ON THE GALVANIC PHENOMENA, J< * 5 



XL 



falter of Profejfor Volta to J. C. Delamethrie, on the 

 Gakauic Pheno?nena. 



SIR, Paris, 18 Vendemiaire, Year 10. 



lOU have requeued me to give you an account of the ex- General outline 

 penments by which I demonftrate, in a convincing manner, of the author 

 what I have always maintained, namely, that the pretended refpeaing gal- 

 agent, or galvanic fluid, is nothing but common electrical fluid, 

 and that this fluid is incited and moved by the fimple mutual . 

 contact of different conduclors, particularly the metallic ; fhew- 

 ing that two metals of different kinds, connected together, 

 produce already a fmall quantity of true electricity, the 

 force and kind of which I have determined ; that the effects 

 of my new apparatus (which might be termed electromotors), 

 whether confining of a pile, or in a row of glaffes, which have 

 fo much excited the attention of philofophers, chemifts, and 

 phyiicians; that thefe fo powerful and marvellous effects are That the ele£ri- 

 abfolutely no more than the fum total of the effeds of a feries "* eff f as arc 



J the primary 



of feveral fanilar metallic couples or pairs; and that the che- caufcsof the ox- 

 mical phenomena them felves, which are obtained by them, of Nation, &c. &sj 

 the decoinpofition of water and other liquids, the oxidation 

 of metals, &c. are fecondary effects; effects, I mean, of this 

 electricity, of this continual current of electrical fluid, which, 

 by the above-mentioned action of the connected metals, efta- 

 blifhes itfelf as foon as we form a communication between 

 the two extremities of the apparatus, by means of a conduct- 

 ing bow; and when once eftablifhed, maintains itfelf, and 

 continues as long as the circuit remains interrupted. You have 

 rcquefted this iketch from me, to be inferted in the next num- 

 ber of your Journal de Phyfique, convinced in your own mind 

 of the truth of thefe obfervations by fome of the experiments, ' 



which I had the pleafure of fhewing you yeflerday with my 

 fmall portable apparatus, in prefence of the celebrated philo- 

 pher of Geneva, M. Pictet, and fome other friends. I regret 

 that I have not fufficient time to enlarge the effay which I fend 

 you, fo as in fome meafure to comply wjth your invitation, m 



and which can anfwer your expectations only in a partial 

 manner. Accept it then as the precurfor of a more ample me- 

 moir, which I intend fhortly to publifli. 



I 



