Smeltings' sticks

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 168913

montims:

> But it also reads as Dickensian to me, like much else 
> of the HP series...

houyhnhnm:

Dickensian onomatopoeia, so much so that until this 
thread appeared, I had not thought of the actual meaning 
of the word at all; "Smelting stick" is just so perfectly 
evocative of its purpose and use.

But then I got to thinking about the literal meaning.  
The smelting of ores to extract metals, which goes back 
about 9000 years, was the earliest investigation into 
the nature of chemical change.

The great Jabir Ibn Hayyan who devised or perfected many 
of the techniques used by alchemists and proto-chemists, 
(and who also coined the word elixer /al-iksir/, BTW)was 
also a pioneer in the field of applied science,preparation 
of various metals, development of steel, aqua regia (mixture 
of hydrochloric and nitric acids)to dissolve gold, among 
his many contributions.

So maybe the Smelting Stick has an alchemical significance.  
I guess that's a little far fetched, but, then again, maybe not.