entiful supply of
oxygen. The blast-furnace is supposed to have been first used in
Belgium, and to have been introduced into England in 1558. Next came the
use of bituminous coal, urged with a blast of cold air. But it was not
until 1829 that Neilson, an Englishman, conceived the idea of heating
the air of the blast, and carried it out at the Muirkirk furnaces. In
that year he obtained a patent for this process, and found that he could
from the same quantity of fuel make three times as much iron. His patent
made him very rich: in one single case of infringement he received a
cheque for damages for one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. In his
method, however, he used an extra fire for heating the air of his blast.
In 1837 the idea of heating the air for the blast by the gases generated
in the process was first practically introduced by M. Faber Dufour at
Wasseralfingen in the kingdom of Wuertemberg.

In this country, charcoal was at first used universally for smelting
iron, anthracite coal being considered unfit for the purpose. In 1820 an
unsuccessful attempt to use it was made at Mauch Chunk. In 1833,
Frederick W. Geisenhainer of Schuylkill obtained a patent for the use of
the hot blast with anthracite, and in 1835 produced the first iron made
with this process. In 1841, C.E. Detmold adapted the consumption of the
gases produced by the smelting to the use of anthracite; and since then
it has become quite general, and has caused an almost incalculable
saving to the community in the price of iron.

The view of the engines which pump the blast will give an idea of the
immense power which the Phoenix company has at command. Twice every day
the furnace is tapped, and the stream of liquid iron flows out into
moulds formed in the sand, making the iron into pigs--so called from a
fancied resemblance to the form of these animals. This makes the first
process, and in many smelting-establishments this is all that is done,
the iron in this form being sold and entering into the general
consumption.

The next process is "boiling," which is a modification of "puddling,"
and is generally used in the best iron-works in this country. The
process of puddling was invented by Henry Cort, an Englishman, and
patented by him in 1783 and 1784 as a new process for "shingling,
welding and manufacturing iron and steel into bars, plates and rods of
purer quality and in larger quantity than heretofore, by a more
effectual application of fire an