TITANIUM

A rare metal, discovered by Gregor in a mineral from Cornwall called nie nucha nite. Its characters were first ascertained by Klaproth, who gave it the above name. In the year 1822, Dr. Wollaston ascertained that the minute copper-coloured crystals occasionally found in the slag of the iron smelting furnaces at Merthyr and elsewhere were pure titanium; and it is to him that we are indebted for a precise account of its properties. In this state it has a copper colour, is extremely infusible, and of a specific gravity of 58; it is so hard as to scratch not only gla , but crystal. It resists the action of air and acids, but is oxidized by the action of nitre at a red heat. Titanium appears susceptible of two degrees of oxidize ment. The protoxide of titanium is blue or purple, and appears to constitute the mineral called anatase. The peroxide, or titanic acid, exists nearly pure in titanite, or rutilite, and is combined with the oxides of iron and manganese in me nach a nite. The equivalent of titanium has not been very satisfactorily ascertained, but it is probably about 24 upon the hydrogen scale. [s. 1254]