HISTORY OF GALVANISM. 75 



violent effervescence at the upper surface ; at the 

 lower, or negative surface, there was no liberation 

 of elastic fluid ; but small globules, having a high 

 metallic lustre, and being precisely similar in visi- 

 ble characters to quicksilver, appeared, some of 

 which burst with explosion and bright flame, as 

 soon as they were formed, and others remained, 

 and were merely tarnished, and finally covered by 

 a white film, which formed on their surfaces." 



These globules proved to be the substance of Base of 

 which the author was in search, and were found L'da! 

 to be a peculiar inflammable body, possessed of 

 very singular properties, which constituted the base 

 of potash. By employing a similar kind of pro- 

 cess, a substance was procured from soda, which 

 exhibited properties of an analogous nature, and 

 which was the basis of the mineral, as the former 

 was that of the vegetable alkali. 



The author then proceeded to examine the Proved to 

 properties of these bodies, and by a masterly train b< 

 of experiments, simple yet conclusive, he demon- 

 strated that they are metals ; that they have every 

 quality which is deemed essential to characterize 

 this class of substances, and that the alkalies are 

 oxides of these metals. The theory of the decom- Theory of 

 position of the alkalies, by means of the galvanic the process * 

 apparatus, is sufficiently obvious, and follows as the 

 direct consequence of the facts that had been 

 previously established. In all the decompositions 

 that had been effected by the electrical influence, 

 combustible substances were developed at the 



