The substance was likewise produced from potash fused by means of a lamp, in glass tubes confined by mercury, and furnished with hermetically inserted platina wires by which the electrical action was transmitted. When the power of 250 was used, with a very high charge for the decomposition of soda, the globules often burnt at the moment of their formation, and sometimes violently exploded and separated into smaller globules, which flew with great velocity through the air in a state of vivid combustion, producing a beautiful effect of continued jets of fire. In the synthetical experiments, a perfect coincidence likewise will be found. I mentioned that the metallic lustre of the substance from potash immediately became destroyed in the atmosphere, and that a white crust formed upon it. This crust I soon found to be pure potash, which immediately deliquesced, and new quantities were formed, which in their turn attracted moisture from the atmosphere till the whole globule disappeared, and assumed the form of a saturated solution of potash.
Water likewise is decomposed in the process.
We shall hereafter see that the bases of the fixed alkalies act upon this substance with greater energy than any other known bodies. This alkali speedily absorbs water. This water is again decomposed . Hence, during the conversion of a globule into alkaline solution, there is a constant and rapid disengagement of small quantities of gas. With the substance from soda, the appearances and effects were analogous.