Antimony and Bismuth.Antimony is produced in Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, United States, Japan and other countries.
Bismuthcomes mainly from Bolivia and Australia. Some is produced in Saxony and England.
Stibnite(antimony sulphide) is the chief ore of antimony. Bismuth occurs in small amounts in a pure state and also combined with sulphur.
These metals form many alloys such as type metal, anti-friction metals, white metal, babbitt metal, fusible metals.
Tartar emeticand other antimony compounds are used in medicine and dyeing.
Amberis a fossil resin found chiefly along the shores of the Baltic. It is used in making mouthpieces for pipes, cigar holders, beads and other articles.
Arsenic.Germany, England, Canada, the United States and Spain produce the ores. Chemical laboratories transform them into the useful compounds.
Arsenopyrite(arsenic and iron sulphide), orpiment and realgar (sulphides of arsenic) and the sources of arsenic.
Arsenic(white arsenic, arsenious acid or oxide of arsenic), paris green and other compounds and salts are prepared.
Sheep dip, rat poison, insecticides, embalming fluid, pigments and dyes are prepared with arsenic compounds. Arsenic salts are used in preparing certain coal-tar colors.
Asphaltum(or mineral pitch) is a bituminous mineral substance found more or less pure, in some localities. The pitch lake of Trinidad and the Bermudez lake at the mouth of the Orinoco in Venezuela, are the largest known deposits of moderately pure asphalt. Smaller deposits of high grade occur in Utah, Cuba and the Barbadoes.
Rock asphaltconsists of sandstone or limestone impregnated with asphalt. Much asphalt is produced in refining certain grades of petroleum—such as those obtained in California and Texas.
Rock asphalts are mined in France, Switzerland, Sicily, California, Kentucky and Oklahoma.
For paving rock asphalts are much used in Europe. Trinidad and Venezuelan asphalts are exported in large quantities to the United States and Europe. For paving, these lake asphalts are mixed with broken stone, sand and petroleum residuum.
Pure varieties (gilsonite, marjak, glance pitch) are made into black varnish, used for insulating, etc.
Bariumis mined in the United States and Germany.
Barytesor barite is a heavy, white mineral (barium sulphate). It is used as a substitute or adulterant for white lead in paints, and in making oxygen.
Bismuth.Seeantimony.
Building Stonesare quarried for local use in all parts of the world.
Granite,syenite,gneiss,basaltand other hard or durable rocks.
Only stone of exceptional beauty is shipped to a great distance. Scotland, Norway, Massachusetts, Maine and other localities produce fine stones.
Calciumhas no commercial use in the metallic state. Its compounds, both natural and artificial, are of great economic importance.
Limestone(calcium carbonate) is a very common rock used for building. It may be of almost any color and coarse or fine in texture. It is found and utilized in all parts of the world. In the United States, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, New York and Missouri are the chief producers.
Lime is used in chemical industries and mortar.
Marbleis a name applied to limestones suitable for polishing or ornamental work.Mexican onyxis translucent. Fine marbles are quarried in Italy, Egypt, France, Spain and Greece. Vermont, Georgia, Tennessee and New York supply the greater part of the marble used in the United States. Handsome marbles are imported from Carrara, Italy, and other parts of Europe. Mexican onyx is also imported.
Chalk comes mainly from the south of England. We export some Portland cement and import a little from Europe.
Chalkis of peculiar soft texture;whitingis prepared chalk used to make putty and paints;precipitated chalkis similar.
Limeis made by burning (calcining) common limestones.Portlandandhydraulic cementsare prepared by calcining siliceous limestones or a mixture of limestone and clay. They are of enormous commercial importance, being used in concrete construction work. Europe and the United States produce large quantities. Pennsylvania is the leading state in this industry.
Buildings (both commercial and residences) are now being extensively constructed of cement—in the former case being re-enforced by iron rods.
Chloride of lime(or bleaching powder),acetate of lime,calcium carbideand many other compounds are of industrial value.
Gypsum(hydrous calcium sulphate) is used in fertilizers. Plaster is prepared by calcining (burning) gypsum.Plaster of parisis its purest form.Alabasteris compact white gypsum. It is a common mineral mined in many parts of the world. Michigan, Kansas, New York, Ohio and other states produce it. Fertilizers and plaster use up large quantities of this mineral. Plaster of paris is used for casts, decorative plaster work, cement, etc.
Fluorite(calcium fluoride) is a less common mineral. Mined in England, Kentucky and Illinois. It is used in chemical manufacture and as a flux for ores.
