WAVERLY CONGLOMERATES AT BLACK HAND THE STRATA OF COAL MEASURES AT HIGH HILL, MEIGS TOWNSHIP, AND IN THE VALLEY OF JONATHAN'S CREEK—NO WIDE MARKED CONGLOMERATE AT THE BASE OF THE COAL MEASURES IN MUSKINGUM COUNTY—A GREATER OR LESS DEVELOPMENT OF NEARLY EVERY COAL SEAM IN THE SECOND GEOLOGICAL DISTRICT FOUND 1N MUSKINGUM COUNTY—A SEAM OF COAL UNDER PUTNAM HILL—PUTNAM HILL LIMESTONE FOUND THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY—COAL SEAM 1N BRUSH CREEK TOWNSHIP FOUR FEET THICK— THE LARGEST DEPOSIT OF LIMESTONE 1N NEWTONVILLE ANd VICINITY—FOSSILIFEROUS LIMESTONE IN NEWTON TOWNSHIP—MUSKINGUM COUNTY MUCH BETTER SUPPLIED WITH LIMESTONE THAN MANY COUNTIES OF THE STATE— 1RON ORE OF EXCELLENT QUALITY— DRIFT TERRACES ALONG THE BANKS OF THE MUSKINGUM GEOLOGICAL SECTION NEAR THE FORKS OF MILL RUN 1N THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF ZANESVILLE —ANALYSIS OF 1RON ORE ON SLAGO'S RUN—GEOLOGICAL SECTION ON THE ADAMSVILLE ROAD —ALSO ON PUTNAM HILL—SIDERITE ORE FROM IVES' RUN, ZANESVILLE—OBSERVATIONS OF GEOLOGISTS—DRIFT—THE TERRACES IN THE OLDEN TIME—COAL FORMATION—THE PRODUCTIVE COAL MEASURES—THE MANUFACTURE OF 1RON—THE PROCESS OF MAKING STEEL.

The subjoined report is by E. B. Andrews, Assistant Geologist. Chapter XII., Vol. 1, Page 314, et seq. Geological survey of Ohio, 1873.

"Only that part of the county which lies south of the Central Ohio railroad, belongs to the Second Geological District."

In many respects, this county is one of the most interesting in the district to the geologist. It presents a greater vertical range of strata than any other county. As we descend the valley of the Licking river, from Licking county, we find the Waverly sandstone group dipping but slight- ly to the southeast, probably not more than ten or twelve feet per mile, and, as a consequence of this slight dip, we find the upper member of the group which overlies the Waverly conglomerate, seen at Black Hand, extending to the neighborhood of Pleasant Valley, before it passes beneath the surface. Upon the Logan, or Upper Waverly, rest the proper coal measures, which, from that point, extend to the eastern line of the coun- ty beyond. By careful measurements, we find, as we climb higher and higher in the series, that on reaching the top of High Hill, in Meigs town- ship, we have surmounted one thousand and ninety feet of the strata of the coal measures. Another interesting fact is revealed in the valley of Jonathan's Creek, in the township of Newton, in the existence of Newtonville limestone, which lies at the base of the coal measures. The Newtonville limestone is the equivalent of the Maxville limestone, found at Maxville, in the south- western part of Perry county. It is always found resting upon the Logan or Upper Waverly, or in close proximity to it. The dip of the strata from the western edge of the coal field, in western Per- ry county, is so slight that even the very base of the measures has not been carried down below drainage in the deep Jonathan Creek Valley. East of the Muskingum river, the dip is greater, as seen in the coal mines. But not far from the east line of Muskingum county we find, in places, evidence of a reversed dip. If we follow the line of the Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley Railroad from the west, we find at Bremen, the Logan, or Upper Waverly strata, at the base of all the hills, while at the tunnel, east of New Lexington, we are several hundred feet up in the coal measures. From the east, in the low valley of the Moxahala, we find between the railroad and Newtonville, the Newtonville limestone, which rests upon the Upper Waverly. We thus pass upon the Upper Waverly over several hundred feet of coal measures, and down to the Wa- verly again. The Newtonville limestone is one of the most interesting deposits in the State. It contains many characteristic fossils, by which its equivalency with the lower carboniferous lime- stone of the west has been determined. Prof. Meek, who has studied the fossils, regarded them as those characterizing the Chester and St. Louis groups, of Illinois and Missouri.

There is not found, generally, any wide mark- ed conglomerate at the base of the coal measures in Muskingum county. The conglomerate at Black Hand, which was formerly regarded as a coal measures conglomerate, proves to belong to the Waverly formation, as has been shown in former reports. This Waverly conglomerate is a well marked sub-division of the Waverly group, and has a wide extent.

In Muskingum county, we find, in a greater or less development, nearly every leading coal seam in the Second Geological District. Many seams, thick elsewhere, are very thin here, and in one or two instances we find seams, thin elsewhere, un- usually thick here. This continuity of seams in the same geological horizons, shows how wide-spread were the coal-producing marshes. The lowest coal seams, of which there are three in Jackson county, of great purity and value, are represented in Muskingum county, only by the merest traces of coal. No seam of coal of much value is found until we rise in the upward series to the vicinity of the Putnam Hill limestone, under which is a seam of coal, generally thin, and often wanting altogether, but sometimes increasing to a good workable thickness. This is Mr. Porter's coal, in Hopewell township.

Putnam Hill limestone is everywhere found in the county at its proper geological horizon, and is an excellent geological guide in finding the po- sitions of strata above and below it.

The next seam of coal above the Putnam Hill limestone, thick enough for working, is what is, in Perry county, termed the lower New Lexing- ton seam. * * The upper New Lexington coal seam is the equivalent of the Nelsonville seam, and of the great seam at Straitsville, and in the Upper Sunday Creek Valley, having in its wide extent through southern Ohio, various fortunes of thickness and quality. Both the upper and lower New Lexington seams are mined near Zanesville.

Higher up, we find only traces of the Norris, or Middle seam, of the Sunday Creek Valley. Above this, we have, in the Alexander coal, the representative of a seam widely spread. The Alexander coal is in some places over six feet thick. In Brush Creek township, there is a seam seventy feet above the Alexander seam, which is reported to be four feet thick. In other counties a seam is found on this horizon, but it was not found elsewhere in Muskingum county. About fifty feet higher, or 120 feet above the Alexander seam, is a well defined coal seam, ever holding its true place in the series, but it is generally quite tbin. This seam is found in Guernsey county, but not in Morgan. About forty-five feet higher is another seam thick enough to warrant mining for local use, a seam found in several counties, but generally quite thin. This is twenty-five or thirty feet below the wide-spread fossiliferous limestone, which I have called the Ames limestone, from Ames township, Athens county, where it is developed, and was first described by Dr. Hildreth, in the old Geological Reports. This limestone is about 140 feet below the Pomeroy seam of coal. The Pomeroy seam is thin in the southern part of Muskingum county, but it is generally seen in its horizon. This seam is to be traced to Gallia county on the southwest, and to Bellaire and Wheeling on the east, and the Pennsylvania geologists have traced it to Pittsburgh, and identified it with the

Pittsburgh and Youghiogheny seam. In western Pennsylvania, several hundred feet of strata below the Pittsburgh seam, are destitute of coal seams of practical value, and hence are called the barren coal measures. In Ohio, at least the Second Geological District, we find more or less coal in this interval. The Nelsonville, or Straitsville seam, is 420 feet below the Pittsburgh seam, and we often find two and three valuable seams above the Nelsonville one.

