iron, silica, and alumina. In making magnesite bricks, it is calcined or "dead-burned" to drive out the carbon dioxide.
Austria-Hungary and Greece are the large European producers of magnesite and Scotland supplies a little. Most of the European production is consumed in England and the Central European countries, but part has been sent to America. Outside the United States there are American supplies in Canada, and recent developments in Venezuela and Mexico (Lower California).
Magnesite is produced in considerable quantities in the United States, in California and Washington. Some material is imported from Canada, and a small amount comes from Scotland as return cargo for ballast purposes.
Before the war only about 5 per cent of the United States requirements of magnesite were met by domestic production. The country was practically dependent on imports from various European countries; chiefly from Austria-Hungary and Greece The Austrian magnesite (controlled in large part by American capital) was considered especially desirable for lining open-hearth steel furnaces, because of the presence of a small percentage of iron which made the material slightly more fusible than the pure mineral. When the shipments from this source were discontinued during the war and prices rose to a high figure, experiments were made with American magnesite, and the deposits on the Pacific Coast were developed on a large scale. A process of treatment was perfected by which the Washington magnesite was made as desirable for lining furnaces as the Austrian material. At the same time large amounts were imported from Canada and Venezuela and lesser amounts from Lower California.
Under the high prices which prevailed during the war, dolomite was to some extent substituted for magnesite. Dolomite, which may be thought