Phosphate rock(chiefly calcium phosphate) is important in the preparation of fertilizers, and chemicals containing phosphorus. It is found in deposits of organic origin in South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, the West Indies, Canada, Spain, France, Germany and England.
The natural phosphates are treated with sulphuric acid as a first step in the manufacture of phosphatic fertilizers. Exported in large amount to Germany, England and other countries.
Carborundum, or carbide of silicon, is harder than any known substance but the diamond.[109]Much is manufactured at Niagara Falls, by electrically heating a mixture of coke, sand and salt. It is used for making polishing powder, in grinding wheels, sharpening stones, abrasive cloth, etc.
Cerium.Seerare metals.
Chromeis mined in Asia Minor, Greece, Canada, New Caledonia and California. Its salts are prepared in chemical laboratories.
Chromite(oxide of chromium and iron) is the only ore.
Bichromate of potashis the most important compound. It, together with chromic acid, is used in tanning soft leather. A small percentage added to steel makes it very hard and suitable for burglar-proof safes, tools, etc. Salts of chrome are used for dyes and pigments, such as chrome yellow, chrome green, etc.
Coalis one of the most important of all rocks and first among fuels. It consists chiefly of carbon, and is universally regarded as of vegetable origin.
Several theories as to the origin of coal have been put forth from time to time. The one now generally accepted is that the rank and luxuriant vegetation which prevailed during the carboniferous age grew and decayed upon land but slightly raised above the sea; that by slow subsidence this thick layer of vegetable matter sank below the water, and became gradually covered with sand, mud, and other mineral sediment; that then, by some slight upheaval or gradual silting up of the sea bottom, a land surface was once more formed, and covered with a dense mass of plants, which in course of time decayed, sank, and became overlaid with silt and sand as before. At length, thick masses of stratified matter would accumulate, producing great pressure, and this, acting along with chemical changes, would gradually mineralize the vegetable layers into coal.
In passing from wood or peat to coal, the proportion of carbon increases, while that of oxygen and hydrogen decreases, these substances being given off in the form of marsh-gas and carbonic acid gas in the process of decay.
Deposits occur in almost all parts of the world, but many are almost entirely undeveloped; as, for example, the coal fields of China. The largest production is in the United States, Wales, England, Germany, Austria, Russia and Australia. Mines are worked in India, Japan, Mexico, South America, South Africa, China and the Philippines. Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Alabama, Indiana, Iowa and many other states mine coal in great amount. Pennsylvania produces nearly all of the anthracite and a large quantity of bituminous coal.
Bituminous coal, coking coal, non-coking coal, cannel coal, cherry coal, splint coal, gas coal, steam coal, etc., are all varieties of soft coal and contain a considerable percentage of volatile matter.
Bituminous coal is the fuel which runs the factories, railways and steamships of the world. The distillation of coal tar and the utilization of its numerous by-products, is one of the best examples of modern economy which turns waste material into useful products and large profits. Much coke is made without saving the by-products.
By distillation, bituminous coal yields gas, ammonia, coal tar and coke. Coal tar products are numbered by the thousand. Among them are naphtha, benzine, oil of mirbane, perfumes, flavors, drugs, saccharine, aniline and other dyes, phenol, carbolic acid, salicylic acid, naphthaline, photographic developers, creosote, oils, tar and pitch.
Anthracite coalis almost pure carbon.
Cobaltis a metal the ores of which are sparingly distributed. It generally occurs as Speiss-cobalt, cobalt-glance (or cobaltite), wad, cobalt-bloom, linnæite and skutterudite. Its minerals are found chiefly in the Erzgebirge Mountains, Sweden, Norway, Chile, in silver ores near Coleman township, Ontario, in Oregon (as garnierite), and in New Caledonia. The metal itself is of a gray color with a reddish tinge, brittle, hard, and very magnetic.
Many of its compounds are valued on account of the brilliance and permanence of their colors. The protoxide of cobalt, is employed in the form of smalt in the production of the blue colors in porcelain, pottery, glass, encaustic tiles, fresco-painting, etc., and forms the principal ingredient in Old Sevres Blue, Thenard’s Blue, etc. The chlorid of cobalt, dissolved in much water, may be employed as a sympathetic ink. In dilute solutions, it is of a faint pink color, which is not observable upon paper; but when heated before the fire, it loses water, and becomes blue, and the writing is then capable of being read.
