Judsonia weekly advance., 1915-08-11

Del Rio was born in Madrid November l0, lf64, and graduated from the University of Alcala de Henares in 1780. On account of his extraordinary aptitude in the natural sciences and particularly in chemistry, he pensioned and sent by the government to study in Germany, France and Eng land. He spent about twelve years in those coun- tries principally in the study of mineralogy and mining, and was associated with the leading scien lists, among others Lavoisier After his return to Spain he was named, in 1794 by royal order of the group of professors to establish the Royal School of Mines in Mexico City. The royal order named Del Rio as professor of chemistry but on his request this changed to mineralogy The school was opened in April, 1795. In 1920 Del Rio was sent as deputy to the Spanish Cortes where he championed the cause of Mexican inde pendence. He returned to Mexico in 1924, but in 1929 on the expulsion of the Spaniards he went to the United States. He afterwards returned and died in the City of Mexico May 23 1S49. The district of Andres Del Rio. in the state of Ghihua hua, where the city of Batopas and the mines of the same name located, is called after the dis tinguished scientist.
 In 1901 Prof Del Rio in examining some brown lead ores from the mines of Zimapan, in what is now the state of Hidalgo. believed that he had dis covered new element different from chromium and uranium and this he named erithrontum. It was in reality what we know vanadum. The discovery was a genuine one, and had the matter rested there the name that Del Rio gave the element would have been it's name now, and he would have been the undsputed discoverer thereof. But unfortunately the Mexican professor was little too much under the glamour of the French school and so when Collet Descostils pub lished article in which he stated that Del Rios erithronium nothing more than impure chro- mium Del Rio accepted the French professors judgment and in the Anales de Ciencias Naturales of Madrid in 1894 disavowed his former claim of discovery and stated that the substance was lead chromate Del Rio had been right and the French school wrong, for the clement does not even belong in the chromium group. So the mat ter rested until in 1880 the Swedish scientist N. c. Sefstroem, rediscovered the element among the slags of the Taberg iron ores and named it vanadium which name it still bears It is some times stated that the name chosen by Sefstroem was in honor of the Scandinavian goddess Vana- dis. This is not strictly correct. In the Morse mythology the gods were divided into two stocks. Aesir and Vanir, or Asa and Vana Njoerd Frey and Freyja were of the stock Vanir, hence Vanads The word may be taken the sur name of a number of gods and goddesses, al though perhaps most often used in connection with Freyja, the Morse Venus
 Neither Del Rio nor Sefstroem, nor later Der zelius obtained the pure element, although Der zelius published what he thought to be it's atomic weight, 137 and the formlae for it's oxides The English chemist, Sir Henry E. Roscoe, in 1868 demonstrated that Berzeius was incorrect; that he and other prior investigators had dealt with nitrides oxides of the element; and that 1n- stead of belonging to the chromium group Of elements vanadum should be placed in the group with arsenic and phosphorus.
 Vanadium is a silver-whHe metal and readily oxidzed It has an atomic weight of 51.2, is nonmagnetic has a very high electrical ress- tivity, and melts at about 1880 degrees c. It is one of the most difficulty reduced and hardest of the metallic elements Fortunately for it's use in the arts, 1t is not necessary to reduce the metal to it's pure state. Such reduction would be too costly. It be reduced, however, quite easily as an alloy particularly as an alloy of iron, ferrovanadium, containing approximately one part of vanadium and two parts of iron. Again fortunately, this alloy has melting point 1900 degree c. to 1340 degrees C., sufficiently low to further alloy with molten steel, which would be difficult in the pure vanadium having melt ing point over 300 degrees c. higher
 Vanadium is of the most widely dissemi- mated of all the clements, although commercially available deposits comparatively rare It is found in most of the rocks in clays and shales and in the ashes of plants In addition to Mex leo, where 1t was first discovered, vanadium has been found in Colorado, Utah. Oklahoma, Ne vada, New Mexico, and other par.s of the United States in Peru, Sweden. AustvLlia Spain, Eng land, Turkestan, Chili and Argentina.
 The chief from which vanadium is may be derived are patronite. carnotte. roscoe lite, vanadnte and asphaltite. Coal is source of vanadium Ash from the Rockvae Colorado coal gave 27 per cent ,anadium oxide. Coal from the Mendoza district in Argentina contains about five pounds of yanadc acid per ton. It is