588 Sir Humphry Davy on the relations of 
the identity of the cause of galvanism and electricity, which 
had been always maintained by Volta, out of all doubt, by 
some very decisive experiments. 
In 1804, MM. Hisinger and Berzelius stated thatneutro- 
saline solutions were decomposed by electricity, and the 
acid matter separated at the positive, and the alkaline matter 
at the negative poles ; and they asserted that in this way 
muriate of lime might be decomposed ; and drew the conclu- 
sion that nascent hydrogen was not, as had been generally 
believed, the cause of the appearance of metals from metallic 
solutions. These valuable observations ought to have ex- 
plained distinctly the source of the appearance of acid and 
alkaline substances at the two extremities of the pile, yet the 
Paper was never translated into English, nor at all attended 
to ; and one of their facts was contradicted by the assertion 
of, generally, a very accurate observer, Mr. Cruickshank, 
who in his early experiments mentioned that he had not been 
able to decompose muriate of lime in the circuit. 
In 1805 various statements were made, both in Italy and 
England, respecting the generation of muriatic acid and fixed 
alkali from pure water. The fact was asserted by MM. Pac- 
chioni and Peele, and denied by Dr. Wollaston, M. Biot, 
and the Galvanic Society at Paris.* Mr. Sylvester, who 
• Some writers have very incorrectly referred the origin of these researches to 
the observations of Hisinger and Berzelius; Annales de Chem. Vol. 51. 1 Cap. 
pag. 167 ; but these observations were never quoted by any writer of the day on 
the pretended production of muriatic acid and alkali ; and I was not acquainted 
with them till after my fundamental experiments were finished; and, when in 
drawing up an account of them, I looked back through the whole series of peri- 
odical publications to find accounts of experiments bearing upon the same question, 
and I believe I first directed the public attention to the value of those researches. 
