not, seemed to be doubtful upon one or two points. One of these I will
mention immediately; the other may or may not appear during the course of
the hour that follows. The first point is this. When I was tempted to
promise this subject for your attention this evening, it was founded upon
a promise, and a full intent of performing that promise, on the part of my
friend Deville, of Paris, to come here to shew before you a phenomenon in
metallurgic chemistry not common. In that I have been disappointed. His
intention was to have fused here some thirty or forty pounds of platinum,
and so to have made manifest, through my mouth and my statement, the
principles of a new process in metallurgy, in relation to this beautiful,
magnificent, and valuable metal; but circumstances over which neither he
nor I, nor others concerned, have sufficient control, have prevented the
fulfilment of that intention; and the period at which I learned the fact
was so recent, that I could hardly leave my place here to be filled by
another, or permit you, who in your kindness have come to hear what might
be said, to remain unreceived in the best manner possible to me under the
circumstances. I therefore propose to state, as well as I can, what the
principles are on which M. Deville proceeds, by means of drawings, and
some subordinate or inferior experiments. The metal platinum, of which you
see some very fine specimens on the table, has been known to us about a
hundred years. It has been wrought in a beautiful way in this country, in
France, and elsewhere, and supplied to the consumer in ingots of this
kind, or in plates, such as we have here, or in masses, that by their very
fall upon the table indicate the great weight of the substance, which is,
indeed, nearly at the head of all substances in that respect. This
substance has been given to us hitherto mainly through the philosophy of
Dr. Wollaston, whom many of us know, and it is obtained in great purity
and beauty. It is a very remarkable metal in many points, besides its
known special uses. It usually comes to us in grains. Here is a very fine
specimen of native platinum in grains. Here is also a nugget or ingot, and