February 6ih, ipi2.] PROCEEDINGS. xxvii 



A vote of thanks was given to the donors of the Ijooks upon 

 the table. 



Mr. T. A. Coward, F.Z.S , exhibited a Uving specimen of a 

 Wall Gecko, Tarentola iiiauriianica, captured at Broadheath, 

 Altrincham, on January 22nd last, and made a few remarks 

 regarding its food and habits. 



Mr. William Burton, M.A., F.C.S., read a "Note on 

 the earliest Industrial use of Platinum." 



He stated that his investigations into the history of the 

 potter's craft have, from time to time, thrown interesting side- 

 lights on the development of other arts and sciences. Some 

 years ago he was struck by the appearance of platinum as an 

 adjunct to English pottery at a period when the metal was only 

 a chemical curiosity. Unfortunately he was unable to give the 

 dates with the precision he would like, because the early records 

 of such eminent firms as Josiah Wedgwood & Sons and 

 Johnson, Matthey & Co. have been lost or destroyed ; but he 

 had been able to establish certain data which were of sufficient 

 general interest to warrant his bringing this note before the 

 Society, where it might provoke discussion and further eluci- 

 dation. 



The general history of the introduction of i)latinum from 

 South America into Europe, and its recognition as a noble 

 metal, is carefully abstracted in many works, notably in the 

 latest edition of Roscoe ib Schorlemmer, so that it need not be 

 detailed. Small supplies of native platinum reached Europe 

 between 1740 and 1770. The first scientific account of it was 

 given by William Watson in the Fhil. Trans, of 1750, but it 

 was not until 1784 that Achard prepared the first rudimentary 

 platinum crucible, and both the foil and wire were scientific 

 curiosities. Even as late as 1801 it is stated that the eminent 

 chemists Gustav Rose and Karsten were unable to procure a 

 platinum crucible. The first development of the metallurgy of 

 platinum originated in England — at the hands of the firm of 

 Johnson, Matthey & Co. — but this was only in the period 1800- 

 1808. 



