383 



Inconclusive. 



Amalgam of 

 potassium elec- 

 trified with si- 



ilumtne, g!u- 

 cine. 



aid zircone^ 



They all appeal 

 to be metallic 

 oxides, 



but the evi- 

 dence not so 

 sinct. 



ON THE DECOMPOSITION OP THE EARTBlSf. 



possible that the potasli had been converted wholly or partty 

 into protoxide, by its action upon the earths; bat as no 

 globule \yas obtained, and as the plate glass alone might 

 have produced the effect, no decided inference of the de- 

 composition of the earths can be drawn from the process. 



I shall now mention the last trials that I made with re* 

 spect to this object. 



Potassium, amalgamated with about one third of mercury^ 

 was electrified negatively under naphtha, in contact with si- 

 lex very slightly moistened, by the power of five hundred J 

 after an hour the result was examined. The potassium was 

 made to decompose water, and the alkali formed neutral- 

 ized by acetous acid ; a white matter, having all the ap- 

 pearance of silex precipitated J but in quantity too small for 

 accurate examination. 



I tried the same method of action upon alumine and gin- 

 cine, and obtained a cloudiness, more distinct than in the 

 case of silex, by the action of an acid upon the solution 

 obtained from the amalgam. 



Zircone exposed in the same manner to the action of elec- 

 tricity, and the attraction of potassium, furnished still more 

 satisfactory results, for a white and fine powder, soluble iii 

 sulphuric acid, and which was precipitated from sulphuric 

 acid by ammonia, separated from the amalgam that had been 

 obtained by the action of water. 



From the general tenor of these results, and the corapa* 

 rison between the different scries of experiments, there seems 

 very great reason to conclude that alumine, zircone, glucine, 

 and silex are, like the alkaline earths, metallic oxides, for on 

 no other supposition is it easy to explain the phenomena, 

 that have been detailed. 



The evidences of decomposition and composition are not 

 however of the same strict nature as those that belong to the 

 fixed alkalis and alkaline earths ; for it is possible, that in 

 the experiments in which the silex, alumine, and zircone 

 appeared to separate during the oxidation of potassium and 

 sodium, their bases might not actually have been in combi. 

 nation with them, but the earths themselves in union with 

 the metals of the alkalis, or in mere mechanical mixture. 

 And out of an immense number of experiments, which I 



made^ 



