Chemistry at the Royal Society of London in the eighteenth century-III(A)-metals

References

• J.B. December 1748 15 (The remaining volumes of this long work were received on 17 January 1750). Antonio de Ulloa was a Spanish naval officer and scholar. On returning to Spain after his voyage to South America, he devoted himself to spreading and applying the scientific knowledge that he had gained.
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• Charles Wood's second wife, Jemima Linden, was Brownrigg's sister. (In a private communication from Group-Captain F. J. P. Wood, a descendant of Charles Wood.) See also: Russell-Wood J. The scientific work of William Brownrigg, M.D., F.R.S. Ann. Sci. 1950 6 436 436 and 1951, 7, 77, 199; D. McDonald, A history of platinum from the earliest times to the eighteen-eighties, London, 1960.
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• 1749–1750 . Phil. Trans. , 46 : 584 – 584 .
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• The reason for the name ‘Juan blanco’ is not clear. Lewis suggested that ‘its other appellation, Juan blanco, arose perhaps from some frauds which had been practised with it, or from its refractoriness in the hands of the workman, for as in our own country a dusky coloured mock-ore, that is, a mineral which has the appearance of a metallic ore but does not in the usual ways of trial yield any metal, is commonly called black-jack; the Spaniards may in like manner have given the name white jack, white rogue, white mock metal to this singular metallic body, which though of the true metallic aspect and weight, and in some degree malleable, had eluded all their attempts for melting or running it down’ Lewis W. Commercium Philosophico-Technicum London 1763 443 443 The Spanish ‘Juan’ has not this shade of meaning of the English ‘Jack’, however, and blende was not called ‘Juan negro’. It was sometimes referred to as a ‘mina muerta’.
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• 1749–1750 . Phil. Trans. , 46 : 590 – 590 . Watson apparently attached significance to the fact that platina was referred to as a ‘stone’, adding the Spanish word he had translated thus. The writers were explaining why several of the gold mines of the Choco district had been abandoned because of this awkward substance. No judgement as to whether the ‘stone’ was a metal or not need have been implied. However, in the next sentence the tumbaga sometimes found mixed with the gold is referred to as a metal. ‘Tambien se encuentran entre estas minas algunas donde hay mezclado con el Oro el metal de Tumbaga’ (J. J. and A. de Ulloa, op. cit., vol. i, p. 606, and v. infra, n. 9. Tumbaga was a mixture of copper with gold. ‘Inga’ is the old form of ‘Inca’. Cf. Lewis, op. cit., p. 607: ‘The Inca stone is now pretty common, and as the French translator of the papers on platina [C. Morin] observes, appears to be no other than a ferrugineous mineral of the pyrites or rather mundick kind’. The gallinazo stone was so-called because of its black colour. The gallinazo of South America corresponds to the zopilote (or buzzard) of Central America and Mexico.
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• 1749–1750 . Phil. Trans. , 46 : 590 – 590 . Cf. Claude Morin; ‘Il faut observer que notre Auteur [de Ulloa] dans cet endroit [au sujet de la Piedra de Inga] ainsi que dans celui où il parle de la Platine, employe abusivement le nom de Pierre’ (La Platine, l'or blanc, ou le huitième métal, Paris, 1758, p. 11).
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• Alvarez Alonzo Barba, Spanish priest and mineralogist, lived in the seventeenth century. His remarkable Arte de los Metales (1640) was reprinted in 1765. In 1729 it was reprinted with El Tratado de las Antiguas Minas de España, que escriviô don Alonso Carrillo y Laso. There is an English translation by the Earl of Sandwich The Art of Metals, London 1674
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• Cf. Cronstedt A.F. An Essay Towards a System of Mineralogy , 2nd ed. London 1788 567 567 revised by Magellan n. Alvaro Alonzo Barba, Arte de los Metales, Madrid, 1640, bk. i, ch. 30: ‘El Chumpi, llamado assi por el color pardo, es piedra de casta de Esmeril, con participacion de hierro, brilla algo escuramente, y es dificultoso su beneficio, por lo mucho que resiste al fuego. Hallase con metales negrillos, y rosicleres, en Potosi, Chocaya, y otras partes’.
