Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-01-27
UNFAMILIAR MINERALS
STRANGE USES FOUND FOR cRYo.
LITE, BEAUXlTE AND SELENlUM.

The announcement made 4 few days
ago by the press Of the loss Of a ship
which had gone TO Greenland for a
cargo OF cryolite brought into fresh
notice mineral with rather unfa-
miliar name, and one which is now
rather less in demand than II was a
few years ago. Cryolite, or kryolite,
as it is sometimes spelled. is q salt
containing both sodium and aluminium.
Both OF the latter and some of their
compounds have been obtained from
that source. Colorado and the Ural
Mountains produce 1t in limited guam
titles. but the largest and most avail
able deposits yet found are in Green
land, near the west coast, and this re-
gion has been the chief, If not the
/ sole, reliance OF commerce.
Aluminium is made from alumina,
the oxide of aluminium, and the pro-
cess of getting rid Of the oxygen is
called reducing. In this country the
business is controlled by the Pittsburg
Reduction Company, which for a long
time purchased it's alumina from the
Pennsylvania Salt Company, and the
latter manufactured the article from
cryolite, which it imported from Ivig-
tut, Greenland. At present, however,
practically all of the alumina made in
this country-at least, that which is
converted into aluminum-is derived
from an entirely different ore, beaux-
lite, of which more anon.
Still in the final separation OF the
aluminium and oxygen by the Ameri-
can system cryolite is used as an i'm
portant auxiliary. The alumina to be
treated is dissolved in bath of the
Greenland mineral melted, and an
electric current Of enormous volume
passed through the fluid. In this op-
Grafton there is little or no waste of
cryolte. 1t Is the alumlna which
needs constant renewal.
Caustic soda, or the hydrated oxide
OF sodium, much used in the indus
tries, and especially in the production
! Of lye for soap. was formerly made by
! boiling slaked lime with cryolite. But
the Solvay and other modern pro-
cesses of manufacturing soda from
common salt-chloride OF sodium-are
now rapidly displacing that method
! Again, the pure metal sodium is OBJ
tanned more cheaply from cryolite than
from other sources.
| Cryolite is q lustrous material, often
OF n pure or grayish white, but some
times possessing a yellow tint. Com
bined with silica by melting, it is
wrought into q glass resembling pOrce-
lain, and variously known as "hot
cast porcelain" and "cryolite glass"
| Beauxite, sometimes spelled bauxite,
takes its name from the place where
1t was first discovered in considerable
! quantities, Beaux, France. 1t is now
found abundantly In the southern part
OF this country. A few years ago Ala
bama and Georgia were the chief pro-
| ducers. But Edward W. Parker, man
aging editor OF the Engineering and
| Mining Journal, remarked that the
supply in that quarter was falling off,
while Arkansas is yielding bountirplly
and seems to have almost unlimited
| deposits.
! Another mineral which has come
into notice within the last few years
| in consequence OF It's industrial appli-
! cations is monazite, from which are
| obtained the rare metals thorium, Ian
thanum and didymium, used in the
| manufacture of mantles for gas light
ing. Monazite is found in the form OF
! small crystals, mixed with sand, in the
| beds of streams where a certain class
| OF granite rocks have disintegrated,
and both in Europe and America 1t
| seems to be confined 10 those regions
| which have escaped glacial action.
| Something of 4 sensation was created
in England q year or so ago by the
| widespread sickness which apparent
| ly resulted from drinking cheap beer.
1t was believed that the trouble came
from the use by the brewers of glu-
| cose from which the sulphuric acid
had not been altogether eliminated.
| The acid, in turn, was suspected Of
being tainted with arsenic, common
/ impurlty in that article when manu-
! factured out of Spanish pyrites. Since
| the first sensation over the trouble
| subsided the theory has been advanced
! that it was selenium and not arsenic
which poisoned the beer That sub
| stance Is also present ir Spanish py-
rites, and has been recently found In
/ some OF the products OF British brew
! cries. Thus another comparatively
I unknown metal has been brought to
| public attention. Sclenium is not only
very rare, but thus far has found lit
tie use i'll the arts. One OF It's quail
| ties, the variability of its electric con
! ductivity under the influence Of light,
has been turned 10 account by many
/ inventors who were trying to transmit
! pictures by telegraph. Selenium costs
about SIS a pound just now. and is,
! therefore, more valuable than silver
In the whole catalogue of "chemi-
Gals, minerals and rare clements" the
! prices of which are quoted every week
Dr trade journals, perhaps no name is
| more puzzling to the uninitiated than
"infusorial earth" STILL IL lie knows
| much about dynamite, he is aware
that this is the stuff employed as an
l. l.. \