The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1875-02-27

N tuc uiScOFtfJ VI tue inttais tncl nlSt
asserted their mastery over nature; yet
the discovery is still progressing. Before
the fifteenth century only seven were pos
itiyely known. They were each held sa-
cred among the ancients to some ruling
deity. Gold-indestructable, malleable,
the richest coloring, the most precious Of
decorations--was consecrated to Jupiter
or the sun, and had already assumed the
supremacy which il never lost. II was
coined into the heavy daries Of Persia and
the aureus Of imperial Rome. II was
used to gid temples and statues, was
wrought into rich jewelry and woven into
delicate threads that enliveped the flower
ed stufs of Babylon.
Gold mines aud gold-bearing streams
were found in Arabia, Syria, Greece, Italy,
and Spain, and the pursuit of the precious
metal was carried on with various success
by countless throngs of miners. The
richest mines, at least in later ages, were
those of Spain; and the enormous produe-
tiycness Of the Spanish soil was slowly cx-
hausted by the successive labors of the
Cartbagenians and the Romans. So sue
cessful was their industry that but little
gold or silver can now be found in terri
tory where the precious metal once lay
scattered in boundless profusion on the
surface Of the earth.
Silver ranked next to gold, aud was
named from the soft light of the moon.
The richest silver mines were those Of
Spain. 1t was wrought into cups, vases,
lamps; adorned the helmets aud shields of
warriors, and formed the costly mirrors
with which the Roman ladies shocked the
austerity Of Lactantius OF jerome The
beautiful silver coins of the Greek aud
Roman cities filed modern collections
Five other mctals-iron, copper, mercury,
lead, and tin-were employed by the an
clients for various purposes; they made
steel by rude process, and brass without
discovering zinc.
For many years no addition was made
to the sacred seven Three thousand years
passed away before it was suspected that
the number could be increased memo
rable example of the slowness of human
apprehension. At length, in 1890, anti
mony was added to the metallic family
and far off from the period Of the discoy-
cry Of a new world, the chemists were
about to enter upon fresh fields of science
scarcely less boundless or inviting.
A second metal, bismuth, came in al
most with the Reformation. Zinc, perhaps
the most important of the new family, may
have preceded the others; it was certainly
described long before. Its, indeed, quite
curious to notice how the bright metal had
been constantly forcing itself upon the at
tention Of careful observers, and had yet
been wholly overlooked, had been used by
the aneients, in the form of an earth, TO
color copper into brass and give 1t shin.
ing surface like gold, was seen dropping
from the furnaces Of the middle Ages, OF
melted in rich fakes from their walls.
Two maglclans or philosophers at last
detected the error Of ages; and Albcrtus
Magnus and Paracelsus probably both dis.
covered that zinc was as indestructible aud
as free from foreign substances as gold,
IL seemed pure element. Paracelsus,
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
t6rcscen that the rare substance the sor-
cerers had discovered would one day shed
knowledge in tongues of FIRE, from London
to Japan.
Two centuries followed, during which
no metallic substance was discovered.
Paracelsus found no successor; Albertus,
almost the first man of science in Europe,
was remembered only as a sorcerer. 1t
was not until 1893 that the vast field Of
metallic discovery began to open upon
man. Two valuable aud wcll-known me.
tals-platinum and nickel-among several
others, first appeared about the middle Of
the eighteenth century. The number Of
the metals now rapidly enlarged, galvanism
lent its aid to dissolve the hardest earth,
and at length, in the opening of the nine
teenth century, cluster of brilliant dis
coyeries aroused the curiosity Of science.
Each eminent philosopher seemed to
produce new metals. Berzelius discovered
three, Davy, the Paracelsus of his age, is
the scientific parent Of potassium,
sodium, barium, strontium, calcium. The
number advanced until already more than
fifty metals, Of various importance, have
been given TO the parts The new expert.
ments in light have been added, cesium
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.
All About Eggs,
! A writer In the Medical Journal, dis