80 



METALS. 



Metals. When the cadmium does not exceed the one-hun- 

 N "'"V" 1/ dredth part of the copper, the latter is rendered very 

 brittle. As however the cadmium is expelled by the 

 application of heat to the alloy of these metals, there is 

 no danger of brass made with the substances which 

 contain cadmium being injured by the presence of the 

 latter metal. 



The alloy with mercury. Cadmium combines with 

 mercury with great facility, and forms a hard brittle 

 alloy, fusible at 16'7. It is composed of 

 100 mercury, 

 27.78 cadmium. 



The all y with platinum is composed of 

 100 platinum, 

 11 1.3 cadmium. 

 The alloy with cobalt is brittle, and not easily fusod. 



Jf'odaniitm. 



Woda- Lampadius, when examining a mineral, supposed to 



nium. contain cobalt, discovered in it a new metal, to which 



he has given the name of wodanium. The mineral in 



which this was found, has a metallic lustre, and a 



greyish colour: its specific gravity was 5.192. 



Wodanium has a bronze yellow colour ; it is mallea- 

 ble, and strongly attracted by the magnet. Its specific 

 gravity is 11.47- 



W lien exposed to the air it is not tarnished; when 

 subjected to heat in contact with the air it is oxidated. 



Nitric acid acts on wodanium, and forms a solution 

 which affords colourless needle-formed crystals, which 

 are very soluble in water. By the addition of ammo- 

 nia to the solution of a salt of wodanium, a blue preci- 

 pitate is thrown down. The alkaline phosphates and 

 the arseniates do not afford any precipitate. 



Prussiate of potassa throws down a pearl-grey preci- 

 pitate. 



A piece of zinc, immersed in the solution of the mu- 

 riate, precipitates a black metallic powder. 



The infusion of nut-galls does not cause any change 

 when added to a solution of a salt of wodanium. 



Veslium, or Sirium. 



Vesthim or According to Dr. Vest, there exists in the cobalt ore 

 of Schladming, in Upper Steiermark, a peculiar me- 

 tal, to which. the name of Vestium has been given. 



To procure this metal, the ore. after being freed from 

 its impurities, was mixed with powdered glass, and 

 fused ; what remained was digested in nitric acid, and 

 the arsenic which was dissolved, was separated by the 

 addition of acetate of lead and sulphuretted hydrogen. 

 Carbonate of potassa was then added, which threw 

 down the oxide of iron. By evaporating the filtered 

 fluid, a flaky substance was separated, which was a salt 

 of vestium. By the addition of potassa to the fluid af- 

 ter nitration, a precipitate fell, which was dissolved 

 in sulphuric acid. To the solution, sulphate of potassa 

 was added, and another portion of the flaky matter was 

 deposited, mixed with a salt of nickel. These were 

 separated in a great measure by washing. To obtain 

 the salt of vestium pure, the matter deposited was mixed 

 with sulphate of potassa, dissolved in water, and crys- 

 tallized. What was obtained, was boiled in a solution 

 of carbonate of potassa, by which a precipitate was 

 thrown down. This was dissolved in nitric acid, the 

 solution was evaporated to dryness, and the residue, 

 after being exposed to a red heat, was washed with cold 

 muriatic acid, and then dissolved in that acid at a boil- 

 ing temperature. By the addition of potassa to the so- 



Sirium. 



lution, the oxide of vestium was precipitated frer, as 

 Dr. Vest imagines, from the other substances contained 

 in the ore. By mixing the oxide with arsenic, and ex- 

 posing it to heat, it was reduced, leaving a metallic 

 button, which was brittle, and had a granular tex- 

 ture. 



Oxide of vestium is soluble in nitric, sulphuric, muri- 

 atic, and acetic acids. The salts formed are soluble in 

 water. The solutions on evaporation afford crystals, 

 which, when acted on by water, deposit the oxide. 



Sulphuretted hydrogen, when added to a solution 

 of a salt of vestium, throws down a reddish-brown pre- 

 cipitate, provided there is not an excess of acid pre- 

 sent; if there be a superabundance of acid, no change 

 takes place on the addition of sulphuretted hydrogen. 



The alkalies afford precipitates with the solutions of 

 'he salts of vestium ; that thrown down by ammonia 

 is soluble in an excess of the alkali. The carbon.-ite of 

 potaesa and of soda precipitate a carbonate of vestium. 

 Carbonate of ammonia separates a white powder from 

 the muriate, but scarcely effects any change on the sul- 

 phate. 



Sub-borate of soda does not afford any precipitate 

 with a diluted solution of a salt of vestium. 



The phosphate, oxalate, and prussiate of the alkalies, 

 throw down white precipitates. 



Lime-water, and the infusion of nut-galls, also preci- 

 pitate a white powder. The same occurs when a piece 

 of zinc is immersed in a solution of a salt of vestium. 



Such are the properties ascribed to vestium. The 

 existence of this as a distinct metal, has, however, been 

 called in question by Dr. Wollaston, and Mr. Farraday, 

 chemical assistant in the Royal Institution of London, 

 to whom a small piece of the metal called vestium was 

 sent for examination. 



Mr. Farraday dissolved the metal in warm nitric acid. 

 The solution, on the addition of nitrate of baryta, yield- 

 ed a precipitate of sulphate of baryta. Ammonia add- 

 ed to the solution, afforded oxide of iron. The fluid, 

 after filtration, was of a bluish colour, and afforded, 

 with prussiate potassa, a white precipitate. These ex- 

 periments indicate the presence of sulphur, iron, and 

 nickel ; the first of which was acidified by the nitric 

 acid, and yielded the precipitate of sulphate of ba- 

 ryta. 



By the action of nitric acid on the metal, a blackish 

 substance was left undissolved, which, according to the 

 experiments of Mr. Farraday, contained an arseniate, 

 for when dissolved in an acid, it gave a yellow precipi- 

 tate with nitrate of silver, and a greenish one with the 

 sulphate of copper. 



With the above results, the experiments of Dr. Wol- 

 laston agree. These chemists, therefore, assert, that the 

 substance considered by Dr. Vest as a new metal, is 

 merely a combination of sulphur, iron, nickel, and ar- 

 senic, and also cobalt, which was indicated in their ex- 

 periments. 



The principal circumstance that led Dr. Vest to pro- 

 nounce the substance which he obtained from the co- 

 balt ore of Schladming, a new metal, was its not being 

 precipitated from its solution by sulphuretted hydro- 

 gen, when an excess of acid was present, but being 

 thrown down when the solution was neutral. This, 

 however, is the case with nickel. 



If a new metal, therefore, do exist in the ore of 

 Schladming, Dr. Vest does not seem to have procured 

 it free from the other bodies contained in the ore, nic- 

 kel, arsenic, and cobalt. 



Metal*. 



