The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-14
HUGE NUGGET OF PLATINUM.
In Largest Ever Brought to Amer
lea Is Now on Exhibition.
New York Herald

Now on exhibition in a Liberty-street
window is the largest platinum nugget ever
brought to America. 1t is attracting the
attention of metallurgists and the admira-
ton of all who are interested in minera-
logical oddities. The nugge is three inches
long, two inches wide and three-Quarters
of an inch thick and weighs nearly two
pounds. 1t is irregular in form, but this is
usual with most nuggets of platinum. The
particularly in the East, has greatly in
creased within the last few years. Yet
there are few minerals of which the public
sees so much that 1t knows so little. Plat
mum ore is a most complex mixture of
meteorological species, and includes not only
platinum, iridium, osmiridium, palladium,
rhodium and gold, but also certain nom
metallic species, notably chrome-iron ore,
magnetic oxide of iron, zircon, corundum
and frequently diamonds.
Because of its complex composition, the
ore has received the name of ''polyxine. "
The platinum OF commerce IS obtained en-
tirely from alluviaI deposits at depths
varying from six to forty feet. The sand
and gravel of former river beds are sub
Jected TO a series of screenings and wash
ingS to effect the separation of the ore,
most of this labor in Russia being done by
women. The yield of the ore per ton OF
sand seldom exceeds six grams.
Platinum occupies a unique position
among metals. When pure and in compact
form 1t Is tin white in color. 1t Is the
heaviest and has the highest fusing point
of any metal in commercial use unalloyed.
Its specific gravity is 21.5. 1t is, therefore
twice as heavy as silver and nearly three
times heavier than cast iron!
A temperature of nearly 800 degrees Cen
tigrade, or $500 degrees Fahrenheit, is nec-
essary to fuse the metal. Hence II is I'M
affected by temperature attained in the hot
test of blast furnaces. This valued prop
erty has led TO the extensive use of the
metal in such furnaces as an important
part of an instrument for measuring tenn
peratures. 1t is almost as soft as copper.
and ductile as gold. Ii can be easily rolled
into sheets so thin that a thousand of them
piled on top of each other would not exceed
an inch in height. 1t is daily drawn into
the form of wire not exceeding one-thou-
sandth part of an inch in dia meter.
For use as spider lines in optical in
platinum is drawn by a special
process TO diameters as small as sixty
millionths of an inchs Such wires are
nearly invisible TO the naked eye. A strand
of it of sufficient length TO encircle the
earth at the equator would only weigh
forty-siX ounces. Platinum is not attacked
b. any single ordinary acid. and is not
changed by air, water or steam at any
temperature. Because of it's many peculiar
qualities it is one of the most valued metals
made available to mans wants, and. not
withstanding its excessive ost-the present
market price being s14 per ounce-its yearly
as an accurate index of the progress OF
civilization.
In the words of Liebig, the eminent
German chemist:
.Without platinum ii would be impossible
in many cases 40 make the analysis OF a
mineral. The mineral must be dissolved,