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Illinois Verse/Illinium—Element 61

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4364858Illinois Verse — Illinium—Element 61Anna Shattuck Palmer
Illinium—Element 61
Illinium, the first element to be
Discovered in America!
That it existed, the wise would all agree
But vainly sought to capture it,—
Most elusive of elements,—sixty-one.
In our fine rare earths laboratory
At Illinois the long, hard battle was won
And recorded by the faithful X-ray.

For full six years it was the department joke
Whenever they thought the end in sight
Some delicate piece of apparatus broke
But still the persistent search went on,
A "trouble book" was kept that showed the pace
At which they climbed the upward path,
The times the crystal slipped from out its place,
The tube broke when success was near.

Faint lines upon a photographic plate,
A tiny vial of pinkish yellow
Are closely guarded, for these proofs relate
The story to the outer world.
To Professor Hopkins great the honor due
And to his able associates
Yntema and Harris. The name rings true,
—The metal of the Illini.