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3. Occurrence of Native Iron in Liberia, in Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 March 2015
Extract
Dr Hayes states that there is evidence establishing the fact that pure native iron exists abundantly in the country back from the central part of the colony of Liberia. Early travellers state that the natives of Africa find iron ore so pure, that they heat and hammer it into form. Explorations by the Liberians show that the inhabitants of towns are engaged in manufacturing iron, and an intelligent native has recently shown how it is done. Last year a mass was sent home by a working blacksmith, who cut it with a chisel from a mass of larger size connected with rock. This proved to be native iron, malleable and ductile, yet unequal in its molecular structure. The general arrangement of the particles is unlike that of any artificial iron known, and there are among the iron particles of crystalline and transparent quartz, octahedral crystals of magnetic oxide of iron, and one of the silicates of soda and lime. No traces of carbon exist in connection with it, and no piece of artificial iron has yet reached Dr Hayes which does not contain carbon.
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- Proceedings 1854-55
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- Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1857