ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS: Why was antimony so prized by alchemists?

QUESTION: Why was antimony so prized by alchemists?

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), the towering genius of the Scientific Revolution, was dubbed ‘the last of the magicians’ by John Maynard Keynes. It is often forgotten that Newton was obsessed with alchemy, having written more than a million words on the subject.

Alchemy was an ancient practice that combined elements of science, philosophy and mysticism. It aimed to transform base metals like lead into noble ones such as gold, discover a universal elixir of life, and understand the fundamental nature of matter and existence.

Antimony’s very reactivity with usually inert elements made it fascinating to alchemists.

Newton held that antimony, along with quicksilver (mercury), was the foundation of alchemy: ‘That other (and properly named) chalybs is antimony for it is created from nature of itself (without art) and it is the beginning of the work.’ (In alchemy the chalybs was a foundation chemical of ‘the Art’.)

Outside its supposed alchemical properties, antimony is a chemical element belonging to the nitrogen group. It has the atomic number 51 and is a lustrous, silvery-grey semi-metal with a flaky texture. Unlike typical metals, antimony is not malleable but hard and brittle and can be crushed to a powder.

A unique property of antimony is that, because its solid form is less dense than its liquid form, it expands as it freezes (like water).

The word antimony comes from the Greek anti and monos: ‘a metal not found alone’ and it can be found in more than 100 different minerals. Its chemical symbol is Sb, which comes from the element’s historical Latin name, stibium.

Antimony became widely used in Medieval times, mainly to harden lead, although some was taken medicinally as a laxative pill. Today about half of all antimony is used to make antimony trioxide for flame-proofing.

Charles Rees, Warwick

QUESTION: What became of New Zealand’s Moriori people?

The Moriori were an indigenous Polynesian people who settled the Chatham Islands, east of New Zealand, around the 14th century. They had a relatively peaceful hunter-gatherer lifestyle, relying on seal meat and seafood and adapting to the Chatham Islands’ harsh and cold environment.

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They developed a pacifist, collectivist culture known as the law of Nunuku, based on the teachings of the 16th-century Moriori leader Nunuku-whenua.

Meanwhile, the main islands of New Zealand were settled by the Maori, who developed an agricultural and warlike society, with fortified villages and organised tribal structures.

In 1835, Maori tribes from mainland New Zealand invaded the Chatham Islands, seeking new resources and territory. The Moriori, adhering to their principle of nonviolence, did not resist. They were enslaved and killed. The Moriori population fell from around 1,600 to fewer than 100 within 30 years.

A Moriori survivor recalled: ‘[They] commenced to kill us like sheep... [We] were terrified, fled to the bush, concealed ourselves in holes underground, and in any place to escape our enemies. It was of no avail; we were discovered and killed.’

The Moriori suffered injustice after injustice; after 30 years of slavery, the Chatham Islands were awarded to their invaders in an 1870 Native Land Court decision.

There was a systematic portrayal of Moriori as a ‘lazy, stupid people’ genetically distinct from Maori and Polynesians. This description could be found in a 1916 copy of School Journals, a series of educational magazines used across New Zealand elementary schools. The last known full-blooded Moriori, Tommy Solomon (Tame Horomona Rehe), died in 1933.

Emilia Turner, London SE27

QUESTION: Is Valiasr Street in Tehran the longest residential street in the world?

Valiasr Street, the longest in the Iranian capital (and in the Middle East), spans 11 miles from Rahahan Square in the south to Tajrish Square in the north. Built in the 1920s under Reza Shah Pahlavi, it was originally called Pahlavi Street. It was renamed Valiasr or Vali-e Asr following the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Yonge Street in Toronto, Canada, is the longest street in the world. Measuring 34 miles, it connects Lake Ontario in the south to Lake Simcoe in the north.

The longest street in Britain is disputed, with both Duke Street in Glasgow and King Street in Aberdeen commonly claiming to be two miles long.

Steven Lewis, Coventry