PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 



1842. No. 53. 



March 17, 184.2. 



SIR JOHN WILLIAM LUBBOCK, Bart., V.P. and Treas., 

 in the Chair. 



The reading of a paper, entitled " Contributions to the Chemical 

 History of the Compounds of Palladium and Platinum." By Robert 

 Kane, M.D., M.R.LA., communicated by Francis Baily, Esq., 

 V.P.R.S., was resumed and concluded. 



..3 



The author states it to be his object, in this and in some subse- 

 quent papers, to examine specially the composition and properties 

 of the compounds of palladium, platinum, and gold ; and to ascertain 

 how far they agree, and in what they differ, as to the laws of com- 

 bination to which these compounds are subjected. He commences 

 with the investigation of the compounds of palladium, employing for 

 that purpose a portion of that metal with which he was furnished by 

 the Royal Society out of the quantity bequeathed to the Society by 

 the late Dr. Wollaston. He describes the mode of obtaining the 

 protoxide of palladium, and enters into the analysis of the hydrated 

 oxide, the black suboxide, and the true basic carbonate of that metal ; 

 detailing their properties and the formulae which express their mode 

 of composition. The chlorides of palladium form the next subject of 

 inquiry ; and the author concludes from his experiments that the loss 

 of chlorine which the protochloride undergoes, when kept for some 

 time in a state of fusion at a red heat, is perfectly definite ; and also 

 that the loss represents one half of the chlorine which the salt con- 

 tains. But in the double salts formed by the protochloride of pal- 

 ladium with the chlorides of the alkaline metals, he finds that the 

 similarity of constitution usually occurring between the compounds 

 of ammonium and potassium is violated. From his analysis of the 

 oxy chloride of palladium the author concludes that it is quite ana- 

 logous to the ordinary oxychloride of copper. He then examines a 

 variety of products derived from the action of a solution of caustic 

 potash on solutions of ammonia-chlorides of potassium. Their 

 properties he finds to indicate analogies between palladium and 

 other metals, whose laws of combination are better known. The 

 sulphate, the ammonia-sulphates, the nitrates, and the ammonia-ni- 



