Manganese
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Manganese. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a metallic element which forms a distinct chemical species. It is found in many parts of the world and in the United States, chiefly in Virginia and Georgia, in the southern Mississippi Valley and on the Pacific Coast. Iron ores containing it also occur in New England and in the Lake Superior iron district. Silver ores containing manganese are found in large quantities in the Rocky Mountains and Great Basin regions. It is also obtained from zinc ores in New Jersey and elsewhere. The metal itself has no distinct use, but has great value as an alloy with copper, iron, zinc, tin, lead, and aluminum. The introduction of manganese in iron and steel adds greatly to their elasticity and hardness. The greater part of the manganese ore mined is used in the iron and steel industries. It thus became of great value during the World War in the manufacture of ordnance and munitions. From 1890 to 1914 the United States was largely dependent upon foreign sources for manganese ores and alloys. In the latter years the supply was largely cut off from these sources and attention was directed toward domestic supplies. Experimentation was also carried on by which it was found that ores with as much as 2 or 3 per cent. of iron and as little as 70 per cent. of manganese could be used without serious loss of efficiency. Active prospecting was carried on until by 1918 many important sources of production had been discovered, especially in Montana and Nevada. The domestic production of manganese , stimulated by the demand arising from the war, greatly increased. There was, in spite of this, however, the necessity of importing large quantities, chiefly from Central and South America. The total imports of ore in 1918 amounted to 491,333 tons, of which 345,877 tons came from Brazil. Domestic shipments of high-grade ore amounted to 305,869 tons. In the United States more than 95 per cent. of the manganese used in the industries is added to steel in the form of alloys, ferromanganese, and spiegeleisen. With the recent great development of the internal-combustion engine, the demand for high-grade manganese ore for use in making dry batteries has steadily increased, so that in 1917 the annual requirement for that industry was about 25,000 tons. The States producing the largest amount of manganese in 1918 were Montana, California, Nevada, Arizona, and Virginia. The value of the domestic production in 1918 was $8,240,- 386.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an important metal, but one not popularly known. It looks like cast iron , and is likewise brittle and hard. The weight is a little greater than that of iron, being eight times that of water. It is distributed widely, and is associated with clays, iron, silver, and zinc ores. Generally speaking, manganese may be obtained in any metal-producing region, though Russia produces about half of the world's supply. It is an important element in the formation of steel. Many iron ores depend for their excellency on the presence of manganese, which is retained carefully. Manganese steel has ten times the strength of cast iron. In fact, nine-tenths of the product of the manganese mines is used in forming iron and steel alloys. All commercial iron contains manganese. It is a famous metallic dye. It is used to give clay door knobs a true jet, and also to give glass and pottery shades of violet, purple, green, brown, and black, varying according to quantity and degree of heat. It is also used to correct the green color noted in cheap glass. Considerable quantities are used in bleaching, in the making of disinfectants, as a drier of varnishes, and in printing calico. Manganese is also found as a constituent of plant and animal cells. See Iron
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both accounts get the main point right: manganese matters chiefly as an additive to steel, and that is still true, with roughly 90 per cent of world output going into steelmaking. What has reversed is the geography. Collier's wrote in 1921 of wartime prospecting booms in Montana and Nevada and a domestic output worth $8.2 million; the United States has mined essentially no manganese ore for decades and is listed as 100 per cent import-reliant on a metal now classed as critical, while Aiton's 1910 claim that "Russia produces about half of the world's supply" has given way to South Africa, Gabon, Australia and China. The dry-battery demand Collier's put at 25,000 tons a year has also grown beyond recognition, first in alkaline cells and now in manganese-bearing cathodes for electric-vehicle lithium-ion batteries. Aiton's passing note that manganese occurs "as a constituent of plant and animal cells" was prescient: it is now known to be an essential trace element, and the manganese cluster at the heart of photosynthesis is the site where plants split water.
Written for this edition, 2026.