SO Mr. Binks on the Laws of Action of Voltaic Electricity, 



Let a single voltaic arrangement be immersed in acid of a 

 certain strength, and dining a certain length of time, and its 

 voltaic action determined by the quantity of zinc lost, or of 

 hydrogen evolved. Let another such arrangement (either of 

 equal or of unequal size) be tested in the same manner; and 

 then (having thus determined the amount of action peculiar 

 to each when acting separately) let them be connected as a 

 compound arrangement; that is, let the zinc of each one ar- 

 rangement be joined by a wire to the copper of the other, and 

 then the amount of action determined when thus operating 

 upon one another. 



These experiments were so contrived that the distance be- 

 tween the elementary zinc and copper plates, in any arrange- 

 ment, was always the same; and also that the wires connect- 

 ing them (whether when used separately or in connection) 

 were always of the same length, in order to avoid those dif- 

 ferences in the results which would have arisen had these pre- 

 cautions not been strictly observed. 



I shall select the following as a preliminary example of 

 such a mode of analysis : 



A plate of zinc (in A) and a plate of copper of the same 

 size, joined together as a simple circle, were immersed in an 

 acid mixture during 30 minutes, and gave off hydrogen equal 

 to 3/jj cubic inches. Another such arrangement (in B), but of 

 larger size, was treated in the same way and yielded 16 cubic 

 inches of hydrogen. 



These same arrangements were now connected as repre- 