Copperis, next to iron, the most important metal in use. Its greatest production is in the United States, in Arizona, Montana, Michigan, and Utah. Spain, Japan, Chili, Australia and Germany produce smaller amounts. The metal is purified by smelting, and refined, often by electrolytic methods. There are many ores.
Chalcopyriteandbornite(sulphides of copper and iron) are widely distributed.
Chalcocite(copper sulphide) is mined in Montana,malachiteandazurite(carbonates of copper) in Arizona and metallic copper in Michigan.
Copper matteis the crude metal as it comes from the smelter.
Brassandbronzeare alloys of copper with zinc, tin, aluminum, etc.
Copper sulphate(blue vitriol) is the most important chemical compound of copper.
The value of copper has increased within recent years, due to its enormous use in electrical work. Aside from this, copper is employed in large amount in the various alloys into which it enters, and in coins, utensils, printing plates, etc. Copper sulphate is extensively used in electrical apparatus dyes, chemical work and as an antiseptic. Large amounts of manufactured copper are exported to Europe. Smaller quantities of ores, matte and regulus are imported from Mexico, South America and other countries. Copper wire is extensively used by telephone and telegraph companies.
Diamond.Seegems.
Gems, or Precious Stonesare those which, because of their beauty, hardness, and rarity, are prized for use in ornamentation, especially[110]in jewelry. The diamond, ruby, sapphire, and emerald are the only stones which are, strictly speaking, entitled to be called “precious” in this sense; but the opal, on account of its beauty, is often classed with the precious stones; as is also the pearl, which is really not a stone, but a secretion of a shellfish.
Alexandrite.—A variety of chrysoberyl found in the mica slate of the Ural mountains. It is of a rich garnet color by artificial light, by daylight of a dark moss green. It is the only stone that so changes. The finest specimens of alexandrite are nearly as valuable as diamonds.
Amethyst.—A variety of crystallized quartz of a purple or bluish-violet color, of different shades. It is much used as a jeweler’s stone. The lighter colored ones come from Brazil, the deep purple ones from Siberia. In value they are about the same as the garnet.
Beryl.—A very hard mineral of much beauty when transparent. It occurs in hexagonal prisms, commonly of a green or bluish-green color, but also yellow, pink and white. It is a silicate of aluminum and glucinum. Beryls are very rich in colors.
Bloodstone.—A green siliceous stone sprinkled with red jasper, whence the name.
Cameo.—A figure cut in stone or shell that is composed of different colored layers. The value depends on the artistic merit of the engraved figure.
Carbuncle.—A beautiful gem of a deep red color (with a mixture of scarlet), found in the East Indies. When held up to the sun it loses its deep tinge, and becomes of the color of a burning coal.
Carnelian.—A variety of chalcedony, of a clear, deep red, flesh-red, or reddish-white color. It is moderately hard, capable of a good polish, and often used for seals. It is now used but little.
Cat’s-eye.—A variety of quartz or chalcedony exhibiting opalescent reflections from within, like the eye of a cat. The name is given to other gems affording like effects, especially the chrysoberyl.
Chalcedony.—A translucent variety of quartz, having usually a whitish color, and a luster nearly like wax.
Dendrite.—A stone or mineral in which are branching figures, resembling shrubs or trees, produced by a foreign mineral, usually by an oxide of manganese, and the moss agate.
Diamond.—A precious stone or gem excelling in brilliancy, beauty of prismatic colors, and remarkable for extreme hardness. It is found in many hues—green, rose, straw, yellow, etc.—but the straw-colored ones are the most common. The diamond is a native carbon, occurring in isometric crystals, often octahedrons, with rounded edges. It is the hardest substance known. Diamonds are said to be of the first water when very transparent, and of the second and third water as the transparency decreases.
Diopside.—A crystallized variety of pyroxene (a silicate of lime and magnesia), of a clear, grayish-green color; also called mussite.
Emerald.—A precious stone of a rich green color; it is the most valuable variety of beryl. (Seeberyl.)
Epidote.—A mineral, commonly of a yellowish-green color, occurring granular, massive, columnar, and in crystals. It is a silicate of alumina, lime, and oxide of iron, or manganese.
Fluorite.—Calcium fluoride, a mineral of many different colors, white, yellow, purple, red, etc., often very beautiful. When crystallized it is commonly in cubes with perfect octahedral cleavage. Some varieties are used for ornamental vessels. Also called fluor spar, or simply fluor. The colored varieties are often called false ruby, false emerald, false topaz, false sapphire, and false amethyst.
