330 NATURE AXD DECOMPOSITION OF tKE FIXED ALKALXS, 



Oxigcn ihe- Oxigen then may be considered as exisHng in, and as 



alkaliaitv-^ forming an element in all the true alkalis ; and the prin- 

 ciple of acidity of the French nomenclature might now 

 likewise be called the principle of alkalescence, 

 Thealk\Iino From analogy alone it is reasonable to expect, that the 



«ar!}H probably " 



oxidized metals, alkalnis earths are conipounas of a similar nature to the 



fixed alkalis, peculiar highly combustible metallic bases 



united to oxigen. I have tried some experiments upon 



Bai-ytes and barytes and strontities ; and they go far towards proving, that 



St rontia appear tjiismust bethecase. When barytes and strontites, moistened 



to be so. •' ' 



with water, were acted upon by the power of the battery 

 of 250 of 4 and 6, there was a vivid action and a brilliant 

 light at both points of communication, aad an inflaramatian 

 at the negative point. 



In these cases the w^ater might possibly have interfered. 

 Other experiments gave however m.ore distinct results. 



Barytes and strontites, even when heated to intense 

 Avhiteness in the electrical circuit by a flame supported by 

 oxigen gas, are nonconductors; but by means of combina- 

 tion with a very small quantity of boracic acid, they 

 Inflammable become conductors ; and in this case inflammable matter, 

 diicTfroin which bums with a deep red light in each instance, is pro-. 

 them. duced from them at the negative surface. The high tem- 



perature has prevented the success of attempts to collect 

 this substance; but there is much reason to believe, that it 

 is the bases of the alkaline earth employed, 

 PioVibly other Barytes and strontites have the strongest relations to the 

 ?n'i!rz-'d*b ^^ ^^^-^ alkalis of any of the earthy bodies*; but there is a 

 elo'ctncity. chain of resemblances, through lime, magnesia, glucina, 



alumina, and silex. And by the agencies of batteries sufii- 

 ciently strong, and by the application of proper circum- 



F.a-ths Ions' ago * The similiarity between the properties of earths and metallic 

 considered ana- (,^.j^]p<; ^.^g noticed in the early periods of chemistry. The 

 logons to metal- , ri ^ i li. l -c -l c li.- 



lie oxides. poisonous nature of barytes, and the great specific gravity of this 



substance as well as of strontites, led Lavoisier to the conjecture, 

 that they were of a metallic nature. That metals existed in the 

 fixed alkalis seems however never to have been suspected. From 

 their analogy to ammonia, nitrogen and hidrogen have been sup- 

 posed to be amongst their elements. It is singular, with regard to 

 this class of bodies, that those most unlike metallic oxides are th e 

 iirst -which have been demonstrated to be such. 



stances 



