Aluminium. 177 



extremely hard, they were employed in the manufacture of axes, 

 swords, and other weapons, after still ruder materials were dis- 

 carded: hence, warlike and domestic instruments of bronze, 

 are found among the oldest relics of distant ages. But iron 

 at length obtained its fitting place among the substances 

 useful to man ; and its abundance, its extreme softness when 

 softness is required, its extreme hardness when that quality 

 is desirable, its elasticity, its malleability, ductility, tenacity, 

 and other admirable qualities, have caused it to acquire and 

 maintain the very first rank among the useful metals. Gold and 

 silver, it is true, have been known from the earliest times ; but 

 their use, like their supply, has always been limited ; and much 

 of the value attached to them is due to their scarcity. Lead, 

 also, and zinc — at least as an ore, and as one of the ingredients 

 of brass — were familiar to the ancients. But we have now 

 enumerated all the metals with which they were acquainted ; 

 and, in truth, all that to any great extent have yet been utilized. 



We are, on this occasion, specially to treat of a metal 

 which has been a source of great expectations : and, for- 

 tunately, there is no reason to consider that these have been 

 disappointed; their complete realization is only deferred, 

 and most probably for but a short period : and one of our 

 objects in directing attention to it, is to excite a more general 

 inquiry regarding it. The establishment of aluminium among 

 the most important of the metals, is a mere question of the 

 cheapness of its production : and as, up to this time at least, 

 it is most conveniently obtained by means of sodium, investiga- 

 tions regarding it, resolve themselves into a determination of 

 the most economical method of obtaining that metal. On this 

 point, our knowledge has already progressed considerably, and 

 hence the price of aluminium has greatly fallen. Not long ago 

 it was £3 per ounce, it is now only about 5s. : and it will, no 

 doubt, be far less, if we are to judge by the extraordinary im- 

 provements always made, after a time, in chemical processes. 

 How much lower in price are the most useful substances at 

 present than they were a very few years ago, because the me- 

 thods of manufacturing them have been simplified. But, even 

 at its present cost which, by weight, is the same as that of 

 silver, aluminium is really only one -fourth as dear, bulk for 

 bulk : and this, after all, is the test, since bulk for bulk, it is 

 as strong, and even stronger than silver. When there is ques- 

 tion, however, of its application to domestic purposes, we must 

 compare its cost with that of pewter or copper : it would chiefly 

 supersede these, which, among other disadvantages, are pro- 

 ductive of very noxious compounds, particularly the copper. 



The qualities of the precious metals are quite distinct from 

 those of the more common : nor have the two classes hitherto 



