Abstract
BEFORE 1884, basic slag was a ‘waste product’, of which extensive spoil heaps had accumulated. It was the refuse of Bessemer steel converters which had been lined with basic mineral matter to abstract phosphates from the molten iron, and it contained about twenty per cent of phosphorus pentoxide (PaO6) combined mainly with lime. About forty years before that time, Lawes and Gilbert had demonstrated that the value of ‘rock phosphate’ as a fertilizer was greatly increased by treatment with sulphuric acid. The discovery by Wrightson and Munro of the fertilizing value of ground basic slag was of almost equal value to agriculture, and added vastly to the productivity of large areas of what were previously very poor pastures.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
BEAVEN, E. Dr. J. M. H. Munro. Nature 139, 60 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139060b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139060b0