Palladium
5 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Palladium. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
This metal closely resembles platinum in color and appearance; it is also very malleable and ductile. It is not so dense as platinum, being only 11.8, and it is more easily oxidized than that metal, but cannot be melted at ordinary temperatures. Palladium readily alloys with other metals. When alloyed with silver it is very suitable for the graduations on mathematical instruments, etc. It is used also as a galvanizing agent for protecting other metals when amalgamated with mercury, the iron or other articles being cleansed previously as for zinking. See METALS; ZINKING. Pan, or Kettle, is usually a wide, shallow, round or spherical-shaped vessel, of cast-iron or other metal, employed in the manufacture of sugar, salt chemicals, soap, tin-plate, and in the various processes connected with metallurgy. For sugar-refining there are evaporating-pans, vacuum-pans, condensing-kettles, vats, coolers, etc. Salt-pans are usually very wide and shallow, and are set in rows over a furnace. The brine is pumped into them, the heat evaporates the water, and the salt precipitates. The chemical works employ large numbers of pans of different shapes, heavy and light, such as the flat furnace-pans, 8 to 10 feet across, which are sometimes over 6 inches thick at the crown; lighter ones, as crystallizing cones, etc., are used in large numbers. Pans for soap-making are termed "boilers," and consist of a deep, circular, tapered pan with a spherical bottom. Brackets cast on the sides serve to set the pan on standards over the fire. Pans used for tin-plate are of cast iron. They are set in a row, and are named, respectively, the tin-pot, wash-pot, grease-pot, pan, and list-pot. Pans for metallurgical purposes are termed amalgamators, being usually an open, flat-bottomed, pan in which the pulverized ore and mercury are ground together between slabs of stone or metal. (See AMALGAMATION.) Owing to the great demand for castings of this class, much ingenuity has been practised for moulding them readily, resulting in well-established methods of production, which far excel the ordinary systems of moulding. See KETTLE; CASING. Paper-moulding consists of grinding old paper along with other materials into a pulp, which by the aid of presses and other machinery is moulded into the required form, dried, and then subjected to the processes of sizing, decorating, etc. It is used extensively in the production of architectural ornaments, etc., being less brittle than plaster for that purpose. By mixing white of egg, sulphate of iron, glue, or quicklime, etc., with the pulp it is partly made waterproof, and to make it almost fireproof it only requires a further admixture of borax and sulphate of soda. Another method of producing articles in paper is to glue sheets of paper together and then subject the whole to powerful pressure in dies accurately fashioned to the form of article to be made. This operation is performed when the sheets are moist, which admits of the requisite curvature and flexure without damage to the article, which when dry becomes as hard as board, and is then ready to be operated upon by the japanners, inlayers, and other artists in ornamentation.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A celebrated statue of Pallas. It represented the goddess as holding a spear in her right hand and in her left a distaff and spindle. It fell down from heaven near the tent of Ilus as he was building the citadel of Ilium, while, according to others, it fell in Phrygia; another account says Dardanus received it as a present from his mother Electra ; other accounts are given of its origin. It is generally agreed, however, that on the preservation of the statue the fate of Troy depended. This was known to the Greeks during the Trojan war, and they contrived to obtain possession of it. But some authors say that the true Palladium was not carried away by the Greeks, but only a statue which had been placed near it, and which bore some resemblance to it. Pallantias and Pallantis. Patronymics given to Aurora , the daughter of the giant Pallas.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in classical antiquities, a celebrated statue of Pallas or Minerva, on the preservation of which depended the safety of the city of Troy. This circumstance being known to the Greeks during the Trojan War, Ulysses and Diomedes, by the advice and aid of Helenus, son of Priam, climbed secretly by night over the ramparts of Troy and carried it off. In chemistry, a tetrad metallic element discovered by Wollaston in 1803. It is found associated with platinum and gold, in South America. It resembles in its malleability and ductility, platinum but is more fusible, less dense, and has a more silvery appearance. In mineralogy, an isometric native metal, not found pure, but mostly alloyed with a little platinum and iridium. Sometimes found in minute octahedrons, but mostly as grains, with native platinum, in Brazil.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a celebrated image of Pallas Athene. It was said to have fallen from heaven into the city of Troy, and the safety of the city was supposed to depend on the preservation of this image. During the siege of Troy, Ulysses and Diomed entered the city in disguise and stole the palladium, carrying it off to the Greek camp. The word palladium was applied also to any image of Pallas. The term palladium has passed into proverbial use and especially in the expression the "palladium of liberty."
An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)
(See Devil-worship.)