The first alloys of manganese and copper were made in 1848, by Von Gersdorff; soon after Prof. Schrötter of Vienna made compounds containing 18 or 20 percent of manganese by reducing in a crucible the oxides of copper and manganese mixed with wood charcoal and exposing to a high heat. These alloys were quite ductile, very hard, very tenacious, and capable of receiving a beautiful polish; their color varies from white to rose color, according to the respective proportions of the two bodies; they are particularly interesting on account of the results which were obtained by adding them to certain metallic fusions. It is well known that in the fining of copper by oxidation there is left in the fined metal the suboxide of copper, which must then be removed by the refining process, using carbon to reduce the copper to its metallic state. M. Manhès, taking advantage of the greater affinity of manganese for oxygen, found that if this last element was introduced into the bath of copper during the operation of refining, the copper suboxide would be reduced and the copper obtained in its metallic condition.

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