ALUMINIUM. 
G53 
and on the proposition of Baron Thenard, it was voted unani- 
mously, that a sufficient sum should be placed at the disposal 
of M. Sainte-Claire Deville, to enable him to make experiments 
on a large scale.” 
It would appear that the method resorted to by M. Deville 
differs not in principle from that devised by Wohler, sodium 
only being substituted by him for potassium ; but for the 
obtainment of this metal (sodium), it seems, he has discovered 
some more facile and cheaper method, although Dr. Gregory- 
speaking of it says, u From the extreme cheapness of carbo- 
nate of soda, and the productiveness of the operation, sodium 
can be prepared far cheaper than potassium, and may, in 
most cases, be substituted for that metal, as its affinities are 
almost equally powerful. Should this metal ever be required 
on the large scale, it might be obtained for a price little, if 
at all, higher than that of zinc.” 
We are informed that the Emperor of the French has given 
100,000 francs for the purpose of founding a new laboratory, 
to be placed under the direction of M. Sainte-Claire Deville, 
for the purpose of making researches and analyses in mineral 
chemistry ; and more especially with a view to “the facile procu- 
ration of the metal aluminium,” of which it is intended to form 
cuirasses and other military armour. In the present Exhi- 
bition at Paris, are spoons, forks, tankards, and other vessels 
of domestic use made of it ; likewise a watch, w hich is said to 
keep time “ very satisfactorily.” A bar of this interesting metal, 
several ounces in weight, is now 7 being exhibited at the Poly- 
technic Institution, London. 
MINERAL WEALTH OE GREAT BRITAIN. 
Our mineral wealth, for so small an island as Great Britain, 
is immense. Professor Hunt estimates the raw material in 
1854 as being w r orth above twenty-four millions of pounds 
sterling ; and were this worked, of course its value would be 
swelled a hundred fold. 
Coal, at the pit’s mouth 
Iron 
Copper . 
Lead 
Tin 
Silver 
Zinc 
Salt, Clays, &c. 
£21,620,000 
84 
10,000,000 
1,500,000 
1,000,000 
400.000 
210.000 
10,000 
500,000 
XXVIII. 
