The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-26

where. il is difficult to ser how we can
produce tin profitably.
Nickel IS another metal that is not pro-
duced protitably in this country. 1t has
been mined in various parts of the United
States, but the article imported from
Canada. and New Caledonia is cheaper.
Not long ago a man out west found great
quantities of what he supposed to be
meteorites in ravine. They were conf
posed chiefly of nickel; meteorites Ordi-
narlly contain more or less nickel. But the
notion that rains of meteorites occurred
in that region was disposed of by iuvesti-
cation, which proved that the alleged
messengers from space were in reality
nuggets carried by water from some mass
of orebearing rock in the path of stream.
Besides its usefulness in coinage, nickel
is valuable as a non-corrosive plating and
for making German silver 1t is now be-
ing utilized in the manufacture of armor
for ships, as an alloy with steel Though
not hard itself, it makes the steel harder
Why this is nobody knows. Metals are
queer things. A single patch of five acres
In Burnett county, Texas, contains more
metallic elements than are to be found in
any other known place in the world In
that little space are found not only nickel,
gold, silver, lead and tin, but large va
rletY of the very rare metals, such as ce-
rum, lanthanum, erbirum, thorium and
uranium. Cerium is used in medicine to
check the nausea of pregnancy.
THE EXTENT OF ALUMINIUM.
Seven per cent. of the earth's crust is
aluminium. It is the only metal that is
more plentiful than iron The latter is
the chief cause of color to the earth and
rock 1t enters into all substances. cir
culatating in the blood of animals and
pervading the juices of plants. IL is a
valuable medicine, and is the only metal
that is not poisonous to the human sys-
TEN. One of the oldest things about it is
that it is never found in a pure state ex-
cept in meteorites. IL was known in the
time OF Moses, 1900 B. C. On the coast of
Long Island, ande elswhere it has been
extracted from sea sand by the use of
magnets The small black srecks to be
observed in any handful of beach sand are
metallic iron ore.
Most of the iron in the United States is
produced in the Lake Superior region
Among the richest mines in the world are
those of the Vermilion range Railways
built few years ago for the purpose of
fetching the ore from these mountains
made cut through the Mesabi range.
This cut revealed the greatest iron de-
poSit in existence. but the ore appeared
in such an unfamiliar shape that it was
not recognized for long time. 1t is a
soft, gravelly stuff which is now dug out
with steam shovels. Almost every
swamp contains more or less bog iron,
deposited from water. This ore has
been much used in New England, but it is
only suitable for foundry purposes.
The discovery of deposits of platinum
in This country would be as welcomac as
the finding of a diamond mine. AT pres
ent the metal costs nearly half as much
as gold, having risen greatly in price
within the last three years. II is abso-
lutely indispensable for many purposes,
being non-corrOsiye and resisting acids.
1t is utilized for chemical apparatus,
scientific instruments and incandescent
lamps. There is some platinum in the
beach sands of Oregon, but not enough to
pay for mining. Small quantities of it have
been discovered recently in the copper
mines of Canada, where it occurs in a new
combination with arsenic.
Two-thirds of the worlds supply of
platinum comes from two Siberian mines
in the Ural mountains. The metal is OBJ
tanned there as a by-produet of gold min
ing. The mining is done by scooping
holes in the ground to depth of about
fifteen feet, and then burrowing rat
fashion in all directions. Twenty-nine
hundred carloads of earth are required
to yield thirteen pounds of platinum The
biggest nugget ever found was about the
size of tumbler Now the gold is get
ting scarce, and the laborerS have been
drawn off to build the great trans-Sibe-
rian railway. Hence the increased cost
of platinum, VIII ich, unless new deposits
are found, is likely never to be cheaper
than it is at present.
MINERS sUPERSTITIoNs.
Miners in all parts of the world have
many odd superstitions. The mines of
Germany are supposed to be haunted by
little old men, net over two feet high,
dressed as miners. Sometimes they are
malevolent ard sometimes otherwise. Cob
lin miners, known as knockers" in
habit the mines of Wales. They make
strange noises and the tapping of their
picks can be heard in ore bodies not yet
reached by the human workmen. The
dreaded Ladder Dwarf is a malicious
bunch back of frightful appearance who
kicks out the runRs of ladders in mines
just before an accident occurs. Vege-
tables grown ip mines are believed to
have talismanicivirtues. In Sardinia an
| ancient lead mine has been deserted and
permitted TO fill up with water for dread
of small and venomonous species of
sDider that inhabits it