468 GOLD, PLATINUM, PALLADIUM, &C. 



As palladium forms only one oxide, we may 

 consider it as a compound of 1 atom metal and 

 1 atom oxygen. Now, 



14-209 (the oxygen which united with the metal) : 100 

 (the weight of metal) : : 1 (atomic weight of oxygen) : 

 7*038 = atomic weight of palladium. 



S , ulp ^ ur , e . t He informs us likewise, that 100 parts of pal- 



of palladi- 

 um, ladium, when converted into sulphuret, combine 



with 28*15 parts of sulphur. If we consider the 

 sulphuret thus formed as a compound of 1 atom 

 metal and 1 atom sulphur, we obtain 7' 104 for 

 the atomic weight of palladium ; for 



28-15 : 100 : : 2 (atom of sulphuret) : 7'104. * 



These two separate estimates of the atomic 

 weight of palladium approach so nearly to 7, 

 that I was led from them to consider 7 as the 

 true atomic weight of this metal. It was this 

 that induced me to make choice of 7 grains of 

 palladium, and to add to the muriatic solution 6 

 grains of potash, both of these quantities being 

 equivalent to the atomic weight of these bodies. 

 The result of the experiment shows that the 

 opinion was correct, or very nearly so, and au- 

 thorizes us to make choice of 7 as the true ato- 

 mic weight of palladium. It would have been 

 desirable to have made the experiment upon a 

 larger scale to have employed, for example, 



* Essai sur la Tlieorie des Proportions Chimiques, p. 137. 



