“This,” said Mr. Prescott, “is my classmate, Mr. Farnsworth, who is at the head of the laboratory.”
After he had introduced John Bradford and Dr. Crandon, he added, “And this is Billy Bradford.”
Then he said, “I’ve brought these friends of mine to see your show. We’ve been to see some of the giants in the iron industry. Now I want them to have a look at your pygmies.”
“Pygmies they shall see,” said Mr. Farnsworth, with an appreciative smile. “Hardly a technical term, but a good way, Harry, to get hold of the facts. Pygmies they shall be.
“Sit down, all of you,” he said, pointing to chairs by his low, broad table.
Pushing back the sliding door of a case behind the table, he took out a tray containing small round pieces of iron and steel.
“Shall I tell you about these specimens, or will you ask me?”
“Just give us a general idea, Jack,” answered Mr. Prescott; “we might ask the wrong questions.”
“Then, Billy Bradford,” said Mr. Farnsworth, smiling at Billy, “I’ll explain to you, and the others may listen.
“You see we chemists analyze the ores before they are smelted; so we know something about what kind of pig iron we shall have. But when we want to know what kind of finished iron or steel we have from a given process, we can’t tell much by analyzing it, so we have to depend on our microscopes.