He then seeks to put the hypothesis to the test of experiment by combining fluoric acid with ammonia in a platinum apparatus; the white solid substance he obtained--so-called fluate of ammonia--contained no moisture, and hence he inferred that no water was present and that therefore fluoric acid was free from oxygen. The inference was more correct than the experiment warranted. He further found that the action of potassium upon fluate of ammonia is precisely similar to its action upon muriate of ammonia, when ammonia and hydrogen are disengaged and muriate of potassa formed. He then attempted to electrolyse solutions of hydrofluoric acid. He says: “I undertook the experiment of electrizing pure liquid fluoric acid, with considerable interest, as it seemed to offer the most probable method of ascertaining its real nature; but considerable difficulties occurred in executing the process. The liquid fluoric acid immediately destroys glass, and all animal and vegetable substances; it acts on all bodies containing metallic oxides; and I know of no substances which are not rapidly dissolved or decomposed by it except [certain] metals, charcoal, phosphorus, sulphur and certain combinations of chlorine.” After various unsuccessful attempts to make tubes of sulphur and of the chlorides of lead and copper, he succeeded “in boring a piece of horn-silver in such a manner that I was able to cement a platina wire into it by means of a spirit lamp, and by inverting this in a tray of platina filled with liquid fluoric acid, I contrived to submit the fluid to the agency of electricity.” He found that the platina wire at the positive pole rapidly corroded, and became covered with a chocolate powder, and what appeared by its inflammability to be hydrogen separated at the negative pole. He tried a number of other experiments with different vessels and various electrodes, but with no better success. He suffered great inconvenience from the fumes of hydrofluoric acid; they acted vigorously on the nails, and produced a most painful sensation when in contact with the eyes. The conclusion he drew from his experiments was that fluoric acid is “composed of hydrogen, and a substance as yet unknown in a separate form, possessed like oxygen and chlorine, of the negative electrical energy, and hence determined to the positive surface, and strongly attracted by metallic substances.” He then attempted to isolate the fluoric principle by treating various fluates in a platinum apparatus with chlorine gas, but although there was evidence of decomposition and the platinum was violently acted upon, he could obtain no new gaseous matter.