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rapidly. Zine used to be considered a difficult metal to deposit success- 
fully. It is now produced in some of the Australian mines in almost a 
pure state from refractory ores at the rate of thousands of tons per an- 
num. Similarly the old method of galvanizing is rapidly disappearing 
_and electro-deposition is taking its place, and this metal is now so de- 
posited on the hulls of ships, on anchors and other smaller articles cheaply 
and perfectly. A new industry has practically sprung up, and there is 
every indication that the technical chemist of the near future will have to 
take an inferior place unless he be also well versed. in electricity and elec- 
trical appliances. This branch of applied science is revolutionizing many 
things. It has within a few years produced an enormous improvement in 
our magazine illustrations and has at the same time reduced the cost of 
this kind of literature and of atlases and charts enormously. Electro- 
chemistry is now used on a large scale for the production of bleaching 
materials, chlorate of potash, alkalies, coloring matters, antiseptics like 
iodoform, anaesthetics like chloroform, etec.—in fact, it is getting to be 
difficult even to enumerate the manufactures in which it is used. It has 
revolutionized the extraction of gold, and plants of enormous capacity are 
now in use in some of the gold fields, the poorest ores and tailings being 
made to yield up almost the last trace of the precious metal. The production 
of ozone by the ton, the purification of sewage, the sterilization of water 
are all accomplished facts. Some progress has even been made in the 
introduction of chemicals through animal tissue by electrolysis or cata- 
phoresis, and Réntgen has shown us how to see through the body. 
Then, again, we have got the electric furnace, and with it the power 
to fuse almost the most refractory substances. In this way alumi- 
num is now produced at a few cents a pound, whereas most of us can 
remember when its price had to be reckoned in hundreds of dollars. In 
a similar way phosphorus is now produced on a large scale, as is also 
various carbides, carborundum, acetylene, etc. 
It is impossible to look back over the history of electricity and its 
applications and notice the apparent geometric ratio in which advances 
are being made and not to speculate on what a giant this science is 
going to become in another quarter of a century. Undoubtedly no one 
can study this one branch of science without being persuaded of the great 
value of scientific work for the advancement of human enterprise. 
