2 Eloge of' Alexander Volta. 



where, in combustion, in evaporation, and even in the simple 

 touch of two dissimilar bodies. He thus assigned to this power- 

 ful agent, an importance among terrestrial phenomena scarcely in- 

 ferior to that of gravitation. The connection of these important 

 discoveries appears tomedeserving of being traced and illustrated. 

 At a period when the need of accurate knowledge is so gene- 

 rally felt, I conceive that these academical eloges may become 

 the landmarks to a general history of the sciences. To the pre- 

 sent attempt to contribute to their usefulness, I freely invite the 

 severe and enlightened criticism of the public. 



Alexander Volta, one of the eight foreign associates of the 

 Academy of Sciences, was born at Como, in Milan, on the 

 18th February 1745. He was the son of Philippe Volta and 

 Madeleine de Conti Inzaghi. His early studies were carried on 

 under the eye of his father, in the public school of his native 

 town. His natural endowments, steady application, and love of 

 order, soon placed him at the head of his school -fellows. At 

 eighteen years of age, the studious scholar had already commen- 

 ced a correspondence with Nollet on some of the most compli- 

 cated questions in physics. At nineteen he composed a Latin 

 poem, not yet published, in which he described the phenomena 

 discovered by the most celebrated experimentalists of the times. 

 It has been said that up to this period Volta had not decided on 

 his profession, but this I am inclined to doubt. A young man 

 who has thought of making chemistry the subject of his literary 

 compositions, would not long hesitate in favour of poetry. If 

 we except a few verses celebrating Saussure's journey to the top 

 of Mont Blanc, we never find the illustrious philosopher engaged 

 in works of any other kind than those devoted to the study of 

 nature. 



Volta had the boldness at the age of twenty-four, and in his 

 first work, to touch upon the very delicate question of the Leyden 

 Phial. This apparatus was discovered in 1746, The singularity 

 of its effects would have been amply sufficient to justify the cu- 

 riosity it excited throughout Europe ; but this curiosity was 

 greatly increased by the foolish exaggeration of Muschembroek, 

 and by his unaccountable terror oiyeceiving a very slight shock; 

 to which, he said emphatically, he would not again expose himself 



