DAVY, HUMPHRY. - FOUNDATION OF ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY - FIRST GERMAN EDITION.
Reference : 44098
(1809)
(Halle, Rengerschen Buchhandlung, 1809). Without wrappers. In ""Annalen der Physik. Herausgegeben von Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert"", Bd. 31, Zweites Stück. Pp. 113-224 a. 1 engraved plate.(The entire issue offered). Davy's paper: pp. 113-177.
First German edition of this landmark paper in chemistry, in which Davy shows that electricity is capable of decomposing the most stable chemical combinations. He decomposes some alkalies, isolating two new substances and discovering potassium and sodium. Neville in his Historical Chemical Library vol. I, p.340, writes about this paper ""ONE OF THE GREAT CLASSIC RESEARCHES IN CHEMISTRY, in which Davy announced in this, his second Bakterian lecture, the isloation of metallic potassium and sodium by the electrolytic decomposition of their fused oxides.""""He (Davy) began his own electrical experiments...The results were spectacular. On October 6, 1807, the current passing through molten potash liberated a metal, which Davy called potassium. The little globules of shining metal tore the water molecule apart as it eagerly recombined with oxygen and the liberated hydrogen burst into lavender flame. Davy danced about in a delirium of joy. A week later he isolated sodium from soda.""(Asimow). The paper offered here describes these discoveries.""Humphry Davy was one of the most brilliant chemists of the early nineteenth century. His early study of nitrous oxide brought him his first reputation, but his later and most importent investigations were devoted to electrochemistry. Following Galvani's experiments and the discovery of the voltaic pile, interest in galvanic electricity had become widespread. The first electrolysis by means of the pile was carried out in 1800 by Nicholson and Carisle, who obtained oxygen and hydrogen from water. Davy began to examine the chemical effects of electricity in 1800, and his numerous discoveries were presented in his Bakerian lecture to the Royal Society on November 20, 1806.(A Source Book in Chemistry p. 243). - Wheeler Gift: 2514.
"DAVY, HUMPHRY - FOUNDATION OF ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY - FIRST GERMAN EDITION.
Reference : 44096
(1808)
(Halle, Rengerschen Buchhandlung, 1808). Without wrappers as published in ""Annalen der Physik. Herausgegeben von Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert"", Bd. 28, Erstes u. Zweites Stück. Pp. 1-160 a. 1 folded engraved map. + pp. 161-256 a. 1 engraved plate.The entire issues offered. Davy's paper: pp. 1-43. a. pp. 161-202.
First German edition of ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTENT CONTRIBUTIONS EVER MADE TO CHEMICAL SCIENCE, as Davy here outlined a theory of mass action, forcast the use of electricity in atomic disintegration and announced the isolation by electrolytic methods of two new elements, sodium and potassium. He used the most powerful electric battery of the time, a voltaic pile, invented 1800 by Volta.""Humphrey Davy...was among the first to investigate the decomposition of water. In 1806 he delivered a Bakerian Lecture (the paper offered here in the German version) before the Royal Society of London ""On some chemical agencies of electricity"" (1807), which pointed out several fallacies in the theory of electrolysis. Davy's experiments on the chemical effects of electrical currents on substances, causing their decomposition, led to his discovery of several new elements: potassium (1807), sodium (1807), barium (1808), calcium (1808), and boron (1808)"" (Milestone of Science No. 52) - Davy's first Bakerian Lecture won a Prize from Napoleon, even though France and England were at War. - Partington vol. IV pp. 42 ff. - PMM No 255 (note). - Parkinson, Breakthroughs: 1807 C.The issue contains also Heron de Villefosse: ""Nivellement des Harzgebirges mit dem Barometer"", pp. 49-114 a. 1 engraved folded map.Berzelius called Davy's 1806 Bakerian Lecture On Some Chemical Agencies of Electricity ""one of the best memoirs which has ever enriched the theory of chemistry."" This paper was central to any chemical affinity theory in the first half of the nineteenth century.