488 
Romance  of  Chemical,  Elements.    {Am-  -Tour-  Pharm. 
July,  1 918. 
Table  VI. 
The  Family  Tree  of  the  Platinum  Metals. 
Year. 
1741 
1750 
1803 
1804 
1345 
Native  Platina 
Plaf'num 
I 
Osmium  Iridium 
(trace)  (1-55%) 
Rhodium  Palladium 
(.2-4%)  (.1-21%) 
Ruthenium 
(.2-4%) 
Di 
scoverer. 
Wood 
Watscn 
Smithson  Ten- 
nant 
Wollaston 
Claus 
Number  44 
Symbol  Ru 
At.  W.  101.7 
45 
Rh 
102.9 
46 
Pd 
106.7 
76 
Cs 
190.9 
77 
Ir 
I93-I 
7° 
Pt 
195-2 
Sulphur. 
The  next  non-metallic  element  which  primitive  man  knew  was 
sulphur,  which  occurs  as  a  mineral.  Its  present  name  was  given  to 
it,  however,  much  later,  and  indicates  its  combustible  nature.  It  is 
a  contraction  of  the  Latin  sal — salt  and  Greek  irvp,  pyr  =  fire.  Brim- 
stone means  "burnstone."  In  chemical  terminology  the  prefix 
"thio-"  is  derived  from  the  Greek  Oetov,  Thion  =  sulphur. 
Gold. 
Among  the  metals  gold  has  been  known  in  very  remote  times. 
At  the  dawn  of  history  it  was  the  precious  metal  for  the  possession 
of  which  wars  were  fought  and  great  hardships  endured.  We  find 
it  in  the  oldest  Egyptian  hieroglyphic  inscriptions  and  in  every  an- 
cient civilization  it  was  known  ;  e.  g.,  the  Egyptians  distinguished  two^ 
kinds  of  gold  :  nub-en-mu  =  river-gold,  and  nub-en-set  =  mountain- 
gold.  The  first  kind  was  washed  from  river  sand  with  cloth  bags,, 
which,  when  inverted,  formed  the  picture  for  the  hieroglyph  for 
gold.  The  first  figure  gives  the  older  form  of  the  hieroglyph,  the 
second  the  later  form. 
To  the  philologist  the  name  "gold"  offers  an  interesting  study 
