[73] If we are disposed to enter into a more critical examination of the subject, we shall find that, although the above is a general expression of the change produced, there are subordinate actions of a more complicated nature: the metal, in the first place, decomposes a portion of the water, in order to combine with its oxygen, and form potash, which in its turn has a powerful affinity for water; the heat arising from two causes, decomposition and combination, is sufficiently intense to produce the inflammation. Water is a bad conductor of heat; the globule swims exposed to air; a part of which is dissolved by the heated nascent hydrogen; and this gas, being capable of spontaneous inflammation, explodes and communicates the effect of combustion to any of the bases that may be yet uncombined. The manner in which the potassium runs along the surface of water may be compared to a drop of water on red-hot iron; in the one case the hot potassium, in the other the cold water, is enveloped in an atmosphere of steam. One of the neatest modes of showing the production of alkali, in the decomposition of water by the basis of potash, consists in dropping a globule of potassium upon moistened paper tinged with turmeric. At the moment that it comes into contact with the water, it burns and moves rapidly upon the paper, as if in search of moisture, leaving behind it a deep reddish-brown trace of its progress, and acting upon the test paper precisely as dry caustic potash. From these observations, the reader will immediately perceive, that the decomposition of the fixed alkalies has placed in the hands of the experimentalist a new instrument of research, scarcely less energetic, or of less universal application, than the power from which the discovery emanated. Davy observes upon this point, that "it will undoubtedly prove a powerful agent for analysis, and having an affinity for oxygen, stronger than any other known substance, it may possibly supersede the application of electricity to some of the undecompounded bodies." So strong indeed is its affinity for oxygen, that it discovers and decomposes the small quantities of water contained in alcohol and ether; and in the latter case, this decomposition is connected with an instructive result. Potash is insoluble in that fluid: when therefore its base is thrown into it, oxygen is furnished, hydrogen gas disengaged, and the alkali, as it is regenerated, renders the ether white and turbid. But perhaps the most beautiful illustration of its deoxidizing power is afforded by its action on carbonic acid gas, or fixed air: when heated in contact with that gas, it catches fire, and by uniting with its oxygen, becomes potash, while the liberated carbon is deposited in the form of charcoal.