10 A Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



metal may be varied according to the other desired qualities of the 

 alloy, viz. cadmium, one to two parts ; bismuth, seven to eight 

 parts ; tin, two parts ; lead, four parts. It is recommended as being 

 especially adapted for all light castings requiring a more fusible 

 material than Rose's or Newton's " fusible metal," it having the 

 advantage of fusing at more than 40° F. lower temperature than 

 these alloys, and, owing to this property, may replace many castings 

 heretofore made only with amalgams. Its fusing-point may be 

 lowered to any extent by the addition of mercury, which may be 

 employed, within certain limits, without materially impairing the 

 tenacity of the metal. In a letter to the Editors, dated Nashville, 

 June 9th, 1860, Dr. Wood says,— 



" One point in particular that strikes me as being worthy of note, 

 is the remarkable degree in which cadmium possesses the property 

 of promoting fusibility in these combinations. The alloy of one to 

 two parts cadmium, two parts lead, and four parts tin is considerably 

 more fusible than an alloy of one or two parts bismuth, two parts 

 lead and four parts tin ; and when the lead and tin are in larger 

 proportion the effect is still more marked. It takes less cadmium to 

 reduce the melting-point a certain number of degrees than it requires 

 of bismuth, besides that the former does not impair the tenacity and 

 malleability of the alloy, but increases its hardness and general 

 strength. 



" Bismuth has always held a preeminent rank among metals as a 

 fluidifying agent in alloys. Its remarkable property of ' promoting 

 fusibility' is specially noted in all our works on chemistry. But I 

 do not find it intimated in any that cadmium ever manifests a similar 

 property. The fact indeed appears to have been wholly overlooked 

 — owing perhaps to the circumstance that as an alloy with certain 

 metals cadmium does not promote fusibility. 



" Cadmium promotes the fusibility of some metals, as copper, tin, 

 lead, bismuth, while it does not promote the fusibility of others, as 

 silver, antimony, mercury, &c. (i. e. does not lower the melting- 

 point beyond the mean). Its alloy with lead and tin in any pro- 

 portion, and with silver and mercury within a certain limit, say, 

 equal parts, and especially if two parts silver and one of cadmium 

 or two parts cadmium and one of mercury are used, are tenacious 

 and malleable, while its alloys with some malleable metals (gold, 

 copper, platinum, &c), and probably with all brittle metals, are 

 * brittle.' 



" I notice a great discrepancy among authors as to the melting- 

 point of this metal. It is usually put down the same as that of tin 

 (442° F.). Brande (Diet, of Science and Arts) says it ' fuses and vola- 

 tilizes at a temperature a little below that at which tin melts.' 

 Daniell (according to the New American Cyclopaedia) gives its melt- 

 ing-point at 360° F. ; while Overman places it at 550°, and gives 

 600° as the temperature at which it volatilizes. 



" The latter is doubtless the nearest the truth. The metal requires 

 for its fusion a temperature too high for measurement by the mer- 

 curial thermometer ; but from relative tests with other metals I should 

 place its melting-point in round numbers at 600° F., as it melts and 



