HYDROGEETUM. 



345 



King and the nation. To this Diet belongs the glory 

 of having put an end to the political uncertainty 

 which has benumbed the noblest forces of the na- 

 tion. Mutual friendship and esteem have taken the 

 place of the political struggles between the two states 

 of our monarchy. Both states of the Austro-Hun- 

 garian monarchy, by means of their constitutional 

 and parliamentary governmentj arrange their own 

 affairs independently; while in those important 

 questions which concern the common affairs of the 

 monarchy, as stipulated by mutual consent, ^ each of 

 them exercises in the same measure its constitutional 

 influence. The monarchy, having sought and found 

 its centre of gravity within itself, progresses with 

 renewed vigor on the .new path, the goal of which is 

 peace and prosperity, as well as the maintenance of 

 that position which the monarchy is called upon to 

 occupy among the states of Europe. Thus the source 

 from which came the evils of the past is stopped, 

 and over it Hungarian loyalty, patriotism, and moder- 

 ation have raised a lasting monument, on which 

 history has inscribed a long list of great and salu- 

 tary achievements. Having been solemnly crowned 

 with the crown of St. Stephen ; inherited from my 

 ancestors, the Hungarian Constitution has become a 

 full reality ; we have reestablished the ancient honor 

 and weight of the title of the king of Hungary, and 

 we feel that by this our empire has not only not been 

 Iveakened, but, on the contrary, has only regained 

 its old basis and strength. We have, therefore, 

 adopted, with regard to foreign countries, a title for 

 our empire which is in conformity with the laws and 

 the facts. A political compromise on the basis of 

 equity and of common interests has been effected 

 with Croatia and Slavonia, which renews the link 

 which has existed for centuries in weal and woe be- 

 tween the two sister nations. We hope confidently 

 that this alliance will unite again, in devotion to my 

 house and to the common country, the Hungarian 

 and Croatian nations for centuries to come. The 

 union of Hungary and Transylvania has become an 

 accomplished fact. Thus the integrity of the empire 

 of St. Stephen has been restored in a way in which 

 it has not existed for the last three hundred years. 

 One of the guarantees of the integrity, both of the 

 Hungarian crown .and of our empire, is the new army 

 organization. Moved by confidence, and judging 

 with deep wisdom, you have recognized the necessity 

 of a common army, and thus the defensive force 

 which is to protect the development of the monarchy 

 has" been 1 created. 



Immediately after the close of the Diet, the 

 preparations for the elections began. Manifes- 

 toes to the people were issued by Deak in be- 

 half of the Government party, and by G-hyozy 

 and Tirsa, the leaders of the Left. The main 

 points of the political programme of the Left 

 are: the abolition of meetings of delegations 

 from Hungary and Austria Proper, the estab- 

 lishment of a Hungarian Ministry of War, and, 

 finally, the reduction of the union of Hungary 

 with Austria to a merely personal union, such 

 as exists between Sweden and Norway. The 

 extreme Left, which, in the Diet of 1868, com- 

 prised only a few members, would, if possible, 

 sever the connection of Hungary with Austria 

 altogether. The law of 1848 says, that, at the 

 latest, 20 days after the publication of the writ, 

 the counties and towns are to meet in assem- 

 bly and choose a central committee, which is 

 to have the whole management of the elec- 

 tions for all the electoral districts situated in 

 the county or town. In this committee all the 

 electoral districts are to be represented in fair 

 proportion, as well as the villages and commu- 



nities situated in them. This committee, which 

 sometimes consists of as many as 200 and more 

 members, must constitute itself within a week 

 after its election, and then select a committee 

 of three members to make out the lists of elec- 

 tors. It decides the day on which the lists are 

 to be opened, and sits for a fortnight after to 

 allow time for reclamations and for the verifi- 

 cation of the lists. Having completed this, the 

 lists are presented to the central committee, 

 when, again, during a fortnight, reclamations 

 and objections may be made. The proceedings 

 of both these bodies are public. The House of 

 Deputies consists of 88 members for cities, 289 

 for comitats and districts, and 32 for sees. 



HYDROGENIUM, THE SUPPOSED METALLIC 

 BASE OF HYDKOGEN. In a paper read before 

 the Royal Society, Mr. Thomas Graham, Master 

 of the Mint, gives some interesting conclusions 

 arrived at after a long investigation of the re- 

 lation of hydrogen to palladium. (For some 

 details of his earlier experiments on this sub- 

 ject, see CHEMISTRY.) 



It has often been maintained on chemical 

 grounds that hydrogen gas is the vapor of a 

 highly volatile metal; and the proposition 

 which Mr. Graham sought to demonstrate was, 

 that a true alloy could be formed between that 

 metal (designated by the experimenter, or dis- 

 coverer if he might so be called, as " hydroge- 

 nium") and some other metal in which hydro- 

 gen gas is readily occluded in large volumes, 

 as, for instance, palladium, which was the 

 metal chosen for making the test. The de- 

 tails of charging the palladium wire with hy- 

 drogen need not be described any further than 

 to say that every precaution was taken to in- 

 sure accuracy of measurement. The original 

 length of the wire exposed was 23.982 inches 

 and its weight 1.6832 grammes. It received a 

 charge of hydrogen amounting to 0.936 times 

 its volume, and weighing 0.01147 grammes. 

 When the gas was ultimately expelled, the 

 loss, as ascertained by direct weighing, was 

 0.01164 grammes. The wire, when charged, 

 showed an increase in length of 0.385 of an 

 inch. The increase in linear dimensions was 

 from 100 to 101.605 ; and in cubic capacity 

 assuming the expansion to be in all directions, 

 from 100 to 104.908. Supposing the two met- 

 als united without any change of volume, the 

 alloy may then be said to be composed of 



By volume. 



Palladium 100 or 95.32 



Hydrogenium 4.908 or 4.68 



104.903 100. 



The density of hydrogenium, ascertained by 

 this experiment, was 1.Y08 ; but a second ex- 

 periment gave it at 1.898, and a third at 1.977. 

 It was necessary to assume that the two metals 

 remain of their proper volume in uniting, in ac- 

 cordance with the generaLrule that metals, in 

 the formation of alloys, retain approximately 

 their original densities. In the first experiment, 

 Mr. Graham considers it probable that the 



