HISTORY OF GALVANISM. Q 



Oil, the a&ion was fufpended in the whole of the glafles. This »ot confirmed. 



experiment has not, however, been found to anfwer in Eng* 



land. 



Theory of the Action of the Galvanic Apparatus. 



THE phenomena of the galvanic pile, which at firft view Elementary j)o- 

 appear almoft incapable of being arranged into any fyflematic jj- m ° # nS ° gavau * 

 form, may, I think, be all eafily explained by admitting the 

 truth of the three following poftulates. \ft, That the ele&ric *; Electricity is 

 fluid is always liberated or generated when a metal or any ox- ox id at j on# T 

 idable fubftance is united to oxigen; 2dly, That the electric Electricity 

 fluid has a ftrong attraction for hidrogen ; and, 3dly, That hidrien?' i. * 

 when the electric fluid, in palling along a chain of conductors, Ele&ricity pafles 

 leaves an oxidable fubftance to be conveyed through water, it iu™ 1 }, - 

 unites itfelf to hidrogen, from which it is again difengaged in combination 

 when it returns to the oxidable conduaor. with hidr0 § en ' 



The firft of thefe proportions may be conlidered as almoft Nature of the 

 proved by the experiments of Fabroni, Davy, and Wollafton j p 

 the fecond and third have not been directly eitablifhed by ex- 

 periment, but will not appear improbable when it is feen in 

 what a Ample and eafy manner they account for all the pheno- 

 mena hitherto obferved. In endeavouring to explain the action 

 of the pile, two diflinct fubjects of inquiry prefent themfelves : 

 jy?, What are the operations carried on at the ends of the wires 

 in the interrupted circuit, as difcovered by Mr. Nicholfon ? 

 and, Idly, What is the operation carried on in the body of the 

 pile itfelf? 



As the current of the electric fluid appears to pafs from the Theory of wfcat 



zinc or plus end of the apparatus to the filver end, we mull c h^i P fonVnxbe!T 



firft endeavour to afcertain the action which takes place at the El. paffesfrom 



zinc end of the wire. This in fact appears to he the difen- JJ*^ InfaM rVf 



gagement of oxigen in a concentrated ftate, by which the wire water: the ox- 



itfelf, when oxidable, is corroded, but which, when the wire is lgen eithcr . fP* 



pears or oxides 

 formed of a perfect metal, is difengaged ui the form of oxigen the metal: 



gas. This oxigen appears to be derived from the decompofl- 



tion of the water in which the wire terminates, in confequence 



of the attraction which the electrcal fluid poffefTes for hidrogen, 



and its incapacity of paffing through water without being united 



to this fubftance,, according to the fecond and third poftulates. 



The 



