154 SIR HUMPHREY DAVY. 



book form, and translated into almost every Euro- 

 pean language. 



" We feel grateful," said the Edinburgh Review, 

 " for his having thus suspended for a time the 

 labors of original investigation, in order to apply 

 the principles and discoveries of his favorite science 

 to the illustration and improvement of an art which, 

 above all others, ministers to the wants and comforts 

 of man." 



He now continued his work with the voltaic pile 

 or battery. If water could be decomposed by it, 

 why not some substances heretofore regarded as 

 simple or elementary bodies ? 



In October, 1806, he discovered that potash and 

 soda can be decomposed, with potassium and sodium 

 as resultant bases. 



When he saw the minute globules of potassium 

 burst through the crust of potash, and take fire as 

 they entered the atmosphere, he is said to have 

 bounded about the room in ecstatic delight, some 

 time elapsing before he could compose himself 

 sufficiently to go on with his experiment. 



He had worked so constantly that he became very 

 ill, and for several weeks his life was despaired of. 

 All London was agitated over the expected death 

 of the young chemist. Bulletins were prepared by 

 the physicians morning, noon, and night, for the 

 scores who came to ask concerning him. 



When he had recovered and returned to his work, 

 the Royal Institution provided him with a voltaic 

 battery of six hundred double plates of four inches 



