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A  Use  for  the  Rare  Metals. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     October,  1895. 
A  number  of  years  ago  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison  wanted  one  or  two 
rare  minerals  for  his  purposes.  At  first  they  could  not  be  supplied 
satisfactorily;  but,  as  the  demand  grew,  the  product  increased,  and 
now  the  tip  of  every  phonograph  receiver  has  a  sapphire  point,  and 
the  mineral  itself  is  supplied  at  fabulously  low  prices.  A  party  in 
France  wanted  zircon  for  their  establishment,  and  it  seemed  at  first 
that  they  never  could  obtain  enough  ;  but  a  gentleman  in  North 
Carolina  mined  and  shipped  them  600  pounds,  a  larger  quantity  than 
had  ever  before  been  found,  and  an  abundant  supply  for  their  pur- 
poses. But  the  uses  of  zircon  have  since  multiplied.  The  product 
has  multiplied  also,  and  now  it  is  not  an  unusual  thing  to  hear  of  a 
whole  carload  of  this  once  rare  mineral  being  shipped. 
Returning  to  monazite — which  is  a  mineral  containing  cerium, 
didymium,  erbium,  lanthanum,  thorium  and  yttrium.  Here  are 
rare  metals,  varying  in  price  from  $10  to  $360  a  pound.  If 
any  of  them  should  be  found  wholly  efficient  in  destroying  any 
species  of  bacteria,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  metal  would  be  forth- 
coming in  any  quantity  necessary  to  meet  the  demand  of  the  medi- 
cal world.  As  proof  of  this  I  am  now  mining  and  shipping  to 
Europe  many  thousands  of  pounds  of  the  mineral  from  which  these 
metals  are  derived,  and  have  no  fear  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  fill 
any  order  which  comes  along  not  exceeding  a  thousand  tons. 
Other  very  rare  metals  exist  in  monazite,  and  also  in  samarskite 
— in  the  latter  such  rare  species  as  columbium,  terbium,  decipium, 
tantalum,  argon  and  helium,  some  of  which  are  possibly  entirely 
unknown  practically  to  many  chemists,  as  well  as  those  engaged  in 
other  sciences. 
Euxenite,  another  very  rare  mineral,  also  contains  rare  metals, 
such  as  germanium  and  uranium,  as  well  as  argon  and  helium. 
Antidotes  of  the  poisons  of  these  various  bacilli  cannot  be  said  to 
have  no  existence  until  these  various  metals  have  been  tried.  Then 
arises  another  difficulty,  to  be  swept  away,  if  possible — the  use  of  a. 
metal  to  destroy  certain  micro-organisms,  and  the  metal  itself  to  be 
non-injurious  to  the  human  body.  That  this  will  lead  to  much 
experimenting,  there  is  no  doubt ;  but,  of  course,  none  of  the  first 
experiments  should  be  made  on  human  beings,  no  matter  how 
aggravated  the  case. 
Referring  again  to  euxenite,  samarskite,  and  the  element  helium,, 
derived  therefrom,  when  helium  has  been  utilized  to  produce  arti- 
