NEWLY DISCOVERED METALS HAVE STRANGE USES.
A NUMBER of newly discovered metals are now used in the arts. A short while ago they were only laboratory curiosities, owing to their high cost and the fact that no industrial application had been found for them. Thorium and cerium, which are worth $400 a pound, are used in the manufacture of fireproof curtains. Vanadium, worth $600 a pound, is used in colored glass and certain aniline dyes. Uranium, which costs $90 a pound, is much more extensively used in the manufacture of glass and porcelain. It is also added to steel, which it makes extremely hard. The hardest metal known is iridium, which is used for the points of gold pens. It is often found in connection with gold, and its price is $800 a pound. Palladium, worth $500 a pound, is remarkable for its small expansion by heat, on which account it is used in making standards of length and measuring instruments. Lithium in the metallic state is worth $1200 a pound. It is used, however, only in combination. Its salts, which are comparatively cheap, are well-known remedies for rheumatism. Selenium, worth $90 a pound, is employed in some electrical experiments and apparatus. It possesses the singular property of conducting electricity well in the dark, and losing its conducting power instantly in exposure to light. From these facts it will be seen that many metals are now more valuable than gold, which is worth only $288 a pound.—Selected.