Literary notes about amalgam (AI summary)
The word “amalgam” is employed in literature with a dual sense, both as a technical term referring to a literal mixture—often a blend of mercury with one or more metals, as seen in metallurgical or dental contexts ([1], [2], [3])—and as a metaphor for a composite entity where diverse elements come together to create something unique ([4], [5], [6]). In some narratives, it captures the idea of a city or culture formed from varying influences ([7], [8]), while in others it symbolizes an intricate fusion in art or thought ([9], [10]). This rich versatility allows “amalgam” to serve as both a precise scientific term and a broader allegory for synthesis and convergence across different domains.
- The precipitated gold is thus amalgamated, the amalgam being removed at intervals, retorted, and the gold recovered.
— from Marvels of Scientific Invention An Interesting Account in Non-Technical Language of the Invention of Guns, Torpedoes, Submarine Mines, Up-to-Date Smelting, Freezing, Colour Photography, and Many Other Recent Discoveries of Science by Thomas W. Corbin - Amalgam for Mirrors. —Lead and tin, each 1 oz; bismuth, 2 oz; mercury, 4 oz.; melt as before, and add the mercury.
— from Our Knowledge Box; or, Old Secrets and New Discoveries. by Unknown - Amalgams for the teeth are made with gold or silver, and quicksilver, the excess of the latter being squeezed out, and the stiff amalgam used warm.
— from Cooley's Cyclopædia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades..., Sixth Edition, Volume I by Richard Vine Tuson - A peculiar and perplexing amalgam Boston always was, and although it had changed much in ten years, it was not less perplexing.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams - That's how Corinthian was born; neither one nor the other, but an amalgam of all.
— from The Satyricon — Volume 02: Dinner of Trimalchio by Petronius Arbiter - "No, it was not that; it was Ellen Terry, that peculiar amalgam of witchery, charm, and wilfulness which has baffled every critic of her work.
— from Ellen Terry and Her Sisters by T. Edgar (Thomas Edgar) Pemberton - H2 anchor CHAPTER IV—SOHO Of all quarters in the queer adventurous amalgam called London, Soho is perhaps least suited to the Forsyte spirit.
— from The Forsyte Saga - Complete by John Galsworthy - And there is assuredly none which has more valuable elements to contribute to the ethnic and psychical amalgam of the people of to-morrow.
— from The Melting-Pot by Israel Zangwill - An ingenious, deceptive theory lays it down that the epic is but an amalgam of cantilenas , or short lyrics in the vulgar tongue.
— from A History of Spanish Literature by James Fitzmaurice-Kelly - The original of the cross between the white and the black is an entirely new color blue, which may be considered a sort of amalgam of black and white.
— from How to Live: Rules for Healthful Living Based on Modern Science by Irving Fisher
