Part 17

The greatest number of the stones which have fallen from the air have been preceded by the appearance of luminous bodies or meteors. These meteors have burst with an explosion, and then the shower of stones has fallen to the earth. Sometimes the stones have continued luminous until they sunk into the earth, but most commonly their luminousness disappeared at the time of the explosion. Their motion through the air is surprisingly rapid, in a direction nearly horizontal; but they seem to approach the earth before they explode. In their flight they have frequently been heard to yield a loud whizzing sound. They are hot when they first reach the earth; and exhibit, on their surface, visible marks of fusion.

A general tradition has prevailed in almost all ages, and amongst all people, of the fall of solid bodies from the atmosphere, under various denominations, but, with us, more particularly, under that of _thunderbolts_. In barbarous and uncivilized countries, these have usually been ascribed to the miraculous judgment of the deity; and they may be considered as the true origin of the worship of stones. The image of Diana, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, as believed by the Ephesians to have fallen down from Jupiter, and the Palladium or sacred statue of Minerva, which also is said to have fallen from Heaven, and to have been preserved in Troy, as a treasure, on the safety of which that of the city depended, had each, no doubt, this origin. The Psalmist evidently alludes to the falling of meteoric stones, when, speaking of the Almighty, he says, “He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him with dark water, and thick clouds to cover him. At the brightness of his presence his clouds removed; hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord also thundered out of Heaven, and the Highest gave his thunder; hailstones and coals of fire.”

Among numerous other instances of these stones, it is recorded that, on the seventh of November, 1492, betwixt eleven and twelve o’clock at noon, a dreadful clap of thunder was heard at Ensisheim, a considerable town in Alsace, and that a huge stone was seen to fall on a field lately sown with wheat. On several of the neighbours going to the place, the hole it had formed was found to be about three feet in depth, and the stone when dug out, weighed two hundred and sixty pounds. It was preserved in the cathedral of Ensisheim until the beginning of the French Revolution, when it was conveyed to the public library at Colmar. There are in the British Museum two small pieces of this stone, and fragments of several other meteoric stones which have fallen in different parts of the world.

Two stones fell near Verona in Italy, in the year 1672, one of which weighed three hundred, and the other two hundred pounds.

Mr. Sowerby, the publisher of English Botany, and of several other highly estimable works, possessed a meteoric stone which fell near Wold Newton in Yorkshire, in the afternoon of the thirteenth of December, 1795, and weighed fifty─six pounds. Whilst this stone was in motion through the air, several persons perceived a body passing along the clouds, although they were unable to ascertain what it was. It passed over several different villages, and was also accurately and distinctly heard. The day was foggy; and, though there was some thunder and lightning at a distance, it was not until the stone fell that an explosion took place which alarmed all the adjacent country; and created, distinctly, a sensation that something very extraordinary had happened. A shepherd belonging to Captain Topham was within a hundred and fifty yards of the place where it fell; George Sawden, a carpenter, within sixty yards; and John Shepley, one of Captain Topham’s farming servants, was so near that he was forcibly struck by some of the mud and earth that were raised by the stone dashing into the ground. In its fall the stone excavated a place nineteen inches in depth (seven inches of which were in a solid rock of chalk), and somewhat more than three feet in diameter, fixing itself so firmly that some labour was required to dig it out.

Another stone of considerable size fell in Scotland on the fifth of April, 1704. A misty commotion was observed in the atmosphere, and, nearly at the time of the stone falling, a report was heard as loud as if three or four cannon had been fired at a little distance. The report was succeeded by a violent rushing or whizzing noise; and, almost immediately afterwards, the stone fell into a drain, in the presence of two men and two boys, splashing the water to a distance of twenty feet around. The stone, when dug out, was found to have sunk about eighteen inches into the earth.

On the fifth of November, 1814, about half past four o’clock in the afternoon, a dreadful peal of thunder was heard in the Doab in Persia, and was immediately succeeded by a shower of large stones, many of them from twenty─six to thirty pounds weight each. Several inhabitants of the adjacent country were present at the time; and not fewer than nineteen of the stones were collected.

Professor Pallas, many years ago, discovered lying on the surface of a hill in Siberia, a mass of native iron, which weighed 1680 pounds. It was considered by the natives as a holy relic, and was believed by them to have fallen from heaven. M. de Bougainville, the French circumnavigator, discovered, on the banks of the river La Plata, in South America, an enormous mass of native iron, which he calculated to have weighed about 100,000 pounds. And a mass of native iron, appearing in every respect to have been of meteoric origin, was, some years ago, discovered in the district of St. Jago del Estro, in South America. It was in the middle of a great plain, and had no rock nor mountain near it, and was calculated to have weighed about thirty tons.

