This alkali - metal occurs in appreciable quantity in several minerals, besides being very widely distributed through all 3 kingdoms (animal, vegetable, and: mineral), in less perceptible proportions; it is present to the amount of 4 to 5 1/2 Per cent. in spo - dumene (an aluminium - sodium - lithium silicate), 1 1/2 to 5 3/4 Per cent. in lepidolite (lithia - mica), 2 3/4 to 3 3/4 Per cent. in peta - lite (an aluminium - sodium - lithium silicate), and 1 1/2 to 3 3/4 Per cent. in triphy - line (an iron - manganese - lithium phosphate). The best method of extracting lithium salts from lepidolite and petalite is Troost'8, as follows: - A mixture of 10 parts finely~powdered lepidolite,' 10 of barium carbonate, 5 of barium sulphate, and 3 of potassium sulphate, is fused at a very high temperature in a blast furnace; the heavy barium silicate and sulphate sink to the bottom, while the potassium and lithium sulphates form a layer at the top, and can be extracted by simple lixiviation; the sulphates are converted.into, chlorides by addition of barium chloride, the chlorides are evaporated to dryness, and the lithium chloride is extracted by treatment, with a mixture of absolute alcohol and ether.

The best. method of extracting lithium salts from triphyline is Hugo Muller's. It consists in dissolving the ore in hydrochloric acid, oxidizing by nitric acid, precipitating the phosphoric, acid by ah iron persalt, evaporating, to dryness, and extracting by hot water; manganese and lithium chlorides are thus dissolved; the manganese is precipitated by barium sulphide, and the excess of barium is removed by sulphuric acid; lithium oxalate is produced by evaporating with oxalic acid, and is converted into car - : bonate by ignition. The best method of preparing, metallic lithium is Bunsen's, as follows: - Pure lithium chloride is fused, in a thick porcelain crucible over a lamp, and decomposed by a current from a zinc - carbon battery, of 4 to 6 cells, the positive pole being a small splinter of gas - coke, and the negative an iron wire about the stoutness of a knitting - needle; after a few seconds, the iron wire beneath the fused chloride is surrounded and coated with a silver - white regulus, which soon attains the size of a small pea; to obtain the metal, the wire and regulus are lifted out in an iron spatula, and the wire is withdrawn from the still molten metal, which is protected from ignition by the lithium chloride which coats it; after cooling under petroleum, the metal can be detached from the spatula by a penknife.

Metallic lithium has a sp.gr. of only 0 .5891 to 0 - 5983, and fuses at 356° F. (180° C.); it is softer than lead, can be made into wire, and welds at ordinary temperatures; it is much less oxidizable than sodium and potassium, and has a silvery lustre, but tarnishes on exposure; it attacks glass and porcelain below 392° F. (200° C), and oxidizes on water, without fusing; it is rapidly dissolved by dilute hydrochloric and sulphuric acids, slowly by concentrated sulphuric, and fuses and ignites in contact with nitric acid; it is more highly electro - negative than sodium, and burns with a white light when heated in the air, combustion taking place also on heating in bromine, chlorine,. iodine, sulphur vapour, and anhydrous carbonic oxide.