MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
103 
feet. They vrere at writing in the sandstone formation 
again. 
In the immediate neighbourhood of the iron mines 
a very superior description of tire-clay has been found, 
which is similar to that generally found below the coal 
formation, hut not un frequently between and above the 
seams. It appears to be free of lime, which is an ad¬ 
vantage in making it into bricks. This I need not say 
is of great importance, seeing that a largo quantity of 
this description of brick is required for the construction 
of the furnaces, which otherwise would have to be 
brought, at great expense, from England ; indeed the 
requirements for this class of brick is becoming so great 
that it is a question if a profitable manufacture of them 
might not be carried on independent of the iron works. 
The specimen before you, although the clay has not 
been screened or passed through a pug-mill, will never¬ 
theless bear comparison to the English Newcastle brick. 
In the centre of the iron bed there is a mineral spring 
similar to those found at Cheltenham, Bath, and other 
places in England where they are reckoned of value for 
medical purposes. I mention tins as I am not aware 
of others in the colony, and the knowledge of its exist¬ 
ence may bo of service to the medical profession, al¬ 
though independent of this, the transmission of iron in 
a chemical form, through chalybeate springs is of itself 
curious, “ but how much more so (observes Miller in 
speaking of the transmigration of tue Proteus iron ) its 
passage and subsequent accumulations, as in bog iron 
of the coal measures, through the agency of vegetation ! 
How strange it‘ the steel axe of the woodman would 
have once formed part of an ancient forest! if, after 
first existing as a solid mass in a primary rock, it 
should next have route to bo diffused as a red pigment 
in a transition conglomerate —then as a brown oxide in 
a chalybeate spring — then as yellowish oclirc in a se¬ 
condary sindstone — then as a component part ill tho 
stems and twigs of a thick forest of arboraceous plants 
—then, again, as an iron carbonate, slowly accumu¬ 
lating at the bottom of a morass of the coal measures — 
then as a layer of indurated bands and nodules of brown 
ore, underlaying a scam or coal — and then, finally, that 
it should have been dug out, and smelted, and fashioned 
for the purpose of handicraft, and yet occupy, even at 
this stage, merely a middle place between the transmi¬ 
grations which have passed, and the changes which are 
yet to come 1” 
The quantity of water employed in iron works is 
very considerable for cooling coke, and the rollers, &e., 
so that it was with great satisfaction that I found the 
stream running through the company’s property was 
available for at least ten months in the year, but by 
means of damming, a reservoir has been formed in 
which can be retained a sufficient supply to meet the 
■wants of the driest season. 
Provision has been made to carry on the mechanical 
operations employed in preparing iron; already a 
twelve-horse power engine aud boiler has been erected, 
which, by means of gearing is made to work the tilts, 
squeezer, and a large hammer of five tons weight. A 
forty horse-power engine is also in course of erection 
(although a more powerful one would have been pre¬ 
ferable) to work the rolls which have lately arrived 
from England, and which consist of a set of roughing 
and merchant rollers, and a set for railway bam. 
The class of rail these rolls are intended to produce 
is that known as the “double-faced,” or H raiL, tho 
depth being five inches and parallel throughout—it is 
two and a-nalf inches in width at top and bottom, and 
the thickness of the middle vertical rib seven-tenths of 
an inch ; it weighs seventy-five pounds to tho yard. It 
will be necessary to erect re-heating furnaces in con¬ 
nection with these rolls: they will require about ten 
men to work them —viz., the roller, drawor. and two to 
lift and present the pieces to the grooves, and two upon 
the opposite side to receive them, besides one or two 
labourers to stack, &c., &c. 
Other hands will be required to straighten, and a 1 
sawing machine to cut them into equal lengths. 
Before concluding, I wish to call your attention to 
the unusual degree of interest attached at present to the 
manufacture of iron in England, nwing to tho great dif¬ 
ficulty experienced in obtaining a superior quality of 
metal for heavy ordnance ; and a commission has been 
formed by order of the British Government for testing 
at Woolwich Arsenal the comparative strength of iron 
manufactured in England and those produced in various 
parts of the world. At the trial uiado it was found that 
the American iron would bear a pressure of from thirty- 
tivo thousand to forty-live thousand pounds, while the 
best iron they had been able to obtain from other places 
w6uld not bear more than a pressure of twenty -seven 
thousand five hundred pounds, and averaged only 
twenty-two thousand pouuds. 
A company called tho “Arcadian Iron Company,” 
in Nova Scotia, has offered to contract with the Govern¬ 
ment to supply iron that will stand, the pressure of 
thirty-six thousand uounds* 
1 mention this to show that there is a market open 
for a better class of iron than that made in England, 
but we have our own rails, viaducts, aud bridges, &c., 
to construct from this most important metal. It there¬ 
fore behoves the Government and the colony generally 
to give encouragement to such undertakings, so that by 
developing the natural resources of the country assist¬ 
ance ay be given to that much desired object “the 
opening up of the country.” And I believe tho man 
who draws the first railway bar through the rollers in 
this colony will have done infinitely more towards ad¬ 
vancing railways here, than all the speeches of poli¬ 
ticians put together. 
1 would observe, in conclusion, that from the magni¬ 
tude and highly important results sought to be achieved 
by the Fit* Roy Iron Company, the undertaking must 
be regarded with earnest interest by the colonists. It 
is not one that can be worked on a small scale, or by a 
small capital, but which demands the command of very- 
large financial means, and the exercise of energy and 
perseverance; and I have no doubt, if properly con¬ 
ducted, it will prove to be an enduring source of 
wealth ; and when other sources are dried up this will 
prove a valuable export and profitable branch of in¬ 
dustry. 
Since writing the above, the followung description of 
the iron mine discovered at Port Stephens has appeared 
in tho Sydney Morning Uerald , which may appropri¬ 
ately be introduced into this paper. It states that— 
“The stratum runs in a direction north-west and 
south-east, and crops out in several places. 
“ Two miners employed on it for a few days laid 
open a vein (fiOOO) five thousand feet long, twenty feet 
wide, and two feet three inches thick. 
“ It is situated almost duo west of Stroud, on the 
rocky ranges between Jvarnah aud Williams River, and 
within four miles of the spot are immense beds of fine 
limestone. About ten miles north-east of tlio iron de¬ 
posit, a rich stratum of coal crops out of the ground, 
which is supposed to be the thickest seam of coal 
hitherto discovered in the world, aud this coal bed it 
has been proved runs in a direction northerly for (25) 
twentv-five miles, cropping out again near Gloucester. 
“ The value of these mineral deposits so contiguous 
to water carriage, communicating with the harbour of 
Port Stephens, needs no comment. 
u The harbour is second only to Port Jackson, and 
vessels of a thousand tons can enter safely, and run up 
ten miles, where there is water and room enough for 
the entire British navy.” 
The following is the cldef collection of iron ores in 
the Australian Museum, presented by Mr. S. Stutch- 
bury, bat no report of the relative degrees of richness 
is as yet in the possession of the committee :— 
1. Magnetic Iron, exhibiting polarity in an eminent 
degree, therefore true loadstone, from Mr. Icely’s pad- 
dock, at Coombing. 
2. Granular Chromate of Irou. 
3. Yitreous Black Oxide, from near Cooloola, 
4. Haematites, viz. . Specular iron, from tho Mat- 
