collected together into little drops like fat upon hot water, and upon examination each little globule was found to be soft brilliant metallic lead. At other times a much larger globule hung from the middle of the surface into the glass, barely sustained there, and ready to sink by the least agitation when in a heated state, and in some instances the bottom of the tray was alloyed and perforated by globules of lead which had thus been formed and deposited, and the glass just running out, whilst another globule was in progress of formation at the surface exactly over the place of the hole.
51. When iron was dismissed as the material of the chamber, earthenware was resorted to. The sides were built up of brick, and the bottom formed of tiles, which resting at the sides upon ledges, and at the middle upon the fire-brick supports (47), could be replaced at pleasure. The same iron covers were used for the upper aperture of the chamber as before.
52. The use of earthenware as the material, made it far more difficult to apply a sufficient heat to the contents of the chamber than before, because of its inferiority to the iron as a conductor of heat; and a series of investigations were required to discover that substance which, at the same time that it had sufficient strength and exerted no injurious influence, was also a sufficiently good conductor. Reigate fire-stone, recommended by the builders, did not answer the purpose, and moreover in thin plates was liable to fuse and slag. Slate, however carefully heated, shivered and split not only across but parallel to its structure; and then, as soon as air intervened, it transmitted too little heat. It also softened, became curved, and let in air and smoke, and at last gradually fused, becoming unable to bear the weight of a large experiment. Yorkshire stone, rubbed down into plates ⅝ths of an inch thick, answered moderately well, if the application of heat was carefully made and gradually raised. It cracked in a few places, but did not fall to pieces; and it was more difficult of fusion than the former substances. Fire-tiles of various kinds were tried; those made of Stourbridge clay answered the best, and, when about ¾ths of an inch thick and carefully heated, might be successfully used; but that which we finally arrived at was the use of plates' made of the materials from which Cornish
