THE TECHNOLOGIST. [June 1, 1865. 



493 ON MAGNESIUM. 



ments, it is also said, are engaged in experiments with a view to its 

 adaptation to light-houses and coast and sea signals." 



An American Magnesium Company has been formed to work 

 Sonstadt's Patents in Boston ; and it will be singular if that enterprise, 

 ingenuity, and fertility of resource, which have placed the name of New 

 England in the highest rank in the erts alike of peace and war, do not 

 quickly surprise us with some bold applications of the metal. 



It is hardly necessary to describe magnesium. In wire or ribbon it 

 has become a common object in shop windows. It is white — brilliant as 

 silver when pure and clean. In dry air it preserves its lustre, but in 

 moisture it oxidizes and gets dull as zinc. Its specific gravity is P75, or 

 about one-fifth that of copper, which is 8"96. Aluminium is a very light 

 metal, but its specific gravity is 256 — much denser than magnesium. 

 Silver 10 # 50 ; an ounce of magnesium is therefore six times the bulk of 

 an ounce of silver. 



We have confined ourselves to the uses of magnesium as a light-giver 

 Tb: t use has been so obvious, and pregnant with so many advantages, 

 that it has absorbed all attention ; but it is scarcely probable that 

 magnesium will continue to be made for burning only. It has surely 

 other merits ; but much, very much, remains to be learnt about it. 

 What is its value as a conductor of electricity ! Under what conditions 

 is it ductile ? — under what fragile ? What is the degree of its tenacity — 

 its strength under tension I What is its specific heat ? What are the 

 characters of its alloys ? These, and scores of other questions have yet to 

 be answered with scientific precision. 



People are constantly drawing conclusions from the present price of 

 magnesium. Reasoners were last summer deciding that this and that 

 could never be done because it was selling in wire at 3d. per foot, Now 

 that it is selling at Id. where are their conclusions ? Arguments from 

 such premises are idle. No one can tell at what price magnesium may 

 be produced. Many improvements in the processes of production have 

 been effected since the Magnesium Company commenced working, and 

 their experience will beget others ; their art is young — not yet two years 

 ol 1. Price, moreover, is largely dependent on the scale of production. 

 If iron was worked on the present scale of magnesium, at what price 

 would iron wire be retailed per foot 1 Whenever magnesiumis demanded 

 in large quantities its price will fall. The Magnesium Company look 

 wistfully for great consumers, for various economies at their command 

 are only practicable on extensive plans. They could, and they desire 

 earnestly, to produce cheaply ; they only await opportunity. Dr. Percy 

 informs us, that no one need think of smelting copper with less capital 

 than 50,000Z. ; the requisite economies are impossible on smaller means. 

 Should magnesium ever be used as freely as copper, who can predict 

 what may be its price ? 