Flint.—A massive, somewhat impure variety of quartz, in color usually of a gray to brown or nearly black. (Seequartz.)
Garnet.—A mineral having many varieties, differing in color and in their constituents, but with the same general chemical formula. The commonest color is red; the luster is vitreous, or glassy; and the hardness is greater than that of quartz, about half as hard as the diamond. Besides the red varieties there are also white, green, yellow, brown and black ones.
The garnet is a silicate with various bases. The transparent red varieties are used as gems. The garnet was the carbuncle of the ancients. Garnet is a very common mineral in gneiss and mica slate.
The finest specimens of red garnets come from Arizona and a single carat stone is worth about two dollars. A green variety that comes from Russia is worth about half as much as the diamond.
Heliotropeorbloodstone.—A green siliceous stone sprinkled with jasper, as if with blood, whence the name.
Hyacinth.—A red variety of zircon, sometimes used as a gem. It resembles closely a dark Spanish topaz, and is worth a little more than the garnet.
Indicolite.—A variety of tourmaline of an indigo-blue color.
Iolite.—A silicate of alumina, iron, and magnesia, having a bright blue color and a vitreous or glassy luster. It is remarkable for its dichroism, and is also called dichroite.
Jacinth.—Same ashyacinth.
Jade.—A stone commonly of a pale to dark green color, but sometimes whitish. It is hard and very tough, capable of a fine polish, and is used for ornamental purposes and for implements, especially in eastern countries and among many primitive peoples.
Jasper.—An opaque, impure variety of quartz, of red, yellow, and other dull colors, breaking with a smooth surface. (Seequartz.)
Labradorite.—A kind of feldspar, commonly showing a beautiful play of bluish-gray colors, and, hence, much used for ornamental purposes. The finest specimens come from Labrador.
Lapis-lazuliorlazuli.—A mineral of a fine azure-blue color, usually occurring in small rounded masses. It is essentially a silicate of alumina, lime, and soda, with some sodium sulphide. It is often marked by yellow spots or veins of sulphide of iron, and is much valued for ornamental work.
Moonstone.—A nearly pellucid variety of feldspar, showing pearly or opaline reflections from within.
The best specimens come from Ceylon. Their value is not much more than the expense of cutting.
Obsidian.—A kind of glass produced by volcanoes. It is usually of a black color and opaque, except in thin splinters.
Onyx.—Chalcedony in parallel layers of different shades of color. It is used for making cameos, the figure being cut in one layer with the next layer as a background (seecameo). It is stained black and used to make mourning jewelry.
Opal.—A mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to quartz in hardness and specific gravity. The precious opal shows a peculiar play of colors of delicate tints and it is highly esteemed as a gem. One kind, with a varied play of colors in a reddish ground, is called harlequin opal. The fire opal (which comes from Mexico) has colors like the red and yellow of flame. This is not the cheap variety commonly called Mexican opal.
CELEBRATED HISTORIC DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD
Diamonds
Pearl.—A shelly concretion, usually rounded, having a brilliant luster, with varying tints, formed in the mantle, or between the mantle and shell, of certain bivalve mollusks (especially in the pearl oysters and river mussels) and sometimes in certain univalves. Its substance is the same as nacre or mother-of-pearl. Pearls which are round, or nearly round, and of fine luster, are highly prized as jewels. They are sold by carat grains instead of carats.
Rhodonite.—Manganese spar, or silicate of manganese, a mineral occurring crystallized and in rose-red masses. It is almost entirely used for ornamental purposes, in slabs, blocks, etc.
Rock crystalormountain crystal.—Any transparent crystal of quartz, particularly of limpid or colorless quartz. A sphere of rock crystal of absolutely perfect clearness, about five inches in diameter, is worth at least twenty thousand dollars.
Rose quartz.—A variety of quartz which is pinkish red.
Rubellite.—A variety of tourmaline varying in color from a pale rose-red to a deep ruby, and containing lithium. It is a little more valuable than the garnet.
Ruby.—A precious stone of a carmine-red color, sometimes verging to violet, or intermediate between carmine and hyacinth red. It is a crystallized variety of corundum. The ruby from Siam is of a dark color and is called oxblood ruby. It has about the same value as the diamond. The ruby from Burmah, called the pigeon-blood ruby, is of a lighter color and several times more valuable than the oxblood ruby.
Sapphire.—A variety of native corundum or aluminium sesquioxide. As the name of a gem the term is restricted to the transparent varieties of blue, pink, yellow, and other colors. The best specimens of the blue variety are nearly as valuable as the diamond. The sapphire is next to the diamond in hardness.
