NOTES:

1. In Russia platinum has been employed for coin; and it possesses a peculiarity which deserves notice. Platinum cannot be melted in our furnaces, and is chiefly valuable in commerce when in the shape of ingots, from which it may be forged into useful forms. But when a piece of platinum is cut into two parts, it cannot easily be reunited except by means of a chemical process, in which both parts are dissolved in an acid. Hence, when platinum coin is too abundant, it cannot, like gold, be reduced into masses by melting, but must pass through an expensive process to render it useful.