of the Bible, which is one of those which the unbelieving pew-holder before referred to is supposed to reject? How are we to escape 'the play of life?' And if it is a misleading influence, how are we to know that it does not as often incline men to belief as to unbelief, to orthodoxy as to heterodoxy? There is no doubt that many cling in the most wilful manner to their religious opinions because, as they say, they find comfort in them. What is this but the play of life making belief on a vast scale? Evidently we must leave a general influence of this kind out of the account, and try and weigh a doctrine of the kind in question in the balance of enlightened reason. The Bible is either infallible or it is not; it can either be proved to be so or it cannot.

To say that the pew-holder cannot have good reasons of his own for rejecting the Bible as a specially inspired bookthat he is the victim of his own lifeexperiences-is to prejudge the whole case, and put a stop to all argument.

Mr. Brooks tells us, in effect, that for his own part, he has got bravely over any belief that he ever had in the verbal infallibility of the Bible.

But

this word verbal is very vague. How much does it cover? Are we to limit its application literally to words here and there, or may we extend it to sentences, verses, chapters, books? It is very doubtful if Mr. Brooks would attempt to draw the line showing where fallibility ends and infallibility begins. But, in that case, somebody may go a little further than Mr. Brooks in the recognition of fallibility, without being accused of having had his whole judgment perverted by 'the play of life.' That is too summary and convenient a way altogether of disposing of an opponent. The Su

preme Being did not intend, as Mr. Brooks allows, to give to the world an absolutely infallible book; but, if so, how are we to know that He meant the Book to be infallible in any sense? How do we know, in fact, that the

At the outset of the essay we are told that scepticism, offering men no substitute for the religion it would destroy, leaves man's religious nature unprovided for and hungry,' and, therefore, gives to Christianity a perpetual advantage. At the close we

are told that We need to remember how irreligion has invaded religion, and to imitate its methods. It has got hold of the passions and enthusiasms of men; and there has been its strength.' These two statements do not seem very compatible. When a man's passions and enthusiasms are roused to activity he is not likely to feel very hungry. I do not know, of course, in what precise sense Mr. Brooks intended to use the word 'enthusiasms,' but I should think he meant it in a noble sense; and it certainly says something for scepticism if religious teachers require to be point ed to the sway which it exerts over men's enthusiasms,' in order that they may be stimulated to try and do as much.

Mr. Brooks, however, as every thoughtful liberal will readily agree, does well to point to character as the great means of influencing men for good. There is no preaching so powerful as that which comes direct from a man's life, and, if a man cannot preach in this way, the rest of his preaching is vain. These are days when all who have any higher light require to be very faithful in letting it shine forth; for there is a scepticism abroad which threatens to sap the foundations of both private and public morality-a scepticism as to whether it is worth while to do the right thing at any great inconvenience to yourself. Such a scepticism, we will freely concede, is not to be met by arguments, but only by the power of an intense conviction-a religious faith-that it

THE HE true philosopher's stone of the nineteenth century, which rules the financial destiny of the principalities of the world, is a very homely looking object, varying from a dingy shade of white to red, brown, or sombre black, scattered abundantly in every land, and found in more or less quantity in each handful of soil we take up.

Why then can we not seize this treasure and fill our pockets with gold? Because, unfortunately, our philosopher's stone requires long and tedious intermediate processes at the hands of adepts ere it is metamorphosed into the golden product. In like manner the El Dorado of to-day is singularly devoid of bird and flower, crystal stream and cloudless sky; it is usually uncommonly prolific in dearth and barrenness, turbid water, and volumes of smoke, which entirely obscure the heavens and renders breathing no longer an unconscious operation, but attendant with many varied sensations and surprises to the gustatory and olfactory organs.

If my reader will not grant that iron rules the nineteenth century, then a fresh start is necessary to substantiate our supposition that it does. No better example is afforded than that of England. With the rise of her iron smelting, and a concomitant increase in general manufactures, she was able to declare free trade and throw open her markets to the world.

Of late years, with the depression in her iron, hard times' and general distress throughout the kingdom soon followed. Again, since manufacturing her iron, though at less advantage than

in Great Britain, the United States have turned the balance of commerce from a large import to a large export trade. Also those who were at the last Paris Exhibition, could see that hand in hand with the present great prosperity of France, gigantic strides have been taken in the smelting and working of her iron ore in a thoroughly systematic and scientific manner.

Belgium, the most thriving of all the small European States, has lately exported a small quantity of iron to England; her most important works, those of John Cockerill & Co., at Seraing, being unsurpassed by any it has been my good fortune to see. Sweden, who is leaving her sister, Norway, behind in the race for prosperity, helps to supply her neighbours with excellent iron. Then on the other hand, Germany and Spain (which together supply half Europe at present with pure hematite ore), Russia, Austria, Italy, &c., are only beginning to make all their own iron, and at the same time we do not see signs of great prosperity in any of these states. No doubt a hundred and one other reasons might be given as to the cause of local depression, but as seen from the above facts, none exercise such a broad dominion as the iron trade.

Now that this question is beginning to excite no slight attention in the Dominion, it might be of interest to some of the readers of this magazine to learn the brief outlines of iron manufacture; after which it is my intention to give a sketch of a typical English district, taking North Stafford (perhaps the most successful in Great

Britain), for an example, then, in comparison, the United States region about Pittsburg, where the American Institute of Mining Engineers, have lately held their annual meeting. The facts, it is hoped, will help the reader to form an opinion for himself of the chances Canada would have to exclude these two giants from her markets, and to produce her own iron, under the present tariff.