Sard.—A variety of carnelian, of a reddish-yellow or brownish color.
Sardonyx.—A variety of onyx consisting of sard and white chalcedony in alternate layers. (Seeonyx.)
Spinel.—A mineral occurring in octahedrons of great hardness and various colors, as red, green, blue, brown, and black, the red variety being the gem spinel ruby. It consists essentially of aluminum magnesium, but commonly contains iron and sometimes also chromium. The fine specimens of spinel ruby are worth rather more than half as much as the diamond.
Topaz.—A mineral occurring in rhombic prisms, generally yellowish and pellucid, also colorless, and of greenish, bluish, or brownish shades. It sometimes occurs massive and opaque.
Tourmaline.—A mineral occurring in three-sided prisms. Black tourmaline is the most common variety, but there are also other varieties, as the blue (indicolite), red (rubellite); also green, brown, and white. The red and green varieties, when transparent, are valued as jewels. The finest ones come from Maine, and are worth four or five times as much as garnets.
Turquoise.—A hydrous phosphate of alumina containing a little copper. It has a blue, or bluish-green color, and usually occurs in kidney-shaped masses with a nodular surface like that of a bunch of grapes. The finest specimens are worth nearly half as much as diamonds.
Verd antique.—A mottled-green, serpentine marble, also a green porphyry, which is called oriental verd antique.
Zircon.—A mineral usually of a brown or gray color. It consists of silicon and zirconium, and is harder than the garnet. The transparent varieties are used as gems. The red variety is called Hyacinth; a colorless, pale yellow, or smoky-brown variety from Ceylon is called jargon.
Gold, a metal valued on account of its scarcity, color, luster, and power of resisting oxidation. It is found in nearly all parts of the world. South Africa and the United States are the leading producers. Australia, South America and parts of Europe possess important gold fields.
Gold is separated from gravel (placer mines) by washing with water. The particles of metal, being heavy, sink and can be collected. Rock containing gold is crushed to fine powder and the gold combined with mercury (amalgamation). Low-grade ores are treated with a solution of cyanide of potassium which dissolves the gold and the metal is later separated.
Chloride of gold, used in photographic work, is its only important compound. Pure gold is called twenty-four carats fine. A smaller figure indicates that the metal is alloyed to harden it.
Gold is used for money, jewelry, gold leaf (gilding) and in dentistry. It is almost always alloyed with copper and silver. Gold is the world’s accepted standard of value. Shipments of gold go from one country to another chiefly to balance international business dealings. Government treasuries and bank vaults[113]are the chief storehouses for gold, either as bullion or coin.
Graphiteis almost pure carbon. It is produced in Bohemia, Ceylon, Italy, Germany, Mexico and the United States. The deposits in Ceylon are the largest in the world. Much of that mined in New York and Alabama is of very high grade.
Plumbagoorblack leadis used in making crucibles, lead pencils, lubricants for heavy machinery, stove polish, foundry facings, paint, etc.
Artificial graphiteis made from coal or coke by an electric process.
Powdered graphite is mixed with fine clay in greater or less proportion and then molded and baked to form such articles as crucibles and lead for pencils. Graphite is imported from Ceylon to the United States, and lead pencils from Europe.
Ironis the most useful of all metals. The United States, Germany, Great Britain, Spain and France are the greatest producers of iron. Its ores occur in almost all parts of the world. Hematite is mined in Minnesota, Michigan, Alabama and other parts of the United States and in Germany, England, France, Spain, Russia, etc. Limonite is also widely distributed. Pig iron is made by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. The ore, mixed with limestone, is melted by burning coke, coal or charcoal.
Pyrite(iron pyrites, or fool’s gold) is found in Spain and many other parts of the world and is valuable in the preparation of sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol), but useless as an iron ore.
Hematite(sesquioxide of iron) is the ore which supplies three-fourths of the iron of commerce.
Limonitebrown (hematite) is a hydrous oxide and furnishes nearly one-fourth of the world’s supply of the metal. Magnetite and siderite are less common ores.
Pig ironis the crude form of the refined metal and is transformed into cast iron, wrought iron and steel in their multitudinous forms.
These three forms of iron differ in hardness, strength, elasticity, malleability, etc., according to the amounts of carbon, sulphur, phosphorus, manganese and other elements.
Ochersand metallic paints are iron oxides.Prussian blueandcopperasare iron compounds.
