g or beating be
broken into small parts or powders.

Thirdly, That all Metals (excepting Gold and Silver, which do not so much
with the bare fire, unless assisted by other saline Bodies) do more or less
_vitrifie_ by the strength of fire, that is, are corroded by a saline
Substance, which I elsewhere shew to be the true cause of fire; and are
thereby, as by several other _Menstruums_ converted into _Scoria_; And this
is called, _calcining_ of them, by Chimists. Thus Iron and Copper by
heating and quenching do turn all of them by degrees into _Scoria_, which
are evidently _vitrified_ Substances, and unite with Glass, and are easily
_fusible_; and when cold, very hard, and very brittle.

Fourthly, That most kind of _Vitrifications_ or _Calcinations_ are made by
Salts, uniting and incorporating with the metalline Particles. Nor do I
know any one _calcination_ wherein a _Saline_ body may not, with very great
probability, be said to be an agent or coadjutor.

Fifthly, That Iron is converted into Steel by means of the incorporation of
certain salts, with which it is kept a certain time in the fire.

Sixthly, That any Iron may, in a very little time, be _case hardned_, as
the Trades-men call it, by casing the iron to be hardned with clay, and
putting between the clay and iron a good quantity of a mixture of _Urine_,
_Soot_, _Sea-salt_, and _Horses hoofs_ (all which contein great quantities
of Saline bodies) and then putting the case into a good strong fire, and
keeping it in a considerable degree of heat for a good while, and
afterwards heating, and quenching or cooling it suddenly in cold water.

Seventhly, That all kind of vitrify'd substances, by being suddenly cool'd,
become very hard and brittle. And thence arises the pretty _Phaenomena_ of
the Glass Drops, which I have already further explained in its own place.

Eighthly, That those metals which are not so apt to vitrifie, do not
acquire any hardness by quenching in water, as Silver, Gold, &c.

These considerations premis'd, will, I suppose, make way for the more easie
reception of this following Explication of the _Phaenomena_ of hardned and
temper'd Steel. That Steel is a substance made out of Iron, by means of a
certain proportionate _Vitrification_ of several parts, which are so
curiously and proportionately mixt with the more tough and unalter'd parts
of the Iron, that when by the great heat of the fire this vitrify'd
substance is melted, and consequently rari