358 production or ACID and alkali from water, 



II. 



On the Production of an Acid and an Alkali from pure 

 Water by Galvanism, In a Letter from Mr. Charles 

 Sylvester. , 



To Mr. NICHOLSON. 

 SIR, 



Soda and mu- J[y \ s now a ] on ^ time since I had the pleasure of com- 



natic acid pro- ,7 , .... 



duced from mumcating any thing to your valuable periodical work, al- 



water by gal- though I was under a promise to send you something de- 

 cisive on the subject of the production of s«*da and muriatic 

 acid, from pure water, by galvanism. I should not at pre- 

 sent have ventured to have offered any thing on this sub- 

 ject, knowing, that the tide of opinion must have gone with 

 the decisions of Mr. Davy, who has said, that the acid and 

 alkali are produced from foreign matter in the water, or in 

 the vessels employed; had not the truth and consequent 

 reasonings of my experiments been strongly supported by 

 many recent facts, brought forward by Mr. D. himself. 

 Mr. Davy's All the experiments, in which Mr. Davy has produced the 

 experiments a pp aren t base of an alkali, an earth, or even acid, are no- 

 thing more than degrees of the same process, by which the 

 alkali is produced when pure water is exposed to the gal- 

 vanic influence; and it is equally evident, that all the 



made on ox- k 0( j; es ] ie has, in these experiments, operated upon, are 

 ides of hidio- . , „ , . , T . , . , • t .' *• 



g Cn# oxides of hidrogen. 1 have not the least hesitation in say- 



Acid andalkali m g ? that the acid and alkali can be produced, from pure 

 abundance. water, in such abundance as not to admit a doubt of their 



Electrical being derived from the water, or the apparatus. The im- 



ajrencr in che- „ , , , • , 



mical pro- portance of the electrical agency in chemical processes ap- 



-esses. pears principally to consist in hidrogen and oxigen being, 



furnishod in their nascent and pure form ; for it will be re- 

 collected, that in all experiments, in which the alkalis and 

 the earths have appeared to be decomposed, the presence 

 of water has always been essential to the changes pro- 

 duced. 

 Water with It is therefore probable, that water with different por- 



nxigm forms t-U>ns- of oxi ^eu forms acid products; and with hidrogen*, 



fcCm*! with 



