Although no great stress can be laid on numbers so obtained, they serve to indicate that Davy had not yet obtained the pure metal. The real ratio of the specific gravities of potassium and mercury is as 10 to 154. An account is then given of the behaviour of potassium towards oxygen, oxymuriatic acid gas [chlorine], hydrogen, water, alcohol, ether, the various mineral acids, phosphorus, sulphur, mercury, a number of metallic oxides, and the various forms of glass. The “basis” of soda is described as a white opaque substance of the lustre and general appearance of silver. It is soft and malleable, and is a good conductor of heat and electricity. Its specific gravity was found by flotation in a mixture of oil of sassafras and naphtha to be 0·9348 (the true specific gravity of sodium is 0·974). It was found to fuse at about 180° F. (the real melting-point of sodium is 197·5°). Its action on a number of substances--oxygen, hydrogen, water, etc.--is then described, and its general behaviour contrasted with that of the “basis” of potash. Davy then attempted, by synthetical experiments, to determine the amount of the “metallic bases” in potash and soda respectively, and, considering the extremely small quantities he had to operate upon, the results are fairly accurate. He then enters upon some general observations on the relations of the “bases” of potash and soda to other bodies. “Should the bases of potash and soda be called metals? The greater number of philosophical persons to whom this question has been put, have answered in the affirmative. They agree with metals in opacity, lustre, malleability, conducting powers as to heat and electricity, and in their qualities of chemical combination. “Their low specific gravity does not appear a sufficient reason for making them a new class; for amongst the metals themselves there are remarkable differences in this respect, ... and in the philosophical division of the classes of bodies, the analogy between the greater number of properties must always be the foundation of arrangement. “On this idea, in naming the bases of potash and soda, it will be proper to adopt the termination which, by common consent, has been applied to other newly discovered metals, and which, though originally Latin, is now naturalized in our language.