ON SOME CHEMICAL AGENCIES OF ELECTRICITY. 43 



circuit, whether there be a series of decompositions and General ob- 

 , , . , J . , ,. . , J scrvations on 



rerompositions, or whether the particles from the extreme the preceding 



points only ore active, there must be a new combination of phenomena, 



the repelled matter: and the case is analogous to that of two 



portions of muriate of soda separated by distilled water; 



muriatic acid is repelled from the negative side, and soda 



from the positive side, and muriate of soda is composed ir* 



the middle vessel. 



These facts seem fully to invalidate the conjectures of M. 

 Hitter, and some other philosophers, with regard to the ele- 

 mentary nature of water, and perfectly to confirm the great 

 discovery of Mr. Cavendish. 



M. Ritter conceived, that he had procured oxigen from 

 water without hidrogen, by making sulphuric acid the me- 

 dium of communication at the negative surface; but in this 

 case, sulphur is deposited, and the oxigen from the acid, 

 and the hidrogen from the water, are respectively repelled; 

 and a new combination produced. 



I have attempted some of the experiments of decomposi- 

 tion and transfer, by means of common electricity, making 

 use of a powerful electrical machine of Mr. Nairne's con- 

 struction, belonging to the Royal Institution, of which the 

 cylinder is 15 inches in diameter, and 2 feet long. 



With the same aparatus as that employed for decomposi- 

 tions by the Voltaic battery, no perceptible effect was pro- 

 duced by passing a strong current of electricity silently for 

 four hours through solution of sulphate of potash. 



But by employing fine platina points of— of an inch in 

 diameter, cemented in glass tubes in the manner contrived 

 by Dr. Wollaston*, and bringing them near each other, in 

 vessels containing from 3 to 4 grains of the solution, and 

 connected by moist asbestus, potash appeared in less than 

 two hours round the negatively electrified point, and sulphu- 

 ric acid round the positive point. 



In a similar experiment sulphuric acid was transferred 

 through moist asbestus into water; so that there can be no 



* Phil. Trans. Vol. XCI, page 427. 



doubt 



