58 THE NEW METHOD 



it from the ore. Oxygen is an invisible gas, that 

 constitutes the greater part of the air, and makes all 

 animals live. It is in water and a great many 

 things. Titanium ore is very hard and heavy, and 

 is used for painting on porcelain, and for giving the 

 proper tint to artificial teeth. It was discovered one 

 hundred years ago that there was a metal in it, and 

 chemists worked on it for fifty years before they 

 named it. When first broken, it shows crystals that 

 are sometimes of eight, twelve, or sixteen sides, and 

 sometimes of no definite shape. In places where it 

 is broken, it is of a reddish-silver color, and some- 

 times of a dark silver color. But the lighter color is 

 the purest, the other having a very small quantity of 

 iron that colors it. There are some bright red 

 spots on the broken places. Titanium is worth two 

 hundred and forty dollars a pound, and burns with a 

 more beautiful flame than any other metal. Titanium 

 ore is found on the Ozark Mountains, in Arkansas, 

 the Alleghany Mountains in the eastern part of the 

 United States, the Himalaya Mountains in Asia, the 

 Rocky Mountains in North America, the Andes in 

 South America. It is also found in England and 

 Spain. 



' ' This ore is never found in large quantity — seldom 

 if ever, more than a few ounces at any place." 



