These tables show that the hardest material has the greatest absolute strength, both before and after permanent set has taken place, but it has the least ductility; on the other hand, a softer material shows the greatest tenacity or elongation, the Bessemer material giving the same results as that prepared from the same pig iron by puddling, refining or the cast-steel process.

In the diagram illustrating these results, the percentage of carbon and phosphorus is stated in nearly all cases. The limit for the amount of carbon seems to be for the Bessemer material 1.2 to 1.5 per centum. With a larger amount the absolute strength, as well as the tenacity, has been found to decrease. When the amount of carbon does not exceed 0.4 per centum, and the material is not worked at too low a heat, the elongation seems to be 16 per centum, or the same as for puddled iron from the same pig iron; and as such Bessemer material is not only much stronger, but also more solid or homogeneous than the puddled material,

it deserves a decided preference for all railway purposes. The few cases of failures of rails by breaking may be accounted for as the result of too hard a material, not perfectly manufactured, having been made at the earlier period of the introduction of the process. The experience which has now been gained should certainly prevent any recurrence of this.

Iron and steel when tried for tensile strength under the influence of extreme temperatures, such as boiling water and at the freezing point of mercury, has led to the discovery, contrary to the general belief, that the tensile and absolute strength is greater during cold than during ordinary temperature; that is, iron or steel is stronger in winter than in summer. The reason why more breakages occur in winter than in summer is asserted to be due to the extreme cold affecting the elasticity of the supports, (sleepers,) and that elasticity in any way given to the rolling stock also favorably affects the resistance of the rails.

However, if the supports have the same elasticity in summer as in winter, as, for instance, would be the case with granite rock, then Professor Styffe asserts that the same rails, either of iron or of steel, can resist a heavier blow from a falling ball at the temperature of extreme cold than on a hot summer's day. Although the experiments have been conducted with the utmost care and skill that science and money can afford, it seems desirable that this theory should be proved on a larger scale than Professor Styffe has had an opportunity of doing, before it can be relied upon.

At a meeting of engineers, at Stockholm, in March, 1867, it was decided that Bessemer steel rails, made from charcoal pig iron, might, without risk, be used 10 per centum lighter than the English iron rails, and in Austria this has already been practiced with success by the engineer-in-chief, Wöhler.

It must, however, be observed, that the raw material used in both cases is charcoal pig iron of a superior quality as compared with that used in England for making Bessemer rails, which may be seen from the following analyses made by two eminent chemists:

Analyses of Swedish and English pig iron.

Bessemer Swedish pig iron, Fagersta Works. English Bessemer pig iron, Workington, Cumberland.
Analyzed by Kohlberg.
Analyzed by John Percy.

These analyses show that the great difference between the two is the excess of silicon in the English, and of manganese in the Swedish pig

iron; thus explaining why the one gives a better result than the other, although worked entirely without the addition of spiegeleisen.

If there be only 0.6 per cent. of carbon in the solid steel, and 0.3 per cent. in the steel for the steel head, the safety ought to be the same for all the three kinds, and this would not influence the former calculations as to which is the best and most economical material for rails.

Having watched the development of the Bessemer process in England, as well as on the continent, it seems to the author that by that process a good and pure raw material has the same advantage over an inferior one as in all other processes, and that a superior product cannot be obtained from an inferior raw material by that process any more than by others. In having mentioned Swedish material, as an example, it must not be supposed that it is wished to advocate the use of Swedish iron in this country, but simply to draw attention to the better material, as equally good charcoal iron can be supplied from Canada and India, both English colonies. It may also be remarked, that the author's endeavor has been to arrive at the truth irrespective of prejudice, and that he has no wish to be deemed an advocate for one kind of rail more than any other.

APPENDIX G.

LAW OF LIVRET IN FRANCE.

INSTRUCTIONS AS TO THE LIVRETS OF WORKMEN. PREFECTURE OF POLICE, 1ST DIVISION, 4TH OFFICE, 2D SECTION, Paris, October 15, 1855.

