Lead, METALLURGY

OF. At ordinary temperatures lead resists very strongly most chemical corroding agencies. Commercial lead is often almost chemically pure. In price ($60 per ton), as well as in its varied uses, it ranks second to iron. It has been known from early antiquity: the Egyptians used it for glazing pottery, and it was mined on a large scale by the Greeks and Romans. The U. S. now leads in this, producing, in 1895, 143,000 metric tons, ab. one-third of the total production. Most of the output of the U. S. comes from Mo., Ill., and the more western States, Montana, Col., Utah, Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, Cal. Throughout the West it is virtually a by-product from the extraction of silver, almost all the silver occurring in lead ore.