As I unlocked the laboratory door my mind reverted to the uncompleted experiment, and it struck me that in all probability my piece of bismuth would have been entirely disintegrated and reduced to its primitive molecules.

I was utterly unprepared for the truth.
"When I approached the table I found, sure enough, that the bar of metal had vanished, and that the clamp was empty.

Having noted the fact, I was about to turn away to something else, when my attention was attracted to the fact that the table upon which the clamp stood was starred over with little patches of some liquid silvery matter, which lay in single drops or coalesced into little pools.

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.