2j90 ^^ GALVANISM. 



plates of copper, and fixty-four pieces of wet pafteboard, 

 difpofed in three parcels, all the pafteboards being placed to» 

 ^ether in the middle, and thirty-two plates of the metal at 

 each end, this pile will condud the eledricity from Volta's 

 and the con- very freely, and confequently charge itfelf very little. If the 

 ^^'7* feries of wet condudlprs be interrupted by a tingle plate of cop- 



per placed in the midfl of them, the conducing power will 

 diminifli; more frequent interruptions will enfeeble it Hill more; 

 and thus by increafing the number of interruptions we arrive 

 at a feries, in which the conducing power will be fcarcely per- 

 Though weak ceptible. Thefe phenomena led Mr. Ritter to the knowledge 

 pwiences^ refill- ^^ ^^® refiftance, which a weak eledricity experiences in paff- 

 ance inpafling ing from One furface to another: and this refinance takes place 



tra'So''the/"elec! ^"'-^ '" ^ ^^^^ ^^^^^' ^^^ ^>' ^ ^i^S"^^"" P^operty* an eledricity 



tricky ftrong ftrong enough to overcome it opens itfelf a free paflage, and 



enough to over- fl^^vs off completely. 



come this paues ^,^ , .V,,., . i^. r 



off at once. We havejuft feen, that the conducting power ot an appa- 



As the arrange- ratus might be varied at pleafure, by altering its arrangement, 

 theconduaing It was natural to fuppofe, that thefe modifications would in- 

 power, it might fluence the chemical and phytiological effeds of the fecondary 

 woiwTnfllence P^'^ ? ^nd Mr. Ritter propofed to himfelf, to afcertain the dif^ 

 the effefts. ferences of this influence. 



And it appeared. Accordingly he fought how to divide a given number of wet 

 that the fewer and folid conductors fo as to form a fecondary pile, that (hould 

 the ^reTtef the* receive the greatefl poflible charge from a given ele6trical pile, 

 chemical effeft j Purfuing this inquiry, he difcovered two different arrangements, 

 one of which gave a maximum of chemical effedl, the other of 

 phytiological. The firfl conlifts in a fmall number of alterna- 

 tions. In this cafe the conducing power is very great, the 

 flow of the fluid continual, and the phytiological effedl but 

 and on the con- weak. The fecond, on the contrary, contifts in more nume- 



trary, the more ^^^^ alternations: in which the condudine: power is much lef^ 

 numerous tne ' . 



alternations, the and takes place only at intervals, in momentary difcharges, 



greater the when the reiiftance of the furfaces is overcome. In this the 



phyfiological 



cffeft. ele6tricity efcapes as it were by jirks, and the chemical effe6l 



The former refulting from it is fcarcely perceptible. Thefe differences 



produced by a appear to US to indicate, that the chemical effeds depend par- 



briflc continued ticularly on a briflc continuous current of the fluid, while the 



trkity • the iat- phyfiological require fucceflive fudden difcharges, entering 



ter by repcatei the organs as if by Ihocks. 

 fliocks. 



From 



