Tantalum (sym. Ta, equiv. 182) is a very rare metal, discovered by Hatchett in 1801, and in 1802 by Ekeberg in the Swedish minerals known as tantalite and yttrtantalite. Wollaston regarded it as identical with Niobium (q.v.) or columbium, a view disproved by Rose in 1846. It is of no practical importance.
Tantalum
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 10: Swastika to Zyrianovsk and Index, p. 61
Source scan(s): p. 0080