Iron stone from mines that had a
high reputation was now found to contain ten, fifteen, and even twenty
per cent less iron than it had been credited with. Mines that hitherto
had a poor reputation we found to be now yielding superior ore. The
good was bad and the bad was good, and everything was topsy-turvy.
Nine tenths of all the uncertainties of pig-iron making were dispelled
under the burning sun of chemical knowledge.
At a most critical period when it was necessary for the credit of the
firm that the blast furnace should make its best product, it had been
stopped because an exceedingly rich and pure ore had been substituted
for an inferior ore--an ore which did not yield more than two thirds
of the quantity of iron of the other. The furnace had met with
disaster because too much lime had been used to flux this
exceptionally pure ironstone. The very superiority of the materials
had involved us in serious losses.
What fools we had been! But then there was this consolation: we were
not as great fools as our competitors. It was years after we had taken
chemistry to guide us that it was said by the proprietors of some
other furnaces that they could not afford to employ a chemist. Had
they known the truth then, they would have known that they could not
afford to be without one.
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