When the same piece of cotton fibre was repeatedly used for making connection between the glass vessels, and was washed each time in dilute nitric acid, Davy found that the production of muriatic acid gradually ceased; hence he traced the formation of this acid to the presence of the animal or vegetable substance used in the experiments. Finding that the glass vessels were somewhat corroded, and that the greater the amount of corrosion the greater was the amount of soda making its appearance around the negative pole, he concluded that the soda was probably a product of the decomposition of the glass by the electric current; he therefore modified the experiment. He passed an electric current through distilled water contained in small cups of agate, previously cleaned by boiling in distilled water for several hours, and connected by threads of the mineral asbestos, chosen as being quite free from vegetable matter; alkali and acid were still produced. The experiment was repeated several times with the same apparatus; acid and alkali were still produced, but the alkali decreased each time. The only conclusion to be drawn was that the alkali came from the water employed. Two small cups of gold were now used to contain the water; a very small amount of alkali appeared at the negative pole, and a little nitric acid at the positive pole. The quantity of acid slowly increased as the experiment continued, whereas the quantity of alkali remained the same as after a few minutes' action of the electric current. The production of alkali is probably due, said Davy, to the presence in the water of some substance which is not removed by distillation in a glass retort. By boiling down in a silver dish a quantity of the water he had used, a very small amount of solid matter was obtained, which after being heated was distinctly alkaline. Moreover when a little of this solid matter was added to the water contained in the two golden cups, there was a sudden and marked increase in the amount of alkali formed around the negative pole. Another quantity of the water which he had used was again distilled in a silver retort, and a little of the distillate was subjected to electrolysis as before. No alkali appeared. A little piece of glass was placed in the water; alkali quickly began to form. Davy thus conclusively proved that the alkali produced during the electrolysis (_i.e._ decomposition by the electric current) of water is not derived from the water itself, but from mineral impurities contained in the water, or in the vessel in which the water is placed during the experiment. But the production of nitric acid around the positive pole was yet to be accounted for.