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• Pomet Pierre Histoire Générale des Drogues Paris1694 63 63 pt. iii ‘L'émery d'Epagne [sic] est un minéral rempli de roche & de quelques petites veines d'or qui se trouve dans les mines d'or du Pérou & d'ailleurs & comme ce n'est qu'une marcasiste ou pierre dure comme marbre, parsemé de veines d'or.’
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• 1712 . A Compleat History of Druggs. Written in French by Monsieur Pomet, chief Druggist to the present French King; to which is added what is further observable on the same subject from Messrs. Lemery and Tournefort 367 – 367 . London
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• Valmont de Bomare . 1762 . Minéralogie Vol. ii , 152 – 152 . Paris ‘L'émeril brun ou rouge. Cette sorte d'émeril est rougeâtre, bien moins dure que les precédentes; elle ressemble assez au jaspe rouge, grossier et entre-mêlé de particules brillantes; en effet, elle paroît, parsemée tantôt de paillettes talqueuses, jaunâtres, & blanchâtres, & tantôt de petits points d'or & d'argent effectifs: alors on l'appelle émeril d'or, ou émeril d'argent; elle se trouve dans les mines de Cusco et de Potosi au Perou, & en plusieurs autres lieux de la nouvelle Espagne; cet émeril est fort rare aujourd'hui, parce qu'il contient des quantités d'or & d'argent, & que le Roi d'Espagne en a défendu le transport; aussi ne le voit-on que dans les cabinets des curieux; on l'achete au poids de l'or; cet émeril est, selon Pomet, très-estimé de ceux qui travailent à decouvrir la pierre philosophale, & qui en font des préparations fameuses.’
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• Lewis , W. 1763 . Commercium Philosophico-Technicum 607 – 607 . London
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• Lewis , W. 1763 . Commercium Philosophico-Technicum 608 – 608 . London
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• 1797–1798 . J. de Phys. , 4 : 4 – 4 . an VI
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• 1484–1558 . Julius Caesar Scaliger theologian, philosopher, and physician, was born at Padua, but from 1525 till his death he lived at Agen on the Garonne, whither the Bishop of Agen had brought him as a physician. Cardan's De Subtilitate (Hieronymi Cardani … De Subtilitate libri XXI, Norimbergæ, 1550) was a popular book and Scaliger decided to attack it in his Exotericarum Exercitationum liber quintus decimus de Subtilitate ad Hyeronium Cardanum, Lutetiæ, 1557. His other great controversial work was Adversus Desiderium Erasmum orationes duae, Eloquentiœ Romanœ, vindices, Paris, 1531–6, Tolsae Tectosagum, 1621, in which he criticized Erasmus for departing from the Ciceronian style that was favoured at the time. He also translated into Latin and commented on Aristotle's De Plantis and the Historia Animalium, Theophrastus's De Causis Plantarum, and the Historia Plantarum and on the Liber de insomnis of Hippocrates.
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• Pliny . Historia Naturalis , xxix 25 – 25 . is talking about birds which yield any medicine good for snake bite. Since he is talking about poultry, he says he must bring in one miraculous experiment, although it has nothing to do with the subject in hand, and he relates the story of the hen's flesh in gold.
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• ‘Praeterea scito, in Funduribus, qui tractus est inter Mexicũ & Dariem, fodinas esse orichalci: quod nullo igni, nullis Hispanicis artibus hactenus liquescere potuit. Adhaec non omnibus metallis uerbum, liquescere, uidemus conuenire’ Scaliger J. C. Historia Naturalis xxix 134 134 Exercitatio 88
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• Nicholson , W. 1790 . First Principles of Chemistry 244 – 244 . London
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• J. de Phys. 4 4 4 an VI Indications of the existence of platinum in the Urals were obtained prior to 1819. Platinum production began there in 1825. (B. N. Menschutkin, ‘Discovery and Early History of Platinum in Russia’, J. Chem. Educ., 1934, 11, 226.)
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• 1801 . Allgemeines J. der Chemie , 6 : 633 – 633 . ‘Platin Dies Metall war nach, einer Stelle Valentini's in der Hist. lit. Acad. Nat. Cur. aus Balbin's Hist. Bohem. P.I. c. XIV. S.4. diesem Jesuiten schon gegen das Ende des 17ten Jahrhundertes bekannt. Es soll damals in Riesengebirge vorgekommen sehn.’
