352 Mr. Davy’s Electrochemical Researches on 
I shall now mention the last trials that I made with respect 
to this object. 
Potassium, amalgamated with about one-third of mercury, 
was electrified negatively under naphtha, in contact with silex 
very slightly moistened, by the power of five hundred ; after 
an hour the result was examined. The potassium was made 
to decompose water, and the alkali formed neutralized by 
acetous acid ; a white matter, having all the appearance of 
silex precipitated, but in quantity too small for accurate ex- 
amination. 
I tried the same method of action upon alumine and glucine, 
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 in 
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 compari- 
son between the different series 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 alkalies and alkaline earths ; for it is possible, that in the 
experiments in which the silex, alumine, and zircone appeared 
