The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-03-29
ny FnEDEnIC 3, HAsKIN.

TO the average human being gold
is the rarest of metals. The savings
OF the average man in the United
States in a whole year would
not suffice to buy pound of II. The
It's weight In gold" has become the
expression OF the acme OF value. Yet
gold Is as dross compared with some
of the other nletals that exist. Some
valuable than gold as gold IS more
valuable than ordinary iron. Some OF
them are so valuable that nineteen men
out OF every twenty In the world could
not save enough money In lifetime
twenty-six of the metals which are
more valuable than the basic metal OF
our currency system.
OF course, about the most valuable
substance known is radium. Searching
for a needle in haystack is but the
task Of few minutes as compared
with the work Of finding a pound OF
radium 1t is estimated that 1t takes
2,27a tons OF uranium residue to make
stance, and that 1t costs $4,000 to gath
err the radium out OF a single ton OF
uranium. But after 1t Is gotten II pays
we'll for the trouble. II square cent?.
an inch square, were covered over with
pure radium. II would lose
only about 1.l5o. 600 OF a grain In
weight In 1000 900 years. How tedious
the fact that there Is more gold In sea
water than there is radium In pitch
blende or uranium residue.
Gallium Ia the rarest OF metals, IL
500 per pound, or nearly 22e times as
much as gold. The melting point Of
this metal1is below 81 degrees, so that
1t will melt when held In the hand. IT
was discovered by a French, chemist
France. :.
The next. rarest metal is vanadium.
1t Is valued at S10.1S0 per pound 1t
is closely allied to arsenic, phosphorus
behavior Il is used to- to make s salts.
one of which in turn. ammonium
metavanadate, is used to make analine
black dye and vanadium ink. Vana-
Il SAN nears aI Gays IN pnt It's
most abundant source is vanadiate OF
lead. found In Scotland, Peru and Chile.
The next most valuable metal known
is rubidium. 1t is valued at $500 a
tances have bought that much lately.
1t is soft as wax even at low tempera-
lures. When thrown in water 1t de-
composes that fluid with the evolution
of hydrogen, which takes fire because
Ruhidlum Is widely diffused in nature.
bnt occurs in such small quantities as
TO make IT extremely rare. After
metals comes, D ,spr na,s Its va ausois Is
1880 per pound. A compound Of this
element, thoria- Is used In the manu-
facture OF incandescent gas mantels
they possess. 1t is found principally
In North Carolina and Brazil. Glu-
cinium Is valued at s5.SOn per pound.
IT is used in chemistry as the base
of several salts.
There are three metals-calcium. LAM
valued at $4,000 a pound. Calcium has
a hardness about equal to that of gold.
In solution It Is that element which
makes wafer hard. Its presence is
illustrated by the deposits which form
in the tea kettles Of ,milady's house
a powerful current of voltaic cleo
tricity through fused chloride OF cal
cium, when the metal separates int
minute globules. 1t is a yellowish-
white metal, and may be rolled into
sheets or hammered into leaves. To be
kept bright 1t has to be Immersed in
naphtha Lanthanum Is said to have
little practical value, however great
lightest Of metals. outranking even
aluminium In that particular. Its spe-
cific gravity is but little more than
half that Of water.
Another group--indIum, tantalum.
yttrium and dldymium-are valued at
$4,410 per pound. Indium is of rare
occurrence, and not of as great impor-
lance as its value would Indicate. In
this case, as we'll as in that of most
of the other metals mentioned, the
1t rather than by any demand for it.
The same is true Of the other three OF
the $4,410 class.
strontium is worth $4,000 a pound.
Its salts are used in the making of
Many lives have been lost in both the
making and preserving of fireworks
into which the salts OF strontlum enter.
1t is freely liable to spontaneous COM
bustion. Arium and erbum are each
said to be worth s3.s75 per pound,
though the daily newspapers do not as
a rule carry market quo attons on them,
Rutheninm Is; worth s2,695 per pound,