THE RAKER METALS AND THEIR ALLOYS. 



By Prof. W. Chandler Roberts- Austen, 0. B., F. R. S. ; M. R. I. 



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. Romanes. 



Appreciation .... by aesthetic and intellectual faculties which are not senses, and 

 which are not unfrequently sadly wanting where the senses are in full vigor. — T. H. 

 Huxley. 



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

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

 first scientific experiment by watching the melting of lead, little think- 

 ing 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 "Flatiron 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 evolu- 

 tion 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 doubt- 

 loss 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 



'Read at weekly evening meeting of Royal Institution of Great Britain, March 15, 

 1895. Printed in Proceedings of the Institution, Vol XIV, pp. 497-520. 



SM 96 32 m 