About thirty feet above the Pomeroy coal, are traces in Muskingum county of another coal seam, which is seen in several counties, but with frequent interruptions of continuity. Not far from t00 feet above the Pomeroy seam, is another of wide range, which I have called the Cumber- land, from Cumberland, Guernsey county, where it is the chief seam worked. The Cumberland seam I have traced through Athens, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Washington, Monroe, Guernsey and Belmont counties, and it is a seam of great importance. About 115 feet above the Cumberland seam, is one of limited thickness, but of reported good quality, found on High Hill, in Meigs township, Muskingum county. This is the highest seam found in the county, and is 945 feet above the top of the Waverly formation.

Thus we have, in thicker or thinner development, representation, within the limits of the county, of nearly every important seam of coal in the coal measures of southern Ohio. Of some of these, as of the lower Jackson county coals, we have only hints, but these hints are very significant in showing the wide range of the ancient coal-producing marshes. As each marsh, in which the coal grew, skirted in the ancient ocean, it held its range upon a water line. As such marsh settled down below the ocean, sands and mud were deposited over it, and a new surface formed for a new marsh. The subsidence being regular and uniform, these marshes form seams of coal which show a natural and almost necessary parallelism.

The largest deposit of limestone is that at Newtonville and vicinity, which is the more interesting because it is the finest representative in Ohio of the great lower Carboniferous limestones of Illinois and Missouri. There is a fossiliferous limestone eighty feet above the Newtonville deposit in Newton township. This was mistaken by one of-my 'assistants in 1869, for the Putnam Hill stratum, a mistake which has led to some confusion. The true Putnam Hill limestone is seventy--two feet higher. Both of these seams are found at Zanesville, (Putnam Hill,) the lower being in the bed of the Muskingum at the mouth of the Licking river, and the upper in the Putnam Hill above the dug-way. In the eastern part of the . county are other limestone seams, which are higher in the geological series. * * * Some of these limestones are more soluble under atmospheric agencies than others, hence are more valuable in their fertilizing influence upon soils. Muskingum county is much better supplied with limestone than very many counties of the State. The limestone of Putnam Hill seam is used successfully in the blast furnaces at Zanesville as a flux.

Iron ores, of excellent quality, are much more abundant in this county than was formerly supposed. These ores, with analysis of many, will be noticed in the detailed examinations of the townships.

The most interesting feature of the surface geology of the county, is the system of drift terraces along the banks of the Muskingum river, the materials of which have been brought from regions to the north. It is my opinion that much the larger part of the materials forming these terraces came down the Muskingum, and not down the Licking, but I may be mistaken in this.

The following geological section was taken on the land of J. Granger, near the forks of Mill Run, in the corporate limits of Zanesville :

Feet

Inches

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

Shale

Coal

Clay

Coal

Not exposed

Coal

Clay

Sandstone quarried

Coal

Sandstone

Shale

Laminated sandstone

Shale

Putnam Hill limestone

Clay

Sandstone

The observations of geologists have shown that the m.e.terials which compose the earth's crust form three distinct classes of rocks, the igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. Of these, the first class includes those that are the direct product of fusion. These are divided into two subordinate groups, volcanic and plutonic, of which the first includes such as are produced by volcanic eruption, lava in its different forms, pummice, obsidian, trachite, etc. The second class of igneous rocks, the plutonic, comprising those massive rocky forms which are without distinct bedding, have apparently been completely fused, and yet were probably never brought to the surface by volcanoes. Having consolidated under great pressure, they are dense and compact in structure, never exhibiting the porous and incoherent condition which is so characteristic of the purely volcanic rocks. The plutonic rocks are granite in some of its varieties, svenite, porphyry, and part but not all, of basalts, diorites and dolerites (green stones.)

None of these igneous rocks are found in any place within the State of Ohio, though they exist in vast quantities in the mining districts of the West, and on the shores of Lake Superior. From the latter region, numerous fragments were brought to us during the Glacial period, and they constitute a prominent feature in the drift deposits that cover so large a. part of our State.

DRIFT.-After the valleys eroded as they now exist, many of them were filled with what is termed "drift" materials, which are chiefly water worn pebbles and bowlders, sand, and sometimes clays. The principal outspread of the drift, is in the northwestern part of the dis- trict in the Scioto Valley, and near the sources of the Hocking and Licking rivers. In this region, the surface of the earth is almost wholly covered with superficial deposits, brought from the north. Some of the materials are not found within the State, but come from beyond the lakes. Limestone bowlders and gravel show, from their

contained fossils and lithographic character, that they originally came from the corniferous limestone, a formation well developed in the northern part of the State. All the streams which have their sources within the great drift region of the central and northern part of the State, have carried down more or less of the drift materials, and deposited them in sand bars and sandy flats. These now constitute the well known terraces of the Scioto, Hocking and Muskingum rivers. The Ohio river is also bordered by these terraces, the materials having been largely brought to it, by its northern affluents. The tributaries to the Ohio from the South, as the Little and Great Kenawhas, have no such terraces. The same is true of all the smaller Ohio tributaries, such as Raccoon, Little Muskingum and Duck Creek, which do not have their heads in the central drift region.

In the terraced drift we find two classes of materials, the hard and the comparatively soft. The former is composed of diorytes and granitoid forms, quartzites and other metamorphic rocks, and the cherty portions of limestones. The latter is made up of softer sandstones, slates and bituminous coals. I have found small bowlders of fine. grained Waverly sandstones, which,

for fineness of texture, and softness under the chisel, and perfection of color, I have never seen surpassed. Their original home was in the Waverly formation, and not very far to the north, for such is the softness of the material, that they could not long have survived the friction of rolling, in currents of water, surrounded by harder bowlders, much less the more wasting friction of propulsion by glaciers, under enormous ice pressure. We sometimes find similar soft material only very slightly eroded.

In the large terrace formed at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers, on which the town of Marietta is built, we often find large quantities of pebbles of bituminous coal. Bushels could sometimes be taken from a single spot, of all sizes, from four inches in diameter downward. Bituminous coal being soft and easily eroded, the coal of these pebbles must have been torn from its native seam at some point in our Ohio coal measures, but a short distance up the Muskingum, probably not above Zanesville. It has been estimated that the lumps of coal of medium size, dropped into the Ohio river from steamboats and barges, are worn away to nothing in rolling on the bottom, a distance of from fifty to one hundred miles. Pebbles and bowlders of Ohio coal measure sandstone are also often found in the drift terraces on the Muskingum. It will be remembered that this river holds its course chiefly within the limits of the coal formation.

