CLINTON COUNTY. 
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arrangement in these pieces. Now in this case, a large proportion is reduced, and it is that 
part of it which was in a state of protoxide ; while that which is now black and brittle, and 
was bright and shining before the experiment, was the peroxide, and it is now merely reduced 
to the state the former was in before the experiment. But, inquires one, why not continue 
the process till the whole is reduced to iron ; why stop it in this stage ? The reason is 
obvious. The iron already reduced, being in contact with carbon, will not remain quiescent. 
It now has an affinity for carbon, with which it will combine at any rate, and cannot be 
prevented. And this accords with experiment; for on suffering some siggars, with their 
contents, to remain seventy or eighty hours, the iron shows its carbonization by its softness, 
and soiling slightly either the fingers or white paper. This, though it upsets the idea of 
reducing the two oxides when mixed, yet is an interesting fact, and may possibly, if carried 
out, lead to the manufacture of steel by a method more expeditious and less expensive. The 
iron is, as it were, in a nascent state ; it is, from its porosity, in a condition to combine with 
carbon ; and the end in view, in order to secure a favorable result, is to know when to stop 
the process : the iron seems, too, to be in a state to receive the carbon into its whole texture — 
to be ready and prepared to form a compound with carbon, in which the latter shall be 
equally disseminated through the mass. 
By reference again to Fig. 77, No. 3, we have a visible representation of the proportions of 
the oxides in the coarse black ore, and the same proof exists previous to experiment. The 
bright particles of peroxide have the same relative proportions, and the only differences which 
exist are the changes in the chemical constitution, each oxide having lost one atom of oxygen. 
In the same figure. No. 2 is a specimen of the fine-grained ore ; and here we see not only a 
different arrangement of the particles of the two oxides, but different proportions also ; here the 
peroxide is greater in quantity than the protoxide. The same changes have followed, however : 
that which was black in the ore, and of a dull lustre, has become iron; while the bright par¬ 
ticles are only reduced down to the state of a protoxide. In the fine-grained ore, it is more 
difficult to distinguish the oxides before the reduction, than in the coarse black ore ; still, by 
receiving the light properly upon the specimens under examination, the one is sufficiently dis¬ 
tinct from the other. 
Another inquiry might be made in this stage of my remarks : Can not the deoxidized ore 
be put at once into the forge, and the last process be facilitated in this way ? This question is 
equally clear with the one above. Exposing the mass in any way to carbon when heated, will 
make a carburet; and to verify this conjecture, Mr. Henderson put a quantity into the forge, 
giving his bloomer directions to run it down as rapidly as possible. These masses all came 
out malleable, though immensely hard, and formed exceedingly tough bars, some portions 
being in the state of steel, and others iron. For some purposes such a mixture may be very 
useful, combining the toughness of iron with the hardness of steel. 
In addition to the above, Mr. Henderson informs me, that on referring back to former expe¬ 
rience, he believes that all the bars which have been made from the coarse black ore were 
mixtures of iron and steel. Some of them were remarkable for their toughness and obstinacy, 
Geol. 2d Hist. 38 
