MRS. B.
They are the metals of the earths which became next the object of Sir H. Davy’s researches; these bodies had never yet been decomposed, though they were strongly suspected not only of being compounds, but of being metallic oxyds. From the circumstance of their incombustibility it was conjectured, with some plausibility, that they might possibly be bodies that had been already burnt.
CAROLINE.
And metals, when oxydated, become, to all appearance, a kind of earthy substance.
MRS. B.
They have, besides, several features of resemblance with metallic oxyds; Sir H. Davy had therefore great reason to be sanguine in his expectations of decomposing them, and he was not disappointed. He could not, however, succeed in obtaining the basis of the earths in a pure separate state; but metallic alloys were formed with other metals, which sufficiently proved the existence of the metallic basis of the earths.
The last class of new metallic bodies which Sir H. Davy discovered was obtained from the three undecompounded acids, the boracic, the fluoric, and the muriatic acids; but as you are entirely unacquainted with these bodies, I shall reserve the account of their decomposition till we come to treat of their properties as acids.
Thus in the course of two years, by the unparalleled exertions of a single individual, chemical science has assumed a new aspect. Bodies have been brought to light which the human eye never before beheld, and which might have remained eternally concealed under their impenetrable disguise.
It is impossible at the present period to appreciate to their full extent the consequences which science or the arts may derive from these discoveries; we may, however, anticipate the most important results.
In chemical analysis we are now in possession of more energetic agents of decomposition than were ever before known.