ANALYSIS OF A CHINESE GONG. 3Q7 



brain, without directly acting on the circulation. In other 

 words, its effects are similar to those of alcohol, the juice of 

 aconite, atid the essential oil of almonds. 



(To he concluded in our next.) 



XII. 



Analysis of a Chinese Gong-gong : by Mr. Klaproth*. 



-t^LMONG sonorous instruments the composition of cop- Sonorousness 

 per with tin gives the loudest sound. Bells, we know, are o^ *^ell metal. 

 composed of this alloy. The celebrated bell of Pekin, the 

 largest in the World, which is twenty feet in diameter, and 

 sixteen inches thick, is no doubt cast of it. 



The Chinese frequently use another kind of bells too. The Chinese 

 which are not cast, but hammered out. These instruments, 8o"g« 

 called gongs\, are not shaped like a common bell, but like a 

 shield with the edge turned up: and give an astonishing 

 sound when struck; Barrow, in his voyage to China, says 

 of these instruments; that they are like flat pots, or rather 

 potlids; that they are struck with a stick wrapped round 

 with leather ; and that they are supposed to be formed of 

 copper, tin, and bismuth. 



The thickness of this alloy is about that of the back of a Analysis of it. 

 knife; its colour is a bronze yellow; and its spec. grav. 8*815. 



A hiindred and tifty grains were heated with nitric acid ; 

 and 42 grs of oxide of tin separated; answering to«33 grs of 

 metallic tju. 



Into the filtered liquor sulphuric acid was pOured, and 

 the mixture was evaporated to dryness. The residuum being 

 dissolved in water, iron precipitated from it 117 g's of copper. 



The gong therefore is composed of Copper 78 Itscomposi- 



Tin 22 ''°"' 



100. 

 The property of emitting a sound that can be heard so far Cause of its 

 depends ou the mutual penetration of the metals, and the ^o^''^ ^°"f^'^- 

 greater density of the alloy, which is farther increased by 

 hammering. Perhaps too the form of the instalment con- 

 tributes to this. 



t Ann. de Chim. vol LXXV, p. 322. 

 f Tskaungf in the Chinese language, signifies a bell. 



X 2 XII. 



