ON 80MTB CHCMTCiL AGFiNCirS OF ELECTRICITY. 4<) 



phurets with regard to tike copper, was sufficient to m'etv General prin- 



power that of the iron : so that the electricity did not circu- 5* !J g j l fc0 



late from the copper to the iron, arid from the iron to the change* pro- 



fluid, us id common cases, but from the copper to the iiidro- (l V c '" Hi l> y elec - 



tncity. 

 guretted sulpliiiret, and from the hidroguretted sulphuretto 



the iron. 



All these details afford the strongest confirmation of the 

 principle. It may be considered almost as a mere arrange- 

 ment of facts ; and with some extensions it seems capable of 

 being generally applied. 



.Bodies possessing" opposite electrical energies with regard 

 to one and the same body, we might fairly conclude would 

 likewise possess them with regard to each other. This I hare 

 found by experiment is the case witli lime and oxalic acid. 

 A dry piece of lime, made from a very pure compact second- 

 ary limestone, and of such a form as to present a large 

 smooth surface, became positively electrical by repeated con- 

 tacts with crystals of oxalic acid : and these crystals placed 

 upon the top of a condensing electrometer, and repeated!} 7 

 touched by the line, which after each contact was freed from 

 its charge, rendered the gold leaves negatively electrical. 

 The tendency of the mere contacts of the acid and alkali 

 with the metal would be to produce opposite effects to those 

 exhibited, so that their mutual agency must have been very 

 energetic. 



It will not certainly be a remote analogy to enn-^der the 

 other acid and alkaline substances generally, and OTigen and 

 hidrogen as possessing similar electrical relations; and in 

 the decompositions and changes presented by the effects of 

 electricity, the different bodies; naturally possessed of che- 

 mical affinities appear incapable of combining, or of re- 

 maining in combination, when placed in a state of eieetricity 

 diHerent from their natural order. Thus, as we have seen, 

 the acids in the positive part of the circuit separate them- 

 selves from alkalis, oxigen from hidrogen, and soon; a.;d 

 metals on the negative side do not nine to oxigen, and 

 acids do frot remain in union with their oxides; and in this 

 way the attractive and repellent agencies 'seem to be com- 

 municated from the metallic surfaces throughout the whole 

 0f the menstruum. 



Vol. XIX — Jan. 1808. E VUI, 



