250 Mr. Brande on the Electro- Chemical 



influence, when surrounded by apparatus which is a source of 

 disturbance. Independent of such disturbance, there can, I 

 think, be no doubt that the magnetism in these bars would 

 remain very nearly, if not precisely, in the same state for 

 almost an indefinite period. 



We may therefore conclude, from these observations, that, 

 after the action of a magnet upon a bar which determines the 

 position of its poles, has ceased, if any effect is produced by 

 reciprocal action, the forces tending to produce this effect are 

 almost evanescent when compared with the other forces acting 

 upon the magnetism of the bar. Upon the whole, I am dis- 

 posed to think, that into whatever state the magnetism of a 

 steel bar may be placed by the application of a magnet to it, 

 almost immediately after the removal of the magnet, the inter- 

 nal forces are in a state of equilibrium, or nearly so ; and that, 

 therefore, whatever may be the arrangement of the magnetism, 

 it is, if not absolutely permanent, liable to scarcely any dis- 

 turbance from internal action. 



Royal Military Academy, 27th Dec. 1830. 



ON THE ELECTRO-CHEMICAL DECOMPOSITION OF THE 

 VEGETO-ALKALINE SALTS. 



BY W. T. BRANDE, F.R.S., PROF. CHEM. R. I. 



T AM not aware that any experiments have been recorded in 

 relation to the phenomena presented by the salts of the 

 vegetable alkaline bases, when subjected to the action of 

 voltaic electricity ; and as, under such circumstances, they 

 exhibit appearances identical with those of ordinary salts, a 

 further analogy is thus established between those curious com- 

 pounds and the other salifiable bases. 



Shortly after the discovery of a method of obtaining morphia 

 in pure state, I remember that Sir Humphry Davy suggested 

 the possibility of its affording, when electrised in contact with 

 mercury, results corresponding with those which Berzelius had 

 observed in respect to ammonia : he thought that the nascent 

 elements of the morphia, as liberated by electrical decomposi- 

 tion, might, under such circumstances, effect a similar apparent 



