Mr. Chenevix's Enquiries concerning the Nature, &c. 291 
I had not proceeded very far, when I perceived that the effects 
produced by this subsance, upon the various tests, were such 
as could not be referred, in toto , to any of the known metallic 
substances. I immediately returned to Mr. Forster, and be- 
came possessed of the whole quantity which had been left in his 
hands for sale. I could not obtain any information as to its 
natural state, or any trace that might lead to a probable 
conjecture. 
The substance had been worked by art: it had been rolled 
out in flatting-mills ; and was offered for sale in specimens 
consisting of thin laminae. The largest of them were about three 
inches in length, and half an inch in breadth, weighing on the 
average 25 grs. and were sold for one guinea. The other laminae 
were smaller, in proportion to the price. 
Subjected to the same treatment as platina, to procure a po- 
lished surface, palladium assumed an appearance scarcely to be 
distinguished from that metal. The laminae were not very 
elastic, but were very flexible, and could be bent several times 
in opposite directions without breaking. The specific gravity, I 
found to differ not a little from that which is stated in the 
printed notice, and to vary considerably in different specimens. 
Some pieces of the substance were as low as 10,972, while 
others gave 1 1,482. 
The effects of Galvanic electricity upon palladium, were the 
same as upon gold and silver. Nooxidizement of the substance 
took place ; but oxygen gas was emitted, during the whole time 
it formed a part of the Galvanic circle in action. 
A lamina of this substance being exposed to the blowpipe, the 
side removed from the immediate action of the flame became 
blue; but the temperature at which this colour was produced, 