The highest elevation on which I have found drift bowlders is on the summit of Flint Ridge, Licking county, which is 17o feet above the adjacent valley. To this add fifty feet as the estimated elevation of the base of the ridge above Newark, and we have bowlders 220 feet above Newark, and 174 above Zanesville, and 490 above Marietta, and 729 above Cincinnati.

The terraces in the olden time presented great attractions to the Mound Builder race. We everywhere find on them earth works, in the form of mounds, elevated squares, walls and ditches. Being dry and sandy, the surface could be easily removed and accumulated in their various structures. To, the profound questions of .the ethnologist, who the mound builders were, whence they came, and whither they went, we can only reply that they once lived here, here cultivated the soil, here worshiped, perhaps with the solemn rites of human sacrifice,, here planned and executed mighty works of organized labor, and then passed away. We find their temples, and fortresses, and tombs.

COAL FORMATION.-It is probable that there was a long period of repose and freedom from those dynamic agencies of subsistence which de press the crust of the earth, and after the deposition of the vast sandy flats now constituting the Waverly strata. During this period, there was doubtless more or less erosion of the surface, and it was brought into comparatively un even condition. Whether the thin beds of the Maxville limestone were deposited before this erosion took place, and so shared in it as now to be left in isolated patches, or were deposited at first in limited basins, is as yet undetermined.

Passing upward in the series, we reach the Productive Coal measures. In places, however; we find an intervening conglomerate.

The transition from the Waverly to the coal- measures, shows an entire change in the lithological character of the strata, and in the methods of distribution of the sedimentary materials. The Waverly materials were evidently derived from some shore where there was great lithological sameness, and they were spread with wonderful evenness upon the ocean floor. This floor was level to begin with, for it was formed by the evenly accumulated mass of semi-organic matter, which now constitutes the great Ohio black slate, or Huron shales. The materials of sand and clays would not, of necessity, be evenly spread, because their accumulation so perfectly balanced the general subsidence as to" keep the incoming materials always in shallow water, and hence, just where the leveling power of the waves would be the greatest.

The conglomerate is, in Jackson county, a very remarkable deposit of sand and pebbles. In some. places, it is over one hundred and thirty feet thick, resting upon the Waverly, and, in a short distance, it is completely thinned out to nothing. The pebbles are often a mass of white quartz, or perfectly pure quartzite, sometimes with a diameter of several inches. They tell a tale off rough water and powerful currents. But such deposits are local, and I find no proof whatever that a conglomerate stratum constitutes the regular and continuous floor on which the productive coal- measures of the second district were laid. I find in Ohio, many conglomerates in the coal-measures at different horizons, none, indeed, so coarse as the one sometimes found resting on the Waverly, but they all have a limited horizontal range.

They thin out and pass into finer sandstones, and often into shales formed of fine sedimentary mud. In the coal-measures of the second district, no sand rock, so far as I know, extends through the whole line of the out-crop of the formation. Both, conglomerates and finer grained sandstones, are very uncertain in their horizontal ranges. The same is true of the shales and clays. We have almost all possible forms of sedimen- tary materials, and in almost all possible conditions of deposition. Hence, frequent changes are to be met with along the same geological horizon. The only strata showing continuity over great horizontal spaces, are the coal seams, with their under-clays, and certain fossiliferous lime- stones. The unfossiliferous lime-stones of the productive coal-measures, which were deposited as a calcareous mud, are of very limited horizontal extent. The unusually thick group of lime- stones over the Wheeling coal, at Wheeling, West Virginia, and at Bellaire, in Belmont county, Ohio, are scarcely found further west in Muskingum county, and to the southwest, in Meigs county, they have no representative, whatever. We may find lime-stones of this class, from ten to thirty feet thick, in one place, and a few miles away, in the same horizon, there is not a trace of them to be found. They were formed of calcareous mud, and follow, in their distribution, the same laws of distribution of the other mud rocks of the coal-measures. None of them were of deep water origin, for they not only sometimes exhibit surface dried cracks, but they are found between, and in ,proximity to, seams of coal which were sub-aerial in their origin. All the various strata which constitute the filling in of the spaces between seams of coal, whether formed from gravels, sands, clays, or limestones, excepting three or four fossiliferous limestones, are subject to all those changes which would be expected in off-shore deposits, where the not very far distant land afforded many kinds of materials, and where the waters, not very deep, were quiet in some places, and rough in others, and thus produced every possible variety of deposition.

The few fossiliferous lime-stones of the coal-measures, of which the Putnam Hill, Ferriferous, Cambridge and Ames lime-stones are the most important and interesting, were all formed, I think, in quite shallow, and, at the same time, quiet waters, from the accumulation of lime-secreting ani- mals. In each case there was, probably, an ar- rest of the progress of subsidence, long enough for the accumulation of calcareous organic matter to form the stratum of lime-stones, very much as in the formation of a seam of coal, there was an arrest of subsidence, and a pause long enough for the growth and accumulation of the vegetable matter constituting the coal. Some of these lime- stones were formed upon a sea-bed almost perfectly level and uniform, and show remarkable parallelism with each other, and with seams of coal. It is, however, the coal itself which pre- sents the most interesting object of investigation in the second district, and it is to this subject I have devoted the most attention. I shall present some of the results of my own independent observations, relative to the origin, varieties and uses of coals, believing, however, that the views are in essential harmony with the accepted opinions of our better geologists.

Notwithstanding the elaborate attempt of Bischoff, and others, to prove that coal is an accumu- lation of vegetable detritus, drifted by rivers and buried beneath accumulating sediment in the ocean, this view is not now accepted by any who have carefully studied the coal-seams in the coal- measures in America. Mr. Leo Lesquereux and Dr. Dawson have shown , as the result of careful and extended observations ,that the vegetation forming seams of coal grew where it is now buried, the only movement being downward in the general subsidence. Atter such subsidence, sedimentary materials were brought over the vegetable mass, filling up the water, so as to form, in time, a new sub-aerial surface, on which new vegetation took root and grew, to form, in time, when buried, another seam of coal. My own independent observations, continued through many years, convince .me that in no other way are the seams of coal, in our

