443 Mr. G. Gore on the Properties of 



nearly saturated with antimony, by suspending a plate of that 

 metal in it as an anode, and passing an electric current from 

 several pairs of zinc and silver batteries through it until a copious 

 deposit of bright metal occurred, and until its yellow colour had 

 nearly disappeared ; and 2nd, of five parts of tartar-emetic and 

 five parts of tartaric acid, dissolved in a mixture of two parts of 

 hydrochloric acid and thirty parts of water; each solution being 

 filtered before using. A most excellent solution in lieu of the 

 first may quickly be formed by saturating ordinary chloride of 

 antimony with tartar-emetic, using about three or four parts 

 of the former to one of the latter, or by dissolving two j)arts of 

 tartar-emetic in three parts of hydrochloric acid. I have also 

 in place of that liquid occasionally used hydrochloric acid satu- 

 rated with antimony by the battery process, and sometimes a 

 liquid composed of seven parts of tartar-emetic dissolved in a 

 mixture of eight parts of hydrochloric acid and four parts of 

 water. Substituting pure acid, distilled water, and pure anti- 

 mony, for those of the ordinary quality, made no material differ- 

 ence in the results. Each solution requires to be electrolysed a 

 short time before it yields a 2;ood and uniform deposit. 



3. There are two distinct kinds of antimony deposit produced 

 in these liquids, which I shall distinguish by the terms amor- 

 phous and crystalline; dark and gray : for the special production 

 of the former I use the first liquid, or, better, that composed of 

 chloride of antimony and tartar-emetic ; and for the latter I use 

 the second : the first solution will yield both varieties, but the 

 second gives the crystalline variety alone. The line of demarca- 

 tion between the two kinds of deposit is rigorously distinct ; and 

 there appears to be no transitional or intermediate gradation, at 

 least not by this mode of procedure. 



4. There are a great many circumstances which influence the 

 production of those two kinds of metal in the first liquid ; but 

 the most important are the temperature and density of the so- 

 lution, the strength of the battery, the state of the depositing 

 liquid, and the physical condition of the receiving surface ; if the 

 battery is nearly exhausted in power, the solution unequal in 

 density from long-continued working and neglected stirring, and 

 the receiving surface rough or unclean, the dc])0sited metal will 

 be amorphous and smooth iu the lower and denser part of the 

 liquid, and crystalline and warty iu the upper aud lighter portion. 

 If the liquid is boiling hot, or if it is very dilute or contains 

 much free acid, the deposit will be gray throughout. 



5. The production of either of these deposits is so easy that 

 the simplest of conditions will suffice. To produce the amor- 

 phous variety, take a small battery consisting of one or two pairs 

 of zinc aud platinized silver plates, charged with a mixture of 



