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a somewhat expensive piece of apparatus, and any one not wishing to incur such an outlay may obtain results nearly as good with the beam balance previously described. In its use for this purpose a sinker in the shape of a cylindrical bulb is suspended from a position marked by a notch near the end of the long arm. By putting shot in the pans and using the rider d, the beam is brought to a horizontal position with the sinker in air. The sinker is then immersed in the heavy solution, and a weight is selected, which, when placed near the end of the beam will bring the latter to a horizontal position. The position of this weight gives relatively the weight of the heavy solution displaced by the sinker. After washing, the sinker is immersed in water, and the same weight is placed nearer the fulcrum until the beam becomes horizontal. The position of this weight gives relatively the weight of the water displaced by the sinker. The larger weight divided by the smaller gives the desired specific gravity.
By employing proper formulae, weights of bodies may be found if their specific gravities be known, or the specific gravity of one, if its weight and the weight and specific gravity of another be known.
Thus if a diamond is set in a gold ring, it is often desirable to know the weight of the diamond, or its specific gravity, or the specific gravity, and hence the fineness, of the gold of which the ring is composed, with­out removing the stone. Each of these values, and even others, can be found by employing the following formulae. These are derived from two equations in which A represents the weight of the stone, a its specific* gravity; B the weight of the gold, and b its specific gravity; and C the combined weight of the ring and stone, and c their specific gravity.