Copper as an Alloy.
Copper, the base of so many alloys, has itself been found a useful alloy of most workable metals, not only in modern times but in years gone by. It is one of the best hardening agents in aluminium, the newer metal which is to some extent displacing copper and brass cooking pots and much ornamental metal-work. According to an expert, aluminium is tasteless, and possesses all the advantages of copper without its drawbacks. That being so, perhaps even vessels of brass, such as may still be seen in kitchens, may soon become obsolete and pass shortly into the rôle of the museum curio. Incidentally it may be mentioned that aluminium is not altogether a new metal, neither is its use confined to civilized countries, where metallurgists have proved its advantages; for the natives of the Philippines, Borneo, and other islands in the Pacific have long used it as an independent metal, and also for the purposes of ornamenting other materials. Many of the copper and brass curios brought into this country, the products of native smiths, working far from civilized lands, are partly made of aluminium, alloyed chiefly with native copper. The natives of Borneo melt it in fireclay crucibles over a coke fire, and are very clever at producing some remarkably fine pieces of metal-work, using different metals for the same object; thus some of their daggers have brass hilts and aluminium blades. The metal-worker has frequently introduced aluminium in the decoration of copper and brass gongs, some of the older examples from Japan being extremely decorative.