The fixing of the specific gravity of a stone also determines its group position with regard to weight; its colour and other characteristics defining the actual stone. This is a safe and very common method of proving a stone, since its specific gravity does not vary more than a point or so in different specimens of the same stone. There are several ways of arriving at this, such as by weighing in balances in the usual manner, by displacement, and by immersion in liquids the specific gravity of which are known. Cork is of less specific gravity than water, therefore it floats on the surface of that liquid, whereas iron, being heavier, sinks. So that by changing the liquid to one lighter than cork, the cork will sink in it as does iron in water; in the second instance, if we change the liquid to one heavier than iron, the iron will float on it as does cork on water, and exactly as an ordinary flat-iron will float on quicksilver, bobbing up and down like a cork in a tumbler of water. If, therefore, solutions of known but varying densities are compounded, it is possible to tell almost to exactitude the specific gravity of any stone dropped into them, by the position they assume. Thus, if we take a solution of pure methylene iodide, which has a specific gravity of 3.2981, and into this drop a few stones selected indiscriminately, the effect will be curious: first, some will sink plump to the bottom like lead; second, some will fall so far quickly, then remain for a considerable time fairly stationary; third, some will sink very slowly; fourth, some will be partially immersed, that is, a portion of their substance being above the surface of the liquid and a portion covered by it; fifth, some will float on the surface without any apparent immersion. In the first case, the stones will be much heavier than 3.2981; in the second, the stones will be about 3.50; in the third and fourth instances, the stones will be about the same specific gravity as the liquid, whilst in the fifth, they will be much lighter, and thus a rough but tolerably accurate isolation may be made.