Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1915-08-13

- zaugzzaz3 Royal School of Mines OF the
NHI1v%T7NSaE City of Mexico The honor
HHNNE4kSAEAIH would be wholly his had he
E&SM111&A not himself repudiated his own
discovery.
Del Rio was born in Madrid, November 10, 1854,
and graduated from the University OF Alcala DC
Henares in $780, 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 1874, by royal order as
one of the group of professors to establish the
Royal School of Mines in Mexico City. The royal
order named Del Rio professor OF chemistry,
but on his request this was changed to mneralogy.
The school was opened I'm April, 1885, In 1890 Del
Rio WAS sent as deputy to the Spanish Cortes,
where he championed the cause of Mexican 1nde
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 on May %, 1849 The
district OF Andres Del Rio in the state of Chihua
hua, where the city of Batopilas and the mines OF
the same name are 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 Hidago, believed that he had dis
covered new element different from chromium
and uranium and this he named erithrontum 1t
was in reality what now know as vanadium.
The discovery genuine one, and had the
matter rested there the that Del Rio gave
the new element would have been its 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
lshed an article in which he stated that Del Rios
erithronium nothing more than impure chro
MUM Del Rio accepted the French professors
Judgment and in the Anales de Ciencias Naturales
of Madrid in 1904 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 element 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. 1t 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 Aesr and vanir, or Asa and Vana Njoerd.
Frey and Freyja we're of the stock Vanir, hence
Vanadis 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, later Ber-
zelius obtained the pure element although Ber-
zelius published what he thought to be its atomic
weight 1877 and the formlae for its oxides The
English chemist Sir Henry E. Roscoe. in 1858
demonstrated that Berzeius was incorrect; that
he and other prior investigators had dealt with
ntrides or oxides of the element; and that In
stead of belonging to the chromium group OF
elements vanadium should be placed In the group
with arsenic and phosphorus.
Vanadium is a silver-white metal and readily
Oxidized. 1t has an atomic weight OF 512, is
nonmagnetic has very high electrical resis-
tivtty and melts at about 1850 degrees c. It
is one of the most difficulty reduced and hardest
of the metallic elements. Fortunately for its use
in the arts, It is not necessary to reduce the
metal to it's pure state. Such a reduction would
be too costly 1t can be reduced, however, quite
easily as an alloy particularly an alloy Of
from ferrovanadium, containing approximately
one part of vanadium and two parts of IRON
Again fortunately this alloy has a melting point
1900 degree C. to 1,340 degrees c. sufficiently low
to further alloy with molten steel, which would
be difficult in the pure vanadium having melt
ing point over 800 degrees c. higher
Vanadium is of the most widely dissent
mated of all the elements, although commercially
available deposits are comparatively rare. It
is found in most of the rocks, in clays and shaes
and in the ashes of plants In addition to Mex
leo, where it was first discovered vanadium has
been found in Colorado, Utah, Oklahoma, Ne
vada. New Mexico. and other parts OF the United
States; in Peru Sweden, Australia Spain. Eng
land, Turkestan, Chill and Argentina.
The chief ores from which vanadium Is or
may he derived are patronite carnotite. roscoe
lite, vanadinte and asphaltite. Coal is source
Of vanadium. Ash from the Rockville Colorado
coal gave q per cent vanadium oxide. Coal
from the Mendoza district in Argentina contains
about ave pounds of vanadic acid per ton. 1t is