DAVY, HUMPHRY - THE DISCOVERY OF HYDROGEN TELLURIDE - THE RIVALRY WITH GAY-LUSSAC & THENARD.

Nouvelles Recherches électro-chimiques, principalement relatives aux substances métalliques tirées des alcalis et de terres, et à quelques combinations de l'Hydrogène. (+) Suite des Recherches... (+) Sur les Observations sur les Recherches faites par MM. Gay-Lussac et Thenard, relativement à l'amalgame fourni par l'ammoniaque. (+) Examen de quelques observations de MM. Gay-Lussac et Thenard, sur les faits relatifs aux métaux des alcalis. (+) Réplique à réponse que MM. Gay-Lussac et Thenard ont faite aux Recherches analytiques, etc. (+) Observations sur les trois précédens Mémoires de M. Davy. Par MM. Gay-Lussac et Thenard.

Paris, J. Klostermann, 1810. Contemp. hcalf. Spine gilt. Slightly rubbed. A few scratches to binding. Small stamps on verso of titlepage.In: "Annales de Chimie, ou Recueil de Mémoires concernant la Chemie" Tome 75. 336 pp. a. 2 folded engraved plates. Some scattered brownspots. The papers: pp. 27-77, 129-175, 256-263, 264-273, 274-289 a. 290-316.

First French version of Davy's "The Bakerian Lecture for 1809. On some new Electrochemical Researches, on various Objects, particularly the metallic Bodies, from the Alkalies, and Earth, and on some Combinations of Hydrogene. Read November 16, 1809.", together with the controversy papers by Davy and Gay-Lussac & Thenard.

"Mr. Davy having from the commencement of his electro-chemical researches, communicated the several steps of his progress to the Society (The Royal Society), takes the present opportunity of reporting the results of his further inquiries under four principal heads. First, on the nature of the metals of the fixed alkalis. Second, on the nature of Hydrogen and composition of ammonia. Thirdly, on the metals of the earth; and Fourthly he makes a comparison between the antiphlogistic doctrine, and a modified phlogistic hypothesis."(Abstract). He further gives arguments for considering potassium and sodium, which he discovered in 1808, as a element."

"Gay-Lussac had a slight rivalry between himself and the creation scientist Sir Humphry Davy. Davy was chemically preparing Potassium and Sodium through an electrical current, and this made Gay-Lussac and Thénard envious of his success. They too decided to perform the same task, but they had no battery at their disposal as Davy had, so they had to form another way to chemically prepare the two elements. In 1808, they used a red-hot iron fused to potash, the water-soluble form of a manufactured salt containing potassium, to perform this task, a method that Davy admitted had its advantageous qualities. Gay-Lussac and Thénard were successful in preparing Potassium, and continued to make a full analysis of its chemical properties, and began to use it for their own experiments. In 1809, Davy performed the same task, using it to reduce Boron in Boracic acid."

Order-nr.: 46377