2 66 Mr. Stodart and Mr. Faraday 
touched by the acid ; and which, when washed and carefully 
dried, is found, when heated, to be deflagrating ; and with 
some of the metals, when carefully prepared, strongly ex- 
plosive. 
The fulminating preparation obtained from the platina 
alloy, when dissolved in nitro-muriatic acid, gave a solution 
containing much platina, and very little iron. When a little 
of it was wrapped in foil and heated, it exploded with much 
force, tearing open the foil, and evolving a faint light. When 
dropped on the surface of heated mercury, it exploded readily 
at 4,00° of Fahrenheit, but with difficulty at 370°. When its 
temperature w'as raised slowly, it did not explode, but was 
decomposed quietly. When detonated in the bottom of a hot 
glass tube, much water and fume were given off, and the 
residuum collected was metallic platina with a very little iron 
and charcoal. We are uncertain how far this preparation 
resembles the fulminating platina of Mr. Edmund Davy. 
In these alloys of steel the differences of specific gravity 
are not great, and may probably be in part referred to the 
denser state of the metals from more or less hammering ; at 
the same time it may be observed, that they are nearly in the 
order of the specific gravities of the respective alloying 
metals. 
The alloys of steel with gold, tin, copper, and chromium, 
we have not attempted in the large way. In the laboratory, 
steel and gold were combined in various proportions ; none of 
the results were so promising as the alloys already named, 
nor did either tin or copper, as far as we could judge, at all 
improve steel. With titanium we failed, owing to the imper- 
fection of crucibles. In one instance, in which the fused 
