
sulphide, and, being heavier than the slag, sinks to the bottom of the furnace. The 
melting operation occupies about five hours, and the slag is then skimmed out through 
an opening in the front of the furnace, care being taken not to draw out any of the 
metal at the same time. A hole in the side of the furnace, called the ‘ tap-hole,’ is then 
opened and the metal runs out into sand-moulds placed to receive it. When sufficiently 
cool the regulus is removed from the moulds to another part of the works, and the slag 
is thrown away, or used for road-mending or any other purpose for which it may be 
found useful. The ‘ coarse metal ’ is afterwards subjected to two or three other processes 
