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.