356 
wood's  fusible  metal. 
practice ;  and  could,  doubtless,  be  detected  by  direct  experi- 
ment, if  any  one  would  undertake  a  comparison  of  the  various 
kinds  of  soap — a  research  which  would  not  be  easy,  however. — 
Ohem.  News^  London^  from  Boettgers  Polytechnisches  Notiz- 
Matt 
WOOD'S  FUSIBLE  METAL. 
Lipowitz  has  made  some  experiments  on  the  cadmium-alloy, 
described  by  Dr.  Wood  (see  Chemical  JVevjs,  vol.  ii.  p.  257.) 
He  found  that  an  alloy  composed  of  8  parts  lead,  15  parts  bis- 
muth, 4  parts  tin,  and  3  parts  cadmium,  possessed  the  following 
properties  : — It  is  permanently  silver  white,  and  has  a  brilliant 
metallic  lustre ;  it  is  not  so  brittle  or  hard  but  that  it  may  be 
obtained  in  thin  leaves  or  flexible  plates  :  it  has  a  fine  grained 
fracture,  and  may  be  filed  without  stopping  up  the  file.  In  dry 
air  it  keeps  its  polish.  It  expands  in  cooling,  but  not  so  much 
as  bismuth  or  antimony.  Its  specific  gravity  is  from  9-4  to 
9-41.  It  softens  between  131^  and  liO''  Fahr.,  and  near  140° 
becomes  perfectly  fluid.  No  change  in  the  condition  of  the 
metallic  mass  was  observed  on  remelting  after  rapidly  cooling 
the  alloy.  The  above  properties  show  that  the  alloy  may  be 
applied  to  some  useful  purposes>  It  may  supersede  all  the 
quicksilver  alloys  for  stopping  teeth :  it  may  be  used  as  a  sol- 
der whenever  the  metals  soldered  are  not  likely  to  be  exposed 
to  heat.  Tin,  lead,  and  Britannia-metal  may  be  soldered  to- 
gether under  water  above  160°  Fahr.  Zinc,  iron,  copper  and 
brass  may  also  be  soldered  with  the  greatest  ease  under  water, 
to  which  a  little  hydrochloric  acid  has  been  previously  added. 
The  alloy  is  so  easily  fusible  that  it  may  be  melted  on  a  piece 
of  paper  over  a  spirit  lamp.  In  the  preparation  of  the  alloy  the 
author  recommends  the  use  of  the  purest  bismuth, — Qhem.News, 
London,  from  Dingier  s  Polytech,  Journ. 
THE  SPONGE  FISHERY  OF  THE  BAHAMAS. 
By  p.  L.  Simmonds. 
In  our  first  number,  [see  page  28  of  this  volume^],  we  gave  an 
account  of  the  sponge  fishery  of  the  Ottoman  Archipelago,  from 