coal-measures, formed. There is, moreover, every evidence that the vegetation grew upon marshy plains, more or less extensive, skirting the ocean, or, perhaps, often constituting low islands, not far from the ancient shore. This appears from the fact that slates and shales accompanying the coal, and in immediate proximity to it, often contain marine or brackish-water forms of later palwozoic life. These slates sometimes constitute partings in the coal-seam itself, and extend for miles, maintaining with wonderful exactness their stratigraphical position. These partings imply a temporary overflow, of the ancient marsh, by the ocean, and an even distribution of sediment, which, when compressed, constitutes the thin layer of slate, or clay. Besides, we find in the very coal itself, and especially in the can- nel portions of seams—for cannel coal is, so far as my observations go, only a local modification of a regular bituminous coal-seam—marine forms of ancient life, of which lingulx and fishes are, perhaps, most common. We also find, in some seams of coal, the evidence of tidal or other over- flow of the coal marsh, in beach-worn sticks, and various forms of wood, which now, changed to bi-sulphide of iron, are preserved in their original form, and lie in the coal as they were drifted into the old marsh. After the complete subsidence of the Whole marsh, we often find the proofs that trees, as sigillaria lepidodendron, and taller ferns were broken down where they grew by the in- coming waters, and buried on the spot by the sediments. I once traced the trunk of a sigillaria in the roof of a Pomeroy seam of coal, for a distance of more than forty feet. Thousands of the trunks of what Mr. Lesquereux takes,to be pecopteris arborescens are found in the slates over the same coal, lying in a horizontal burial, as they were bent or broken down by the waters, which also brought in their stormy winding sheet. In making almost thousands of geological sections in our coal-measures, I have found seams of coal always

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maintaining such relations to what were the ancient water levels, that I am fully convinced that, in every case, the vegetation grew along the water line, and not far above it.

I have never found the slightest proof of the formation of a seam of coal over hills or high grounds. The parallelism of the seams, of which further mention will be made, forbids it. Doubt- less, vegetation of certain kinds grew upon the higher grounds, but this vegetation did not con- stitute seams of coal. It is plain, that whatever vegetable matter there might be on a hill-side, would, in the subsidence of the land, present to the waves of an encroaching sea an easy prey, and the trees and humbler plants would be torn from the exposed moorings, and be drifted away to rot upon the waters, or be buried in the sands of the beach.

Such drifted and buried trees are frequently found. Should there have been some high level plateau, upon which the vegetation grew, and which, in the subsidence, was let down below the water so evenly as to prevent the waters from tearing the vegetable materials away, it is still doubtful whether, on such high and dry areas, there would have been any considerable accumulation of vegetable matter, the decay so equaling the growth that, in reality, there would have been no materials for a true seam of coal.

While in the vegetation forming the coal seams upon marshy savannahs skirting the ocean, we find constant proof that the continuity of the marsh was often broken by intervening water, so that the seam of coal is frequently interrupted. In the subsequent subsidence, these water spaces were filled Up with sands, or clays, which are now hardened and compressed into shales and sandstones. But, if we have a marsh at one point, which continued long enough to allow of the accumulation of vegetable matter sufficient for a considerable seam of coal, the presumption is, that, on that exact horizon, we shall find that there were other areas above the water, on which vegetation also grew, and thus, along one water line, there be formed a seam of coal, varying in its features of thickness and quality, ranging, with many interruptions, through many counties, and, perhaps, hundreds of miles. A long period of rest from downward movement, such as the growth and accumulation of a thick seam of coal imply, almost necessitates the fact that, during that long period, wherever there were along the water line, areas of low land, whether insular or continental fringes, on which vegetation might take root and grow, there would be such growth, and, consequently, a seam of coal.

When the subsidence took place, by which the marsh, or marshes, of one horizontal line were lowered beneath the water, the presumption is, that such subsidence would be an even and regu- lar one. We can hardly suppose that, within any limited area, there would be any considerable ir- regularity in the sinking—any irregular plunges downward, here and there, so as to tilt at various angles the plane of the coal. The subsidence was, of course, greater in some districts than in others.

In Nova Scotia, there are 14,570 feet of productive coal-measures, with over eighty distinct seams of coal. In Eastern Pennsylvania, 3,000 feet are reported ; while in Southern Ohio, the highest coal seam yet found is about 1,50o feet above the Waverly sandstone, upon which, at places, a coal seam, with its under-clay, is found to rest, with no intervening conglomerate. It is, also, entirely possible that, when any large areas of any one coal field are carefully investigated, it will be found that some portion of such large area may have had a somewhat more rapid subsidence than the rest. But, as a rule, the subsidence was so regular that two seams of coal, each formed in its water line, are found to present an almost per- fect parallelism. For exarnIple, in Ohio, the Nelsonville seam of coal is found, in the vertical se- ries, to be about four hundred and twenty feet below the Pomeroy seam, the equivalent of the Wheeling and Pittsburgh seam. These two seams range through many counties, and everywhere the interval between them is the same. The same is true of all our other well defined and continu- ous seams. One careful measurement of the in- terval between two seams iS so excellent a guide that, either seam being 'found, the place of the other can readily be determined. There may be difficulty in ascertaining the exact interval, be- cause there may be considerable horizontal dis- tance between the exposures of the seams; and calculations must generally be made for the dip, usually an unknown term ; but when the meas- urements are accurate, the parallelism is perfect and beautiful. There is a little play of variation, sometimes, but it is generally very slight. In limited areas, the downward movement could hardly be otherwise than uniform. Even in cases of earthquake action, we generally find the areas of elevation or subsidence to be quite extensive. But there is no proof that, in the Coal Period, there was any intense earthquake action, nor any convulsive disturbances, which would give to the plane of a coal seam great irregularities in inclination. It must be remembered that the elevation of the Alleghanies, and the foldings of the Appalachian region, and. all the thousand undulations given to the strata of our coal fields were subsequent to the formation of our coal-measures. The results of the most careful observations in all our coal fields, create a reasonable belief that the subsidence was semi-continental in character, and that the crust of the earth settled down in an even and dignified way.

So far as my observations go, I have never found an instance where two distinct seams of coal came together, or conversely, where a seam became divided and its parts continued to diyerge for a long or indefinite distance. It is not uncommon to find, in a seam of coal, the proof that the coal marsh had in it local depressions, which were filled with sediment, making a soil on which new vegetation grew, and thus the seam shows two parts, separated by fire clay, sometimes several feet thick, but in every instance, when traced, I have found the parts to reunite. The two parts never diverge indefinitely.

From these statements, we may infer a general law of parallelism. Such law is in harmony with the belief of the most careful observers, that our productive coal period was characterized by great quietness and freedom from violent local disturbances.

