56 Mr . Davy’s Lecture on some nezv analytical Researches 
Or is water alike the ponderable matter of nitrogene, hydro- 
gene, and oxygene ? 
Or is nitrogene a compound of hydrogene with a larger 
proportion of oxygene than exists in water ? 
These important questions, the two first of which seem the 
least likely to be answered in the affirmative, from the corre- 
spondence between the weight of the ammonia decomposed, 
and the products, supposing them to be known substances, I 
I shall use every effort to solve by new labours, and I hope 
soon to be able to communicate the results of further expe- 
riments on the subject to the Society. 
As the inquiry now stands, it is however sufficiently de- 
monstrative, that the opinion which I had ventured to form 
respecting the decomposition of ammonia in this experiment, 
is correct; and that M. M. Gay Lussac’s and Thenard's 
idea of the decomposition of the potassium, and their theory 
of its being compounded of hydrogene and potash, are un- 
founded. 
For a considerable part of the potassium is recovered 
unaltered, and in the entire decomposition of the fusible sub- 
stance, there is only a small excess of hydrogene above that 
existing in the ammonia acted upon. 
The mere phenomena of the process likewise, if minutely 
examined, prove the same thing. 
After the first slight effervescence, owing to the water ab- 
sorbed by the potash formed upon the potassium during its 
exposure to the air, the operation proceeds with the greatest 
tranquillity. No elastic fluid is given off from the potassium ; 
it often appears covered with the olive coloured substance, 
and if it were evolving hydrogene ; this must pass through 
