Mitieral Synthesis. 157 



MINERAL SYNTHEvSIvS/f^ 

 By G. Perky Gkimsley, M. A., Baltimore, Md. 



I. HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT. 



The artificial reproduction of minerals dates far back among 

 the ancients, though their work is better termed an imitation 

 of minerals, for they considered reproduction as we under- 

 stood the word, to be impossible. Some of these ancient 

 people became expert in the imitation of gems bj' colored 

 glass; they even took certain white stones, as quartz, topaz, 

 and colored them red to imitate rubies, their incentive being 

 pecuniary rather than scientific. 



Little or no progress was made in the work until the eigh- 

 teenth century, when the philosophers began to peer into the 

 book of nature, to see what was written therein, instead of 

 trying to write the book themselves. Fanciful theorizing 

 gave way to observation. 



Leibnitz noted the efi"ects of sublimation in the furnaces of 

 Lange.sheim, near Goslar, where a number of minerals like 

 lead and copper were melted ; from this was formed zinc 

 and calamine, while the copper changed color and became 

 chrysocolla. He then ventured a suggestion, that if the ele- 

 ments of cinnabar were treated in a similar manner, this 

 mineral would be formed. Then followed Bacon, who fur- 

 nished many arguments to prove that minerals could be pro- 

 duced artificially. Henckel, in 1725, expressed an ardent 

 desire to realize mineral synthesis, as did Blegny, Boyle and 

 others. 



Thus, the dark curtains of superstition and ignorance were 

 pulled aside, revealing a new field for work and conquest. 

 The first attempts were crude and unsuccessful. Bromel, in 

 1727, tried to reproduce petrefactions of wood and bone and 

 incrustations as of lime, but without success. 



*Based on the works of >reunier, l''oque and M. Levy. 



