METALLURGY iS commonly defined as the art of extracting metals from their ores. If we look up the definition of the word " art," we find it stated that by art is meant the employment of means to the accomplishment of some end; a system of rules and established methods to facilitate the performance of certain actions; familiarity with such principles and skill in applying them to an end or purpose, as of a practical, useful, or technical character. If we apply this definition to metallurgy, we may say that metallurgy is the employment of chemistry to the accomplishment of extracting metals from their ores; in other words, metallurgy is applied chemistry, and that, by reason of a long period of application, a system of rules and established methods have been worked out in order to facilitate the performance of certain actions, or reactions, and that a metallurgist is one who is familiar with such methods and skilled in applying them to accomplish the end that he may desire.
Although metallurgy is applied chemistry, it is nevertheless true that metallurgy was the forerunner of chemistry, and is a very ancient art. As is evidenced by the large number o,f flint instruments which have been discovered from time to time, and in different localities, and which are now to be found in various museums throughout the world, there was a time when metals were entirely unknown, or else had been produced in such small quantities as to prohibit their general use. However, as time went on, men acquired the art of reducing the less refractory metals from their ores. Since copper was one of the first metals to b,e used, it may be that the copper came from what are known as native deposits, and that later the art of reducing it and other less refractory metals was discovered. Be that as it may, the * Presented at the meeting of the Mining and Metallurgical Section, held Thursday, December 4, I913 .