176 



New Phenomena in Chemistry. 



aluminum is not susceptible of amalgamation. Prof. W. 

 A. Miller, in his Inorganic Chemistry (3d edition, p. 425) 

 also says of aluminum : "It does not combine with mer- 

 cury." Yet in Watts's Dictionary of Chemistry, published 

 in London three years previous to this record in Miller, 

 we find that, "According to Caillettet (Comp. rend., 44, p. 

 1250) aluminum (also iron and platinum) may be superfi- 

 cially amalgamated by contact with ammonium or sodium 

 amalgam and water; also when immersed in acidulated 

 water, in contact with metallic mercury, forming the nega- 

 tive pole of a voltaic battery." This, published in London 

 1865, appears to ante-date the discovery by Prof. Henry 

 Wurtz of New York, of the method of amalgamating 

 aluminum with the aid of sodium amalgam (Trans. Am. 

 Inst 1867, p. 766), by some two years ; but both discoveries' 

 are obviously genuine. Again, both Miller and Watts 

 seem not to be aware of any method of combining mer- v 

 cury directly with metallic platinum, in the form of foil or 

 wire, and describe an indirect method of obtaining it, 

 by the electrolysis of chloride of platinum. Yet potassium 

 or sodium amalgam will readily effect the combination. 

 A few years since, while experimenting with the amalgams 

 of the alkaline metals, I observed that a common iron nail 

 which happened to fall into the amalgam, became coated 

 with mercury. For a time I believed myself the discoverer 

 of iron-amalgam, but on examination I have found men- 

 tion of it more than thirty years upon record. Aiken 

 (London Phil. Mag. xm, p. 416). shows that it may be 

 accomplished with the aid of zinc amalgam and a solution 

 of chloride of iron. Watts says (1. c. vol. in, p. 887), " Mer- 

 cury and iron do not unite readily. A viscid amalgam is 

 however obtained by immersing sodium amalgam, con- 

 taining one per cent of sodium, in a clear, saturated solution 

 of ferrous sulphate. Joule (Chem. Gaz., 1859, p. 339; 

 Chem. Soc. J., xvi, p. 378), has obtained amalgam of iron 



