C io4 3 
V. On the Action of Platina and Mercury upon each other . By 
Richard Chenevix, Esq. F. R. S. M. R. I. A. &c. 
Read January 10, 1805. 
Freyberg, June 3d, 1804. 
o n the 12th of May, 1803 , 1 had the honour of presenting a 
Paper to the Royal Society, the object of which was to discover 
the nature of palladium, a substance just then announced to 
the public as a new simple metal. The experiments which I 
had made for this purpose led me to conclude that palladium 
was not what it had been stated to be, but that it was a com- 
pound of platina and mercury. 
It was natural to suppose that a subject so likely to spread 
its influence throughout the whole domain of chemistry, and 
which tended even to the subversion of some of its elements, 
would awaken the attention of philosophers. We find accord- 
ingly, that it has become a subject of enquiry in England, 
France, and Germany ; but the experiments which I had re- 
commended as the least likely to fail, have been found insuf- 
ficient to insure the principal result ; and I have had the 
mortification to learn that they have been generally unsuc- 
cessful. I have even reason to believe that the nature of 
palladium is still considered by chemists, at least with a very 
few exceptions, as unascertained ; and that the fixation of 
mercury by platina is by many regarded as visionary. 
The first doubts were manifested in England ; and Dr. 
