the metal had merely torn open for a certain length of the barrel, and the lips so formed were simply folded back 180", without any sign of cracking. There were also shown specimens of tool-steel, of excellent fracture, castings of pieces of machinery, such as gears and framing, and a large tube for a cannon of extremely soft metal, or melted iron, as it is named.

The hardest variety of metal, called by the patentee "mixed metal," is considered suitable for castings which do not require to be worked by tools, but where great strength is required, such as hammer blocks and anvils, large gears, &c. By a subsequent process of annealing or dis carbonization, carried on in a gas furnace, under the influence of an oxidizing flame, these castings may be softened so as to be quite mallea ble and easily worked, and they then retain the advantage of being free from blow-holes. This metal is produced by adding to a preliminary bath of say 1,600 pounds of pig 2,400 of wrought iron, and adding at the end 1,200 pounds of pig. For tool-steel, to a bath of 1,600 pounds of gray pig would be added 2,600 pounds of puddled steel from the same pig, and at the end of the operation 400 to 500 pounds of spiegeleisen. For homogeneous metal, the preliminary bath at Sireuil is 1,200 pounds of spiegeleisen, to which 2,000 pounds of soft iron, puddled to grain, from the same pig, is added, and at the end of the process 200 to 300 pounds of the same pig is charged, to give the requisite amount of carbon. The softest metal of all, which, however, has not as yet been made an article of regular manufacture, is made in the same way, with the exception that the final charge of manganiferous pig is but 5 per cent. of the contents of the furnace. With certain kinds of gray charcoal pig this proportion rises, however, to 20 per cent., since under the influence of the high temperature they refine spontaneously with great rapidity.

Messrs. Martins' patents also cover the use of ore either with or in place of the wrought iron or steel used for removing the carbon from the pig, and when this is used the progress of the operation is much more rapid. It has the objection, however, that the slag formed attacks violently the bricks forming the sides of the furnace, and therefore requires frequent renewals.

This process has the great practical advantage that all the scrap arising in the manufacture of any product, such as the ends of bars, &c.. is readily remitted to the furnace and immediately returned in the form of useful ignots.

The flame in the furnace is kept always slightly surcharged with gas; an effect which the use of the Siemens' furnace renders easy and certain, and by this means the waste of the metal is always moderate.

For the production of soft steel suitable for gun-barrels or for tires, this metal already enjoys considerable reputation in Europe, and, indeed, were it not for its excellent quality, it would be impossible to sustain the manufacture at Sireuil, where there is neither iron nor coal, the latter being brought from England and the former from various parts of

France.

The results here stated were verified by a personal residence of Mr. Slade during several weeks at the works at Sireuil, and the regular and commercial success of the process was in that way seen to be fully achieved.

It is not asserted that cast-steel can be made as cheaply by this process as by the Bessemer; but where a product of definite quality is to be produced day by day, without rejections to any considerable extent, the Martin process has a decided advantage over the Bessemer, and in comparison with the crucible steel is decidedly less expensive. Its chief drawback would seem to lie in the difficulty of keeping the furnace in order, and only the most refractory materials will withstand the high heat required for its operation. As much as five tons of steel have been produced by this process at a single heat, and there is no difficulty in combining the product of several furnaces where larger masses are desired, inasmuch as the temper of the heat in each furnace can be brought and maintained to exactly the same standard. It would seem also to present the best solution yet devised for the difficulty experienced by the accumulation of the ends of Bessemer steel rails, inasmuch as these can be used in lieu of the puddled iron required by the process. It is possible, also, to use old rails in the same manner, and, indeed, any old scrap, but the resulting quality of the steel will, to a great extent, depend upon the quality of the old iron so used.

A visit to the works of Messrs. F. F. Verdié & Co., at Firminy, showed, in confirmation of facts gathered from other sources, that the steel manufacture of France, instead of being in the advanced degree of perfection, often supposed in our country, has been but very moderately successful. These works were established for the manufacture of crucible steel and forgings on a rather large scale, but to-day the production of steel by this process has been entirely abandoned, and with the exception of some puddling, all the steel now made is by the Martin process, for which three furnaces are now in operation and others in course of erection. The same thing appears to be true at other works, and it is quite certain that no considerable amount of good cast steel is produced in France.

