‘Sulphur and phosphorus both appear to be compound bodies when they are subjected to the power of a voltaic battery. A great quantity of hydrogen gas is evolved, so that it appears hydrogen is one of their constituent parts....
‘Whether these bodies are compound or not, they are objects of new research; they present new fields for the great, the industrious, the scientific, and the penetrating mind. Our horizon extends the higher we rise. The result of future inquiries will probably lay a foundation on which future ages and future generations may erect an edifice that will reach from earth to heaven.’
In this lecture Faraday noted twenty-two experiments.
The next day, April 9, Davy was knighted by the Prince Regent.
On April 10 Sir Humphry Davy gave his last lecture at the Royal Institution; it was on the Metals.
‘All the volatile metals burn with flame, and all those that are not volatile with sparks....
‘These, with the metals of the alkalies and the alkaline earths which I have had the good fortune to discover, make up the number to about forty.’
He shewed the mode of obtaining alkaline metals by voltaic decomposition; and earths by potassium.
The mode of obtaining the alkaline metals by chemical action alone was shown, but the experiment was not made. A quantity of potassium from common potash by iron was on the table.