This metal seems to have been a great favourite with the ancients, and its use is probably of greater antiquity than that of any other. It is mentioned in the Old Testament. Even during the Trojan war, we learn from Homer, that the combatants had no other armour, than what was made of bronze, a compound of copper and tin; and it is asserted, that the Greek and Roman artists of antiquity, executed some of their fine works of sculpture by means of copper instruments; hence, it has been supposed, that the people of those remote ages possessed the secret of rendering this metal as hard as steel.*

be found in abundance. At Sandlodge, in Shetland, a copper-mine was wrought in 1803; and, to turn our eyes from the northern to the southern part of our globe, we find that a copper-mine has been recently discovered in New South Wales.

Many valuable veins of copper have been wrought in this island. In Cornwall, they frequently accompany the veins of tin, and in Wales, where the greatest quantity is obtained, there is a mountain about a mile in length, yet so extremely rich in copper ore, that it may be said chiefly to be composed of it-the greater part being dug out in the manner of an open quarry. Ores of copper are occasionally found in the lead mines in different parts of Scotland, but sometimes they have been met with in such abundance as to constitute the predominant ore. In the sister island, there are extensive copper-mines at Cronebane and Ballymurtagh, in the county of Wicklow,-from the former of which, it is said above 1800 tons of ore were exported in the year 1800.

Verdigris is a rust, or oxide of copper, and among the different alloys, we may mention brass, pinchbeck or Princes metal, Dutch gold, bronze, and the metal of which cannon are made, bell-metal, and white

copper.

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merated, twelve only are possessed of that property of extension by beating with the hammer, in conse quence of which, they are distinguished by the name of malleable metals; and these are, platina, gold, silver, mercury, lead, copper, tin, iron, zinc, palladium, nickel, and cadmium-the others are denominated brittle, or fragile metals.*

To commence our observations with some of the mal leable metals, that, which seems to claim our more immediate attention, is Platina, which, although a metal of modern date, and not quite so malleable and ductile as gold and silver, deservedly stands at the top of the list on account of its being harder, and consequently better adapted to some important purposes than either, platina being the heaviest and most difficult of fusion of all known metals.†

This metal was unknown in Europe until about the year 1735, when it was first brought from South America, and till lately, that a small portion of it was detected in a grey silver ore in the mines in Spain, it was only to be found in that quarter of the globe in alluvial soil,

* It may seem rather odd, to rank mercury, which will not bear the least pressure without separating into parts, if it has room to fly off, among the malleable metals. By the effect, however, of artificial cold, mercury becomes a solid metal, and, as such, may be extended and beaten out with a hammer.

+ This extraordinary metal is of a silvery colour-is of a specific gravity heavier than gold, formerly the heaviest of all known metals

in ductility, or capacity of being drawn out into wire, it ranks next to silver-in malleability it stands next to tin-is considerably harder than iron, and not liable to rust, and is so extremely difficult to melt that it is not fusible by a forge..

from which it was extracted by the simple process formerly mentioned.*

Not such, however, is the case with that more plentiful commodity Gold, which, although in several places it is to be met with in small quantities only, is to be found in one shape or other, in almost every country of the world-and being frequently met with in the veins of primitive mountains, and disseminated in the rock itself, as well as in alluvial formations, before noticed, this valuable metal may be considered as occupying, in some degree, a place in all or most of the different strata that lie between these extreme points.†

• In a periodical publication for March 1821, we are, however, informed, that " a Negro slave, in the gold mines of Condoto, in the government of Choco, in South America, found a mass of platina of extraordinary magnitude, and which is now deposited in the Royal Museum at Madrid. It weighs rather more than one and one-third of a pound, and is the largest piece of this metal hitherto met with!" And, among the recent valuable discoveries made in the Russian domains, mention is made of a platina mine, containing a small quantity of gold, situated in the district of Goroblahadat, government of Perm, two versts from Kouchversk, and twelve from the Isa, as being discovered in March 1825. The metallic sand lies about one archive and a half below the surface, and the thickness of the strata is about two archives and a half. In five pouds of the sand, half a zolotuik of gold and five parts of platina have been obtained. The strata have been examined for a considerable distance, and are found to be very rich, containing at least 10 zolotuiks of metal to every 100 pouds.

