understanding of blast chemistry in 1873

[Quentin Skrabec]

Looking for where in 1873 Jules Verne could have got his blast furnace chemistry?????????

The most remarkable passage for me in Mysterious Island (1873) is Verne’s understanding of blast furnace chemistry: “Thus arranged, under the influence of the air from the bellows, the coal would change into carbonic acid [carbon dioxide], then into oxide of carbon [carbon monoxide], which would release the oxygen from the oxide of iron.”[i]  The understanding of the role of carbon monoxide in blast furnace chemistry was being researched at the University of Paris and other universities in the 1850s.  The complete theory of carbon monoxide reduction was not commonly known until Octave Leopold Boudouard of the University of Paris published his “Boudouard Reaction” in 1901????

Another question is Verne substituted raw coal in his  “Catalan Forge and Coriscin method? is there any early record of coal being used instead of charcoal???

Verne’s substitution of coal for charcoal in his primitive Catalan Forge in Mysterious Island (1873) is a key prediction. Verne would have known that Catalan Forge processes before 1885 used charcoal. The French word charbon is used in this passage.[i] Using the word charbon would suggest a possible translation problem. Still, all major translations, such as the W. G. Kingston translation of 1875, the Stephen White translation of 1875, and the Jordan Stump translation of 2001, use coal.

The ability to fully appreciate Verne’s use and understanding of coal technology requires a good translation, French habits of speech, a knowledge of 19th-century metallurgy, French industrial history, and French idiosyncrasies. And maybe even more importantly, an understanding of the etymology of the French words- charbon and houille[i]. In 19th-century coal technology, you have an evolutionary mix of the English words charcoal, coal, anthracite coal, bituminous coal, coke, carbon, and the French words charbon and houille regarding their technological use. The confusion with the word coal in technical writing was noted as early as 1860.[ii]  One issue is clear before the 20th century French to English dictionaries used “charbon” for coal and charcoal[iii]. Verne himself uses charbon for both as well. In my French texts, Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870), and Mysterious Island (1873), “charbon” and “houille” are both used for coal. In Underground City (1877), Verne uses “houille” throughout.  By the 1880s, the use of the word “charbon” for coal significantly declined in favor of “houille” for coal, which may reflect the industrial conversion from charcoal to coal in furnaces in the early 1880s. I am currently researching these issues.[iv]

[i] There is one fascinating paragraph in Underground City (1877) where Verne addresses the use of the word “houille” itself.  “Whether the French word for coal (houille) is derived from farrier Houillos, who lived in Belgium in the twelfth century, we may assume the that the [coal] beds of Great Britain were the first ever worked.
[ii] A. Hume, “ A Few Notes on Coal,” Ulster Journal of Archaeology, First Series, Vol. 8 (1860), pp. 172-174 “Many of the mistakes which have arisen on this subject are attributable to the ambiguity of

the term employed. Thus a “coal” may mean, first, an ember or coal-of-fire,; second, a piece of charcoal; or, third, the mineral coal in any of its forms”

[iii] The Book of Royal Phraseology (1828) uses “chardon de terre” for coal.
[iv] I am presenting working with the Journal of Historical Metallurgy on the translation and lexicon of coal/charcoal in steel and ironmaking processes.

[i] Amazon Bilingual edition of Mysterious Island, Jan 2, 2015, p. 464

[i] Jules Verne, Mysterious Island, 1872, White translation pp. 127-129; Stump translation pp. 148-149

Thanks for any comments  Quentin Skrabec

[Paul Rondelez]

Dear Quentin,

Not my speciality but the publication The Metallurgy of Iron and Steel (p. 402-403) by H. S. Osborn, published in 1869, seems to have all the ingredients Verne needed: the end product of combustion [in the blast furnace] is carbonic oxide [carbon monoxide], this carbonic oxide will react with any oxides within the furnace.

Catalan forge/Corsican method was frequently used to describe any bloomery process in the late 19th century, which I am assuming Verne was doing. And charcoal, not coal, is the fuel for this process. As you say, the various term for ‘coal/charcoal’ can be confusing in various languages but Verne’s use of ‘charbon’ (for charcoal) would seem correct. The translations as ‘coal’, however, are not.

Kind regards,

Paul

 

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