DAVY. 457 



It thus appeared certain that an indissoluble con- 

 nexion exists between chemical and electric action, if 

 indeed it was not even proved that chemical affinity 

 and electricity are identical. The science of Electro- 

 chemistry, at all events, now arose out of Davy's dis- 

 coveries, and he is entitled to be regarded as its 

 founder. 



It may easily be conceived that these important 

 truths excited generally the anxious attention of philo- 

 sophers. The French National Institute, greatly to 

 their honour, though the war between the two coun- 

 tries never raged more fiercely than now, and France 

 never reached a higher pitch of military glory, crowned 

 Davy with the first honour founded by Napoleon for 

 scientific desert. But it was even more honourable to 

 the philosopher, that great as his discoveries had been, 

 expectation was high of the still more important results 

 which must soon come from the discovery of so new a 

 law of electrical and chemical action. I can well re- 

 member that we used in discussing the subject to look 

 forward with perfect confidence to the analysis of the 

 bodies which had hitherto proved the most stubborn, 

 and expected soon to find the fixed alkalis, and even 

 the alkaline earths, shown to be oxides, as by some 

 very imperfect experiments they had at one time been 

 supposed to be proved, when it was ascertained that the 

 metallic buttons found at the bottom of the crucible in 

 which their reduction had been attempted by carbon- 

 aceous or phosphoric re-agents, had come from the 

 black lead in the pot. Nor must we omit to mention 

 the truly candid and magnanimous proceeding of Davy, 

 so worthy of a philosopher, in making public, with the 

 fullest details, his proceedings, by which it was mani- 



