At the end of the operation in the H.-H. pot, the charge is dull red at the top, with blow-holes, around which the ore is bright red. Imperfectly worked charges show masses of well-fused ore surrounded by masses of only partially altered ore, a condition which may be ascribed to the irregular penetration of air through the charge, affording good evidence of the important part which air plays in the process. A properly worked charge is tipped out of the pot as a solid cake, which in falling to the ground breaks into a few large pieces. As they break, it appears that the interior of the charge is bright red all through, and there is a little molten slag which runs out of cavities, presumably spots where the chemical action has been most intense. When cold, the thoroughly desulphurized material has the appearance of slag-roasted galena. Prills of metallic lead are visible in it, indicating reaction between lead sulphide and lead sulphate. The columns of the structure supporting the pots should be of steel, since fragments of the red-hot ore dumped on the ground are likely to fall against them. To hasten the cooling of the ore, water is sometimes played on it from a hose. This is bad, since some is likely to splash into the still inverted pot, leading to cracks. The cracked pots at certain works appear to be due chiefly to this cause, in the absence of which the pots ought to last a long time, inasmuch as the conditions to which they are subjected during the blowing process are not at all severe. When the ore is sufficiently cold it is further broken up, first by driving in wedges, and finally by sledging down to pieces of orange size, or what is suitable for the blast furnace. These are forked out, leaving the fine ore, which comes largely from the top of the charge and is therefore only partially desulphurized. The fines are, therefore, re-treated with a subsequent charge. The quantity is not excessive; it may amount to 7 or 8 per cent. of the charge. The breaking up of the desulphurized ore is one of the problems of the process, the necessity being the reduction of several large pieces of fused, or semi-fused, material weighing two or three tons each. When done by hand only, as is usually (perhaps always) the practice, the operation is rather expensive. It would appear, however, to be not a difficult matter to devise some mechanical aids for this process—perhaps to make it entirely mechanical. When done by hand, a 6-pot plant requires 6 men per shift sledging and forking. With 8-hour shifts, this is 18 men for the breaking of about 60 tons of material, which is about 3⅓ tons per man per 8 hours. With labor at 25c. per hour, the cost of breaking the fused material comes to 60c. per ton. It may be remarked, for comparison, that in breaking ore as it ordinarily comes, coarse and fine together, a good workman would normally be expected to break 5 to 5.5 tons in a shift of 8 hours.