MRS. B.
Exactly so; and the potassium was thus obtained in its simple state. From that time it has become a most convenient and powerful instrument of deoxygenation in chemical experiments. This important improvement, engrafted on Sir H. Davy’s previous discoveries, served but to add to his glory, since the facts which he had established, when possessed of only a few atoms of this curious substance, and the accuracy of his analytical statements, were all confirmed when an opportunity occurred of repeating his experiments upon this substance, which can now be obtained in unlimited quantities.
CAROLINE.
What a satisfaction Sir H. Davy must have felt, when by an effort of genius he succeeded in bringing to light and actually giving existence, to these curious bodies, which without him might perhaps have ever remained concealed from our view!
MRS. B.
The next substance which Sir H. Davy submitted to the influence of the Voltaic battery was Soda, the other fixed alkali, which yielded to the same powers of decomposition; from this alkali too, a metallic substance was obtained, very analogous in its properties to that which had been discovered in potash; Sir H. Davy has called it SODIUM. It is rather heavier than potassium, though considerably lighter than water; it is not so easily fusible as potassium.
Encouraged by these extraordinary results, Sir H. Davy next performed a series of beautiful experiments on Ammonia, or the volatile alkali, which, from analogy, he was led to suspect might also contain oxygen. This he soon ascertained to be the fact, but he has not yet succeeded in obtaining the basis of ammonia in a separate state; it is from analogy, and from the power which the volatile alkali has, in its gaseous form, to oxydate iron, and also from the amalgams which can be obtained from ammonia by various processes, that the proofs of that alkali being also a metallic oxyd are deduced.
Thus, then, the three alkalies, two of which had always been considered as simple bodies, have now lost all claim to that title, and I have accordingly classed the alkalies amongst the compounds, whose properties we shall treat of in a future conversation.
EMILY.
What are the other newly discovered metals which you have alluded to in your list of simple bodies?