"The only question open to discussion, (says Prof. Rogers,) is whether in an instance like that of the huge mass of the Summit Hill mines, and Panther Creek Tunnels, (in Pa.,) where the bed possesses very unusual thickness, the expansion of its size is caused by the merging into the principal bed of other adjoining coal seams through the thinning away of the dividing strata, or is merely a local enlargement of the one coal bed between the same roof and floor, arising from more active deposition at this spot of the vegetable materials which formed it. If we were in possession of any complete sections of the lower coal measures, such as those of Nesquehoning and Tamaqua coals, illustrative of the condition of things nearer to the Summit mine than those localities, we might, from such data, possibly determine the running together or not of some of those beds to form this great deposit, but no intermediate points have been developed, and the distance of the two localities named, one four and a half miles and the other five miles, is too considerable to permit us to institute any close comparison between the individual beds at either of them and that of the Summit. To explain the unusual thickness of the great bed by the coalescing of several large seams of the Nesquehoning group, we must assume, if we take the "main lower coal" and the two next which overlie it, as those which have here come together, that there has occurred a total exhaustion of about 134 feet of included rock, or if we suppose only this "main lower coal" and the double or Rowland's coal to have united, we have still to conceive of the thinning out of seventy-seven feet of sandstone in a range of only four and a half miles. A like diffi- culty besets us when we consider the thick plates of sandstones and slate which we must assume as having disappeared between the Little Schuylkill and the Summit, if we would derive the great bed from the coming together of any two or more of the principal lower seams of that locality. Never- theless, so much more uniform are the coal beds generally, than the mechanically derived sand- stones—so much more easy is it when we advert to the respective circumstances, under which these two classes of deposition originated, to as- cribe a rapid variation of thickness to the widely strewn strata of sand and pebbles, than to the slowly and gently accumulated layers of vegeta- tion of the ancient carboniferous marshes--that I strongly incline to that view which assumes the apparent alteration of thickness to be due to the thinning out of the arenaceous rocks."

From this language, it appears that no facts have been obtained by careful stratigraphical measurements to prove the actual coming together of the different seams of coal, but the union is assumed as, on the whole, the least difficult way of explaining the usual thickening of the coal at the Summit. This, of course, is only the opinion of Prof. Rogers, and is entitled to all the weight which the opinion of so eminent a geologist should receive. It is readily granted that sands are accumulated along shore lines with great unevenness. This depends upon the strength of currents and the quantity of material. Along a shore there are many places of comparatively quiet water, where finer sediments, now compressed into shales, are deposited, and we often find these shales alternating with sandstones. In Ohio, on the same horizon, I find sometimes sixty feet of sandrock, and a few miles away sixty feet of shales. The marginal area below the water must be filled up with something, and the unevenness of the resulting bedding of the sandrock, or shales, is not a matter of consequence, nor is it pertinent to the solution of the problem in hand, viz : The explanation of the universal thickening of a coal seam at a given point. The real difficulty is antecedent to the filling in of a submerged area by mechanical sediments, it matters not whether by "sand and pebbles widely strewn," or by mud gently dropped in more quiet water. How came a part of a marsh, with its coal-making vegetation, 134 feet below its original level, while the remaining part of the marsh maintained such a wonderful statical equilibrium -just at the water line ? I do not say that this is impossible, but it is not probable, indeed it is so improbable, that it may not be lightly inferred.

It is much easier for me to believe that in this famous Pennsylvania case, now made historical by Sir Charles Lyell, the conditions of accumulation of a large mass of vegetable matter, were more favorable in that part of the ,marsh now represented by the Summit Hill coal, than at other portions of the marsh. The conditions of growth might have been more favorable, or there might have been less waste from decomposition, or from mechanical removal. Indeed, all these causes might have combined to create the difference in the thickness of the coal. In Ohio; I find a seam of coal from four to five feet thick, and evidently retaining its original and normal thickness, while three miles away the same seam is nearly thirteen feet thick. It is as easy for me to believe that a seam might, at Nesquehoning, be twenty-eight feet thick, as reported, and at the Summit Hill, be nearly fifty feet thick, as that a seam in Ohio, in a less distance, change from four to thirteen feet.

The buried 'vegetation of the coal marshes re- appears after the lapse of long geological ages, in three pretty well marked varieties of coal, viz. : The more bituminous, or coking, the dry splint, and cannel, all grouped under the gener- al head of bituminous, as distinguished from the metamorphic anthracite. The more bituminous, or pitch coal, appears to be the natural or normal form which the unaltered vegetation took when buried. Any one familiar with the details of our bituminous coal fields, has often seen the shales and slate films of this bright, resinous coal,

where single trunks, or branches of sigillaria, lepidodendron, or large ferns, like pecolteris arborescens, have been buried with an almost perfect exclusion of air. Such films of coal are derived from the bark layers, the interior portion of the tree always, in these cases, disappearing without adding to the quantity of coal. Dr. Dawson regards the mineral charcoal, common in most seams of coal, as the product of the partially decomposed inner bark, and the more woody portion of the tree, with portions of other vegetation. In some cases which have fallen under my observation, where there was reason to believe that the tree had been prostrated while a living tree,and buried without previous decomposition, both barks were converted into bright and resinous coal. From this we may, perhaps, infer that if the whole mass of vegetation forming a coal seam were completely buried, without any previous decomposition, we might expect the whole to be converted into bright coal. Sometimes we find the coal very bright and pitch-like in a considerable portion of the seam, showing scarcely any mineral charcoal, or those laminations of duller color, which are generally supposed to indicate the more decomposed vegetable matter of leaves, fronds and smaller plants. Dr. Dawson thus writes : "I would also observe that though in the roof shales and other associated beds, it is usually only the cortical layer of trees that appear as compact and bituminous coal, yet, I have found specimens which show that, in the coal seams themselves, true woody tissues have been converted into structure less coal, forming like the coniferous trees converted into jet in more modern formations, thin bands of very pure bituminous material." The probability is that the less the sub-aerial decay, the more perfectly bituminized and structure less becomes the resulting coal. Nothing would be so likely to prevent decay as immersion in water, and such immersion must play an important part in the formation of the more highly bituminous and caking coals. "In the putrefaction of wood under water, or imbedded in aqueous deposits," says Dawson, "a change occurs in which the principal loss consists in carbon and oxygen ; and the resulting coaly product contains proportionally more hydrogen than the original wood. This is the condition of the compact bituminous coal.

* The mineral charcoal results from sub-aerial decay, the compact coal from sub-aqueous putrefaction, more or less modified by heat and exposure to air."

CANNEL COAL—We should expect that in the swampy flats of the coal period, there would be wet places filled with muck or vegetable mud, similar to those we often find in such swamps today. In the modern muck bog, the structure of the vegetation is almost entirely obliterated, and there results a fine, soft vegetable mud, which, when dried, forms a dark and almost impalpable powder. We find the proof of the existence of similar locations of vegetable mud in the old coal- producing areas. They were probably not the only wet places ; (for what has already been

said of the origin of the more bituminous, or, pitch-like coals, implies the existence of much water) but they were the wet places in which the vegetation became so thoroughly decomposed, that when afterwards buried, compressed and bituminized, it was changed into a hard compact stratum of coal, showing little lustre, often no lamination, and breaking with conchoidal fracture. .It is probable that there were vast quantities of vegetable mud formed which did not go to constitute seams of cannel coal, but were floated away by currents, and mingling with mineral sediments, settled in the more quiet waters of the shallows, thus forming strata of bituminous slates and shales. * * Every stratum of bituminous shale in our productive coal measures, implies the existence of the same proximate horizon of a coal marsh, and should always be noted and studied with this fact in mind. When in the mud forming bitumious shales, the carbonate of iron has been introduced, we have a stratum of black band ore, unless, as is more often the case, the iron is brought by the force of affinity into nodular masses.

