Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-12-05
Written for The Evening star.
METALS OF MANY KINDS,
Curious Products Of the Laboratory and TIT
Uses They Are Put To.

Curious Products Of the Laboratory and the
Uses They Are Put To.
THERE Is GOING TO BE A BIG DIS
L play of metals ut tho worlds fair in Chi
cago. 1t ought to be most interesting to every
| one who realizes what an illustration of human
progress will be thus afforded. One hundred
years ago the known metals were only few
compared with tho many that mankind ID
acquainted with and utilities today. Contin.
ualiy the chemists arc discovering new ones,
and for each addition to the list valuable uses
are found, 50 that the wonder is how they
! could ever have been got along without
Take the case Of aluminium. for example. Ten
years back 1t was SO precious that jewelry was
made Of it Steadily the improvement Of pro-
cesses for extracting it from its ores has gone
on until now 1t costs in bar only 80 cents q
pound. The day when steamships and bridges
will be built of it is near ut hand. Being almost
rs light as chalk, not susceptible to corrosion.
and with o tensile strength superior to
TINT OF steel, its value for mechanical
purposes il inestima5le. In Germany
various art objects are now made from
1t largely, such as statuettes. Attempts have
been made to introduce i. as Substitute for
silver in tho manufacture of spoons and forks,
but with only partial success, owing to its
slightly greasy feel, winch is due to . thin finn
OF oxl0e OF aluminium on the surface.
ELEMENTS OF THE EARTH.
Besides aluminium there win be shown at the
fair gold and silver in big Jumps, as well as
tin, zinc, copper, iron and nickel Also there
will he antimony for type metal, chromium for
making chrome steel, iridium for tipping gold
pens, magnesium for magnesium lights, cad
mum for alloys, potassium and sodium for
chemical industries, manganese for making
iron non-msgnetic, and bismuth, which melts
at point so far below the boiling Of water that
n1olds con be made from it for taking casts
from the most destructible objects. All these
metals are numbered among the primary elo-
ments which compose the Garth. Or these ele-
ments sixty nine have already been discovered,
not to mention two or three moro which are
doubtful.
MINES OF ALUMINIUM.
Prof. Clarke, at the National Museum, says
that the earth's crust 10 one-half oxygen. OF
the remaining so per cent rs per cent is silicon,
pcr cent iron and per cent aluminium. So
that, plentiful as iron is, aluminium is very
much moro SO. Most Of il is found in clay, so
that it has been said that overy brick house is a
mine Of aluminium. Although the statement
frequently published TO tho effect that one
fifth part Of the crust Of the earth is aluminium
must be condemned as gross exaggeration,
enough Ct it exists for ali necessary purposes.
The only difficulty is to extract it cheaply. but
sHSIe IS every pfospect tnat some cay IL
will be quite as cheap as iron or nearly. II ia
so far superior to iron for every mechanical
use that the latter will doubtless be entirely
superseded by it eventually. 1t is a mistake
to suppose, as in commonly believed, that alum
mum is a new metal II was known early in
the present century but it did not come into
commercia. use until 1857
MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD.
There are q number Of metals known which
have not come into commercial use as yet be-
cause they are too costly. Three or four OF
them are much more precious than gold. The
way in which chemists hit upon such discov-
cries Is not by seeking them directly. Frag-
ments OF minerals are continually coming into
the laboratory for ANALYSIS. In taking them
apart once in o while an element unfamiliar to
the operator appears. He can identity it with
nothing that science is acquainted with. and
30 he refers it to his brother chemists as a new
element. In this way the list has been steadily
increased. But the theory best approved al
present is that all the so-caiied primary eie-
ments composing the earth are in reality
merely different forms Of one original kind Of
matter. Possibly at some time in the future il
will be found out how all of them may be trans.
muted by chemical processes into this primary
| shape.