Abstract
THE many uses of manganese in the arts were known long before the metal had itself been recognised. It has been used since prehistoric times as a colouring material, and by primitive Indian smiths as a flux and as an alloy for hardening iron and bronze; and its power as an oxidiser now renders it one of the most important of disinfectants, and a valuable chemical reagent. The metal has an interesting, but uncertain, history; the origin of the name is doubtful, but it appears to have been first used in the sixteenth century as a variant of magnesium, from which it had not been separated; and even after its recognition as a distinct metal by Gahn in 1774, Bergmann still called it magnesium, though the name manganese, derived from magnesie by the reversal of two letters, had already been used.
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References
Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India. Vol. xxxvii. The Manganese-Ore Deposits of India. By L. Leigh Fermor. Part i., Introduction and Mineralogy. Pp. xcvii+231. Part ii., Geology. Pp. 232–405. Part iii., Economics and Mining. Pp. 406–610. (Calcutta: Geological Survey, 1909.) Price 3 rupees each.
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G., J. Manganese Mining in India 1 . Nature 84, 128–129 (1910). https://doi.org/10.1038/084128a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/084128a0