CAN METALS BE ILL?

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 29 January 1912, Page 6

CAN METALS BE ILL?

Certain metallic elements hare their sicknesses, but perhaps the tin plague is the most remarkable. If tin catches cold it will decay, it will lose its lustre, and finally crumble to a grey powder. The change is not a chemical one, for the grey powder is still tin, and it can be brought back by careful wanning to its original healthy condition. Apparently, when the tin is very pure it is more susceptible to cold and consequent decay. In fact, it may be made .proof against the disease by aJoying it with other metals. The disease is a source of considerable annoyance and disappointment to the collectors of coins who possess valuable tin specimens in the^r cabinets. This curious failing of tin may possibly have led to the us© of the word "tin" as a term of reproach, as in-such expressions as "a tin-pot institution," or "a tin soldier." Even tin buttons have been known to crumble in this way, and organ 'pipes made of tin have been found to decay after a severe winter.—Lancet.