GENTLEMEN: In order to respond to wants strongly felt in the industry of the country, the government of the Emperor has presented and had adopted by the legislative power a law as to the discharge of workmen. This law was promulgated the 22d of June, 1854, and was followed by an imperial decree designed to regulate its application, and bearing date the 30th of April, 1855.

I have prescribed by an ordinance of police, dated this day, the publication in the department of the Seine of these two acts of the sovereign power, of which I have to enforce the execution, with your assistance.

It is my duty, in notifying you of the new regulation, to make you appreciate its full importance, and to facilitate your study of it by a few general instructions.

The livret, which the ill-disposed have sometimes sought to discredit and render unpopular, is an institution beneficial and protecting to the workman. It assures to him the support of authority, and becomes for him an incontrovertible title to confidence and esteem. Far from being an assault on his liberty and dignity, it has marked the emancipation of industry, of which it has been the consequence, and, as it were, the declaration.

The law of the 22d germinal, year XI, which created this institution, at least in its present form and effect, is due to the genius of the First Consul and the collaboration of Chaptal. This law has remained as the true code of labor, which it has regulated with a profound understanding of the wants and conditions of modern industry. However, time had revealed certain deficiencies in this first regulation; and, on the other hand, the rapid development of French industry had brought new wants, for which the last government had tried to provide by presenting various projects to the chambers, none of which have become a law.

It remained for the Emperor Napoleon III to complete the work of the First Consul. It is this which he has now done in endowing the national ndustry, which already owes so much to his reign, with a legislation vainly demanded for twenty years.

Faithful to his constant solicitude for the laboring classes, the Emperor has been pleased to attach new favors to the institution of which we speak. Henceforth the livret will take the place of passport in the interior. It will be a necessary title to participate in the election of the consul des

prudhommes: in short, it will remain in the possession of the workman and serve as permit of residence and for all other papers of surety, instead of being deposited, as formerly, in the hands of the chief of the establish

ment.

By the last innovation, of which he has personally taken the initiative, the Emperor has wished to honor the position of the workman, and to give to his relations with his employers that character of equitable equality which, hitherto, they have not had. One cannot doubt that such proofs of interest will touch those who are the object of them.

I owe you, gentlemen, these preliminary explanations, which will serve to make you grasp the spirit, general tendency, and liberal character of the new law. They are, moreover, the natural prelude to the examination which I have to make with you of the provisions, purely administrative, of which you are to second the application. I now enter on this examination, which, for greater clearness, I will divide into a certain. number of paragraphs.

1.-PROFESSIONS AND WORKMEN TO WHOM THE USE OF THE LIVRET APPLIES.

The first article of the law of the 22d of June has for its object to generalize the usage of the livret without making it go out of the circle purely industrial. It extends the application of this institution to professions which had remained outside of the prescriptions of the law of the year XI.

The terms of this article are clear and precise. A few explanations, however, will not be improper. For example, it mentions, as under the obligation of the livret, the work people of both sexes. This provision is new and delicate. It should be applied with a wise reserve, and confined within the limits fixed by the legislature itself. Observe here how the government explains itself in this particular in the statement of the motives of the law:

"Since the year XI the large manufactures have very greatly multiplied, and the employment, every day more extended, of mechanical means, has permitted women to accomplish in these establishments tasks which, before, were interdicted to them. In this respect, moreover, it is not a novelty which the law proposes. There exists a certain number of factories where women have a livret as well as the men, and practice has shown that this usage presents only advantages."

On his part the reporter of the commission thus expressed himself before the Corps Legislatif:

"Your commission has rejected a provision which would have extended to domestics, day laborers, dressmakers and seamstresses, working by the day, and all persons in respect to whom the execution of the law would be, so to speak, impossible, and whom it was not the intention of the government clearly expressed by its statement of motives to make subject to it."