[Bernard Marx]

We're probably looking at signs of the latest hi-tech advances of the times.

That's a very interesting notion and it makes sense. The idea of an iron "sword" being "hidden" or "imprisoned" in stony iron ore is an elegant literary metaphor and is probably the best interpretation I've run into.

Could you expand on your idea that dragons represented chemical processes? Can you trace it to any source? I know salamanders were thought to possess alchemical powers but I've never run into anything about dragons in that context.

[RightWhale]

Alchemists didn't use the same symbols for elements and processes that we do now. Their writing might seem just so much mysticism until it is seen that they are describing chemical processes. Thus the red dragon might be a form of sulfur. By writing in this allegorical style, they would also have protected their craft since none but initiates could read with understanding. It was a pre-scientific age, so don't expect a lot of good science; their knowledge was severely limited by modern standards.