4f9 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



breaking a white colour. It was obviously no longer copper, but 

 an amalgam of this metal. 



This fact had too important a bearing on the amalgamation of 

 zinc, which occupied me at that time, to be allowed to pass without 

 examination. The experiments which 1 made on this subject led to 

 the general conclusion, that the metals which absorb mercury are 

 permeable by it, and communicate this property to the alloys which 

 contain a certain proportion of permeable metal. The metals on 

 which I have operated are zinc, iron, cadmium, tin, copper, lead, 

 antimony, silver, gold and platinum. The manner of experimenting 

 was suggested by the fact which had led to the researches. With a 

 stylet I traced a line or furrow on the plate under experiment, and 

 placed a little mercury in this furrow. In order to hasten the amal- 

 gamation, I introduced before the mercury a drop of bichloride of 

 mercury acidified with hydrochloric acid. By this means the amal- 

 gamation takes place instantly, and the surface is fitted to retain at 

 once the quantity of mercury necessary for the effect I wished to 

 produce. 



A plate of zinc, a millimetre thick, is immediately attacked, and 

 at the end of a minute it is cut in two in the direction of the furrow. 

 A thicker plate requires more time and a deeper scratch on its sur- 

 face; with a thickness of 6 millims. the plate took ten minutes and 

 a little effort to break it ; but in all cases the fracture was neat and 

 in the direction of the scratch or furrow. 



After zinc comes cadmium and tin, then lead, silver, gold, and 

 finally copper. All of these metals become amalgamated ; the mer- 

 cury infiltrates after a time more or less long, and renders them 

 brittle. No permeability has been detected in iron, antimony and 

 platinum, and these metals form no amalgam. Daniell found a 

 bar of platinum free from mercury, that had been for six years in 

 contact with it, and to this time no amalgam of iron has been reported. 



There exists, it is true, an amalgam of antimony ; but, according 

 to Wallerius, when this amalgam, of a pasty consistence, is triturated 

 in the air, or when agitated with water, it loset its antimony in the 

 form of a black powder*. 



As to the action of mercury on metals, this fact at least is esta- 

 blished, — the resistance of some to amalgamation and the easy amal- 

 gamation of others. We have also shown that the permeability 

 takes the same direction, and we may conclude therefore that the 

 alloys will participate in these qualities in the order of their com- 

 position. In fact, a plate of bronze 5 millims. thick may be cut in 

 two by mercury after ten minutes of contact, and a plate ^ a millim. 

 thick yields instantaneously. On amalgamating a strip of brass, it 

 may after a few minutes be reduced to fragments between the thumb 

 and finger. A plate of 4 millims. required ten minutes to cut it in 

 two. An alloy, formed of equal parts of antimony and tin, did not 

 appear to be impressed by the mercury. Chaudet's alloy (3 or 4 per 



* It should be borne in mind, in connexion with this subject, that mercury 

 also is reduced to a black powder by agitation in the air. 



