for Difcoveries in Eleclricify and Galvanifm, 1 89 



of cond uctors, and the exact determination of the laws ac- 

 cording to which the repulfive force of the electric matter 

 varies according to the diitance. The fecond comprehends 

 the difcovery of the mufqular contractions excited by the 

 contact of metals, the explanation of thefe phenomena by 

 the motion of metallic electricity ; and, in the lall place, the 

 formation of the electric pile, its analyfis, and its various pro- 

 perties. Volta has done in this fecond period what Franklin 

 did in the firft. 



The fciences are now fo connected with each other, that 

 every thing which tends to improve the one advances the reft 

 at the fame time. Under this point of view, galvanifm, in 

 the hiftory of them, will form a memorable epoch ; for there 

 are tew difcoveries which have given to philofophy and che- 

 miliry fo many new facts, and facts fo remote from thofe 

 before known. The aggregate of thefe facts has been referred 

 to a general caufe, which is the motion of electricity : it re- 

 mains to determine accurately the circumftances by which 

 they are accompanied, to follow the numerous applications 

 they fuggeft, and to difcover the general laws which, per- 

 haps, are contained in them. The greater part of the che- 

 mical effects prefentcd by the new kinds of apparatus are not 

 yet completelv explained ; and it is of the more importance 

 that they mould be well known, as they fumifli to chemiftry 

 means very powerful for decom poling the molt intimate com- 

 binations. It is alfo intereliing to examine whether the elec- 

 tric properties which certain minerals acquire in their varia- 

 tions of temperature do not depend on a difpofition of their 

 elements analogous to that which contlitutes the Voltaic pile. 

 In a word, it is to be deflred that the theory of electricity 

 augmented by thefe new phenomena mould be completely 

 fubjeiSted to calculation in a general, direct, and rigorous 

 manner; and the progrefs already made in this path has 

 proved that this difficult fubject requires the fagacity of the 

 moft ingenious philofophy and the aid of the molt profound 

 analyfis. 



But it is in its application in particular to the animal eco- 

 nomy that it is of importance to confidcr the galvanic appa- 

 ratus. It is already known that metals are not the only fub- 

 ftances the contact of which determines the movement of 

 electricity. This property is common to them and fome 

 liquids, and it is probable that it extends, with divers modi- 

 fications, to all the bodies of nature. Do not the pheno- 

 mena exhibited by the torpedo and other electric n* flies depend 

 on an analogous action exercifed between the various parts 

 of their organization ? and does not this- action exift with a 



degree 



