(off topic slightly - Napoleon and Aluminium) Interesting; I long ago heard the first story, that his second-best dinner service was gold, and understood that at the time Al was more expensive weight for weight than gold. So at first I doubted whether it would actually have been affordable for France to provide so many mess kits - or more to the point whether there was in fact enough free aluminum metal around in the world? Clearly it depends exactly when. My memory is suspiciously hazy, but I believe Al was discovered c 1825, after Napoleon I (Bonaparte) died, and first made in any quantity in the 1840's (e.g. suitable to make a large dinner service!) and by a better process by about 185x, so I think it was Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon). He was a great moderniser and keen on technical improvement - which applied to the armed forces with balloons etc; so your story sounds quite likely after all - with the proviso that one might have misunderstood both stories as Napoleon I without knowledge of the dates. Any historians able to confirm which Napoleon, or the story or dates?
Regards Andrew James Winchester, England > -----Original Message----- > From: Arthur Carlson [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, November 15, 1999 7:57 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Anodising Afterthoughts > > "The Shaws" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote : > > <<...aluminium is cheap...>> > > ..reminds me of the story that Napoleon had an extensive monogramed > dinner > > service made from aluminium - just because it was the most expensive > metal > > of his day. > > I heard the story differently, that Napoleon issued each of his > soldiers an aluminum mess kit to take advantage of the reduced weight, > despite the horrendous cost. > > --Art Carlson
