[ x 5° 1 
both in the mafs, and upon the touchflone, of a 
pale bell-metal colour, without any refemblance to 
gold.. It bore feveral ftrokes, and ftretched con- 
siderably under the hammer, before it begun to crack 
about the edges. On viewing the fracture with a 
magnifying glafs, the gold and platina appeared un- 
equally mixed ; and feveral fmall particles of the lat- 
ter were feen diflinft : nor was the mixture intirely 
uniform after it had again and again been returned to 
the fire, and fuffered many hours of flrong fufion. 
2. Eighteen carats of gold and fix of platina 
(=3:1) were melted together as the foregoing, in 
an intenfe fire continued about an hour. The bead, 
nealed and boiled, was lefs pale-coloured than the 
former, but had nothing of the colour of gold. It 
forged tolerably well, like coarfe gold. To the 
naked eye it appeared uniform ; but a good magni- 
fier difcovered in this, as well as in the other, fome 
inequality of mixture, notwithftanding the fufion 
was two or three times repeated, with the ffrongefl 
degrees of heat we were capable of exciting by large 
bellows. 
3. Twenty carats of gold and four of platina 
(=5:1) were kept in flrong fufion for above an 
hour and a half. Thefe united into an equal mafs, 
in which no granule of platina, or difTimilarity of 
parts, could be diftinguifhed. The colour was flill 
fo dull and pale, that the compound could fcarcely 
be judged by the eye to contain any gold. It ham- 
mered well into a pretty thin plate j but we could 
not draw it into wire of any confiderable finenefs. 
4. Twenty-two carats of gold were melted in the 
fame manner with two of platina (=11 : 1 ) the 
7 fame 
