n6 Mr. Chenevix on the Action of 
The observation of any new fact becomes a matter of general 
concern, and truly worthy of philosophic contemplation, then 
only, when its influence is likely to be extended beyond the 
single instance to which it owes its discovery. Whether water 
were a simple body or a compound could have been of little 
importance as an insulated fact ; but, connected with the vast 
chain of reasoning it gave rise to, it opened a new field for 
genius to explore. If in the present case our researches were 
to be confined merely to ascertaining whether palladium were 
a simple metal or a compound, all the advantages likely to 
arise from the facts observed during the inquiry would be lost ; 
and an object of the most comprehensive interest would thus 
sink into a controversy concerning the existence of one more 
of those substances, which we have dignified with the name of 
elements. It was in this point of view that Mess. Richter and 
Ritter considered the subject as far as they went, and a few 
facts are stated in my first Paper in support of the opinion, that 
palladium is but a particular instance of a general truth. 
By taking the reasoning on this subject then, in its widest 
extent, we shall be led, I think, to the following conclusion : 
That metals may exercise an action upon each other, even in 
their metallic state, capable of so altering some of their prin- 
cipal properties as to render the presence of one or more of 
them not to be detected by the usual methods. In this is con- 
tained the possibility of a compound metal appearing to be 
simple ; but to prove this must be a work of great time and 
perseverance; and can only be done by considering singly 
and successively the different cases which it contains, and by 
instituting experiments upon each. When an affinity which 
unites two bodies, and so blends their different properties as to 