The origin of meteoric stones is involved in great obscurity. Some writers have imagined that they might be projected from distant volcanoes; others, that they may have been detached from rocks, and had their substance considerably changed by a concurrence of natural causes; others, that they may have been generated in the air by a combination of mineral substances; and others, that they may have been projected from the moon. The latter was the opinion of La Place the astronomer, who says that a mass, if thrown by a volcano from the moon, with a velocity of about a mile and half per second, it will thence be projected beyond the sphere of the moon’s attraction, and into the confines of that of the earth; the consequence of which will be, that the mass must presently fall to the earth, and become a part of it.

235. _LOADSTONE, or MAGNETIC IRONSTONE, is a compact blackish kind of iron ore, which is possessed of the power of attracting iron, as well as every substance which contains ferruginous particles. It is betwixt four and five times as heavy as water._

This mineral is found in masses of different form and size in most of the iron mines of Europe and America, and, when submitted to the furnace, it yields a considerable proportion of metal. It makes excellent bar iron, but very indifferent cast iron. In Sweden, and particularly at Roslager, magnetic iron stone is found quite pure, and the iron that is wrought from it is imported in considerable quantities into Great Britain, for the purpose of being manufactured into steel.

The appellation of load, or leading stone, has been given to this kind of iron from its magnetic virtues; for it is not only endowed with the property of attracting iron, but also of pointing itself, and even enabling a needle touched with it to point, towards the poles of the world. We are, however, entirely ignorant what is the cause of this very extraordinary property.

Artificial magnets, constructed of steel, not only possess all the essential virtues of the genuine loadstone, but even in a much higher degree. The natural magnet is consequently now little esteemed except as an object of curiosity.

236. _PYRITES, or MARCASITE, is a mineral substance, formed by a combination of iron with sulphur._

_It is usually of a bronze, yellow, or brownish colour, very various in form, being massive, globular, club─shaped, oval, or crystallized; and so hard as to strike fire with flint._

Few minerals are more common than this, as it occurs, in some state or other, in almost every rock and vein. It is often found among coals; and, when heated, decrepitates with a loud unpleasant noise and sulphureous smell. To the decomposition of this mineral it is that the hot temperature of almost all the mineral waters may be ascribed.

The name of pyrites, which in the Greek language signifies _firestone_, has been obtained by this mineral from its property of striking sparks from steel. It was formerly used for fire─arms, as we now use flints. In commerce it is known by the name of marcasite. Some years ago it was much used, particularly in France, for the making of buttons and buckles; and was cut and polished, by lapidaries, for trinkets, particularly for the rims and hands of watches, and various kinds of female ornaments. If skilfully cut in the form of small rose diamonds, although an opaque substance, it has somewhat the appearance of a diamond. In the tombs of the Peruvian princes, with whom a considerable portion of their valuables was always interred, there have been found polished plates of marcasite, which appear to have served them as mirrors.

This mineral is never worked as an ore of iron; and it is principally valued on account of the sulphur which can be obtained from it by means of heat; and the green vitriol, or copperas (208), which it affords by exposure to the air.

Ignorant persons frequently mistake iron pyrites for gold; but it is easily distinguished from that precious metal by its brittleness. It breaks when hammered, whereas gold is malleable, or may be extended by hammering: it also strikes fire with steel, which gold will not.

237. _RED OCHRE, REDDLE, or RED CHALK, is an iron ore of blood─red colour, which is sometimes found in powder, and sometimes in a hardened state. It has an earthy texture, and stains the fingers when handled._

The principal use of red chalk is for drawing: the coarser kinds are employed by carpenters and other mechanics, and the finer kinds by painters. For the latter purpose it should be free from grit, and not too hard. In order to free it from imperfections, and render it better for use, it is sometimes pounded, washed, mixed with gum, and cast into moulds of convenient shape and size.

Under the name of reddle, this substance is much used for the marking of sheep; and (when mixed with oil) for the painting of pales, gates, and the wood─work of out─buildings.

Another kind of iron ore, or rather a compound of the ores of iron and manganese, is called _umber_. This mineral, which is of a brown colour, is found in beds in the island of Cyprus, and is used as a kind of paint both in a raw state and burnt.

238. _TIN is a white metal, somewhat like silver in appearance, but is considerably lighter, and makes a squeaking or crackling noise when bent. It is very soft and ductile, and has but little elasticity._

_This metal is always found either in a state of oxide (21), or in combination with sulphur and copper; and is about seven times as heavy as water._

The principal tin mines which are known to us are those of Cornwall, Devonshire, Germany; the island of Banca, and peninsula of Malacca, in India; and Chili and Mexico in America. Of these the most celebrated are the mines of Cornwall, which are known to have been worked before the commencement of the Christian era. Diodorus Siculus, who wrote forty years before the birth of Christ, gives an account of these mines, and says that their produce was conveyed to Gaul, and thence to different parts of Italy. This species of metal was used in the time of Moses, and is mentioned in the writings of Homer.

