- Lake Elmo, Washington County, Minnesota, was named by A. B. Stickney, now of St. Paul, Minn.,, from a nearby lake, that had been named from the novel “St. Elmo.” The town was formerly called Oakdale from the many Black Oak (Quercus nigra) trees that grow hereabouts. It is not known where the novelist found the name for her book, but it is supposed she “evolved it out of the depth of her own consciousness.” She did not get it from that corposant known as “St. Elmo’s fire,” which was named for St. Elmo, the patron saint of navigators.
- Beryllium (Wikipedia)
Beryllium is a chemical element; it has symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a steel-gray, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in combination with other elements to form minerals. Gemstones high in beryllium include beryl (aquamarine, emerald, red beryl) and chrysoberyl. It is a relatively rare element in the universe, usually occurring as a product of the spallation of larger atomic nuclei that have collided with cosmic rays. Within the cores of stars, beryllium is depleted as it is fused into heavier elements. Beryllium constitutes about 0.0004 percent by mass of Earth’s crust. The world’s annual beryllium production of 220 tons is usually manufactured by extraction from the mineral beryl, a difficult process because beryllium bonds strongly to oxygen.