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• Balbinus Epitome Historica Rerum Bohemicarum Prague1677 3 40 40 vol. ii ‘Aurum album (argentum esse jurares, nisi pondus & quaedam tamen fulvedo per metallum fusa adiud [sic] suaderent) album aurum, inquam, in Cerconossÿs montibus [Krkonoše or Riesengebirge] effossum, vidi non semel; Illustrissimus Vir, qui adstabat, locum nominavit, ubi ejusmodi fodinae prostarent; locum recordari non possum, sed Pragâ non ita procul in antro quodam repertum, & ad se allatum affirmabat Illustrissimus & Doctissimus Praesul Joannes de Talmberg Episcopus Reginohradecensis’.
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• Valmont de Bomare . 1677 . Epitome Historica Rerum Bohemicarum Vol. 3 , 235 – 235 . Prague ‘La couleur de l'or est d'un jaune plus ou moins vif & brillant: l'or de l'Europe est plus haut en couleur que celui de l'Amérique qui est pâle; & l'on prétend que celui de Malacca, qui se trouve dans l'isle de Madagascar est tout-à-fait pâle, & se fond aussi promptement que de plomb. Albinus, Miscell. Bohem. L.I., chap. 14, assure qu'on en a trouvé en Bohème, à peu de distance de Prague, de tout-à-fait blanc: mais il y a lieu de présumer que cette couleur lui venoit de son alliage à quelques matières étrangères.’
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• Hoefer , F. 1869 . Histoire de la Chimie , 2nd ed. Vol. ii , 361 – 361 . Paris
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• Hoefer , F. 1869 . Histoire de la Chimie , 2nd ed. Vol. i , 140 – 140 . Paris
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• Pliny . Nat. Hist. , 34 ch. 47: ‘Invenitur [plumbum candidum] et in aurariis metallis quae alutias vocant aqua inmissa eluente calulos nigros paullum candore variatos, quibus eadem gravitas quae auro et ideo in calathis quibus aurum colligitur cum eo remanent, postea camillis separantur conflatique in plumbum album resolvontur.’
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• 1727–1728 . Phil. Trans. , 35 : 484 – 484 .
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• 1932 . Science , 75 : 438 – 438 .
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• L.P. , 1 353 – 353 .
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• 1749–1750 . Phil. Trans. , 46 : 584 – 584 . The papers communicated to the Society by Watson were entitled ‘Several Papers concerning a new Semi-Metal, called Platina’. In his letter to Bose of 15 January 1751, Watson called platina a metal. C. Morin, op. cit., (see note 9) p. 26.
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• Dixon , J. 1801 . The Literary Life of William Brownrigg, M.D., F.R.S. 52 n – 52 n . London
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• Cf. Bergman T.O. Sciagraphia Regni Mineralis Lipsiæ et Dessaviæ 1782 97 97
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• E.g. Balbinus Sciagraphia Regni Mineralis Lipsiæ et Dessaviæ 1782 ii 40 40 ‘Metallorum genera septem totidem Planetarum nominibus, & figuris, omnes uno consensu Eruditissimi homines exprimunt, & discernunt, quòd scilicet à Planetis in nascendo & crescendo pendeant.’ Agricola, however, who put personal observation before scholastic speculation, saw no necessity to limit the number of metals to seven. Thus Bermannus says to Naevius that there is a mineral called bismuth which is numbered among the metals, and the conversation continues: ‘N. Plura igitur quam haec pervulgata & nota septem, tua sententia metallorum genera erunt. B. Plura arbitror’ (Agricola, De Re Metallica libri xii, Quibus accesserunt … Bermannus …, Basilae, 1657, p. 692).
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• Cf. Boerhaave H. Elementa Chemiæ Lugd. Bat. 1732 i 31 31
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• E.g. Cardanus Hieronymus Elementa Chemiæ Lugd. Bat. 1732 i 31 31 bk. 6, ‘de metallis’: ‘Metalla sunt, aurum, argentum, electrum, aes, aes cyprium, & plumbum, ac ferrum. Factitia vero, chalybs & stannum, & aurichalcum, tum etiam cyprium aes aliud. Septum sunt naturalia, quatuor autem praeter naturam artis vi.’
