2Q2 Mr. Chenevix’s Enquiries concerning the Nature 
exceeded that at which steel begins to lose the tinge it had 
received at a lower heat. 
I exposed palladium, in an open vessel, to a greater degree of 
heat than that which can melt gold. No- oxidizement ensued; 
and, although the metallic slip was extremely thin, no appear- 
ance of fusion took place, even at the edges or corners. Upon 
increasing the fire considerably, I obtained a melted button ; 
but I cannot estimate the degree at which the fusion was 
effected. 
The button, by this treatment, had lost a little of its absolute 
weight; but its specific gravity had increased from 10,972 to 
11,871. It was of a grayish-white. Its hardness was rather 
superior to that of wrought iron. By the file, it acquired the 
colour and brilliancy of platina. It was malleable to a great 
degree. Its fracture was fibrous, and in diverging striae, which 
seemed to be composed of crystals; the surface of the button 
also, when seen through a lens, appeared to be crystallized. 
Palladium very readily combines with sulphur. I exposed a 
certain quantity of it to a violent heat, without being able to 
melt it; and, at that elevated temperature, threw some sulphur 
upon it. It immediately entered into fusion, and remained in 
that state until the redness of the crucible was hardly visible in 
the daylight. The increase of weight in the button of the sul~ 
phuret, was such as could not indicate with exactness the 
proportion of sulphur combined with it; and I was so limited 
in the quantity of palladium I could obtain on any terms, that I 
thought it prudent to reserve as much as possible for the inves- 
tigation off more important properties. Sulphuret of palladium 
is rather whiter than the substance itself, and is extremely brittle. 
Palladium, melted in a charcoal crucible, and kept in fusion 
