Brass* 
119 
It is seen, therefore, that alloys of zinc are not so advan- 
tageous as some have imagined ; and those who propose 
them have neither consulted chemistry nor practice. Be- 
fore they were presented to government for its sanction, it 
was necessary to subject these alloys to the test of chemi- 
cal agents : and this the author has not omitted. 
1st, A plate of the alloy in question being brought into 
contact with vinegar, the latter contracted a very disagree- 
able metallic taste at the end of a day : on the third day, 
without being sweet, astringent, or bitter, it occasioned in 
the throat a very uneasy and disgusting sensation, and no 
doubt a small dose of it would have excited vomiting. 
2d, A plate of the same alloy, of four inches 5 sur- 
face, boiled half an hour in vinegar, lost 16 grains of its 
weight. 
3d, Vinegar being boiled in a vessel tinned with the 
same alloy, acquired the same taste as No. 1. 
4th, A plate of the same alloy, exposed cold in dis- 
tilled vinegar, exhibited the same phenomena as No. 1 
and 3. This solution, when attentively examined, did 
not exhibit an atom of tin. 
All these facts, which confirm those of the French ac » 
cademicians, prove that zinc is a metal exceedingly solu- 
ble in vinegar, very easily altered, and that solutions of 
it having been found noxious, it ought to be proscribed 
from our kitchens. 
The subject of the third paragraph is the project of M. 
Doucet, who in 1778 presented to the Academy of Sci- 
ences at Paris a bar and pan made with a mixture of his 
invention. It was examined by Macquer and Montigni, 
who made a report on it. These two chemists, having 
more experience than Hellot and Geoffrey, analyzed it 
chemically, and, having soon found that it had its incon- 
veniences, it was rejected. 
