Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-09-10

times this industry assumes such proper
lions that from one Of the central points
FIVE tons have been shipped in single
day. at an average price OF 500 per ton.
Recently | have been giving much atten-
ton to this mineral, and find that II Is
wanted In Europe for the thoria con-
tanned therein. also the cerium. didymium.
erodium. lanthanium. and yttrium. To be
saleable I'm Europe II must contain
per cent OF thorium. Some of 1t runs as
high as 10 per cent, the 10 per cent. ar
ticles being found In commercial quanti-
ties almost exclusively In this vicinity.
The demand for these metals can be
accounted for when state that the price
per kilo e. 20is pounds) is s2o.23 for CERT
UNI. sl547O for didymium, sli2so for
erbiun. $3.50 10 for lanthanium. siS2.i0 for
pure thorium, and 1850 for yttrium.
Thorium, II comparatively clean, brings
from s23s to S2s5 so per kilo, but II brilliant,
IL will bring In the market In Germany
s76l6 60 per kio
The highest percentage OF cerium oxide
| have found in any monazite in this To-
cality Is q per cent, and the highest
percentage OF thoria is II. per cent The
latter determination would indicate the
highest grade OF monaZite for thOrta found
In commercial quantities anywhere in the
world, that mined I'm Norway and Siberia
seldom reaching 10 per cent thoria oxide.
and that mined in Brazil per cent And
monazite is found In commercial quanu-
ties In not more than five localities In the
world-Sberia Norway, Sweden, Brazil,
and North and South Carolina, the South
Carolina deposit being practically the ex-
tension Of the deposit OF North Carolina.
MOnaZite IS found also I'm Connecticut.
Virginia, Quebec, and New South Wales
a picked sample from Virginia analyzing
1880 per cent thoria oxide, the highest
Of any found anywhere; but the product
Is too uncertain to encourage systematic
mining. as the taking out OF a hundred
pounds might average in cost consIdera-
bly, over n dollar pound.
For variety and novelty OF species the
country hereabouts is the most interest
ing, perhaps. that has been discovered.
Scientists have gone through this part OF
the State In considerable numbers, and
have been rewarded with many unique
specimens of rare minerals. A systematic
search Of an area here Of less than five
square miles leads 10 a tabulatlon or
classification OF 13S species Of minerals,
unapproached. | believe. by any similar
area on the globe, though one or two To-
calities In Australia have yielded nearly
as many.
one OF the minerals found here
is known, technically as greenockite-
sulphuret Of cadmium. / have failed
20 find any OF II even here. except in
workings below the water-level OF the
count y-that is, below the operations in
shafts, where continuous pumping OF wa
ter is required. When the sulphur
Is extracted from the greenockite-and 1t
Is easily done by fire--a metal known rs
cadmium remains the cadmium being
about II per cent Of the mineral. The
cadmium possesses great value, because
ii has been found 10 be productive OF in
slant death to various microbes hurtful 20
the human system when applied IN small
quantities in solution. | am under the
impression that molybdenium. from the
mineral molybdenite would be found far
more eificacious than cadmium, and q
number Of beautiful specimens OF this
mineral have been found here in the
shafts. one OF which was sent TO the
Smithsonian Institution. at Washington.
| give these items somewhat at length
because Of the late experiments IN Eng
land, France. and Germany wherein II
has been solved that some OF the rarer
minerals are antidotes for baclili found
in pulmonary consumption. scarlet-feVer,
smallpox, dphtherla. and Asiatic chO-
lera. With the work now in hand II is
not improbable that ere another twelve
month there will be offered to the gene
raj public metallic destroyers u all dis
ease germs Of the human system. and
prepared i'm such a manner that they can
be taken effectively In necessary quaint
ties without jeopardzng human life
The New South bids fair to be the hand
maiden of advanced science In eliminat-
ing dread disease. overthrowing present
mortuary tables and adding many years
Of happy life to the longevity Of the hu-
man race. II. c. DEFINING.