In order to enable a comparison to be instituted between a first-class Swedish iron and Bessemer steel, containing various degrees of carbon, I annex (Appendix D) the tabulated results of a series of experiments made by David Kirkaldy, at his well-known testing and experimenting works in London upon 11 bars of billet iron from the Degerfors iron works in Sweden, and 12 hammered bars of Fagersta Bessemer steel of various degrees of hardness, resulting from different percentages of carbon, which are indicated by the stamp on the bars; that is to say, 9.3 means three-tenths of one per cent. of carbon, 1.2 means one per cent. and two-tenths, and in like manner for intermediate stamps.

WORKS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF IRON AND STEEL.

The description of the large mass of steel and iron exhibited in the Exposition has led, incidentally, to an account of the magnitude of the iron works of Krupp. But this report would fail to give an adequate idea of the magnificent scale upon which the metallurgic industry of Europe is conducted at the present day, if reference should not be made to other establishments in other countries. In France the most extensive works are those of Le Creusot, near the centre of the empire, which is especially commended in the report of the jury of recompense for organizations which best develop a good understanding between masters and workmen, and secure the material, moral and intellectual welfare of the operatives.

In 1845 the product of Le Creusot was about 60,000 tons of coal and 4,000 tons of iron. At the present time the production is 250,000 tons of coal and 130,000 tons of cast iron and 110,000 tons of wrought-iron. The works cover an area of 300 acres, of which more than 50 acres are in buildings, in which mechanical operations are carried on. The coal is mined in the immediate vicinity, and the quantity of ore which the region now furnishes is stated to be 300,000 tons per annum, but my impression is that this includes a large quantity brought from Algiers and Elba. There are 15 blast furnaces of large dimensions, fed by 160 coke ovens, and using the blast of seven blowing machines of 1,350 horse power, and 10 other engines for other purposes. The forge contains 150 puddling furnaces, 85 heating furnaces, 41 separate trains of rolls, 30 hammers, 85 steam engines of 6,500 horse power in the aggregate. This mill is all under one uniform roof, made of iron, and is about 1,400 feet in length, and is altogether in appearance and construction the most complete rolling mill in existence. And it is a remarkable evidence of the intelli gence and courage of Messrs. Schneider & Co., the proprietors, that within the last few years they have deliberately abandoned their old works and machinery, and erected an entirely new establishment, in order to avail themselves of all the modern improvements in machinery and process. The machine shops require engines of 700 horse power for their operation, and contain 26 hammers and 650 working tools. The total number of workmen employed is 9,950, being, by a remarkable coincidence, the precise number of horse power represented by the steam engines in the works; that is to say, each man employs a machine power of one horse in addition to his own labor, showing the wonderful extension of human power which in our day has been realized out of the steam engine. 45 miles of railway, 15 locomotives, and 500 cars are required for the local operation of the works, and the enormous quantity of 1,400,000 tons of traffic is annually moved at the central depot of Le Creusot. All parts of the works are in communication by telegraphic wire. The total value of the productions is now about $7,000,000 per annum in gold.

On the whole these works may be regarded as the best model offered by Europe for the study of the iron business as it is, and they are not only an honor to the proprietors, but one of the chief glories of France. The works of Petin, Gaudet & Co., are distributed among several establishments, which in the aggregate employ 5,200 men and a steam power of 6,000 horses. The annual production is about 50,000 tons of ron and steel, of the value of $7,000,000 in gold.

