Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. 11 



brilliant career. In conformity with his views of over- 

 powering chemical attraction by electrical power, he in- 

 stituted a series of experiments on the vegetable alkali. 

 He began the investigation in September, and on the 19th 

 of November, he delivered his second Bakerian lecture to 

 the Royal Society. It was entitled " On some new pheno- 

 mena of chemical changes produced by electricity ; parti- 

 cularly the decomposition of the fixed alkalies and the 

 exhibition of the new substances which constitute their 

 basis, and on the general nature of alkaline bodies." Many 

 vague notions had been formed of the nature of the vege- 

 table alkali. Some Italian and French chemists considered 

 it a compound of lime and hydrogen. Others supposed 

 that it contained azote. Davy thought it might consist of 

 phosphorus, or sulphur united to azote; for, as ammonia was 

 regarded as a compound of hydrogen and azote, he con- 

 ceived, that phosphorus and sulphur, much denser bodies, 

 might produce denser alkaline matter. In his first trials, 

 he used strong aqueous solutions of potash. ** Dry potash," 

 says he, in one of his lectures, '* is a non-conductor ; I then 

 employed fused potash, and in this instance, inflammable 

 matter was developed ; then a piece of potash moistened, 

 and to my great surprise, I found metallic potash formed. 

 October 6th. This matter instantly burned when it touched 

 water, and swam on its surface re-producing potash. In dry 

 oxygen gas likewise, it burnt into perfectly dry potash. 

 Soda was decomposed in the same manner. The earth had 

 been suspected by the elder chemists, particularly by 

 Boyle, Becher, and Stahl, to be capable of conversion into 

 metallic substances though they had vainly sought for 

 modes of effecting this important desideratum. When I 

 had discovered in so unexpected a manner that potash and 

 soda are metallic oxides, all the former analogies became 

 strengthened to a degree that the question of the nature 

 of the earths was of easy solution ; but though so much 

 more like metallic oxides than the fixed alkalies, yet I 

 found much more difficulty in effecting their decomposi- 

 tion." His delight on discovering these facts was excessive ; 

 Mr. Edmund Davy, who was present, states, that when our 

 philosopher saw the globules of potassium burst through 

 the crust of potash and take fire as they entered the atmos- 