The United States manufactures more iron and steel than any other country. Almost half of the production is in Pennsylvania.Cast ironappears in many articles but is weaker than other forms of iron.Wrought ironcontains less impurity and is used for bars, plates, wire, structural material and parts of machinery.Steel(Bessemer, Siemens-Martin, open hearth, etc.) contains more carbon than wrought iron, possesses both strength and hardness, and is used for rails, structural material, machinery, tools, wire rope, sheet steel, etc. Its hardness may be increased by tempering. The United States imports iron ore from Cuba and Spain, pig iron from Great Britain and a little manufactured iron and steel from Europe. We export large quantities of manufactured iron and steel.
Lanthanum.Seerare metals.
Leadis the softest, heaviest, most malleable and most easily melted of the common metals. Its ores are found in many countries but the main supply is from the United States, Spain, Germany and Mexico. The chief lead mines of the United States are in Missouri, Idaho, Utah, Colorado and Kansas. Much lead bullion is from smelters where silver ores are reduced.
Galena(lead sulphide) is the only important ore; it often carries a considerable percentage of silver. Carbonates and sulphates of lead are less common.Solderandtype metalare alloys of lead with tin and antimony.White leadis a carbonate,red leadandlithargeare oxides.Chrome yellowandorange mineralare lead compounds used as pigments.
The chief use of metallic lead is in piping, sheet lead, shot and alloys. Large amounts of ore are transformed not into metallic lead but into white lead for use in paints. Lead ores and lead bullion are imported from Mexico. England is the greatest importer of lead and lead ores.
Lithiumis the metallic base of the Alkali lithia. The metal is of a white, silvery appearance, and is much harder than sodium or potassium, but softer than lead. It is the lightest of all known solids, its specific gravity being little more than half that of water. It comes principally from South Dakota, California and Sweden.
In chemical laboratories it is converted into lithium carbonate for medicinal tablets and mineral waters.
Magnesiumis a metal widely distributed over the globe, and chiefly mined in Austria, Germany and Greece. The metal is used in flash powders for photographic use, and in chemical manufacture, in fireproofing and lining furnaces.
Magnesite(magnesium carbonate) is used in making carbon dioxide gas and epsom salts and for preparing magnesia (calcined magnesia).
Dolomite(magnesium calcium carbonate) is common limestone, used for building. Found in many parts of the world. Calcined dolomite is used for lining iron furnaces.
Talc(hydrous magnesium silicate), soapstone or steatite, is a soft mineral. Mined in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, etc., and in Europe. It is made into laundry tubs, firebrick, hearthstones, griddles, slate and tailor’s pencils, gas tips, etc. Imported in small amount from France and Italy.
Meerschaumor sepiolite (magnesium silicate), comes from Asia Minor and New Mexico. It is easily carved and made into pipes and cigar holders. Austria and France use large quantities. It is largely imitated.
Asbestosis a fibrous variety of serpentine (a magnesium silicate). Mineral wool is an artificial fibrous mineral. It is mined in Quebec, Canada. Another variety of asbestos comes from Italy. Mines have been recently discovered in Wyoming. It is used as a fireproofing material. This mineral fiber is spun and woven into fireproof fabrics for theater curtains or made into felt building paper, pipe covering, etc.
Mercury(or quicksilver) is a heavy metal which is liquid at ordinary temperatures. It is produced in Spain, the United States,[114]Austria, Italy and Russia. California supplies most of this country’s quota. It is obtained by distillation of the ore.
Cinnabar(sulphide of mercury) is the source of the metal, although a little is found in nature in the pure state.
Vermilion(artificially prepared cinnabar) is used in paints.
Calomelandcorrosive sublimateare used in medicine andfulminatesof mercury in explosives.
It is used principally in the extraction of gold and silver from their ores by amalgamation. Employed in thermometers and barometers, silvering mirrors, and in making amalgams for dental work.
Micais a common mineral found in rocks in many parts of the world. It is mined in India, Canada, North Carolina and South Dakota. Several varieties occur (muscovite, biotite, etc.)—valuable only when found in large sheets which can be split smoothly. Transparent sheets are used for lamp chimneys and stove doors. It is also employed in electrical work, and lubricating. Some is imported from India.
Molybdenum.Seerare metals.
Nickelis found in the ores pyrrhotite and garnierites, mined in largest amount in New Caledonia and Canada. Norway produces other ores.