Tin is found in veins, or beds, but chiefly in veins, running through granite and other rocks. In some of the valleys and low grounds of Cornwall, the tin ore is found in rounded grains and masses. In these situations, small grains of gold are sometimes found with it. To separate the tin from earthy and other matters with which it is intermixed, streams of water are passed over them; and these deposits have the name of _stream─works_.

When the tin ore has been dug from the earth, or has been collected at these stream─works, it is thrown into heaps, and broken to pieces. After this it is washed, and subsequently roasted in an intense heat, for the purpose of dissipating some of the substances with which it is combined. It is lastly melted in a furnace, and thereby reduced to a metallic state. The metal is then poured into quadrangular moulds of stone, each containing about 320 pounds weight. These have the denomination of _block─tin_, and are stamped by officers of the Duke of Cornwall, with the impression of a lion, the arms of that duchy. This is rendered a necessary operation before the tin can be offered for sale; and on stamping, it pays a duty of four shillings per hundred weight to the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall, who thence derives a very considerable income.

The article usually called _tin_, or _tin─plate_, and, in Scotland, _white iron_, of which saucepans, boilers, drinking vessels, and other utensils of domestic economy are made, consists only of thin iron plate coated with tin. It is thus formed. The iron plates are immersed in water rendered slightly acid by spirit of salt (muriatic acid, 202) or spirit of vitriol (sulphuric acid, 211): after which, to clean them completely, they are scoured quite bright. These plates are then each dipped into a vessel filled with melted tin, the surface of which is covered with suet, pitch, or resin, to prevent the formation of dross upon it. The tin not only covers the surface of the iron, but completely penetrates it, giving to its whole substance a white colour.

In a manner similar to this, stirrups, buckles, bridle─bits, and other articles, are tinned.

Iron is usually tinned before, but copper always after it has been formed into utensils. The object to be attained by the tinning of copper is to prevent the vessels made of that metal from being corroded, and to preserve the food prepared in them from being mixed with any particles of that poisonous substance called verdigris, which is formed by such corrosion. In the tinning of copper vessels, their interior surface is first scraped very clean with an iron instrument, and then rubbed over with sal─ammoniac (207), for the purpose of more completely cleansing them, and also of preventing the formation of verdigris from the copper during the operation. The vessel is then heated, and a little pitch is thrown into it. While quite hot, a piece of tin is applied to the copper, and this, instantly uniting with it, soon clothes the whole surface with tin.

This metal, when amalgamated with mercury, is used for the silvering of looking─glasses (228). When tin is melted in an open vessel, its surface is soon found to be covered with a grey powder, which is an oxide (21) of the metal, and is generally called _dross_. If the heat be continued, the colour of this powder becomes yellow. In this state it is known by the name of _tin─putty_, and is employed in polishing glass, steel, and other hard substances. When the heat is very violent, the metal takes fire, and is converted into a fine white oxide, which is used to render glass opaque, for the forming of enamel. Oxide of tin is also an important article to dyers. It is employed by them, in large quantities, to give brightness to such colours as are used in forming scarlets and other reds: and to precipitate the colouring matter of other dyes.

Tin is an essential ingredient in _bell─metal_, _bronze_, _pewter_, and various other compounds. It may be combined with lead, in any proportion, by fusion; and this alloy is harder, and possesses much more tenacity than tin. The hardest alloy is a composition of three parts of tin and one of lead. The presence of the tin destroys, in a great measure, the noxious qualities of the lead. It is sometimes customary to tin copper vessels with this mixture, and it has been ascertained that such vessels are in no respects injurious.

There are three kinds of _pewter_ in common use. These are called _plate_, _trifle_, and _ley pewter_. The first, which is made into plates and dishes, is formed of tin, with a small proportion of lead and antimony (245). The second, or _trifle pewter_, which is made in somewhat different proportions, is used for the quart and pint pots of the publicans: and the _ley pewter_, which is formed of three parts of tin and one of lead, is manufactured into wine and spirit measures.

Tin may be beaten into leaves or plates that are much thinner than paper. But, when it is thus worked, several leaves must be joined together. They then support each other, and yield to the hammer without tearing. These leaves are used for the silvering of glass globes, and the plating of other metals. Those that are used for the silvering of looking─glasses are much thicker. The article called _tin─foil_ is an alloy, consisting generally of two parts of tin and one of lead; and capable of being beaten to less than the thousandth part of an inch in thickness.