In the water over the accumulating vegetable mud, fishes, mollusks and other forms of life sometimes abounded, and these were entombed in the mud.

In the ooze, the stigmaria almost reveled penetrating it in almost every direction, and these curious vegetable forms, with their spreading rootlets are found in greatest abundance in cannel coals, all flattened, but in exquisite preservation. The existence of so many stigmarias in the cannel coals, the beds of which often extend for many miles, almost necessitates the conclusion-that they grew in situ. If the stigmaria is always a true root of the sigillaria, or other tree, as held by Dr. Dawson, and others, we must conclude that trees, having these roots attached, grew in the wettest parts of the marsh,which were, therefore, not open lagoons, as some have supposed. But Dr. Dawson asserts that "sigillaria grew on the same soils which supported conifers lepidodendra, cordaites and ferns, plants which could not have grown in water." He also claims, that most of the under clays, which, so far as I know, universally contain rootlets of stigmaria, "are, in short, loamy or clay soils, and most have been sufficiently above water to admit of drainage." These views require us to believe that the stigmaria could not have grown where they are found in cannel coal, but were floated to their present places as detached roots. If thus floated, we should expect that they would sometimes show local accumulations in the drifted heaps. So far as my observations go, they are very evenly distributed over the whole cannel coal areas. Moreover, if detached and floated bodies, and afterwards buried in the accumulating mud, we should naturally expect them also to decay, and form vegetable muck similar to the surrounding mass.

On the other hand, Lesquereux, Goldenberg, and others, hold that the true stigmaria was an

aquatic plant. Lesquereux thus writes : "It is my belief that the genus stigmaria does not represent tree roots, but floating stems, of which species of the genus sigillaria constitute the flowers, or fruit-bearing Stems." It was, as I understand his views, only under favorable circumstances of a more solid ground for anchorage, that these stems produced the stalks, or, more properly, trunks, by which the fructification was secured. By this theory, it is certainly more easy to explain the vast number of stigma- ria found in cannel coals. By it we may, perhaps, also account for the equally great numbers of stigmaria found in some of the sand rocks of the lower coal-measures of Ohio, in which sigillaria are but seldom found. Since we often find stigmaria in the bituminous coal, the "floating-stem" theory would harmonize with the other opinion of Mr. Lesquereux, arrived at after careful study of the marshes and peat bogs of Europe and America, that the coal was formed in similar marshes skirted by the ocean, which would furnish the needed conditions for the growth of such aquatic vegetation as he regards the stigrnaria to be. * * * We conclude that, admitting the radical nature of the stigmaria, we remain very doubtful as to their generic deter- mination, and still more so as to their specific reference.

COKE.—Passing the consideration of ashes in coals, and the sulphur found in different combinations, we find some practical thoughts—very interesting, in regard to coke. The strongest cokes are made from the more highly bituminous and caking coals, such as melt and swell when heated, and, after the bituminous gases are driven off, leave a hard, cinder-like mass, which has an almost metallic lustre, and a metallic ring, when struck. Such coke, either cold or hot, is broken with difficulty, and will resist great pressure without crushing. This is the kind preferred by all intelligent "iron-masters." All cokes made from the soft-caking coals have a tendency to be more or less firm, from the fact that such coals soften and melt when heated. The best coke comes from the most thorough fusion of coal. Often, iron-masters, using dry coals in the raw state, and finding that they do not obtain sufficient heat, resort to the use of a certain portion of firm coke. The difficulty is not I think, in the want of heating power in the raw coal, for its coke may have quite as much fixed carbon as the other coke used, but in the simple fact that, in the first instance, the fire is partially smothered by the compacted condition of the fuel, while in the other case, the weaker coke of the raw coal is reinforced by the stronger, and, thus the whole mass of the fuel is kept in better condition by the permeated blast.

IRON.—While it is true that coal is the mainspring of modern civilization, it is also true that much of its value depends upon its association with iron. In most countries, certain varieties of iron ore are found associated with coal—black- band, clay, ironstone, etc.—and in these, Ohio ores are richer than any of those States that share with her our great Alleghany coal basin. Again, our coal field is so situated, and the coal it furnishes is of such quality, that a large part of the richer crystalline ores found in other States must inevitably be brought to our territory to be smelted and manufactured.

In order that the conditions under which the production of iron is now, and is hereafter to be carried on, in Ohio, may be better understood, I will devote a few words to the description of the varieties of iron ore found in our country, and their relation to the fuel with which they are to be smelted.

The richest of all the ores is the "magnetic oxide," which contains, when pure, 72.4 per cent, metallic iron, and 27.6 per cent. oxygen. It consists of the protoxide and sesqui oxide, combined, and may be recognized by its black powder and its magnetic property. This variety of ore is found in great abundance in the crystalline rocks of the Alleghany belt, in the Adirondacks, and in Canada. It is the ore brought to us under the name of Champlain ore—from the fact of its occurrence on the shores of Lake Champlain—and is that mined so extensively in Southern New York, New Jersey, and further south, along the same line. From its abundance in the localities I have cited, and its proximity to the anthracite coal of Pennsylvania, this ore has formed the basis of a very large manufac- ture in the Eastern States, and has furnished more of the iron produced in this country than any other single variety. As found in Canada, and along the Alleghanies, the magnetic ores are extremely prone to contain certain impuri- ties, which injuriously affect the metal produced from them. These are principally phosphorous in phosphate of lime, and sulphur in the form of sulphide, or iron pyrites. Of these, the phosphorous renders the iron "cold short," or brittle when cold ; and the sulphur, "red short," or tender at a red heat. Many of these ores con- tain also a large percentage of litanium, by which they are rendered refractory, and the iron made, brittle. These defects in the Eastern magnetic ores, almost preclude their use for the finer qualities of iron and steel, and yet they are destined to form an important element in the manufacture of iron in Ohio. Iron making is, in one aspect, much like oil painting, for, as the painter gets his finest effects by skillfully blending many tints, so the iron-maker can only ob- tain the best results by using in the furnace several varieties of ore. The iron ores of Eastern New York and Canada, may, by the cheapness of return freights, be delivered within our territory at a price so low that they will continue to be used as they now are, in considerable quantities, by our iron smelters. Some of the Canadian ores can be furnished on the lake shore, at a very low figure, but these ores are so largely contaminated by sulphur, or litanium that they are, at present, but little used. When, however, we shall have introduced the Swedish smelting furnace—removing three or four per cent of sulphur—we may expect these ores to

The ore next in point of richness to the magnetic, is that called " Specular iron," which consists, when pure, entirely of peroxide. This is a crystalline ore, generally having a metallic appearance, and takes its name from the speculum like reflections from its polished surfaces. When free from foreign matter, this ore contains seventy per cent. of iron and thirty of oxygen. Most of the Lake Superior ores are of this character, as are also those of the Iron Mount- ains of Missouri. To us, the Lake Superior ores are of immense importance, as will be seen from the fact that at least two thirds of all the ore mined in the Marquette district are brought to our State, and this ore constitutes the main dependence of all that great group of furnaces which have been constructed in the northern part of the State within the last twenty years.

