This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876 Excerpt: ... to attempt to add anything. But on one or two points he thought there was not material enough to form an accurate opinion. He had studied the table of analyses with great interest, but without much satisfaction. With reference to carbon, which was usually regarded as most important in the composition of steel, it was true that a rail with a minimum of carbon showed the best result. With rails 17 and 18 at the Maiden Lane tunnel the minimum of carbon showed the better result, but with the next two rails from Copenhagen tunnel, the circumstances being the same, the maximum of carbon gave the better result. Looking at the table, the only thing that seemed evident was, that the rail with the smallest amount of phosphorus was the best, and there seemed to be a pretty regular...