14 Eloge of Alexander Volta. 



of all ages are less anxious to honour the dead, than to detract 

 from the reputation of their cotemporaries. 



Almost all natural philosophers attributed these electrical phe- 

 nomena to two fluids of a different nature, which, in certain cir- 

 cumstances, accumulate separately on the surface of bodies. This 

 hypothesis naturally led them to seek for the source of atmo- 

 spheric electricity. The problem was an important one, and a 

 delicate, though simple, experiment led to its solution. 



In this experiment, an insulated vase, from which water eva- 

 porated, gave out, by the aid of Volta's condensator, evident 

 marks of negative electricity. 



I regret that I am unable to determine with certainty to whom 

 this capital experiment is due. In one of his memoirs, Volta 

 mentions that it had been present to his mind from the year 

 1778, but that various circumstances prevented him from at- 

 tempting it, till the month of March 1780, when it was success- 

 fully performed by him at Paris, in company with some mem- 

 bers of the Academy of Sciences. On the other hand, Lavoi- 

 sier and Laplace, at \he close of the memoir which they pub- 

 lished on the same subject, merely say that " Volta shewed 

 anxiety to assist at our experiments, and to render himself use- 

 ful." 



How can two accounts so contradictory be reconciled ? A 

 historical note published by Volta himself, is far from removing 

 our doubts. It is neither expressly stated in whom the idea of 

 the experiment originated, nor which of the three observers sug- 

 gested that it would succeed with the aid of the condensator. 

 The first trial made at Paris by Volta and the two French 

 savants, proved abortive, the state of the atmosphere not being 

 favourable. A few days after, at the country residence of La- 

 voisier, the electrical signs became manifest, although the means 

 of observation had not been altered. Volta was not present at 

 the last trial. 



This circumstance has occasioned all the difficulty. Some, 

 without farther examination, consider as inventors those who are 

 the first to establish a fact by means of experiment. Others re- 

 gard this as a very secondary merit, and little else than a me- 

 chanical operation ; they therefore bestow their approbation on 

 the original projectors. 



