PLATINUM.                                          443
	shape. It is said that the cheaper spinning process which is sometimes employed has the effect of opening the texture of the metal and render-ing utensils so made short-lived and unsatisfactory. Imports.—The supplies of platinum consumed in the United States are derived from the Ural mines, where it is found in placers. The Russian platinum, however, mostly comes through French, English, and German laboratories, where the native grains are worked into merchant-able metal. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1882, unmanufact-ured platinum (wire or rod and sheet or plate) to the value of $304,290, and manufactured platinum (consisting of three or four large stills for rectification of sulphuric acid) worth $32,360 were imported, and during the same period manufactured platinum articles (consisting mainly of ised-up stills sent to Europe for repair, or of scrap-metal) were exported to the value of $19,244. Very little native Russian grain platinum is imported. The price of Russian unmanufactured platinum in New York at the close of 1882 was $6 per troy ounce. The terms " manufactured" and "unmanufactured" are used in accordance with an old ruling of the treasury Department drawing the line between dutiable and free en-tries. "Vases, retorts, and other apparatus, vessels, and parts thereof, 'or chemical uses," are now on the free list.