ON SOME CHEMICIL AGENCIES OF ELECTRICITY. 327 



The existence of saline matter in the distilled water being Changei pro- ' 



ihus distinct, it was easy to determine its operation in the ex- ^V<^.*^ f^X ^^^«" 

 ' •' ^ tncity in water, 



periment. I filled the two gold cones with water in the usual 



manner ; that negatively electrified, soon attained the maxi, 



mum of its effect upon turmeric paper. I then introduced 



into it a very minute portion of the substance obtained by 



the process of evaporation that has been just described ; in 



less than two minutes its effects were evident ; and in five 



minutes the tint of the paper was changed to a bright 



brown. 



I now conceived that by collecting the water obtained in 

 the second process of slow distillation I should be able to ^ 



carry on the experiment without any appearance of fixed 

 alkali, and the trial proved that I was not mistaken. 



Some of this water was introduced into the gold tubes^ 

 and the amianthus moistened by it. 



After two hours the water in the negative tube produced 

 no effect upon turmeric paper ; it did produce an effect upon 

 litmus, which it required great minuteness of observation to 

 perceive; but it wholly lost the power by being heated 

 strongly for two or three minutes, so there is every reason 

 for supposing that it was owing to a small quantity of am- ^ 

 monia. 



I made a similar experiment with a portion of the same 

 water in the tubes of agate that had been so often used, and 

 I had the pleasure of finding the results precisely the same. 



To detail any more operations of this kind will be unne- 

 cessary ; all the facts prove, that the fixed alkali is not gene, 

 rated, but evolved^ either from the solid materials employed, 

 or from saline matter in the water. 



I have made many experiments in vessels composed of 

 different substances, with the water procured by very slow 

 distillation : and in almost every instance some fixed alkali 

 appeared. 



In tubes of wax the alkaline matter was a mixture of soda, 

 and potash; and the acid matter a mixture of sulphuric, 

 muriatic, and nitric acids. 



In a tube of resin, the alkaline matter seemed to be prin- 

 cipally potash. 



A cube of Carrara marble of about ^n inch, having tti 



aperture 



