358 Analysis of fioolcs. 



chemical theory. . . The Bakerian Lecture, read before the Royal 

 Society in November, 1806, unfolded the mysteries of voltaic action ; and, 

 as far as theory goes, may be almost said to have perfected our knowledge 

 of the chemical agencies of the pile.' 



Of this celebrated paper, Dr. Paris has given an analysis, to 

 which we must refer the reader ; it embraces the discovery of the 

 sources of the acid and alkaline matter eliminated from water by 

 voltaic action the nature of electrical decomposition and transfer 

 the relations between the electrical energies of bodies and the che- 

 mical affinities a general development of the electro-chemical laws, 

 and their application. He thus concludes what Dr. Paris justly 

 styles one of the most masterly and powerful productions of scientific 

 genius 



' Natural electricity has hitherto been little investigated, except in the 

 case of its evident and powerful concentration in the atmosphere. Its 

 slow and silent operations, in every part of the surface, will probably be 

 found more immediately and importantly connected with the order and 

 economy of nature ; and investigations on this subject can hardly fail to 

 enlighten our philosophical systems of the earth, and may possibly place 

 new powers within our reach.' 



Dr. Paris asserts that accident, which so mainly contributed to 

 former discoveries in electricity, had no share in conducting Davy 

 to the truth in this instance, but that he unfolded, with philosophic 

 caution and unwearied perseverance, all the particular phenomena 

 and details of his subject, and with the comprehensive grasp of 

 genius caught the plan of the whole. 



Buonaparte having founded a prize of three thousand francs (about 

 120), to be adjudged by the Institute, for the best experiment 

 which should be made in each year on the galvanic fluid, and another 

 of sixty thousand francs to the person who, by his experiments and 

 discoveries, should advance the knowledge of electricity and galva- 

 nism as much as Franklin and Volta did the first prize was 

 awarded to Davy, about twelve months after the publication of his 

 first Bakerian Lecture, for his discoveries announced in the Philoso- 

 phical Transactions of 1807. When the bitter animosity which 

 France and England mutually entertained towards each other at this 

 period is recollected, the award was not more honourable to him who 

 received the prize than to those who gave it. 



In November, 1807, his second Bakerian Lecture was read, in 

 which he announces the discovery of the metallic bases of the fixed 

 alkalies 



' a discovery immediately arising from .the application of voltaic electri- 

 city, directed in accordance with the electro- chemical laws he had deve- 

 loped. Thus having, in the first instance, ascended from particular 

 phenomena to general principles, he now descended from those principles 

 to the discovery of new phenomena ; a method of investigation by which 

 he may be said to have applied to his inductions the severest tests of 

 truth, and to have produced a chain of evidence without having a single 

 link deficient. Since the account given by Newton of his first discoveries 

 in optics, it may be questioned whether so happy and successful an in- 

 stance of philosophical induction has occurred.' 



Dr. Paris, as before, gives a detailed account of the contents of this 



