668 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE 
removed from the fire and permitted to cool gra- 
dually, the fracture of the button of this alloy, 
when broken, is of a much lighter colour than 
that of antimony. It is of a light grey, and very 
imperfectly crystallized. It is not so brittle as 
antimony, though still pulverable in a mortar. 
When one-fourth of the mass is nickel, the frac- 
ture is very compact, and not unlike that of fine 
steel, but of a lighter colour. With these pro- 
portions the alloy is somewhat malleable, and can 
be cut by a cold chisel. 
65. From a retrospection of the facts developed 
by these researches in connection with those 
previously known, we are led to observe a 
material difference in the magnetic characters 
of bodies when in their simplest or natural 
conditions; and that these natural magnetic 
characters become considerably modified when 
the simple or elementary bodies are variously 
combined; some simple bodies losing their 
natural magnetic properties, and others display- 
ing a newmagnetic action of which, before combi- 
nation, they appeared to be destitute. Under 
these circumstances it would be difficult to ascer- 
tain the line of demarcation between those bodies 
that are naturally and separately magnetic and 
those that are not. Probably the safest way would 
a 
