GALVANIC DISCOVERIES. Qg 



From all thefe phenomena it follows, (hat (his farinaceous Hence of a 

 powder extraded from elecampane root, is neither fiarch nor "^^^ch 

 gum, but a peculiar vegetable fubftance holding a middle and probably 

 rank, between the two. It is probable, that it exifts in many exifts '" othcr 

 other vegetables, and that feveral proda&s hitherto confidered 

 as ftarch are of the fame nature as this farina. 



V. 



New Galvanic Difcovcries by Mr. Ritter, extracted from a 

 Letter from Mr, Christ. Bernoulli*. 



1 HERE tranfmit yon the information you requefted re- 

 fpefting the late experiments of Mr. Ritter, to which I fub- 

 join fome account of that gentleman. 



1. Charging of a Louis d'Or by the Pile, 



The pile with which Mr. Ritter ufually makes his expert- Mr. Ritter'i 

 ments confifts of a hundred pairs of metallic plates, two inches 

 in diameter. The pieces of zinc have a rim to prevent the 

 Uquid preffed out from flowing away. The apparatus i3 always 

 infulated by feveral plates ofglafs. 



As Mr. Ritter at prefent refides in a village near Jene, I His grand 



have not been able to fee his experiments with his grand ° atte; y> 

 i r ' at *g e battery, 



battery of two thoufand pieces, or with his battery of fifty 



pieces, each thirty-fix inches fquare, the aclion of which con- 

 tinues very perceptible for a fortnight. Neither have I feen 

 his experiments with the new battery of his invention * con- 

 fitting of a fingle metal, and which he calls the charging and charging 

 pile. pite- 



I have frequently however, feen him galvanife loui# d'or Louis dVr 

 lent him by perfons prefent. To effeft this, he places the J arged hy . 

 louis between two pieces of pafteboard thoroughly wetted, the galvanic 

 and keeps it fix or eight minutes in the chain of circulation circuit, 

 connected with the pile. Thus the louis becomes charged, 

 without being immediately in contact with the conducting 

 wires. If this louis be applied afterward to the crural nerves excites contrac- 

 of a frog recently prepared, the ufual contractions will be tlons> 



* Tranflated from the Journal de Chimie and d* Phyfique of Van 

 Mons, No. 17, p. 133, March, 1805. 



H 2 excited. 



