214 M. Stromei/eron IVodan- Pyrites. [Sept. 



6*006 weight of an atom of sodium. Hence 1 atom of sodium 

 = 6-006. 



Whatever be the state of oxidation of soda, the peroxide of 

 sodium must be the next gieater, for there can be no interme- 

 diate one between two and three atoms. 



(To be continued.) 



Article VII. 



Chemical Examination of Wodaii-Pt/rites.^' By M. Stromeyer,. 

 Professor of Chemistry in Gottingen. 



M. Stromeyer laid before the Royal Society of Gottingen,. 

 in a meeting held on March 16, 1820, the result of his experi- 

 ments on the wodan-pyritcs from Topschau, in Hungary. It is 

 known tliat Mine-commissioner Lampadius, of Freiberg, detected 

 a new metal in this ore, differing as much from nickel as tellu- 

 rium does from antimony, and to which he has given the name 

 of 7vodaiiia?n. In consequence of this discovery, Mr. Inspector 

 Breithaupt, of Freiberg, has been induced to give to this ore the 

 name of u-odan-pi/iites. According to the experiments of 

 Lampadius, it contains 20 per cent, of the new metal. Its other 

 constituents are sulphur, arsenic, iron, and nickel, but no cobalt 

 can be detected in it though it passes in Hungary for an ore of 

 cobalt. 



Through the goodness of Professor Monteiro, of Coimbra, M. 

 Stromeyer had the good fortune to obtain a specimen of this 

 very rare mineral, vt'hich this distinguished mineralogist received 

 in a present from Lampadius himself during his residence at 

 Freiberg. He saciificed his specimen to a chemical analysis, 

 in order that by some ilnlher experiments the chemical proper- 

 ties of the new metallic substance detected in it by the Freiberg 

 chemist might be more accurately known. 



Though i\I. Stromeyer conducted his experiments with every 

 possible care and attention, he was unable to discover in this ore 

 a new metal possessing properties different from those of nickel,, 

 and distinguishing wodan-pyrites from other bodies. As there 

 can be no doubt thai: the ore which he examined is the very 

 same in whic'.i Lampadius detected his wodainnm, it seems to 

 follow as a consequence that wodanium must be placed in the 

 same rank with niccolantan and vesfiitm, two supposed metals^ 

 the existence of which was afterwards disproved. 



In other respects this ore differs in its composition from all 

 known ores of nickel. The discovery of it, therefore, though it 



• Traiislattd from Gilbert's Ar.n;ilcn der PInsik, Ixiv. 333, for March, 18S0. 



