88 Mr. Binks on the Laws of Action of Voltaic Electricity. 



and of the utmost importance to the general theory of the 

 science. 



My own experiments have been extended to the examina- 

 tion of only two of such cases; namely, first to that in which 

 sulphuric acid is the exciting agent, and gaseous hydrogen the 

 product upon the surface of the conducting metal ; and se- 

 condly, to that in which sulphuric acid (derived either from 

 the dissolved sulphate, or from free acid previously added) is 

 still the exciting agent, but in which metallic copper is the 

 product appearing at the conducting plate; these two having 

 been selected, from the highly distinctive character of their re- 

 spective phenomena. 



Recurring to the former of these investigations, I should 

 wish, before concluding this paper, to attract your attention 

 to a fact which has been invariably presented in their course, 

 when the arrangement of any voltaic battery has been such 

 that the whole of its evolved hydrogen could be collected, and 

 the total quantity of zinc employed in its formation be also 

 ascertained. 



If a single voltaic arrangement be employed to generate 

 hydrogen, an exact correspondence will be perceived between 

 the quantity of zinc expended and the volume of hydrogen 

 evolved, and their theoretical proportions as determined by 

 calculation. The same regularity will be maintained whether 

 plain or amalgamated plates of zinc be employed in the ar- 

 rangement, and also whether single, or double, or treble ar- 

 rangements, &c, connected, be brought into operation with 

 this view ; up to a certain number of such, if the hydrogen 

 and zinc be compared, there will be found to be a perfect 

 agreement between their quantities and those anticipated by 

 theory. But if the number of voltaic pairs be so many that 

 the battery possesses energy enough to decompose water when 

 submitted to it in the usual way, then this exact correspond- 

 ence between the proportions of the hydrogen and the zinc 

 will be no longer maintained ; but it will be found that the 

 total quantity of zinc expended will be greater, by about one 

 third, than is needed to generate the quantity of hydrogen 

 actually evolved. 



As 1 intend to enter upon a more minute examination of 

 this phenomenon, I will, at this moment, offer but a single 

 example of it, which is sufficiently marked and accurate to in- 

 dicate its real nature. 



A small battery of 16 equal pairs, arranged as the couronnr 

 des lasses, was put in operation ; and so combined that the hy- 

 drogen from each cell could be collected and each zinc plate 



