223 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



to science and the arts, by producing this metal in masses. 

 A brief description of its physical characters, including its 

 sonorousness per se, as commented on by M. Dumas, was 

 given ; and Dr. Hayes added, that his own observations had 

 led him to conclude that this metal has a large capacity for 

 heat, rising in temperature slowly, and losing its excess 

 gradually. Generally, its mechanical characters may be com- 

 pared with those of alloyed or standard silver, while in chem- 

 ical relations it differs remarkably, by approaching more 

 closely to those of the noble metals. A perfectly pure sample, 

 many times heated and cooled, had its surface only slightly 

 changed ; while fragments long exposed to the temperature 

 of melting silver did not melt and coalesce. This effect is 

 noticeable in pure gold-filings also, and may arise from molec- 

 ular changes, induced by the absorption, without combina- 

 tion, of oxygen ; as it is not observed under suitable fluxes. 

 This metal alloys readily with other metals, and can be easily 

 transferred from the positive to the metal negative^ of a gal- 

 vanic series, in the mode of electro-plating. When condensed 

 by hammering, or laminating, it loses its white color in part, 

 acquiring a leaden hue ; the white color can be restored by 

 producing the " mat " surface of the silversmith. M. Deville's 

 process for obtaining the metal is founded on the substitution 

 of sodium for the aluminium of the chloride of aluminium, 

 in a state of vapor, and the subsequent fusion of the alumi- 

 nium, under a flux of chloride of sodium and aluminium. In 

 M. Deville's hands, the process for sodium, as a first step in 

 the production of aluminium, has become one of the most 

 beautiful and effective known in chemistry. A mixture of 

 equal equivalents of carbonate of lime and carbonate of soda 

 is heated in an appropriate vessel, with just so much carbon 

 as will form carbonic oxide with the oxygen present, and the 

 sodium is distilled off from the mass, not only pure, but often 

 continuously. 



In reply to a question by the President, Dr. Hayes stated 

 that this had been called a new metal erroneously. It has 



