258 Mr. Smee's New Definition of the Voltaic Circuit, 



of (a) and (r) being large, but becomes amplified to such a 



Fig. 2. 



degree by («) as to possess prodigious force; indeed as it 

 possesses a capability of being amplified infinitely by an infinite 

 series completely insulated, a battery might be constructed 

 powerful enough for the force to pass from one electrode, 

 placed in the Thames at London Bridge, and the other in some 

 river in Australia, though the resistances of (r) and (c) in this 

 case, from their extreme length, would be very great. In 

 every water battery, as (a) instead of being constant gradually 

 increases, the power gradually declines at length to nothing. 

 The curious and wonderfully-multiplying powers of (w), 

 whereby the intensity can be increased, precludes our saying 

 that the galvanic power is unable to effect any particular ob- 

 ject; for, after all, it might turn out that (n) was not magni- 

 fied sufficiently to attain that end. 



If we desire to find the number of batteries in any arrange- 

 ment, it could be easily ascertained by the following equation : 



n = =. 



F — a + c + r + e 

 When we are turning our power to some application it is 

 very convenient to consider the purpose for which it is applied 

 as a resistance, and call it R. If we have a series of them 

 alike it would be R x m, m standing for the number composing 

 the series. If, however, the series is not alike, it would be 

 R + R' -f R". The intensity of the current after having passed 

 this resistance would be also equal to the sum of the intensities, 



minus the sum of the resistances, l" = F— a+c-i-r + exn — R;«. 

 The R is frequently very complex, as in the reduction of me- 

 tals in a decomposition trough, where it is made up of as many 

 parts as a voltaic battery. 



Having amply discussed the power of the force to overcome 

 obstacles, we are led to determine the time in which any given 

 number of equivalents of voltaic power can be obtained. 

 Hitherto we have considered the circuit to be made up of a sin- 

 gle atom of the body combining with one element of the com- 

 pound, and if the affinity exceeds but ever such a trifle its 



