262 Mr. Smee's New Definition of the Voltaic Circuit. 



mighty operation of Nature which has just occurred, where the 

 noise accompanying the discharge of the electricity over the 

 metropolis was so awful as to alarm not only delicate females, 

 but the stoutest hearts of men, and even the heretofore un- 

 terrified nervous system of infants — in that terrific storm, 

 when every living creature trembled, and Nature seemed al- 

 most alarmed at her own operations, how vast was (I) ! how 

 large (A) ! Could I therefore but have imprisoned that 

 collection of force which in discharging itself committed such 

 devastation on houses, churches, and trees, and, having en- 

 cased it, been able to have let it loose as it might have been 

 required; then indeed would all batteries have been henceforth 

 discarded as playthings for children — philosophical toys to be 

 admired, still despised, for (I A) being unlimitedly great, we 

 could obtain what work we pleased in any given time, at no 

 expense. 



The estimate of the parts of (I) in other cases where force 

 is produced, i. e. an electricity not proved to be derived from 

 chemical action, I do not deem it my business now to consider, 

 but great difficulties would attend its accurate investigation, 

 as it is almost impossible to magnify the size of the circle in 

 these cases, in such a way as to make the action in each part 

 cognizable by our senses. It is however quite evident, that as 

 in the voltaic and thermo circuits (I) may be magnified to 

 any extent by (n), that the power of (1) in every case might 

 be brought to the same standard in the power overcoming the 

 resistances R', R", R'", &c. 



The obstacles to the completion of the voltaic circuit (O), 

 are made up as we have seen of several parts, a, e, r, c, but, 

 although they differ in kind, still as they have similar resisting 

 properties, a perfect table might be made, referring them to 

 one given standard, showing the separate value of each. The 

 principle on which it should be constructed, is the law of the 

 completion of the voltaic current, detailed when treating of 

 the reduction of alloys ; and as soon as we have this table 

 accurately and numerically drawn up, the principles of the 

 passage of the voltaic circuit, which formerly puzzled the most 

 enlightened experimenters, will be rendered certain, and the 

 difficulties will be also reduced to the facility and certainty 

 of common arithmetic. Having obtained perfect tables of 

 (O) and its several parts, we can readily obtain the relative 

 value of (I), derived from various sources, by finding out 

 what extent of (O) neutralizes each individual (I), and the 

 value of (I), or the force of any battery, will be determined 

 with equal facility. Complete tables of (O) and (I) now be- 

 come the greatest desiderata, not only to electro-metallurgists, 

 but to all who use the voltaic battery. 



