PALLADIUM. 469 



70 grains of palladium and 60 grains of potash. 

 Such quantities would have shown more decisive- 

 ly whether there was an excess of either of the 

 ingredients ; but, unfortunately, my stock of 

 palladium was inadequate to any such experi- 

 ment. 



4. The triple muriate of palladium and potash J 

 crystallized in very small needles, of a mostiadium. 

 beautiful brown colour. Dr. Wollaston describes 

 them as four-sided prisms j and says, that when 

 viewed transversely, they are of a bright green ; 

 but when seen in the direction of their axes, 

 they are dark red. In my crystals, from their 

 extreme minuteness, it was impossible to ob- 

 serve these appearances. Was the brown colour 

 owing to a mixture of the two colours described 

 by Wollaston ? 



It has an intensely astringent taste, accom- 

 panied with a perceptible sweetness. It is in- 

 soluble in alcohol, but pretty soluble in water ; 

 and the solution has a dark red colour, like that 

 of muriate of palladium. It contains very little 

 water ; for 10 grains of it, when kept 24 hours 

 upon the sand bath, in a temperature of nearly 

 600, lost only 0-12 grain of weight. When 

 heated to redness the salt melted, and I kept 10 

 grains in a state of fusion for half an hour ; the 

 loss of weight was 0*8 grain. When exposed to 

 the intense heat of a wind furnace, the palladium 

 is reduced to the metallic state ; but the tem- 



GgS 