Garnierite(a silicate of nickel and magnesium) is the common ore. Magnetic iron pyrite (pyrrhotite) often carries several per cent of nickel. Sulphides and other compounds occur.German silvercontains nickel, copper and zinc. It enters into other alloys.
France and Germany refine nickel from imported ore, chiefly from New Caledonia. Nickel steel, being especially hard and tough is used for armor plate, special machinery and wire rope. Nickel is extensively used for cheap electro plating.
Nickel and nickel oxide are exported to Holland and England from the United States and ores and matte are imported from Canada.
Petroleum(or coal oil) is obtained from wells in the United States, Russia, Dutch East Indies, Galicia, Roumania and other countries. More than half of the world’s output is from the United States, the leading districts being (1) Kansas and Oklahoma, (2) California, (3) Illinois, (4) Pennsylvania and (5) Texas. Crude oil is transported from the wells for hundreds of miles through pipe lines to the refineries.
In its crude state, petroleum is a dark colored liquid. It yields by distillation, first: light oils,gasoline,naphtha,benzine; second:illuminating oils,kerosene,headlight oil, etc.; third:lubricating oils,engine oil,cylinder oil,machine oil; fourth:petroleum residuum(for asphalt paving) andcoke.Petrolatum,vaselineandparaffin waxare by-products in petroleum refining.
American kerosene oil is exported to all parts of the globe. Crude oil is also exported as well as other petroleum products.
Platinumis a rare metal found with gold, iridium and other rare metals in placer mines. It comes chiefly from Russia. Smaller amounts from Colombia, California, Canada and Australia.
It is used in the terminals of incandescent electric lamps, and also employed by chemists, jewelers and dentists.
Potash(or potassium) is an alkaline metal. Chlorides, sulphates, etc., are found in Germany. Wood ashes and sugar beet refuse furnish much of the world’s potash. Stassfurt, Germany, possesses the only known large deposit of natural potash salts. These salts are the source of potash in many chemical industries and in fertilizers. It is exported in large amount from Germany to England, France and America.
Quartz(silica) is of many varieties, crystalline to amorphous.
Rock flintis mined in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and also comes from the chalk cliffs of England and France.
Sandstonesare quarried and used for building in almost all parts of the world. Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York supply the greatest quantities in the United States.Honestonesandwhetstonesare mostly sandstone, and in this country are largely quarried in Arkansas, Michigan and New Hampshire.
Rock crystalis employed for lenses. Many semiprecious stones are varieties of quartz, asagate,moss agate,onyx,sard,chalcedony,chrysoprase,jasper, etc.
Rock flintandquartz sandare used in making glass and pottery.
Outside of building stones, quartz is used in greatest amount in making glass and pottery. For glass it is melted with alkali (soda ash) and either lime or lead oxide. Glass is either blown or molded. Belgium, Austria, Germany, France, Great Britain and the United States manufacture glassware. Pennsylvania, Indiana and New Jersey are the leading states.
Radiumis the most characteristic of those substances which possess the property of radio-activity—i.e. have the power of producing photographic or electric effects by a process identical with or analogous to radiation. The property was first observed inuraniumby Becquerel in 1896—hence the name “Becquerel rays.” In 1898 Schmidt and Madame Curie discovered almost simultaneously that the compounds ofthoriumhad the same radio-active property; and further elaborate investigations led to the discovery ofpolonium,radium, andactinium, as new substances with radio-active properties. Polonium was the name given by M. and Mme. Curie to the radio-active component of bismuth separated from pitchblende. Its activity is transient. In the new field of research thus opened up important work has been done by Rutherford, Crooks, Ramsay, Soddy, Huggins, and others.
Radium is derived frompitchblende, in which it exists in very small quantities. After a long-continued process of fractional crystallization it has been prepared in the form of a tolerably pure salt. The process of obtaining the element is very tedious. One to two kilograms of impure radium bromide can be procured from a ton of pitchblende residue only after processes extending over months. For the remarkable chemical properties of radium, see further underRadio-activity.
Rare Metals.These include chiefly the following:Tungsten,molybdenum,vanadiumanduranium. They are found in Colorado, Arizona, Germany, England and Sweden. The ores of these metals are unusual minerals, and the metals themselves are used in making special high grades of steel. Their salts are used in dyeing.
Thorium,cerium,lanthanumandyttrium, found in North Carolina, Norway, Brazil and Ceylon, are also to be classified under this head. Monazite, samarskite, thorite and other rare minerals contain these elements. They are used in preparing the mantles for incandescent gas lights.
