1895.] The Barer Metals and their Alloys. 497 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, March 15, 1895. 



Sir Frederick Abel, Bart. K.C.B. D.C.L. LL.D. F.B.S. Vice- 

 President, in the Chair. 



Professor W. Chandler Boberts-Austen, C.B. F.B.S. M.R.I. 



The Barer Metals and their Alloys. 



" For reason is not the only attribute of man, nor is it the only faculty which 

 he habitually employs for the ascertainment of truth." — G. J. Eomanes. 



" Appreciation .... by aesthetic and intellectual faculties which are not 

 senses, and which are not unfrequently sadly wanting where the senses are in 

 full vigour." — T. H. Huxley. 



The study of metals possesses an irresistible charm for us, quite 

 apart from its vast national importance. How many of us made our 

 first scientific experiment by watching the melting of lead, little 

 thinking that we should hardly have done a bad life's work if the 

 experiment had been our last, provided we had only understood its 

 full significance. How few of us forget that we wistfully observed at 

 an early age the melting in an ordinary fire of some metallic toy of 

 our childhood ; and such an experiment has, like the " Flat iron for a 

 farthing," in Mrs. Ewing's charming story, taken a prominent place in 

 literature which claims to be written for the young. Hans Andersen's 

 fairy tale, for instance, the " History of a Tin Soldier," has been read 

 by children of all ages and of most nations. The romantic incidents 

 of the soldier's eventful career need not be dwelt upon ; but I may 

 remind you that at its end he perished in the flames of an ordinary 

 fire, and all that could subsequently be found of him was a small heart- 

 shaped mass. There is no reason to doubt the perfect accuracy of 

 the story recorded by Andersen, who at least knew the facts, though 

 his statement is made in popular language. No analysis is given of 

 the tin soldier ; in a fairy tale it would have been out of place, but 

 the latest stage of his evolution is described, and the record is sufficient 

 to enable us to form the opinion that he was composed of both tin and 

 lead, certain alloys of which metals will burn to ashes like tinder. 

 His uniform was doubtless richly ornamented with gold lace. Some 

 small amount of one of the rarer metals had probably — for on this 

 point the history is silent — found its way into his constitution, and 

 by uniting with the gold, formed the heart-shaped mass which the 

 fire would not melt, as its temperature could not have exceeded 

 1000° C. ; for we are told that the golden rose, worn by the artiste 

 who shared the soldier's fate, was also found unmelted. The main 