The product of the Lake Superior iron mines in 1868, was 507,813 tons, for 1869, 643,283 tons, and of this, at least one third is supposed to have been smelted with Ohio coal. The Lake Superior ores are almost entirely free from phos- phorous, sulphur, arsenic and litanium, the ingredients which so injuriously affect iron ores elsewhere ; and the magnetic ores of Michigan, of which the supply is now known to be large, are the purest of which I have any knowledge. From these facts, it is evident that the Lake Superior iron ores are peculiarly adapted to the production of all the finer grades of iron and steel, and indeed it is the opinion of our most accomplished metallurgists, that the manufacture of steel in future years, so far as this country is concerned, will be based almost exclusively upon these ores.

The coals of the Alleghany coal-field are supeiior to those of the West, and it is certain that nowhere can an abundant supply of mineral fuel, suitable for smelting the Lake Superior ores, be so cheaply obtained as in Ohio. Some portion of these ores are now, and will continue to be, smelted with charcoal on the upper peninsula of Michigan, but the supply of this fuel is so limited, that it will play but an insignificant part in the iron manufacture of the future.

The ores enumerated constitute our native ores, the main source of supply to our furnaces. 1 should add, however, to this list one other variety, that which is known as the "fossil ore," a stratified red hematite, found in the Clinton group, and which forms a belt of out-crop extending, with more or less intermission, from Dodge county, Wisconsin, across a portion oi Canada, entering New York at Sodus Bay, passing through Oneida county, where it has received the name of "Clinton ore," thence running down through central Pennsylvania, Virginia and East Tennessee, into Georgia and Alabama. In the latter region, it is known as the " Dyestone ore," from the fact that it has been employed by the inhabitants for imparting a reddish brown tint to cloth. This Clinton ore is an hydrous peroxide, containing from 40 to 50 per cent. of metallic iron, and generally a notable percentage of phosphorus. Its use in Ohio has depended upon the latter quality, from the fact that it imparts a " cold-shortness " to iron made from it, and is supposed to correct the red shortness of sulphurous iron.

Within our own territory, we have all the varieties of iron that are ever associated with coal, viz. : black-band, kidney ore, stratified ore, or, as it is called, block ore, and, in less abundance, brown hematite, the hydrated peroxide of iron. Of these, the black-band is a bituminous shale, largely impregnated with iron, taking its name from its stratification and black color. In its natural condition, it contains from twenty to thirty-three per cent. of iron, but, by burning off the carbon, it becomes much richer. This ore is found, and largely used, in Mahoning and Tuscarawas counties, and is known to exist in Columbiana. Sought for by those who know it, it will undoubtedly be discovered in many. parts of the State. It smelts with great facility, making very fusible iron, and such as is especially adapted to foundry purposes. The kidney ore, an earthy carbonate of iron, generally forms balls or concretions, lying in the shales of the coal formation. Where these shales have been extensively eroded, the ore is cheaply mined by "stripping," and was the main dependence of most of our furnaces previous to the introduction of the crystalline ores. The yield of the kidney ore, in the furnace, will average about thirty-three per cent., or three tons of ore make one of iron. This ore is found, in greater or less abundance, in every county included in the coal area. The " block " ores of the coal measures vary much, in purity and abundance, in different localities. They are generally strata of limestone charged with iron. In the southern portion of the State, ore of this character forms a large number of distinct beds, from two to six feet in thickness, and constitutes the principal source of supply of some forty furnaces now in blast in that district.

In certain localities, some of these stratified iron ores, near their out crops, are changed from their original condition, have lost their carbonic acid and have been converted into brown hematite. The average richness of the stratified ores may be said to be about the same as that of the kidney ores, namely, thirty-five per cent of me- tallic iron. The iron furnished by some of them is of very superior quality, as is proved by the reputation of the celebrated Hanging Rock iron, made from the ores.

TIM MANUFACTURE OF R ON . —We have briefly considered the principal elements—coal, and the ores, that are to form the basis of the great iron industry. It is known to most per- sons that, with the fuel and ore, limestone is used in large quantity in the smelting furnaces ; but, as this material is readily attainable in all localities, it need not now occupy our time. I may say, however, in passing, that a large amount of work needs to be done in our State in the inves- tigation of the composition of our fluxes, and

their adaptation to the ores we most use. In this part of the iron manufacture, our furnace men are working very much in the dark, and it is certain that they can receive important aid.

The ordinary process of reduction of the ore in the blast furnace, is so well known that I need not dwell on it in detail. All varieties of iron ore consist of a combination, sometimes exclusively, always mainly—of oxygen and iron. This oxygen, when brought in contact with carbon at high temperature, unites with it, and passes off as carbonic acid, or carbonic oxide, leaving, as a result of this smelting process, cast iron. This is, however, not yet metallic iron, for it contains four to five per cent. of carbon, and is a carburet of iron ; a hard, brittle substance, applicable to a thousand uses in the arts, but not yet malleable. The manufacture of bar iron consists mainly in the removal of this carbon, and, although not a geological disquisition, we will briefly mention the process, which is called "puddling." In this process the cast iron, or what is termed "pig," is placed in a reverberatory furnace, and there exposed, at a high temperature, to the action of an oxidizing flame. This burns out the carbon and leaves the iron pure, except as it contains a small portion of silicon, sulphur, phosphorous, etc. As the iron in the puddling furnace approaches the malleable condition, it becomes adhesive and pasty, and is worked into balls ; these are taken out and passed through the squeezers, and rolling mill, where they become what is called "muck bar." Muck bar, ordinarily requires still further refining, so it is cut into convenient length, piled, re-heated, re-rolled, and then comes out as "merchant bar." Thus, we have cast iron and bar iron ; the two forms in which iron is largely used by civilized man. This peculiar and protean metal is capable, however, of assuming still another condition, in which it supplies certain of our wants much more perfectly than do either of the forms before mentioned. This we call steel ; and steel differs from malleable iron only in containing from one-half to one and a half—say on an average of one per cent. of carbon. This carbon, though so minute in quantity, imparts its peculiar properties, rendering it capable of being cast like pig iron, without the loss of its malleability, and also communicates to it the all important property of temper, by which its hardness is immensely increased, and it is fitted for many uses that no other material known to us can serve. Nearly all the iron used in the world, at the present time, is manufactured with mineral fuel. The old charcoal furnaces were thought to do well when they gave a yield of thirty-five to fifty tons per week. Now there are several furnaces in Ohio, each of which produces three hundred tons of pig iron in the same time, and some of the English furnaces produce six hundred tons per week.

