330 On some Comlinatiom of Plal'mnm. 



bines with it at the time, which is the reason of its escape in the 

 dry-rot process being unatteiuled with luniinousness. 



From the opinions in circulation on this subject, which puzzle 

 rather than improve, I feel the more anxious to give publicity to 

 the foregoing, being persuaded that they have a more direct ten- 

 dency to prevent the dry-rot, than anv which have hitherto been 

 advanced or acted on. Besides, it is no more than laudable 

 to maintain one's own right of originality to what may prove 

 highly correct and useful, at a time when honours and medals 

 are awarded those, who, after all, have done nothing for the 

 public, but overload them with expensive and vmluminous ac- 

 counts transcribed from official records. What I now .'dvance 

 is in strict conformity with the theory I published in February, 

 1815, wherein the dry-rot is attributed to the decomposition of 

 water in wood: at which time it was the general opinion, at 

 least here, that it arose from a fungus, and thdXfuvgus from a 

 seed. 



Chatham Dock-Yard, Sept. 15, 1820. T. H. Pasley. 



LI. On some Q/mbinations of Platinum. By Edmttnd Davy, 

 Esq. Professor of Chemistry, and Secretary to the Cork In- 

 stitution. Communicated by F. Bauington, M.D.F.R.S.* 



Xn mv communication to Sir H. Davy, Bart., " On a new ful- 

 minating platinum," which has been honoured with a place in 

 the Transactions of the Royal Societyf, 1 stated, that I had ob- 

 tained some other new compounds of this metal : these have 

 since occupied no inconsiderable portion of my leisure hours, and 

 I now beg leave to lay the results of my inquiry before the Royal 

 Society. A constant attention to other necessary duties, has 

 not allowed me sufficient time to render this investigation so 

 complete as 1 could have wished ; but as I presume the tacts are 

 novel, I shall venture to bring them forward in a form, which, 

 though imperfect, may not be wholly destitute of interest. 



\. On a peculiar Compound of Platinum obtained from Sul- 

 phate of Platinum by the Agency of Alcohol. 



Sulphate of platinum, unlike the other metallic sulphates in 

 general, is, to a considerable extent, soluble in ;dcohol and in 

 ether : as these fluids are capable, in certain circumstances, of 

 partially or wholly reviving some metallic oxides from their so- 

 lutions in acids, I wished to trv their effects on the sulphate of 

 platinum. Accordingly, I put into a small phial about equal 



* From the Philosophical Transactions for 1820, Part I. 

 t Phil. Trans. IS!/.— Phil. Mag. for Feb. 1817, p. Hb". 



volumes 