Silver, the more common precious metal, is produced in greatest amount in the Rocky Mountains and the Andes. The United States, Mexico, Australia, Bolivia, Chili, Peru and Germany contribute nearly the entire supply. Montana, Colorado, Nevada and Utah lead in silver production in the United States. The ores are usually smelted and refined to purify the metal.
Argentiferous galena(lead ore) is the commonest ore of silver. The amount of silver per ton varies greatly. Zinc and copper ores often carry silver. Many sulphides of silver (argentite, pyrargyrite, etc.) are found, as well as chlorides and bromides (cerargyrite and bromyrite).Chlorideandnitrate of silverare used in photography.
Silver is manufactured into innumerable articles for household use and personal adornment. The cheapest articles are not solid (sterling) but are electrically plated with a very thin coating of silver. Silver coins form the bulk of the currency of the world, although in most countries gold is the standard.
Sodiumis the most important alkaline metal, and has a wide use.
Salt(rock salt, sea salt, lake salt, halite or sodium chloride) is the commonest natural compound of sodium. Important for food and in chemical manufacture.
Rock salt is mined in Germany, Austria, Spain, England, Louisiana, Kansas, India and other parts of the world. Obtained by evaporating salt water from wells in England, Michigan, New York, Ohio and China, or by evaporating salt water in the West Indies, Great Salt Lake, etc.
Besides its use for meat packing, curing fish, domestic purposes, etc., it is employed in silver refining, and the preparation of hydrochloric acid, soda ash, carbonate of soda and other chemical products.
Soda niter(nitrate of sodium) is a very easily soluble mineral. It is found in quantity only in the deserts of northern Chili, and is exported in large amounts to Europe and America for fertilizer and the manufacture of nitric acid and other chemicals.
Borax(hydrous sodium borate) occurs in nature in an impure form and is prepared also from calcium borates. Borates are found in Tuscany, Central Asia, California and Nevada, and in South America.
Borax and boracic acid are used in pottery manufacture, for the preservation of meat, in dyeing and in medicine.
Strontiumis found in Germany, Scotland, Texas and New York. Strontianite (strontium carbonate) and celestite (strontium sulphate) contain this element. Strontium salts are used in sugar refining and making red fire.
Sulphuror brimstone is found in a pure state in volcanic regions or associated with gypsum and limestone. Pyrite (sulphide of iron) is also a source of sulphur compounds.
Sicily, Italy, Japan, Louisiana and Utah have mines of native sulphur, which is used in manufacturing sulphuric acid, gunpowder, matches, as a disinfectant, for bleaching and vulcanizing rubber.
Blue vitriol, green vitriol and alum are sulphates. Sulphur is imported from Sicily and Italy.
Thorium.Seerare metals.
Tinis less abundant than most of the common metals. The Malay peninsula and nearby islands (Banca and Billiton) produce over half the tin ore of the world. The remainder is mined in Bolivia, Australia, Tasmania and Cornwall, England. Small deposits occur in the United States.
Tin melts at a low temperature and is easily refined.
Cassiterite(tin oxide) is the only important ore. This mineral is commonly found as pebbles (stream tin) in gravel.
Tinplateand alloys containing tin are of enormous importance in the arts. Of these,bronzeis chief.Gun metal,pewter,solder,type metalandbritannia metalare other alloys. Salts of tin are used in dyeing, glass making, etc.
Tinplate, used for tin cans, roofing and kitchen utensils, is made by dipping sheet iron or steel in a bath of melted tin, thus covering it with a thin layer of tin. Tinplate is manufactured in the United States and imported from England. Tin metal is imported from England and Straits Settlements.
Tungsten.Seerare metals.
Uranium.Seerare metals.
Vanadium.Seerare metals.
Zincis one of the most useful metals. Germany, United States and Belgium supply most of the zinc. In this country, Missouri and Kansas lead in zinc production.
Sphaleriteor blend (zinc sulphide) is the chief ore. Carbonates, silicates and oxides of zinc are found. Crude zinc (spelter) is distilled from roasted ore.
Brass,German silverand other alloys contain zinc.Galvanized ironconsists of a coating of zinc on sheet iron.Zinc oxide(zinc white) resembles white lead and is used in paints.
Used in electric batteries, making hydrogen, zinc etchings, etc. The greatest amount of zinc is used in alloys and zinc compounds. Zinc and zinc ores are both imported and exported by the United States, the imports exceeding the exports. Zinc oxide is exported in larger amount than any other form.
HOW AND WHERE WE GET THE SALT FOR OUR FOOD