Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1879-10-30
Metals of the Anclents.

Lead, bluish-gray metal was known e
the Egy ptians ut an early date and is men
toned 10y Homer. Ii was used in Rome
for pipes To convey water, and in thin sheet.
for roofing purposes. The powder (cerussa'
used by the Athenien ladies to tint theiI
compilations was their white lead Lead
owes its usefulness in the metallic state
chiefly to its softness and fusbility. In an.
cient times tin was scarce, and the CHIEF
supply was from india, Spain, and the
celebrated mines of Cornwall England,
which have been worked uninterruptedly
from the earliest historic periods. Tin was
used by the Egyptians nearly 1000 years
ago Mercury was well known 10 the an
clients and was then supplied from Spain,
where IL was obtained from cinnabar by a
process which appears To have been the
first crude example of distillation. The
power OF mercury to dissolve gold was
known TO Pliuy in the first century, a.. d.
! With us mercury is much used in various
chemical preparations as powerful med
icine, and rs a developing agent in the
dagueIo,eotype. II is also used TO extract
! gold from its earthly or rocky matriX The
| chemist uses is instead of water for collect
ing gases, which would be obsorbed by the
latter fluid. For many ages no addition
was made to the seven metals which have
| been described in modern articles 1t
was not even suspected that the number
could be increased, but towards the end of
the thirteenth century antimony was added
| to the metallic family. Ii was discovered
| by Basil Valentine IL is found in Ger
many and also in India. IT is of n silver
White color with good deal of lustre, and
neither furnishes nor rusts. 1t is valuable
in the arts from its hardness in making
alloys. \ second metal, bsmuth, has
been known since 1929. 1t is readily dis
tinguished by its peculiar reddish lustre
and its highly crystalline structure. It's
principal source is SaXony. 1t is largely
employed in the arts, but rarely by itself.
Pearl powder, used to whiteh ladies' faces,
contains bismuth. Zinc is perhaps the
most important of the newly discovered
metals, and may have preceded the others;
1t was certainly described long before. An
obscure passage in Strabo seems TO show
that certain stone was found to drop false
silver when melted, but there is little to
show that this false silver was zinc. 1t is
positive, however, that its alloys were
known TO the later Romans, for numerous
coins have been found containing copper
and Zinc nearly in the proper proportions to
form brass. The origin Of the term zinc is
lost in obscurity. 1t was first employed
by Basil Valentine, but Paracelsus, who was
fond Of penetrating TO the source of things,
was the first to associate the word with a
metal possessing the character of zinc.
Platinum, discovered by Ulloa, a Spanish
traveller in America, in 1875 is one of the
YAIIF oil la
In small glistening globules of a gray steel
color, though occasionally in masses the
size of pigeons egg. 1t is the heaviest
form OF matter yet known. 1t does not
oXldize in air at any temperature, no Single
acid has any effect on it, and il is very in
fusible. 1t has been coined into money in
Russia. Cobalt is the name of certain
demons who were supposed TO haunt mines,
and to manufacture those ores which looked
well to the eye but were really of little value
Among these were supposed to be the ores
of this metal, and hence It's name. 1t was
discovered about the middle of the |
eighteenth century. 1t is reddish-gray IN
color, and, is of no use in manufactures |
and the arts, except that beautiful blue and
green pigments are produced from its oxides |
Nickel was discovered by Cronstedt in l751. |
Pure nickel is brilliant silver White, due |
tile, malleable metal. 1t is used as a whiten-
ing agent in the manufacture of German |
silver, and has been convented into coin at |
the United States mint and has got largely |
into use in plating various metals. Our
nickel cents contain SS parts copper and II |
nickel. Manganese, made known in l774, |
is one oil the heavy metals of which iron |
may be taken rs representative. 1t can |
be highly polished; and is sovery hard that |
it can scratch steel and glass. Arsenic was
produced as metal about 1888. 1t was a |
very soft, brittle and eminently poisonous
metal of steel-gray color. 1t is scattered |
in great abundance over the mineral king
dom and is sometimes found in the free
state, but more frequently combined, chief
ly with iron, nickel, etc. 1t is used in the
arts and also as a medicine In addition |
to the above there arc at least thirty five |
metals, most of them discovered since 1774. |
The best known ofthese are tungsten, 1871, |
palladium and rhodium, by Dr. Wallaston,
who first fused platinum; potassium, sod
ium, calcium, barirlm, and strontium, in |
1923, magnesium, in 1929. The very last |
in date is dianium, discovered in 1860.