MATURE AND DECOMPOSITION OF THE FIXED ALKALIS. 0^7 



■and the effect produced by the electrization of ignited 

 potash, which contains no sensible quantity of water, con- 

 firms the opinion of their formation independently of the 

 presence of this substarice. 



The combustible bases of the fixed alkalis seem to be re- 

 pelled as other combustible substances, by positively elec- 

 trified siirfiices, and attracted by negatively electrified sur- 

 faces, and the oxigea follows the contrary order* ; or, the 

 oxigen being naturally possessed of the negative energy, and 

 the bases of the positive, they do not remain in combination, 

 when either of them is brought into an electrical state op- 

 posite to its natural one. In the synthesis, on the contrarj', 

 the natural energies or attractions come in equilibrium with 

 each other ; and when these are in a low state a,t common 

 temperatures, a slow combination iseffe'cted ; but when they 

 are exalted by heat, a rapid union is the result; and as in 

 other like cases with the production of fire. — A number of 

 circumstances relating to the agencies of the bases of the 

 alkalis will be immediately stated, and will be found to offer 

 confirmations of these general conclusions. 



IV. On the Properties and Nature of the Basis of Potash, 

 After I had detected the bases of the fixed alkalis, I had Difficult to 

 considerable difficulty to preserve and confine them so as to confSrth"i*. 

 examine their properties, and submit them to experiments; ^es. 

 for, like the alkahests imagined by the alchemists, they acted 

 more or less upon almost every body to which they were ex- . 

 posed. 



The fluid substance among all those I have tried, on Naphtlia le^t 

 which I find they have least effect, is recently distilled afflicted by 

 naphtha. — In this material, when excluded from the air, 

 they remain for many days without considerable changing, 

 and their physical properties may be easily examined in the 

 atmosphere, when they are covered by a thin film of it. 



The basis of potash at 6o° Fahrenheit, the temperature Ba'e of pota^k 



jn which I first examined it, appeared, as I have already ^'^?*! ^ '^^" 

 ,1 , , , • I ir , semblesmer- 



mentioned, m small globules possessing the metallic lustre, cuiy. 



opacity, and general appearance of mercury; so that wlien 



♦ See Bakerian Lecture t8C6, p, 26 Phil. Trans, for 180', or Journal, 

 Vol. XIX, p. 41. 



a glo- 