THE ELLERHAUSEN PROCESS OF MAKING STEEL.—We have seen that pig iron consists of metallic iron,with four or five per cent. of carbon, while the richer ores consist mainly of iron and oxygen. Ellerhausen's theory was that iron ore could be mingled with cast iron in such a way that the oxygen of the ore would unite with the carbon of the pig metal, and, passing off as carbonic oxide, leave the iron of both elements in the combination in the metallic state. The experiment was first tried by drawing a ladle of molten iron from the furnace, and stirring into it a quantity of iron ore. The change anticipated began at once, and the iron assumed a pasty condition, which rendered it impossible to stir it with a bar. Substituting a wooden rod, the materials were mingled, and were made to form a ball similar to that collected in the puddling furnace by the rabble. This ball heated, squeezed and rolled, was found to furnish a fair article of bar iron. Subsequently there was substituted for the ladle, a wheel, eighteen feet in diameter, bearing on its margin a series of boxes, This wheel was made to revolve beneath a stream of molten iron and pulverized ore, that crossed each other at right angles. By the rotation of the wheel, the boxes were gradually filled with layers of iron, mixed with ore. When each contained a sufficient quantity the sides were removed, and the blooms transferred to the puddling furnaces, these re-heated until the slag they contained was "sweated" out, then squeezed and rolled into bars. These bars, without piling or re-rolling, are found to exhibit all the properties of first- class iron. This process was extensively operated by J. H. Shoenberger & Co., and Lyon, Shorb & Co., Pittsburgh. But it is possible to produce malleable iron direct from the ore. This is called by metallurgists, the "direct process," because it follows a direct line, and avoids the wind about through the blast furnace. This is the method practiced in what is called the catalan forge ; it has not been demonstrated to be cheaper, however, than by the other method, while some metallurgists maintain that not many years will elapse till all our bar iron will be manufactured by some direct process.

The ground of this confidence is the peculiar property that carbonic oxide has of reducing the oxide of iron at a comparatively low temperature. If we put a few grains of pulverized iron ore with some carbonaceous substance, in a test tube, and heat this over a spirit lamp to a red heat, 1,000 or 1,200 degrees, the ore is immediately decomposed, its oxygen uniting with the carbon, and grains of metallic iron become visible. This is the theory of the Renton process, the process of Dr. Smith, and what is known as Chenot's process, but up to the present time all these methods have been practically unsuccessful, from a difficulty in regulating the temperature ; for it is a remarkable fact that when the temperature is raised above 1,400 degrees, fusion begins, silicates are formed, and the mass is agglutinated together in such a way as to be unmanageable, while the access of the gas to the ore is prevented. Several eminent metallurgists are, however, at work on this problem, and it seems that their efforts must ultimately be crowned with success. I need not dwell upon the benefits that would accrue to society and civilization, by a diminution

of say one-half in the cost of production of bar iron. So great would be this benefit, that there is hardly a family in any civilized community who would not sensibly feel it. On the other hand, the Bessemer process has reduced the price of steel in an equal degree, and now the cheap- ening of bar iron has become the great metal-lurgic desideration.

THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL—THE BESSEMER PROCESS.—Perhaps the best illustration of the progressive character of iron manufacture is furnished by recent improvements in the manufacture of steel. It will be remembered that steel is iron, with one per cent. of carbon, or cast iron from which three-fourths of the carbon has been removed. Twenty-five years ago, all our steel was made by what is called the "cementation" process, so well known that I need not describe it. About this time, Mr. Bessemer, an English iron-master, conceived the plan of forcing common air into melted pig iron, and thus, by bringing its oxygen in contact with the carbon, to induce the formation of carbonic acid, eliminate the carbon and produce malleable iron ; or, by arresting the process at a certain point, to leave the fluid metal in the condition of cast steel. Upon trial, the injection of even cold air into molten iron, instead of chilling it, as many predicted, produced ignition and intense heat. 'This was the germ of the famous Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel—a process by which fully one-half of the steel now made is produced, and by which, as has been stated, the cost of steel has been reduced at least one-half. Many years elapsed before Mr. Bessemer succeeded in overcoming all the mechanical difficulties which stood in his way, and in silencing the opposition which the conservatism of the iron manufacture offered. Now the process may be said to be not only a success, but a triumph, and its author deserves to be regarded as one of the greatest benefactors of the human. race. For the production of steel, Mr. Bessemer first proposed to arrest the combustion of the carbon in the iron, so as to leave about one per cent. unconsumed. This point was found difficult to hit, and he ultimately adopted the method of adding, after the process was complete, the requisite quantity of carbon, in the form of "spiegelcion," a highly carbonized cast iron. This is the course now generally adopted, and steel is being thus made in large quantities, not only in Europe, but in our own country, and our own State.

The Siemens-Martin process—invented and -largely employed in France, and in use at Tren- ton, New Jersey—is a simple and perfectly man- ageable method of producing steel, but it is doubt- ful if it can rival, in simplicity and cheapness, the Bessemer process.

THE BARRON PROCESS.—This is a new method, and one, perhaps, not yet beyond the condition of an experiment, but it has, at least, sufficed for the production of steel of as fine a quality as has ever been made by any other means. The whole process consists in exposing malleable iron to the action of gaseous hydro-carbons, at a temperature just below fusion. Under these circumstances, the iron rapidly and regularly absorbs the carbon of the gas, and becomes steel. By the Barron process, shapes of iron are converted into steel without change of form, and this is the most satisfactory application of it I have seen. For example, tools or implements, of any kind, may be moulded and cast, these shapes made malleable by the ordinary process, and then, by impregnation, converted into steel, -coming out scissors, knives, axes, or other implements, of the very best quality, with no forging whatever. Whether this method is capable of effecting cheaply the conversion of large masses of iron, is not yet demonstrated, though it is claimed ; but from the fact that a piece of iron may, by this means, be Covered with a sheet of enamel, or coated with a layer of any desired thickness of steel, while yet retaining all the toughness of its iron core, and, by a coating of clay, the absorption of carbon may be limited to any portion of the surface acted upon, it is evident that this method is destined to have extensive application in the arts. The quality of steel made by this process is such as leaves nothing to be desired. With tailors' shears, cast in form, made malleable, then converted by the Barron process, I have cut Florence silk so nicely as to prove the edge perfect ; then, with the same shears have cut up sheets of tin and untempered steel, returning to the silk, have found the edge wholly unimpaired, and this after a repetition of the trial more than twenty times.