1805.] 
prefumable, in which the feparated metal 
is allowed to coo] ; hence the cryftalliza- 
tion that occupies the pits and cells found 
in and upon the under or rounded furface 
of the wootz cakes. 
The want of homogeneity, and folidity 
in almoft every cake of wootz, feems ‘to be 
the confequence of the want of heat, fince 
the hardeit cakes, i, e. thofe which form 
the moft fufible fteel, are always the moft 
folid and homogeneous. On tke contrary, 
thofe cakes, into which the cutting chiffel 
moft eafily finds its way, are in general cel- 
lular, and abound in veins of malieable 
iron. It is probable,’ fays Mr. Mubhet, 
s* had the native of Hindoftan the means of 
rendering his caft fteel as fluid as water, it 
would have occurred to him to have run it 
into moulds, and by this means have ac- 
quired an article uniform in its quality, 
and convenient for thofe purpofes to which 
it is applied.*” He then proceeds to ac- 
count for the appearances that are obferv- 
able in the cakes fent to market; and he. 
fuppofes that the divifion of them by the 
roanufacturer of Hindoftan, is merely to 
facilitate their fubfequent application to the 
purpoles of the artilt; 1t may however be 
intended as a teft of the quality of the 
fteel. 
As the refult of thefe experiments, it 
appears that wootz contains a greater pro- 
partion of carbonaceous matter, than the 
common qualities of caft ftee] in this coun- 
try, and that fome particular cakes 2p- 
proach confiderably to the nature of catt 
iron: this circumftance, added to the im- 
perfect fofion of the fubftance, will account 
for its refiattory nature, and unhomoge- 
neous texture. But notwithftanding its 
imperfeCtions, wootz poffefles the radical 
principles of good fteel ; and the poffef- 
fion of it. for the fabrication of fteel and 
bar-iron, might to this country be an ob- 
ject of the higheft importance. At prefent 
it is a fubject of regret, that fuch a fource 
of wealth cannot be annexed to its capital 
and tatent. If this fhould become pra&ti- 
cable, then our Eaft-India Company might 
in their own dominions fupply their flores 
with a valuable article, and at. an inferior 
price to any fent from this country. 
" In an elaborate paper “ On the action. 
? 
of Platina and Mercury upon each other,’ 
by Mr. CHENS VIX, we have firt a full 
account of the principal experiments 
made in this country, France and Ger- 
many on the fuppofed new metal called 
paliadium, and.then Mr. Chenevix under- 
takes to prove that platina and mercury 
act upon each other in fuch a manner as to 
difguife the properties of both. 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
577 
«Tt occurred to me,” fays Mr. Chene. 
vix, “ that a methed of uniting platina 
and mercury without the intervention of 
any other metal, or of any fubftance but 
the folvents of thefe metals might be’ac- 
complifhed, as in the cafe of filver and pla~ 
tina, I therefore poured a {olution of ni- 
trate of mercury, which folution being at 
the minimum of oxidigement, confequently 
formed an infoluble muriate with muriatic 
acid, into a folution of muriate of platina. 
The refult was a triple falt of platina and 
mercury, which when the mercury was 
completely and totally at the minimum of . 
oxidizement was nearly infoluble. To 
procure it in this ftate it is fufficient to put 
more metallic mercury into dilute nitrie 
acid, than the nitric acid can aiffolve, and 
to boil them together. From this it 1s evi- 
dent that to produce the union of platina 
and mercury, the latter being at its mint. 
mum of oxidizement in nitric acid, the 
addition of green fulphate of iron is fu- 
perflucus.”? But if mercury be raifed to 
its maximum of oxidizement in nitric acid, 
the cafe is different, for no precipiiation 
occurs till the green fulphate of iron 1s ad- 
ded. The molt advantegeous method for 
precipitating platina and mercury by the 
green fulphate of tron is this: Mix a folu- 
tion of platina with a fulution of green 
fulphate of iron, both warm, and add to 
them a folution of nitriate of mercary at 
the maximum of oxidizement alfo, warm, 
and the precipitation of both metals will 
be complete. By comparing his experi- 
ments made with mercury and platina with 
thofe made with fiver and platina, Mr. 
Chenevix found a ftriking refemblance, 
which isduced him to purfve the analogy, 
and to examine whether, independently of 
the action of platina, mercury had not thé 
fame property of being precipitated by 
green fulphate of iron as filver. Nitrate 
of filver is precipitated by green fulphate 
ofiron, but muriate of filver is not fenibly 
acted upon by the fame reagent; for it ap- 
pears that the affiaity of muriatic acid fot 
oxide of filver, one of the ftrongeft known, 
is fufficient to counterbalance all the othc# 
forces. 
We cannot follow Mr. Cheneévix in the 
experiments, on which he lays great ftrefs, 
but from them he infers that mercury caft 
act upon platina, and confer upon it the 
property of being precipitated in a metallié 
ftate by green fulphate of iron. From two 
of his experiments he proves that platina 
can protect 2 confiderable quantity of mer- 
cury from the action of the nimric acid :— 
and that mercury can increafe the action of 
fijtro-muriatic acid upon-plaiina, From > 
. fix 