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• Morin , C. 1758 . La Platine, l'or blanc, ou le huitième metal viii – viii . Paris
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• 1752 . K. Svenska Vet. Acad. Handl. , 13 : 269 – 269 .
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• Hydrargyrus inter metalla respectu fusibilitatis alterum constituit extremum, platina, alterum Disquisitio de Attractionibus Electivis Nova Acta R. Soc. Sci. Upsal., 1775 2 239 239
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• 1749–50 . Phil. Trans. , 46 : 586 – 586 .
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• 1752 . K. Svenska Vet. Acad. Handl. , 13 : 269 – 269 .
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• 1754 . Phil. Trans. , 48 : 640 – 640 .
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• Lewis , W. 1763 . Commercium Philosophico-Technicum 455 – 455 . London Lewis also said (p. 449) that Scheffer had then no suspicion that platina was a new distinct metal: ‘He says it seemed to be iron which by some accident had been made externally white.’ What Scheffer said at the beginning of his first paper was: ‘Dessa trekantiga Metall—smulor syntes vara Jern, hvilket af något tilfalle hade blifvit hvitt utan uppå; men det besynnerligaste var, at det icke drogs af Magneten, fast éan det var så smidigt, som något jéarn kan vara; så at det, denna Metall, oféorskylt tilléagges at vara osmidig’ (K. Svenska Vet. Acad. Handl., 1752, 13, 269). Again, if he had not suspected that platina was a new distinct metal, would he have called it a true malleable metal, and also one that must be classed as a perfect metal (ibid., p. 373) because of its fixity in fire, which was like that of silver and gold? Marggraf, a little later, called it ‘ce métal parfait’ (Hist. Acad. R. Sci. et Belles Lettres, Berlin, 1757, 13, 31).
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• 1758 . Mém. Acad. R. Sci. , : 121 – 121 .
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• 1785 . Obs. sur la Phys. , 27 : 369 – 369 .
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• Bergman , T.O. 1785 . Obs. sur la Phys. , 27 : 102 – 102 .
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• Davy , H. 1812 . Elements of Chemical Philosophy 448 – 448 . London
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• Davy , H. 1812 . Elements of Chemical Philosophy 47 – 47 . London
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• 1786 . Phil. Trans. , 76 : 62 – 62 .
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• 1749–50 . Phil. Trans. , 46 : 596 – 596 . Brownrigg added: ‘This circumstance I took notice of in a Letter to Lord Lonsdale two years ago’.
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• 1752 . K. Svenska Vet. Acad. Handl. , 13 : 277 – 277 . When Scheffer had examined his first sample, he was astonished because the platina, although it resembled iron, was not attracted by the magnet (ibid., p. 269). Henrik Teofilus Scheffer (1710–1759), chemist, studied under Celsius and Brandt at Upsala and Stockholm. Besides his work on platina, his researches included investigations on commercial potash, and on the zinc-copper alloy called pinchbeck, and he also devised a method of obtaining pure silver. His course of chemistry was published by Bergman as Chemiske föreläsningar, Stockholm, 1776.
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• 1754 . Phil. Trans. , 48 : 638 – 638 .
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• 1754 . Phil. Trans. , 48 : 641 – 641 .
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• 1757 . Hist. Acad. R. Sci. & Belles Lettres Vol. 13 , 31 – 31 . Berlin ‘L'aiman attire aussi une partie de ce corps à soi.’
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• 1749–50 . Phil. Trans. , 46 : 585 – 585 .
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• 1776 . Phil. Trans. , 66 : 257 – 257 . ‘Easy methods of measuring the Diminution of Bulk, taking place upon the Mixture of common Air and nitrous Air, together with Experiments on Platina, by John Ingenhousz, M.D., F.R.S., Physician to their Imperial Majesties at Vienna.’ Ingenhousz (1730–1799) came to England from the Netherlands in 1764 or 1765, and in 1768 he was chosen by Pringle to go to Vienna and inoculate several members of the imperial family of Austria against small-pox. The Emperor Joseph II granted him a pension for life, and made him Physician to their Imperial Majesties.
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• 1776 . Phil. Trans. , 66 : 262 – 262 .
