;i 
2 Mr. Davy’s Lecture on the Decomposition and Composition 
This conjecture, then sanctioned only by strong analogies, 
I am now happy to be able to support by some conclusive 
facts. In the course of a laborious experimental application 
of the powers of electro-chemical analysis, to bodies which 
have appeared simple when examined by common chemical 
agents, or which at least have never been decomposed, it has 
been my good fortune to obtain new and singular results. 
Such of the series of experiments as are in a tolerably 
mature state, and capable of being arranged in a connected 
order, I shall detail in the following sections, particularly 
those which demonstrate the decomposition and composition 
of the fixed alkalies, and the production of the new and ex- 
traordinary bodies which constitute their bases. 
In speaking of novel methods of investigation, I shall not 
fear to be minute. When the common means of chemical 
research have been employed, I shall mention only results. A 
historical detail of the progress of the investigation, of all the 
difficulties that occurred, and of the manner in which they 
were overcome, and of all the manipulations employed, 
would far exceed the limits assigned to this Lecture. It is 
proper to state, however, that when general facts are men- 
tioned, they are such only as have been deduced from pro- 
cesses carefully performed and often repeated. 
II. On the Methods used for the Decomposition of the fixed 
Alkalies. 
The researches I had made on the decomposition of acids, 
and of alkaline and earthy neutral compounds, proved that 
the powers of electrical decomposition were proportional to 
the strength of the opposite electricities in the circuit, and 
