A 557269
THE
STORY
BOOK
OF
SCIENCE
JEAN
HENRI
FABRE
1817 SCIENTIA
ARTES
VERITAS LIBRARY OF IGAN CHTHE MI TY I S R E V OF UNI
PLURICUS UMUM
TUEBOR
SI-QUERIS PENINS
ULAM AMENAM
CIRCUM
SPICE
From the Library of A. W. Diack
CHAPTER XIV GOLD AND IRON 66 SOME metals never rust ; such a one is gold. SOM Ancient gold pieces found in the earth after centuries are as bright as the day they were coined . No dross, no rust covers their effigy and inscription . Time, fire, humidity, air, cannot harm this admirable metal.
Therefore gold, on account of its unchange-
able luster and its rarity, is preeminently the material for ornaments and coins. " Furthermore, gold is the first metal that man became acquainted with, long before iron , lead, tin , and the others .
The reason why man's attention
was called to gold , long centuries before iron , is not hard to understand.
Gold never rusts ; iron rusts
with such grievous facility that in a short time, if we are not careful, it is converted into a red earth. I have just told you that gold objects , however old they may be, have come to us intact, even after having been in the dampest ground .
As for objects
of iron, not one has reached us that was not in an unrecognizable state.
Corroded with rust , they have
become a shapeless earthy crust.
Now I will ask
Jules if the iron ore that is extracted from the bowels of the earth can be real, pure iron, such as we use. " " It seems to me not, Uncle ; for if iron at any given moment is pure, it must rust with time and 59
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THE STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE
change to earthy matter, as does the blade of a knife buried in the ground. " "My brother seems to reason correctly ; I agree with him, " said Claire. "And gold ?" Uncle Paul asked her. " It is different with gold, " she replied .
" As that
metal never rusts, is not changed by time, air, and dampness , it must be pure. " " Exactly so .
In the rocks where it is dissemi-
nated in small scales , gold is as brilliant as in jewelers ' boxes .
Claire's earrings have not more luster
than the particles set by nature in the rock.
On the
contrary, what a pitiful appearance iron makes when it is found !
It is an earthy crust, a reddish
stone, in which only after long research can one suspect the presence of a metal ; it is , in fact, rust, mixed more or less with other substances . And then, it is not enough to perceive that this rusty stone contains a metal ; a way must still be found to decompose the ore and bring the iron back to its metallic state . How many efforts were necessary to attain this result, one of the most difficult achieve !
to
How many fruitless
many painful trials !
attempts ,
how
Iron , then , was the last to be-
come of use to us, long after gold and other metals , like copper and silver, which are sometimes, but not
always,
found
pure.
That
most
useful
of
metals was the last ; but with it an immense advance was made in human industry.
From the moment man was in possession of iron, he found himself master of the earth. " At the head of substances that resist shock, iron
61
GOLD AND IRON
must be placed ; and it is precisely its enormous resistance to rupture that makes this metal so precious to us. Never would a gold, copper, marble, or stone anvil resist the blows of the smith's hammer as an iron one does.
The hammer itself, of what
substance other than iron could it be made ?
If of
copper, silver, or gold, it would flatten, crush , and become useless in a short time ; for these metals lack hardness .
If of stone , it would break at the
first rather hard blow.
For these implements noth-
ing can take the place of iron.
Nor can it for axes ,
saws , knives , the mason's chisel, the quarry-man's pick, the plowshare, and a number of other implements which cut, hew, pierce, plane, file, give or receive violent blows . Iron alone has the hardness that can cut most other substances, and the resistance that sets blows at defiance.
In this respect iron
is , of all mineral substances , the handsomest present that Providence has given to man .
It is preëmi-
nently the material for tools , indispensable in every art and industry. " "Claire and I read one day,"
said
Jules,
"that
when the Spaniards discovered
America , the
Hatchet of the Stone Age
savages
of that new country had gold axes, which they very willingly exchanged for iron ones .
I laughed at
their innocence , which made them give such a costly price for a piece of very common metal.
I think I
see now that the exchange was to their advantage. " "Yes, decidedly to their advantage ; for with an iron ax they could fell trees to make their dug- out
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THE STORY - BOOK OF SCIENCE
canoes and their huts ; they could better defend themselves against wild animals and attack the game in their hunts .
This piece of iron gave them an
assurance of food, a substantial boat, a warm dwell ing, a redoubtable weapon.
In comparison, a gold
ax was only a useless plaything. " "If iron came last, what did men do before they knew of it ? " asked Jules. "They made their weapons and tools of copper ; for, like gold, this metal is sometimes in a pure state so that it can be utilized just as nature gives it to us . But a copper implement, having little hard Thus ,
ness, is of much less value than an iron one.
in those far- off days of copper axes, man was in deed a wretched creature .
" He was still more so before knowing copper .
He
cut a flint into a point, or split it , and fastened it to the end of a stick ; and that was his only weapon . "With this stone he had to procure food , clothing, a hut, and to defend himself from wild beasts .
His
clothing was a skin thrown over his back, his dwell ing a hut made of twisted branches and mud ; his food a piece of flesh, produce of the chase.
Domes
tic animals were unknown, the earth uncultivated , all industry lacking. " " And where was that ?" asked Claire. "Everywhere, my dear child ; here , even in places where to -day are our most flourishing towns .
Oh!
how forlorn man was before attaining, by the help of iron, the well-being that we enjoy to-day ; how forlorn was man and what a great present Provi dence made him in giving him this metal !"
GOLD AND IRON
63
Just as Uncle Paul finished , Jacques knocked discreetly at the door ; Jules ran to open it. whispered a few words to each other. an important affair for the next day.
They
It was about