572  Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.    {Am^uJ°stn  I^hI|rm' 
used  for  this  element,  because  some  of  its  compounds  have  a  sweet 
taste  (Greek  glykos  =  sweet). 
Columbium  and  Tantalum. 
Governor  Winthrop  of  Connecticut  found  near  his  house  a  new 
mineral  which  he  called  columbite,  in  honor  of  America.  In  1801 
C.  Hatchett  recognized  in  this  mineral  a  new  substance,  which  he 
termed  columbium,  and  which  proved  later  to  be  a  mixture  of  co- 
lumbium and  tantalum  oxides.  In  1802  A.  G.  Ekeberg  isolated 
from  the  mineral  yttrotantalit  from  Sweden  also  a  new  substance, 
which  proved  later  to  be  tantalic  acid.  But  the  character  of  these 
new  substances  was  not  recognized  until  in  1844  Rose  isolated  from 
a  columbite  of  Bavaria  two  new  elements,  which  he  termed  "nio- 
bium "  and  "  pelopium,"  from  the  Greek  Niobe,  the  daughter,  and 
Pelops,  the  son  of  Tantalus,  as  it  was  supposed  that  these  elements 
were  always  associated  with  tantalum.  R.  Hermann  also  isolated 
two  elements,  which  he  called  "  ilmenium  "  and  "  neptunium,"  from 
the  mineral  ilmenite  and  the  newly  discovered  planet  Neptune. 
But  his  elements  proved  later  to  be  a  mixture  of  columbium  and 
tantalum.  The  separation  of  these  elements  was  very  difficult,  and 
to-day  we  recognize  columbium  (or  niobium)  and  tantalum  (or 
pelopium).  The  name  tantalum  was  given  to  it  in  allusion  to  the 
Tantalus  in  the  Greek  legend,  the  son  of  Zeus,  king  of  Lydia,  who 
was  punished  by  standing  in  water,  with  beautiful  fruit  trees  above 
him.  His  thirst  he  could  not  still,  for  the  water  retreated  before 
his  mouth,  and  the  fruits  were  always  just  out  of  reach.  Accord- 
ing to  the  early  ideas  about  tantalum,  it  was  unable  to  "  satisfy  "  its 
thirst  for  acids,  for  it  could  not  be  neutralized  with  acids,  even  by 
an  excess  of  it.  But  its  isolation  and  separation  was  also  tantaliz- 
ing, and  its  evasive  nature  justifies  the  name  from  more  than  one 
standpoint. 
Platinum  Metals. 
The  platinum  ore,  respectively  native  platinum,  was  examined 
by  Smithson  Tennant  and  independently  by  Wollaston  in  1804, 
and  each  of  them  discovered  two  new  metals :  osmium  and  iridium 
by  the  former  and  palladium  and  rhodium  by  the  latter.  The 
names  are  derived  from  the  Greek  terms  of  some  of  their  prop- 
erties, while  palladium  is  named  in  honor  of  the  newly  discovered 
asteroid  Pallas  (see  Table  VI). 
