8 
Mr. Davy’s Lecture on some 
of it, after being heated red, in a silver crucible, exhibited 
strong alkaline properties. It was not possible to make a 
minute analysis of so small a quantity, but it appeared to 
me to be principally a mixture of nitrate of soda and nitrate 
of lead ; and the metallic substance, it is most likely, was fur- 
nished by the condensing tube of the common still. 
The existence of saline matter in the distilled water being 
thus distinct, it was easy to determine its operation in the ex- 
periment. I filled the two gold cones with water in the usual 
manner ; that negatively electrified, soon attained the maxi- 
mum of its effect upon turmeric paper. I then introduced into 
it a very minute portion of the substance obtained by the pro- 
cess of evaporation that has been just described ; in less than 
two minutes its effects were evident ; and in five minutes the 
tint of the paper was changed to a bright brown. 
I now conceived that by collecting the water obtained in 
the second process of slow distillation I should be able to 
carry on the experiment without any appearance of fixed 
alkali, and the trial proved that I was not mistaken. 
Some of this water was introduced into the gold tubes, and 
the amianthus moistened by it. 
After two hours the water in the negative tube produced 
no effect upon turmeric paper ; it did produce an effect upon 
litmus, which it required great minuteness of observation to 
perceive ; but it wholly lost the power by being heated 
strongly for two or three minutes, so there is every reason 
for supposing that it was owing to a small quantity of 
ammonia. 
I made a similar experiment with a portion of the same 
water in the tubes of agate that had been so often used, and 
