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BISMUTH. 241
This ore is broken up and heated with scrap iron, the
sulphur unites with the iron, forming iron sulphid, the
antimony being Hberated.
General Properties.—Antimony is of a silver-white color
with a tinge of blue. It is brittle and easily pulverized. It
enters as an ingredient into the composition of type and
stereotype metal, music plates, and Britannia metal. It is
also a component of certain fusible alloys analogous to
those already mentioned under the head of lead, and which,
in the form of a die, are sometimes used on account of their
slight degree of shrinkage.
The Fusing Point of antimony is 840° F., and when
heated at the blowpipe it melts with great readiness, and
diffuses white vapors, emitting an odor similar to garlic.

BISMUTH.

Symbol, Bi (Bismuthum). Atomic zveight, 207.5.
Occurrence.—Bismuth is found chiefly in nature, in the
metallic state, and combined with oxygen, sulphur, and
associated with the ores of cobalt, tin-stone, and sometimes
gold and silver. Owing to its low fusing point it is
heated in suitable furnaces and readily separated from ac-
companying substances and runs off.
General Properties.—Bismuth is a white-colored metal,
resembling, in some degree, antimony. It is soft, but so
brittle as to be easily pulverized. Bismuth is the poorest
conductor of heat and electricity amongst the common
metals.
The Fusing Point.—Bismuth fused at about 510° F.
Alloyed with Other Metals.—Bismuth has the property,
in a high degree, of increasing the fusibility of the metals
with which it is incorporated, and is a common ingredient
of the more fusible alloys, some of which melt in boiling
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