42 | JOURNAL OF THE 
fitted in its place. It was then ready for placing in the 
balance-case. The chloride is deliquescent and some 
trouble in weighing was experienced. If the stopper was 
well ground there was no appreciable change in the 
weight in from twenty to forty minutes after placing 
upon the balance. The loss of weight in the latter part 
of the drying was very slow. The weighines were taken 
at intervals of from six to eight hours’ heating. The 
number of weighings necessary before constancy was se- 
cured served as a safeguard against error. <A. series of 
such weighings is given further on. 
After drying, the chloride was dissolved in a small 
amount of water (redistilled) and this solution, with rins- 
ings, transferred to a platinum crucible. It was evapo- 
rated to dryness upon a water-bath, with due precautions 
against dust, etc., was next heated gradually upon a 
sand-bath until most of the chlorine had been driven off, 
and was then slowly raised to the highest temperature 
attainable by the Bunsen burner. During this latter part 
of the operation the cover was kept on. Three or four 
days were thus consumed, the gradual heating giving a 
coherent flinty mass of elistening semi-translucency which 
could be safely heated by the water-blast without loss. 
During the driving off of the chlorine the platinum cruci- 
ble was more or less attacked, but as this was before the 
lid was on, there was little chance of loss from this source. 
This corroded platinum was probably the reddish-brown 
decomposition product mentioned by Bailey as coming 
from the ignition of the oxychloride. 
The last of the chlorine was driven off by heating with 
a water-blast for from forty-five to seventy hours. The 
last weighings were made at intervals of from six to 
twenty hours and were recorded as constant if they agreed 
within 0.00005 of a gram. A series of weighings is here 
given as an example. Experiment No. II, or the first 
