The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-11-27


Some Of the metals which are famil-
lar enough to the chemist, though rare
" seen outside his laboratory. have so
little In common with the metals of
everyday life as to scarcely seem to
belong to the Same class of substances.
We commonly think Of metal as be-
ing heavy, yet sodium and potassium
Will hoat on water and lithium is the
highest Of all known solids. The fact
Is that the word "metal" is one of the
hardest in the language to define. The
metals all have q peculiar luster, to be
sure, which, from It's association, has
come to be called metallic; but many
minerals, as galena and black-lead,
which most certainly are not metals,
nave the same appearance, and so on
through the list of properties. The
chemical relations of the metals give
good reasons for placing these sub
stances by themselves, though even
here the lines are not clearly marked.
One of themost distinctive properties
of the metals is their power to form,
when combined with acids, o class of
bodies called salts-on account of their
resemblance to common salt, which
contains about 40 per cent. of the metal
sodium. This metal is blush white,
waxy solid, and has such q great ten
dency to rust, or unite with the oxygen
In the air, that it must be kept in some
oil, like petroleum, which contains no
oxygen.
If bit of sodium be thrown upon a
piece of ice, the metal takes fire, and
any attempts to put it out by pouring
water on it would only be adding fuel
to the flame
The sodium-match is an application
of this peculiar property of the metal.
1t is merely bit of wood tipped with
sodium, and which can, of course, be
lighted on the stormiest day by the
mere contact of a rain-drop. The
matches are, however. decidedly dam
gerous, and their manufacture is gen
orally prohibited.
Potassium, which is obtained from
potash, is another metal very similar to
sodium, and will take fire upon ice or
water even more readily than this last
named metal. A small piece of potas-
SUM thrown into Jug of water appar-
emily takes fire at once, and swims about
with great rapidity, burning all the time
with q brilliant violet lame
One may be forgiven if his ideas on
combustion are somewhat upset by the
first sight of this phenomenon, but
there is really nothing very strange
about it, Water is compound of hy-
drogen and oxygen, and these metals,
sodium and potassium, have so strong
an attraction for oxygen that they will
take it wherever they can find it, even
from water.
This, of course, sets the oxygen free,
which is set on fire by the heat given
off when the potassium and oxygen
unite, and burns with violet color
because of the vapor Of the metal. The
same is true in the case of sodium; the
flame is due to the burning hydrogen
rather than the metal.
Sodium, potassium, and lithium, with
several other metals, form group
known as the alkali metals. There is
another group, to which iron belongs,
which contains an interesting member
called aluminum-sometimes Alumni
um-from its occurrence in common
alum.
Aluminium is beautiful metal, much
like silver in appearance, and possess
ing many valuable properties. 1t is
very sonorous, easily worked, does not
tarnish in the air, and is only about
one-fourth as heavy as silver. It con-
ducts electricity eight times better than
iron.
Added to this, it occurs in greater
quantity than any other metal in the
world. Every clay-bank, every granite
bed, is bed OF aluminium, but as yet
no cheap and ready means of obtaining
the metal has been found in spite of
all attempts.
Napoleon offered a large reward to
any one discovering such process, as,
on account of its lightness, he wished
to use the metal in his army for helmets
and cuirasses.
1t is hardly possible to give an exact
statement of the amount of aluminium
in different clays, since the composition
of these earths varies greatly. Clays
are impure silicates of aluminium, and,
generally speaking, good brick clay
contains tenth or more by weight of
the metal. This would be sufficient to
plate the upper surface of the bricks,
as they are commonly laid in sidewalks,
with layer of metallic aluminium q
fifth of an inch deep.
Or this same amount of metal would
form layer one-third of an inch deep
on the outside of the brick, a. they are
laid in our houses. So we find this
hidden metal everywhere about us,
and q princely fortune waits the man
who can bring it to the light.
Br0nkin's Boarding House.
Bronkin left his boarding house and
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