]54 ELECTRO-CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES. 



jecture upon the manner according to which the whole of the 

 effects may take place, without contradicting any of the results 

 we possess concerning electricity. 

 Atoms possess Admitting, that bodies consist of particles or atoms placed 

 rity- n on the* near eacn other > in«uch manner as may appear from their pro- 

 intensity of perty of combining in proportions of their multiples, we may 

 Ifiniti th <f - consic ' er tnese atoms as possessing an electrical polarity upon 

 pend. the intensity of which the force of their affinity depends. In 



this case the chemical affinity becomes identified with electri- 

 city, or rather the electric polarity. In order to explain the 

 different electro-chemical characters, we must add to the gene- 

 ral polarity a kind of specific unipolarity, by means of which 

 One pole may one f t h e po i es con tains more of the + E, or of the — E, 

 be stronger .,..., , , . , , r 



than the other, than the opposite electricity in the other pole is capable ot sa- 



The body is turating. A body of which the positive pole predominates, 

 positive, or tnat ls > which contains an excess of positive electricity, consti- 

 electro-nega- tutes an electro-positive body, and vice versd. Many bodies 

 predominating rec l u i re an elevation of temperature to enable them to act upon 

 pole. each other. It appears, therefore, that heat possesses the pro- 



Heat aug- perty of augmenting the polarity of these bodies j and that 

 deariciticsL ^ e difference m activity of the affinity at different temperatures, 

 appears to depend on the same cause, in like manner as the 

 force with which a combination preserves its existence, appears 

 to depend on the intensity of the electric polarity when this is 

 at its maximum, or rather the intensity of that polarity at the 

 moment the combination is made. This circumstance explains 

 why the phosphoric acid is decomposable by charcoal at an 

 elevated temperature, although phosphorus decomposes the 

 air of the atmosphere at a temperature at which charcoal has 

 no influence upon that fluid. 



In the theory of atoms, there is some difficulty in conceiving 

 the difference between the juxta-portion of homogeneous par- 

 ticles, separable by mechanical means, and that of the heteroge- 

 neous particles, which produce a new particle, very seldom de- 

 The particles composable by means purely mechanical. The hypothesis of 



of homogene- polarized atoms assists us upon this occasion. The cohesion of 



ous masses ap- * r 



pear to unite homogeneous particles may be compared to the juxta-position 



like the plates w hich we observe in the electrophore between the opposite 

 of the electro- .... _. , „. , , . ,. 



phore. electricities of the metallic plate and the resinous surface 



Contact keeps ftfem in a state of charge or neutralization j 



which. 



