1808/12/31 by Humphry Davy · 5 citations
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #History and advancements in chemistry #Various Chemistry Research Topics #Origins and Evolution of Life
paper · pdf · doi:10.1098/rstl.1808.0001
openalex publication_date 1808/12/31 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/25
In the Bakerian Lecture which I had the honour of presenting to the Royal Society last year, I described a number of decompositions and chemical changes produced in substances of known composition by electricity, and I ventured to conclude from the general principles on which the phenomena were capable of being explained, that the new methods of investigation promised to lead to a more intimate knowledge than had hitherto been obtained, concerning the true elements of bodies. This conjecture, then sanctioned only by strong analogies, I am now happy to be able to support by some conclusive facts. In the course of a laborious experimental application of the powers of electro-chemical analysis, to bodies which have appeared simple when examined by common chemical agents, or which at least have never been decomposed, it has been my good fortune to obtain new and singular results.