The same reluctance to form a new phase is observed also in the phenomena of superheating of liquids, and in the "hanging" of mercury in barometers, in which case the vapour phase is not formed. In general, then, we may say that _a new phase will not necessarily be formed immediately the system passes into such a condition that the existence of that phase is possible_; but rather, instead of the system undergoing transformation so as to pass into the most stable condition under the existing pressure and temperature, this transformation will be "suspended" or delayed, and the system will become metastable. Only in the case of the formation of the liquid from the solid phase, in a one-component system, has this reluctance to form a new phase not been observed. _To ensure the formation of the new phase, it is necessary to have that phase present._ The presence of the solid phase will prevent the supercooling of the liquid; and the presence of the vapour phase will prevent the superheating of the liquid. However, even in the presence of the more stable phase, transformation of the metastable phase occurs with very varying velocity; in some cases so quickly as to appear almost instantaneous; while in other cases, the change takes place so slowly as to require hundreds of years for its achievement. It is this slow rate of transformation that renders the existence of metastable forms possible, when in contact with the more stable phase. Thus, for example, although calcite is the most stable form of calcium carbonate at the ordinary temperature,[125] the less stable {70} modification, aragonite, nevertheless exists under the ordinary conditions in an apparently very stable state. As to the amount of the new phase required to bring about the transformation of the metastable phase, quantitative measurements have been carried out only in the case of the initiation of crystallization in a supercooled liquid.[126] As the result of these investigations, it was found that, in the case of superfused salol, the very small amount of 1 × 10^{-7} gm. of the solid phase was sufficient to induce crystallization. Crystallization of a supercooled liquid, however, can be initiated only by a "nucleus" of the same substance in the solid state, or, as has also been found, by a nucleus of an isomorphous solid phase; it is not brought about by the presence of any chance solid. Velocity of Transformation.--Attention has already been drawn to the sluggishness with which reciprocal transformation of the polymorphic forms of a substance may occur. In the case of tin, for example, it was found that the white modification, although apparently possessing permanence, is in reality in a metastable state, under the ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. This great degree of stability is due to the tardiness with which transformation into the grey form occurs.