PLATINUM. 459 



order to squeeze out all the uncombined mer- 

 cury. I obtained a solid brittle amalgam, having 

 the colour of mercury, a granular texture, and a 

 brittle consistency. 61 grains of this amalgam 

 were exposed to a heat at first moderate, but 

 gradually raised as much as possible in a wind 

 furnace, and kept up for half an hour. The 

 loss of weight sustained was 24'9 grains, and 

 there remained 36-1 grains of platinum appa- 

 rently pure. Now, 4*9 is very nearly 25, which 

 denotes the atomic weight of mercury ; and 36*1 

 is also exceedingly near 36 = 3 atoms of pla- 

 tinum. It is obvious from this, that the amal- 

 gam was a compound of 



3 atoms platinum 36 

 1 atom mercury 25 



61 



Conceiving that by allowing the fluid amalgam 

 of platinum to crystallize, I should probably ob- 

 tain a compound of the two metals in a different 

 proportion, I placed a quantity of the fluid amal- 

 gam on an inclined plane, and when it had be- 

 come solid by the running off of the superfluous 

 mercury, I analyzed it in the way just described, 

 and found its constituents to be 



Platinum 12 

 Mercury 35*3 



