Literary notes about Slag (AI summary)
In literature, "slag" is a multifaceted term that oscillates between the literal by-product of metalworking and a potent metaphor for decay and desolation. On one level, it appears in technical and industrial descriptions—detailing the residue of smelting processes or serving as a measurable component in metallurgy—illustrated by discussions of metal slag in furnaces and its role in refining ores ([1], [2], [3], [4]). On another level, writers exploit the image of slag to evoke bleak, ruined landscapes, imbuing scenes with a sense of abandonment and harsh transformation, as seen in stark portrayals of industrial wastelands and derelict environs ([5], [6], [7], [8]). Additionally, the word occasionally assumes a personal or even symbolic dimension, where it represents not just physical refuse but the remnants of a burned-out life or a defiant character caught amid societal ruins ([9], [10], [11]).
- The products are a regulus, termed ‘metal,’ which contains about 75% of copper, and metal slag (see No. 2).
— from Cooley's Cyclopædia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades..., Sixth Edition, Volume I by Richard Vine Tuson - To 5 oz. of this ointment, add 2 oz. of solution of caustic soda (1·33), porphyry slag, till a soap is formed, which is completely soluble in water.
— from Cooley's Cyclopædia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades..., Sixth Edition, Volume II by Richard Vine Tuson - The fused mass disposes itself in the furnace below the slag—that is, the impurities of the ore fused by the heat of the furnace.
— from The Principles of Chemistry, Volume II by Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev - The “slag,” or glassy scum, protects the molten iron from the air; its [Pg 444] presence is necessary in all blast furnaces.
— from Popular Scientific Recreationsin Natural Philosphy, Astronomy, Geology, Chemistry, etc., etc., etc. by Gaston Tissandier - Coketown was nothing more than a ragged hillside dotted with a score of black dismal huts propped up against dreary mounds of slag and clinkers.
— from Options by O. Henry - Europe was gone; a slag heap with dark weeds growing from the ashes and bones.
— from Second Variety by Philip K. Dick - And under that rare sun all the little town, among its slag heaps and few tall chimneys, had an air of living faster.
— from Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works by John Galsworthy - The great atomic wars of the twentieth century had turned virtually the whole seaboard area into an endless waste of slag.
— from The Variable Man by Philip K. Dick - I inquired of Silas Slag if he knew anything of him.
— from The Perils and Adventures of Harry Skipwith by Land and Sea by William Henry Giles Kingston - But that could never be and Oscar Stephenson must go on to the end, trailing the slag of his burned-out life behind him.
— from The Prodigal Son by Caine, Hall, Sir - The liquid poetry has become frozen prose; the old flaming fuel of genius is now slag and ashes.
— from The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji by William Elliot Griffis
