ON THE PILE OF VOLTA. 203 



Thefe experiments tend likewife to confirm the conjecture Mufcular m»- 

 which I advanced in my firft publication on the fubject of air, tIon ' 

 concerning the fimilarity of the electric matter and phlogijlon ; 

 and, together with the proper galvanic experiments, fhew, 

 that the fame fub fiance elaborated from the aliment by the 

 brain is the caufe of mufcular- motion, the nerves being the 

 moft fenfible of all electrometers. See the firft edition of my 

 Experiments on Air, vol. I. p. 274, &c. 



I fee no occafion to fuppofe, with Mr. Volta, that there is No circulation 



any circulation of the electric fluid in this pile. The calcina- ? f electricity 

 . . . luppofeQ* 



tion of the zinc fupplies phlogifton as long as it continues, and 



when that ceafes, the operation of the pile ceafes with it. I 

 alfo fee no necefhty that one end of the pile fliould be filver 

 and the other zinc ; and when both are filver, or both zinc, 

 the operation is the fame, nor can I conceive why it fliould 

 be otherwife. When the pile is properly prepared, the ad- 

 dition of any kind of metal to the ends only ferves as a con- 

 ductor of the electric fluid; and filver, zinc, or any other 

 metal, will fufficiently anfwer this purpofe. 



Had this procefs fucceeded without any atmofpherical air Remark, 

 incumbent upon the water in which it is made, it would have 

 amounted to a full proof of the new theory, one part of the 

 water being deprived of hidrogen, while oxigeu abounded in 

 the other, and both of them with the affiftance of caloric^ 

 (though it does not appear whence that could be fupplied), 

 afluming the form of air. But this not being the cafe, the 

 element of the dephlogiflicated air evidently coming from the 

 fuperincumbent atmofphere, the element of the inflammable 

 air muft neceflarily come from the calcined metals which is a 

 fufficient proof of the doctrine of phlogifton, Whether in this 

 you will agree with me or not, I am, 



Dear Sir, 



Yours fincerely, 



J. PRIESTLEY. 



Northumberland, in Pennfylvania, 

 Sept. 16, 1801. 



P. S. In your Journal, vol. IV. p. 226. it is faid, '« the 

 inventor of the galvanic pile difcovered the conducting power 

 of charcoal ;" whereas it was one of my firft obfervations in 



electricity, 



