Alter the cup hud been used for the other liquids, its sur- 
ly.ee Mcis 1 uhbecl with sodium iuruilgciivi mid washed with clean 
mercury. A few strips of similarly prepared platinum foil 
being bent ov er the edge and pressed close to the sides of the 
cup, the mercury could lie handled similarly to the other li- 
quids. 
The following table shows : 
1 . The liquids examined ; 
2. The number of drops which were w eighed ; 
<>. The weights found ; 
T. The mean weights of single drops ; 
5. the observed specific gravity at the given temperature; 
(i. The relative sizes of single drops'. 
the experimental numbers obtained are given w ithout omis- 
sion. 1 hey arc arranged after experiment in the order of 
magnitude oi the relative drop sizes. 
the consequent diminution of the gaseous film between the two metals 
and the consequent excess in the superior pressure of the air. This 
however cannot be the true explanation, because it is found that, the 
perfect contact between the two or wetting, takes place equally well in 
an atmosphere of nitrogen, of carbonic acid and in vacuo. Hence, if I 
may venture upon a guess, unsupported by direct experimental evi- 
dence, I should be rather disposed to assign (he action to the effect of 
nascent hydrogen due to the action of the sodium upon traces of moi- 
sture Perhaps even the least oxidizable metals may be coated wi'h a 
thin film of oxide which is reduced by the nascent hydrogen at the same 
moment that the mercury is presented to the reduced metal. It i* 
found that iron, copper, bismuth and antimony are also wetied by mer- 
cury if their surfaces are first touched with sodium amalgam. Not 
onlv do the latter metals lose this power on being heated (as we might 
expect in consequence of their superficial oxidation) but platinum, from 
which the adhering 'mercury film has been wiped by the cleanest cloth 
or from which it has been diiver. by heat, also loses the power. The 
surface of clean platinum condenses, it is supposed a film of the oxy- 
gen ; and the removal of this might alter the adhesion between the 
mercury and platinum. But such a film could scarcely exist in vacuo 
or in another ga^- 
