Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1859-04-06
SOMETHING USEFUL ABOUT CLAY.

OF the various substances on the face of the
earth few, if any, are so generally useful to
man as clay. 1t is more than probable that
the first substance which man began to fashion,
TO shape, mold was clay. The inspired wri
ters repeatedly use the word clay in fgura-
tive sense in reference to the shaping of the
body. ssThou hast made me as the clay; your
bodies bodies of clay" Dob X, 9; XII,
12). Whether the clay was burned as bricks,
or not, cannot be positively decided but ref
erence is directly made to ssthem that dwell in
houses of clay'' at that time. More than 1900
years b. C. ssthe potters power over clay'' was
perfectly familiar; so that by analogy we may
fairly reason that the clay for houses may
have been hardened by fire. AS far as we can
ascertain, pottery is one of the most ancient
of arts. Man having obtained 'spower over
the clay" he began to get power over the
metals. This early adaptation of clay to do
mestic wants arose from the intrinsic merits of
the clay itself. Its property to harden from
mere exposure to the air and sun, was quite
enough to render it serviceable; but when it
was ascertained that fire turned it into more
durable material than stone, it gave of course
great impetus to its workers. The potter's
wheel or tool for fashioning clay is the same
now that used three thousand years ago.
Clay is not only useful in pottery, but is ap-
piled in many of the arts, such as dyeing,
where alum ca compound OF ciay) is exten-
sively used for fixing colors, in preparing lea
ther, and many other arts and manufactures.
s'But what is clay l'' many will ask and the
laboratorian chemist replies s'It is the rust oil
n beautiful metal" Not many years ago alt
the fashionable world of London flocked to AL
bermarle Street to see young Humphrey Davy
produce metals from earth. Prior to this all
earths, clays in particular, were considered
primitive and unchangeable bodies; his ge-
MUS, however, penetrated these mysteries, and
the result was that we now know that all ear
thy bodies are but metallic rusts of one kind
and another. Sir Humphrey Davy merely
showed the world that the earthly bodies were
of metahc origin. NJ. Deville. of Paris, un-
der the patronage of the present Emperor, has
separated the metallic base of clay to such
extent that it is now article OF commerce.
Aluminium is now used for jewelry, especially
bracelets, pins, and combs; in cabinet-makiDg
it is excellent for inlaid work; its lightness
renders it extremely convenient for pencil
holders, thimbIes, seals, small statues, medal
lions, vases and the like for spectacles also,
as it does not blacken the skin like silver.
But one of its most useful applications con-
sists in using it for refectors of gas lamps,
since it resists the effects of sulphurous ema-
nations, which silver and brass do not. The
chemical name of clay is alumina, and the
metal obtained from it aluminium. Most met
ais are characteristic of being very heavy
but aluminium is remarkably light; and tho
it has a slvery white metallic lustre, yet such
is its lghtness, that one can scarcely believe
IL to be metal; but 1t assuredly is SO. Beau
tiful spoons and forks are made with it, and at
no distant period it will become as common
as zinc, though of more value. II chemistry
deserves well of us, it is in this case. 1t has
now taught us that the very walls of our hou-
ses and the tiles of their roofs TEEN with bril-
liant metal which we can turn to useful purpo-
ses. Some metals, such as iron, rust or be-
come earthly very rapidly; but aluminium
does not do so; yet it can be rusted, and the
result is, that the earth clay is produced. All
these facts prove that what was thought to tes-
tify fguratively the value of clay by the wr-
ters of the Scriptures is now known to be truth
in its real and intrinsic sense. Thus every ex-
pertinent in the laboratory tends to illustrate
the sublime truth OF every assertion in the Ho
ly Volume. Within the outward earthly body
of clay there is an effulgent metallic spirit.