ON MAGNESIUM. 
15 
ammonium, also reducing the compound by electrolysis. He afterwards succeeded in 
pressing some grains of magnesium into wire. 
It was reserved, however, for Deville and Caron to make the first grand advance on 
the labours of Bussy. They, about 185G, effected the reduction of the chloride of mag¬ 
nesium by sodium iu clay crucibles, using the fluoride of calcium as a flux, and so ob¬ 
tained magnesium in larger quantities than any of their predecessors. But their chief 
discovery was the volatility of the metal; they distilled a few grammes at a time in a 
gas carbon retort tube enclosed in a porcelain tube.'* 
So far magnesium had been produced on a laboratory scale; none of the methods 
made any pretence to commercial application. In 1859, M. Bunsen, of Heidelberg, and 
Professor Roscoe, of Manchester, after a variety of experiments, published their opinion 
of the high value of magnesium as a source of light for photographic purposes, owing 
to the close affinity of it" chemical properties to those of sunlight, and offered at the 
same time some excellent suggestions as to the mode of its combustion—suggestions 
which have since been wrought into practice. 
The memoir of Bunsen and Roscoe was read by Mr. Edward Sonstadt,—a young 
Englishman with a name derived from Swedish ancestry,—and it set him thinking 
wdiether it would not be possible to make magnesium cheap enough for at least some 
practical purposes. The ore was abundant. Surely some means might be devised for 
releasing the silvery treasure from the elements which held it in obscurity and idleness ! 
The question started, was quickly attacked with vigour, pertinacity, and ingenuity. 
For many months, day after day, far into the night, and often until the dawning of the 
morning, did Sonstadt, without cessation, first in Nottingham and subsequently at 
Loughborough, strive, through multitudinous and costly experiments, to compass his 
end. In November, 1862, he had so far succeeded, that he felt warranted in taking out 
his first patent for “ Improvements in the Manufacture of the Metal Magnesium.” His 
success w r as at the same time attested by the circulation amongst his acquaintances of 
specimens of the new metal, from the size of a pin’s head to that of a hen’s egg. 
The metal in this state burnt freely enough, but it contained slight impurities, and 
demanded further treatment to render it ductile and malleable. Again Sonstadt set to 
work, and after another arduous series of experiments, devised a process of purification 
by distillation, which he secured by patent in May, 1863. One of the first lumps of the 
distilled metal was presented to Professor Faraday at the Royal Institution,—the spot 
wdiere magnesium was first introduced to human knowledge. “ This is indeed a 
triumph !” exclaimed the great philosopher, as he poised the shining mass in his hand. 
Not j^et, however, had the time arrived for working magnesium on a commercial 
scale. Many details had to be brought still nearer practical perfection, and the summer 
and autumn of 1863 were consumed in experiments. At last, with the close of the year, 
Mr. Sonstadt considered it safe to commence manufacturing. The Magnesium Metal 
Company was organized, and operations commenced in Manchester. 
The aim with which Mr. Sonstadt set out was, a ready method for the extraction of 
magnesium from its ore, and his merit is to be measured by its achievement. The me¬ 
thods of his predecessors were only practicable in the laboratory—indeed, they made no 
pretence to practise elsewhere ; they required complicated apparatus and delicate mani¬ 
pulation, and, with all care, frequently resulted in failure. His method, on the con¬ 
trary, is so simple, that it can be accomplished by the hands of ordinary workmen, and 
on a scale only limited by the convenient size of vessels and furnaces. At Lough¬ 
borough, at Midsummer, 1863, we saw some pounds of magnesium made by a labourer 
and his boy with perfect ease. 
The manufacture of magnesium, as conducted in Manchester, may be conveniently 
described under three heads:—I. The preparation of anhydrous chloride of magnesium. 
II. The release of the magnesium from the chlorine. III. The purification of the mag¬ 
nesium by distillation. 
I. Lumps of rock-magnesia (carbonate of magnesia) are placed in large jars and 
saturated with hydrochloric acid. Chemical action at once ensues; the union of carbon 
and oxygen with magnesium in the rock is dissolved; the magnesium combines with 
* MM. Deville and Caron’s labours arc described with that exquisite clearness which is 
peculiarly French, in the ‘ Comptcs Rendus ’ of the 27 th February, 1857, page 391, and with 
enlarged experience in the ‘ Annales de Cliiraie et de Physique/ 1863, Y.ol. lxvii. page 317. 
