Absolute Quantity of Electricity in Matter. 437 



32*31 parts, or one equivalent of zinc, in this simple voltaic 

 circle, was able to evolve such quantity of electricity in the 

 form of a current as, passing through water, should decom- 

 pose 9 parts, or one equivalent of that substance: and, con- 

 sidering the definite relations of electricity as developed in 

 the preceding parts of the present paper, the results prove 

 that the quantity of electricity which, being naturally asso- 

 ciated with the particles of matter, gives them their combining 

 power, is able, when thrown into a current, to separate those 

 particles from their state of combination ; or, in other words, 

 that the electricity "which decomposes^ and that which is evolved 

 by the decomposition of a certain quantity of 'matter ; are alike. 



869. The harmony which this theory of the definite evolu- 

 tion and the equivalent definite action of electricity introduces 

 into the associated theories of definite proportions and electro- 

 chemical affinity, is very great. According to it, the equiva- 

 lent weights of bodies are simply those quantities of them 

 which contain equal quantities of electricity, or have naturally 

 equal electric powers ; it being the electricity which de- 

 termines the equivalent number, because it determines the 

 combining force. Or, if we adopt the atomic theory or 

 phraseology, then the atoms of bodies which are equivalents 

 to each other in their ordinary chemical action, have equal 

 quantities of electricity naturally associated with them. But 

 I must confess I am jealous of the term atom ; for though it 

 is very easy to talk of atoms, it is very difficult to form a clear 

 idea of their nature, especially when compound bodies are 

 under consideration. 



870. I cannot refrain from recalling here the beautiful idea 

 put forth, I believe, by Berzelius (703.) in his development of 

 his views of the electro-chemical theory of affinity, that the 

 heat and light evolved during cases of powerful combination 

 are the consequence of the electric discharge which is at the 

 moment taking place. The idea is in perfect accordance with 

 the view I have taken of the quantity of electricity associated 

 with the particles of matter. 



871. In this exposition of the law of the definite action of 

 electricity, and its corresponding definite proportion in the 

 particles of bodies, I do not pretend to have brought, as yet, 

 every case of chemical or electro-chemical action under its 

 dominion. There are numerous considerations of a theoreti- 

 cal nature, especially respecting the compound particles of 

 matter and the resulting electrical forces which they ought to 

 possess, which I hope will gradually receive their develop- 

 ment; and there are numerous experimental cases, as, for in- 

 stance, those of compounds formed by weak affinities, the 



