1020 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 287. 



atomic weight of 187.5. Its chief differ- 

 ence from platinum is that when fused with 

 potassium cyanide, the melt is orange. This 

 work of Guyard's has never been confirmed. 



In 1877 Sergius Kern* announced the 

 discovery of a new metal in platinum re- 

 sidues with atomic weight of 154, to which 

 he gave the name of davyum. This has 

 not only not been confirmed but recently 

 Mallet t has gone over the whole ground 

 with great care, and has shown that in all 

 probability Kern's davyum is a mixture of 

 iridium with rhodium and a little iron. 

 Mallet obtained a residue in much the same 

 way as Kern with similar properties and 

 atomic weight, but proved it to be a mix- 

 ture. This is the more significant since 

 154 would be the anticipated atomic weight 

 of a metal lying between the lighter and 

 heavier metals of the group. 



The great influence of one of the metals 

 of this group upon the properties of another, 

 even if present in but small quantities, has 

 already been alluded to. It has been long 

 known and a very considerable series of 

 experiments on this point is described by 

 Claus. J Nevertheless it remains true that a 

 good proportion of the workers on these 

 metals have, for a time, at least, supposed 

 themselves discoverers of new elements. We 

 may say, however, that not yet is there any 

 reliable evidence of any new metal between 

 the two series, that is, with an atomic 

 weight of about 150 ; nor has there been 

 any trace of eka-manganese, with its atomic 

 weight of 100, and which some chemists 

 would expect to find resembling the plat- 

 inum metals in its properties. 



It is by no means impossible that new 



*Chem. Neios, 36 (1877), 4, 92, 114, 155, 164; 37 

 (1878), 65. 



■fAm. Chem. J., 20 (1898), 776. 



} C. Clans ; Beitrage zur Chemie der Platiume- 

 talle, Dorpat, 1854, chap. iv. Modincationen, welche 

 die ursprunglichen Keaotionen der einzelnen platin- 

 metalle durch Beimengungen der iibrigen Metalle aus 

 dieser Grnppe erfahren, p. 42. 



metals may be discovered in this group, but 

 the fact that in more than half a century, 

 no confirmed discovery of such has taken 

 place, and that had it not been for a misin- 

 terpretation of reactions by which ruthen- 

 ium was overlooked, we might say that it 

 lacked but three years of a century since a 

 new metal has been discovered, is not cal- 

 culated to give us much encouragement. 

 There does, indeed, seem, according to the 

 periodic table, to be a place for three metals 

 of atomic weight near 150, but it hardly 

 seems probable that such occur in any of 

 the known platinum ores which have been 

 so thoroughly investigated, unless it be 

 in extremely minute quantity. There is, 

 however, always the possibility of the dis- 

 covery of new platinum ores, differing in 

 character from those now known, which, 

 whether from the Ourals, or Colombia, or 

 from the Pacific coast, are approximately 

 the same in composition. 



Jas. Lewis Howe. 

 Washington and Lee Univeesity. 



( To ie concluded. ) 



TSE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



The nineteenth meeting of the Royal So- 

 ciety of Canada was held in Ottawa, Canada, 

 from May 28th to May 31st inclusive, in the 

 Assembly Hall and rooms of the Provincial 

 Normal School. Besides fellows of the 

 Society from various provinces there were 

 delegates from afi&liated societies in all 

 parts of the Dominion of Canada who re- 

 ported as to the work done by them. Eev. 

 Professor Clark, the able principal of Trinity 

 University, Toronto, delivered the annual 

 address ' On the Work of the Eoyal So- 

 ciety. ' Numerous papers bearing upon his- 

 tory, science and belles-lettres were read. 



Dr. L. 0. Howard, the eminent economic 

 entomologist from Washington, delivered a 

 most practical and admirably illustrated 

 lecture, on the evening of May 31st, His 



