PROCEEDINGS. 
505 
oxides, singly or in combination, and then burning away the fabric, leav¬ 
ing the shell of refractory matter as the incandescent, which is illuminated 
by burning gas within the same by means of a small Bunsen cylinder. A 
specimen lamp was operated and exhibited. 
Trans-Mississippi Rainfall, by Mr. A. W. Greely. 
Note on the Formation of Alloys, by Mr. William Hallock. 
[Abstract.] 
In the Berichte der. Chemischen Gesellschaft, vol. XV, 1882, pp. 595-7, W. 
Spring describes the formation of alloys by submitting the tilings of the 
constituent metals to high pressure without appreciable rise in temperature. 
Wood’s alloy of cadmium, tin, lead, and bismuth he produced by mixing 
the proper weights of the tilings of these metals and subjecting them to 
7,000 atmospheres pressure. The block thus obtained was again tiled up 
and subjected to the same pressure. In this way a block of metal was pro¬ 
duced which possessed the physical properties of ordinary Wood’s alloy 
formed by melting the mixed constituents. 
W. Chandler Roberts repeated this experiment [ Chemical News , vol. 
XLV, 1882, p. 231] and verified Mr. Spring’s results. 
In seeking an explanation of the above phenomenon satisfactory to 
myself, I reasoned that if at any time during the first compression, the 
subsequent filing, or the second compression, anywhere throughout the 
mass the constituent metals were in contact, that at that point there 
would be a minute globule of the alloy—a molecule of the alloy, as it were- 
If now the temperature of the block, either during compression or subse¬ 
quently, be raised to 70° C., then that molecule of alloy will fuse and act 
as a solvent upon the surrounding metals till the whole mass is fused. 
If my idea was correct I concluded that perhaps I could produce the 
result without pressure, giving more time and an appropriate temperature 
to the substance. The filed metals in the proper proportions (1 Sn, 1 Cd, 
2 Pb, 4 Bi.) were mixed and packed into the bottom of a “ sealed tube,” 
such as is used in blowpipe w T ork, using no greater pressure than could be 
conveniently exerted with a piece of wire g-inch diameter held between 
the thumb and finger. This tube was hung in the water bath of the 
laboratory over night (eighteen hours), thus maintaining it at a tempera¬ 
ture of 98° C. or 100° C. On examination the filings had settled down 
considerably; the tube was then struck upon the table, jarring them 
down still more, and in an hour or two the whole was a molten globule. 
The experiment was repeated, using larger quantities, packed in with 
a lead pencil, and occasionally pressing the mass together with the pencil, 
producing 20 or 30 grains of alloy. Since then tin and lead have been 
fused together at 200° C., tin melting only at 230° C.; also sodium and 
potassium at ordinary temperatures (20° C.), the first melting at about 90° 
C., and the latter at about 60° C. 
G5—Bull. Phil. Soc., Wash., Vol. 11. 
