Stroke follow strokes, the sparkling ingot shines,
Flows the red slag, the lengthening bar refines;
Cold waves, immersed, the glowing mass congeal,
And turn to adamant the hissing Steel.
Source: In Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, ed. Jason Shulman & Isaac Asimov, 1988.
-- Erasmus Darwin, (Dec 12 1731-1802), English physician, poet; He verified the principles of botany in The Botanic Garden, 1789 and the laws of organic existence in Zoonomia; grandfather of Charles Darwin.