5o8  Development  of  the  Chemical  Arts.    {^"^  j^ov^'Xt'"'' 
or  coal-gas  burnt  in  atmospheric  air  gives  out  a  sufficient  heat ;  but  the 
example  of  this  art  encourages  us  in  connecting  great  hopes  with  the 
extended  applications  of  oxygen.  Says  an  esteemed  practical  metallur- 
gist, Clemens  Winkler  :*  "As  gold,  when  used  for  soldering  platinum 
vessels,  impairs  the  appearance,  since  the  soldered  places  appear  yellow, 
in  the  same  manner  the  whiteness  of  soft  solder  is  an  eyesore  when  it 
is  applied  to  colored  metals.  This  evil  induced  the  Prussian  Associa- 
tion for  the  Promotion  of  Manufacturing  Industry  to  offer  a  reward  for 
the  discovery  of  a  yellow  solder — a  problem  not  easy  to  solve  without 
the  prior  discovery  of  a  new  easily  fusible  metal  of  a  red  or  yellow 
color.f  It  would  be  more  useful  to  turn  our  attention  to  the  autogen- 
ous soldering  of  metals  with  the  aid  of  the  oxyhydrogen  flame,  a  princi- 
ple which  has  achieved  such  signal  triumphs  in  the  treatment  of  two 
essentially  different  metals.  Should  it  not  be  possible,  by  the  same 
means,  to  solder  every  metal  and  every  alloy  with  itself,  as  tin  with  tin, 
copper  with  copper,  brass  with  brass,  silver  with  silver,  gold  with  gold, 
and  even  iron  with  iron,  just  as  we  already  solder  lead  with  lead  and 
platinum  with  platinum  ?  The  probability  is  present,  and  the  advan- 
tages of  such  a  procedure  are  manifest.  Let  us  try  to  conceive  the 
neatness  of  a  workshop  in  which  soldering  is  performed,  not  as  hereto- 
fore, with  the  soldering-iron  or  at  the  forge,  but  with  a  light,  elegant  gas- 
burner.  Imagine  the  artisan  no  longer  annoyed  by  radiant  heat  and  by 
the  fumes  of  charcoal,  and  able  to  produce  in  a  moment  any  tempera- 
ture required,  even  the  very  highest,  and  again  to  put  an  end  to  It  by 
simply  turning  a  cock.  Conceive  the  solidity  of  the  soldering  which 
no  longer  depends  on  cementing  two  pieces  of  metal  with  a  foreign 
matter,  but  on  an  actual  interfusion  of  two  portions  of  one  and  the 
same  metal,  and  which  involves  the  utmost  economy  of  materials  and 
dispenses  with  all  subsequent  work,  such  as  trimming  the  soldered  place 
with  a  file.  Such  evident  advantages  must  overcome  every  prejudice, 
and  prompt  us  most  urgently  to  commence  a  thorough  experimental 
investigation  of  the  question." 
But  also  in  the  most  extensive  fields  of  metallurgy,  the  preparation 
of  iron  and  steel,  technologists  of  merit  have  pointed  out  the  advan- 
tages to  be  derived  from  cheap  oxygen. 
CameronJ  recommends  the  use  of  oxygen  or  of  air  rich  in  oxygen, 
*  Clemens  Winkler,  "Deutsche  Industrie  Blatter,"  p.  182.  "  Zeitschrift  d.  Ver 
eins  Deutsch.  Ingen.,"  xvi,  714. 
fThe  offer  has,  therefore,  been  subsequently  withdrawn. 
Cameron,  "  Berg-  u.  HUttenm.  Zeitung,"  1871,  132. 