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• He found that the platina that had been subjected to the electric explosion had become more strongly magnetized: ‘Thus it appears’, he said, ‘that common fire diminishes the magnetical virtue of platina, and that electrical fire increases it’ Phil. Trans. 1776 66 265 265
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• 1776 . Phil. Trans. , 66 : 266 – 266 .
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• 1785 . Obs. sur la Phys. , 27 : 369 – 369 .
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• 1778 . Obs. sur la Phys. Suppl. , : 327 – 327 .
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• 1786 . Phil. Trans. , 76 : 73 – 73 . Cf. T. Cavallo, A Treatise on Magnetism in Theory and Practice with original experiments, London, 1787, pt. iv, p. 275, ‘New Magnetical Experiments.’
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• Cf. Lavoisier: ‘Le platine, comme l'on sait, tel qu'on l'apporte en France, n'est point un métal pur, c'est un alliage de platine avec une autre substance métallique qui paroît être du fer’ Ann. de Chim. 1790 5 137 137 and Berthollet and Pelletier: ‘Le platine, comme nous l'avons dit, se trouve toujours uni avec du fer; en séparer ce dernier métal, voilà ce qui crée un nouvel art (celui d'affiner le platine); l'on ne peut y parvenir qu'en portant le platine à une division parfaite, soit en le dissolvant par les acides, ou bien en le fondant par d'autres métaux, &c. car seul il ne se fond point au feu le plus fort de nos fourneaux’ (ibid., 1792, 14, 24). That platina was mixed also with small quantities of other metals was discovered only in the next century.
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• 1785 . Obs. sur la Phys. , 27 : 371 – 371 .
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• 1749–50 . Phil. Trans. , 46 : 593 – 593 . For what Lewis referred to as an alchemical history of platina, ‘not containing any new facts, but some reflections drawn from mine’, see Morin, op. cit. (see note 9), p. 179: ‘Extrait d'une Lettre écrite de Venise le 15 Septembre 1756, au sujet de la Platine, & des Experiences de M. Lewis’. Not only platina, but also nickel, cobalt, and manganese were supposed by some in the eighteenth century to originate from a mixture of other metals (cf. T. O. Bergman, Dissertatio Chemica de Niccolo, Upsaliæ, 1755).
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• Boerhaave disowned this version, but Shaw and Chambers pointed out that ‘he had gone with it many years; and great preparations were made for the delivery’. Boerhaave was very scrupulous and ‘he had in all probability with-held it half an age longer had it not arrived at strength and maturity enought to make its escape it self’ Shaw P. Chambers E. A New Method of Chemistry … London 1727 iii iii
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• Shaw , P. and Chambers , E. 1727 . A New Method of Chemistry … 61 – 61 . London
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• Shaw , P. 1753 . A New Method of Chemistry … , 3rd ed. 70n – 70n . London
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• 1752 . K. Svenska Vet. Acad. Handl. , 13 : 269 – 269 . the Spaniards in South America had referred to platina as ‘oro blanco’.
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• 1754 . Phil. Trans. , 48 : 655 – 655 . Cf. the Earl of Macclesfield's address on the occasion of the presentation of the Copley Medal to William Lewis: ‘From these experiments he [Lewis] collects … that Platina contains no Gold excepting a few grains distinguishable to the eye’ (J.B., 30 November 1754).
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• Lewis , W. 1754 . Phil. Trans. , 48 : 453 – 453 . (see note 6)
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• 1776 . Phil. Trans. , 66 : 262 n – 262 n .
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• 1774 . Obs. sur la Phys. , 3 : 324 – 324 . This account was extracted from the Registers of the Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres, Dijon.
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• According to Bowles, Buffon based his argument that platina was not a metal on its lack of ductility and malleability, the characteristic properties of all the metals. Bowles thought that, even if this were absolutely certain, it would prove too much and consequently prove nothing, for it would follow that platina was neither a metal nor a mixture of metals Bowles D. Guillermo Introduccion a la Historia Natural y a la Geografiá Física de España Madrid 1775 163 n 163 n
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• Obs. sur la Phys. , 321 – 321 .
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• Obs. sur la Phys. , 328 – 328 .
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• 1775 . Obs. sur la Phys. , 6 : 193 – 193 . De Morveau began his letter to Buffon: ‘Monsieur, tout ce que vous maniez prend une nouvelle face, & produit un nouvel intérêt. Votre Mémoire sur la Platine, a éveillé les Physiciens & les Chymistes.’