239. _LEAD is a heavy metal, of pale and livid grey colour when broken, not sonorous when pure, very flexible, and so soft that it may be marked with the nail. It stains paper or the fingers of a bluish colour, and is about eleven times heavier than water._

T_he most common state in which lead is found is in combination with sulphur and a small portion of silver. This ore is known by the name of_ galena, _and is frequently in the form of blackish cubical crystals. Lead is also found in union with arsenic (242) and many acids._

Great Britain possesses the most important lead─mines in the world; and those that are best known are in the counties of Flint and Derby. The latter are supposed to have been worked even in the time of the Romans.

Lead mines are entered sometimes by perpendicular shafts, and sometimes (when in the sides of hills) by levels. In some of the Derbyshire mines, where the depth of the veins will admit of it, the men work, at different heights, of from four to six feet above each other, along what are called stoops; the uppermost men being two or three yards before those next in succession, and thus forming a kind of steps. The implements used are picks, hammers, and strong iron wedges; and the rocks are also frequently loosened by means of gunpowder.

When the ore is brought out of the mine, it is sorted and washed, to free it from dirt and rubbish. After this it is spread on a board; the best pieces are picked out and separated; and those containing ore mixed with spar (194) or other substances, are placed separate, to be broken, and again picked. After the ore, by pickings and washing, has been sufficiently cleansed from extraneous matters, it is roasted in a kind of kiln to free it from the sulphur that is combined with it. The next process is to mix it with a certain quantity of coke, charcoal, or peat, and submit it to the smelting furnace. In this furnace there are tap─holes, which, when the lead is melted, are opened, and the metal, in a fluid state, runs into a large iron pan. The dross which floats on its surface is now skimmed off; and the metal is taken out by ladles, and poured into cast iron moulds, with round ends. The lead thus formed, is ready for use, and has the name of _pig lead_. According to their size, the pieces that are thus cast have the appellation of _pigs_, and _half─pigs_.

Lead is mentioned in the Sacred Writings; and is described by Homer as in common use at the period of the Trojan war. The ancients seem to have considered it as nearly allied to tin. The Romans employed it to sheathe the bottoms of their ships, fastening it to the planks and timbers by nails made of bronze.

When first melted, lead is bright, but it soon tarnishes by exposure to the air. It melts at a temperature very low in comparison with most other metals; and when a strong heat is applied, it boils and evaporates.

Lead is much employed in the useful arts. When rolled between iron cylinders to a requisite state of thinness and uniformity, it is used for the covering of houses and churches, notwithstanding the danger, in case of fire, to persons within, who are exposed to a shower of burning metal. It is cast into pipes, cisterns, and reservoirs for water, as well as into large boilers for chemical purposes. But all culinary or domestic vessels made of lead, particularly if intended for the keeping of acid liquors, should carefully be avoided, as the surface of the lead is thereby corroded, and the liquid contained in them is rendered poisonous. Hence arises that dreadful complaint, too well known where cyder is kept in leaden cisterns, called the _Devonshire colic_; hence also the injury which sometimes follows from the use of lead in the glazing of coarse earthenware.

Great quantities of lead are consumed for the making of _shot_. For this purpose the metal is alloyed with arsenic (242), to render it more brittle; and to render the grains more round and perfect than they otherwise would be. Shot is formed by dropping the melted alloy into water, through an iron or copper frame, perforated with round holes, according to the size required. For the smallest shot the elevation is about ten feet above the water; and for the largest about a hundred and fifty feet.

An alloy of lead and tin, in the proportion of two parts of lead and one of tin, forms the _solder_ which is used by plumbers. The _types_ that are used by printers for very large characters are sometimes composed of an alloy of lead and copper. Lead is also used, with tin, in the manufacture of _pewter_.

_Oxides of Lead._

The different oxides (21) of lead are easily soluble in oil, and consequently are of great use to painters. Of these the following are the most important:

_White Lead_, or _Ceruse_.—This is made by suspending thin plates of lead over heated vinegar, in such manner that the vapour which rises from the acid may circulate about the plates. By this process the plates become at length entirely corroded, and converted into a heavy white powder. The manufacture of white lead is a most unhealthy trade, and is confined to a few persons, who have large conveniences for the purpose. This substance, when mixed with oil, is used as a paint for wood─work both of the outsides and insides of buildings. The fumes that are emitted from white paint are extremely noxious. Persons who breathe them are frequently seized with pains, and experience symptoms not much unlike those that precede palsy; and the danger which attends the inhabiting of apartments recently painted is well known. The odour of vinegar will correct the pernicious effect of these exhalations, by acting as a solvent, and combining with, and precipitating them. We are informed that white lead, dangerous as it is, was in great request among the Roman ladies as a cosmetic. It is sometimes used as an external application for ulcers and other kinds of sores.

_Massicot_ is a mineral substance of yellow colour, used for painting, and prepared from the dross or pellicle that is formed by the melting of lead.