PEOFESSOE B. C. BEODIE ON THE ATOMIC WEIGHT OF GEAPHITE. 
259 
assume the atomic weight of graphite as 33, we have for the product of the specific 
heat into the atomic weight the number 6*6, which is according to the law ; this product 
being the same as the product of the specific heats into the atomic weights of the 
elements phosphorus, antimony, arsenic, bismuth, and iodine. 
This form of carbon should be characterized by a name marking it as a distinct 
element. I propose to term it Graphon. 
In the formulae assigned by Buff and Wohlee to the compounds of silicon, the 
atomic weight has been assumed as 21. If the atomic weight of silicon be assumed as 
28, these relations no longer appear; the atomic weight of graphite must be assumed as 
44, and the product of the specific heat into the atomic weight would be 8*8. We are 
thus enabled to decide upon the atomic weight of the graphitoidal silicon. It is greatly 
to be regretted that those chemists who have had a sufficient quantity of this substance 
in their possession have omitted to determine its specific heat. There is much reason 
to believe that in its other forms silicon, like carbon, has a distinct atomic weight. The 
vapour-density of the chloride of silicon leads us to the weight 28 ; and it is worthy of 
remark, that the atomic weight 44, which in the system of carbon corresponds to the 
weight 28 of silicon, would, assumed as the atomic weight of diamond, render its specific 
heat conformable to the law, since 44 x ■147=6*46. The relation is also singular which 
exists between the atomic weight of graphon and the atomic weights of the elements 
boron, silicon, and zircon, it being precisely the kind of numerical relation which exists 
between the weights of analogous elements. 
Boron 11 
Silicon 21 
Graphon 33 
Zircon 66 
The weight 21 of silicon must be considered as still open to correction. The results 
arrived at by Deville*, from the oxidation of graphitoidal silicon, indicate a higher 
number. 
Finally, these considerations lead us to the remarkable inference that carbon in the 
form of graphite functions as a distinct element ; that it forms a distinct system of com- 
binations, into which it enters with a distinct atomic weight, the weight 33. Analogy 
would lead us to a similar conclusion with regard to the elements boron and silicon. 
How far this inference is to be extended to the allotropic forms of other elements expe- 
riment alone can decide. 
* Deville obtained from 100 parts, 205*3 of silica. Calculated from these numbers, the atomic weight of 
silicon would be 22*7, approximating to the former atomic weight of Beezelivs, 22*5. The subject requires 
further investigation. 
