Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-02-25

SEVEN MErALs.-In the discovery Of
the metals men first asserted their mas.
terry over nature; vet the discovery 10
still progressing. Before the fifteenth
century onl yseven were positively known.
They were each held sacred among the
anc;ents to some ruling deity. Gold
indestructible, malleable, the richest
co!oring, the most precious Of decora-
tions-was consecrated to Jupiter, or
the sun, and had already assumed the
supremacy which it has never lost. II
was coined into the heavy daries of Per-
sia and the aureus of imperial Rome
1t was used to gild temples and statues.
was wrought into richest jewelry and
woven in delicate threads that enlivened
the lowered stuffs of Babylon.
Gold mines and gold-bearing streams
were found in Arabia, Syria, Greece,
Italy and Spain, and the pursuit Of pre-
eious metal was carried on with various
success by countless .hronss of miners.
The richest mines, 1T least in later ages,
were those Of Spain: and the enormous
productiveuess of the Spanish soil was
was slowly exhausted by the successive
labors Of the Caythagcnians aud the Ro-
mans. S" successive was thei- indus
try that but little gold or silver can now
be found in a territory where the pre-
cious metal once lay scattered in bound.
less profusion on the surface Of the
earth.
Silver ranked next to gold, and was
named from the soft light of the moon.
The richest silver mines were those Of
Spain. 1t was wrought into cups, va
ses, lamps; adorned the helmets and
shields of warriors, and formed the cost.
" mirrors with which the Roman ladies
shocked the austcrity of Lactant!us or
Jerome. The beautiful silver coins Of
the Greek and Roman cities filled mod
era collections. Five other metals
iron, copper, mercury, lead and tin
were employed by the ancicnts for va
rious purposes; they made steel by .
rude process, and brass without discov.
erirg zinc.
For many years no addition was made
to the sacred seven. Three thousand
years passed away before it was suspec-
ted that the number could be increased
"a memorable example of the slowness
Of human apprehension. At length, in
1890, antimony was added to the me.
tailic family; ard far off from the Pc
Rod os the discovery Of the new world,
the chemists were about to enter upon
fresh fields of science scarcely less bound.
less or inviting
A second metal, bismuth, came in al.
most with the Reformation. Zinc, per.
haps the most important Of the new
family, may have preceded the others;
it was certainly described long before.
1t is. indeed, quite curious to notice
how the bright metal had been con-
stantly forcing itself upon the attention
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 surface like gold, was seen drop
ping from the furnaces in the Middle
Ages, or melted in rich flakes from their
walls.
Two magicians orphilosophers at last
detected the error Of ages; and Alber-
tus Magnus and Paracelsus probably
both discovered that zinc was as indie.
structible and as free from foreign sub.
stances as gold 1t seemed pure ele.
ment Paracelsus, who was fond of PEN
etrating to the source Of things, admits
that he could not tell hos the bright
metal grew; nor in the height Of their
magic renown was it ever foreseen that
the rare Substance the sorcerers had
discovered would one day shed knowl-
edge IN tongues of FIRE, from London to
Japan.
Two centuries followed, during which
no metallic substance was discovered
Paracelsus found no successor; Alber-
tus. almost the first man Of science in
Europe, was remembered only as sor-
cerer. 1t was not until 1873 that the
vast field Of metallic discovery began TO
open upon man. Two valuable and
well-known me.als-platinum and nick
el-among several others, first appear.
ed 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
nineteenth century. cluster Of bril-
lian: discoveries aroused the curiosity
of science.
Each eminent philosopher secmed TO
produce new metals. Bcrzclius d;scov.
cred three, Davy, tie Paracelsus of bic
age, is the scientific parent of fve--po-
tassium, sodium, barium, strontiun,
calcium. The number advanced until
already more than fifty metals OF vari-
Gus Importance. have been given To the
parts. The new experiments in light
have been added, c9sium and rubidiuna.
and no limit can now be fxed for tho
metallic family, which for Sd many ages
embraced only seven membors- the sn-
h ms Of the ruin q ia