Tin and Iron with descriptions of some new Alloys. 467 



tion of iron alloy or bottom with the ratio 4 : 1 and in a fourth 

 one the alloy had the ratio of 1 : 1 though the bottom 

 amounted to over 33 per cent of the weight of the regulus. 

 An examination of the ratios of the alloys yielded by the 

 different reguluses shows that the presence of an iron bottom 

 does not necessitate the lowest ratios for the tin ; for in such 

 cases we have the ratios 100, 1*20, 1"25, 1'33, and 1*5 nor does 

 its absence indicate the highest ratios ; for in such cases we 

 have the same ratios as before, — still, in a general way, those 

 reguluses having an iron bottom yield alloys with lower ratios 

 than those which have none, but the difference is neither de- 

 cided enough, nor sufficiently constant to justify the conclu- 

 sion that they are end-products of a series of decompositions, 

 with successive eliminations of tin and consequent enrichment 

 of iron in the alloy. The ratio of the alloy depends upon the 

 ratio of the iron to the tin in the mass rather than upon any 

 possible decomposition. 



Some experiments were made with the object of building 

 up the series from the lowest to the highest ratio with the 

 following lesults. A quantity of dross containing the alloy 

 FeSn was fused with one and a fourth times its weight of 

 bar tin and the principal portion of the resulting alloy had 

 the ratio of 1/25 but further changes also took place as indi- 

 cated by such ratios as 1'33 and 1'66 obtained for smaller por- 

 tions of alloys. When the atomic ratio of the iron to tin in 

 the mixture was made as 1:6 the ratio of the alloy was 

 changed from 1 : 1 to 1 : l - 33 and the same result was obtained 

 when the tin in the mixture was increased so that the atomic 

 ratio of the Fe : Sn was as 1 : 18. When I used the alloy 

 Fe 4 Sn 5 and the atomic ratio of the mixture was made 1 : 25, 

 the ratio of the alloy was changed from L : l - 25 to 1 : l - 33 ; 

 the same result was obtained by using the alloy FeSn and 

 making the atomic ratio of the mixture 1 : 41, i. e. the ratio 

 of the alloy was raised from 1 : 1 to 1 : 1"33 ; using the same 

 alloy and making the ratio of the mixture 1 : 98 a mixed 

 result was obtained the ratio was raised in part to 1*25 but 

 principally to 2 but when the atomic ratio of the mixture was 

 made 1 : 124 the ratio of the alloy, insoluble in hydric nitrate 

 always understood was raised from 1:1 to 1:2. Equally 

 satisfactory results were obtained when I used reduced iron 

 " Ferrum reductum," instead of the alloys so long as I ob- 

 served the ratios in the mixture, showing that the use of the 

 alloy had no influence upon the result of the reaction. 



It is evident that the ratio of Fe : Sn in the mixture has a 

 determining influence upon the resulting alloy, also that the 

 limits of this ratio for some of the alloys is quite wide espe- 

 cially for the alloys Fe 3 Sn 4 and Fe 4 Sn B but it seems that the 

 formation of others is confined to narrow limits or peculiar 