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• Bowles , D.G. Obs. sur la Phys. , 163 n – 163 n . (see note 78)
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• Ingen-Housz , Jean . 1785 . Nouvelles expériences et observations sur divers objets ce physique Vol. 2 , 345 n – 345 n . Paris vol. i
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• 1780 . Obs. sur la Phys. , 15 : 44 – 44 .
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• Buffon . 1783–1788 . Histoire naturelle des minéraux Vol. xiv , 374 – 374 . Paris
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• Ces boutons de platine artificielle, qui me paroissent avoir toutes les propriétés de la platine naturelle …’ Buffon Histoire naturelle des minéraux Paris 1783–1788 xiv 376 376
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• Bergman , T.O. 1775 . Dissertatio Chemica de Niccolo , 25 – 25 . Uppsaliæ .
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• Morin C. Dissertatio Chemica de Niccolo Uppsaliæ 1775 49 49 (see note 9) Towards the end of the eighteenth century several uses for platina were suggested. Cf. J. de Phys., an VI [1797–8], 4, 4: Phil. Mag., 1799, 5, 135; D. McDonald, op. cit. (see note 3 above).
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• 1752 . K. Svenska Vet. Acad. Handl. , 13 : 269 – 269 .
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• ‘Hafver ingen ’ K. Svenska Vet. Acad. Handl. 1752 13 275 275
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• 1785 . Obs. sur la Phys. , 27 : 369 – 369 .
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• According to Magellan this society must be the same as that known by the name of Bascongada, or the Society of Friends of their Country. Cronstedt A.F. An Essay Towards a System of Mineralogy , 2nd ed. London 1788 570 n 570 n revised by Magellan
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• 1749–50 . Phil. Trans. , 46 : 593 – 593 .
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• Morin , C. 1749–1750 . Phil. Trans. , 46 : 26 – 26 .
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• Cronstedt , A.F. 1749–50 . Phil. Trans. , 46 : 575 n – 575 n .
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• 1752 . K. Svenska Vet. Acad. Handl. , 13 : 272 – 272 .
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• 1754 . Phil. Trans. , 48 : 642 – 642 .
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• 1758 . Hist. Acad. R. Sci. , : 54 – 54 . Mém. Acad. R. Sci., 1758, p. 119.
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• Cronstedt , A.F. 1758 . Hist. Acad. R. Sci. , : 573 n – 573 n .
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• Cf. Josiah Wedgwood's unsuccessful attempts to devise satisfactory pyrometers for measuring high temperatures in his pottery. J.B., 14 December 1780; Phil. Trans. 1782 72 305 305 1784, 74, 358; and 1786, 76, 390.
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• 1776 . Phil. Trans. , 66 : 265 – 265 .
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• 1759 . Phil. Trans. , 51 : 83 – 83 . and 1748, 45, 107.
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• 1782 . Mém. Acad. R. Sci. , : 457 – 457 . Lavoisier mentioned other methods that had been used to fuse platina in his ‘Observations sur le platine’ (Ann. de Chim., 1790, 5, 137).
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• Cronstedt , A.F. 1782 . Mém. Acad. R. Sci. , : 575 n – 575 n . (see note 11)
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• 1780 . Obs. sur la Phys. , 15 : 45 – 45 .
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• Dixon , J. 1780 . Obs. sur la Phys. , 15 : 54 – 54 .
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• M.L. later pointed out that it was misleading to say that the King of Spain had stopped up the platina mines, for there were no such mines. The gold from the Choco district was taken to the two mints of Santa Fé, those of Bogota and Popayan, where any platina remaining with the gold was removed. Officers of the King guarded the platina and, when a certain quantity had been accumulated, the officers went with witnesses to throw it into the Bogota river, which passed at a distance of two leagues from Santa Fé, and into the Cauca river, which flowed at a distance of one league from Popayan. Obs. sur la Phys. 1785 27 362 362 and Ann. de Chim., 1792, 14, 20.)
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• Lewis , W. Obs. sur la Phys. , 604 – 604 .
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• 1749–50 . Phil. Trans. , 46 : 587 – 587 .
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• 1752 . K. Svenska Vet. Acad. Handl. , 13 : 270 – 270 .
