Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-11-18
Seven Metals.

In the discovery of metals men first asser-
ted their mastery over nature; yet the dis
cOvery is still progressing. Before the ff-
teenth century only seven were positively
known. They were each held sacred, among
the ancients, to some ruling deity. Gold
indestructible, malleable, the richest in color
ing, the most precious of decorations-was
consecrated to Jupiter, or the sun, and had
already assumed the supremacy which it
has never lost. II was coined into the heavy
dairies of Persia and the aureus of imperial
Rome. II was used to gild temples and
statues, was wrought into rich jewelry, and
woven in delicate threads that enlivened the
lowered stuff Of Babylon.
Gold mines and gold-bearing streams were
found in Arabia, Syria, Greece, Italy, and
Spain and the pursuit of the precious metal
was carried on with varied success by count
less throngs of miners The richest mines,
at least in later ages, were those of Spain :;
and the enormous produetiveness of the
Spanish soil was slowly exhausted by the
successive labOrs of the Carthaginians and
the Romans. So successful was their industry
that but little gold or silver can now be found
in a territory where the precious metal once
lay scattered in boundless profusion on the
surface of the earth.
Silver ranked next to gold, and was named
from the soft light oftne moon. The richest
silver mines were those of Spain. 1t was
wrought into cups, vases, lamps; adorned
the helmets and shields Of warriors and
formed the costly mirrors with which the
Roman ladies shocked the susterity of
Lactantius and Jerome The beautiful silver
nf ba Off
modern collections. Five other metals-irOn,
copper, mercury, lead, and tin-were EN-
ployed by the aneients for various purposes;
they made steel by rude process, and brass
without discovering zine.
For many ages no addition was made TO
the sacred seven. Three thousand years
passed away before it was suspected that the
number could be increased memorable
example ofthe slowness of human apprehen-
sion. At length, in 1890, antimony was
added to the metallic family; and not far of
from the period Of the discovery Of a new
world, the chemists were about to enter
upon fresh fields of science less boundless or
inviting.
A second metal, bismuth, came in almost
with the Reformation. Zinc, perhaps the
most important of the new family, may have
preceded the others, it was certainly des-
eribed long before. 1t is, indeed, quite
curious to notice how the bright metal had
been constantly forcing itself upon the atten-
ton of careful observers, and had yet been
wholly overlooked; had been used by the
ancients, in the form of an earth, TO color
copper into brass, and give it shining sur
face like gold; was seen dropping from the
furnaces of the Middle Ages, or melted in
rich fakes from their walls
Two magicians, or philosophers, at last
detected the error of ages; and Albertus
Magnus and Paracelsus, probably both dis
covered that zinc was as indestructible and
as free from foreign substances as gold. 1t
seemed a pure element. Paraeelsus, who
was fond of penetrating to the source of
things admits that he could not tell how
the bright metal grew; nor in the height OF
their magic renOwn was 1t ever foreseen that
the rare substance the sorcerer's hal dis
covered would one day shed knowledge, in
tongues of FIRE, from London to Japan
Two centuries followed, during which no
metallic substance was discovered Para
CELSIUS found no successor; Albertus, almost
he first man of science in Europe, was re-
membered only as q soreerer. IL was not
until 1873, that the vast field Of metallic dis
eovery began to open upon man Two
valuable and well-known metals-platinum
and nickcl-smong several others, first sp-
peared about the middle Of the eighteenth
century. The number of the metals now
rapidly enlarged; gslysnism lent its aid to
dissolve the hardest earths, and at length, In
the opening of the nineteenth century, a
cluster of brilliant discoveries aroused the
curiosity Of science.
Each eminent philosopher seemed to pro-
duce new metals. Berzelius discovered three;
Davy, the Parscelsus Of his age, is the
scientific parent of hve-potassium, sodium,
barium, strontium, calcium. The numbers
advanced, until already more than fifty
metals, of various importance, have been
given to the arts. The new experiments in
light have added csesium and rubidium; and
no limit can now be fixed for the metallic
family, which for so many ages embraced
only seven members, the emblems Of the
ruling gods.