There are several other establishments in France which approach very nearly to these large proportions, and considering the disadvantages in point of fuel and ore under which the business is carried on, as compared with Belgium and England, the present development of the iron industry of France, amounting to an annual product of 1,200,000 tons of pig iron and about 800,000 tons of wrought iron, is one of the most striking features of the industrial progress of France during the present century. In Belgium the iron industry has made remarkably rapid strides, the production of pig iron having advanced from 134,563 tons, in 1845, to 449,875 tons, in 1864, and there are many establishments in Belgium organized on a scale comparable to the best works in other countries. That of Cockerill at Seraing, in which the government is directly interested, produces 50,000 tons of pig iron, 26,000 tons of bars, and 5,000 tons of steel annually, consuming 80,000 tons of coke and 146,000 tons of ore, and mining 260,000 tons of coal.

In Prussia, the works of Krupp have already been referred to, and there are many other extensive establishments organized upon the best principles of modern construction.

The Phoenix works near Ruhrort, for example, produced during the last year over 50,000 tons of pig iron, and 40,000 tons of wrought iron, with 11 blast furnaces and the corresponding number of puddling furnaces. The total production of iron ore in Prussia, for the year ending 1865, was over 1,700,000 tons, which represents a production of iron of about 770,000

tons.

In England there are many works approaching in capacity to Le Creusot, among which may be enumerated the Dowlais and Ebbw Vale in South Wales, those of Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., in the Cleveland region, and of the Barrow Hematite Iron and Steel Company at Barrow-in-Furness, and of John Brown & Co., at Sheffield. A production of 2,000 tons per week is achieved in each of these vast establishments. Large towns are required to house the workmen and their families; hundreds of miles of rails and thousands of cars are appropriated to their special use. The human mind is lost in wonder at the combination of material and intellectual elements required for the organization and conduct of such gigantic operations, and standing in the presence of tools which seem formed to shape the universe, and of an artificial power which, in the aggregate, is too vast for any other estimate than by comparison with the force which moves the earth in its orbit, the triumph of man over matter is realized to an extent making it possible to comprehend in some degree the omnipotence of Deity himself.

One striking consequence of the vast size which has been given to par ticular works is their general transfer from individual ownership to that of stock companies; and although this transfer is not considered favora ble to the economy of manufacture, the saving produced by production on so large a scale would seem to counterbalance the advantages in point of cost which are connected with individual ownership. Nor is this feature of association of ownership peculiar to any one country, but may be said to be the general rule in all. In England, owing probably to the business being overdone, none of these companies can be said to have achieved a pecuniary success, and the shares of all of them are at a considerable discount. This fact, producing profound dissatisfaction on the part of the owners, coupled with the feeling of restlessness and discontent with their wages among the workmen, has paved the way for the consid eration and discussion of the problem, whether in these large establishments the true relations between capital and labor have been established, and in what way they may be placed upon a sounder basis, avoiding the ever-recurring contention between masters and men, which culminates in strikes injurious alike to both classes. The question has already stepped beyond the limits of private discussion, and governmental commissions are now investigating both in France and in England the facts and the principles upon which the organization of labor rests at this day, the points in which there is a collision between it and capital, the wrongs, if any, upon either side; with a view to such legislation as may render the march of industry regular, and profitable to all concerned. In some establishments engaged in the mining of coal and other branches of industry, outside of the iron business, the system of co-operation, as it is termed, has been introduced, with manifest advantage. But in all these cases the business is a profitable one, and has never yet been subjected to the strain which will attack the system when it is forced to deal with losses instead of profits. The general plan adopted in these co-operative estab lishments, such as Crossley's great carpet factory in England, is to reserve to the capital a fixed rate of interest, as high in some cases as 15 per cent. per annum; next to pay to the workmen a fixed rate of wages, being usually those which were in force at the time of the introduction of co-operation into the works, and to divide the surplus, if any, between capital and labor, on such terms as may be agreed upon, but usually in proportion to the amount of each employed during the year. There is a wide difference of opinion as to the practicability of introducing this system into the iron business, and there is a fear that it would not stand the trial to which it would be subjected in the long periods of depression to which the iron trade has hitherto been invariably subjected, and from which the co-operative system would not relieve it, because there would still be the same competition between the several co-operative associations, and the several nations, as now exists. Under the present system the capital is the first to lose its profits, and then comes the reduction in the wages of labor. Under the new system the reduction would fall first upon labor,