Royal Sock' t If, 181 



indies squa e, succeeded m dvcniu posing potash and soda. 

 This was tiilcti-d bv placing uioisicntd potash or soda on 

 a plate of plalina, and expasir.g it to the Galvanic circle. 

 Oxygen was disengaged, and these alkahs were reduced to 

 their primitive base, a pecidiar and highly infl>inmiab]e mat- 

 ter, which assumes the iorm and appearance oi small glo- 

 bules of mercury. These globules are lighter than any 

 othc- fluid, as they swim in distilled naphtha. The base 

 of potash is of a specific gravity as six to ten of wajer. At 

 the freezing point these jilohules are hard and brittle, and 

 when broken and examined with a microscope they present a 

 number of facettes with the appearance of crystallization : 

 at 40" of Fahrenheit they are soft, and can scarcely be dis- 

 •criminated from globules of quicksilver ; at 60° they are 

 fluid, and at 100 volatile. When exposed to the atnj9- 

 sphere they rapidly imbibe oxygen, and re-assume their 

 alkaline character. In distilled naphtha they may be kept 

 four or five days; but if exposed cither to the atmosphere, or 

 to oxvgen gas, they almost instantly become incrustated 

 with a coat of regenerated alkali : this incrustation can be 

 removed, and the reduced globule will remain in nanhiha, 

 or separated from all contact with oxygen, as before ; the 

 naptha forming a thin fiJiu mund the globule, and excluding 

 the contact of oxvgen. 



Nov. 19. — The president in tlv chair. Continuation of 

 Mr. Davy's Bakerian Lecture on the Dccomponi'ion of the 

 Alkalis. One part of tiie base of alkih ajid two. of merciiryj 

 estimated by bulk, (or ahf>ut 1 part of the ba-c to 4 8 ol mer-' 

 curv by weight,) formed an ajnalgam, which, when ap- 

 plied in the circle of a Galvanic battery (v.l^ieh produced an 

 intense heat) to iron, silver, gold, or platina, immediately 

 dissolved these, and converted them itito oxides, in which 

 process alkali was regenerated. Glass, a« well as all other 

 .iTietallic bodies, was also dissolved by the application of this 

 substance: the base of the alkali seizing the oxvgvn i^f the 

 manganese and of the minium, pota>h was rt-genera ed. 

 One of these globules placed Oii a piece ot ice dissolved it, 

 ftud burnt with a bvighl flame, giving out an intense heat, 

 i'olash was found in the product (;f the dissolved ice. Nearly 

 IVl 3 tlic 



