I had a very
distinct recollection of having thoroughly cleared the table before
beginning my experiment, so that this substance had been deposited there
since I had left for London. Much interested, I very carefully
collected it all into one vessel, and examined it minutely. There
could be no question as to what it was. It was the purest mercury, and
gave no response to any test for bismuth.
"I at once grasped the fact that chance had placed in my hands a
chemical discovery of the very first importance. If bismuth were, under
certain conditions, to be subjected to the action of electricity, it
would begin by losing weight, and would finally be transformed into
mercury. I had broken down the partition which separated two elements.
"But the process would be a constant one. It would presumably prove to
be a general law, and not an isolated fact. If bismuth turned into
mercury, what would mercury turn into? There would be no rest for me
until I had solved the question. I renewed the exhausted batteries and
passed the current through the bowl of quicksilver. For sixteen hours
I sat watching the metal, marking how it slowly seemed to curdle, to
grow firmer, to lose its silvery glitter and to take a dull yellow hue.
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