84 The Rev. Br. Gallants Experiments on the 



tity of lead was about equal to that of tin, or from two to seven 

 or eight times as great as that of tin ; and from these experi- 

 ments I infer that iron, coated with any of the above-mentioned 

 alloys, is less oxidable and less liable to corrosion than lead or 

 galvanized iron, the zinc coating of which, as every one knows, 

 is rapidly dissolved by the acids, even when they are greatly 

 diluted with water. Iron, then, coated with an alloy of lead and 

 tin, in which the quantity of lead is nearly equal to, or exceeds 

 that of tin, will answer as well as lead or galvanized iron for 

 roofing, cisterns, baths, pipes, gutters, window-frames, telegraphic 

 wires, for marine and various other purposes. A small quantity 

 of zinc, mixed with the alloy with which the iron is coated, 

 hardens the coating, but diminishes its power of I'esisting corro- 

 sion. But the addition of a little antimony not only hardens 

 the coating, but also makes it less oxidable and less liable to 

 corrosive action. Iron, coated with the alloy of lead and tin, or 

 of lead, tin and antimony, may answer better than lead for 

 vitriol chambers. It may be sometimes used instead of copper 

 for the sheathing of ships ; and bolts and nails of coated iron 

 may be sometimes employed instead of copper bolts and nails. 

 It may also be used for some of the purposes for which enamelled 

 iron or cast iron is employed, such as the enamelled cast-iron 

 cisterns and pipes used in water-closets. At the last meeting of 

 the British Association at Hull, Dr. Gladstone stated that the 

 owners of iron-built ships object to sugar cargoes, because the 

 saccharine juices that exude from the casks corrode the metal. 

 If the casks or the ships were lined with thin sheet iron, coated 

 with an alloy of lead and tin, containing two or three times as 

 much lead as tin, it is highly probable that the corrosion of the 

 ships would be prevented. I have left for a considerable time a 

 small piece of an alloy of lead and tin, in which the quantity of 

 lead was four or five times as great as that of tin, in a solution 

 of sugar and common water ; and the alloy came out as bright 

 as when it was put into the solution. 



The fifth result is a new mode of producing, by means of a 

 small galvanic battery, a brilliant intermittent lime light. By 

 means of a battery of twelve 4-inch cast-iron cells, or of four 

 cells each 6 inches by 8, a small voltameter, such as I have 

 described, and a good Hemming's jet, a constant lime light, about 

 a quarter of an inch in diameter, may be produced. If then the 

 jet be attached to a stopcock, by which the gases are confined 

 in the iron voltameter for fifty-five seconds in every minute, and 

 are allowed to issue from the jet only for five seconds in each 

 minute, twelve times as much of the gases must pass through 

 the jet in these five seconds as would pass through it in the 

 same time were the stopcock always open. Hence if the gases 

 produced by the battery are ignited for five seconds in each 