† Spain may be considered, from the experiments made in the Austurian mines before the discovery of America, as very rich in gold, galthough the principal mines now worked in Europe are those of Hungary and Salzburg. It is pretty widely diffused through the whole extent of Asia. Of the gold used by the ancients, a consider. able quantity was obtained from Africa, where it is still to be fo

Gold is obtained in a pure or native state more fre quently than any other metal-and, on account of its amazing ductility-malleability-and not being liable to rust, would acquire a value and importance of itself not easily to be estimated, even had it not become, as it has, by the consent of civilized nations, the principal representative of wealth and riches.*

Very different in point of tenacity, is that wonderful

in great abundance; and, in modern times, the New World is the richest in, and furnishes the greatest supplies of, this potent metal. To come nearer home, gold has been found at different periods in several parts of Ireland, particularly among the mountains of Wicklow, · Gold is occasionally found in Cornwall, and other places of England. Some fine specimens of native English gold have been very recently pre. sented to the Royal Institution by Sir Christopher Hawkins. They were found while streaming for tin, at Ladock, in Cornwall; some of the pieces weigh sixty grains. Native English gold has also been found lately in Devonshire, by Mr Fiexman of South Moulton. And it is asserted, that, at the marriage of James V. there were covered dishes filled with coins made of Scottish gold, and that a portion of these was presented to each of the guests by way of dessert!-It would seem that this valuable metal was collected, at a very early period, in the mining-field at Leadhills, where the trenches and heaps of soil that were then turned up, and other indications, still point out the spot where the operations were carried on.

* So exceedingly ductile and tenacious is this metal, that an ounce of gold upon silver wire, is capable of being extended without break or fissure, to more than 1,500 miles in length; and a piece of gold weighing not more than 16 ounces, which in the form of a cube, would not measure more than one and one-fourth inch on each side, it is asserted, would completely gild a silver wire in length sufficient to encir cle the earth! Leaves of gold may be beaten so thin, that a single grain may be beaten into 56 leaves, each an inch square; and it is possible to conceive, that it may be beaten or extended so as to cover a greater space, as the gold leaf which is used to cover silver wire, is but a twelfth part of that thickness!

ly subtile and insinuating metallic fluid, which separates under the slightest degree of pressure, and flies before the touch-Mercury, or quicksilver; whose accidental discovery in the cooper's tub at Idria, in Carniola, gave rise to the celebrated mines of that name.*:

The principal mines of Mercury, are said to be those of Deux-ponts on the Rhine-of Almaden in Spain— of Idria in Carniola-and, in the New World, of Guanca Velica in Peru. The most valuable of which are, however, supposed to be those of Idria, celebrated for the accidental discovery by which they came to light, as above noticed-celebrated for their great depth and subterraneous passages-celebrated as the occasional prison of state criminals under the Austrian government, but no less celebrated, nay immortalized, by that beautiful display of conjugal affection, exhibited to the world as a never fading and endearing trophy to the honour of her sex, in the conduct of the Countess Alberti, who, when every effort to procure her hus band's pardon had failed, chose rather to accompany him to those hopeless regions of premature interment,

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* The discovery of this mine, which took place somewhat more than 300 years ago, arose from the following accidental circumstance. This part of the country, was at that time much inhabited by coopers; and one of them, on retiring from work in the evening, placed a new tub at which he had been working, under a dropping spring, to try if it would hold water; and, when he came in the morning, he found it so Heavy, that he could scarcely move it. Examining into the cause, he found that it was owing to a shining and ponderous fluid which was at the bottom. The affair was noised abroad, and society of persons was formed to search farther, who discovered the mine from which the quicksilver had flowed.