THE 



LONDON and EDINBURGH 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



[THIRD SERIES.] 



AUGUST 1837. 



XVII. On the Use of Sulphate of Copper for exciting Voltaic 

 Electricity ) and on the Employment of Iron in the Construe- 

 Hon of Batteries. By Andrew Fyfe, M.D., F.R.S.E., 

 Lecturer on Chemistry, Edinburgh* 



r | ^HE action of metals with metallic salts has been long 

 •*• known, but it is only lately that the latter have been used 

 in electric arrangements, and chiefly for electro-magnetic pur- 

 poses. Aware that sulphate of copper was easily decomposed 

 by zinc, I was induced some time ago to try it, when used as 

 the exciting fluid in the galvanic battery, and found that in 

 its action it is far superior to the acids in common use. It is 

 however unnecessary for me to relate the experiments that 

 were performed, as I find that it has been made the subject 

 of investigation by others, particularly by Mr. Faraday, the 

 results of whose labours are already, so far, before the public. 

 Since first using the sulphate of copper, I have been Jed to 

 inquire not only as to its powers compared with other fluids, 

 but also whether other combinations of that metal would not 

 act equally well, or perhaps more powerfully, and it is to the 

 use of these, in comparison with acids of different strengths, 

 not only in batteries as usually constructed, but likewise in 

 other modifications of them, that I wish to advert. 



In the tenth series of his experimental researches, Mr. Fa- 

 raday has shown, that in voltaic arrangements the electroly- 

 zation depends, along with other causes, on the kind of trough 



* Communicated by the Author. 

 Third Series. Vol. 11. No. 66. Aug. 1837. U 