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• 1754 . Phil. Trans. , 48 : 661 – 661 .
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• Lewis , W. 1754 . Phil. Trans. , 48 : 526 – 526 .
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• 1804 . Phil. Trans. , : 419 – 419 .
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• 1754 . J.B. , November : 30 – 30 .
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• 1754 . Phil. Trans. , 48 : 677 – 677 .
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• 1757 . K. Svenska Vet. Acad. Handl. , 18 : 314 – 314 .
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• Lewis , W. 1757 . K. Svenska Vet. Acad. Handl. , 18 : 544 – 544 . ‘The results of these experiments were published in the Philosophical Transactions together with the gravities of the several mixtures deduced from calculation; from which it appeared that the experimental gravities were almost always less than the computed. But an error in calculations has made the computed gravities in general too great: for though the ingredients in each mixture were proportioned to one another by weight, the calculations were inadvertently made as if they had been taken by volumes. The discovery of this mistake I owe to Mr. Scheffer, who gives a paper on this subject.’
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• It is truo that this was the value Lewis used for these calculations, but in this same series of papers of 1754 he said that, when assaying platina, he found that specimens of the cupelled matter had specific gravities of 19·083, 19·136, and 19·240, and he added ‘that probably the purer grains or fragments have some heterogeneous admixtures, which are separated in these operations; and that, perfectly pure, it is more ponderous than gold. There is no reason to suspect any increase of its specific gravity from the mixture; since in all the compositions with platina hitherto examined, there was constantly a diminution of the specific gravity’ Phil. Trans. 1754 48 685 685
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• E.g. Phil. Trans. 1754 48 685 685
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• Baumé A. A Manual of Chemistry 1778 125 n 125 n tr. J.A., Warrington The Earl of Macclesfield, when he presented the Copley Medal to Lewis, referred to platina as ‘being very nearly as ponderous as Gold whose Specific Gravity far exceeds that of all substances whatsoever, Platina only Excepted’ (J.B., 30 November 1754).
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• J.B. 1754 30 November The Earl of Macclesfield said that Dr. Lewis had obtained some platina ‘from a person in a high station whose Name does honour to this Society as himself does to the Country where he is intrusted with a very large share of the Administration of the Publick Affairs.’
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• 1754 . Phil. Trans. , 48 : 646 – 646 . Bowles employed four children of eight years old to separate the different parts of the sand of the native platina. This, he claimed, was the best age for this work, for the sight weakens a little before the age of puberty (D. G. Bowles, op. cit. (see note 78), p. 157).
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• Magellan said that platina was affected by ‘the muriatic acid when dephlogisticated’, i.e. by chlorine Cronstedt A. F. An Essay Towards a System of Mineralogy , 2nd ed. London 1788 572 n 572 n revised by Magellan
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• It must be remembered that the colours given in Lewis's account of his experiments do not always accord with what would be expected from pure platina. Marggraf found that with tin in platina solution he obtained ‘une poussière d'un rouge noirâtre qui s'étoit attachée à l'étain’ Hist. Acad. R. Sci. et Belles Lettres Berlin 1757 13 39 39
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• Lewis , W. 1763 . Commercium Philosophico-Technicum 481 – 481 . London Lewis is referring to the black highly explosive aurum fulminans that is formed in similar circumstances with a solution of gold.
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• Une triple combinaison
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• 1757 . Hist. Acad. R. Sci. et Belles Lettres Vol. 13 , 41 – 41 . Berlin While potassium and ammonium chloroplatinates are only slightly soluble in water and give yellow precipitates, sodium chloroplatinate is very soluble.
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• Boyle was sceptical about the virtues of aurum potabile. He said: ‘What wonderful powers may reside in the true Aurum potabile, I shall not now particularly enquire … The current reports concerning it arise, not from experiments, but in great measure the authority of books that bear fictitious names’. However, he gave a method of making an aurum potabile in an hour or two, without a furnace, or any distilled liquor other than rectified spirit of wine Shaw Peter The Philosophical Works of the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq., abridged … London 1725 3 63 63 vol. i In 1729 ‘Mr. Godfrey the Chymist’ deduced from the action of ether on solutions of gold that gold was of an oleaginous nature, while other metals were more terrestrial and saline.
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