A General View of the Sciences and Arts; Equally Adapted to Domestic and to School Education - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1822. Excerpt: ... What is brass? What is pewter? What is minium, or red lead? What is ceruse, or white lead? What is verdigris? What is bronze? What is bell metal? To what useful purposes are the respective metals applied? CHAP. XI. ME TA LS--continued. SEMI-METALS. The imperfect or serai-metals are, Mercury, Zinc, Nickel, Antimony, Arsenic, Bismuth, Cobalt, Manganese, Palladium, Rhodium, Iridium, Osmium, Tellurium, Chromium, Molybdenum, Uranium, Tangsten, Titanium, Columbium, Cerium; to which may be added Potassium and Sodium, found by Sir H. Davy to be the basis of Potass and Soda. It appears that mercury was known in very early ages. From its resemblance to silver, and from its being in the fluid state, it received the name of quicksilver. Native, or virgin mercury is found in the cavities or clefts of rocks, and in strata of clay, or of chalk, in the form of liquid globules. It is more frequently met with, alloyed with other metals, or, as it is then called, amalgated; most often with silver. The red sulphuret, known by the name of cinnabar, is common y its accompanying ore. Sometimes it efflore Ices on the surface of the ore, and it is then csalled flowers of cinnabar, or native vermilion. The colour of mercury approaches to white It is one of the most brilliant and heavy of the metals; and, when not tarnished, it makes a good mirror. It has no perceptible taste or smell. At the ordinary temperament of the atmosphere, mercury is always fluid, but when exposed to a certain degree of cold it becomes solid. When exposed to a certain degree of heat, mercury boils, and is converted into an invisible and elastic vapour. Mercury is a very useful metal. In the metallic fluid state, it is applied to the construction of meteorological instruments; such as the thermometer and ba...