The smelting of iron differs from that of most other metallurgical industries, in that the only minerals used for its extraction are limited to the group of oxides, or compounds of iron and oxygen. To get the metallic iron we must, therefore, remove this oxygen, and that is done by carbon (or carbonic oxide) in the form of coal and coke, which, uniting with the oxygen, carries it off in the form of a gas,-carbonic acid gas. Notwithstanding the numberless processes that have been and are in use, this simple reaction is at the root of all. Iron smelting is, perhaps, the most ancient of the arts, dating back to the rival metallurgists, Vulcan, and Tubal Cain, if indeed they were not the same personage.

The primitive furnace, yet seen in Burmah and in Africa, consisted of a hole dug in the ground, in which an easily reducible iron ore was mixed with charcoal, the blast being supplied by the wind. A spongy mass of metal resulted, which was hammered into the shape required. A slight advance on this is the Catalan forge, used in Spain, the East Indian forge, and the American Bloomary process, seen in the States of New York and Vermont.

In these three the iron ore is reduced in hearths by charcoal; a blast of air being directed on to the smouldering mass through tuyeres or iron nozzles. In the latter the resulting 'blooms,' or porous masses of iron, are sometimes as large as 300 lbs. The fine Otis Steel Works,' at Cleveland, use many of these for producing the excellent mild steel, by the Siemens

Martin process, out of which their splendid boiler plates are made; this steel contains frequently as little as twelve hundredths of carbon.

No fuel but charcoal has ever been employed in these 'direct' processes, or processes by which malleable iron is produced at once, without any intermediate manipulation. The amount of fuel used, however, is enormous, and, though the product is generally very pure, no process for the direct production of iron has proved successful. Many attempts have been made of late years; but as mild steel is now beginning more and more to take the place of wrought iron, to which it is undoubtedly in every way superior, it is to be feared that such efforts are more futile than ever.

It was first discovered in Sweden that by raising the height of their hearths to the dimensions of furnaces, and by feeding from the top, there was a decided increase in the saving of fuel, but that, owing to the longer contact between the reduced iron and the hot charcoal, a notable quantity of a molten compound of iron and carbon was formed, along with the wrought iron 'bloom' obtained from the process. This compound of iron and carbon, containing from two to six per cent. of the latter, is 'cast' or 'pig' metal, and it is more brittle and easily melted than the purer or wrought iron.'

The next step was yet higher furnaces, a still greater economy in fuel, and now, owing to the much longer contact between the reduced metal and carbon, a product consisting entirely of pig' or 'cast' metal. This is run out of the furnaces in the liquid state into the pig beds' or straight moulds made in a bed of sand; or, as in some works, the metal is run directly into Bessemer converters for the manufacture of steel, which, in this way, is produced at an equal or less expense than wrought iron.

The following great improvements were: first, the use of coal and coke in the place of charcoal, then the im

mense saving effected by heating the blast on the way from the blastengine to the furnace to about 1000° F; and still later, the partially burnt gases from the top of the furnace were collected and made to do the work of heating the blast and the boilers which supply steam for working the engine.

The blast-furnace varies in height from 50 to 100 feet, but the most modern averages from 70 to 80 feet. The interior is somewhat the shape of a soda-water bottle, and is composed of the most refractory fire-brick; the outside being generally cylindrical, and of iron plates rivetted together. The ore, coal, and limestone are lifted in a cage by a little engine, or by the force of the blast, and thrown, at the top of the furnace on to an inverted iron bell, which is lowered when enough is on it, the charge falling into the furnace; this accomplished, the bell is brought back and the top closed again.

The

Great care has to be taken in mixing the charge; for by using different ores and varying quantities of limestone, a slag is obtained which flows easily, and in no way impedes the working of the furnace;--the limestone being added with this sole object in view. By altering the condition of the charge and blast, a different class of pig ore is obtained, but this part of iron manufacture needs more than the average skill and manipulation to bring about the desired result. slag above referred to, is practically composed of all the foreign matter associated with the ore, and this floats above the metallic iron, which lies in the hearth at the bottom of the furnace. The iron is drawn off through a tap hole at its lowest part, as a rule, twice a day of 24 hours, and run into pigs. In this state the iron is used for making all sorts of castings, such as stoves, ornamental work, etc., by being poured into moulds in a molten condition.

After the 'pig,' or 'cast' metal is obtained, another process has to be

gone through, by which the carbon in the cast-iron is eliminated. This is necessary ere it arrives at the state of 'wrought' metal, which can be rolled, welded, or beaten, at a red heat, into any required shape. This decarburation is accomplished either by 'puddling,' wrought iron being the product, or by the Bessemer process,' by which the Bessemer steel is made, and which now furnishes the world with rails.

Even those among the readers of this magazine who take the smallest possible interest in iron, will have associated the name of Bessemer with a great revolution in the iron trade, and not unjustly, for no discovery in this century has so affected the markets of the world. In puddling, the 'pig' is melted in a small reverberatory furnace, and either by hand or by machinery, stirred about to bring the metal in contact with a pure ore, or oxide of iron, which, helped by the air, oxidizes and removes, as carbonic acid gas, the carbon in the iron. It then 6 comes to nature,' or assumes the infusible 'wrought' condition, and is gathered into a glowing white mass, which is taken out and hammered and rolled to the required shapes.

In the Bessemer process, on the other hand, the cast-iron is decarbonized by running it into a 'converter,' or big pot, and then blowing in air, which again carries off the carbon as carbonic acid gas. As steel differs from wrought and cast iron in containing more carbon than the latter, and less than the former, and as the Bessemer product will not work unless in some form of steel, a little carbon is added by running some 'spiegel-iron,' or 'pig,' containing manganese, into the molten mass before pouring out.

Hitherto, a 'pig' free from phosphorous was essential, which, of course, necessitated using a very pure iron ore. This very serious limitation is being rapidly swept away, from results obtained within the last few