into the Cause of Voltaic Electricity, 285 



1836, that the currents produced by the combinations of the 

 same number of atoms effected in the same period of time, 

 would be so much the more intense in proportion to the in- 

 crease of strength of the chemical affinity which unites the 

 atoms of each combination. 



I shall not here enlarge upon this point, which, considering 

 its importance, deserves to be separately discussed, and to 

 which I hope to return immediately, adding further develop- 

 ments upon the subject to the brief statement which I published 

 in the Annates de Chimie. The theory of the pile is, however, 

 independent of this question; all its importance in relation to 

 that theory being that it proves : 1 . That there is no develop- 

 ment of electricity by the simple contact of two heterogeneous 

 bodies. 2. That chemical action produces electricity ac- 

 cording to the laws that have been indicated. 3. That the 

 quantity of electricity developed in a given time depends upon 

 the number of combinations which take place in that time. 

 4. That the tension of an electric source and the intensity of 

 a current depend upon the proportion of the electricity pro- 

 duced, which, under a statical or a dynamical form, reaches the 

 instrument by which the tension or the intensity is measured. 



Part 11.— Theory of the Voltaic Pile. 

 If all the bodies through which the electric current is passed 

 were sufficiently good conductors to admit of the two elec- 

 tricities, which have been separated by the chemical action 

 exerted upon one of the metals of a pair, following, in totality, 

 in order to reunite, the direction presented to them by those 

 bodies, instead of being neutralized in a larger or smaller pro- 

 portion upon the surface where they have been developed, 

 voltaic piles would be unnecessary ; a single pair would pro- 

 duce every effect, with an intensity corresponding to the ex- 

 tent of the surface. But this is far from being the fact ; ex- 

 cepting a few electro-magnetic phaenomena, the greater part 

 of the effects of voltaic electricity can only be produced by 

 making the electric current pass through conductors more or 

 less imperfect ; wherefore, if a single pair be employed the 

 result is, that, as with common zinc, there is a local action 

 which gives no perceptible current; or, as with distilled zinc, 

 there is scarcely any effect or none at all, because no current 

 can be established through the circuit. The use of the pile 

 is therefore to facilitate the passage of the current through 

 imperfect conductors, and not to increase the quantity of elec- 

 tricity; for the utmost that can be effected by a pile composed 

 of a certain number of similar pairs is to compel all the elec- 

 tricity produced by only one of its pairs to pass through the 



