168 



of mercury, as they had observed that whilst the crystallised 

 amalgams of silver and tin conducted heat badly, that of zinc, 

 which was perfectly fluid and free from crystals, conducted 

 heat very freely. As they pursued their researches they 

 found these views to be incorrect, for the amalgam of bismuth, 

 a very crystalline one, conducted heat with great facility. 



Having observed that tin affected the fluidity of mercury 

 in a most remarkable manner, so that even the one hundred 

 thousandth part of that metal would interfere with the pro- 

 perty which mercury has of assuming easily a globular form, 

 they prepared the following series of amalgams of tin. 



Silver=:1000 



Found. Calculated. Found. Calculated. 



Mercury 94-50+Tin 5'50 ... 4-00 ... 2M4 ... 125 ... 663 

 97-00-1- „ 3-00... 4-60 ...21-35... 144 ...669 

 98-004- „ 2-00 ... 5-65 ... 21-43 ... 177 ... 672 

 98-25-f ,,1-75... 5-90 ...21-45 ...185 ...673 

 98-50-1- „ 1-50 ...10-95 ...21-47 ...343 ...673 

 99-004- „ 1-00 ... 19-30 ... 21-52 ... 605 ... 675 

 99-50-h „ 0-50 ... 19-30 ... 21-56 ... 605 ... 675 



This table proves that up to 1-75 the conductibility of 

 mercury remains constant, when by reducing the tin by to dth 

 the conductibility of the amalgam is doubled ; by further 

 abstracting one-third of the tin, the conductibility is again 

 doubled. 



