Evening star., 1918-08-04

and land. is platinum. the metal OF
metals. along with steel, In the bat
tie with the Prussians. The United
States would have to stop fighting II
1t ran out 4of platinum.
Some essential signal instruments"
DR.. Parsons said, ARE dumb without
platinum, and 1t is necessary In the
composition of certain delicate gun
mechanisms. The control lever of all
chemical industries is analytical
chemistry and platinum Is indispens-
able in that lire of work. Platinum
is used In the manufacture of nitrates
from the air for fertilizers and muni-
ttons. without platinum all expert
ments in gases would be greatly
handicapped.
And yet" DR. Parsons went on to
say. while our government. our in
dustries and our educators have seri-
Gus use for this rare metal, one-third
of the worlds entire supply has been
used unproductively In jewelry.
just as well. It cannot be distin-
guished by sight from platinum, even
by chemists.
Germany.s success in Russia has
given 1t access to the richest deposits
Of platinum in the world. Many OF
the mines in that country have been
closed for several years. but can be
opened. 1t is feared. in the near fu-
ture by 4he Huns. Nothing was
says Dr.. George Frederick Kunz, the
gem expert. who has served the gov.
ernment in maay special ways, until
1898, when the South American de-
posits, now within the limits OF the
republic Of Colombia. were visited by
the Spanish trave.er. Don Antonio de
Clloa."
An English netallurgtst. Charles
Wood, obtained specimens Of the ore
from Jamaica in 1I41 and carried
them to London. Wood said the new
metal would not rust or tarnfsh. Tne
Spaniards took the ore from gravel
and the sands OF rivers in the form
Of powder or small grains They
learned to work It and used 1t for
sword guards, buckles, snuff boxes
and SO on. 1t brought lower price
at that time than silver.
1t was Chabaueau. according 70 Df.
Kunz, who made the first platinum
ingot This nan was French chem
ist. Charles III. King of Spain. called
him to Madrid and created for him q
special professorship Of mineralogy,
physics and chemistry at the uni
versity in that. city. HE was given
lodgings in the palace and an annual
stipend equivalent to $4,000.
"Chabaueau," DR.. Kunz says. found
the secret of rendering the new metal
malieable by taking the platinum
sponge while it was at whfte neat; at
the very moment OF its formation,
and hammering it repeatedly while
in that state.
Although South America made plat
inum known to the world. the supply
from that country has always been
small In normal times no more than
6 per cent of the metal yearly I'M
ported by the United States comes
Of the imports are received from
Russia. where, in the Ural mountains:
platinum was found in the first half
of the nineteehth century.
The Russian government. apprats-
ing platinum at one-sixth OF the value
Of silver and at about one-thira OF
the value of gold. began coming 1t
in 1928 on the basis of S7.15 q troy
ounce. Platinum today, as has been
stated in this article, is selling at
$1O5 an ounce.
But the metal began to rise in price,
and the coins were bought up and
shipped out OF Russia, being worth
more as bullion than as money. These
early coins are now rare, and are
only found in museums and large.
private collections. Before platinum
became as valuable as silver 1t was
used by counterfeiters in the making
of spurious Spanish doubloons, the
surface of which was plated with
gold. -
The discovery of platinum in Rus
sja occurred during the year 1919 and
In the gold taken from the Ural
mountains. One nugget weighed
twenty -fiye pounds and ten ounces,
which, at the present quotation, was
worth S32,550. Forty mines had been
opened up to the year 1S40.' The
metal was also found In the sand of.