The third Bakerian Lecture, which Davy read before the Royal Society in December 1808, is entitled "An Account of some new analytical Researches on the Nature of certain Bodies, particularly the Alkalies, Phosphorus, Sulphur, Carbonaceous matter, and the Acids hitherto undecompounded; with some general Observations on Chemical Theory." The object of this lecture was to communicate the results of numerous experiments which had been instituted for the purpose of still farther extending our knowledge of the elements of matter, by the new powers and methods arising from the application of electricity to chemical analysis. Important as were the facts thus obtained, they disappointed the expectation of those who did not consider, that the more nearly we approach ultimate analysis,[86] the greater must be the difficulties, the more numerous the fallacies, and the less perfect the results, of our processes. In fact, his former discoveries had spoilt us: their splendour had left our organs of perception incapable of receiving just impressions from any minor lights, and we participated with exaggerated feelings, in the disappointment which he himself expressed at several of his results. The confidence inspired by his former triumphs may be compared to that which is felt by an army, when commanded by a victorious General,--a conviction that, however difficult may be the enterprise, it must be accomplished by the genius of him who undertakes it. The moment we discovered that Davy was laying siege to one of Nature's strongest holds,--that he was attempting to resolve nitrogen into other elementary forms,--we regarded the deed as already accomplished, and the repulse which followed most unreasonably produced a feeling of dissatisfaction. Upon such occasions, the severity of our disappointment will always be in proportion to the importance of the object we desire to accomplish; and it is impossible not to feel that the discovery of the true nature of nitrogen would lead to new views in chemistry, the extent of which it is not easy even to imagine.